The Bullet and the Midget: Dixie Picnic, Car Show, and Amish Country

Pepe's 1940 Buick

After my morning ride on Saturday, Charlene and I took a big spin on the MG. We began by going to breakfast at a place called Dixie Picnic in Frazer. To get there we just headed up 252 and made a hard left at 30 until we got to Frazer. The food wasn't bad but it wasn't particularly good either. I had an omelette that was very eggy, maybe their sandwiches are better but the breakfast was not worth going out of the way for.

From there we just headed West on 30 to get out to Amish Country. We didn't have any particular destination but Charlene wanted to go to Stolhfuz's Nursery on Newport Road in Intercourse so we headed in that general direction. We did not take the 30 bypass and drove through Downingtown which turned out to be a good thing because we noticed a small car show going on in front of the VFW. We pulled over, parked the car, and strolled it. It was a show sponsored by the Delaware Valley Oldsmobile Club so it was mostly that, Pontiacs, and Buicks. Mostly newer stuff but there were a couple of interesting cars like a 1940's Caddy and a Sequoia Cream 1940 Buick owned by a guy named Pepe which was amazing.

1956 Dodge in Paradise

After hanging out at the show for a little while we continued on West on 30 and stopped at Paradise Motors, surprisingly enough in Paradise, to check out some of the old cars on the lot. By this time had already overshot Newport Road but we were unaware that we had done so. As always, there were some interesting cars in the lot, a '56 Dodge for $9K, a '72 Bug for $8K, a rusted out Valiant, and a nice Corvair among others. Every time I stop there I find something I like. I wouldn't mind either the Dodge or the Bug. When we got back in the car two little boys who were in the lot with their father came over to ooh and aah over the car. One of them said, "real old school" and asked me where our kids rode.

From there we went on to Cackleberry Farms to do some antiquing. After leaving there we followed Waze to get to Stolhfuz's but it led us through a wild goose chase all over Amish farmland were we saw countless buggies and Amish bicycles. It's amazing that even Amish boys wave and give the thumbs up when they see the car.

Eventually I figured out that we were just driving around in circles and I had Waze lead us towards Intercourse because I knew that Newport Rd ran through there. Once there it was easy enough to just follow Newport Rd until we found Stoolfuz's. After stopping there we ran back to 30 and went to Gap to fuel up at the Wawa on 30 and 41. At the Wawa the tank took 6.175 gallons at $3.069 a gallon for $18.95 total. Since the last refuel we had put 143.7 miles on the odo and it read 3550. The MG is doing 23.27 mpg which I think it's pretty good for this old car.

1811 Barn

We headed back on 30 this time taking the bypass to 100 and that down to 202 and the West Chester Pike. While on the bypass, a black Maserati convertible passed us like we were standing still. We took the Pike to Ellis Rd and that to Strasburg. At the corner of Ellis and Stasburg we found an antique shop in an old barn and stopped there. The lady that runs the shop has a cute Old English Sheepdog called Waldo and the barn has a date of 1811 scratched in the stucco. I think the barn is older, the house is from the 1700s but I think it was stucco'ed in 1811 and that is why the date is there. We bought an old chair from her that I'll have to go back and get because there was no way it was going to fit on the MG.

We had a great long ride, unfortunately, the sun was brutal. I ended up pretty sun burned on my arms, neck, and face. But despite all that we had a wonderful time and we found some nice places to cruise to again.

The exotic tally stands at 10 Ferraris, 9 Teslas, 7 Maseratis, 3 Cobras, 2 Bentleys, 2, McLarens, 1 Austin-Healeys, 2 Lambos, 1 Rolls Royce, 1 DeLorean, and 1 Unknown.