Our Trip to the 2017 Eastern National Meet

By Ken Bounds • Photos by Dan Pudelek and Ken Bounds

After months of anticipation and planning, it was time to go.  Since March I had been detailing under the hood of our ’50 Convertible to prepare it for the meet, but sadly the time just ran out.  We readied our ’51 Mercury for the trip.  Dan Pudelek had purchased his gorgeous ’50 Crestliner back in October and had spent months getting it road-worthy after years sitting in a museum.  After our Spring Fling trip Dan had replaced both water pumps and had the radiator rodded.  Now the final detailing was complete and the car was ready for concourse judging.

On Monday, June 5, Dan & Diane and Ken & Carolyn met at the Lincoln Oasis for the 728-mile trip to Chantilly, Virginia.  John & Este Scheve would be a few hours behind us trailering their ’37 Standard Tudor.  Jeff Trilling had left a few days earlier in his ’52 Pickup, making a detour to New York City to visit a friend.  And George & Dawn Zulas had already left trailering their ’40 Tudor.  Long distance members Rick, Marisa, and Kim Claybaugh would meet us at the meet, trailering their ’34 Fordor.

Our trip east was rather routine and much of the construction along the Indiana Toll Road had been completed.  We were pleased that after several abnormally hot days in the 90s, the temperature was back to the normal mid-70s.  Dan’s Ford was running quite cool and our Mercury ran perfectly.  We had a lunch stop along the Ohio Turnpike and arrived at our hotel in Mars, Pennsylvania before 4:30.

We spent a little time cleaning off bugs and enjoying a cold drink.  Just before dinner John & Este arrived.  We enjoyed dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant in the area, adjacent to the hotel.

Since we were carrying printed materials for the meet goody bags, including the meet program, the two Early V-8s left the hotel Tuesday morning at 7:00 am to complete the final 259 miles to Chantilly.  Most of the drive was very scenic, including a stretch of white-knuckle terror along the Pennsylvania Turnpike in one of its ever-present construction zones. 

We arrived at the meet hotel, without incident, about noon.  Even though the meet did not begin until Tuesday, we were surprised by how many attendees arrived a day early.  We had a great time meeting our National Meet friends from the Eastern part of the country.

The Westfields Marriott was a beautiful setting for the meet.  The hotel was luxurious and in a heavily wooded area.  The parking area for our vehicles for the week was quite a hike down a hill.  Then you remembered you had to walk back up the hill to the hotel.  We would survive.

John & Este arrived in the afternoon in time for a special treat.  We were all invited to visit and have dinner with Carolyn’s family at her mom’s home in nearby Fairfax, a reprise of a similar visit ten years earlier.  We had a great time showing our cars and enjoyed a super meal with Carolyn’s mom Christine, her brother Brian and his wife Jennifer, and her sister Micki and her husband Chuck.

Back at the hotel, the meet officially kicked off with registration at 8:00 am Wednesday.  Carolyn and I arrived early so we could get registered and man the registration table for the 2018 Grand National Meet.  During the morning the remaining NIRG members also checked in.  We found a little time to get the vehicles through the operational check and to take a quick look at the swap meet.

After some lunch, several of us participated in a driving tour to visit the Manassas Battlefield.  There our guides explained the history of the first major battle of the Civil War, the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861.  It was quite interesting.  This area was also the site of the Second Battle of Bull Run in 1862.  Both were victories for the Confederacy.

We returned to the hotel and prepared for the welcome party on the hotel’s large patio area.  It was rather chilly, but fire pits helped and provided a great place for visiting and chatting.  As the evening came to an end, it was interesting that most of the people left on the patio were two groups from Northern Illinois and Northern Ohio.

Thursday was a very busy day, beginning in the morning with a drive to the nearby Smithsonian Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center.  What a spectacular museum!  Our docent was particularly knowledgeable and interesting.  He even provided a few tie-ins to our interest in Early Ford V-8s.  Those of us who had been there before were thrilled to see an actual Space Shuttle and the additional of the viewing deck for the restoration area.

After an enjoyable lunch at an area sports bar, we returned to the hotel in plenty of time to attend the President’s Meeting, the Foundation Meeting, and the Owners and Judges Meeting.  They were interesting.  That evening was dinner on your own and about half the meet attendees decided to go to the nearby Texas Roadhouse.

Friday morning finally arrived: Concourse Day!  The day everyone is waiting for to show off the hard work on their vehicles.  Several of us attended the Judges Breakfast:  Carolyn and Marisa worked in the tabulation room, Rick judged 33s & 34’s, Este judged 37s & 38s, Kim judged Mercurys, Jeff judged Commercial and Ken was Deputy Judge for Lincolns.

Dan spent his day getting ready for and enduring his first-ever point judging.  He needn’t have worried – his Crestliner looked great and did very well.  As the day went on, the judging teams began to wrap up their work and we had some time to look at all the beautiful cars.  Lunch was served on the concourse while participants were busy making their Touring and Touring A selections and Carolyn and Marisa were busy inputting the ballots. 

Just as the concourse wrapped up about 3:00, members were scrambling to their cars to beat the traffic for a trip to the Cross Farm Country BBQ Picnic with entertainment, antique sawmill & garage tour.  After Carolyn and Marisa put the finishing touches on the Touring awards lists, we joined the group a little late.  Traffic was terrible, but we arrived before the food was served under a giant tent.  There was plenty of delicious barbeque for everyone and mountain music was played by the live band.  Before dark, everyone headed back to the hotel after a long day.  We still managed to get in some tire kicking.

On Saturday morning there was a choice of tours.  While some took the bus trip to historic sites in our nation’s capital, several of us went on a driving tour to see “Oak Hill,” the home of President James Monroe and the Oatlands Plantation built by George Carter.  It was very special to be able to tour Oak Hill since it is privately owned.  Both homes were spectacular.

Saturday night was the culmination of the meet – the Awards Banquet.  The food was very good and everyone anxiously awaited the presentation of awards.  The big news was that Dan received a Dearborn Award for his Crestliner the first time out, presented by National President Phill Hall.  Congratulations!  Ken and John received Dearborn Emeritus awards for their cars, while Rick took a 1^st Place in Touring for his ’34 and Jeff took a 2^nd Place in Touring A for his Pickup.

As the banquet came to a close, we had to say our goodbyes to so many V-8 friends and talk about plans to meet next year in Dearborn.  Our thanks go out to the Northern Virginia Regional Group for putting together a great week of cars, tours, meals, and V-8 camaraderie.

While temperatures during the week had been about 10-degrees lower than normal, blazing heat was predicted for Sunday.  Because of this, Ken & Carolyn and Dan & Diane decided to hit the road at 6:00 am to beat some of the heat.  Jeff had already left on his own to drive at his own pace.  We rolled out of normally-congested Northern Virginia with almost no traffic.  Even as the heat reached into the mid-90s, we pushed ahead and made the decision that we would try to get home in one day.  By early afternoon we were in Indiana and the cars were humming along just fine. 

Everything changed, though, as we approached the western toll gate and traffic came to a stop.  We still had 3-4 miles to get to the gate.  When we finally got to the toll gate about 45-minutes later, we found that the problem was not at the gate; it was that traffic was stopped beyond the gate.  So Dan used his knowledge of roads in the area to get us off the Interstate and onto back roads until we were past the congestion.  As we approached Illinois, we knew that the traffic problems were behind us.  We sailed along smoothly and were home before dark, at 8:04 pm.

As Wilma Lenz, widow of our Club’s founder Bob Lenz wisely said, National Meets are not just car shows – they are family reunions.  We had a great time.