28th Annual Big Bear Fun Run 2017

Big Bear Lake California

August 10-13, 2017
by Conrad Monroe

This year we tried something different, the Big Bear Fun Run which is held at Big Bear City, California. Thanks to Bob Bailey for taking the time to plan the trip, organize the hotel rooms and coordinate with the Over The Hill Gang – San Bernardino. The San Berdo club reserves a large block of rooms at the Holiday Inn Resort. In doing so they get a major break on the room charge which was quite nice.

Making the run were the following members: Tom and Val Altgilbers in their Suburban,  Rick and Debbie Aronson in their 1941 Ford Pick Up,  Bob and Betty Bailey in their 1940 Ford Coupe, Dave and Anne Bennett in their 1937 Cadillac Sedan towing their teardrop trailer, Charlie and Danise Cover in their 1937 Ford Club Coupe,  Jim and Carol Dalton in their 1937 Chevy Sedan Delivery, Paul and Judy Nolte in their 1939 Ford Coupe and Michelle and I in our 1956 Dodge Sierra Station Wagon.

Other than Bob Bailey losing a fuel pump while climbing the last hill up to the lake, the trip was rather uneventful. We all met for breakfast on Thursday morning at the Country Kitchen in Wickenburg before heading out to Parker, AZ where we picked up CA-62 W to Joshua Tree, CA where we had lunch. After lunch I checked out an International Bus that had been converted into a go anywhere/do anything RV. It was quite a piece of work! After lunch we picked up CA-247 that took us CA-18E for the run up to Big Bear. This road is not for the faint of heart, very steep, very winding with a number of blind uphill switchbacks. The weather at the bottom was hot and sunny, around 105°F. The heat and steep climb will create problems unless you have a well designed cooling system. OH, and to make things even more exciting you will meet double bottom semi trailer trucks hauling gravel down the hill… it was a bit of a pucker factor at time. The next time we are headed here I would suggest either CA-38 that comes in from Redlands or CA-18W that comes in from San Bernardino. Still twisty curvy but without the sharp switchbacks and steep grades.

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Thursday & Friday Travel, Registration and Relax

On Friday we hit registration which was an absolute breeze. The Big Bear Lake Antique Car Club definitely have their act together. The registration area was well laid out and organized, the club members were courteous and helpful.  The The town streets were closed off to traffic and each of the 500 cars were assigned a numbered parking space for the show. If you indicated that you were with a car club or other organization, they would do their best to see that you were parked together. We got eight adjacent spaces with a good sized shaded grassy area behind the cars. The space was large enough for our awning, which added to the shade.

After registration we headed back to our hotel to clean up the cars and to replace Bob’s fuel pump… as luck would have it, the local NAPA store only had one manual GM pump in stock… Paul and Bob installed it and had a devil of a time getting the car to run, even with copious priming of the carb.  As it turns out on this particular pump the inlet was mislabeled so instead of pushing gas to the carb it was trying to suck gas from it… after a plumbing change all was in order and the car ran like new…
While Bob and Paul were playing mechanic, most of us went across the street to a German Restaurant for a cold beer or two and a sandwich. For dinner we all were invited to Charlie’s old school mate Jerry’s cabin for a cookout. The weather was beautiful and Jerry was a most gracious host to open his house to a bunch of car people! Great evening! Thanks to Jerry and Charlie Cover for setting it up!

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Saturday Car Show

We were in line and promptly at 7:00 AM the let us into the parking area. The club members handling the parking duties did a great job of getting us in and into our assigned spaces. After getting set up, we sat around and visited a bit and talked with some of the other clubs parked near us, then headed off for breakfast. Big Bear has a wide variety of restaurants and bars so finding a good place to eat was not much of an issue. Finding an empty table on the other had was a tad more difficult. Not having anything better to do, we enjoyed the wait talking with members of the San Diego OTHG who were parked along the street near our restaurant.

Around mid afternoon the organizing club came around and notified the owners of all of the cars that had been selected for an award on Sunday. In addition to the usual info that is asked for they also wanted each winner to write something down about the car, its build and or what other interesting tidbits that you would like to share with the audience. This is not often done, but I think it is a great idea.

