THE CONCOURS D’ELEGANCE
at The Greenbrier
“What a beautiful day,” I said to my wife, JoC, as we headed out our driveway in our 1931 Model A Ford Victoria Leatherback. For those not familiar with the Vicky, I’ll digress for a moment. Ford produced 4.8 million Model A’s between 1927 and 1931. However, the Victoria was built only for a few months near the end of Model A production. It was Ford’s luxury model, with an unusual shape, the back end is pushed out to form a bustle. The back seat is hinged so it can be pulled forward, exposing a storage compartment. The first Victorias were produced with a soft, vinyl top referred to as a Leatherback. To save money, Ford quickly converted to an all-steel top. There are fewer than 700 Victorias on the road today, and fewer still are Leatherbacks.
It wasn’t long before we were cruising down the interstate at 60 mph—the Vicky purring like a kitten. Our destination was the famed Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, host of the Concours d’Elegance. It’s worth noting that The Greenbrier, a high-end resort, was built with a subterranean bunker intended for use by the president and cabinet in the event of a national emergency.
We were about 70 miles from home when disaster struck. The engine started banging like someone was beating on it with a sledgehammer. I pulled onto the shoulder and knew immediately that I wasn’t driving the Vicky to The Greenbrier. I called my grandson, Mitchell, and asked him to bring my truck and trailer—and to have a friend drive JoC’s Jaguar. When Mitchell arrived, we loaded Vicky onto the trailer, transferred our belongings to the Jag, and continued on to The Greenbrier. Once Mitchell got back home, he dropped the oil pan and confirmed the bad news: I had broken the crankshaft.
