1923 McLaughlin Buick Adventure to Louisville

[unimogjohn]

Well, my Avanti work has slowed to a crawl so I thought you all might be interested in our trip to the 75th AACA Anniversary Show in Louisville, KY. At least this will be a short thread as we will only be gone for five days. This will be our first big outing for us and the 23 McLaughlin Buick (MB) model 45 Special Export.

A little history. I bought the MB over three years ago in Rochester, NY. Had to make two trips up and back from VA to get the car and all the parts. It was an almost complete car (maybe 90%) with all the major mechanicals done, most of the paint, and a partial interior. With the exception of the mechanicals, body and fenders, everything else was in boxes and not marked. Took almost two years to reassemble everything and to find lots of small parts that were lost. Finally, she is about 95% done. We have built the MB to be a good driver. She is not a show car or trailer queen, except to get us places where we have to use the freeway.

The car was born in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada and shipped to England as one of perhaps dozen right hand drive export cars. The cars were shipped to England and Australia. I know of only one other 23-45 MB right hand drive, and it is in Australia.

The car was purchased by Ethel Edith Hickmott of Maidstone, Kent. Ethel was the daughter of a very wealthy family and lived in the family manor house all her life. Her driver's license from 1925 was found in the door panel of the car where it had slipped out of the pocket and behind a panel. She had the car for many years, and then gave the car to her church where it went to the USA with her pastor who was going on a mission assignment. The car remained in the New England states until we purchased it.

This will be her first big event. I was not going to have her judged, but decided to do so just to get a baseline score and for fun.

Today, I spent a few hours washing and cleaning, and putting the top down for open car towing. Tomorrow we will load her on the trailer. On Wednesday we plan to be on the road at 4 AM, I figure that we will pull in to our hotel and register the car at 5 or 6 PM. The trip from VA to KY is about 600 miles.

Of course there are always mishaps along the way, it always seems like an adventure. Take tonight, I pulled the trailer to a flat spot, and pulled out the ramps to get a start on tomorrow's loading and packing. Good thing I did some checking, the trailer has a flat tire, a nail right through the middle of one tire. I do have a spare, but we will get that tire fixed tomorrow. Like I say, every day is an adventure.

Here are some pics of when we got her, and some from today.

[John Gelfer]

Wow what a beauty! Congratulations on being the next caretaker of this fine machine. You are a lucky man. Enjoy the ride.

[30 Hupp]

Absolutely beautiful, John! You should be proud!!

Dale

[trimacar]

Make sure the top is not pinched between bows. Make sure you somehow secure the top so it doesn't become a big sail and get ripped off at 60 miles per!!!! I know, I'm like a parent preaching to the baby sitter......

Have fun, be careful. Beautiful big car!!

[unimogjohn]

It is Tuesday, June 29th. The farmer down the road has 65 more bales of hay for us, so we are in between packing and getting the hay put up. Did I mention that it is 97 degrees!

Well, the Trailblazer is all packed with spare parts, covers, etc, etc; and the car is all loaded and ready to go. Here is a pic of it before we put covers on the glass parts of the car. Just in case a rock decides to take flight.

Alice ran into town this morning and got the flat trailer tire repaired, not one nail, but three!

We are really looking forward to the meet. Going to be lots of fun for sure. Heading down the road at 4 AM tomorrow.

Thanks for all the nice comments. I do appreciate them. Glad you like the car.

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

John, are you coming to Ames for the BCA National?? Would really like to see your Buick.

Ben

[Bill Stoneberg]

If we dont see you in Ames this year, plan on Boston Area next year....

[unimogjohn]

Ben and Bill, we will be in Boston next year, maybe with both Buicks.

It is July 1st. We drove 12 hours yesterday. What a long haul over the mountains of West Virginia. But we did OK, no problems. Gas usage was 14 mpg going about 50 in the mountains and 60 on the flats. Total mileage was 582.

Arrived at 4 PM, checked into the hotel, and went over to the show registration. What a mad house, people everywhere. Stood in line for 30 minutes and left with our tickets, plate, etc. The event plate is beautiful and well made. We unloaded the car, moved the trailer to the expo grounds as no unloaded trailers permitted at the hotels, and went out to dinner. Got back about 8:30, both pooped for the day, and went to bed.

Activities for the day include getting gas for the MB and of course some cleaning, going over to see all the vendors and tour options, and then a paddle wheel cruise and dinner on the Ohio river this afternoon. Over 700 cars registered with 1300 or more people. Old cars are everywhere. Should be an exciting first day.

We are going to get to move the cars into the arena grounds on Friday if we want. We will probably do that to give us more time for a final cleaning, and a better chance to look at all the cars. That is what I really want to do.

[unimogjohn]

It is Friday, July 2nd. The second full day of our trip. Today, we are heading to the George Patton Museum at Ft. Knox, then will take the MB into the Expo Center for early placement, and finally the big dinner.

But yesterday we had a great time. First, we slept in. We looked around the hotel lots and saw lots of cars being unloaded and driven. What a great sight. Then we decided to take a driving tour of Louisville and headed down into old town. Saw many early homes and buildings. Like going back in time about a hundred years. Then we decided to visit the Expo Center where other events we taking place. So we decided the swine show. Alice loved it. To end the day we went on our first AACA event, the steamboat trip and dinner on the Belle of Louisville.

But first, here are some pics of the cars and other stuff we saw.

Edited July 2, 2010 by unimogjohn (see edit history)

[unimogjohn]

The dinner tour on the Belle of Louisville was the big event of the day. It was so popular that two sessions had to be arranged, 450 for the first trip; over 500 for the second. Lot of people and all talking cars.

We were on the first trip. Loaded us into school buses for the 20 minute trip to the dock. Folks were like kids again on those yellow buses, but it seems like most would barely fit into the seats. They were small! Too small for us big kids.

