Back from vacation: museums and shows

**whulsey** · #1 10-03-2009, 05:27 PM

Pulled in about midnite last night from vacation: 2500 miles in 10 days. Started off the 2nd day with a visit to the War Eagles Museum at Santa Teresa, NM between Las Cruces, NM and El Paso, TX. A small collection of cars including a gorgeous Packard roadster, an Auburn boattail speedster and Aston Martin DB4. A good collection of a/c primarily from the 30's through 50's including a really nice early Piper Cub, a beautiful Waco and a stunning black P38. Also nice display of engines. A real highlight was having a great talk with one of the museum trustees who gave me a tour INSIDE the DC3 they have.
Next was on to Alvarado, TX (I'd forgotten how long that drive from El Paso to anywhere else is) and the Johnson County Settler's Antique Tractor, Farm Equipment and Truck show. For me the Ford lover other then a Ford Jubilee and a couple of nice 8Ns the pickings were slim. It was a sea of John Deere green with a sprinkling of Case orange and MM yellow to set it off.
After a few days of seeing the family and cruising around the old home grounds, it was head back to AZ. On the way, stopped by the J&R Vintage Auto Museum in Rio Rancho, NM (just north of Albuquerque). The owners are really into The Great American Race for vintage cars so there were several of the cars that have competited in it, including the 1917 Marmon that was the 95 winner. They have a good selection of preWW2 Fords along with some GM and Chrysler cars. But what really stands out is the Packards and other more unusual cars including my 2 favorites: a 1927 Peerless boattail coupe and a 1931 Reo Royale sedan. There were also several vintage trucks, motorcycles and engine and accessories displays. They also have a nice gift shop with die casts, memorabilia and BOOKS. I hurt the credit card bad.
Good trip overall, now just have to get all the film developed and prepare for when the credit card statement comes in.

**birder** · #2 10-03-2009, 07:45 PM

Hey Whulsey, sound like a cool trip! Would like to see those pics..

**whulsey** · #3 10-03-2009, 07:49 PM

It'll be a few weeks before they all get developed (I know everybody is telling me to go digital) then I'll see about posting a few.

**whulsey** · #4 10-10-2009, 12:35 AM

Got a few rolls done, some here's a small selection. The aircraft at the War Eagles Museum really came out terrible. Big space without much light. Guess I'm going to have to seriously start looking at some digital cameras, since they seem to handle that situation pretty good.

Anyway there's a carriage that was hidden in the back at the War Eagles Museum, didn't have any info on it. Then from the Alvarado, TX show a 1949 Oliver Model 70 running a Case Thrasher. From the J&R Museum in Albuquerque is a rear shot of the 27 Peerless Model6-90 boattail coupe and a 3/4 of the 31 Reo Royale. Lastly my long term project of trying to figure out how to do these without a lathe or milling machine with dividing head, a 32 Ford wheel. Those never been an accurate 32 19" wheel done. The old AMT kits were a 16" wheel so they could use existing tires, the new Revell kits don't have a stock option.

**whulsey** · #5 10-13-2009, 12:12 AM

Here's a couple of more for some variety. A 1942 Ford firetruck from Alvarado, TX and then from outside Cleeson, TX a shot of some of the Ft. Worth and Western Railway motive power. Each of their engines are named with a western character, the front one there is Butch Cassidy.

**Don Boose** · #6 10-13-2009, 08:59 AM

Great photos! Clearly, it was a wonderful trip. From my perspective, you wsere focusing on exactly the right stuff.

Don

**Art Deco** · #7 10-13-2009, 09:41 PM

Enjoyed your photos, thanks Whulsey!

On that '31 Reo, I wonder, is that blue really the stock color?