Re: Any reports from Mopars at the Strip 2009? Diesel dragster.....12. second s

[Butch Edison <waedison@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Gary, I'll be interested to see what others and any magazines might say. 



M y wife and I went to the event for the first time. We've only attended a few big car functions actually: Spring Fling two years ago, NHRA drags in Seattle last year, so I'm not an authority on judging the quality of a big event. It was good enough for us that w e'll go again and we'll probably attend the NHRA drags there this fall now that we know the lay of the land . It was nice to get out of the rain for a few days and bask in the sun (at least until Sunday when the weather turned), great to be able to see so many nice Mopars, and watch the drags. Also, I believe we need to support our hobby if we want our grandkids to have something to attend in the future. 



I met Dodger and Gary there and now have some faces to put with names, which is great. I looked for but did not find Joe Machado, who I met in Arizona two years ago. Maybe they'll jump in and give their impressions because my take on things is just that, my take. 



This event is still in it's infancy. It was started just a few years ago. It's growing every year, from what I've learned, which is gratifying.  T he festivities at the Cannery (host hotel) weren't on my list of things to do. The hotel was sold out for the event, which indicated "success" f rom the locals viewpoint. They did have a "1/4 mile of Mopars" that I'd have like to have seen on Saturday night at the Cannery , but it didn't fit in with our schedule. Nor was I interested in a retro band made up of surviving members of rock groups from the 60s and 70s. The thought of w atching some old worn out musicians is painful, reminds me of how old and worn out I'm getting to be. 



"The Strip" itself is very impressive. Nascar track, drag strip, all kinds of auto and motorcycle facilities. It's HUGE and very well layed out. I'd say there were 300 (+) Mopars of every breed on the property for the event,  maybe a lot more. The place is so big, it's hard to get a perspective. M ost were entered in the judged car show. There were, of course, an abundance of late 60's and all 70s Mopars on the property, with a nice spread of 62-65s, and a good contingent of pre-60s. 



There were lots of vendor tents and swap meet items. Laysons was there with a big display. I know that many have a hard attitude towards  Laysons, but I've purchased from them many times with no problems. I talked with the brothers, one of whom told me they are making good progress in their dispute with Chrysler. 



There were many very nice show cars and a good spread of drag racers. We watched the drags mostly but I couldn't resist buying a few tools. We didn't attend the burnout contest at the dragstrip, but those always seem to draw a crowd. I like to see tire smoke as a car stages for a run down the track, but that's about it.  It was neat to see an 8 second diesel  and a 12.4 second slant six. Don Dulmage would have liked that. There were I think at least a dozen, maybe more, slant sixes. I was surprised by the number. There were racers from all over the U.S. and Canada, which speaks to the draw the event had. 



The auction only had about 30 cars. The consensus would have to be that buyers weren't buying. The auctioneer was really struggling to get bids.  I only stayed to watch the first 1/2 dozen or so cars roll through, so there may have been a few happy surprises, but t hey rolled several cars trhough before one actually sold. There was a really clean 64 Dodge that didn't pull a bid over $7K so was rolled out. You can look at it and judge for yourself, but to me this was a car I'd buy  if I  had room for it in my garage. Having a 318 in it and the condition it was in said to me that it was a driver and was probably not abused, probably well maintained for a lot of it's life.  You can take a look at it here:    http://www.moparsatthestrip.com/2007/notices/messages.html     There were some late 50s cars that were georgeous, well cared for, that hardly got a bid. Sad. I'd have liked to have taken several of them home. 



Oddly enough, about the highest bid I saw at the auction was for a shop stool that Chip Foose drew a car on at the beginning of the auction. It went for $ 8,000.00, which was more than most of the bids I saw on the cars offered. The way the bidding went for the stool, well, I have an opinion about that, but am very happy the charities involved got the money. 



Again, my wife and I will attend next year. We enjoyed it. 



/Butch / Ferndale, WA 


























----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gary H." <spigot2039@xxxxxxxxxxx> 
To: 1962to1965mopars@xxxxxxxxxx 
Sent: Monday, March 23, 2009 8:33:48 AM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific 
Subject: Any reports from Mopars at the Strip 2009? 


How was the event? 

Thanks, 
Gary H. 


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Please address private mail -- mail of interest to only one person -- directly to that person.  I.e., send parts/car transactions and negotiations as well as other personal messages only to the intended recipient, not to the Clubhouse public address. This practice will protect your privacy, reduce the total volume of mail and fine tune the content signal to Mopar topic.  Thanks!

'62 to '65 Mopar Clubhouse Discussion Guidelines:
http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.org/mletiq.html. 

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