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The 49th annual Spring Meet of the Chrysler
300 Club International, Inc. was held in Lewisville,
Texas, a suburb of Dallas April 28th to May 2nd, 2019.
The host hotel was The Best Western Plus Lewisville-Coppell and was a grand location and venue for our Meet! The management and staff of the hotel went out of their way to make our visit an over the top experience.
Sunday, April 28th, members arrived by land and air and reunited again in the parking lot and hotel lobby which also served as hospitality room and breakfast area each morning. The Club Board of Directors held a prompt meeting the night of arrival.
The agenda got rolling with a drive out to Southfork Ranch in nearby Parker, Texas, the site where the TV show Dallas was filmed from 1978 to 1991 and with a remake in the early 20teens. We went on a marvelous tram ride of the grounds and tour of the Ewing mansion and “Dallas” show Museum with a buffet barbecue that was exquisite.
From Southfork we traveled to Davenport Road in Dallas and visited the famed ’55-’57 Thunderbird restoration activity of Amos Minter. Anyone who has watched or been present at Barrett-Jackson and
other high end auctions has seen the marvelously restored Thunderbirds that have come from this garage.
We all drooled at the beautiful and rare Thunderbirds restored or in the process of being restored on the Minter premises. We unfortunately could not meet Amos due to an unexpected family commitment but his son toured us around the showroom and to our delight the actual restoration area!
If Minter’s didn’t satisfy our lust to see classic cars, our next stop on the Monday of the Meet certainly did. We were graciously welcomed to tour the private vehicle collection of Mr. Sam Pack, who owns The Pack Automotive Group in Farmers Branch, TX. This was an EXQUISITE assemblage of at least 100 cars from the brass to modern era, a fraction of the total collection which time did not permit us to see in its entirety.
A club group photo was taken from the balcony overlooking the collection under an arrangement of 5 stars on a huge wall surrounding the vehicles. Two conservators explained the purpose of the collection and were on hand to answer questions from the group. There were 6 one of a kind vehicles present , one of which was the Ford Vega, a sports car concept pre-dating the first Thunderbird. We all had to cover our ears when one of the conservators fired up a 427 Cobra indoors!
The business meeting was held at the host hotel on Monday evening followed by late night discussions in the hospitality/lobby area. See the separate report from Brian Frank regarding the minutes of this meeting. Prior to this meeting the Repro Parts Committee Met. Jamie Hyde, the Committee chairperson, gave a detailed report at the Business Meeting.
On Tuesday morning we journeyed to Dealey Plaza in Dallas and toured the Sixth Floor Museum and the Grassy Knoll area, the site where President Kennedy was assassinated November 22, 1963. A very somber occasion which educated everyone about some aspects that transpired on that fateful day - - a day forever seared into the memory of members old enough to remember.
Then, to the great relief of all, the weather cooperated for us to partake in our Track Day events at Texas Motor Speedway in nearby Grapevine! Twenty Five brave souls donned racing coveralls and helmets and were individually lowered into one of two NACAR Chevrolets and rode shotgun at race speeds for 4 laps of TMS! Permagrins ruled! We started with 20 committed folks prior to Track Day but by popular
 demand 5 more people just HAD TO GET IN and go around the track! After the NASCAR cars were parked then we had Pace Car rides in Chevy Impalas for 3 laps around the track. The Pace cars would stop at the top of turn one so that a perception of the banking could be gleaned. After the Pace Cars drove off the track, our group then was escorted from Gate 4 up to an executive suite 10 floors above the track for a very informational tour given by our TMS Track Day event coordinator. As soon as the tour was over, we were all entertained by a jarring display of nature saying she held off enough for our Track session to be completed with a jarring thunder an lightening display following by a torrential downpour of rain…fortunately without hail!
A Winner’s Circle photo-op session was managed to be squeezed in before the tour by John Begian and Tom Tibbie with there Gs, Noel Hastalis with his F, and Bill Allen with his C300!
