People have been by here since the 3/20/2000
This year's Detroit Autorama
was Feb. 25, 26 and 27. This year is the first year Frank had
his 1968 Hemi-Roadrunner at the show. These are some pictures
that tell the story. In the end, Frank got 2nd Place in the Late Current
Restored 68-69 Class. We had a great time and we have to say
a big thanks to lots of people that helped out with everything from letting
us use their vehicles to helping with how the judging works. And
in the middle of all this, as luck would have it, we had to go and retrieve
his latest project and parts cars (check out the 63-maxwedge
he is about to start work on..) that were supposed to be in the week before..
Thanks loads to Steve S., and Dave A. for really helping us get that over
with.
Check out the Autorama
2000, Part II page to see other cars like some in Frank's class,
and others like the 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Retractable that was next to
use at the show. And if you haven't seen it, be sure to see some pictures
and stories about the restoration of the Roadrunner,
and the Other
cars page and even frank's Past
rides like his 1969 Superbee
anyway on to the photos:
The
arrival: 8:00am Thursday, Feb.24 waiting outside for the check-in.
Thanks again to Steve and Mike B. for the vehicle setup, it saved us big
because of the rain and sloppy roads.
On the inside: Just getting
out of the trailer, not bad for time now it was still very early. I'm just
glad we got it there easily, i didn't really care what time, but they had
a very set time limit on how long we could have the trailer in the area-
thanks to my dad who came out with us to drop he then got the trailer out
of the area, while Frank and I worked on the setup doing what i thought
were final cleanings (we cleaned EVERY day and during the show too.. hey,
its better than being at work for sure)
Here
Frank is cleaning and polishing I think this was Saturday morning.
The stop light was from one of Frank's teachers he works with, i don't
know his name, but thanks for letting us use it. Some of the biggest
things people really got a kick out of was the TAXI sign on top, the bumper
sticker (When you absolutely positively have to be there on time: 1800-426-HEMI)
and the window sticker re-print (from Galen Govier).
Here
is the sign Frank had made up showing some of the specifics of the car,
talk about another close one- the guy gave it to us Thursday night, and
the paint wasn't dry just yet (i think frank and i both have finger prints
in it somewhere) Thanks to the guy (again, i don't know his name) that
took care of that one for us..
In the end, this is what
it looked like during the show. We were right by the main entrance,
as soon as you walked in we were right there. Check this out: At
cruisin-usa's
web site, I found a picture of me, my brother and the car in at cruisin-usa
in the background of this shot of the Riddler
award car (i guess the big one of the show, but you have to pay to
get into that class, and have other restrictions too that we didn't meet)
if you look in the background, there's the Roadrunner, and there's me at
the back of the car, and Frank's head is poking over that other Yellow
car in the picture talking to someone.. anyway.. its was funny to
see it that way. If i remember it right, that was Sunday morning,
not long before the show was to open
.
It was great being down
there, i talked to lots of people, some even mentioned they had seen the
website, which really made me happy because i had figured all the hits
i was getting were from me..
And the Award goes to:
The
pay-off: He got 2nd in his class: Late Current Restored years 68 and 69.
here is my brother and my dad with the trophy he got, i had stayed with
the car while the awards were being given out, so i didn't get any pictures
of him getting it, anyway. We were all relieved he actually got something
like that at his first major show.
He kept saying he didn't
think he'd get anything, and that it would be good to even get 3rd or 4th,
there were many cars in his class, and they all were good. I think
the top guy was a GM product, and then the rest were Mopar's. We
all went looking around to find the others in his class, and while they
were all impressive, somehow it just seemed he had a better than
average chance of getting up there in the first or second spot.
anyway, it all turned out
to be a great weekend neither of us got much sleep, but it was a great
time, still wondering if we'll do it next year or not, i guess it just
depends how things work out next year..
One
last shot, him pulling out to go meet the trailer out on I-75, after this,
my dad and I waited around to pick up all the rest of the stuff, like the
carpet, and such and so-forth. I was supprized, we ended up getting
back to Frank's place by 10pm, when the show was over at 8pm, not bad,
i had expectd to be there until at least midinght, maybe even later.
well, that's about it for this one, if you have any comments, trials, tribulations or what have you, drop me an E at
