The "One Of My Favorite Pastimes: Part III - My Favorites #2" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Posting my final edition of vehicles that I enjoyed at the Manheim Township Rotary Club car show held at Neffsville Community Park in Neffsville, PA. I enjoyed myself immensley as I walked the grounds of the park looking at the 600 vehicles that were part of the 15th annual show.  I chose about a dozen of the cars and trucks to post on my blog, not necessarily because they were the best cars in the show, but because they were the most interesting to me.  The owners of each vehicle were quick to talk with me about their vehicle and were fun to listen to as they described how they acquired their car or truck and added the needed restoration, if necessary.  I still remember when I had my 1987 Vette and was in their shoes when someone would approach me asking questions about my car.  My time at the show was not only informative, but fun.  Great Saturday afternoon on a beautiful fall day.  Now, check out the final cars and one bus that I have posted today.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Mr. John K. Stauffer was a very knowledgable fellow, but somewhat elusive and hard to follow.  He told me he built this car from scratch from parts he obtained and made.  His car was listed on his windshield car description as a 1933 JKS LeMans C.R.  My guess is that the JKS referred to his initials, but the rest is anyone's guess.  Parts of the car's hood were wood.  I searched on "Google", but came up empty-handed.  Check out the photos and enjoy the car.  If you have any ideas that could help describe the car better than what I have listed, please leave me a comment.

A partial side view of the JKS car.

Interior of the car.

Rear view of the 1933 JKS LeMans C.R.

This 1913 Ford Model T belongs to Rich Meier.  I talked to Rich's wife who told me they had to travel about two miles to get to the show.  They live close to my home in Manheim Township, but I have never seen this car before.  The car was in remarkable shape and a wonderful antique show car.

The hood ornament was interesting.

On either side of the front of the cab were gas lanterns.  The car still had headlights.

I asked Rich if he had converted the car to electric start, but he told me he still starts the car with the hand crank.

Interior is rather stark with three metal pedals, and a handbrake.  The leatherwork was pristine.

There was only one lantern on the rear of the car.  It did have a red glass dome on it.  Here you can see the wooden spoked wheels and leaf springs that cushioned the ride.

This photograph shows Joe Grosso with his sandals resting on the back of his 1955 Buick Special.  I can still remember my Grandpap's 1955 Buick and taking trips to Root's Sale to bid on boxes of animals that he won for me to take home.  This gray and white '55 is in great condition and Joe enjoys telling people about it.  

The interior of the car is in great shape, but does feature a large amount of speciality gauges and levers which were evidently used for drag racing this car at one time.  

The grillwork is much the same in the 1955 and 1956 Buick.  When I lived in Grandview Heights, my next door neighbor had a 1955 green and white Buick.  She could no longer drive the vehicle and told me to take drives in it to make sure it was still in working condition.  I drove it a few times to the school where I taught and even had my yearbook staff gather around it for a shot we used in the school yearbook.  A true classic car for the 1950s.

The last car I will feature also brings back memories from the past.  Carol and I owned a VW Bus for a few years while our children were growing up.  The bus was used for quite a few vacations with two bikes strapped on the front and three more on the back.  Luggage was strapped to the roof and the rest was inside along with the kids.  We needed to go as fast as possible down hills to be able to get to the top of the next hill.  Turning left was always fun since the horn would blow every time you pushed the turnsignal down.  And, when you turned on the heat, smoke would come out of the window vents.

This is a 1961 Type II, 23 Window Deluxe Samba VW Bus which belongs to Greg Falk of Lancaster, PA.  He bought it in 2012 and had it restored the following year in California.  It is in beautiful condition.  I love all the roof windows which were not part of my VW.  The two front windshield windows can be opened.  The interior was immaculate as was the rear engine compartment.

A few more features of this remarkable car are: 1 of 8095 sold worldwide in 1961, a "hump back" bench seat and rare ambulance fans.  The wheel rims and trim rings have the original date stamped on them while the engine sports 40 horse power and a 6 volt battery.