I had a great time at the event, mother nature co-operated and there was a brief sun-shower (barely even that).
The event included breakfast and lunch at one of the 'RibFest' vendors, and all 60 of us owners received a goody bag with a Cruise Nationals jacket, t-shirt, ball-cap and participation plaque. There were also a number of events - guess the # of nuts/bolts/sparkplugs in the bottle, identify a dozen rusty car parts, the piston-toss and the alternator-put.
Sad to say, I didn't win any of the events, and the Pantera wasn't one of the 10 cars selected to attend the Auto-Show in February
... However, I went in with no expectation of winning, but just as as an opportunity to get the car in front of a broader audience - the cars selected were all beautiful, somewhat predictable based on what I've seen in the past, and I wouldn't have traded the Pantera for any of them (well, maybe the '63 split window vette - which I'd sell to buy back my Pantera, a second cat and a garage lift). The reason I wouldn't trade? ... While I was congratulating the guy with the '71 Nova SS that was selected as one of the 10 (he was parked next to me and we chatted off and on throughout the day), we heard this shrill H&*# C*&^, H&*# C*&^ from a kid as he ran up to the Pantera and stood slack-jawed in front of it - I've seen that reaction a dozen times in the last year (and it isn't just the kids).
OK, so what cars get selected by the judges?
Last year it was:
1932 Chevrolet Coupe
1933 Ford Cabriolet
1936 Ford Coupe
1936 Ford Pick-up
1956 Chevrolet Pick-up
1956 Ford Thunderbird
1957 Chevrolet Belaire Convertible
1967 Camaro
1968 Plymouth Roadrunner
1972 Dodge Challenger
This year's winners...
