Our Tour to the Eastern National Meet – Hiawassee, GA

By Ken Bounds

When we last toured to the Eastern National Meet in Hiawassee in 2005, we had a caravan of 11 members driving five Early V-8s.  Things change.  This year 14 members attended, but there were only three of us driving two vehicles:  Joe Kozmic in his’37 Coupe and Ken & Carolyn Bounds in our ’50 Convertible.  Several other NIRG members traveled separately to Hiawassee.  Trailering their vehicles were John & Este Scheve – ’37 Standard Fordor, Sam & Nina Van Bruggen – ’40 Standard Coupe, and Rick & Marissa Claybaugh with daughter Kim – ’34 Fordor.  Joe & Delice Serritella and Stan & JoAnne Stack arrived in modern vehicles.  Stan & JoAnne were on an extended trip throughout the Southeast and included the Eastern Meet in their itinerary.

We left Joe’s house bright and early Sunday, June 17.  Although we had seen hardly a drop of rain in a month, storms were predicted along our route.  The predictions were accurate.  As we crossed Indiana toward Cincinnati, we hit showers.  As we bypassed Cincinnati the showers were replaced by a deluge.  Five lanes of Interstate traffic began to stop.  Joe’s ’37 began to sputter a bit, so we got off the expressway into a parking lot.  Steam was rolling under the hood and in the downpour we quickly determined why – the fan belt was loose.  Since we had just replaced the generator the day before, we speculated that it had fallen down, loosening the belt.  Wrong!  The belt had stretched.  The replacement spares had issues, but a good Samaritan (said he had a ’57 Ford!) went to a store and returned with a new one.  After replacement, we were on our way.  No more problems.  That day.

We stopped overnight in Richmond, KY.  While out to dinner John and Este Scheve arrived unexpectedly.  They had planned to drive further, but knowing we planned to stop in Richmond they looked for us and tracked us down.  They decided to spend the night there as well – we had a nice evening.

Early Monday we were back on the road.  Everything was going well until just after entering Tennessee.  Nearing the top of a long four-mile climb, something let go in Joe’s engine.  Don’t know what it was, but it was something important.  After some diagnosis, phone calls, and an Internet search, we limped the ’37 back north 16 miles to a waiting U-Haul truck and auto transport.  The U-Haul got us the remaining 215 miles to Hiawassee, while Carolyn took the wheel of the Convertible.  What was supposed to be the most scenic portion of our trip through the Cherokee National Forest was instead 20 miles of white-knuckled terror with that long trailer chasing the 26-foot U-Haul truck around curves and over hills.  But we survived.

Upon arrival in Hiawassee, the real fun began.  It is always a thrill to get back together with V-8 friends from all over the country.  Joe’s injured ’37 proved to have enough left to be driven to the operational check, wash station, and concourse.  Even though we arrived several hours later than planned, Carolyn was able to get us through registration before the doors closed at 5:00.

We were so busy at the meet that the week seemed to fly by.  Car cleanups, driving tours, seminars, and countless hours of conversation with old friends and new ones.  Tuesday was supposed to be a light day, but we sure were busy.  In the evening we attended the welcome party and had a fun time as “Elvis” sang to all the ladies.  By now all of our NIRG members had arrived from various routes.  Sam and Nina came by way of the AACA Grand National Meet in Shelbyville, TN – congratulations on your Repeat Senior Grand National award!

Wednesday we had a terrific time on a driving tour to see Larry Baily’s collection.  Our “I Survived the Mountain” t-shirts show that we climbed the steep grades OK; but – note to self – “Always remember to lock out your overdrive when descending 2,000 feet down a 6% grade.”

There were dozens of V-8s and over 250 people on the tour to see Larry’s super collection.  One notable vehicle was driven by Dennis Carpenter, a mostly original “barn find” ’37 Roadster.  It was in remarkable condition.

Back at the hotel we had the owners/judges meeting followed by my first President’s Meeting.  It went quite well and I really enjoyed it.

Thursday was Concourse Day.  Carolyn and I were up before sunrise to clean up the Convertible; we found someone had already washed their car in the dark.  It was Joe.  After we got the cars in their spots on the Concourse, Carolyn and I carried out our regular routine of verifying all the Touring and Touring A vehicles.  She then set up to begin her process of tabulating votes all day.  Meanwhile, I got to do one of the most fun tasks of the meet: picking my “President’s Choice.”  With so many beautiful examples of Early V-8s present, the choice was difficult but totally enjoyable.  Finally I settled on a “V-12”, Jim Edison’s spectacular ’41 Lincoln Continental.  After the concourse was released, we gathered all the ‘37s present for a group photo and presentation of their 75^th Anniversary medallions and certificates, including Joe’s and John’s.  Carolyn’s tabulation system once again worked flawlessly and she presented the concourse chairman lists of trophy winners soon after the cars were released.

At the meet there were a variety of seminars, but none was more interesting than one a captivating speaker presented about birds of prey.  She brought with her several amazing birds from their sanctuary.  The room was packed for her presentation.

Friday allowed us a little time to relax.  Meet Chairman Wayne Deitrich graciously offered to transport Joe’s ’37 to Jerry Reichel’s car barn about 90 miles away where Jerry and Bob Padovano will diagnose and repair the engine.  In the afternoon they loaded it up in Wayne’s trailer – Joe hopes to have it back in the fall.  Since Joe would be riding with us, John Scheve was nice enough to haul quite a few of our items in his truck that were not going to fit into the Convertible.

Friday night was the awards banquet.  The food was good and the program was nice.  I was thrilled to present the President’s Award trophy to Jim Edison.  All NIRG members came away with awards:  John Scheve and Sam Van Bruggen received Dearborn Emeritus medallions, Joe and Ken received 1^st Place Touring Awards, and Rick Claybaugh received a 2^nd.  Nina Van Bruggen was also the winner of a large blanket that will have a picture of their ’40 on it.  Sadly, none of us won the raffle engine, although Joe bought more than his share of tickets.  He did win the hard luck award, though.

These meets always seem to end all too abruptly.  At the end of the banquet we lingered in the tent for a while saying goodbyes with hopes that everyone would travel home safely.

By 6:30 Saturday morning we were loaded up and on our way.  I figured that if the Convertible made it back over the mountains smoothly that we might be able to make it all the way to Indianapolis.  Well, the mountains didn’t seem that bad and we passed Indy like it was sitting still.  At 6:30 central time (13 hours total) we pulled in to Joe’s driveway and celebrated being home with a cold beverage.

The Central National Meet in Branson is just around the corner – maybe we will see you there!