Ten Commandments for the Car Collector

1. Thou shalt not love thy cars more than thy wife and children; as much, but not more.
2. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's car, nor his garage, nor his battery charger.
3. Thou shalt not store thy car out-of-doors, except for thy wife's modern iron.
4. Thou shalt not read thy Hemming's on company time, lest thy employer make it impossible to continue car payments.
5. Thou shalt not despise thy neighbor's Edsel, nor his DeSoto, nor even his '47 Plymouth.
6. Thou shalt not buy thy spouse a floor jack for Christmas.
7. Thou shalt not promise thy spouse a new addition to the house, and then use it to store cars.
8. Thou shalt not tell thy spouse the entire cost of the latest restoration, at least not all at once.
9. Thou shalt not allow thy sons and daughters to marry during the Car Show Days of Hershey.
10. Thou shalt not deceive thy wife into thinking thou art taking her for a romantic Sunday drive, when indeed thou art going out to look at yet another car.

Pennsylvania or Bust

This years' national meet in Farmington, Pennsylvania was no different from any other year's meet. It was fantastic! The weather could not have been nicer. The cars were beautiful and the people, as always, made the time there most enjoyable. Minnesota attendees included Dick and Alice Flaherty, Merle Williams and his son Terry, Garry and Mickey, and myself. My journey started off with a lot of last minute catastrophes including dog and puppy problems, cows getting out, and our Dodge van breaking down. All this led to Denise staying home, and I continued on with our Dodge pickup and car trailer on behind. I missed her all week and that was the only down side of the trip. With all of my bad luck getting going, Mickey and Garry left without me, but I almost caught up with them by driving until 2:00 am. When we got up the next morning we were less than fifty miles apart, so they waited for me and we caravanned the rest of the way. They drove their '57 Desoto. I may give them a lot of grief about their car, but it was a beautiful sight going down the highway.

The arrival at the host hotel was preceded by the steepest climb up I have ever had to drive. The Historic Summit Inn sits on the summit of a Pennsylvania mountain which has a three mile incline to get to the top. This was a test all week for cars while touring. My '32 Chrysler, which I trailered out to the meet, had a very hard time negotiating the steep hills of the area. Several cars overheated, and one '66 Chrysler station wagon had a transmission fail. The area was certainly a grueling test of transmissions and brakes. The view from the hotel looking westward over the valley was worth the trip out there. The sunsets each night were gorgeous. In my helter skelter departure from home, I forgot my camera, so Mickey shot all the pictures for this trip. I hope she got one of the sunset. Our driving tour on Monday was to two homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. They were very beautiful. One, called Fallingwater, had a river and falls right under the house. The next day we took a bus tour to Pittsburgh, where we rode a paddleboat down one of Pittsburgh's famous three rivers. It was very relaxing and informative. We then ate lunch at an old train station that was converted into a restaurant. The room was huge and magnificently topped with stained glass windows. After lunch we bussed to the Frick Museum. Mr. Frick was the right-hand man to Andrew Carnegie in the late 1800s. His home was an enormous three story mansion which has been preserved in it's original state, including contents and furnishings that were actually owned by the Frick family. This was an experience I would highly recommend to anyone traveling to the Pittsburgh area. Out behind the house was a car barn that housed several beautiful horse carriages and cars that were owned by the family over the years. There were no Chrysler products but it was a fine tour nonetheless.

The following day was a day with no tours planned. It was just a day to do whatever you wanted to. Dick and Alice Flahery, from our region, and another couple drove to the crash scene of flight 743. I was told it was a most emotional experience. I just sat around the hotel and mingled all day and polished the old car up for the next days' show. In the evening we drove two miles down the road to a winery where we had wine tasting, a pig-roast dinner served to us, and a hayride. It was a lot of fun and we had a lot of laughs. The car show on Thursday was anticlimactic to me. The fellowship with club members all week was much more memorable than the car show. The banquet on Thursday night was very nice. We passed around an envelope and asked for donations for the Iacocca Foundation. In all, we collected $419 dollars. Garry and I presented the Iacocca Award to Woody Hummer from New Jersey. Woody and his wife Sandy do so much for promoting the WPC Club. He is a true ambassador and a great representative of the club.

Friday morning was get up, get loaded and get going on the long dreaded drive home. Once I'm in the truck and leaving, I just want to be home. Garry and Mickey headed east to Gettysburg to attend the last couple of days of the national Desoto club meet. It was a fantastic week and I look forward to next year, when we will be in the Sacramento area. Every year I look forward to seeing old friends and every year I meet new ones at the national meet. Hope you plan to attend next year. Happy trails to you,

Greg Biskey

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Welcome to 10000 Lakes Region WPC Club

Ten Commandments for the Car Collector

Pennsylvania or Bust

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