FALL COLORS
CAR SHOW
October 3-5,
2008
Bishop,
California
Members
Present: 5
Monte
Carlos in Attendance
(In order of
year and name)
1970
~ Dark Candy Apple Red, Grey Tweed Interior
Owned by Joe
and Sarah Brunasso
1970
SS454 ~ Dark Metallic Green, Black Vinyl Top and Black Interior
Owned by Craig
Collom
1970
~ Black Cherry Metallic, Black Vinyl Top and Black Interior
Owned by Rod
and Janet Marin
Owned by Mike
and Jaylene Welch
Owned by
George and Elsa Rice
First
Generation Monte Carlo Club Award Winners
Directors Choice Joe & Sarah Brunasso ~ 1970
George Lines Best Modified
George & Elsa Rice ~
1972
Best Paint Rod & Janet Marin ~ 1970
Best Interior Mike & Jaylene Welch ~
1971
Best Stock Craig Collom
~ 1970 SS454
Best Engine Joe & Sarah Brunasso ~ 1970
Fall Colors
Car Show Award Winners
Best Engine Joe & Sarah Brunasso ~ 1970
Best Paint Rod & Janet Marin ~ 1970
First
Generation Monte Carlo Club 5th Annual Western Meet
By Jaylene Welch
Our
journey to Bishop began Friday morning, October 3rd, 2008. Mike and
I met up with Joe and his wife Sarah and began our 240+ mile adventure. Bishop
is located in America's deepest valley, the Owens Valley, between the
14,000-foot peaks of the Sierra Nevada Range and White Mountains along U.S.
Highway 395. The drive offered a mix of desert & mountain views.
We
arrived in Bishop around 1:30pm, checked into our hotel, unpacked, and began
working on a little car detailing.
Check-in for the meet was located in the parking lot of the local Taco
Bell, which had a nice area set up for a Meet and Greet. Joe and Sarah were
to the first to head over there and saved some spots for the rest of us. We
pulled in next to them and set up our chairs to enjoy a view of all the cars.
Not too long after, George and Elsa arrived and we helped them unload their
Monte from their trailer. From there they went and checked in to the campground
where they were staying. Rod and Janet were the last to arrive and pulled in
next to Mike and I. We all spent the rest of the
evening checking out the cars and just enjoying each others company. We made
our plans to meet back in the Taco Bell parking lot at 6:30am to get in line
for the show. When it was finally time to leave, Joes Monte had drawn a pretty
big crowd of people just waiting to hear it. Some guys had been camped out
around us and were not going to leave until he fired it up; they were not
disappointed when he did. There is something about the sound of that blower
that really gets your adrenaline going.
Rod
had a bit of a surprise in the middle of the night when he went to check on his
car. He had covered the car earlier in the evening. Initially, what he thought
he saw was his car missing the cover. Luckily, he was mistaken and what he
really saw was another 70 Monte Carlo belonging to club member Craig Collom. Craig had pulled in right next to Rods car in the
middle of the night. Rod left Craig a note telling him to please look us up at
the fairgrounds the next day.
Saturday
October 4th, 2008
We
awoke early for Saturdays meet only to go outside and see some very ominous
rain clouds overhead. While it wasnt raining, the air was very damp! Joe
talked with a local gentleman who assured us that even if it did rain it would
be very light and would not last. Boy, he couldnt have been more correct. It
did start to drizzle a little bit right before we
caravanned over to the Tri-County Fairgrounds where the show was being held.
But even with the drizzle the sun was attempting to peek out, giving us some
very vibrant Rainbows to look at. They directed us in the fairgrounds to park
and unfortunately had to split us up and park us two on one side of the road
and two on the other side. That was a bit disappointing, but we set up our
canopy and put up the banner. Then, everyone wiped down their cars from the
mornings rain. By this time the skies had almost completely cleared and the
sun was shining. You could just tell it was going to be a beautiful warm fall
day!
