Spring Fling 2008: "We Were Blown Away"

By Ken Bounds

Bright and early on Friday, May 23, Joe Kozmic (’37 Coupe), Joey Novak (’40 Pickup), and Ken Bounds (’50 Convertible) headed west on a little adventure to the 34^th Annual Spring Fling some 500 miles away in Nebraska City, NE. We were rookies, so we didn’t know what to expect; but this group of V-8ers has been holding this event in the Heartland of America since 1974, so they must have something figured out. When we left the Chicago area we were in shirtsleeves and wearing sunglasses. As we crossed Illinois, then Iowa, and finally the Missouri River into Nebraska, we were met with falling temperatures, falling rain (very heavy at times), and falling gas prices! The $3.79 in Nebraska City sure beat the $4.16 in Northern Illinois.

The reception from a terrific group of V-8 folks at this event could not have been warmer. I wish we could say the same thing about the weather. The first night at the outdoor welcome party was quite cold and breezy. We understand that the local Wal-Mart did a brisk business in sweatshirts for some of the people who were caught unprepared. After a long day of driving, but a pleasant time of meeting old friends and making some new ones, we settled in to the historic-looking Apple Inn for a well-deserved night’s rest.

Saturday morning brought the promise of a warmer day, but with the threat of severe weather in the afternoon. The day’s highlight was a driving tour to the private collection of Mark Pieloch in Syracuse, about 20 miles west of Nebraska City. As the group of more than 40 V-8’s began lining up for the drive, Joey noticed that his pickup was running rough. We decided to leave it at the hotel; since no activities were scheduled for the afternoon we would have plenty of time to work on it later.

The short drive to Syracuse ended at a huge, unmarked building on the prairie. Mark has assembled an incredible collection concentrated mainly in dozens of unique, new or extremely low mileage, late-model Corvettes and Camaros. But the collection also includes everything from some rare-model 50’s era Chevrolets, several Chevelles, a mix of Fords and Mopar items, an Indian motorcycle, Whizzer motorbikes, Schwinn bicycles, gas pumps and other automobilia, pedal cars, and antique radios. Some of the highlights of the collection include a ’69 Yenko Camaro, a beautiful ’55 Chevrolet Cameo pickup, the "Plum Crazy" ’70 Hemi Cuda, and a ’68 Shelby GT 500 Cobra convertible.

While we browsed the collection and enjoyed refreshments inside, a crowd began gathering and looking over the collection of V-8 Fords outside. While we were there, more car clubs began arriving, including a Chevrolet club, a Mustang club, and a streetrod club. As we understand it, Mark opens his collection to various groups at no charge a couple of times a month. We want to thank Mark & Sheri Pieloch and their son for their friendliness and hospitality. They spent a lot of time with us talking about their collection and were genuinely nice folks.

What tops off a tour better than free ice cream? Even though the temperature was still unseasonably cool, the group descended on a nearby establishment for a sweet treat. Then it was back on the road to Nebraska City where we knew we had a chore awaiting us: diagnosing and repairing a problem with that ’40 pickup. While on the tour Joey began thinking about the heavy rain we had driven in the day before and suspected a damp distributor cap. In about two minutes the diagnosis was confirmed, the cap was toweled dry and replaced, and the flathead roared back to life. Now we had all afternoon with nothing planned. What to do? Fortunately, we decided to have a beverage or two to think about it.

For lunch we stumbled onto a local treasure. A restaurant/bar named Dinty Moore’s has been around for over 100 years and is known for delicious homemade shredded-beef sandwiches. We decided to try it out and what a treat it was! The prices were low, the taste and quality of the sandwich was great, and the owner was a delight. We spent some time talking with Steve Schreiner and his wife Linda about the place where he is the third-generation owner/operator and about his Triumph TR6 that he will get around to restoring "someday". Steve told us that he retired last year, but Linda won’t let him leave. They have plans to move to Branson, MO, and are looking for a new owner. Anyone interested?

