Chrysler 300 Club International
Fall Meet in Winchester, Virginia
September 12 - 14, 1991










Bob Crawford

Billy Korbel







Bill Spear, Ray Jones, Jeff Miklas, Don Cole



Bill Spear

Bill Worden & Candy Bryant

300H of Leon Mullis

Ken Mack, Len Astroth

Eleanor Riehl, Ton Turner, Gil Cunningham



300C of Bill Spear, 300F of Len Astroth

Gloria Moon, Ray Jones



Jack Wiltse, Jeanne Mullis, Leon Mullis

Allan Moon and Frank Moran

Mar Lou Wiltse, Bev Spear

Betty Astroth, Linda Burke, Len Astroth







Jerry Kocur, Gabe Knapp

Dave & Carolyn Schwandt

Bob Crawford

Jeanne & Leon Mullis, Jerry Kocur, Gabe Knapp

Ken Mack, Mike & Linda Burke, Ray Jones



Dave Schwandt's 300F









Bob Crawford's H

Vern Graber's K



300C of Bill Spear

Photos by Bill Elder


21st Fall Meet, Winchester, Virginia
by Allan and Gloria Moon

MOUNTAIN GLORY

What is Mountain Glory? It was a 300 meet that traveled on mountain tops, underground caves and milled around in parking lots. A few anxious 300 “Nuts” even showed up on Wednesday. It appears that this early group’s aim was to be fully rested up for Thursday’s full day of activities. The activity consisted of standing around in the parking lot all day and looking at 300s rolling in from all over the place. This is actually the best part of a meet and the worst is watching them roll out on Sunday. To aid in 300 watching, gabbing and telling some really great stories there was a keg of beer to help keep one’s throat at peak performance. Looking out at the lot at 6:00 pm on Thursday, you could see a sea of 300s with milling, smiling, laughing and sometimes serious talkers and listeners. At this meet we were fortunate to have our very own rear parking lot all to ourselves (with the exception of one lone couple, who’s advanced age and poor health kept us from doing any nasty tricks). They did graciously remove their Brand X car and leave the lot exclusively to us. We did, however, supply a few of our own Brand X cars, though Don and Pat Cole can be forgiven because they carried the generic club t-shirts (49 left and available through the club store now) with them from Massachusetts. Ray and Jo Ann Jones brought a Chrysler van in addition to their Hurst from Maryland and the van was allowed to park with us. In fact, it was welcomed since those two carried the “Club Keg” (with sodas and munchies too). We also had a fly-in from California, Larry Jett. His complimentary Chrysler car was tolerated, but never the less he tried to ditch the car on Saturday.

A bunch of 300s threw mechanical fits, on and off, during the entire meet. Lots of mechanical know-how and parts were required. 300s being good cars that they are, were, for the most part, accommodating in their location of break down, most making it into the parking lot. Some were really rotten though and just did not want to come. Gil and Carol Cunningham’s freshly rebuilt 300H convertible engine balked as did Gary Hagy’s 300c convertible. At least Gary made 17 miles towards the meet before turning back with a bad water pump. Bill and Bev Spear trailered their black 300C and pulled out the lawn chairs, cranked down the awning and really seemed to enjoy themselves. They also had the dubious honor of carting around the empty keg the remainder of the weekend. Dudley and Maxine Finneyfrock, with their immaculate Hurst, made meet history by crossing from one side of the parking lot to the other side in under an hour with some of the best obstacles thrown in their way. Always a pleasure to see and boasting of his almost 78 years of age was Lew Fraser. Lew is a club institution by now and a meet is always extra special with his arrival. As dependable as rain at a 300 meet, Vern and Helen Graber and 300K were there. Vern’s K misbehaved and Don Cole put it to rights. How a little old fan belt could take up so much time and cause so much trouble is a mystery only to those non-Mopar people. Another “Always there” meet couple, Adolph and Marge Rebolj didn’t disappoint us. Frank and Gladys Moran’s K was not back from the shop as promised, but you could count on them being there, Brand X or not. Marlin Thyer also showed up. His Dad was supposed to come with him, but went to the races instead. Those Arkansas cars are made of strong stuff. Don Verity brought along his F pictures along with his Imperial and thankfully, his mechanical know-how. Thanks Don!