Once
the cars were wiped down we all headed over to the Pancake breakfast that was
being held for all the show participants. It was a pretty good breakfast of
pancakes, sausage, juice or coffee being put on by the local Lions Club. After
breakfast everyone went back to their cars and began wiping them down again. I
soon realized that with all the detailing they were doing, I should probably
pass out the goodie bags. Each member was given a bag
containing bottles of Turtle Wax Ice detailer, Mothers Car Detailer, samples of
Turtle Wax's Interior Cleaner and Car Wash, Stoners Invisiwipes,
a Just Dashes, Dont Touch My Car magnet, 2 Jegs
hats, an Edlebrock hat, and plenty of stickers for
the guys to decorate their tool boxes or whatever with.
Later
there was a small swap meet going on at the fairgrounds. Janet, Elsa, my
daughter Baily and I walked over and checked that out.
Most of the day was spent just chatting and people watching. Around 1:30 Mike
and Joe decided they would walk around and vote for their favorite cars. There
were quite a bit of them to look at Ð approximately 300 cars in all. When Mike
and Joe were finished they attempted to submit their ballots only to find out
that voting had ended at 2pm. This would later prove to be a real heartbreaker.
The Show and Shine was over at 3pm, and we used the emptiness of the
fairgrounds to get all 5 Montes together for some photos. The ladies of the
group had a good time bossing the guys around telling them how to pose for the
photos.hehe.
For
our awards ceremony we met at the Whiskey Creek Restaurant in Bishop. Craig had
traveled with his son, father, brother and nephews to the meet. They were all
able to join us for dinner, making for 18 in our party! I had passed out
ballots at the Show and Shine and had everybody vote for the awards. This only
left me to have to choose the Directors Choice. My decision was an easy one.
Joes Monte Carlo is stunning. He bought a pretty cool car and has only added
to its beauty. From the Deep Candy Apple Red paint job to the immaculate engine
compartment, its something to behold. Let me tell you, the sight of that 1152
HP engine popping up through that hood is daunting when its coming up behind
you.
Sunday
October 5th, 2008
Sunday
morning was the Fall Colors Poker Run up to Bishop Creek. Mike and I were the
only ones up for the run Sunday morning so we headed out to the first stop around
8am. The route we were to follow would lead us up to the 8,000-foot elevation
into the Bishop Creek Canyon. It was beautiful with its Aspen-lined slopes and
gold, orange and red hues of autumn. It really made the whole Fall Colors
name make more sense! After we returned from the poker run we helped George and
Elsa load up their Monte. We did the same with ours and headed over to the
fairgrounds to meet up with the rest of the members. The awards ceremony began
at 12pm. We all sat there as they read through all the different categories in
which you could win an award. The categories in which we were entered came and
went. Nothing for the Montes. Then came the award for
Best Engine and they called Joes name. It was very cool, and we all whooped
and hollered for him. Then, no sooner had Joe sat down, they announced the
Best Paint award and called out Rods name. This was a very bittersweet
moment for Rod as he had been having trouble with his transmission that morning
and was really worried about how he was going to get it fixed and home!
After
all the awards were given out the staff from the Fall Colors show came up to
our group and thanked us for coming up. They said they would love to have us
attend again in the future and commented on how nice it was to have so many
Montes attend. They also delivered some real heartbreaking news. They told us
that the vote for People Choice which was the equivalent to a Best in Show
was very close between Joes Monte and the winner. They later confirmed that
Joe lost Peoples Choice by 1 vote!! ONE VOTE..arrrgggg!!
If only we had all made it over sooner to cast our votes Joe would have been
the winner! Well, theres always next year. I guarantee you we wont let that
happen again.
With
that said, I want to get in my Thank Yous to
everyone who attended and to acknowledge Joe for all his help he gave me in
planning this meet when it became clear our original venue was not going to
work out. I would also like to thank Rod for trying to help me recruit more
members to attend! Small as it was, I feel the meet was a complete success
because of the wonderful memories that were made.
Jaylene