Around 4:00 PM cars started leaving the parking area and headed off for a Cruise around Big Bear Lake. Much like the Midnight at the Oasis show in Yuma and the Run to the Pines show up in Pinetop/Show Low, thousands of spectators lined the Cruise route around the lake. From what we picked up talking with wait staff and folks at the hotel, this event is by far the most popular of many that are held in the town throughout the year. It’s crowds, even surpass the 4th of July weekend!

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Saturday Cruise Around Big Bear Lake

I must say that the 500 cars that were on display were all very high quality builds. Some of the higher end cars have had national acclaim at various major shows on the west coast. The organizing club members were tasked with selecting 70 notable cars for the Awards on Sunday. They have a Best in Show, a number of Best Makes, Interior, Engine etc, Top Twenty and several interesting categories. Dave and Anne Bennett were chosen for a Top Twenty Award and Michelle and I were chosen for the Best Fins Award… as an aside, when I picked up the car it was missing one of the chrome bolt on rear fins that identified the car as a 1956 Dodge. After several weeks of searching on EBay I saw a listing that showed a photo of both fins (the are of course right and left handed). The seller had identified them as “I have no idea what these are, or what they belong to” He had a buy it now price of $40 for the pair. I don’t think I have ever bought anything that quickly before… anyway had it not been for EBay there would have been no fins on the car… I have never seen another pair again.

Once again the organization of the awards was 1st class. Each winner was assigned a number and numbered parking space. The parking spaces were laid out to make it easy for the winner to get in line when the awards began. Each car was directed to park in front of the grandstands with two large US Flags displayed behind them. The announcer would cover the details of the car and owner and also would share with the audience the write up that each owner provided. It was a lot of fun, the driver was handed the award and the passenger received a very nice long stem Rose.

Having an 9 hour drive home ahead of us, we chose to leave as soon as we received our award. The ride down the mountain was very enjoyable. We stopped for gas at perhap the fanciest Circle Ks in the world. Complete with marble walls and floors, a waterfall and premium coffee. Outside seating with free WiFi… almost made the price per gallon that we had to pay seem justified … 8-)…

Our ride home was uneventful, and other than the 100°F desert temps for 6 hours out of the 8.5 hr drive it was enjoyable.

Larry Besore had asked me if I thought that the show was worth the drive and money to get to it. I have to say it was.  I have been to numerous car shows since 2002 when I bought our 1939 Ford Sedan, and I would have to say that this one is well in the top ten, maybe top five of all of them. The organization, courtesy, venue and weather all teamed up to make for a very worthwhile experience. I would not mind coming back again…

Till next time…
Next up for Michelle and I is our annual trip to the Pacific Northwest to visit friends and family and then the 2017 Run to the Pines show in Pinetop, and possibly a trip to Tennessee and Arkansas to visit an old friend and a couple of 1st cousins that I never knew I had… After this trip to Big Bear, Betty has 34,000 miles on her Dakota Digital odometer and will probably pick up another 5 to 6K by the end of the year… You Gotta Drive Them!

Conrad

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Sunday Awards and the Drive Home

I received an email…

I received this wonderful email this morning. This is a first and I am so glad that we were able to help Evan in his research and project! Just the other day I was bemoaning the fact that most young folks these days have no interest in automobiles, let alone classic cars and hot rods! And today I found the dream is still alive…

Faith has been restored! 

“Good Morning,

My name is Whitney Roberts, I am a tutor in Kingston, NY (about an hour north of NYC). My son Evan is really into cars and trucks. So much so that he is doing a project for school on the history and the evolution of the automobile. He is really into trucks and heavy duty vehicles and machinery, but really anything with an engine will suit his interest. I was helping him out with some research online last night, and we really enjoyed your page, http://othg-phoenix.net/index.php/favorite-links/ . It had a lot of helpful information, and we also enjoyed checking out your pictures.

