The Sept 2023 P15 Picnic Tour had Colonial Region participation from Sept 14 to Sept 17. Home base was about 20 minutes outside of Hamilton, Ontario where participants from Missouri to the N.E. gathered their vintage Mopar Vehicles. The Colonial Region participants (Ruops & Palmers) traveled from Ct. right past the Falls so a pit stop to see the Horseshoe & American Falls on a spectacular #10 weather day wouldn’t surprise anyone:
Homebase was right off the QEW right next to the lake so we knew we were in the right place when we got to the hotel:
As the Sun rose on what was the next perfect several weather days the view was spectacular:
After a trip up the Escarpment & across the Brow we set on on a tour of the Fruit Lands & Vineyards at a slow enough pace to take everything in…..including working vintage vehicles dotting the landscape along with solar panels & wind generators. Pit stops at very large vineyards started up a car show as did any venture through small towns encountered:
Note the vintage Buick Skylark that was the caboose helping to insure we all stayed together at the every turn, detour, long light, or any other surprise that popped up. The system worked very well especially the “rule” that the car ahead was responsible for the car behind.
The next day included more touring before the late day dinner cruise. A pit stop at a garden stand complete with giant pumpkins revealed the commitment to solar while providing green farming methods:
There is enough power in that sun tracking unit to power two all electric houses and their electric cars!
The dinner cruise left near dark so the 1 hour ride back after the cruise required the vintage vehicles to have decent lights for the travel.
Fantastic weather. light traffic, and excellent touring conditions along with the planning & attention to important facets of the tour made this a great touring event. Most Mopars were represented with a great variety of 40’s vehicles. Local participation by Ontario Mopars insured that knowledge & experience was there to make the tour a success.
Several suggestions were floated for next years touring so we’ll be anxiously awaiting what emerges over the coming months as the selected one. At one point I counted almost a dozen vehicles including the caboose so this size touring group is almost ideal when it comes to planning everything from hotels to meals to events.
Gorgeous pictures and a nice write-up. Sounds like the perfect tour for the antiques and classics to finish the summer.
We are envious.
One part of the tour would definitely leave Don speechless; we pulled into a home with two barns & at least two dozen Mopar
trucks starting in 1934 up to 1980 that were fully restored to better than factory condition. Fargo, Dodge, & Plymouth. They were rare models. The owner has several people come in each week to maintain & polish the trucks. We were there several hours taking it all in before the trip to the scheduled dinner cruise. One hint on the 78 to 1980 was it had dual chrome factory stacks & a factory 360 V8. It didn’t have a catalytic converter because the gov’t messed up by saying CARS needed to meet the emission standards…..no more hints.
As noted.. super pics and seemed like a wonderful time. Unfort as usual, I have too many irons in the fire to get away. I at least did manage to strip, sand, and refinish the sway bar and all related attaching parts on my 62 restoration project (pretty much done… just some minor parts refinishing before the weather gets too cold or damp to paint outside).
Envious… looks like a great time !
The P15 PICNIC TOUR has a lot of touring designed for pokey Plymouths (or any Mopar) so as long as your rig is roadworthy consider participating. There is a hard luck trophy & a long distance trophy but otherwise “bring what you have” is the only theme. Since the trip plans are generally planned by “locals” they know what to include & what not to include for roads & pit stops since they know the area well. There was an old Caddy & Buick too serving important functions like keeping everyone from getting lost at lights, intersections, & detours.
Some cars are trailered in ( in this case a North Carolina car) but in general most drive their vehicles. If something goes wrong (like the clutch failed on a 49) a nearby garage with a lift owned by one of the locals examined the car before the the tour was even over so the 49 owner knew what parts were needed. Additionally the owner even got a 400 mile ride to his house. What more could one want in a tour?