Steve & Terri Besore in their 1950 Chevy Pickup joined Michelle and I in our 1939 Ford Sedan for the drive over to Alpine for the Blast From The Past Car Show. The weather was great mid 70s in the morning warming up to 82 in the afternoon. This year is the 8th time that they have put the show on and they had probably the best turnout ever. I am guessing about 100 cars made the at least one hour plus drive to a town at 8500′ out in the middle of absolutely nowhere.
Some really nice cars showed this year. Steve Wing had his new 1955 Chevy gasser out. He built it for the Drag and Drive series his 1st time out was at the recent Tucson Nostalgia Drags. Car looks great! Also there was a 1955 I think Mack Semi Tractor that I would love to own.
The show is very well organized and really a lot of fun. Both Steve and I won runner up trophies, which are always unique at this show. This year they were small gumball machines with the show info placed on them…
Several of our friends from the White Mountain Cruisers won a number of the trophies as well. We enjoyed a nice drive back to Show Low with Steve & Terri. It’s nice to have club friends living up here now!
42nd Annual Tucson Rodders Days
4th Ave, Tucson, Arizona
Presented by the Tucson Street Rod Association
We had a large group traveling to Tucson this year. The Thursday group met at the Slab and took the backroads through Florence to Lupe’s in Oracle Junction where Michelle and I met them for lunch. We came down through Winkleman on 77 to avoid the blasting and construction on US60. The group consisted of Bob Bailey with out Miss Betty, Dave & Anne Bennett, Larry & Brenda Besore, Charlie & Danise Cover, Jim & Carol Dalton, Ron & Jan Olmstead, Ken Schaaf & Dee Guintoli, Larry & Theresa Way and Michelle and I. Thursday evening we all went for dinner at the Pinnacle Peak Patio which was set up by Tony & Jeanine Cruze. Unfortunately Tony was not feeling well and he stayed home. I highly recommend the ribs! which were exceptional.
On Friday Page & Linda Barnes, Steve & Cindy Bryant, Paul & Judy Nolte, Larry & Sandie Wiebeto and club friends Manfred & Connie Wagner and Greg Selvidge & Sherry Hoffler drove down and met us at the hotel.
On Friday, the Thursday group went on the cruise up to Mt Lemon for the annual Burger Burn. The weather was sunny but cool so most of the group was bundled up and sitting in their cars… just sayin…
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Mt Lemon Burger Burn
On Friday evening there was a dinner and auction which Michelle and I did not attend. We met some of our off road racing friends for dinner, so I do not have much to report…
This year we were back on 4th Ave, which IMO is one of the better car show venues. The shops are quite eclectic and provide something for the participants that want to do more than sit behind their ride, with a duster in their hand. The show was moved to the U of A Mall for a couple of years while the light rail train tracks were being laid. Sad to say the old street cars have been replaced by new high tech trains. For some reason they had a SUV leading the way for the train all day, I guess the idea was that it would prevent distracted walkers from getting ran over.
The Over the Hill Gang Phoenix at the Show
Everybody Else at the Show
The weather was typical for a show at this time of the year, mostly nice all day, then a bit of a rain shower in mid afternoon to provide just enough water to create water spots. The Awards were given out at the Saturday Night Dinner, which was a good change.
The club received the award for best represented car club. Dave & Anne Bennett, Steve & Cindy Bryant, Larry & Teresa Way, and Manfred & Connie Wagner all received awards.
All in all another very well organized and run show. Our thanks to the Tucson Street Rod Association for all of the planning and hard work that it takes to put a show of this caliber on.
I am generally on the look out for new car shows to attend, since for me the fun of it for me is the going and coming, seeing new places, having new cars to photograph and meeting new friends. Back in early March my friend Bob Horvath who goes to our gym mentioned that he and a few other folks from the mountain were heading up to Farmington, NM for the 34th Annual Northern New Mexico Street Rodders Car Show in April. It sounded good to me so I passed the word around to most of the usual suspects which like to go on the longer runs. Frank and Rose Svancara decided to join us for the trip.
The group from the White Mountains included Rick & Kim Fernau, Bob & Ona Horvath, Joe & Glenda Bailey and Al & BJ Mercer. The White Mountain folks left Show Low at 8:00 AM. Frank and I met at Sanders, AZ at 10:30 and headed to Gallup for lunch. We headed up 491 toward Ship Rock, and took BIA 5 over the 371 and on to Farmington. For the most part both 491 & 371 were very rough and 491 was under construction for 22 miles. They are widening it to 4 lanes which should be a good deal in the future, but a PITA now.