We had some Canadians come as well. Bob Crawford brought his nice 300H, Greg and Sue Leggatt came in a Brand X. No, we don’t believe that it was their first meet. Bill and Louise Elder, early arrivals with another problem K. Battery and water problems didn’t slow them down though. Gabe Knapp came with his 300G. After driving all that way, Gabe entered his car into concours and Bill Elder judged it. Sure, it’s a long drive to get together, when you live in the same Province. Caravanning together was Candy Bryant and Bill Worden in Candy’s H and Billy Korbel and Marge Paradise and son in Lady G as she is known. Jerry Kocur had to be forced to park his 300K convertible in “our” parking lot. He was still miffed with the F. He had the F running and had driven it for a few weeks to shake out any problems. Just hours before the meet the starter hung, so the K was gassed up and driven to the meet instead. More New Yorkers (not cars) showed up. Bruce Brownell brought his C and bunches of people. John Bertz parked his four-wheel drive away from the lot, but was welcome to walk over to our side. Paul Youngs brought his G and his sense of humor too. He parked his red G next to this funny blue F. Sure was a contrast in colors. Seriously Dave and Carolyn Schwandt’s very correct Polar Blue F is a beauty. He received the Long Distance and Hard Luck Awards with it and we wonder if the F carries a black cloud along with it. On route, they gassed up the F, pulled out of the station, flipped up one of those large metal storage tank covers breaking the manifold, messing up the steering sector and column and in general messing up a good time. Still made it though! Len Astroth brought his F from Missouri and entered it in concours. Nice drive, nice car! Jeff and Leslie Miklas brought their Hurst, but no kids this time. (We suspect they enjoyed themselves, a lot). Tom and Marie Trexler brought a Brand X. (A Brand X is any car, even a new Imperial, that doesn’t have 300 and a letter hung on it). At the meet, they got carried away and agreed to host a meet in 1993. It will be in the Philly area.

The south was well accounted for. Tom Turner trailered his very unusual 300F four-speed convertible with a nifty Little Red Express truck. Carl Kreps and his son brought the L convertible. It had starting problems, which the roving backyard and professional mechanics seemed to have fixed good enough for him to drive around. Virginia showed up in force in support of a national meet in their home state. Darrin Bailey brought his L and fell in love with the black C. Bill Lindley, Keith Henry, Rich Connor and Leon and Jeanne Mullis rounded out the Virginia contingent. Leon’s H is a sort of one owner car. His parents bought it brand new. Leon started restoring the car in the parking lot the day after concours.

The Michigan mob was in force. Jack and Marlou Wiltse drove their beautiful Sandalwood Beige 300D. Eleanor and “Leadfoot” Riehl flew down in the J. Ken and Anne Mack drove the C convert. Jim and Andrea Krausmann came in a shopping cart. Andrea is one of the “Shop till you drop group” along with Sue Leggatt, Louise Elder and a few others. Jo Ann Jones chauffeured a few to the local outlet malls. Mike and Linda Burke came in the yellow F. It didn’t want to leave the mountains and broke down in the National Forest – another water pump problem. Fortunately, George had a spare with him and it was quickly replaced in the parking lot.

