42nd Annual Fall Meet
Golden, CO - September 19-23, 2012

Rob and Marnie Kern - Meet Hosts


The 42nd Annual Chrysler 300 Club International, Inc. Fall Meet was held at The Table Mountain Inn, Golden, Colorado September 19-23, 2012. Hosts Marnie and Rob Kern promoted the Meet with the slogan “COME TO GOLDEN...WE GOT YA COVERED!”. This was to be assurance that the Meet could be enjoyed should rainy weather prevail, an experience they tried to accommodate after hosting the Lake George Fall Meet in October, 2011. Fortunately it was a slogan that applied to provide Meet attendees a venue to seek shade from the sun! We enjoyed 4 picture perfect Colorado days! The host hotel was located in picturesque downtown Golden with vistas of North and South Table Mountain, the Rocky Mountains, mesas and of course Coors Brewery!

Several attendees traveled to Colorado a few days in advance to visit the attractions the state has to offer. It was amazing to learn how many folks that came to the Meet had present or past ties to some place in Colorado! Many Club members we hadn't seen in years registered or stopped by for various Meet activities.

Thursday we were privileged to attend a private Club tour of The Cussler Museum in nearby Arvada. This exquisite collection of vehicles belongs to novelist Clive Cussler. Many of the cars featured in his books were on display. One could familiarize themselves with these novels since they were positioned on or near the cars that were also pictured on the rear dust cover of the writings. Terry Cussler (Clive's daughter) greeted us at the door and his two curators/restorers were on hand throughout our visit to answer questions and provide background information on Clive and the collection. Thursday afternoon we observed Gil Cunningham and his team of Concours judges inspecting 7 cars. This dedicated group judged all the cars in one session ending after 6 hours just in time for the business meeting. This opened up Friday morning's time slot that had been scheduled for judging for us to visit another fantastic car collection that was serendipitously discovered by Jack Wiltse when helping Rod brewer transport his cars to be judged from nearby Wheat Ridge. Thursday evening we attended the business meeting at which time the Club officer election results were announced. Jim Krausmann was elected President, Mick Kreszock Vice-President and Gloria Moon and Brian Frank who both ran unopposed were re-installed as Treasurer and Club Secretary respectively. The proceedings and minutes of the business meeting will be published separately by Brian Frank.

Jack Wiltse raved so much about Rod Brewer's car collection that we just had to see it! Rod and son RW Brewer were more than pleased to oblige and we found ourselves Friday morning in a sea of vintage Cadillacs, 3 Letter Cars, Volkswagons, BMWs and Mercedes and a pristine Imperial and Plymouth Belvedere too! An added attraction was a die cast model shop at the end of the tour which found at least one member of the host team (and it wasn't Marnie) snapping up a few rare Danbury Mint specimens for his collection! After lunch we toured Coors Brewery as a group. Needless to say learning about the brewing process was cool, but sampling the end product (for FREE) was fabulous!

Friday night the third rendition of LETTER CAR JEOPARDY! was featured by Marnie (aka Vanna) and Rob Kern (aka Alex). Rob introduced Marnie as serving in the role of Vanna White of Wheel of Fortune fame. It was explained that since we all have Wheels that cost us a FORTUNE, that Vanna White was allowed a guest appearance again. Nine lucky contestants who volunteered to be chosen randomly were selected to participate in the three games. We all learned about various facets of the cars, club members present and past, hilarious antics of yore, and about Chrysler Corporation back in the day at this event. All prizes awarded were Danbury Mint 1/24 scale die cast Chrysler product model cars. Game #1 revealed the quick wit of contestants Rich Barber coming in third place and receiving a 1958 Plymouth Fury, Mike Meier taking second and claiming a 1948 Chrysler T&C CVT, and Jim Krausmann being high scorer and getting first prize, a 1957 C CVT. Game#2 was rather contentious with guys banging bells and their heads to score points. John Chesnutt finished third and was awarded a 1956 DeSoto Fireflite CVT, Don Cole lost the dueling banjos routine to Terry McTaggart and earned a 300D Hardtop with Terry getting first place and a 1958 Chrysler New Yorker CVT. Game #3 was equally fun and competitive amongst Phil Kuyava being 3rd and being presented a 1942 Chrysler T&C Barrel Back Wagon, Bill Miller placing second and being handed a 300D Hardtop and John Lazenby slaying them all with his brilliance but being challenged to correctly ring his bell, taking home a Regimental Red 300B. Many folks in attendance probably went to sleep that night not being able to get the Jeopardy! theme song cleared from their minds!

Saturday found us journeying to Boulder for our car show at the Shelby American Collection. As the Letter cars arrived the thunderous roar of a 427 Cobra could be heard driving in and out of the parking area during a PBS production shoot of the Cobras! Many cars arrived to pleasantly surprised faces that were Letter Cars and those of other vintage Chrysler Corporation Divisions. Peoples' Choice ballots were cast while folks were taking in the history of Carroll Shelby and his performance cars.

Back in Golden we celebrated the end of the Meet with a swell banquet and dancing. Larry Jett served in typical humorous form as Master of Ceremonies and got us off to a great start. Concours and Peoples' Choice winners were recognized and the Long Distance and Hard Luck Award plaques were presented. (see pictures and separate listing of these recipients). A special tribute for George Riehl in the form of a video produced by Bob Merritt was shown at the time of the banquet at which George so lovingly liked to speak.

Much gratitude is extended to Gloria Moon for her role as treasurer and meet registrar, Gil Cunningham and all participating judges for the Concours inspections, Bill Woodman for bringing his vehicle ramps for judging, Tom Cox for tallying up all the judging scores, the Krausmanns for overseeing the Peoples” Choice balloting, Linda Burke, Andrea Krausmann, and Martha Kreszock for serving as LETTER CAR JEOPARDY! score keepers, Mick Kreszock for apparel services, procuring the award plaques, and taking pictures at the Award Banquet, Rod and RW Brewer for hosting us at their Wheat Ridge Car collection, Larry Jett and his sense of humor, all those who volunteered to oversee the hospitality room and help with checking people in to the Meet, the staff of The Table Mountain Inn who were most accommodating, and the Cussler Museum, Shelby American Collection and Coors Brewery folks who opened our minds to eye candy and quenched our thirst for a GREAT MEET! Thank you to all who made the effort to attend the Golden Meet. You sealed the memory deal!

300'ly,
Marnie and Rob Kern



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