Hello everyone, Note: A few minor changes have been made in the Schedule of Events. I just wanted provide an update about the Summer 2004 Chrysler & Imperial Meet in Chattanooga, TN. All owners and/or enthusiasts of Imperials and C-Body Chrysler, Plymouth, Dodge, DeSoto, and related Chrysler products are invited to attend the Meet in Chattanooga the weekend of May 28 - 31, 2004. We all had a blast at last year's meet and this year promises to be even better! In order to provide for even more fun this year, the meet has been moved to the Memorial Day weekend so we could extend the activities for an additional day! The chief complaint I heard after last years meet was that the meet was too short. Well, that has been corrected for this year, and we are expecting more of you longdistance folks to drive your old cars in for the meet. For additional information about the meet, follow this link: http://home.highertech.net/~soule/ Then click on the link titled: Information - Southern Regional Chrysler & Imperial Meet. There you will find additional contact information, hotel accommodations, maps, and a schedule of events for the meet, plus a bunch of other stuff. I want to say something that I should have said long before now, but better late than never. Last year Jeff Carrothers took an entire week of his limited vacation time, drove his '64 Imperial LeBaron up from Jackson, Mississippi, the week before the 2003 Chattanooga meet, to help me prepare for our annual Chrysler & Imperial gathering. I am very grateful for all his help last year. Without his help, it would not have been the success that it was. He and I spent that entire week getting everything ready for the meet. We spent a couple of days preparing the display field, trimming trees, cutting grass, erecting a hospitality gazebo, hanging lights, installing a service station bell at the entrance to the display field, preparing a bond fire, filling and setting up all the tiki torches, making several smut pots (to cut down on the mosquitoes), and hanging up Mopar banners, signs, and flags... We even took my old 78 rpm record player and my collection of 78 rmp records down to the hospitality gazebo for everyone's entertainment. Once the display field was finally done, we were faced with the mammoth task of getting all of my cars out of storage, washed, and cleaned for the meet. Believe me, that is not small job! We even had to do some mechanical repairs to a couple of the cars to get them ready... My grandmother's 1960 Corvair had a fuel pump failure and Jeff changed the pump and the gas-contaminated oil to get the car going for the meet. Jeff and my wife Laqueta prepared a shopping list for all the required food and together they spent a number of hours slaving over a hot stove cooking everything. Jeff and I set up an awning over the patio where everyone was served dinner Friday evening and we also put out more tiki torches around the patio, setup tables, chairs, and a fan. Jeff is an excellent cook and he seasoned, marinated, and cooked all the wonderful barbeque that we had for dinner Friday evening. He also made his special homemade barbeque sauce, that in my opinion is the best I have ever tasted! Laqueta pulled all the barbeque and made all the side dishes. The food was excellent and they did an excellent job! My compliments to both our cooks! In addition to all the help, Jeff even made a substantial financial contribution to help defray the cost of the meet. As you can see a lot of work went into preparing for the meet and it would have been near impossible for me to have done it alone. Again, many thanks to Jeff for all his help. 2004 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS: Friday, May 28th - Dinner, informal hamburger/hot dog cookout at 7:00 PM EDT at the home of Robert and Laqueta Soule, followed by a tour of the Soule garage, machine shop, and parts collection. Oh yeah, and the car collection! Following the tour, the part everyone is really interested in, the BYOB cocktail party will commence. Saturday, May 29th - Meet and drive, kick tires, share stories, tell lies, drool, etc., at the Soule home. As we did last year, we will most likely take a 20 mile trip to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum for lunch at the Depot Deli. The Railroad Museum has a very nice pine thicket picnic area located next to a grass field that would be available for parking. The Museum will be operating their vintage steam locomotive and running trains between their two stations. The roundtrip only takes about an hour and might be something we could do as a group. For more information about the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum follow this link: http://www.tvrail.com Saturday Dinner - We will meet at the Soule residence at 6:00 PM and caravan to the Soddy-Daisy Sonic for dinner. After dinner, I expect we will show some Chrysler product films/videos, such as dealer ads, sales training stuff, and/or old television ads later in the evening. I am sure there will be more tire kicking and driving as this went on until past midnight last year. We will also have a bondfire burning all evening for those who might enjoy roasting marshmallows and enjoy cocktails around the warmth of a night fire. Please note this is a BYOB event. Sunday, May 30th - Sunday will be a relaxing day allowing groups to explore the Scenic Chattanooga area. Enjoy fine motoring in your Imperial or Chrysler product to such attractions as Lookout Mountain, Rock City, Ruby Falls, the Chattanooga Choo Choo, the Chattanooga Aquarium, the Walnut Street Bridge, and many more! However, if you would rather kick tires, drive cars, tell more lies... basically the same thing we are doing Saturday, then that is just fine with us! Monday, May 31st - The final wind down and wrap-up of this great weekend Hope to see you at the Meet, Robert M. Soule, III soule@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx '51 Packard 300 '60 Chevy Covair '64 Imperial Convertible '64 Imperial Ghia Landau Limousine '64 Imperial Crown '64 Cadillac Limousine '65 Chrysler New Yorker '65 Chrysler 300 Convertible '66 Chrysler 300 '66 Chrysler T&C Wagon '68 Imperial Convertible '68 Imperial LeBaron '68 Chrysler Newport '73 Benz 300 SEL '88 Lincoln Limousine |