2015 TENNESSEE MOTORAMA
I made my way to the Tennessee Motorama today in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. It was a great show to kick off the new year. Here are a few of my favorites.
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STONES RIVER CAR CLUB HARVEST CRUISE-IN
Had a great time with the good folks of the Stones River Car Club today. They are part of the Antique Automobile Club of America and are based just south of Nashville. I pulled the Vette out of the garage at 7:30am and was greeted by a brisk and sunny morning that turned into one of the most beautiful days of the year. It couldn’t have been a better day for a cruise-in and while I was one of the first guys to arrive, the place filled up quickly with some great looking cars. Here are some of my favorites. You can see more photos here.
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SOMETHING WAS REALLY BUGGIN’ ME TODAY!
Until a few months ago, I was unaware there was a Volkswagen club located close to me here in Middle Tennessee. I should have known, I suppose, but since I’m not really in the VW circles, I just wasn’t aware. The Wolfsburg Alliance of Middle Tennessee states that their mission is…”To bring the Volkswagen community together in our area.” And they certainly did that today with a fine show. It was well organized and a lot of fun. Here’s a few pics I took and if you’d like to see more, visit my Photobucket gallery here.
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METROPOLITAN
When I spotted this car at the local cruise-in this week, I wasn’t quite sure what it was. But, the “M” logos on the hubcaps quickly “jogged” my memory and I realized I was looking at a Metropolitan. I remember my dad talking about these early “compact” cars and had read a little about them at some point, but I don’t remember ever having seen one in person.
This example had been expertly restored so, of course, I started taking several pictures with my trusty Canon. And the more I looked, the more impressed I became. Literally every inch of this car was like new and in pristine condition.
My interest was definitely peaked, so I did a little research when I got back to a computer. Here’s what I discovered:
The Metropolitan was offered from 1954 through 1961. This example would have to be somewhere between 1959 and 1961 given it’s external trunk lid, which was not available prior to 1959. The car was initially conceived by Nash Motors who commissioned an innovative designer named George Mason to create a basic transportation vehicle that would be easy on the pocket book both at the dealer and the gas pump.
Today the Metropolitan has become a sought after collectors item. You can find out a lot more about these cars and the growing passion for them by visiting the Metropolitan Owners Club of North America on-line at www.mocna.com.
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SPITTING OUT BUGS AND A WAY COOL SPORTY
Today was a busy day and with the weather as nice as it was in Middle Tennessee I was more than ready for an early evening ride, so I hopped on the Electra Glide and made my way out of Nashville to Henry Horton State Park located in Chapel Hill, Tennessee. It was a pretty normal ride and I enjoyed every part of it… but one.
Those of you that know me well, know that I sing a lot… so much so that half the time I don’t even know I am doing it. At one point in my life I was a full-time musician and even today much of my work is related to the music industry so I guess it is natural that music runs through my head a lot.
Well anyway, as I rolled onto Tennessee State Highway 99 I immediately started singing a song from one of my all-time favorite bands… Toto.
“99… I’ve been waiting so long, oh 99 where did we go wrong… PWAAHHHH, SPIT, SPIT, SPIT”
Out of nowhere and completely unexpected… something happened to me that has never happened to me before. A bug flew in my mouth. That’s right… in 40 years of riding I have never had a bug fly in my mouth… until today. And this was no little nat either. Whatever it was was about the size of a peanut (for real) and luckily it hit my front tooth or it probably would have went straight down my throat.
My first instinct was to spit it out which I did in a split second.. and in fact I kept spitting for the next 10 miles or so. It was pretty gross and I brushed my teeth as soon as possible when I got home… in fact, thinking about all of this again, I’m going to stop writing and go brush my teeth again right now… be right back.
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I feel better now. Anyway, I think I may start singing to myself more on the bike.
On the way back home I stopped off at Bumpus Harley-Davidson for my first Bike Night of the year. Man it felt good to just hang around all those bikes and bikers after the long winter. But I’m really glad I stopped for another reason too. The guy that owns and operates Mad Dog Customs in Murfreesboro, Tennessee was there with his latest project. He specializes in giving Sportsters an old-school/bobber look and if the bike below is any indication, he is really good at it. This bike is an ’02 with less than 5,000 miles on it but looks way retro and way cool. I FREAKIN’ LOVE IT! I took a bunch of pics so if you want to see them CLICK HERE.
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