Evan has been doing a bit of research on his own, and he showed me this article he found about the history of the pickup, its role during WW2, and how it changed life for many working Americans, https://www.americantrucks.com/a-history-of-the-classic-pickup-truck.html . I thought it was a great article, and its very cool to think what a positive impact the pickup truck has had on our way of life, from farmers to construction workers, to your every day person who just likes the utility they offer. I was hoping you could add it to your page, I would love to show Evan. I think he’d be really excited to have been able to contribute a fun and helpful article to your page.

Thanks again for the awesome page and help with Evan’s project. If you’re able to add the Pickup Truck article to your page, please let me know so I can show him! Have a great day and hope to speak to you soon.

Best Wishes,

Whitney Roberts”

Click the photo to go to the article on Pickup Trucks!American Muscle

Thank You Whitney and Evan! You will find the link added to our Favorite Links Page!

2017 Cruzin The Rim

Show Low, Arizona

June 3, 2017
by Conrad Monroe
Photos by Danise Cover & Conrad Monroe

Last weekend we attended the 2017 Edition of Cruzin The Rim presented by the Rim Country Cruisers to benefit a number of local charities. Joining Michelle and I were Tom & Val Altgilbers, Steve & Terry Besore, Charlie & Danise Cover and Paul & Judy Nolte who drove over from Pine Saturday morning. Also in attendance was former members Frank & Rose Svancara who drove down from Greer, AZ. All in all, I was disappointed in the low turnout by the club for a show that used to be one of our main events. I cannot believe that everyone prefered staying in the valley instead of enjoying our 70-80 degree weather.

Friday evening there was a cruise around the Show Low area that ended up at Hatch Toyota in the Show Low Auto Mall for the annual Burger Burn which was catered by Grumpy Jakes who went all in this year. The burgers were a good 1/3 of a pound and came with all of the fixings plus chips and drinks. I have to say that this was perhaps the best car show burger burn that I have ever attended.

On Saturday morning we headed over to the Soccer Field on 9th St, making sure we left home in time to miss the closing of the Deuce of Clubs for the Derby Down the Deuce race which is held in addition to the Arts & Crafts Show at the Baseball field, the Farmers Market and the Cruizin the Rim Car Show which are all part of what has now become Show Low Days weekend. Danise walked over to the Arts & Crafts Show and was able to grab a few shots of the Derby Races. She was expecting that the cars would be driven by children and was surprised to find out that they were piloted by grown men. 😎 The Derby Race was started a few years ago and has grown into quite an event with a growing list of participants.

The turnout for the car show was well in excess of 125 entries, so the lack of participation from our club was not really noticed…

One good thing that has been instituted at the Cruizin The Rim show is that they have eliminated all the class judging and replaced it with a Top 5 People’s pick that was compiled from the voting of the 1st 250 spectators. They also had a Top 20 Pick based upon the voting of all of the entrants, and to top it off they had very nicely engraved beer mugs for Best GM, Ford, MOPAR, Studebaker, Orphan, Import and Special Interest vehicles along with Best Paint, Best Interior and Best Engine. Basing the awards this way eliminates all of the problems with class voting at small car shows… IMO, GOOD JOB!

Frank & Rose picked up a Top 20 Award for their 1940 Ford Convertible and Michelle and I also got a Top 20 for our 1956 Dodge Wagon. Frank and Rose also garnered the Best Convertible award over stiff competition from a newly completed 1949 Chevy Town & Country Convertible which went on to win Best in Show.

Saturday Evening Michelle hosted our mostly annual After the Car Show Party with her usual array of fine cooking. In addition to our club members we had invited a fair number of local car enthusiasts and other friends for a nice mix of party goers. All in all I have to say that my wonderful wife knocked another one out of the park!

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Cruzin The Rim 2017

My sincere apologies to Tom & Val Altgilbers for not having a photo of their Suburban. I had gone over to where they were parked to take the photo and the truck was surrounded by people, so I said to myself, I will just continue on, and come back when the crowd is down… yup, that didn’t happen. Sorry guys!

