by
Pat and Don Cole
Well, we
talked about the meet all last fall and then all last winter. Summer
came and then panic set in. We thought we had everything organized
and under control but there were still a half million other things to
do. We kept saying to ourselves, just one thing at a time. The
phone was ringing off the hook and (for once, Don couldn’t yell
at the kids that they were spending too much time on the phone) and
Don was in his glory, telling the callers about the festivities that
we had planned … “Come on down”! I thought that I
was living with Monte Hall. Planning everything was not as big a
chore as cleaning up the garage. Yikes! I thought, maybe we could
put a sign on it, “Closed for repairs”, but Donny, being
a “typical” male, didn’t think there was anything
wrong with it. Sigh! I have to say he performed a miracle and it
ended up looking half-way decent. Even though I live in the house and
Don lives in the garage (Oh I’m sorry, it just seems that way),
I needed to feel that we could let people roam around without fear
in their eyes thinking a tornado had hit.
Well low and
behold, the week and then the day finally came. George, Eleanor and
their daughter Laura Riehl drove in on Wednesday night (with their
legs shaking from the long drive from Michigan) and I knew that we
were on our way. I woke up at 6 A.M. to get our son off to his first
day of his sophomore year at Foxboro High and then I was back in my
bedroom until 7:00 so I didn’t wake up George and Eleanor.
Little did I know that Eleanor was already awake. Well, it took a
little more then just the smell of coffee to get old George going and
of course, Eleanor had just the right amount of friendly persuasion
so George couldn’t resist. After a continental breakfast, Don,
George, Eleanor and Laura took off for the Comfort Inn in Dedham,
Mass. I’ll let Don take over from here, because I stayed home
and did some fast cooking for our guests that evening. I did tell
him to be home no later then 3:00. After all, we still hadn’t
picked up that ingredients for a 300 Meet, the beer! Here’s
Donny …
I arrived
home at the stroke of 3:00 with my beer and ice. By the time that I
had things set up, evening had come along with the Brutes and their
owners. What a sight for me! To see such a variety of Chryslers all
in front of my house was like a dream come true. The buffet that Par
served was delicious and well received by all and the cars were
unbelievable! I’d like to do this again next month. Excuse
me, … what did you say sweetheart?
Friday
morning took us to Battleship Cove. I was praying that we wouldn’t
have a typical 300 rain meet, but other then being overcast, the rain
held off. At the battleship site, we had our own designated parking
area and the Brutes looked great as they lined up. Battleship cove
has a destroyer, the U.S.S. Joseph P. Kennedy, a submarine, the
Lionfish, a PT boat display, with two PT boats and last but not
least, the battleship, U.S.S. Massachusetts. Now we are talking a
Brute! The massiveness of a battleship is lost on your tv screen of
19” or 25”. The WWII movies can’t really tell you
what it is all about until you’ve actually set foot on the
deck. One complete turret assembly weighs as much as the destroyer
and there are three of them onboard. Also, onboard there were museums
for the PT boats and for naval aviation. Walking from the battleship
to the submarine is like going from a Brute to a Yugo. John Wayne’s
submarine must have been bigger. As we started to walk back to the
parking lot, Eleanor mentioned that she hadn’t seen George for
a couple of hours. We had to call ALL BATTLE STATIONS to get him to
come out of the bowels of the ship! He told us later that a hatch on
the ship was not locked and he kept climbing down and he ended up
down by the propeller shaft! Really, George, you’ll have to do
better then that!
We finally
got back underway for the hotel where everybody was on their own for
supper. At 7:30 P.M., our business meeting commenced and that’s
another story. After the meeting, some of our members went to the
parking lot while others went to the bar “You know who you
are”.
By 10 A.M. on
Saturday, we started out for Larz Anderson Park and the Museum of
Transportation. What a beautiful day! There was a slight breeze,
the sun was shining and the cars were a real show-stoppers. We lined
up the Concours cars for judging in the middle of the lawn and the
other Brutes were circled around the perimeter of the lawn as if
watching the cars being judged. What a beautiful sight! The judging
was difficult because all of the cars looked great. We actually had
each model year at the museum for the meet. It’s been quite a
few years since the last time that we had every model year show up.
The last Brute was judged and it was time to get back to the motel
and get ready for the awards banquet.
Cocktails
started at 6:30 and dinner followed. Dinner was good, but we were
all waiting to hear the winner of the Concours. My choice was to
give all of them an award but the judges had there say.
Congratulations to everyone! George Riehl then presented a special
award to Gil Cunningham. Special because Gil celebrated his
twentieth year with the club with this meet and even more special
because George and Gil are very good friends. Congratulations Gil!
Here’s to 20 more! After the awards, Carol Cunningham, George
Riehl and others closed down the lounge at the Comfort Inn that
evening (or morning).
Sunday
morning still brought sunny weather. A perfect day for the drive
back home. We made our rounds at breakfast, saying our goodbyes and
Pat went home to check on the kids. I stayed to see the last of the
brutes depart. Some of the members took side trips up north to Maine
and Canada and some went in the opposite direction down South to
Rhode Island where a small Mopar meet was being held. I think that
Andrea (Novak) and Louise (Elder) finally shopped themselves out, or
else Jim and Bill told them that the stores in Massachusetts were
closed on Sunday. We are not sure on that one.
Being meet
hosts has really been a lot of fun. We enjoy going to the meets and
the people that come are so nice and appreciative of all that has
been set up for them. Don has known most of the members, but I have
really enjoyed getting to know them over the last 5 years. What a
great group of people! Thank you all for coming to Boston, and those
of you who couldn’t make it, we are looking forward to seeing
you in Memphis, Tennessee. Elvis does too!!