2010 Western National Meet

St. George, Utah

By Ken Bounds

For the most part, the weather gods looked kindly on far southwest Utah in late October as swarms of V-8ers descended on St. George for the Western National Meet.  A short rain shower late in the morning on Concourse Day was the only dark spot.  The organizers deserve five gold stars for selecting the location for the meet and the abbreviated timeframe appeared to be a hit.

In the months leading up to this meet, we had hoped that a number of members of our group would attend.  Because of the distance no one from here really wanted to take an Early V-8; one possibility discussed was a trip to Las Vegas with a little side trip of about 125 miles to St. George.  As it turned out, only two couples made the trip to Las Vegas:  Dan & Diane Pudelek and Ken & Carolyn Bounds.  Carolyn and I spent most of the week in St. George while Dan drove up for the concourse.

This meet was a really different experience for us; this was the 21st National Meet I have attended and Carolyn’s 13th, but the first one where I have not driven an Early V-8.  In addition to all the standard reasons for attending a National Meet, we had our own special reason this time.  Over the past year Carolyn developed an automated system for tabulating participant ballots for the Touring and Touring A voting.  She gave it the inaugural run at the Eastern National Meet in Charlotte in June where it was a big hit and St. George would be the second time out.  More on that later.

After flying in to Las Vegas Saturday (and actually doing pretty well in the casinos!) Carolyn and I headed toward Utah early Monday morning, October 18, in our rented Ford Fusion.  The meet was touted as a streamlined three-day Monday-Wednesday affair to get away from some of the more lavish events of recent years.  There was early registration on Sunday and more than 160 of the 300+ registrants took advantage.  All the months of planning by the event’s organizers, committees, and volunteers were coming to fruition as we arrived at the site.  The registration room was full of reunions as we met fellow V-8ers from all over the country.

Although the vast majority of the 342 or so who registered were from nearby states such as California, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and Colorado, it was apparent that quite a few had driven their V-8s for long distances, including those from Texas, Ohio, Michigan and even West Virginia!  The Northwest was well represented too with over 50 from Oregon and Washington alone.

The organizers jammed a lot of action into the three-day meet.  On Monday, in addition to registration, the operational check, and a quite-nice swap meet, there was also the raffle room, the chance to buy tickets on the large raffle items, and a meeting about the Early Ford V-8 Foundation, hosted by President Jerry Vincentini.  The highlight of the afternoon was a delightful presentation by Utah member Mr. Cal Beauregard who had an incredibly interesting career as an executive of the Ford Motor Company.  Mr. Beauregard was known for many years at the go-to man for providing limousines to U.S. Presidents and other dignitaries, including the Pope.  He had seemingly endless interesting stories about his long career with Ford and his interactions with the Secret Service in providing Presidential transportation.  His efforts even got him designated as an honorary agent by the Secret Service.

Monday night was the welcome party with a great chance to renew all those V-8 friendships and to learn more information about the meet from co-chairs Ralph Hubbard and Scott Bringhurst.  The Dixie Convention Center, adjacent to the meet hotel, provided an excellent venue for this event as well at the subsequent dinners at the meet.  Entertainment was provided by Eric Dodge, a local country star.  When the music proved a little loud for some of us, we sought refuge in the hotel bar, “The Office,” where a group of us made our own good time.  This became a nightly ritual.

Tuesday brought what was likely the highlight of the meet for many of the attendees.  Nearly 200 Early V-8s lined up at the Dixie Center for a 40+-mile driving tour to Zion National Park.  It was an incredible site to see as a police escort led the l-o-n-g line of classic Fords onto Interstate 15.  Being at the tail of the line with a modern car, I had the chance to make a video of all the cars as they started the trek.  After a short distance on the Interstate, the procession completed the journey over secondary roads. 

All along the route you could see people marveling at the site they had just seen, while those of us who aren’t from around there were ogling the magnificent scenery.  At the entrance to the park, most of us viewed an historic film of the area at an Imax theatre.  Afterwards it was time to enjoy a box lunch and explore the park on your own.  Many of us entered the National Park and took tour buses, which made seven stops as they drove deep up into Zion Canyon.  Visitors can get off the bus at any stop, explore miles of trails, and get back on any bus.  The views were spectacular.