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34th Annual Indoor & Outdoor Car Show
The venue for the show was McGee Park Convention Center. Participants had the option of parking inside a very large building (wish we had one like it in Show Low!) or outside which had a very large covered pavilion. If you parked inside your car was there for the duration of the show, so all of us opted for the pavilion which was a good choice. I think I heard that there were over 300 cars on the grounds with a wide variety of types and styles from hot rods, to customs, street rods, stock, modified, trucks and they even had a half dozen Tuners.
The weather was what you would expect up on the high plains in the spring. High winds, some clouds, some sun and temps in the 70s. Having more than half of the cars inside was a good deal since it gave us a chance to get out of the wind and sun for awhile. Another nice part of the show was that they had some decent live entertainment on stage for much of the time. By 3:00 PM on Saturday the winds had picked up, dust was flying and the clouds looked pretty ominous so we high tailed it to the hotel. Fortunately, it blew through rather quickly and we were treated to a nice evening.
The awards were handed out on Sunday in a very nicely organized way with the winners walking up a ramp to the stage for the presentation and photos. Frank & Rose picked up an award in the Pre 1959 Custom & Modified Class and more importantly the Long Distance Award which included picking up the cost of their hotel room for both nights! Michele & I were shocked to learn that we got an award for Street Rod Sedan class, our old driver rarely gets a nod. Al & BJ received an award in the pre 1970 Muscle Car class, Phil and Linda were awarded a trophy in the pre 1970 Stock class. Bob & Ona’s 1938 Ford was the Goodguys Rep Pick and they also received the Horsepower Ranch Pick (one of the larger hot rod shops in Farmington). The owner’s comment was that Bob built the car like he would.
The Awards
In my opinion this was a very well organized and run show. Everyone was very courteous and helpful and all four of us yellow shirts had numerous people come up to us and thank us for making the trek up to Farmington and they all really appreciate the time and effort that the club puts in at Scottsdale Goodguys which is their favorite big shows to attend. For those of you in the club that are looking for shows to attend outside of California, you should give this one a try!
Oh, by the way the food that they had on offer was excellent! The breakfast burrito is outstanding as is their burgers, and unlike Goodguys, reasonably priced!
I had really wanted to attend this years Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona, CA this year mainly because they had organized a tour of the Petersen Publishing Museum in Los Angles. On Monday of that week, Michelle had her final reconstructive surgery and would not have been up for the long ride to LA plus all of the walking around.
Thanks to Charley Cover’s brother Spike, we now have some great photos of some of the Petersen Collection!
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The Peterson Collection – Part I
The Peterson Collection – Part II
Thanks again to Spike, Charley and Danise for the great photos!
Most years for the last several, Nick- Deb Bacon, Jeff – Vic Bacon, Brenda and I have made the run to Laughlin for cruising on the river show.
Sometimes it’s cold and windy, sometime pleasant. This year it was pretty nice. They get 200 hundred or so cars for this show. Bill and Nancy Wilkins have been to every show both Jan and sept versions.
We had a non -eventful run up to the river on Thursday, spent some time in the Casino before calling it day. Friday’s show and shine was good weather again and the cars were coming in steady all day.
The lot was pretty much full by 3PM. We saved our places and went back to our casino. The show is at the Riverside, but we prefer to stay at the Tropicana.
Had a great Birthday dinner my belated, and Nicks Jan B-day, then hit the Casino for a while.
Saturdays show was packed, they sure need more room for cars. The Sept show used to be twice as big but the Jan show is gaining on it.
Always see some unusual rides here, this year we had a Graham Hollywood, a sectioned 51 Chevy, and a nice 49 Willy’s panel jeep, along with many other nice but typical cars.
All in all a great weekend and some quality fam-time.
This is a slideshow of the members that made it to this years photoshoot. Good participation this year! Note: Michelle is standing next to my Tundra 4×4 pick up since the snow was around a foot deep in front of our shop. I guess one of the days I will need to build a 4×4 COE truck with a Dodge Turbo Cummings engine so we can get out in the winter in a proper ride!
By Conrad Monroe
Photos by Mike Rust, Sharon Burdett and Conrad Monroe
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Hot Rods Meet Star Wars!
Last Saturday, the club met at Star Bucks on Central Ave for a cruise down Central to South Mountain City Park for our what is becoming annual Picnic and Photoshoot. The weather leading up to Saturday was not looking real great for either activities. El Niño had been visiting Arizona with a vengeance leading up to Friday. All week long the forecasters had been predicting a break in the weather for the week end, and for once they were spot on! Saturday came with blue skies, puffy clouds and temperatures in the 70s.
We had a total of 29 club cars show up, Michelle & I decided to take my 4×4 Toyota Tundra since we had just received a foot of snow. ADOT was out early and had the roads clear and mostly dry so our trip to the valley was our usual under 3 hour excursion. Ken & Carol DuBois showed up in Ken’s truck since the battery in their ’37 Chevy was kaput. It took Michelle and I around an 1 hr 45 min to shoot the club cars and occupants. Larry Besore helped with keeping the line full so we didn’t have any gaps waiting for cars.
