Vintage vehicles bring smiles to WW&K

Among those attending the 28th Wings, Wheels and Keels (WW&K) were a wife and husband, whose names are not known. As they got about 10 cars deep in a field of 170-plus vehicles, she remarked to him, “You only get to ask two questions.” Allowing two questions per car, appeared to be her effort to keep him moving. He may have thought one question would be, “Why didn’t you stay home?” But he didn’t say it.

One question is usually enough to keep car guys, “answering” for hours. It’s a way for them to relive their happy times, the challenges won in reviving and keeping their vehicle running.

Cars take us where we want to go, and away from places we don’t want to be.

On Saturday, they brought a lot of smiling people to Hummel Field airport in Topping.

Jamie Barnhardt, who serves as chairman of the Middlesex Airport Committee, came up with the idea for a car and aircraft show in the late 1990s, remarked after this year’s show, “For nearly three decades, Wings, Wheels and Keels has been an opportunity for Hummel Field airport to become a bigger part of the community, and for the community to become a bigger part of the airport.”

This year 21 airplanes and one gyro-copter flew in for WW&K, including two vintage warbirds military aircraft that did a flyover when they left.

A big hit was the twin rotor military helicopter. “If you’ve never seen the inside of one, it’s worth the trip,” said Mark DeMaria of Kilmarnock, as he and his wife left the helicopter. It had a special meaning for them because their son served with the U.S. Army’s Airborne Division in Afghanistan.

Rusty Gill, who has served as WW&K chairman for eight years, said, “The participation was great. The Wings, Wheels and Keels crew and the Friends of Hummel all came together. It ran like a well-oiled machine this year.” Gill operates ICS Service, an aircraft maintenance company, at Hummel.

Two questions

For those who understand the fascination with machines, no explanation is needed. For those who do not get it, no explanation is enough.

The Sentinel asked a few questions of some of the vehicle exhibitors at WW&K. Here’s what they had to say.

1935 Rover Saloon 10

Among the vehicles display was a 1935 Rover Saloon 10, “One of Britain’s Fine Cars” touts a sales poster. Ben Swecker of Lottsburg on the Northern Neck has owned the car for 12 years and has kept it in its original condition — right down to the original picnic basket that can be mounted on a special pull-out frame on the rear…