Our Tour to the 2011 Central National Meet

By Ken Bounds

After a year of anticipation and months of planning, it was time to make final preparations for our tour to Auburn, IN, to attend the 2011 Central National Meet.  The fun started Saturday evening, August 20, with 29 V-8ers attending our traditional “Drivers Meeting” at Roundheads of Lombard.  It was a special treat to have Sue Dopke in attendance; she had not been able to attend a V-8 event in years.  Following a plentiful buffet meal, we had a meeting detailing our plans to tour to Auburn and some of the activities we could anticipate while there.  Those attending received a packet of pertinent information, including participants’ cell phone numbers, along with quite a few car-related door prizes.  There was even a birthday cake surprise and a round of “Happy Birthday” for Carolyn, whose birthday was the following day.

Bright and early Wednesday morning, August 24, Mother Nature decided to even things out after an unseasonably chilly tour to the same destination two years ago – she turned on the heat.  Sixteen meet participants with 8 Early V-8s and two modern vehicles began our journey at the Lincoln Oasis at 9:00 am.  Sam & Judy Barone trailering their ’41 Pickup, Carolyn Bounds – ’50 Crestliner, Ken Bounds – ’36 Roadster, Joe & Marie Dispensa with passenger Barbara Slobodnik (John would join us Friday) – modern, Lloyd & Gladys Duzell – ’35 Tudor, Joe Kozmic – ’53 Mercury, Tom Madeleine O’Donnell – ’40 Mercury, Stan & JoAnne Stack – ’53 Tudor, and Len & Irene Vinyard – ’39 Convertible.  With the five-year construction project on I-94 at I-65 nearly completed, we safely and quickly negotiated the first 30 miles on the expressway before turning to secondary roads for the rest of our trip.  With some lively banter on the CB radios, we had a leisurely, mostly uneventful drive across Indiana farmland on Route 6.  The only excitement occurred when a very overloaded dump truck right in front of me blew a tire.  Leading the caravan in the open Roadster, the bang of the blowout was rather jarring.  After a brief pit stop in Nappanee, we pulled into Auburn around 1:30 EDT.

On a planning trip to Auburn several days earlier, Carolyn and I had discovered a hidden treasure called the Auburn Deli.  It is difficult to notice in the back of the Zesto’s ice cream shop on Touring Drive.  We had arranged with the deli to pre-order sandwiches that were ready with everyone’s name on them when we arrived.  Owner Rex Carroll and his staff went out of their way to provide us great service that we took advantage of several times while in Auburn.  We were joined for lunch by John & Este Scheve who had trailered their beautiful ’37 Standard Tudor over on Tuesday.  Este also had done us the great service of reserving tables at the awards banquet for our large group of around 30.  After lunch we all went over to the nearby Comfort Suites to complete our meet registration.  Here is where the real fun begins: renewing friendships with fellow V-8ers from all over the country.  Carolyn will tell you that once I get to talking with everyone she has to pry me away for our next activity.

After registration we went to our various hotels to check in.  Many of us were at the Hampton where we saw more of our V-8 friends.  With the afternoon waning, we cruised over back streets down to the Early Ford V-8 Foundation Museum to get our cars through the operational check and to drop off people’s choice baskets and gift items we had brought.  There we saw many more folks that we could gab with and even had time to buy a few raffle tickets and people’s choice tickets.  We took a shot at making it back to the swap meet, but when we got there most vendors had shut down for the day, partly because of a looming storm.  At some point we ran into Tom Barosso and Betty Klafta who had taken a leisurely drive over on their own in their ’39 Standard Fordor, Lin Stacey who had trailered his ’42 Sedan Coupe, and Ron Dopke who had arrived in modern iron.

We had just enough time to return to our hotels to freshen up for dinner.  We met at the Hampton at 6:30 for the short 8-mile cruise to the St. James Restaurant in Avilla for dinner.  Tom O’Donnell had recommended this restaurant, the oldest in the State of Indiana, and we were not disappointed.  Our group of 21 had a great time and a delicious meal before returning to the hotels for the night.  Well, there may have been a few nightcaps consumed in the parking lot and the hotel lobbies before retiring.  Some may have been awakened by the strong overnight storm, but fortunately there was only wind and rain; no hail and all was clear by morning.

On Thursday most of us were up bright and early to clean up the cars and begin the detailing process for the Friday concourse.  We were greeted by Alan Wall’s ’32 Tudor, conveniently parked on its trailer under the Hampton Inn canopy.  While working on the cars we ran into Garry & Joan Kelly who had driven over in modern.  After cleanup and the rather nice Hampton Inn breakfast, a group of us was off to the swap meet.  It was a terrific meet with lots of vendors and tons of great Flathead parts.  We spent a boatload of money on parts we needed, parts we didn’t need, and some super memorabilia.  Hopefully everyone found something they were looking for.  After a quick lunch at the Auburn Deli, we were off to the National Military History Center adjacent to the Foundation Museum for a series of meetings.  Here we encountered Joe & Delice Serritella who had driven over in their ’41 Coupe, Scott & Nicole Gilday who had trailered their just-completed ’41 Convertible, and Mike & Stephanie Kubarth from Wisconsin.  Our group had a large contingent of first-time attendees at a National Meet; we hope they found the President’s Meeting and the Owners/Judges Meeting interesting and informative.