Also, please note that all of the photos are in reverse order… I have screwed with this all day and finally gave up. No matter what I tried, WordPress decided that it wanted my photos in this particular order, why? I have no clue… nor do I know why WordPress takes all the jpegs shot with Danise’s Iphone and turned them all upside down… sigh.

2017 Blast From the Past

Alpine Arizona

May 27, 2017
by Conrad Monroe

On Saturday, Steve & Terri Besore in their 50 Chevy PU, friends of the club Rick & Kim Fernau in their 79 Corvette and former club members Frank & Rose Svancara in their 40 Ford Convertible joined Michelle & I for the drive over to Alpine AZ. for the 9th Annual Blast From The Past Car Show. The weather was great, running in the mid 70s with gentle breezes keeping the temps even in the sun down in the moderate range. I am guessing that the show drew a bit more than a hundred entries. Frank & Rose picked up a 1st place in the Convertible Class and Rick & Kim had a third place in the 1949 and newer Production Car Class. Michelle & I were very pleased to receive the 1st Place award for the 1949 and Newer Modified Car class.

Larry & Brenda Besore and Dave & Ann Bennett were scheduled to make the run up from the valley but car problems kept them both home.

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Blast From The Past!

Next up will be the Cruizin the Rim Show in Show Low on the 2nd & 3rd of June.

Until next time! Keep On Keeping On!

Conrad.

2017 Bee Line Cruise In

Mazatzal Hotel & Casino Payson, AZ

May 13, 2017
by Conrad Monroe

Steve & Terri Besore joined Michelle and I for the run down the Rim from Show Low to Payson, AZ where we met up with Larry & Brenda Besore and former club members Jeff & Vicky Bacon and Frank & Rose Svancara. Also in attendance was Paul & Judy Nolte who were up in Pine working on their cabin, they came down to join us for lunch.

The weather could not have been too much better! Mid 80s, sunny skies and light breezes to help keep the temperatures down in the Casino parking lot.

Saw a number of old friends that we had not seen for a while and met a number of new folks that were very interested in all of the cars. Frank & Rose and Michelle and I won Top 20 Awards chosen by peer voting. The Best 49 and later MOPAR was won by a beautiful 1964 Plymouth with a 426 Hemi. Also of note was the 1956 Ford Victoria Hardtop with a 427 cuin SOHC sporting Hilborn EFI. All in all a very nice group of cars in the field of about 200.

Next up for Michelle and I will be the usual round of White Mountain car shows, Blast from the Past in Alpine on May 27, Cruizn The Rim in Show Low on the 3rd of June, Holbrook on the 10th of June. Round out our summer will be the Big Bear Fun Run in Big Bear, CA on the 9th -13th of August.

Everyone have a safe and fun summer!

Conrad.

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 Beeline Cruise In – 2017

2017 Tucson Dragway Reunion

Tucson, Arizona

May 5-6, 2017
by Conrad Monroe

Photos and information from Alan Mitchell.

Last weekend while Michelle and I were driving around the state, Alan & Cheryl Mitchell and Charlie & Danise Cover were down in Tuscon driving a quarter of a mile at a time at the Tucson Dragway Reunion.

Alan brought down his 1939 Chevy Gasser Coupe, Blown BBC sporting a new Turbo 400. Charlie had his 1937 Ford Street Rod, powered by an injected LS3/4L65E Plug & Cruise package from Chevrolet Performance.

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Alan & Charlie at the Track

In Alan’s own words…
“Charlie ran test & tune and turned a best of a 12.3 or 12.8 (I think) .  He made 4 or 5 passes trying various techniques at burnouts and shifting.  By the way the Speed Sport guys were all over his car.  They totally loved his car as well as every female that walked by.  As Charlie said, he did not realize he built a “chick magnet”.

As for us, after all the changes we ran a best of 10.8.  Not what I expected but all the new parts worked good.  Was entered into the eliminations, but being the rule follower I am, I had installed an engine diaper which held in a lot of block temp and thus heat-soaked the starter when we were in staging getting ready to run, so had to withdraw.  So will get rid of the diaper, and install another battery.  The driver did “ok” with the new parts, have a few little bugs to work out but nothing big.

