An early morning, well, for some of us. Linda and I were
up until after 3:00 working on things. Tony had been working on this
event for weeks, trying to get the cash prize for the club with the most
cars in attendance. He had several people interested and many pre-paid
to head down. This Show was an "Open Show" and even members with newer
cars could enter and have a day at the "Cypress Gardens Adventure Park"
in nearby Winter Haven. Premium Productions was the organization that
put the show on for the folks at the park. Other than them nearly
creating an international incident by the wording of the
Pre-registration forms we filled out. We had our International Liaison
officer, Graham and our Assistant Liaison officer Carole, from the UK
meeting us at the park. The flier said 2 tickets per car. We had several
members that came in solo, they were going to use the tickets from them.
However, NO TICKETS WERE EVER ISSUED! Once the car and the
2 occupants were in, that was it, additional occupants had to vacate the
vehicle and purchase a full price ticket to the park with cash, at least
there could have been a credit card machine available. They were not
coming to "See the Park people" just our members and the rest of the
cars that were assembled for the event. There was no convincing any one
that we needed to have them at the event. Larry passed the buck to the
park, they passed it back. I wasn't about to let the day be ruined.
HOWEVER, when ever we have involvement in any other of their events, we
will not take the printed word for it's face value and make arrangements
to have all of our cars meet a few miles down the road, do any "Seat
Swapping" that we might need to do and swarm their gate with all of us
at one time. This year we staggered in so that it might help the Traffic
and parking control. There was also no attempt to try and keep the group
together, it should have been pretty easy to stake out 23 spots and hold
for a group to arrive, even if staggered a bit. The turn to the gate
before an intersection was only about 4 cars lengths after all.
Anyway, we did have a few that
pre-registered that did not make it out, hope all is well. Those that
did make it to the event included.....
Tony & Sharon, our trip leader in their '69 Ranchero, "Lucy". Mike &
Kristen in a '64 Corvair, with it's new top not quite finished but
usable. Annette & her Mom, (Melody) in the '06 Cooper Mini. "Mustang
Mike", or should I say "Malibu Mike" with Fred, our bi-annual
spectator/member from Michigan, in Mike's '64 Corvair Greenbrier. Linda
& I were in our '61 Corvair coupe. Tony & Marlene in their '94 SB
Corvette. George & Susan in their '87 Cutlass. Ed & Evelyn in their '63
Corvair convertible. Ed & Sarah in the "Shortbox" '70 Chevy pickup. Roy
& Judi in the Infiniti M30 convertible. Jeff & Martha in their '55 Ford.
Ron & Renee in the '61 Caddy convertible. Gary & Wanda in "Remember
When" the Blue Flamed, Black '55 Chevy. Jim & Norma in the '87 Beretta.
Ted in his '05 Maxima. Paul & Pat in the '58 DeSoto. Bill & Martie in
the '81 Blazer. George & his daughter in his '61 Falcon. Jaime & Aglae
"67 AC Cobra. "Bo" in his Corvair.
Greg in his Camaro. Jack & Betty in their '37 Ford. That makes 23, 25
with the ones that didn't show but paid. The "Official" account was 21.
It was enough to win the Club Participation award, Trophy and $100 cash
that "Mustang Mike" received.
"Best of Show" Class, top 15 awards
went home with, Jack in '37 Ford. Jeff in the '55 Ford, Jaime in the '67
Cobra, Gary in the '55 Chevy. Tony in the '94 Vette. "Best Overall" went
home with "Big Jim" and his '87 Beretta. Not too bad for our little
group. The FLXC Group
swept the 2001 and newer class with their impressive display of HEMI
powered cars. Congratulations!
During the judging phases most of the
car owners made their way into the park to eat and enjoy many of the
attractions. It was not good to follow Tony B around, he seemed to have
everything break as he got on. Marlene, we feel for you.
It was a great day out, always nice to
see all of the great cars in different venues. Some one did move my car
while we were in the park. Nice of them to try and contact me. I am sure
if I would have gotten that near to the '57 T-Bird that I was forced to
block in, he would not have been too happy. That is one bad thing about
a "Show Field" type show.
I did manage a few photos, with a few
from the park. I certainly enjoyed a few of the newer displays that I
hadn't seen at Cypress Gardens before. Especially the "When Radio was
Radio" and "Planes, Trains and Automobiles". Maybe not that new, it has
been more than 20 years since I last visited.
Thank you for having us out.
The photos are below the next section.
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