On Wednesday we conducted our car show at the nearby Music City Mall in Lewisville from 11am to 3pm. The weather held again for the Chrysler 300 Club. Eight Letter Cars, 3 C300s, 1 C, 1 F, and 2 Gs (convertible and hardtop) and an H were present along with John Goodnight’s late model 300C and John Chessnut’s rented 300! So the folks stopping by could see the Letter Cars and the modern 300s they inspired! Corvette aficianados were surprised to find 3 vintage Corvettes on display just inside the entrance to the Mall!
The Awards Banquet was held at The Carvao Prime Brazilian Steakhouse in nearby Flowermound on Wednesday evening, May 1st. Needless to say, this unique dining experience left no one hungry after it was over!
A real culinary delightful experience was had by all! President Jim Krausmann was master of the awards ceremony assisted by Meet Host Rob Kern and photographers Mick Kreszock and Noel Hastalis. Third place for Group One went to Marshall Goodnight for his ’55, Second Place to Bill Allen for his Tango red ’55, and First Place to Royce Kidd for his Platinum C300. Group 2 First Place was awarded to Rob Kern for his Regimental Red C, which was no surprise since his was the only Letter car in the group for C,D, and E present! Third Place for Group 3 went to Tom Tibbie for his red G hardtop, Second Place to Noel Hastalis for his white F coupe, and First Place to John Begian for his black G convertible. First Place for Group 4 went to Spanky Cox for his H coupe. Long Distance award was earned by Marshall Goodnight for driving his ’55 from Gainesville, Florida for a distance of 1250 miles! Hard Luck Award was presented to Bill Allen for losing his brakes in his C300 at the Meet and was at the mercy of his handbrake!
Meet Host Award was presented to Noel Hastalis for his beautiful white 300F hardtop. Best of Show was voted for John Begian’s G convertible. Meet host Rob Kern thanked everyone for trusting him and his prayers for successfully pulling off this Meet. Rob thanked members Noel Hastalis, Gloria Moon, Carlton Schroeder, Tony Rinaldi, and Ray Jones for their tremendous support in making this Meet come together.
Ray Jones, our National Meet Coordinator was presented The Club Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of over 30 years service to our organization. He was also asked not to consider retiring from the position!
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Well, the time came when we all had to say our heartfelt Good-Byes after breakfast on Thursday May 2nd forward looking to being together at the early Fall Meet being held by Meet Host Randy Guyer July 24-28th in Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota!
Many thanks go to Noel Hastalis for getting the meet announcements and registration form together, along with last minute forwarding of Club Certificate of Insurance forms to TMS for track day, and having his assistant Ellen make up name tags for attendee’s lanyards and name stickers for meet folders. Tony Rinaldi was fabulous in getting the dash plaque final design together, arranging the award plaque designs and scripts and the Lifetime Achievement Award to be specially done for the meet.
 Tony took charge for interfacing with Rallye and coordinating shipments also. Carlton Schroeder was indefatigable in his pursuit of notifying past and inactive/active members in 5 states surrounding Texas to think about coming to the meet. Gloria Moon, as usual, was marvelous in getting the financial aspects together not only for meet attendees but sending out deposits to the venues in a timely manner to insure our reserved times and contract obligations were met. Many thanks to Pete Fitch for reviewing contracts and providing advice so that we avoid pitfalls that were not expected. National Meet Coordinator Ray Jones gave the blessing for us to do our jobs with his confidence that we will do them well and knowing that we could call him anytime we needed guidance. Mick Kreszock spelled relief for me in taking charge of packaging and sending meet supplies to our Fall Meet host. Many thanks to the Club Directors and Officers for providing input and direction for a memorable Spring Meet!
Special Thanks to Martha Kreszock for coordinating the balloting for Peoples Choice Awards at the Car Show and arranging for the awards to be given at the Banquet.
It takes a village to do these gatherings and we have quite a capable community with selfless spirit to make these functions a success!
300’ly, Rob Kern
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