Car Of The Month - July 08

It is not about the Hardware...

We have still not hit summer time weather yet but the car shows are now in full swing. This past weekend a group of Mustangs Northwest folks headed out to Duvall for the Big Rock Car show. This show was but on by Roger Jones, who is a member of the Cascade Cougar club and actually is a pending member of Mustangs Northwest. A good friend of mine once told me, " getting the trophy is not important, it is the people that you meet and the friendships that you create that are the important things that really matter. My trophy is when someone wants to take a picture of my car..." ( Trineism )

Well, back to the story... I met up with Pat and Connie Trine and we headed out to Duvall to make our pilgrimage to the Big Rock, last year was the first year of the show and what was planned for a 40 or 50 car show, turned into over 150 cars. With the rain, it was only about 75 cars this year but everyone had a great time and made the best of it. We spent our day enjoying our friends, all of the cool cars, and even some good food. For some folks, they are there just to case after a trophy and are so busy trying to get folks to vote for their car, they are missing out on the experience of meeting new friends, finding out about the amazing work that folks have spent on their really cool cars, and just relaxing. Personally, I prefer the laid back approach of just chill' in with friends and anything that I bring home is just an added bonus.

As the day came to a close, the rain had started to taper off and a few more folks started to come out to see the cars and even drove some of the classics. If they would of showed up earlier, they might of even been selected for an award. As the presentations were wrapping up, Mustangs Northwest was selected for most folks attending in a club and received Club Participation and I was selected for "Best of Show" by a young man by the name of Josh, who was selected honorary " Mayor for the Day..."

I was very honored to receive this award. When Josh and Roger walked over to my car to let me know, Josh was so excited, I asked him if he would like to sit in the car and he was so excited, he jumped about 50 feet in the air. Both Josh and his sister sat in my 70 Mach1 and had a blast. Well, just when you think the story is done, there is still more...

Most of us had not packed up our cars yet because we were all gathered down by the announcement tent to recognize everyone that received an award and celebrate their excitement and acknowledge their accomplishments. As we started packing up, most of us had to dry off our chairs and umbrella's from the rain, and get our cars squared away before making the journey home. While some cars do not melt in the rain, some of them do tend to leak and some of our members had to dry out the insides of their Mustangs as well. We even had a fellow MNW member come down to visit and hang out with us but he brought his Jeep. His company was greatly appreciated, he always has a smile on his face and makes people laugh. Okay, I am getting back to the story...

After saying our goodbye's and giving out Mustang hugs, I hopped in my car and fired it up. As I pulled out into the middle of the parking lot, my car died. To my surprise, this was the first time that my car had stalled out on me since I bought the car 5 years ago. I fired it back up and it died on me again. Pat Trine assisted by pushing my car into the middle isle of the parking lot so we could take a look at things. We disconnected ( Pat ) the fuel line to see if the fuel pump was not working but it was gushing out fuel like an overflowing river after a heavy rain. It started to rain again so Connie was so kind to call a flatbed for me and it allowed me to get my car home so I could work on it in my dry garage. Prior to calling the wrecker, a gentleman next to me had a 69 Charger RT that was a gorgeous car. He came over and offered to go home and get his flatbed trailer and haul my car home. I told him that I really appreciated his offer but I felt better calling AAA. He walked back to his car and started it up. All of a sudden, a horrible noise of metal and grinding sounds came out from under his hood. It did not sound good at all and everyone that was standing around my car was now standing around his car. He told us that he was going to walk home and get his trailer to haul his car home. We all felt so bad for him.

Words of Wisdom, if you do not have:

Tools to repair your car when it breaks..

Have the knowledge to fix your car...

Have friends with you that have both...

Get AAA!

Below is the link that has many more pictures from the Big Rock Car Show. - http://public.fotki.com/propboy40/2008-big-rock-class/