After the meet attendees returned to St. George in groups or on their own, there was just a little time to check the swap meet again before reporting to the owners/judges meeting.  That night there was a Nostalgia Night buffet and dance with entertainment provided by the Jim Sevy Band.  After our usual trip to The Office, we retired for the night to be ready for the big day.

Wednesday, October 20, was Concourse Day.  But this was no ordinary day as the meet planners decided to have the Awards Banquet the same day!  This doesn’t sound so unusual until you realize how much work must be done at the conclusion of the Concourse to get the program and awards ready for the banquet.  Much was scheduled for the day:  the Judges’ Breakfast at 7:30, the Concourse from 8:30 – 4:30, the Ladies’ Luncheon at noon, results of the raffles in the afternoon, and the Awards Banquet at 6:30 pm.

With no car to display, Carolyn and I set up in the tabulation room as soon as it was available. Milly Scheidt, assisted by husband Frank, handled tabulation chores for all the point-judged cars, with Judging Standards Committee Secretary Ray Beebe recording results and preparing Dearborn and Rouge awards.  Carolyn’s Touring tabulation program would be a key to getting all the Touring results to the awards committee in time for the banquet.  You don’t realize what goes into this tabulation until you learn that it has taken the better part of a day to determine results at some prior meets.  Our first task was to walk the Concourse to check off every Touring and Touring A vehicle against a master list of registered cars.  We needed to make sure each vehicle was actually present and that windshield placards were accurate.  This takes longer than you would think!

After we resolved a few discrepancies, the ballots started coming in.  Carolyn input each ballot noting any errors in voting – her program only allows accurate votes to be counted.  The participants make a surprising number of errors, often voting for cars in the wrong class.  With the potential for 15 votes on each Touring ballot and 15 more on each Touring A ballot, and with about 350 of each distributed to participants, there are a lot of votes to be tabulated in the very short timeframe allowed.  Carolyn continued the input for the next several hours while I looked for trends of errors to see if there was an explanation.

During the morning, Dan Pudelek arrived from Las Vegas.  I was able to take a few minutes to walk the concourse with Dan while attempting to resolve voting problems.  As noon approached, ominous storm clouds were rolling in over the mountains.  Fortunately, there was only a brief shower and the threat of severe weather never materialized.

While this was going on, those who participated in the Ladies’ Luncheon enjoyed a great meal followed by entertainment by Piute Indians.  Each lady was given a commemorative sterling silver necklace created by local silversmiths.

Because of the threat of bad weather and the short timeframe to the banquet, plans were made to release the concourse early.  I rushed out to take photos of each car on the concourse and finished in the nick of time.  Meanwhile, the last of the Touring ballots were brought in to the tabulation room and Carolyn completed her input.  After conferring with the meet officials on how ties would be handled, Carolyn printed out final reports of the voting results that would be used to announce trophy winners at the banquet, now only a few hours away.

The banquet was attended by a massive crowd of over 500 V-8ers.  The program recognized many people for their contributions to a very successful meet.  President Arel Brown made several presentations, including a very special recognition of Phil Kelly from California who had just completed a 23-year restoration project on his ’46 Convertible.  Several members of Phil’s family flew in unannounced and surprised him at the meet. Vice-President Bob York pleasantly surprised Carolyn and me with a presentation recognizing Carolyn’s tabulation system (see story on Page 9).  Former President Tom Johnston announced all the awards for the judged vehicles, then trophies were awarded for the Touring vehicles.  Finally, each participant who brought a vehicle to the meet was given a unique plaque created by Matt Ettinger to recognize them for their participation and support.

There is never adequate time to say goodbyes at the conclusion of these meets, but we tried at our ritual trip to “The Office.”  Carolyn and I brought home many lasting memories, including one that happened on the road back to Las Vegas.  As we were cruising down I-15 somewhere in the neighborhood of 75 mph, we very slowly approached a shiny ’40 Ford Coupe.  We soon realized it was Clyde & Gail Bangiola of Arizona, cruising along in air conditioned bliss at a speed we won’t reveal.  The smiles on their faces revealed the joy of driving these classic cars and the event they had just attended.