The 49^th annual fall meet of the 300 Club International was held in Minneapolis, Minnesota by first time meet hosts Randy Guyer and girlfriend Sally Liddy. The dates of the meet were Wednesday July 24^th arrival through Saturday July 27^th capped off with the banquet and awards dinner.

It was held in conjunction with the annual 10,000 Lakes Concours d’Elegance which was held on Sunday July 28^th, everyone was invited to stay an extra day to attend the Concours either with or without their car. Many people did stay to enjoy the Concours on Sunday.

Thursday July 25^th started with a 1-hour drive through the Minnesota countryside to visit Berry Cam and then Engelke Machine where the owners of these small shops educated us on how cams and crankshafts are straightened and reground to spec when rebuilding an engine. Both shops were gracious and interesting.

We then went to an old-fashioned hamburger drive-in (Minnetonka Drive-in) for lunch and free ice cream cones.

Following lunch, we drove to Classic Auto Repair where they perform mechanical work on collector cars and the facility also houses a private collection of cars of varied interests and a game/party room with a big bar and theater set-up. The owners (two brothers) like to have parties.

From there it was back to the host hotel for freshening up and a 300-club business meeting at 8:00 pm to end the day.

Friday morning the 26^thwe visited the famed Randy Guyer collection stored at my place of business (Shady Oak Distributing) where we saw two 300F convertibles, a 1960 Impala convertible, 1960 Dodge Phoenix convertible, 1960 Plymouth Fury convertible, 1958 Dodge Regal Lancer, 300C coupe, all restored to a fare thee well. (I just like saying “fare thee well”)

We also saw some rusty junk, but one of the rusty junkers is a 300C convertible that is untouched from the factory other than oil changes etc. I sought advice from the group on what should I do with it so as not to ruin it. The consensus was to just get it running and enjoy it the way it is.

For the afternoon we were off to another car collection and restoration shop that contained a variety of cars such as Hudson’s and Buicks. Some folks then returned to the hotel while others went to a nationally recognized junk yard named French Lake Auto Parts and searched for rusty gold. Friday evening was a cocktail & hors d’oeuvres reception party and auction with the 300 club and the Concours participants combined. The auction is to raise money for the Concours charitable partner Bridging.

Saturday morning, we participated in a local car show and had special parking spaces reserved for our brutes at the Chanhassen AutoPlex which is a fancy garage facility where many car collectors store their cars and socialize. Back at the host hotel we had the car show and judging for the 300’s in the afternoon. The banquet was that evening.

On Sunday the weather was less than desirable for the Concours with clouds and drizzle most of the day causing us to move up the awards ceremony and end the show about 45 minutes early. It was the one and only day of poor weather for the week leading up to the event and the week after the event. Rats!

Many thanks to all the people that helped and advised me how to do this. It is truly a pleasure to host such an easy to get along with and friendly group!

Best regards,

Randy Guyer & Sally Liddy