Photos to follow...
We had a nice intimate group of 6 Club Members that had enough of staying home in the winter and we went out on an adventure. Our first stop was Tony Paco's Hungarian Restaurant in Toledo. To me, it was made famous by Jamie Farr and MASH. I stop there for a glorified hot dog whenever I am passing by. Their food did not disappoint. Good as usual.
The next stop was at Butch's Cool Stuff on the Northside of Dayton. Chuck and I picked up a couple of replica antique gas pumps packed in several boxes. There is a lot of assembly and painting to be done. In a half a day, I actually made quite a bit of progress with the assembly. A ten-foot pump is a tall pump.
Then to the Crown Plaza Dayton Hotel. It was a beautiful hotel in somewhat desolate rainy downtown Dayton. The hotel accommodations, restaurant, and bar were so nice that we never ventured out on either Friday or Saturday evenings.
Saturday morning after a nice breakfast buffet, we were off to the US Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson AFB. We had four guided tours lined up to cover: 1. The Early Years and WWII, 2. Korea and SE Asia, 3. Cold War and Missile Galleries, 4. Space, R&D, Presidential and Global Reach Galleries. The place is huge. There are 370 planes on display and there is another 2000 of historical importance that they could be rotated through. Without the tours, you would be overwhelmed with all the displays and reading all the placards. We got a great overview and a lot of little interesting stories to go along with the displays. If you haven't ever visited the museum, it is something that you have to do. Planes vary from an early Wright Brothers plane up to a B1 and B2 bombers and F-22 fighter jet.
After standing and walking through the museum for almost 9 hours, we were a bit pooped. It was back to the hotel bar and restaurant where we rested and relaxed our weary muscles and joints with a bit of lubrication.
Sunday after another nice breakfast buffet, we were off to the British Transportation Museum. That is a little diamond in the rough. There were 70 various British cars in what is really a working shop. At least a third were having some repairs and restorations taking place. Several car clubs in the area, use that Museum as a Club Garage to work on Club Projects, and the local car clubs also work on Museum projects to help them out. It is a great relationship and a fun shop and museum.
The next stop was the Old Packard Dealership and Museum. What a change from the warehouse garage and the small simple British cars to the big art deco dealership and the big elaborate Packards. Those cars were big, beautiful and expensive. They had a collection of about 40 Packard cars covering their production years and major developments in their cars. It is another nice museum to stop and enjoy another part of automotive history.
After that, it was time to head back home. Since we were passing through Toledo on the way, we stopped at Tony Paco's again, this time for dinner. The lunch and dinner menus are different. You have to look closely to see the differences. We did and it was all good again and a lot of fun.
We all had a good time and learned a bit about planes and cars. We did have one Jaguar on this winter trip. On to the next trip.
Bob Matejek