Our Trip to the 2014
Eastern National Meet
By Ken Bounds
After a year of planning, it was finally time to head to historic Gettysburg for
the Eastern National Meet. On
Saturday, June 21, Ken & Carolyn Bounds - ’51 Mercury met Dan & Diane Pudelek –
’53 Victoria at the Lincoln Oasis for our trip east.
John & Este Scheve would
try to catch up with us
later, trailering their ’47 Coupe.
This meet would include a couple of firsts: this was our first time showing our
Mercury at a National Meet and John & Este’s first time for their ’47.
We had entered the Merc in Concourse Division to be point judged; we had
intended to drive the Convertible, but alas it is still vacationing in Texas.
We were lucky to be able to drive in unusually cool, dry air for this time of
year – the Flatheads loved it. We
had an uneventful 475-mile trip to the Pittsburgh area where we spent the night.
After cleaning off the bugs and enjoying a cool one, we went to dinner at
a very popular Italian restaurant next door where John and Este joined us.
The food was delicious.
On Sunday we skirted the mountains east of Breezewood, PA, opting for a little
longer but very scenic drive into Gettysburg.
It is impossible to drive through the battlefield area without feeling
chills. Arriving at the meet venue,
the excellent signage directed us to the meet hotel.
Even though early registration had just opened, the place was crawling
with Early V-8s and their caretakers.
As we ran into a few hundred of our V-8 friends, we made our way to the
registration area where we set up shop to promote the Central Meet; we are
grateful to the Eastern Meet folks for generously providing us the space.
This was to be Carolyn’s home for the next three days until she moved to
the tabulation room on concourse day.
Carolyn did a great job promoting our meet and selling meet souvenirs and
raffle tickets.
With Carolyn manning our table at the registration desk Sunday - Tuesday, I was
free to scour the very nice swap meet, talk with some friends, and score some
much-needed parts before preparing our car for judging.
John & Este had signed up for several organized tours while Dan & Diane
mostly toured on their own. Along
the way we enjoyed several nice meals with our group and with John & Judy
McBurney, Steve & Chris Lemmons, and others.
There is so much to see and do in Gettysburg that we will need to come
back.
Wednesday brought the final chance to get cars ready for the Thursday concourse
and the usual round of meetings. At
the Welcome Party we were invited to come up and give a pitch about our meet.
The food was delicious and plentiful.
After a little time sitting by the cars in the parking lot, we turned in
thinking about the forecast for Thursday: 75% chance of rain.
Somehow Concourse Day was already here.
After the judges’ breakfast, Carolyn and I did our check of vehicles on
the concourse while Dan prepared to judge in the 49-53 class.
I also drove our Mercury to the nearby show area, cleaned it out, and
placed the judging sheets on the front seat.
I don’t care what anyone says – getting your car judged makes you a
little nervous. I soon learned that
our car would be the first Mercury to be judged.
In less than an hour, it was all over and Deputy Justin LaChausse
professionally explained the results.
The concourse consisted of around 200 beautiful Fords, Lincolns, and Mercurys;
cars, trucks, tractors, and Woodies.
With our other duties there was just not enough time to admire them all.
The concourse was released around 2:00 pm and Carolyn had her Touring
Class results ready a few minutes later.
Best of all, the promised rain never materialized; that is until about
8:00. An intense thunderstorm
knocked out power in the hotel for a few minutes and even trapped some people in
an elevator. It took three fire
trucks, an ambulance, and other emergency vehicles to resolve the crisis.
On Friday Carolyn and I worked with the meet staff helping to prepare the awards
for the awards banquet. There was
just enough time in the afternoon to load the car back up and catch our breath
before the banquet. The meet
organizers put on a fantastic banquet with delicious food and fast service.
Everything went very smoothly and the presentations went off without a
hitch. We were thrilled that our
Mercury won a Dearborn Award. John
Scheve also took a 1st
Place in Touring A. At the end of
the evening we again had one last chance to promote our meet to the crowd of
over 300. Then we had to say our
goodbyes; or maybe see you in two months.
As we have said many times before, the Early Ford
V-8s are great, but the people keep us coming back.
Our sincere thanks to Co-Chairs Willis Terrett and Norm Heathcote and
their entire staff for putting on a fabulous meet.
Friday morning we were off on the return drive home.
We did not have the luxury of the cool weather we had on the drive over,
but home kept beckoning. We decided
to drive the 700 or so miles home and sleep in our own beds.
We were home before 7:30.
John & Este left after us, but made it home in one shot as well.
Before you know it, we will be in Springfield and will be thinking
forward to Charlotte 2015 – the 75th
Anniversary of the iconic ’40 Ford.