Andy Mikonis brought his new G. Andy is apprenticing as a judge. It’s good to get in some new blood. David Geise is starting the restoration of his C. He came without it. Chris Frederick’s F couldn’t make it either. Chris brought a huge picture of his F along with him so he wouldn’t feel too lonely. Jerry Frederick, his Dad (and a 300L owner) came too. Scott Kettering brought his black C. Looks better every time. You can tell, he’s always making improvements. Bill and Rose Dahms brought there trailered beautiful 300B along with gobs of family and lawn chairs too. Don Warnaar drove another Brand X; can you believe it? But I guess it was wise not to test drive the L to school. Just what some high school hot rods need is the Principal’s pride and joy. Tom and Bea Gorse came in their truck, but bought a new 300 Ram K convert on the way home. Hope to see it soon. Two young L restorers, Lloyd Geib and Mike Knabel, brought the L that they had just restored for its owner. Frank Riedelbach brought pictures of his two 300H convertibles. He has quite a restoration project in store for him. We’re always glad to see someone save a 300. Jerry Heard and Jay Slobowick, two more Pennsylvanians, came. Gil Boucher, another New Englander, made it. Mark Rayner just made it. Good thing too, as his judging expertise was needed. Burt Tyler came with his black G and partner in crime, Carol. Another late arrival was Bruce and Rose Paul in their ’66 300 convertible – red of course. Ron Chuchola and Scottie made it to concours day. Other late arrivals were Rick Chapin, a 300D owner with a very unusual taste in hats. Chic and Nancy Kramer dropped in on concours day and stayed through Sunday. They drove an Imperial.

Terry McTaggart was seen bouncing around in another Brand X. McT is our next meet host. One just has to wonder where all the effervescence comes from. Robert and Rose Young brought that lovely silver E convertible. Robert always makes his presence known by opening the trunk on all of those parts. Lastly the meet hosts, Allan and Gloria Moon decided to show up in Thirsty Hurst-y.

This cast of characters and their Beautiful Brutes ended up the Thursday gab and gulp with the traditional cop raid. The local cops were disappointed to find just old cars and a few late nighters in the parking lot. The parking lot brigade was entertained by watching the cops dragging the orange pylons around under their car, during the “raid”.

As a break with tradition, most of this crew went to Luray Caverns. This was considered a refreshing pause from the business of talking and bragging. Much as a dog marks his boundaries, our club president once again left layers of the J’s tires in the Virginia hills to mark his presence. We did heartily enjoy this episode and we believe that each new club president should leave his mark on the marque! Maybe we should rewrite the constitution. After the sedate caravan down to Luray, many toured the Sky Line Drive on the way back. Every meet must have rain. Ours came very briefly on Friday night, just in time to mess all the cars up for concours day. Luckily it came when most of us were in the busines meeting. The business meeting was a short, nice, with nearly everyone participating meeting. Were we tired of talking or no microphone or was it Carol Cunningham’s threats to keep the meeting short? As a curiosity, Lew Frazer produced the gas receipt for the 300 he drove to the first meet in Holly, Michigan, in 1970. The virtually insignificant amount that he paid, reminded us of an era gone by. How things have changed!

Billy Thompson, owner of White Post Restorations has a great place for a concours. He had tours of the facility and provide all we needed for judging the cars. Two new firsts were tried at this concours, a Blue Grass Band, Red & Murphy and the Mystery Parts Contest. The band was absolutely terrific. While the parts contest, band and picnic tables were in the shade, the judges and concours entrants got to sweat the day away in the sun. Judging has to be the most demanding and unrewarding job around. We want to thank Gil Cunningham, Terry Mctaggart, Mark Rayner, Jim Krausmann, Jeff Miklas, Burt Tyler, Don Cole, George Riehl, Bruce Brownell, and trainee judges, Len Astroth, Scott Kettering, Andy Mikonis and Bill Elder. As always, these guys did a terrific job. It is not, nor has it ever been fun to tell someone that their prize possession is less than perfect. We also have to congratulate the concours entrants for keeping the true spirit of the event. It really hurts, when you are told that your beautiful Brute is not perfect after all. It is to your credit as a group (concours entrants) that no duels or affairs of honor were fought, no judges were hanged and no prisoners taken. As a further credit to this group, they take their 300 home, shine it up, replace parts, correct faults. Repaint, remove paint, all in hopes of elusive perfection. And so, it goes. As ever, after the concours came the banquet. It was an agreeable surprise to all, that the food was more like a 4-star restaurant than “banquet food”. Even had the chef carving a huge sirloin of beef. Trophies were awarded and the winner of the Mystery Parts Contest was Gil Cunningham. Gosh, maybe the chief judge knows something after all. This evening, many did not go back to the parking lot. Since it was late and rainy, we went back into the hospitality room. Sunday, the day to leave, was dragged out as long as possible. But we did indeed finally leave. We left behind five inches of rain and flash floods that covered the area, just a few days later. Lucky? You bet!

