If you want to hold the first combined meet in decades of the two Chrysler 300 clubs and you know the average travel distance could be thousands of miles per entrant with gasoline at near peak pricing, plus, you want to start and stop the meet on days never before promoted......you better have a terrific venue and something extraordinary to do........so we did.

The Carmel Mission Inn at the entrance to the Carmel Valley and Carmel-by the Sea, is flanked by two top quality shopping centers and restaurants, and the Inn charmed all by their hospitality and "can-do" attitude toward all requests. A perpetual flame from the outdoor fire-pit was the social center of choice just outside the hospitality suite.

The start date was Sunday and 107 rooms were booked with 43 letters and 14 non-letters or associated Mopars 1979 or older parked in back including two 300 D's with manual trans. So many new/old cars to behold!

Monday was a day of discovery with the 17 Mile Drive, the tony golf courses (read: Pebble Beach) and similar and Big Sur, the incomparable Carmel-by-the Sea, and the Carmel Mission plus Monterey and Pacific Grove. If Kodak still sold film, they would have noticed a sharp uptick in sales on Monday.

Tuesday's "event du jour" was the Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca (dry lake). The track is pretty much utilized year round so this was the cause of our unusual start/stop date. Our only invitation was on this Tuesday. It was an invitation only day of racing for vintage race cars, their owners and drivers/mechanics. As the maineventers had to eat lunch, this was our invitation to drive the track. We started out under a pace car but when we proved reliable, we were free to set our own pace. Many of our own had meaningful conversations with the assemblage to mutual respect, their cars and ours. When they resumed racing, we ate the same lunch they had. 179 lunch tickets were traded for tri-tip lunches and the use of the sky-boxes for the balance of the day-.

Wednesday was the People's Choice vote and our car show. A local restaurant gave up half their parking for our gathering and the proximity to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Cannery Row, and upscale outlet shopping thinned the crowd to the 300 hardcore but many, many new conversations and friendships commenced as so many 300 owners had never had a chance to talk face to face before.

Evening found 174 dressed for dinner in everything from freshly pressed tee shirts to extra smart country-club chic. A very talented barbership group entertained before, during, and after dinner with music of the 50's and 60's. The awards were awarded, the speeches speeched and the see-you's passed along until the Fall Meet in Lake George, NY.