After lunch we had the down hill coasting drag race which Dave & Anne Bennett won in their 1937 Cadillac. To be noted the Caddy was by far and away the heaviest car in the race. I would bet that Dave replaced the wheel bearing with a set of super low friction ceramic bearings just to get an edge! 😉
Just about the time that the race awards were wrapping up a whole group of cosplay folks arrived at the picnic area next to ours. Of course they were all decked out in Star Wars costumes that were hand made and really looked great! The name of the group is the Shonare Vhekadla Clan Arizona of the Mandalorian Mercs Costume Club. Mike Rust invited them to pose with our cars and they gladly accepted. They are a really great group of people that know how to enjoy themselves!
This was perhaps the best Christmas Party we have had to date. Cindy Bryant & Linda Barnes did an excellent job putting the evening together. Chestnut provided the music and a bit of comic relief throughout the evening. The food was great and the cupcakes and ice cream were to die for. One of the evening highlights was a modern dance celebration by the OTHG Interpretive Dance group, of Larry Besore’s 74th birthday.
OTHG-Phoenix Christmas 2015
Larry Besore’s Birthday Dance
Ladies Gift Exchange
Well that is about it for now, hope to see everyone at the Club Picnic and Photoshoot on January 9th, 2016
The 18th edition of the Goodguys Southwest Nationals at Westworld in Scottsdale is officially in the books. We had a record turnout of entries, vendors and swap meet participants this year. My seat of the pants estimates for Saturday would be around 33-3400 cars, maybe a few more than last year. The layout this year allowed for more cars and space and so we did not have the Fire Marshal shutting down the entrance because the fire lanes were blocked like last year. The weather was absolutely beautiful for the entire weekend, clear blue skies and temps in the low 80s, frankly it was a Arizona Chamber of Commerce weekend.
Unfortunately this year I was not able to make the Thursday Shop Tours, so please excuse the lack of coverage.
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Friday –
Friday is typically my day for the Swap Meet and visiting the Vendors both of which seemed to be larger than I can ever remember in the past. The Car Corral was huge this year with some really decent buys to be had. Paul Nolte sold the ’34 Ford three window project car by 10 AM on Saturday which is good because he had bought back the ’29 Rat Rod that he had sold last March.
The swap meet was also packed with sellers and buyers, I didn’t run across anything that I had to have so I went into the tent and bought a pair of stock height spindles from Fatman and a March Performance serpentine belt drive system for the LS3 in my 1940 project. Both had nice discounted show prices.
Saturday –
I didn’t make my usual two passes around the field this year. I kept bumping into to people that I haven’t seen in awhile so I spent a lot of time chatting and getting caught up to date.
Speciality Parking
On the Field
This year I headed up to the gate for the goodbye waving car parade and was able to stand on the back seat of Larry Besore’s golf cart which made a great shooting platform with a different perspective than what I have had in the past.
Sunday –
Another beautiful day in sunny Scottsdale! Michelle and I had planned to leave after the group photo of the club was taken at 1:00 PM so we would miss the award presentations, but I went around and photographed all of the winners.
I was very happy to see that Rick and Debbie Aronson’s 1940 Ford Pick Up picked up the award for Best Truck!
The Winners!
Well that about wraps it up for this time!
Next up will be the annual Christmas Party on the 5th of December, followed by the club picnic and photo shoot on the 9th of January! I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season and that y’all stay safe!
By Conrad Monroe
On the road photos by Michelle Monroe
Michelle and I had a little change of pace today we drove up to Springerville this morning to participate in the Fun Run that had been put together to raise money for cancer treatment at the new Summit Cancer Center in Show Low. The fun run and show were free but a $25 donation was encouraged. Somewhere around 25 to 30 cars showed up. Between donations, several raffles and other activities they were able to raise $2500 for the cause which is pretty darn good for a small rural town.
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Fall Finale Fun Run and Car Show
The Fun Run started at Western Drug in Springerville and proceeded down Main St to AZ 260 which we followed to AZ 273, the road to Big Lake. At Big Lake we picked up RT 249 which was paved a little over one year ago. This is a beautiful winding forest road that ranges from 8500 to 9500 ft in elevation. RT 249 ends up on US 180. You can turn right and drive a couple of miles to Alpine for lunch at Bear Wallow, or you can turn left and head up to Nutrioso and back to Springerville.
Great weather, wonderful scenery and a nice bit of fall color. All in all, we had a great day and told the folks that put it together that we would be back next year for sure… maybe y’all would like to join us!
