Ron & Delores Compton, Mike & Carol Smith, Bobby & Mary Garrett, Charles and Barbara Beasley of the Mid-Tenn Classic Chevy Club were willing to give it a try.

After checking our cars over to make sure they were ready to hit the road we decided to split the trip into two small trips. We left Nashville at six in the morning and headed North on I-65 to Louisville. Then to Cincinnati, Ohio and on to Dayton where we stopped to visit the Packard Museum. We were treated to a tour of the entire facility by the museum Director and learned a lot about these fabulous cars.

The next morning we continued on the second leg of our trip arriving in Warren, Michigan in time to check into our Hotel and rest before heading to the first of several museum tours. That night we drove the two wagons to the Henry Ford Museum where it was reserved just for the Chevy folks. After dinning in the Main Hall we were then given the run of the place until 1:AM. and almost saw it all.

The next morning we headed to the GM Heritage Center, which isn't open to the general public. This place is where some concept cars and rare and unusual cars are kept, like the first Chevy with a V8 sitting close to the first Six cylinder. One of Dale Earnharts Nascar number 3 was on display. In the lunch line we had the privilege to talk to Richard Earl who is the grandson of Harley Earl who was head of GM styling until 1958. Harley had the single most impact on the design of the 1955 than any other person at Chevrolet. He is working on a book about his life. We ate with Michelle Schultz daughter of the late Bob Cadaret, renowned GM designer and artist who was most known for his work on the '57 Chevy. We also met Marry Gazett who wrote "The Hot One".

We were given a 50th Anniversary pin that was limited in numbers that's sure to become a collector item. After lunch we headed to the Walter P. Chrysler museum which is open to the public and saw a great collection of muscle cars from the Sixties including several Street Hemi's.

Not mentioned before were several sight seeing trips around various byways trying to find these places of interest that were hiding behind road construction and no left turns almost everywhere, you see they have these things where you make u-turns after you pass the street you want. That night we arrived way too late to see the concert with Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels at the outdoor amphitheater at the GM Tech Center.

The next morning after breakfast we headed back to the Tech Center for the ceremony. We arrived too late to get close to the building and almost won the award for parked the farthest away. There were 100 '55 chevys, 11 '56's and 19 '57's in the 200 plus cars registered with the rest being 58 thru 72 and Camero's making up the rest. The Tech Center houses the 1st original '55 V8 along with the '99 Nomad concept car. The Tech Center is a huge building that appears to be sitting in a lake. What a sight it was to see all these beautiful cars gathered around it. On the street side of the Tech center there was a Corvette show going on that had as many cars as ours. It was not part of the celebration but added a lot of Chevrolets to the gathering.

Each car there had its picture taken and presented with the framed inscriptions and logos.

After the speeches were made and some awards presented we headed back down the highway to Troy, Ohio and spent the night. The next morning we went to a covered bridge and made some pictures, then headed toward Cincinnati. Ron smelled Gas and radioed to all to confirm they smelled it to. After a few miles he still smelled it worse than the rest and pulled off to a gas station and found gas spraying everywhere from a fan blade cut to the rubber gas hose. After a small repair we headed into town and Ron's car went dead in the street from a failed battery. We switched batteries with Mike and made it to a place to buy another one. That night after stopping in Bowling Green to eat, Mike had a flat tire.

But what a Trip. Next year '56's.

-Submitted by Ron Compton