In the afternoon we toured the Missouri River Basin Lewis & Clark Interpretive Trail & Visitors Center (there’s a mouthful), then back to the Apple Inn where we unintentionally got another history lesson. It seems that we would be some of the last people to stay at the Apple Inn. Opened in 1949, it was a classic motor court style motel along the (then) main highway through the town. Over the years several additions increased the size to cover the entire block. But, as has happened so many times all over the country, a developer has purchased the land and will level the hotel in early June, replacing it with a Walgreens. Progress.

Getting lost in all this touring and tourism is the good time we had kicking tires, checking out everyone’s ride, and just hanging out and talking with fellow V-8ers. There was a hospitality room open during the entire event, stocked with coffee, breakfast items, treats and lots of Ford talk. The host group and others in attendance really made us feel at home. As another day began to draw to a close, we were happy for the camaraderie, for the warming but still moderate weather, and for the fact that the predicted severe weather never materialized. Stay tuned.

Sunday morning brought the car games and people games, along with yet another prediction of severe weather, damaging winds, large hail, and possible tornadoes. Each regional group brings along a game or two. Some are done driving the V-8’s, others are for people. The driving games included attempting to drive exactly 60 feet while blindfolded; driving as close as possible to a stick that you cannot see without tipping it over; picking up washers in a slalom course with a magnet attached to the rear bumper; trying to get a plumb bob, attached to the front bumper, as close as possible to the center of an X on the pavement; and the Chinese Fire Drill – a timed event where drivers switch several times over the course. We participated in the driving games and some of the people games and only mildly embarrassed ourselves. No one was killed or seriously injured. A great time was had by all and we are grateful to the groups who took the trouble to bring and conduct the games. As all this was going on, the temperature finally rose to what was seasonable, and then some. The afternoon high would be 88°.

After 50 or so V-8ers mobbed a restaurant in an old train depot for lunch, we took the afternoon off to do some more tire kicking and tailgating. We decided to skip the afternoon Cider House Theater production of Zorro, but caught up with the group for the evening social, buffet dinner, and awards program at the Avenue Grill. The program included a large number of door prizes and awards for the first and second place winners of the driving games and people games and for the farthest distance. That one went to Lloyd Brown who drove his ’50 Mercury Coupe from Houston! I was fortunate enough to take 1^st place in the plumb bob (1½" from the target) and 2^nd place in the blindfolded driving (48" past the 60-foot line).

Our luck with the weather, though, finally ran out. During the presentations, a waitress interrupted to tell us that a severe storm with 75 m.p.h. winds was 19 miles west of Nebraska City and heading toward us. A few minutes later the manager interrupted with the announcement that a tornado was sighted just west of town. Soon after, she came back into the room and abruptly announced "I need everyone down in the basement right now." Our large group was hustled down the stairs into a storage room as the sirens sounded above. Although it was a little warm and crowded, we were fortunate that the building never lost power and the lights stayed on. The restaurant management could not have done a better job of handling a scary situation. The manager let us know that she was in touch with the County emergency management office and after about 30 or 40 minutes, they sounded the "all clear". We emerged from the basement not knowing what we would see. What we saw was our V-8’s lined up outside, wet from rain, but undamaged. Whew!

As the eventful evening came to a close, we began to say our goodbyes and received a warm invitation to do it all again next year, probably in Hutchinson, KS. Monday morning, Memorial Day, we checked out of the Apple Inn, fired up the reliable V-8’s, and began the long journey home. Right on cue, the rain began. In spite of 200 or so miles before we ran out of sporadic rain, the trip went well. We made great time and completed the nearly 500 miles, including lunch and gas stops, in just over 9 hours. Not bad for 60-70 year old cars on a holiday weekend! Throughout the trip our V-8’s performed flawlessly. My ’50 logged 1,097 miles and used 62.2 gallons of gas. We did notice a couple of signs of the times. For one, we saw only a handful of motor homes and really not a lot of traffic on the road. Remember, this was Memorial Day! For another, we passed a large number of 18-wheelers. Usually they pass us; it looks like the high fuel prices are slowing a lot of trucks down substantially.

We want to send our sincere thanks to the fine folks from Omaha Regional Group #34 for hosting this event and for going out of their way to make three guys from Northern Illinois feel welcome. Also thanks to the nearly 100 V-8ers from 7 regional groups who attended for making this a great event and a fine example of Ford V-8 friendship.