Club Tour
Driving Tour – September 16, 2023 – Beechcraft Heritage Museum – Tullahoma
If You Missed this HR&R Tour, You missed a Real Treat!
Saturday, September 16, our great Honk, Rattle, and Roll Club headed for Tullahoma on a rainy, drizzly day after enjoying coffee and donuts at Loafers’ Glory. Several members arrived early and enjoyed just sitting and conversing prior to our leaving.
Our lunch stop was at Damron’s Restaurant just a few miles from our ultimate destination. This little restaurant was fabulous! Everything was homemade and delicious. The hamburgers were hand-rolled and huge! Several club members stated that they eat there regularly and have never had a bad meal! This place is highly recommended!
After lunch, we arrived at the Beechcraft Heritage Museum. The airfield was covered with small, privately owned aircraft. HR&R did this same tour in 2017; however, the museum has added a new and even larger building since then. The airplanes, particularly the “cut-away” planes and engines, were truly fascinating.
This tour was attended by 44 club members, most of whom drove their modern “iron” due to the weather. However, one vehicle did truly stand out – the Amphicar driven by Mark and Vicki Qualls.
Special thanks to Paul Collins, the Tour Director, and Russ Barnes, the Tour Planner, for all their time and effort in planning a wonderfully fun and educational day for all of us! Thanks, guys!!
Driving Tour – Honk, Rattle, and Roll’s Shop Tour – May 13, 2023
Another great car tour!! Over 40 members were in attendance.
Highlights included:
Tom Collins’ grand collection and the stories behind the cars
Terry Stegall’s place and his discussion of the restorations underway were not to be missed.
Then the great Barbecue meal and tour of David Huskey’s shop was the very best!
Special thanks to our Tour Director, David Huskey, for arranging a fabulous day!
Special Thanks to our Tour Planner, Russ Barnes, and to our hosts, Tom Collins and Terry Stegall. Also, thanks to our great photographer, Arlene Timbs.
Thanks to everyone who attended!!
Driving Tour – October 12, 2022 – America’s Senior Heroes’ ’22 Appreciation Tour
HRR’s wrap up tour for the 2022 season, America’s Senior Hero’s ’22 Appreciation Tour, was a triple treat. It began with a visit to Charlie’s Custom Creations and Machines in Murfreesboro, where the group was given an insider’s view of the in’s and out’s of the custom fabrication process used to create show stopping rods capable of supercar speeds. Especially impressive was their use of 3-D printing to fabricate grills and other car parts.
Next, the tour followed scenic backroads for lunch at the Barrell House II BBQ restaurant located on the premises of the Nearest Green Distillery just on the outskirts of Shelbyville. This tour member gives it a four Michelin star rating in the BBQ category. It would have received five stars if they had toothpicks at the register. The highlight of the lunch was Cindy Jones conducting the 50/50 raffle just as she and Rick had done for so many years.
Finally, the tour swung by assisted living facilities in the Shelbyville area. As has been the case in years past, the residents were enthusiastic and extremely grateful for the classic car parade in their honor. The tour was held up for about 10 minutes at the last stop to allow the residents to finish their bingo game. This leg of the tour was especially meaningful since it was scheduled as our May event but had to be cancelled due to the weather forecast. Thanks to Greg Faulk and Sally McKay for organizing the tour. An extra loud shout out goes to Russ and Pat Barnes for mapping out a pastoral tour route and dealing with the logistics of creating a time table involving a rod shop, a restaurant and three assisted living facilities. The club should consider giving them a bottle of Nearest Green’s finest.
March 12 Driving Tour – We Made “Lemonade”
The weather was not the most cooperative this Saturday…. not that we got the 3 to 6 inches that were “possible” according to the forecasters. But……
we did get enough of a “skiff” of snow that it made the roads a bit less than desirable.
We had a low turn-out at Loafers Glory that morning, but 14 folks enjoyed the hot fireplace, hot coffee and conversations before the decision was made to postpone the Falcon Rest Mansion cruise until a later date. Hopefully the weather will be much better and more folks can join in for the day! Perhaps it wall be at a time when the gardens will be in full bloom and glory.
As we were already gathered, we decided to head on over to the Boulevard Bar and Grill for more conversations and lunch. After a good time there, we all headed on our separate ways.
August 14, 2021 Driving Tour to Columbia
Our tour to Columbia to visit Mefford Motors turned out well despite the cloudy weather. We had 36 members attend with a good selection of classic cars on the run. We enjoyed visiting a working garage that specializes in classic & custom cars of all types. Our host, Mike Mefford, was able to show us a number of the project cars they’re working on. Then we moved on to Catfish Campus for a really good catfish lunch and lots of socializing. A number of the members went to visit some of the other Columbia shops & attractions after lunch. Thanks to all who attended. – Greg Marshall
April 24, 2021 Driving Tour
What started out as a threatening day weather-wise, actually ended up supporting the much-maligned Butch Roth premise. It actually did not rain on us during our stops. We had left loafers glory slightly behind schedule but quickly made that up driving east on country roads. As usual, the countryside was “worth the watch”.
