Motorfest V

By Tom O’Donnell

Sam and Nina Van Bruggen trailered their 40 Ford to Archbold, OH, and Ron Dopke, Norm Lang, Madeleine and I went in my modern car.  There were over 60 people and just 13 V-8's at the Motorfest.

The welcome party was held in the hotel, with a cash bar and food.  There were a couple of awards presented, the Clara Bryant Ford award was presented to Wanda Stonebraker for her support of the Foundation and museum and The Spirit of Jerry Windle award was presented to Bill Tindall for his contributions and support of the Foundation.  The rest of the evening was spent catching up with the news of old friends and meeting some new ones.

The next day was spent at Sauder Village enjoying the presentations of the craftsmen plying their trades.  They were making baskets, barrels, tin goods, and glass blowing.  It was a very interesting day.  Later there was a tour to a covered bridge and a Christmas store.

We had dinner at the Barn. A very nice buffet was provided and Dave Stonebraker’s daughter, Vera Hauersperger, told the story of Clara Ford by acting as Clara.

Friday we drove to Auburn to visit the museums.  Our party went to the Hoosier War Birds museum where we were given a guided tour by a man that was a WWII military photographer.  He gave us a detailed history of the planes and how easy they were to handle.  He showed us the photos that he took of Nagasaki after the Bomb was dropped.  He was the first to take aerial photos of the devastation.

We had a nice lunch in a converted church in downtown Auburn and then went back up to see the Foundation Museum.  It has changed since the National meet.  There are more vehicles and more exhibits.  The Trustees set up tables inside the Museum for our picnic.  After the picnic, there was an auction of items brought by attendees and extra items from the Foundation.  One item contained a $100 bill and it was sold for $30.  The auction was a lot of fun and we had a very good time all through the Motorfest.  We are ready to go to the next one.