The Advanced Plating Tour is the second in the 2007 Street Rodder/PPG Road Tour series. The Tour began with a weekend of rod fun at the NSRA Mid-America Nationals in Springfield, Missouri. The Springfield event has been growing by leaps and bounds over the last few years with this year's registered participants numbering more than 2100.The beautiful weather on Saturday brought spectators out in record numbers.
Sunday afternoon after the awards it was time for the Advanced Plating Tour to head out on the four day journey to the NSRA Nationals East in York, Pennsylvania. Our journey was mapped out to take us through Nashville, Knoxville, Charlotte and Virginia before completing our trip on Thursday in York. Stops have been planned at Lokar Products in Knoxville, Dennis Carpenter's Reproductions and Hendrick's Motorsports in Charlotte, a visit to the home of author Ken Gross and a stop at the Gettysburg Memorial in Virginia. We will arrive in York on Thursday in time for the famous Nationals East kick-off party.
Our Sunday afternoon trip was a short one as planned and we spent the evening in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. Dinner was at a local steak house and the Tour participants got a chance to get to know knew friends and in some cases renew old acquaintances. A number of the Road Tourians on the Advanced Plating Tour were veterans of some of the 2006 Tours. They already knew the fun involved in a week on the road with fellow rodders. The Advanced Plating Tour includes folks from California, Oregon, Texas, Illinois, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Memorial Day Monday morning was beautiful as we made the trip across Missouri, through Kentucky and on to Nashville, our destination for the day and evening. Some folks headed to the huge Opryland Hotel while others paid a visit to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. It was sunny and hot and after a day of seeing the sights we got together for dinner and discussed plans for Tuesday. It will be a long one as we visit Advanced Plating in the morning, lunch at Lokar in Knoxville and then on to Charlotte and a visit to Dennis Carpenter Reproductions.
Check back here as we bring you updates from the Advanced Plating Tour to the Nationals East.
The Total Performance Tour continued it's trek on Tuesday up the beautiful east coast of the United States. After Monday evening's stay on Hilton Head Island it was up early as we rolled north on Route 17 towards our lunch time stop in historic Charleston, North Carolina. Hugh Hoitt and members of the Street Rods Unlimited car club of Charleston arranged to meet us at Bessinger's Barberque for lunch and give us some ideas of what to see in their beautiful city. After lunch some of the Road Tourians took a guided walking tour of the city while others visited the new American LaFrance Museum that had just opened less than 3 weeks earlier. The museum contains over a dozen fully restored classic and vintage fire engines and fire fighting apparatus.
After lunch it was a 2 hour drive to Myrtle Beach for our Tuesday evening stay. It was bike week in Myrtle Beach when we were there so there was plenty to see and do that evening. Our hotel was directly across the street from the Broadway at the Beach entertainment complex with lots of restaurants and clubs.
Wednesday morning we were up and rolling north by 8AM. Our stop for lunch was in New Bern, North Carolina at Andy's Cheeseburger. It was a great burger and milkshake lunch then out on the highway again the trip to Kill Devil Hills on North Carolina's Outer Banks. Some members of the First Flight Cruisers car club stopped by our hotel to invite us to the weekly cruise in nearby Kitty Hawk. They usually have it on Tuesday night but actually changed it to Wednesday since they heard we were going to be in the area. It was fun to see some of the local cars and they enjoyed hearing the stories of our trip.
Thursday morning we visited the Wright Brothers Memorial in Kill Devil Hills. It is the actual sight of the first recoded flight. It was awe inspiring to be standing on the exact spot were such an important event in the history of mankind took place. The museum and facility is first class and worth a visit. From the Outer Banks area we headed north under the first cloudy skies of the last few days. One of our fellow Road Tourians Hoyt Duff had invited us to his fishing pier in Virginia Beach. I had met Hoyt and his wife Bobbie Lou on the Lokar tour to Kalamazoo last year. Bobbie Lou really rolled out the red carpet for us at their beautiful facility, the Lynnhaven Fishing Pier on Chesapeake Bay in Virginia Beach. Everyone received a goodie bag that Bobbie Lou had put together and we were we fed one of the best meals of the entire week. Shrimp, pulled pork and fried chicken was served with Momma Duffs rum cake and ice cream for dessert, all compliments of Bobbie Lou and Hoyt! Thanks folks, it was a great way to wind up a great week.
We all headed out to our final destination of Crusin' Ocean City. By Thursday evening the Total Performance Tour had arrived in Ocean City. It had been a fun week on the road. Nothing bonds a group together like some days on the road in street rods. We had very few car problems and this years Brookville bodied 3 window Deuce coupe, powered by a blown Motor City Flathead power plant covered the 1400 miles beautifully. It is going to be a fun filled weekend in Ocean City. I then travel on to Springfield, Missouri and the NSRA Mid-America Nationals where we start the Advanced Plating Tour to York, Pa and the NSRA Nationals East.
Stay turned, the summer Road Tour fun has just begun!
The Total Performance Tour kicked off the PPG/Street Rodder Road Tour season with a fun filled weekend in the Daytona Beach area on Saturday and Sunday May 12 and 13. After gathering at Total Performances' showroom at Destination Daytona the Road Tourians took a cruise over to A1A and made the 45 minute trip down to the historic Ponce Inlet Lighthouse, just south of Daytona Beach. After a brief look at the famous lighthouse and surrounding buildings, we had a great lunch at the North Turn restaurant in Ponce Inlet. Besides the fantastic view of the ocean, the restaurant is filled with photos and memorabilia for the 1950's when the location of the restaurant was actually the north turn of the famous NASCAR beach track where the races were held before the Daytona Speedway was built in 1959. From the North Turn Restaurant we traveled as a group to the one a month cruise-in at New Symrna. We were treated to a special parking area and enjoyed the pleasant afternoon. Many thanks to Carroll Hamilton of Total Performance for putting together a great day of fun in the Florida sun.
Sunday we gathered again at the Total Performance Shop at Destination Daytona for a 90 mile trip to Ocala and a visit to the Don Garlits Drag Racing Museum. For those who have not made a stop at this fantastic facility, you have to pay a visit if you are in the area. It is two huge buildings filled with an incredible collection of racing racing cars and memorabilia collected by Don during his many years as "Big Daddy" of all the drag racers. The trip back to Ormond Beach got us a little wet but everybody survived to enjoy a hot dog picnic dinner at Destination Daytona which was provided by Total Performance and Classic Automobilia.
Monday morning at 7:30 we were ready to roll. Accompanied by some showers almost 30 vehicles pulled out to start the trip up the East Coast to our ultimate destination of Ocean City Maryland and Cruisin' Ocean City. Our travels on Monday included a trip north on A1A to St Augustine and a stop at the historic Castillo de San Marcos Historical Sit which dates back to the 16th Century when Spanish explorers founded St Augustine. After another great lunch at the Conch House restaurant on the water, we made the 200 mile trip north to our stop for the evening at Hilton Head Island.
The week's fun has just begun as we will be in Myrtle Beach Tuesday evening then on to Nags Head on Wednesday with a planned arrival in Ocean City on Thursday. Check back here for all of our Road Tour updates.