Weather was terrible with winds in the 20mph range, no track prep and lots of dust so track was greasy.  All in all good times, nothing broke on either car and all was safe.  Looking forward to our next event, don’t know where yet.  Maybe next year we can get a few more cars out to Tucson for T&T.  Tech was pretty easy so with just a few checks we should be able to get more cars on the track.”

http://www.tucsondragway.com/tucson-dragway-reunion/

I was quite happy to see the kind of times that Charlie was turning. I have the same drivetrain in my 1940 Ford Convertible build. Looks like it will be a pretty fun street machine… 😎

I would like to thank Alan for sending me the photos and his write up. The club has been doing a lot of very neat things lately which Michelle and I have not attended due to our living 180 miles away. It would be great if more members would send me their photos and some notes on the activity that they attended.

Michelle and I will be in Payson this Saturday for the car show. We are not entered, just coming down for the day to see our friends…

Until the next time… Keep On Keeping On… !

2017 Route 66 Fun Run

Seligman AZ to Topock on Rt 66

May 5 – 7, 2017
by Conrad Monroe

One of the more fun car things that you can do in Arizona is to participate in the annual Route 66 Fun Run from  Seligman to Topock Arizona following one of the longer remaining stretches of Route 66. This was the third time that Michelle and I made the run, and this was one of the best ones yet. As I recall the total entries numbered close to 900, which did not take into account all of the folks that made the run without signing up.  There were several large Corvette and Mustang clubs in attendance including a group of 24 Mustangs driven by French citizens from Paris. A large number of Germans were aboard a variety of Harley Davidsons. The event has become quite popular with both the Australians and New Zealanders as well.

This year Michelle and I traveled the Mother Road with a group of friends from Show Low. We all met at the Mustang Gas Station on the corner of Rt 60 & 77. Making the trip with us was John & Jan Corder in their red Mustang Coupe, James & Sharon Johnston in their Chevy SUV, Ed Turner in his 1956 Chevy Wagon, Tom and Connie Kakavas in their white Corvette Coupe, Dave and Lydia Larson in their black Mustang Convertible, Jim Morse in his white Thunderbird, Bob & Linda Shultz, in their Dodge Ram Diesel Pick Up, Paul Edwards & Lynn Felton in Paul’s yellow Cadillac Hard Top, Sylvia Carruthers in her Honda Coupe and Dan Goude in his Nova. Terry & Sheila Ringey in their orange Boss Mustang Coupe, met us at the Cracker Barrell in Flagstaff.

Michelle and I were leading the group on the 1st leg of the drive. We were about a mile up Rt77 from the gas station when all of a sudden a very large cloud of dirt swept over the road in front of us. When the dust settled we saw that a very large cement mixer that been heading south on the highway had for some reason swerved on to the shoulder then proceeded to roll over and skid around so that when it came to rest it was headed north and was lying on it’s side. Fortunately the driver’s side was still in fair shape. By the time that I got to the truck, a couple of gentlemen had gotten the door open and had helped the driver to his feet. He had a pretty good scrape on his forehead but was otherwise in decent shape. Soon after Show Low PD arrived on the scene as did the paramedics. Of course during all of this, my camera remained on the back seat and my iPhone was in its cradle… sigh. Here is a link to the article from the White Mountain Independent.

http://www.wmicentral.com/news/latest_news/sand-and-rock-mixer-rolls-north-of-show-low/article_2c3fc4f7-bdb4-5899-9c18-2c073664543e.html

Thankfully no further excitement was to be had on the rest of the trip!

After lunch at the Cracker Barrel we drove into Williams were we spent the night. After registering at the hotel we walked up to Main Street i.e. Route 66 and had a great time visiting the shops and seeing the sights.

