Chrysler 300 Club International
Fall Meet in Boston, MA
Sept 6 - 8, 1990




K convertible of Bill Elder



D coupe of Dan Roy



C convertible of Nick Bellofatto





Jim Krausmann and Bill Elder

300D of Jack Wiltse





Hurst of Ray Jones

Jack and MarLou Wiltse, George and Eleanor Riehl,



Photos by Bill Elder

20th Annual Fall Meet, Boston Massachusetts
by Pat and Don Cole

Well, we talked about the meet all last fall and then all last winter. Summer came and then panic set in. We thought we had everything organized and under control but there were still a half million other things to do. We kept saying to ourselves, just one thing at a time. The phone was ringing off the hook and (for once, Don couldn’t yell at the kids that they were spending too much time on the phone) and Don was in his glory, telling the callers about the festivities that we had planned … “Come on down”! I thought that I was living with Monte Hall. Planning everything was not as big a chore as cleaning up the garage. Yikes! I thought, maybe we could put a sign on it, “Closed for repairs”, but Donny, being a “typical” male, didn’t think there was anything wrong with it. Sigh! I have to say he performed a miracle and it ended up looking half-way decent. Even though I live in the house and Don lives in the garage (Oh I’m sorry, it just seems that way), I needed to feel that we could let people roam around without fear in their eyes thinking a tornado had hit.

Well low and behold, the week and then the day finally came. George, Eleanor and their daughter Laura Riehl drove in on Wednesday night (with their legs shaking from the long drive from Michigan) and I knew that we were on our way. I woke up at 6 A.M. to get our son off to his first day of his sophomore year at Foxboro High and then I was back in my bedroom until 7:00 so I didn’t wake up George and Eleanor. Little did I know that Eleanor was already awake. Well, it took a little more then just the smell of coffee to get old George going and of course, Eleanor had just the right amount of friendly persuasion so George couldn’t resist. After a continental breakfast, Don, George, Eleanor and Laura took off for the Comfort Inn in Dedham, Mass. I’ll let Don take over from here, because I stayed home and did some fast cooking for our guests that evening. I did tell him to be home no later then 3:00. After all, we still hadn’t picked up that ingredients for a 300 Meet, the beer! Here’s Donny …

I arrived home at the stroke of 3:00 with my beer and ice. By the time that I had things set up, evening had come along with the Brutes and their owners. What a sight for me! To see such a variety of Chryslers all in front of my house was like a dream come true. The buffet that Par served was delicious and well received by all and the cars were unbelievable! I’d like to do this again next month. Excuse me, … what did you say sweetheart?

Friday morning took us to Battleship Cove. I was praying that we wouldn’t have a typical 300 rain meet, but other then being overcast, the rain held off. At the battleship site, we had our own designated parking area and the Brutes looked great as they lined up. Battleship cove has a destroyer, the U.S.S. Joseph P. Kennedy, a submarine, the Lionfish, a PT boat display, with two PT boats and last but not least, the battleship, U.S.S. Massachusetts. Now we are talking a Brute! The massiveness of a battleship is lost on your tv screen of 19” or 25”. The WWII movies can’t really tell you what it is all about until you’ve actually set foot on the deck. One complete turret assembly weighs as much as the destroyer and there are three of them onboard. Also, onboard there were museums for the PT boats and for naval aviation. Walking from the battleship to the submarine is like going from a Brute to a Yugo. John Wayne’s submarine must have been bigger. As we started to walk back to the parking lot, Eleanor mentioned that she hadn’t seen George for a couple of hours. We had to call ALL BATTLE STATIONS to get him to come out of the bowels of the ship! He told us later that a hatch on the ship was not locked and he kept climbing down and he ended up down by the propeller shaft! Really, George, you’ll have to do better then that!

We finally got back underway for the hotel where everybody was on their own for supper. At 7:30 P.M., our business meeting commenced and that’s another story. After the meeting, some of our members went to the parking lot while others went to the bar “You know who you are”.