Without the following people, this meet would not have been any fun for the meet hosts. Those people are: Ron Chuchola copied all the agendas and meet information; Don Cole oversaw production of the generic T-shirts; Ray Jones procured a spot for the gab and gulp session; Jo Ann Jones provided shuttle service for the Outlet Mall shoppers (shop-till-they- droppers); Brian Wolfe did all the meet advertising in the national and Mopar magazines. The Washington D.C. Times and Winchester Star newspapers wrote up huge articles on the meet and our cars. Many of the crowd at the concours (and we had a large crowd) were there due to these publications. Luray Caverns also published our meet in a very nice release. The Luray newspaper, News-Record, sent a reporter to interview George in the Luray Caverns parking lot. Clarke Dodge of Winchester supplied hats and polishing cloths as door prizes during the banquet. Dave Schwandt (Obsolete Parts Inc.) also provided a door prize. Mystery Parts were brought by Robert Young, Bruce Brownell, George Riehl, Gil Cunningham and Allan and Gloria Moon. Billy Thompson and the White Post Restoration facilities have to be thanked again for providing a beautiful setting and great logistics. Bill Lindley was our volunteer car parker on concours day. (Bill was the guy with the huge pointing hand, when you drove in.) In an effort to allow Eleanor some time away from the hospitality room, volunteers Tom and Marie Trexler, Bill and Bev Spear, Don and Pat Cole and a few other warm bodies in the right place at the wrong time were sincerely appreciated. Jo Ann Jones ran the 50/50 draw used to defray the band costs and Bert Tyler, acutely, Carol took home nearly $100.00.

MOUNTAIN GLORY is now history but, there is history in the making. So, we can take heart and do it all over again at another time and another place. This is good!

Concours d’Elegance

Senior Division

1st Place Tom Turner 300F cvt 950.5 points

2nd Place Billy Korbel 300G cpe 848 points

Junior Division

Class II 2nd Place Bill Spear 300C cpe 797 points

Class III Ribbon Paul Youngs 300G cpe 674 points

Ribbon Gabe Knapp 300G cpe 652 points

Ribbon Len Astroth 300F cpe 636.5 points

Ribbon Leon Mullis 300H cpe 475 points

Class IV 2nd Place Chuck Matthews 300Lcpe 764.5 points

Ribbon Darrin Bailey 300L cpe 618 points

Hurst 1st Place Dudley Finneyfrock 852 points

Ribbon Jeff Miklas 681 points

People’s Choice – Billy Korbel – 300G

Long Distance – Dave Schwandt – 300F - Earlville, Iowa, 970 miles

Hard Luck – Dave Schwandt – 300F – broken manifold

300s at Winchester, Virginia

300B: Bill Dahms. 300C: Scott Kettering, Bruce Brownell, Bill Spear, Ken Mack (cvt). 300D: Jack Wiltse. 300E: Robert Young (cvt). 300F: Tom Turner (cvt), Len Astroth, Michael Burke, Dave Schwandt. 300G: Gabe Knapp, Andy Mikonis, Billy Korbel, Paul Youngs, Bert Tyler. 300H: Leon Mullis, Bob Crawford, Candy Bryant. 300J: George Riehl. 300K: Vern Graber, Jerry Kocur (cvt), Bill Elder (cvt). 300L: Carl Kreps (cvt), Darrin Bailey, Chuck Matthews. 300 Hurst: Alan Moon, Ray Jones, Jeff Miklas, Dudley Finneyfrock. ’63 300 Mark Rayner. ’66 300 Bruce Paul


Thanks to Bill Elder for typing this article for the web