At The Vintage - Hot Springs, North Carolina

Every year (except during the pandemic), BMW lovers from far and wide converge in western North Carolina to attend The Vintage. The event is held in the town of Hot Springs, a few miles north of Asheville. It is a fun time to share stories, gaze and admire your friends' antique BMWs, and admire how much they must have spent on the meticulous paint jobs and reupholstering (using the correct type of paint, leather, etc.). And you can swap parts and tell tall tales. 

I attended The Vintage in 2017 and 2018. My little car chugged along happily and did very well on the twists and turns of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Running over 2000 miles with some aggressive driving blasted out carbon and other gunk from the cylinders and fuel injectors.

Here is a small sampling of the cars gathered at Hot Springs and at the venue motel, the Hampton Inn & Suites in Fletcher. 

Hot Springs

Rare Baur TopCabriolet version of the E21 body, 1978-1981. Probably not officially imported to USA.

Baur was a German company that modified BMW sedans into convertibles or semi-convertibles. The E21 body had only been designed as a hardtop, so it was not rigid enough to remove the entire top. Therefore, you see this unusual partial open top.

 

Beautiful clean US model 320i (note the 5 mph bumpers), 1975-1983

The E21 was the first 3-series. It followed the famous 2002 model in 1975 and was in production until 1983.

BMW 700 Saloon, minus its bumpers, 1959-1965, 30 hp.

BMW Isetta (1955-1962), with one-cylinder, four-stroke, 247 cc motorcycle engine

BMW 600 Saloon, with single rear door and 582 cc boxer engine, 1957-1959

Paint an Isetta - show your artistic talents

Fletcher, NC

Bauer TopCabriolet version of the famous 2002 coupe (1971-1974?). The wheels are modern.

2002 Touring (1971-1974), a fastback version of the 2002 sedan. This was rare and possibly not officially imported to USA.

The gorgeous 3.0 CSI version of the E9 body (1971-1975; this one probably 1974)

The ever-popular 2002 sedan, this one pre-1972 or 1973

Another 2002 sedan without front bumper and with modern wheels. Note the swing-out quarter window.

E-28 4-door sedan (1981-1988), possibly a European model (note small bumpers)

Heading Home

The Blue Ridge Parkway is a fun way to head west out of Asheville. My little car has nimble steering with excellent feedback for the winding roadway, and had no power issues despite its little 1800cc engine. I did not notice any obvious loss of power even at 6000 ft elevation. This car has Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection, which may adjust the fuel mixture for changing altitude.

My E21 320i, purchased new in Houston, Texas. Richard Balsam Overlook.

Where did that fog and freezing rain come from? 

I bought this little car in Houston, a year after moving there with a brown non-air conditioned Buick. Summer of 1980 was just unbearable in the city, and so was the Buick.

April 1981, Houston, Texas (badly exposed Kodachrome slide). This grass strip is now the Westpark Tollway. 

This ends our short visit to The Vintage. I wrote about the Blue Ridge Parkway in 2021 and the road to Hot Springs in 2018. I will most likely not return to The Vintage. It is a long drive from the Pacific Northwest to North Carolina. Thanks for riding along!

More Treasures! Smith's Appliances, Magnolia Road, Vicksburg (Abandoned Films 05d)

Smith's Appliances on Magnolia Road in Vicksburg sells old machines, freezers, and odd treasures. I love places like this, and Mr. Smith generously let me take photographs inside during 2020 when I was on one of my episodes of exploring around town.

As you can see, Mr. Smith emphasizes gasoline and motor-oriented artwork and souvenirs. There were also some household appliances, and I assume he repairs and sells them. 

I took the black and white photograph on my last roll of Panatomic-X film with my Leica M2 camera with 35mm and 50mm Summicron lenses. I measured the light with a Gossen Luna-Pro Digital in incident mode. This roll was grainy and underexposed compared to the previous one that I used in the Adolph Rose Antiques. I assume this roll had aged too much despite having been (supposedly) frozen in storage. It is a warning that expired film is always a bit of a gamble. But the grittiness works well for this type of topic; please click any frame to see more detail.

