by
Chip Chapman & Kathy Pancione
Wednesday,
Sept. 16th: By noon, it was, indeed, sunny and 70. Smug
in our knowledge that the entire weekend would be just like this, I
went off to get 9 holes of golf in while Kathy tuned up the H,
awaiting the arrival of George and Eleanor. Around 6 PM, the Rene
Kroegers called from the hotel. We left directions for the Riehls,
picked up the Kroegers and joined Tom Quadrini and his “Plumloco”
’70 AAR ‘Cuda (340/6) at Carmine’s, our local ‘50s
drive-in restaurant. Wednesday is street rod/old car fest car night
at Carmine’s and even the locals were impressed by the H and
the Riehl’s J parked side by side. We were impressed with the
food served by the “young ladies” on roller skates! Our
meet was off to a good start.
Thursday,
Sept. 17th: It was still sunny and 70. Unfortunately, that
was in another city. In Rochester, it was cool and cloudy. While I
was preparing breakfast, Kathy and Eleanor went to pick up Gilles
Guinee, a member from France, who had been riding on a bus all night
to get here. The Kroegers arrived and we all sat down to breakfast.
Afterward, we gathered up our belongings and the meet essentials and
headed for the Hilton. We all know how much fun a caravan of any
size is and even the “modern iron” (H, J, K) three
abreast on I-390 got some looks. After checking in and setting up
the hospitality room, we were ready. By 6 PM there were fully
twenty-four people, including the Rooks, who, despite having weekend
commitments, drove up from the Philadelphia area for Thursday and
Friday, checked in; great for a Thursday. Everyone went to the Red
Creek Inn for a super meal, then back to the hotel for “socializing”.
Friday, Sept.
18th: The rains came along with most of the rest of the
group. The Cunninghams arrived sometime in the night, spending the
remainder of it in their “camper”. (A red H convertible
with a baby blue tarp thrown over it.) More registration, organized
(and disorganized) tours of the Strong Museum & Eastman House,
shopping and more car talk. Plenty of time – between rain
showers – to view all of the cars. Bill’s B rolled in,
Robert Young’s beautiful Parade Green C; and many more. A
quick trip to the welder gets Robert’s hood latch repaired; a
quick wire disconnect solves the McIntosh’s electrical problem
in the mighty ’67 Imperial. Then another super caravan back to
Red Creek. Eighteen Letter Cars dotted the parking lot. Back to the
Hilton for the dreaded business meeting, which lived up to its
expectations. Then, adjourning to the bar, more 300 conversation
ensued.
Saturday,
Sept. 19th: Cloudy and cool, but thankfully only a few
drizzles on concours day. While the judging was occurring, more
tours and shopping were going on. There was a good mixture of new
judges and new cars to judge. Emanual and Mary Turner’s 300D
developed driveshaft problems; it was decided to schedule repair
times at “The No Chance Garage”, Kathy’s driveway
on Sunday. Several other nice Mopars showed up, including a second
AAR ‘Cuda and a ’70 Hemi R/T. The sun actually peaked
through for a few minutes and then it was gone.
The banquet,
which was intended to be an outdoor barbeque, was moved to poolside
(indoors). After a great meal – Kathy’s Mom did not cook
the Italian sausage, she only acted as a consultant – and the
presenting of the awards for the fine 300s, the mingling continued.
The owners of the Red Creek Inn, Jeff and Maureen, had invited
everyone to come back to the club as their guest for an evening of
rock and roll. Four cars full did, finally closing down the place at
about 2:30 am. (Dirty Dancing, provided by Jeff and Leslie Miklas;
what leadership!)
Sunday, Sept.
20th: How quickly the time passes. Everybody just got
here and now it’s time to leave. The “goodbyes”
are always so tough, but one by one the parking lot emptied. Soon,
only the staff of the “No Chance Garage” remained: The
Moons, doing a quick brake cylinder rebuild to their D, the
Cunningham’s rag, the Riehls J, Paul DelGrande’s J, the
Turner’s disabled D and our H. We reassembled at Kathy’s
house, and made quick work of the Turner’s driveshaft problem –
fortunately, the ball and trunnion driveshaft pieces are the same for
many years and Kathy had a spare in her parts department (basement)!
The two Ds left and the two Hs and two Js decided to debrief at Jack
Daniel’s, a nice little “place” on the bay.
Normally there is an hour wait, but due to the unseasonable
conditions, we had the place to ourselves. (Can you imagine the
parking lot with only four cars – 4 Letter Cars?) the meal
ended and Paul dropped off his friend Diane Lewis, and went back to
Toronto, eh; the rest of us closed out the night at the house.
Monday, Sept.
21st: The reality finally hits – it’s over.
Kathy went back to the office, George and Eleanor left after
breakfast and the Cunninghams and I just kind of looked at each
other. Even now, two weeks later, it seems like a dream. But we had
fun, and it’s only seven months or so before we do it again.
See you in …?
Kathy and I
would like to thank the following: The Hilton staff for their
service, attitude and humor; Diane Ragland; the Avis people in
Rochester, for the maps; the Rochester Chamber of Commerce for the
weather; the Rooks for making the effort; Allan and Gloria for their
knowledge and leadership on repairs; Greg Otterbein’s shop;
Paul Harris at Sutherland Service, who’s flatbed we never
needed.
Concours
d’Elegance
Senior
Division
1st
Place Bill Dahms 300B 941.5 points
2nd
Place Jack Bryant 300H 796.25 points
3rd
Place Jim Brown 300B 789.5 points
Junior
Division
Class
I Ribbon Fred Nichols 300B 516 points
Class
II 2nd Place Chris Kenworthy 300C 763.5 points
Ribbon Bruce
Brownell 300c 638.5 points
Class
III 3rd Place Paul Youngs 300 G (cvt) 719 points
Ribbon Ron
Boeri 300G 424 points
Hurst 1st
Place Jim Krausmann 913.5 points
3rd
Place Ray Jones 718.5 points
Best
of Show: Bill Dahms, 300B
People’s
Choice: Robert D. Young, 300C
Long
Distance in a 300: Rene Kroeger, 300K – 950 miles –
Bondurant, Iowa
Longest
Distance Traveled: Gilles Guinee – 6,000 miles – from
France
Hard
Luck: Emanual Turner – 300D – driveshaft problems
Letter
300s attending the Meet
300B:
Bill Dahms, Jim Brown, Fred Nichols; 300C: Bruce Brownell, Robert
Young, Chris Kenworthy, Jeff Miklas (cvt); 300D: Emanual Turner,
Gloria Moon, Dave Underwood; 300F: Bill Codner (cvt), Mike Burke,
Dale Dannefer; 300G: John Cornfoot (cvt), Paul Youngs, Ron Boeri, Tom
Bruno; 300H: Jack Bryant, Chip Chapman, Gil Cunningham (cvt), Bob
Crawford; 300J: George Riehl, Paul DelGrande, Don Drakulich; 300K:
Don Cole (cvt), Vern Graber, Rene Kroeger, Jerry Kocur (cvt), Bill
Elder (cvt); Hurst: Ray Jones, Jim Krausmann.
Thanks to Bill Elder for typing this article for the web