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Almost 50 antique cars – dating from 1920’s and earlier — rolled in to Oriental for a midday visit Tuesday. The pace was leisurely.

This antique car was behind most of the pack, and inching up the Oriental Bridge moments before it got some more power and coasted down .

The Little Car That Could… breathe easier once over that crest.

The NC Horseless Carriage Association, a group of antique car enthusiasts is holding its annual gathering in New Bern this week, and Oriental was one of the day-trip destinations. On Tuesday, about 45 cars made the trek to Oriental. They left at 8 in the morning, sought out the back roads and arrived in town around 12:30pm.

Model T’s and other Fords and non-Fords rolled down the bridge’s hill in the noon-hour.

A sportier model.

Little reduction in speed needed.

Some drivers — and passengers — said that the bridge provided a nice breeze, but on the flat ground, the air was still and the freon-based air conditioning, still decades away. Hand-powered fans were deployed by Rae Garrison of Fayetteville and others in her family’s black Ford.

After arriving in Oriental via the bridge, the Horseless Carriage drivers and passengers had lunch at Brantleys and later parked their cars at Lou Mac Park and answered questions about them. Then they headed back to New Bern, this time, up Highway 55 and, what seemed a daunting thing for some of the participants, taking their cars at 35 miles an hour, over the Neuse River Bridge.

A photo essay of the cars’ — and drivers’ — visit to Oriental follows:

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Posted Thursday July 24, 2008 by Melinda Penkava

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