Treasures! The Adolph Rose Antiques, Vicksburg, Mississippi (Abandoned Films 05c)

Adolph Rose Building in the center the block (Cooper Post Card Collection, from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History) 

Clay Street view east with Adolph Rose Building to the left (Fuji X-E1 digital file)

Adolph Rose Antiques occupied the first two floors of the historic Adolph Rose Building at 717 Clay Street in Vicksburg. This handsome brick structure is one of the finest remaining examples of a multi-floor commercial building of the type that demonstrated Vicksburg's commercial ascendancy and prosperity in the late-1800s. 

In 2006, the adjoining building at 515 partly collapsed when some workmen were starting some form of renovation. I wrote about the mess in 2011. No one was hurt, and the damage to the Adolph Rose building was repaired. Now the lot is empty (see the photograph above).

Sadly, Malcolm and Karen sold the Adolph Rose in 2021 and closed their long-running antique store. Before their going-out-of-business sale, they generously let me explore inside with my camera. (Click any picture to expand it and see details.)

Ground floor of Adolph Rose Antiques (Fuji X-E1 digital file)

Rear (north side) of ground floor (Panatomic-X film, Leica M2 camera)

The street-level (ground) floor occupied half of the structure. On the other side of the long wall is the Strand Theatre. The Strand is active and is a venue for independent films and live productions from the Westside Theatre Foundation. The building was remodeled to include the Strand in 1934, and the cinema was active for decades.

Scales, cookware, a wringer-clothes washer, James Dean's toilet - it was all available here. I did not check if the old tube radios worked. 

Old-fashioned shoe lasts to prevent leather shoes from curling when stored in the closet. How many of you readers have used shoe lasts? They really do prolong the life of shoes, cowboy boots, and hiking boots.

The glassware was backlit near the back wall. Nice display.

Sturdy stairs lead up to the second floor. Up here, the antiques occupy the entire width of the building. This was a nice, airy space.

Books and LP records were on the second floor. None of the LPs interested me as they were rather romantic or schmaltzy 1960s offerings, but there likely is a market.

This ends our brief exploration of the Adolph Rose Antiques.

Several apartments are on the floors above, but they had tenants and were off limits. I do not know if the new owners of the Adolph Rose will continue to rent the apartments.

I wrote about a similar treasure/antique store on Halls Ferry Road in 2013. Sadly, that store closed in 2014 and all the neat items disappeared somewhere.

I took most of these 2020 photographs on 35mm size Kodak Panatomic-X film using my Leica M2 camera with 35mm or 50mm ƒ/2 Summicron lenses. Panatomic-X is a slow film, but that is what was loaded in my camera. This was one of my three last rolls and was in perfect condition. The light was a mixture of side-lighting from the tall windows along with tungsten and halogen bulbs overhead. I bounced flash off the ceiling, but it was so far above the furniture, I suspect there was minimal extra fill. Most were 1 sec. exposures, tripod-mounted. The traditional Panatomic worked well for this type of subject matter with just the right graininess (please click any frame to see more details). All comments welcome. Please see earlier articles dealing with other abandoned (discontinued) films.

Still Open: Gibbes & Sons Grocery, Learned, Mississippi

Most of the country stores we have looked at in previous posts are closed, victims of changing times and loss of nearby residents who once patronized these stores. But in the little town of Learned, Mississippi (near Utica), the H.D. Gibbes & Sons grocery is still open for business.

Learned is a nice little town, clean and neat. The grocery is at the corner of Main and Pine Streets.

Lunches are served on these polished tables.

Walk on in - it is visual delight. All sorts of old-fashioned stuff greets you: bottles, signs, displays, antlers. But this is a working store, so ask the nice-looking young lady for a drink, candy bar, or even some groceries. One side of the store has a ladder on a rail so the shopkeeper can reach high shelves. The store has an active restaurant on Friday and Saturday, well-known for steak (a carnivore-type of place).

Learned has some more square-front buildings that may have once been stores.

Tired? Find a rocker and put your feet up.

Interior photographs taken with a Panasonic G3 digital camera with Olympus 9-18mm lens. Exterior photographs taken with a FujiFilm X-E1 camera. I reprocessed the raw files with PhotoNinja software. This is the type of place to revisit with real film.