Hi, Myself and wife are flying to DC in April from England for a vacation. We've been round Arizona/south West/4 corners area, Florida etc before and generally hire a car, drive several thousand miles over a couple of weeks chilling and sightseeing. Can anyone suggest any good hotrod shops, car meets, old towns, swapmeets etc we can visit between 27th April and 12th May 2011 within a couple of hundred miles radius of DC? Thanks, Joe.
Burtonsville, Md. on the North side of D.C. just outside the city on Rt.29 @ Rt. 197 each Sunday morning hosts the "Church of the Holy Donut" cruise/get-together. On a nice day there may be 200-300 cars of all varieties (not just traditional cars for sure). Starts early (8 or so, and ends after a few hours). Good place to find out what else might be going on around the area. Shame you're not going to be around through the May 21st weekend as the Jalopy Showdown in nearby South-Central Pennsylvania is a traditional event considered by most folks in the area as a "not to be missed" show.
Capital Cruisin' is a good website that lists all the events and cruise nights in the D.C. area. It's still early in the season, so they haven't updated all the 2011 events yet. Keep checking back. http://www.capitalcruisin.com/ Also, Spring Carlisle is April 27-May 1. http://www.carsatcarlisle.com/ce/index.asp
I would be up for a day's garage tour. Church of the Holy Donut is really dood. Also Marly Station Mall, which I believe should be running by then every Saturday night. I am pretty dialed in and could get you around to all of the cool places: Hot Rod Garage, Bad Donkey Hot Rods, see if we can hook up with the Bay Area Hot Rod garages, Rusty Nuts Hot Rod Group (who do the Jalopyrama show), Vintage Tin,etc. What are your specific interests? There are tons a places to go, if you "know". PM me. Jay
Thanks for those suggestions guys. I'll make a note of those and get them marked on the map before we come over. .....Joe
Just like "Joe Padavano" already mentioned, Spring Carlisle is on the same week You said You fly in. THE swap meet to see in the area at that time of the year. That´s roughly 2,5 hours north of DC, should be simple enough to get to, and have plenty of stuff there to see. Friday should be the busiest/best day to go. Just get there early, and be prepared to walk. Also, (although You won´t be able to see it on the same day-trip as the Carlisle Swap), there´s the AACA Museum in nearby Hershey, PA, aka "Chocolate town USA". Two or so towns over from Carlisle,PA or alternately 2,5 hrs north of DC. It´s a fairly new museum, and the most impressive setting. I understand part of their display is of their own collection they rotate periodically and the other part is an alternating "theme" -exhibition. http://www.aacamuseum.org/ Probably the best way to find smaller gatherings in the most immediate radius would be through listings in local, cars-for-sale -style publications available at filling stations and newsstands. HTH, Best of luck.
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