Antique caravan stops in Goldsboro
By Dennis Hill
Published in News on July 24, 2015 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
Clyde Minges II of Fayetteville smiles and smokes his cigar as he cranks his carriage car up after a pit stop at Mickey's Pastry Shop and Bakery after showing his car along with the rest of the Horseless Carriage Club on Thursday.
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
The group forms a caravan of antique cars as it heads to the next stop on its eastern North Carolina tour.
Heads were turning all around Goldsboro on Thursday as a bevy of antique cars and trucks maneuvered around town following a car show at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base.
About 75 vehicles that are part of the North Carolina Regional Group of the Horseless Carriage Club of America are on a weeklong tour of the area and took in a tour of the base as part of their trip.
The club, which only includes vehicles made before 1928, put on quite a show, with onlookers waving and beeping their horns whenever an antique vehicle passed. The News-Argus caught up with part of the group when they made a pit stop at Mickey's Pastry on Graves Drive.
"We just love old cars," said Richard Landis of Clinton, who was driving his great-great-aunt's 1918 Ford couplet. "It lets me wind down, and it brings me back to earth. You get a chance to stop and see the world around you."
Landis said North Carolina's chapter of the national organization is one of the most active on the East Coast, with car owners from as far away as Georgia and Florida coming to be part of the caravan.
"Nobody can capture what we've got here in North Carolina," he said.
Landis said the club is a family affair, with some three-generation families taking part.
"It's like a really big family," said Janice Weaver of Pinetops as she and her sister Natalie worked to replace sparkplugs on their 1910 Ford Model T Speedster. "We grew up in the hobby."
David and Kathy Edge of Lumberton were ferrying their family around in a 1922 Cadillac. Edge said he has been part of the club for about 20 years and that it gives him and his family a chance to fellowship with other antique car enthusiasts.
"You see the countryside differently than you do normally when you go out with a group like this," he said.
During the week, the club made stops in Garner, Bentonville and other area towns. They enjoyed visiting museums, manufacturing plants and other car collections and drew attention wherever they went.
"We do all kinds of stuff," Edge said, noting a pig pickin' at one location and a pizza party at another.