Page 16 - Discover Fall 2022

Vintage Adventures CONTINUED

Dawn broke mercifully as we met the Other no place for the ill-informed, as the offerings ranged
Dave in the café across the street for breakfast. from true bargains to “wooden nickels”, and included
Therein we continued to catch up with each other, everything in between.
resuming a long chat that had begun the previous
Early in the day, I chanced upon three fellows
evening on the hotel’s second floor outdoor balcony.
After a fight over the check, which would mark every wearing t-shirts emblazoned with the “Mopar”
logo (the nickname for Chrysler auto parts), except
single meal, we headed out to Carlisle. I had brought
instead of “Mopar”, the lettering on their shirts read,
my pickup truck as our transportation, as I was
“Moneta”. We obviously needed to talk.
hoping to return to the lake with at least one sizable
piece of automotive treasure.
I caught up with them, and employing my best
affectation of the Virginia vernacular, I asked them
We arrived early in the morning to the carnival
“Are y’all from Virginia?”
atmosphere that is Carlisle during this type of event.
Locals capitalize on the limited availability of parking
They all about-faced at once, and exclaimed
spaces by charging $10 to allow you to park on their
excitedly, “No, but we know there is a Moneta (they
front lawns. We found a lot across the street from one
pronounced it Mo-nett-a) in Virginia; we’re from New
of the entrances to the fairgrounds; it was operated by
York”.
the local fire police, and also $10, so we chose to park
there. Another sawbuck apiece gained us admission, It turns out that Moneta is their family name,
and we were awestruck by the size and scope of this Italian in origin, and a friendly conversation ensued.
event. They have a family reunion at Carlisle every year, and
those who are interested in cars include a trip to the
As far as the eye could see in just about any
fairgrounds as part of their weekend.
direction, we saw a veritable sea of cars, parts, and
tools of every description. It was difficult to decide We all turned our respective attentions back to
where to start, and even after spending the entire day the main event. I have never seen so many ’55 through
there, I’m not certain that we managed to see it all. ’57 Chevrolets in my life, not to mention Model T
bodies and rare and collectible cars, going back about
Numerous manufacturers and retail vendors
100 years. We marveled at such rarities as a 1950
dotted the landscape, interspersed with untold
Plymouth with 63,000 original miles, all original
numbers of private sellers who had brought along
except for a recent paint job, sharply contrasted by a
their surplus cars and parts. This venue was certainly
pitiful example of a ’68 Firebird convertible that was
14 Discover Smith Mountain Lake FALL 2022