We hated to miss the Foundation Meeting, but time was tight.  We had just enough time to return to the hotel to shower and dress for the welcome party, right back at the same location were the meetings had been held.  Before the buffet, meet co-chair Jerry Vincentini introduced a large number of current and former V-8 Club Presidents and Directors who were in attendance, along with National Judges, Foundation Trustees, and others.  As Midwest Director, I had the pleasure of presenting a certificate to Chuck Stanley, President of Central Iowa RG#145, to commemorate the group’s 15th Anniversary.  After dinner we were treated to a brief bagpipe concert by Foundation Trustee George Walker from Arizona, followed by a fund-raising auction for the Foundation.  Everyone had a great time.

Friday morning:  Concourse Day!  After a little time for final detailing on the cars, Carolyn and I were off to the Judges Breakfast where we were joined by Alan who was a member of a judging team.  For the past two years Carolyn and I have been using the system she designed for tabulating the votes in the Touring categories.  While others in our large group were getting their cars ready and driven down to the concourse, many of the ladies in the group were getting ready for the Ladies Brunch & Bonnets event at the Bridgewater Country Club.  I don’t have many details, but understand that Marie Dispensa, Gladys Duzell, Madeleine O’Donnell, Delice Serritella, Barbara Slobodnik, JoAnne Stack, and Irene Vinyard had a great time.

All of our NIRG members had their Early V-8s on the concourse by 10:00 am (all 15 of them!) including John Judge who had trailered his ’50 Convertible in that morning.  The day was just a blur as everyone enjoyed viewing around 200 beautiful V-8s, voted for their favorites in the Touring classes, and enjoyed V-8 camaraderie.  For first-timers Scott & Nicole Gilday, Joe Serritella, Tom Barosso & Betty Klafta, and John Judge, having their babies judged must have been nerve wracking.  Those of us with Emeritus cars and walk-arounds could relax.  For Carolyn and me the day was hectic.  After preparing our cars for showing, our first order of business was setting up shop in the tabulation room in the Museum.  Then it was on to verification of all the Touring cars on the concourse and correcting any errors found.  This takes a lot of time, especially when it is more fun to stop and talk with people.  As Carolyn began the process of making final updates to the database and inputting ballots, I attempted to photograph every car on the concourse.

The rather hot day continued on as I made way too many trips to the tab room to carry ballots to Carolyn; that was a hike.  As our group wandered the concourse, we were able to spend several hours enjoying the cars and each other’s company.  At some point we encountered Paul Linzer and Jordon & Corinne Beller viewing the cars.  The judges came and went, the ladies arrived from their event, and finally the concourse was released around 3:00.  Soon after, Carolyn had input the last of the ballots and provided the Touring results to the meet organizers.  Her system continues to be a hit.

Friday evening we drove our cars to the Town Square for a Show & Shine display.  How neat to see so many Flathead Fords occupying both sides of the street on three sides of the square.  On the east side there was a special display of all ’36 Fords.  To commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the ’36, each owner was presented with a certificate and a special license tab by President Bob York.  It was a great way to wrap up a wonderful day.

On Saturday there were four driving tours for the meet participants to select.  Our group split off to different tours; a number of us went on “Tour D” to various attractions near Auburn.  Carolyn and I were fortunate to be selected to have the tour guide ride with us in our Crestliner.  Our 75+ mile tour took us to an incredible restored Shell station, the Mid-America Windmill museum, Orchard Hill Farm apple orchard, lunch at St. James Restaurant, Maple Acres maple syrup farm, the Old Jail Museum in Albion, and the Black Pine animal park.  We don’t have space to adequately describe all the neat things we saw, but I think the apple processing system was the big hit.  We had a few breakdowns on the tour and Alan Wall had continuing problems with his ’32.  Carolyn and I stopped to help Henry and Jeff Horrocks change a coil and get their ’36 Phaeton back on the road while most of our group returned to Auburn.

There was just enough time to get back and ready for the awards banquet.  Our large group sat at the four tables Este had reserved earlier.  The banquet was a celebration for everyone who had worked so hard to prepare their cars for the concourse.  Each of our members who brought a car won a trophy and a photo opportunity with V-8 Club President Bob York.  It was rewarding to see the joy of so many of our friends from all over the country as they were recognized by their peers for their accomplishments.  The speeches were brief, the awards presentations went smoothly, and we congratulate everyone involved for putting on a terrific National Meet.  And what a meet it was, with nearly 200 cars and 300+ registrations from 39 states, two Canadian provinces, and even New Zealand!  As we always note, these events end all too abruptly.  With the evening’s events winding to a close, everyone was saying quick good-byes, knowing most of us would be hitting the road early in the morning.

Most of us who had caravanned over on Wednesday met at 9:00 am for the trip back.  The drive was scenic, unhurried, and uneventful; everyone arrived safely home around noontime.  Our Flatheads had performed flawlessly!  We thank all the NIRG participants for the wonderful turnout for this meet, congratulate the trophy winners, and especially applaud all the first time attendees; we think you will be hooked.  The Eastern National Meet in beautiful Hiawassee, GA, is only 41 weeks away.  We suggest you register now!