November 2023

2023 National WPC Meet

By Greg Biskey

The 2023 WPC Club national meet is in the books. It was a fabulous time, at

least for this Midwesterner who had never been to Buffalo, New York. I arrived on

Wednesday, August 2nd, at the Buffalo Marriott Niagara. There were very few club

members to be found, but during the rest of the day, many started arriving.

On Thursday morning we hopped on a school bus, driven by a club member from

Buffalo, and headed for the Pierce-Arrow Museum. I wasn't that interested in going

there, but upon arrival I was shocked at the contents of the museum. There was

so much to see including artwork, bicycles, historical items from Buffalo, and of

course, the Pierce-Arrow cars that originated in the factories of Buffalo. We were

given a personal tour by the museum founder, Jim Sandoro. It was spectacular.

We were given a brief history of the Pierce-Arrow Motorcar Company, from its early

days of bicycle building to its glory days as builders of one of the premier cars of

the time. Besides dozens of rare, beautiful cars of all makes, we were lucky to see

the actual 1907 Thomas Flyer car that won the first New York to Paris 'round the

world car race in 1908. The Thomas Flyer, built by the E.R Thomas Motor

Company, from Buffalo, was the only American entry in the race. There were no

maps, no roads, and lots of obstacles. The story of this race is a subject all its own.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1908_New_York_to_Paris_Race

The car was purchased in 1963 by auto collector Bill Harrah, and he had the car

restored to the condition that it was in at the end of the race. It currently is owned

by the National Automobile Museum in Reno, Nevada, the museum which was

formerly Harrah's Museum. The car was on loan to the Pierce-Arrow Museum

during the time we were there, so we were very fortunate to see it.

Another very interesting sight at the museum was a gas station that was designed

by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1927. The station was never actually built, but the

reproduction exhibit was constructed and completed in 2014. It is two stories high

with a copper roof, and a neon Tydol gasoline sign, and of course a couple of 20's

cars filling up at the pumps. It was very impressive. The room which held the station

was gigantic, with all glass windows forming one end of the building. This was one

of the finest automobile museums I have ever been to.

From the museum we boarded our bus and motored to the Buffalo River, where

we boarded a sightseeing cruise boat onto Lake Erie. We cruised under the Peace

Bridge, which is one of the busiest border crossings in the world. We also passed

by one of the oldest yacht clubs in the nation and a boat house there that was

told us many interesting things about Buffalo, and pointed out several buildings

and landmarks, including a General Mills factory where Cheerios are made.

Friday we again loaded onto the bus plus a van, and motored to Niagara Falls.

We bought tickets to the Maid of the Mist, which is the boat ride that takes you right

under the falls, so close you get soaking wet from the spray. We were given

ponchos when boarding. It was a spectacular experience, and we all had a lot of

laughs while on the boat. I tried to take videos of the falls, but being my phone was

new to me, and I had never taken a video before with it, all my videos were of my

armpit. I tried to keep my phone dry after each video, so I would put it under my

armpit. Unfortunately, I was hitting the wrong buttons on the phone to start and

stop videoing, so my videos actually started when I thought I was stopping them.

It was very entertaining to everyone else, but I was disappointed. The whole falls

experience was breathtaking, and I know why it is such a popular landmark.

Saturday was the car show. We had a very nice turnout of cars, largely due to

the new region in New York that joined our club and helped coordinate the whole

meet. I had helped set up the field on Friday night for the show, and we had more

cars than we anticipated, so parking them by class became very difficult. But we

made it through it, and it was a great car show. Surprisingly, only one DeSoto was

entered. I was sorry I didn't have a car there to display, but the thought of pulling

a trailer over a thousand miles in hot weather just didn't appeal to me this year.

Overall, the meet had a few glitches, as they always do, but was a very fun week

and nobody wanted to leave. I asked everyone in the lounge on the last night if we

could stay another week. I hated to see it end.