We arrived at the Ohio river and went on board. What a grand old boat. Built in 1914 and still chugging along. It is still all steam powered with boilers feed with diesel. It was great to see the river with all its industries on its banks. We saw ship building, metal processing, lumber, coal, sand/gravel, and barge docking stations. Truly, it is still a working river.

We had a nice dinner as soon as we got onboard and then left the dock. Lots and lots of Mayflies. These insects live for just 24 hours, breed and die. And they are everywhere that has a shiny surface that attracts them. Lots of folks were "bugged" out by them, but we just brushed them aside and enjoyed the ride.

Here are some pics of what we saw.

Edited July 2, 2010 by unimogjohn (see edit history)

[unimogjohn]

It is Friday, July 2nd. Another nice day, a breeze and about 83 degrees with low humidity. A perfect day.

Got up early and headed to the Patton Museum at Fort Knox. First time I had been back there since my Armored training back in 1969. Kinda like going back in time just a bit.

It was a very nice museum with lots of equipment. Here are a bunch of pics of what we saw.

[unimogjohn]

Still Friday, but now 2 PM. Time to get the car to the arena for early placement, lot of other folks had the same idea so it was a long slow grind to get into the show field. I was told that 675 cars were registered, and about 2000 people.

We did not have any problems with the car, and even managed to keep her semi-cool while just sitting and waiting. I was waiting for the dreaded vapor lock, but everything was great.

We spent about an hour talking to folks, but we had a mile or so walk back to the hotel to make. So we left with lots more cars pulling in. Now we are getting ready for the big dinner in an hour or so.

Here are some pics of the cars that were coming in. Lots of great automobiles. I am in awe.

[unimogjohn]

Here are a few more pics.

[unimogjohn]

Friday night, it is the banquet and opening of the show. We had a great time visiting with folks at the table, and the food was really good too considering the size of the crowd. It was a very good time indeed. Here is a pic of 1/3 of the crowd. It was huge.

[unimogjohn]

It is Saturday. The meet is over, we are packing and will head home tomorrow morning. We had a great time looking at all the cars and meeting lots of folks. It was a great adventure.

We could not believe the level of restoration on many cars, and those that were not restored shined in all their glory. And there were all kinds and types of cars too, that made it really interesting.

I took almost 200 pics, to many to post here so put them on the Photobucket site. Here is the location. Hope that you enjoy them.

AACA 2010 Louisville Meet pictures by unimogjohn - Photobucket

[unimogjohn]

A couple of additional notes. Lots of people stopped by to say hello and chat. A couple of them stand out because they are major contributors to the forum. Bernie and his Dixie Flyer stopped by to say hello. He has a major blog on this forum and his restoration efforts are well described in the AACA magazine. Here are a few pics of his car, The Dixie Flyer.

Also Bob Coker stopped by to see the car since he has been following the blog. He said that I forgot to post some pics of his fantastic 1953/54 Buick from the 1954 GM Motorama Show. So here is some pics of his great Buick. It is awesome.

[R W Burgess]

I saw your car John and spoke to your wife for a few. I also had intentions of coming back and catching up with you, but I ran out of time taking pictures, or the energy to walk back. As you said this place was huge, a wonderful place for a car show though.

Hope to catch you next time.

Wayne

[Scotts_DG8]

John,

After reading all your posts, covering your Avanti Refresh along with this recap of of your trip to Louisville, and looking at all the many pictures you have posted I've come to the conclusion that you had to have been a reported in a past life. Very entertaining and informative all the time. And, after following this post I wish I could have made the trip to Louisville. Have a safe trip home. Scott...

[unimogjohn]

Well we made it home. Packed up and hit the road at 7 am and arrived home at 7 pm; twelve hours and another 572 miles.

We had a great time at the show and enjoyed showing the car. There were some really beautiful cars and great people.

Would we go again, yes. The event was well organized considering the number of people, and the ability to put the cars inside with air conditioning was great. We met a lot of people, and talked to so many we were about out of breath.

This will be my last post for this topic. Hope that you enjoyed it.

A friend shot this pic so I thought I would close with it.

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

John, I thank you for this thread. The pictures are great.

Ben

[MCHinson]

John, it was great meeting you and your wife. It was a great meet. As soon as I recover from the lack of sleep, I need to see about posting some photos.

[unimogjohn]

It is Saturday, July 10th. Received a letter from the AACA office on Friday, but did not open it until this morning. Well, I guess we did not hear our name being called at the awards program because the letter said that we had received the Second Junior Award for the class. I was surprised to say the least. This was inspite of several blunders on my part which resulted in more deductions than necessary. I am not a trophy person, but in this case I think I will send off for it, for the car of course.

Thanks to everyone for reading this little blog.

We will be going to Canada in early August for the McLaughlin Buick Club tour in Ottawa, Ontraio. This is a non-judged event, based on just touring around the countryside for three days. They do give out a member's best car award, and the 23 received it last year. I think due to the fact that we took it up every year during the restoration so they saw the evolution from a box of parts, to a static display, and finally running down the road. Maybe I will do a short blog on the meet too.

[trimacar]

Wow, congrats John! That's great that your car did so well, you should be and I'm sure you are very proud......well done!

[TexRiv_63]

John,

Congratulations on your win, you deserve it. We would love to hear about your trip to Canada, those of us still trying to get cars on the road live vicariously through adventurous people like yourself!

[Jay Wolf]

Congratulations on your second junior.

[unimogjohn]

Thanks all. Appreciate all the nice comments. Received the award from the AACA today. Here are a couple of pics. Now, I have to finish the last few things on the car, and she will be done. But before I can do that we will be off to Canada the first week of August. Thanks again. And I hope you are all working on your cars. and driving them too.