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Williams AZ

The weather had been great on Friday and it continued being nice throughout Saturday. After breakfast we loaded up and drove down I40 to Seligman where we joined all of the rest of the participants. We had about 1 1/2 hrs to spend before we took off at 10:00 AM for Hackberry. We had lunch at the General Store where we ran into Tom & Val Altgilber. Tom & Val have been regular participants of the Fun Run for a number of years, they were driving the Suburban and were having a good time!  While walking around taking pictures I noticed that the 1957 Corvette that had been a fixture at the General Store for years was gone. Somebody finally made the owner an offer he could not refuse! Kind of sad to see it gone…

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Seligman – Hackberry – Kingman

After a rather good Pulled Pork Sandwich we continued down Route 66 to Kingman, AZ. After checking in to the hotel, Michelle and I went to the car show that was set up in the downtown area. We were the only ones that had preregistered for the Fun Run and by the time that we got to Seligman they had sold out and were not taking anymore entries, so it was only us doing the Show & Shine. We had a lot of interest in the wagon from a number of spectators and entrants. It is really a lot of fun, owning a fairly rare car that is not often seen. Lots of questions and comments!

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Kingman – Oatman – Topock

Unfortunately, over night a cold front blew in and we awoke to cloudy, overcast skies and gusty winds… oh well. We had a nice drive down to Oatman were we spent time window shopping and sightseeing. The Donkeys are still an integral part of life in Oatman, which made Michelle happy… After Oatman, we headed down to Topock to look at the awards hoopla and the rest of the crew headed off to Laughlin NV for some Casino fun.
The Award Ceremony was held inside the Golden Shores Rec Center so we could get out of the chilly wind for awhile. I was very surprised to see the number of winners that were no shows… I am guessing here but I think almost 1/3 of the awards went unclaimed.

All in all a very fun relaxing trip, mainly due to the great group of folks that we were with. Lots of laughing and storytelling! What’s not to love.

Until next time! Stay safe and keep it on it’s wheels… don’t be that cement truck driver guy… 😎

Conrad

2017 Chrome in the Dome

Springerville – Eagar, AZ

April 29, 2017

by Conrad Monroe

Last Saturday, the Show Low contingent of the OTHG Phoenix Steve & Terri Besore and Michelle and I braved the snowy and icy US60 hwy to headed over to Springerville/Eagar Round Valley High School. Our goal was to attend the Chrome in the Dome Car Show that is held for to raise money for local charities. Over the past few years the show had gone somewhat downhill with declining attendance. This year the management of the show was taken on by an experienced car show guy, Mike Campbell, and the results were greatly improved! Entries were right at 90 cars & trucks this year which is almost double the past few years turn out. I am very sure that the entries in coming years will grow from here.

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The show management decided to keep the class structure rather simple with only 11 classes, which allowed them to offer some really special trophies that were made by the High School shop class.

I have to say, being at an indoor venue at this time of the year has a lot going for it! Up until Saturday we had been having beautiful spring weather with temperatures running in the high 60’s to low 70’s. The weather turned on Friday evening and by Saturday morning the south end of Apache county was covered with up to 4-5 inches of snow. By noon it had mostly melted and by 1:45PM it began snowing again… By the time the show was over at around 3:00PM it was dry and clear in Apache county, but snowing in Navajo county. By suppertime, all the bad weather moved out of Arizona… as we like to say, “Dont like the weather? Wait an hour and it will change!”

Both Steve and I ended up in two of the larger classes. Mine was Custom & Modified Cars from 1942 to 1964. Steve was in the Custom & Modified Trucks 1959 and Earlier. Michelle picked up a Second Place Award for our 1956 Dodge and Steve made the walk for a 1st Place with his 1950 Chevy Pick Up.

Michelle and I were very pleased to pick up the Award for Best Interior. The Award was made from a pinion gear with a broken bearing, which I think was quite apropo since the pinion bearing is the only bearing in the rear axle assembly that I have not had to replace. No more Chinese bearings for me…!!!

As a special treat we met Larry Besore’s son Ron, and his lovely wife Sherry. They were on their way back to Phoenix from Colorado and heard that Steve and Terri were at the show so they stopped by for a visit. They joined us for an early dinner in Show Low.

