2017 West Coast Crosley Meet Report - Part 2

Jewell Park, the site for this year's meet, is a one-block green space just off the main drag in Pacific Grove. It has a small activities building in one corner and a bandstand on another - the rest is grass, with big trees on the edges of the park. Club pres. Rick Alexander had worked with the local Chamber of Commerce to get permission for the show and I knew the cars would look great on the grass - like a mini Concours. I rolled up a little before 8AM and waited for everyone to arrive - This will go down as the first time in history that I was the first one there!

Crosleys started to arrive about 8:30 and the organizing began. Given that cars aren't generally meant to drive into the park there was no driveway; luckily the Crosleys were easily able to use sidewalk corner dips. Rick turned over the layout/design of the show to Jeffrey Ackerman, the Co-Chair of the national Crosley Auto Club's annual meet, who had come all the way out from East Bethany, New York for the show.  First time he'd ever been West of the Mississippi River!

Jeff jumped into the job, guiding Crosleys around the park as they came in, directing traffic and carefully placing each car.  He opted to avoid parking the cars in rows, sprinkling Crosleys throughout the park at different angles - I think it worked out really well, both filling the area and giving each car plenty of room.  Sure made taking pictures easier for me.

Rick and his crew of helpers set up the Crosley Store and the big raffle.  One of the benefits of raising the club dues a couple of years ago is that we now have cash available to print specialty items, so there was a big variety of t-shirts, sweatshirts, hats and even sunglasses.  I picked up a West Coast Crosley Club tote bag that's already been put into service as my record-shopping bag.

The only drawback to Jewell Park was that, despite the numerous "no dogs" signs,  the local canines had peppered the grass with doggie land mines. I came mighty close to stepping in them several times, but narrowly avoided disaster... others, not so lucky.  On the other hand, lax enforcement allowed the Crosley cur contingent free reign of the park.

I had been volunteered to coordinate the awards process this year - a funny thing, given that I usually forget to even turn in my ballot - so I was in charge of assigning each car a numbered window-card for voting. One benefit was that, for once, I knew exactly how many cars showed up: 24 cards means 24 cars.  Except that I later realized that there was no #21, so there were really only 23 cars on hand... one of the best turnouts we've ever had.

Club founder David Brodsky brought his stellar '47 convertible - a teal resto-custom with a "big block" motor - a modified Bearcat engine that looks more or less like a Crosley, but produces about double the horsepower.  Surprising all of us, he posted a tiny "for sale" sign in the windshield. It generated a lot of interest, with many club members mentally checking their bank accounts - a Pacific Grove local saw it, went to the bank, and drove it home at the end of the show!  David has now joined that rarest of Crosley Clubs: owners who have sold a Crosley for over $10K.  He still seemed to be in shock at the club dinner that night.

Rick Alexander displayed the chassis of the Super Sports he's been restoring for a few years. The work looks great, although there was much debate about whether the angle of the driveshaft was correct - amazingly, the assembled Crosley brain trust was unable to come up with a definitive answer.

 As usual, there were plenty of Hot Shots and Super Sports on hand, ranging from heavily modified to very stock.

Jarl deBoer brought his SS (pale yellow, behind the Dunners' red HS) along with a selection of parts. He and David Brodsky were the only people selling - very unusual for our shows. One of these years I need to go through my garage and thin my herd of spares. I was restrained in my purchases, but I did pick up a beautiful horn button from David. 

Also as usual, we had several fiberglass homebuilts - Glen Brynsvold's black Skorpion is one of my favorite cars in the club. He started building it when he was 17... he's now in his seventies - you do the math!

Another fave is Lee Osborn's 1955 Shannon Special. I suspect that this is the fastest Crosley-powered object on the planet - it is certainly one of the best-looking.

 Marty Stein's 1952 Siata was, without a doubt, the most historic car on hand. It's a veteran of Watkins Glen and Sebring and just might be worth as much as every other car at the meet combined. Marty got it as boxes of parts in the seventies, rebuilt it, and has driven the snot out of it ever since.  By the way, he's got his own car blog, called Drive/Ride/Wrench.

 The most unusual car at the meet is this unassuming Farm-O-Road, owned by fellow Sacramentan Nick Shelley.  Nick's uncle had had this car for decades, stashed in a barn in Oregon. Nick convinced the family to let him take it and he brought it home and got it running. But, the body had been heavily modified and the engine barely ran, so Nick started scheming on converting it to an electric vehicle.

Nick does not mess around when it comes to projects, and he had the F-O-R cleaned up and rebuilt as an EV in about the time than it takes me to do a few blog posts! Here's the electric motor:

 For contrast, here's the mill in Marty's Siata.

