|
LeMay Cruz-In
January 2006
Hosted by: Duncan Johnson
We got word of the January cruise-in for car clubs which are members of the LeMay Museum and our preparations started right after New Year's Day. We decided to drive a couple of OTM's (Other-Than-Miatas) because our OTM car club (Corvettes de Olympia) also belongs to the LeMay Museum, as does PSMC, but CdeO is a tiny club and needed all the support it could get to turn out for the LeMay event. Well, you don't just drive off with classic OTM's that are crowding 40 years old. The routine was to bust knuckles doing spring preparations (oil change, detailing, general pre-flight check) starting first on "Zatarah" (Dee's '67 Camaro orange convertible,) who was NOT going to the cruz-in, but who was occupying our service area in the front garage (the warm garage.) When she was out of the way, she was replaced in turn in the shop by "Joy" ('67 Corvette red roadster) and "Mistress" ('72 Corvette red roadster,) because we would be cruising-in with those two old Corvette ragtops.
1954 Corvette
Come cruz-in day, God smiled on our undertaking because it was dry and sunny all the way to the show venue at the Ehli Turner auction warehouse in Fife (in the industrial area kind of behind the famous Poodle Dog restaurant.) Meanwhile the 26th day of steady rain was indeed falling on the playoff football game up in Seattle at Taxpayers' Stadium, much to the benefit of the local team, and sure to discourage the national audience from ever visiting here, which is fine by us.
But we digress. When we motored in to the show we met Rich Sokso from Corvettes de Olympia and his '54 white Corvette roadster, and all three of our old plastic OTM's were staged immediately next to the main entrance. It made for a nice display and we should have thought to bring that club's banner. Duhhh. There were no PSMC cars unless some other member we didn't recognize was showing their own OTM. A wide variety of other cars cruised in, although the total turnout was only around 35 cars (more people,) tempered we think by a combination of the dicey weather and the football playoff game, which nobody knew would happen until the last minute.
You pays your money and you takes your choice. OTM's present ranged from a huge 1916 Overland touring car to a 1930s Packard luxo-cruiser, a Model-A roadster in full rain gear, a selection of classic Chevy models, a '55 Ford pickup with a very sanitary installation of a 4.6 liter dual overhead cam V-8 from a recent Mustang Cobra, a vintage Saab 96 with 3-cylinder 2-stroke engine, and a pack of semi-late-model Pontiacs from Jet City Fieros.
It's good to see some newer cars like the Fieros and their newer people at cruising events, and that speaks well for the future of the hobby. Had it not been for the Fieros, "Mistress" would have been the youngest car present, a total reversal of her usual role at recent shows. "America's Car Museum" celebrates "America's love affair with the automobile" and this cruise-in had the right variety of both machinery and people in a compact area to make that come to life.
The auction warehouse had been very nicely fixed up for the event, and there was a big socializing area with tables, chairs, plentiful heat (hurrah!) and nice rest rooms. Also food and drink of course. As we were milling about, who should we meet but old friends M. & M. Bartholomew, who were showing their new (to them) 1954 Chrysler New Yorker Deluxe sedan ("Yeah, it's got a hemi.")
Now, there is a rolling sculpture in heavy metal from the Eisenhower days, when bankers drove Chryslers, "business casual" meant you had taken off your fedora hat, and all was right with the world. It also shows us where current Daimler-Chrysler styling has its roots! Anyhow, our little surprise get-together was exactly the kind of fun adventure that makes us love this hobby and keep coming back for more.
Dinner was catered by Warthog Barbecue nearby, and while we were eating there were drawings for door prizes, donated by Griot's Garage and also Same Day Scratch & Dent Repair. We didn't score anything, and then the announcer forgot to mention both CdeO and PSMC when acknowledging member clubs present, although both clubs were listed as museum members in the pre-event publicity. Go figure. The Corvette gang bounced back big time when Rich's '54 Corvette took home the People's Choice award, a nice crystal style trophy. He's put a lot of effort into that OTM, and it paid off. As for us, we had an excellent ride home under a full moon, our old OTMs rumbling along quite contentedly.
Postscript:
This was billed as the first annual LeMay member clubs' Cruz-In, and we have hatched an idea to make it better in future iterations. Suppose it were an "invitational" event and the museum encouraged each member club to stage a specific display of what they are all about.
This year CdeO bumbled into showing a nice selection of the first three generations of the Corvette as it evolved, but that club could do a lot better with some planning. So could PSMC and the other member clubs. For instance, if there are 60 indoor spaces available and there are 20 member clubs, send each club special passes for 3 spaces inside the building; request they arrive with a display of their three best cars. (The overflow cars would display outside. If somebody chooses not to show, the extra spaces could go to other clubs for bigger displays.)
We remember seeing something like this in a mall show many years ago, where owners of three C1 Corvettes (1953-62 models) made a restoration display with "before" (grubby jalopy,) "during" (disassembled chassis,) and "after" (fully restored) Corvettes. That had a lot of visual and technical appeal. PSMC has such a huge variety of Miatas of all ages and styles that we could make up any number of interesting Miata displays: all generations, assorted performance models, special editions, race cars, whatever.
What do you think PSMC might do along those lines for next winter's LeMay Cruz-In? We could practice by taking a squadron of Miatas to the LeMay Museum annual open house car show next August. Zoom-zoom.
Article by: Duncan Johnson