At our first stop, Graveyard Restorations, we met with Mark Seybold and his team. Club members will remember the Antique Automobile article in the Jan/Feb ’21 issue, about his restoration of a very rare 1937 Chrysler imperial convertible coup. There were only 351 built with the whereabouts of 4 not known. We were amazed when we were shown another 37 Chrysler convertible coup being restored there presently. It was obvious that things move slowly in his shop, because of many factors. Hand-made new parts, search and find missions for others, slow the restoration process greatly. Eventually, on average a quality restoration may take at least 2 or more years.
That stop aroused our need for “rest and recreation”. This was obtained nearby at an Amish Deli. It is called Four Corners Bulk Food & Deli. They provided us with deli sandwiches, drinks, and all the fixings, plus, soft-serve ice cream. I noticed many other items which left the store in our cars, as well. Why not, THEY even take credit cards.
After traveling on Route 70S back to Murfreesboro, we visited Powder Pro, a powder painting shop owned by Richard Shehane.
He provided us with the history of this painting technique and showed us examples of its many uses. He had done many car parts including wheels, which piqued our durability interest. However, when he showed its versatility when applied to lawn furniture, special gates, as well as interior furniture, everyone’s interest piqued. In this era of “save the planet”, I was very surprised and thankful to learn from Richard that the painting material used is totally inert and eco-friendly.
Another trip is in the book, thank you for attending.
William Bucher
Russel Barnes
February Tour to Woodbury
The first Honk Rattle & Roll Tour of 2021 is in the books! We had 29 folks on the tour and what an age range in attendance; from the youngest at (nearly) 15 months to Tom’s mom who is (older than Tom)!
It was a beautiful drive to Woodbury under a clear sky with the snow-covered hills glistening in the bright sunshine. The roads were clear with no troubles from earlier in the week’s snow and ice. Tour guru Russ made a ‘Plan B’ to avoid some of the less-traveled back roads and had already road-tested this new route to be sure all would be in the clear!
After a quick rest stop in Woodbury, we arrived at ‘The Wooden Boatman’s’ place. He designs, builds, and restores fine wooden boats and counts singer Alan Jackson as one of his customers. Refurbishing one of these classics includes rebuilding the hull, making any needed structural repairs, engine rebuilding or replacements, upholstery repair/replacement plus any other needed work. It’s all done right there by one man in his shop.
We viewed boats that were in process of restoration and an as yet untouched boat ready to be started on. Travis had pictures of boats he has designed and built and explained the processes he uses to bring these boats back into prime condition.
Leaving his shop we headed to lunch at DJ’s Pizza and Steakhouse in Woodbury. They were very accommodating in keeping us ‘together, but separate’ in their outside enclosed and heated patio space. Although they specialize in pizza and Italian meals, they have a varied menu, including excellent burgers and sandwiches, and great service.
Once all were finished with lunch, we hit the trail again heading toward McMinnville and ‘Third Gen Automotive’. This family-owned and operated shop stocks, sells, refurbishes, rebuilds, and repairs all manner of ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s Ford autos and parts. They have quite a collection of spare parts of all kinds, from fenders, wheels, engine parts, etc.: bumper to bumper (including the bumpers)! Many parts are refurbished originals but he also has NOS and new parts. Anything you need down to the correct nuts and bolts that hold things together!
They also had several cars in the shop that he was in the process of working on. One of his next jobs involves going to Michigan to pick up a few cars from a collection that need to be refurbished for sale.
Selling parts mostly by the website they are kept busy packaging and shipping parts all across the US and the globe and doing restoration work on customer (and his own) antique Fords. In his “spare time”, Michael is searching out old cars, parts, collections, and anything else he can find and procure for the old cars.
They hope to be holding an “open house” and antique car meet later this year and he has promised to invite us back for that. This would be a great opportunity for one of our “off-schedule” extra added attraction tours!
Tour at Edgar Evins State Park
WOW our first off schedule Driving Tour of 2020 was well attended we had 27 members & friends attending. Thanks to William & Kathy planning skills we all had a great time on selected roads and we picnic together. We hit a few short rain falls but when arriving at Silver Point in Edgar Evins State park the rain stopped , sun came out making the view and picnic great !!!! When viewing tour pictures taken by Arleen Timbs you will see we had 27 in attendance with 14 vehicles on tour which included 10 Old Iron & Classics and 1 Motor Cycle. Please take the time to thank William Warlick, Kathy Warlick and Arleen Timbs for trip well planned.