The day went by quickly - I chatted with club members, locals, and even a Crosley fan from the midwest who had included the show in a family trip. After lunch, we assembled for the club's biggest annual fundraiser: the GIANT RAFFLE.  This is always a great way to pick up rarities and novelties - club members are very generous with their donations. Last year Don Rauch donated a like-new steel crankshaft! No crankshafts this year, but there was plenty to choose from, including some Braje equipment and a custom Crosley clock.  I didn't win the Braje stuff, but it seemed like I won just about everything else - I made so many trips to the front I started to feel sheepish... I guess it makes up for the times I've bought tickets and won nothing. 

After the raffle, the show wound down, the park cleared out and we got a few hours of R and R before the Banquet. The club dinner had a full house, and the meal was the best I've ever had at a meet - Pacific Grove knows how to treat a car club! Once the business meeting was done, Rick turned the microphone over to me for the Awards.

I am probably the LAST person who should be running a car show award process, but, when the suggestion was made to revamp the awards process no one else jumped to do it, so it went to me. I reached out to some members who are active in showing collector cars and got some ideas about what might work, and eventually came up with a simplified slate of awards, enough to keep it interesting, but not so many that it would be a pain to tabulate/coordinate. Most awards were chosen, as always, by "People's Choice," with a few special awards thrown in for good measure.

I started out with the Best of Show awards, but handed out the trophies countdown-style, so the first award was for Third Place. The trophy went to Service Motors' head honcho Dale Liebherr for his stellar CD wagon. This is a NICE car - beautiful body and paint, and ready to drive anywhere; Dale and his wife Sheri drove this car from Minden, Nevada to the first Jackson meet... for those of you unfamiliar with the area, that's OVER the Sierra Nevada mountain range! Great car, and well-deserving of a trophy.

The competition for awards was strong - most of the cars on display received at least a vote or two; it really speaks to the ever-increasing quality of restorations in the club. Dale's brother Rob Liebherr's beautiful pickup, which won Best of Show at our Nevada meet about 10 years ago, didn't even make the top three this year. And one sad note - Rob and Dale had originally restored the truck for their dad, Joe, a longtime Crosley fanatic; I found out at the meet that both he, and their mom, Connie had passed away this year.  They were super nice people, and I'll miss chatting with them.

Second Place went to an old favorite - Gary Loomer's 1947 pickup truck, which beat out Dale's wagon by a few votes. This is always a popular car, but I think the new mural he added to the back put him over the top this year.  Great driver too.

I don't think anyone was surprised by the choice for "Best of Show."  Bob King always turns out nice work, but this modified Super Sports is a work of art. Featuring a Toyota motor, flawless paint and body, and way too many custom details to get into here, the car is a total stunner.  I was particularly impressed because I knew exactly what he started with: a hacked up junkyard body that came out of my storage yard about five years ago. Adding to the drama, the car was finished two days before the meet!  

 There may have been stiff competition for the "Best of" awards, but there was one clear winner for our new trophy: "Best Work in Progress." President Rick Alexander's chassis made a clean sweep - it was the only project at the show!

My favorite award is the Long Distance Trophy - the "Bob Carson Memorial Award." The Bob Carson goes to the person who drives their Crosley the furthest distance to the meet (20 miles or more); if no one drives a Crosley, the award goes to the person who brings their Crosley the furthest distance to the meet. This award honors the late “Travelin’” Bob Carson, a longtime West Coast Club member who often drove a Crosley from his home in Hollywood to the national Crosley Club meet in Wauseon, Ohio – and back. In some years, Bob probably drove more miles in a Crosley than all other club members combined, and this award honors one of our most dedicated – and eccentric – Crosley brethren.

No Crosleys made it to PG under their own power, so it was a close race between Martha Straube of Jacksonville, Oregon and Mike Blackburn of Lakeside, California. At 466 miles, Martha had Mike beat by about 20 miles, and took the trophy back home with her to the Beaver State.

I started to wrap up the proceedings and almost forgot about our other new award: "Judge's Choice." This award had been suggested at last year's meet as something different: unlike our usual "people's choice" style voting, the Judge's Choice would be chosen by a car nut/expert who is from the meet region, but who is NOT involved in the Crosley Club. The designated Judge sets the parameters for the award that year and has sole decision on which vehicle wins the trophy. I really liked this idea since it could produce varied awards - one judge might award for "Most Original," the next for "Best Restoration," and another for "Best Patina."

Club member John Moulton is very engaged in Monterey-area collector car events (he's the organizer of the Pacific Grove Little Car Show each August), and found us our expert, Mr. Alain Wood. Alain is a longtime restoration/hot rod shop owner who is very involved in Monterey-area car events. He arrived incognito - I was the only member who knew who he was. He spent hours at the show, carefully looking at each car. In the end, he chose Mike and Robin Stoner's steel-blue sedan. He called the car a perfect resto-kustom, citing the car's stellar fit-and-finish and unique, thoughtful custom touches. Mike seemed genuinely shocked when I handed him the trophy.

 After the awards were done I gave a quick rundown for Sunday's Crosley Cruise, and handed out maps with the route. So far, this had been one of the best meets we'd ever had... one day to go!

to be continued....

Back to Part 1