Seven cars and nineteen folks from the Mid-Michigan (Lansing) and Crank & Throttle (Olivet) Model A car clubs made their way south to tour the Vicksburg Quilt Trail in August. The tour was organized by John Renner of Battle Creek who made two visits to Vicksburg to lay out the route and have dinner at The Vault to test it out. He approved and reserved it for the others who made the trip and stopped there for lunch. They also stopped in Scott’s on their return home for ice cream at Scooters.
A novel feature of the tour was a “poker run” where each car stops and takes a card from a deck of cards in a small container affixed to eight of the quilt trail mailboxes. When they got to Scooters, they compared to see who had the best poker hand.
These cars were built between 1928 and 1931 and 4.8 million were manufactured. Today, a refurbished one might be purchased for about $5,000 if it had a good paint job. At the time they could travel up to 50 miles per hour tops, but with 80 plus years on them and a 40 horsepower engine, nowadays they usually cruise at about 35 mph. Walkie Talkies are employed to manage the convoy, according to Renner. “You have a lot of time to enjoy the scenery at that speed.”
When the Model A drivers and their passengers arrived at Quilt #9 on the trail, they were greeted by Joe and Stephanie Orr, owners of the barn on 27th street. The Orrs served cookies that Joe’s mom had baked as she, too, is a quilter and hails from Lake Fenton, MI. Tim Andrews of Vicksburg brought out his own antique tractor, and Jim Mills had his Ford Model AA truck there to display as part of the photo opportunity in front of the Orr’s barn, pictured here.