Mike Campbell should be applauded for the great effort that he put into getting this event back on it’s feet! We for sure will be coming back next year…

Till the next time…

Conrad.

2017 Goodguys Spring Nationals

by Conrad Monroe

Westworld in Scottsdale, AZ

March 9 – 12, 2017

According to the Goodguys staff we had around 2500 cars at this year’s spring show. The weather was clear, sunny and warm with temps in the mid to high 80s. Actually on Saturday it may have been over 90° F. by 4:30 PM the field had pretty well left for cooler territory.

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Thursday – Shop Tours

Very large turnout for the shop tour this year, I am guessing we had around 200 cars or more leave the Registration Tent for the tour. Unfortunately we only had 4 shops on the tour, the other 4 shops that had been lined up, canceled at the last minute.

The 1st stop on the tour was to Speed Sports in Gilbert. Mark Clark and his crew offer a broad scope of service including EFI & Turbo systems and Chassis Dyno Tuning for optimum performance. Unfortunately I was not able to get a lot of photos due to the large number of tour members in the shop.  One of the better speed shops in the valley in my opinion.

We next headed over to Squeeg’s Kustoms in Chandler.  It is always fun to visit Squeeg’s shop, they always have several interesting projects in work. I was especially impressed with the 1963 Corvette with a tube chassis and LS engine & transmission. It would be a joy to own and drive when it is completed! For the 1st time ever I saw an LS powered off road buggy in the shop getting a custom aluminum interior. King shocks all around and a Mendeola transaxle with 20+ inches of wheel travel… another I would love to own!

We skipped the 3rd stop since it was basically a car dealer, and headed up to Fountain Hills to Mods for Rods. Pretty impressive shop with a number of cars being worked on. From what I saw it looks like they do some quality work. This was the lunch stop and the end of this year’s tour.

 

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Friday – Swap Meet and Vendors

This year’s swap meet and car corral was one of the largest that we have had. Nice selection of parts, memorabilia and cars to look over and buy. One of the big hits this year was the Bob’s Big Boy statues in either bronze or fiberglass. One of my friends from Show Low bought one of the smaller 4-5′ bronze versions and asked me if I could haul it back up the mountain for him.  I was hoping that I could stand him up in the back of the wagon, but he was too tall. It would have been very cool to have him looking out the back window. As it was he laid down and took a nap while we drove home.  Paul & Judy Nolte bought one of the bronze one as well…

It seemed like there were less vendors in the tent this year but more down on the field.

I watched the autocross for a bit thinking that it would be fun to build a car for it, but then I went into the tent and had a cold beer and the feeling went away!

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Saturday – Car Show

I usually spend Saturday walking the grass and taking photos of all of the wide variety of cars that Goodguys draws. This year I had to stick around the wagon. My daughter and son in law were coming to the show and also my newly found Grandnephew who I had not met in person yet. I wasn’t sure when everybody was going to show up, so I spent a good deal of time in the Specialty Parking Area photographing some pretty nicely done cars in the Home Built Heaven section.

 

 

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Sunday – Awards Part One

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Sunday – Awards Part Two

The Sunday Awards were special this year in that Terry & Barb Scott won the Trick Truck award for their Chevy Pickup and Mike Combest picked up an award for this blown Chrysler powered Model A coupe. All in all this year we were treated to a great selection of cars in the winners circle!

After the awards Michelle, Big Boy Bob and I headed up the mountain for home, with a late lunch, early dinner stop at our favorite restaurant in Payson, Mackey’s Grill for a cold beer and pattie melt with sweet potato fries.

Early spring evening in Payson AZ outside of Mackey’s Grill

Another Goodguys in the books, next stop for Michelle and I will be ViVa Las Vegas Rockabilly Car Show in Las Vegas… it should be very interesting! We attended a similar show in Austin Texas last year and had a great time. What is not to love, traditional hotrods and customs and Pinups… doesn’t get much better.

Till the next time, stay safe and Keep On Keeping On!

Conrad.