by
Bev and Bill Spear
The fall meet
of the Chrysler 300 Club International took place in Chardon, Ohio.
The events of the week started out with a cook-out at the Spear home.
The names and faces in this story have been changed at times to
protect the INCIDENTS! In other words, you may not recognize this to
be written exactly as you remember!
Wednesday
evening brought approximately 25 people from as far south as Florida,
west as far as Texas, east as far as Maryland and north as far as
Canada. It just goes to show you how far people will go for free
food! As the evening went by, there were rumors of car trouble. The
trouble was that a certain couple tried to ditch their car so they
could get the “coveted” Hard Luck Award – Thou
shalt not covet the “Hard Luck Award”! The Moons arrived
late sporting an old fan blade, obviously taken from a dump in
Boston. Can anyone believe that story? We all humored them and let
them stay at the party anyway. The party broke up around 10:30 after
a trip to “Bill’s Barn” and a “House Tour”,
then everyone retired to the Helmsley Estate (better known as the
Harley Hotel) in Willoughby Hills.
Thursday was
a new day – the keg arrived, along with new people. T-shirts
began to appear sporting the club logo and Chardon, Ohio imprinted on
them. The Craws arrived (the ones that bought the convenience
store). You know the ones – he now carries his own gas in the
trunk and she’s the one with no fingernails! Kay Craw stitched
and scratched for four solid days. Every time you saw her, she was
stitching and scratching. Wouldn’t you think that someone
would be kind enough to tell this lady about soap and water? George
lead a car full to tour the west side of Cleveland and of course look
up some old girlfriends. Very old! He took Carol along to see the
“Flats” but didn’t dare let her out. Gil took
notes and worked up Eleanor’s genealogy. By the time they got
back some of the couples had left to tour the Amish country and to
the Swiss Cheese House and the Canadian bunch headed for the hotel
pool. Incidentally, the Kroegers arrived hoping to win “Wreck
of the Week” award! As the day went on, the hospitality room
filled up with new faces and the hotel provided a lovely snack tray.
The evening turned into an educational experience of sorts –
with Andy Mikonis and a select few women learning about adverbs and
adjectives,until 3:00 in the morning. They would have stayed longer,
but the beer ran out!
Friday
morning brought out the beast in most people especially at 9:30.
“Who’s idea was it to leave so early?” roared
Michael Burke! We told him he wasn’t invited anyway and to go
back to bed! Off the caravan rolled to the Crawford Auto Museum.
The trip was uneventful as we all arrived together. You see, we
kept old “lead-foot” George at the back of the pack so we
didn’t have to drive at 125 MPH! The club was warmly welcomed
and given two lovely reference books. Upon arriving back at the
hotel, there was terror in the hearts of men – NO MORE BEER!
Bill Spear was persuaded to give up the keys to the truck, if he was
given enough points to get 1st place. It must have worked because
the tap was flowing again in no time. The Macks arrived late because
of the wife’s Harley Davidson Meeting – you know her,
she’s the one with the shiny black jacket and the tattoo on her
……..!
The Friday
business meeting was held to a record two hours and well attended.
Gil held his first meeting as President Pro-Tem. George was told to
sit down only three times. Later, down in the hospitality room, more
stories were swapped until 6:00 in the morning. Someone should have
known that the Rooks were still on Arkansas time!
Saturday was
Concours at the park in Chardon. Coffee and doughnuts were set up in
the log cabin – and the moaning and groaning began. While the
cars were being judged, some of the woman went shopping while the
Spears held more house tours! It was said that Bev made more money
on the house tours than Eleanor made selling t-shirts! But then,
Eleanor reserved a seat at the log cabin. She had a case of the flu!
At 6:30,
cocktails were served in the banquet room. Did you all see Andy’s
tie? Gloria should have hooked a rug out of it, along with Carol’s
dress. You know the one she kept pulling over her head! Door prizes
were the hit of the evening. I even saw some swapping going on.
Marilyn finally got the bag of apples while some blonde was whining
in the corner about a popcorn can. Ann Mack flipped over a free
nights lodging and Miklas stopped begging long enough to win $50! A
good time was had by all!
Through the
four days, there was still a void. The absence of the Wiltses was
felt. Our thoughts and best wishes, go out to the family. We hope
for a speedy recovery for Tom Turner’s son, who was injured in
an accident just before Tom was to leave for the trip here.
Good-byes were said on Sunday. See you all in the spring were the
parting words.
Your
Host and Hostess Bev and Bill
P.S.: Now
that I have roasted everyone quite sufficiently, the envelope please
… and the winners are:
Concours
d’Elegance
Junior
Division
Class
II
1st
Place Bill Spear 300C coupe 854 points
3rd Place Al Vannice 300E convert 720 points
Ribbon Robert Cornet 300C coupe 550 points
Class
III
3rd
Place Gabe Knapp 300G coupe 734.25 points
Class
IV
Ribbon Doug
Johnston 300L convert 588 points
Hurst
2nd
Place Adolph Rebolj 300 Hurst 769 points
3rd Place Roman Robaszewski 300 Hurst 697.5 points
People’s
Choice – Don Cole, 300K (convert)
Hard
Luck – Allan Moon, 300 Hurst, fan through radiator on turnpike
Long
distance – Jerry Kocur, 300K convert, 625 miles from Douglas,
Massachusetts
300s
at Chardon
300C: Bob
Cornet, Bill Spear
300D: Bob
Hays, Jim Powers (F.I.)
300E: Al
Vannice (convert)
300F: Michael
Burke
300G: Gabe
Knapp, Ken Mack, Barbara Meilander (convert), Andy Mikonis, John
Rebolj
300H: Bob
Crawford, Ed Philips (convert)
300J: George
Riehl, Robert Young
300K: Jerry
Kocur (cvt), Don Cole (cvt), Vern Graber, Marlin Thyer, Bill Elder
(cvt)
300L: Mike
Craw (cvt), Doug Johnston (cvt)
Hurst: Roman
Robaszewski, Ron Iacovone, Ray Jones, Jeff Miklas, Allan Moon, Howard
Stoll, Adolph Rebolj
1962: Gary
Hitchens (3 speed)
1963: Mark
Rayner
1965: Dana
Schuessler
1970: Frank
Cox
Other Mopars:
’33 Chrysler (trailered), Rene Kroeger; ’58 Dodge, Mark
Yarnell; ’63 Imperial, Bob Merritt; Superbird/Daytona ?, Joel
Cox
Thanks to Bill Elder for typing this article for the web