By 10 A.M. on Saturday, we started out for Larz Anderson Park and the Museum of Transportation. What a beautiful day! There was a slight breeze, the sun was shining and the cars were a real show-stoppers. We lined up the Concours cars for judging in the middle of the lawn and the other Brutes were circled around the perimeter of the lawn as if watching the cars being judged. What a beautiful sight! The judging was difficult because all of the cars looked great. We actually had each model year at the museum for the meet. It’s been quite a few years since the last time that we had every model year show up. The last Brute was judged and it was time to get back to the motel and get ready for the awards banquet.

Cocktails started at 6:30 and dinner followed. Dinner was good, but we were all waiting to hear the winner of the Concours. My choice was to give all of them an award but the judges had there say. Congratulations to everyone! George Riehl then presented a special award to Gil Cunningham. Special because Gil celebrated his twentieth year with the club with this meet and even more special because George and Gil are very good friends. Congratulations Gil! Here’s to 20 more! After the awards, Carol Cunningham, George Riehl and others closed down the lounge at the Comfort Inn that evening (or morning).

Sunday morning still brought sunny weather. A perfect day for the drive back home. We made our rounds at breakfast, saying our goodbyes and Pat went home to check on the kids. I stayed to see the last of the brutes depart. Some of the members took side trips up north to Maine and Canada and some went in the opposite direction down South to Rhode Island where a small Mopar meet was being held. I think that Andrea (Novak) and Louise (Elder) finally shopped themselves out, or else Jim and Bill told them that the stores in Massachusetts were closed on Sunday. We are not sure on that one.

Being meet hosts has really been a lot of fun. We enjoy going to the meets and the people that come are so nice and appreciative of all that has been set up for them. Don has known most of the members, but I have really enjoyed getting to know them over the last 5 years. What a great group of people! Thank you all for coming to Boston, and those of you who couldn’t make it, we are looking forward to seeing you in Memphis, Tennessee. Elvis does too!!

Concours d’Elegance

SENIOR DIVISION

1st Place Bill Dahms 300B 956.5 Points

JUNIOR DIVISION

Class II 1st Place Bill Spear 300C cpe. 815.5 Points

2nd Place Nick Bellofatto 300C cvt. 805.5 Points

Ribbon Don Jesseman 300C cvt. 535.5 Points

Ribbon Scott Kettering 300C cpe. 515 Points

Class III 1st Place Billy Korbel 300G cpe. 901 Points

Ribbon Chris Frederick 300F cpe. 498.5 Points

Class IV Ribbon Jerry Frederick 300L cpe. 525 Points

Hurst 1st Place Dudley Finneyfrock 937.5 Points

2nd Place Jeff Miklas 773 Points

People’s Choice – Nick Bellofatto 300C cvt.

Long distance – Jack Wiltse, 300D cpe. From Ypsilanti, Mi. 801 miles

Best Preservation of Original Features – Don Warnaar 300L cpe.

Hard Luck – Jack Dugan, water pump

Letter Series 300s at the Meet

C300: Richard Rigoli, Bob Valpey. 300B: Bill Dahms, Jack Dugan, Richard Rigoli. 300C: Nick Bellofatto (cvt), Bruce Brownell, Lloyd Dahmen, Gary Hagy (cvt), Don Jesseman (cvt), Scott Kettering, Bill Spear. 300D: John Grady (2), Dan Roy, Emanuel Turner, Jack Wiltse. 300E: Robert D. Young (cvt). 300F: Chris Frederick, Burt Tyler (cvt). 300G: Gabe Knapp, Billy Korbel, John Nowosacki, Burt Tyler. 300H: Candy Bryant. 300J: Gil Boucher. 300K: Bill Elder (cvt), Jerry Kocur (cvt). 300L: Jerry Frederick, Larry Gould, Don Warnaar. 300 Hurst: Dudley Finneyfrock, Jeff Miklas, Allan Moon.


Thanks to Bill Elder for typing this article for the web