2016 Spring Drive
By Mary Petersen

The Michiana Brits began their 2016 driving season with the annual Spring Drive. This year the drive was held on Saturday, May 7th. The day started cool (in the 50’s) and cloudy when they met at Stack’s Pancake House at 8:00am. Most ate breakfast before arriving.

Cars lined up in the parking lot of Stack’s Pancake House awaiting the start of the Spring Drive

A driver’s meeting was held in the parking lot prior to leaving.

The sun was shining but it was still chilly. Some brave Brits put their tops down despite the temperature. There were 11 cars for the 2 hour drive on back roads to Auburn, Indiana where we toured the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum.

It was a beautiful drive. The trees were starting to get leaves. The grass was green and flowers were popping up everywhere. Some of the roads were winding (and enjoyed by most of the drivers). In Indiana, in the spring there are also the occasional slow moving farm equipment, Amish buggies to maneuver around, and horse manure to avoid.

We stopped in Albion for a short break. Some of the LBC’s parked by the courthouse and got plenty of attention by the people of this little town that is the county seat of Noble County. It was a longer than planned stop; getting 20 people headed in the same direction takes time.

The Brits arrived in Auburn at a little after 10:00 for our tour of the museum.

The Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum is more than a building filled with over 120 automobiles and related artifacts. It also contains a wealth of historic information pertaining to Auburn Automobile Company, Duesenberg, Inc, Cord Corporation, Auburn Automobiles, Cord Automobiles, Duesenburg Automobiles, Auburn Automobile Company executives and lots more. The most significant artifact in the Museum’s collection is the building itself. It served as the International Headquarters of the Auburn Automobile Company from 1930-1936. The site is designated a National Historic Landmark.

The ground floor showcase is decorated in the art deco period. There were beautiful lights and in the background is the Grand Staircase to the second floor.

There was something for everyone.

The party car…complete with a bar

Bev Glanders admiring The Beverly

Tom Shumaker trying out a race car.

Bob Petersen checking out the racing helmets

John Dillinger’s car

Deb Shumaker seeing what it feels like to drive back in the old days.

During the tour someone noticed that it had started to rain so the drivers that braved the cold to have their tops down had to dodge raindrops to put their tops up. (We were hopeful that it was just temporary.) After the 1-1/2 hour tour guided by a docent, we drove across town to Mad Anthony’s Tap Room for lunch. There the food was fantastic. The service was great and the beer was cold and good. They served brewpub fare and hand crafted beer. When it was time to get back on the road to travel toward the South Bend area, Keith and Mary Wishmeier’s Spitfire had a starter problem but not so much that a little push start from the Brits wouldn’t solve the problem.

Just a minor problem for LBC drivers

The rain stayed away after the brief shower that forced the tops to go up. After lunch, the sun came out and it stayed warm until we were a few miles from South Bend when the clouds came back and the winds were very chilly. All in all, it was a fantastic driving day. Thanks to Randy Glanders and Keith Wishmeier for setting up the trip and to Mary Wishmeier for checking out the restaurants for us.