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2008 Western Meet Photos
Bishop, CA

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