Hi Gang…
The day before the Amelia Concours is my favorite – mostly.
Rick D’Louhy and I we tend to run to the last minute, which makes it an exciting day, but one that I feel I need to “prep” for like an athlete leading up to a 26 mile marathon “sprint” – if there was ever such a thing. And as you can tell from some of my photos….I’m not in “athlete” shape – at least for the moment.
There are three separate “parts” or “stages” to the Saturday before the Concours, and I’ll discuss each one below.
Stage 1: Waking Up, Hooking Up, and Getting To Amelia
It’s a five hour drive to Amelia from my house. And when we do a big event such as a class of cars and have a caravan heading to Amelia – it becomes a “convoy” – just like out of the 70s. If you don’t remember this film, check out how we feel below:
Needless to say, getting to Amelia always feels like an adventure to me. So, Merrill and Gerianne Powell, Marshall Foxworthy, Bob Craig, Caseem Michaels, Ed Watson, Pat Tobin, and an assortment of fiber-characters saddled up about 10am and headed to Amelia.
Merrill Powell helped polish out the dash of the Meteor before we left. Ed Watson is at front of Meteor and Pat Tobin is hiding in the shadows at the rear.
Merrill Powell on Left and Geoff Hacker on Right – trying out the Forgotten Fiberglass shirts we had made for the event.
And of course it never goes as fast as it should and we arrived about 6 hours later at Amelia and began our next stage of Saturday’s adventure.
Stage 2: Arriving at Amelia, Unloading, And Beating Feet!
For each concours event there is usually an option to drop your cars on the field the day before. This extra “buffer” allows us to arrive on Sunday if anything goes wrong Saturday, and it has an added benefit too. It’s the “Quiet Before The Storm.”
You see Amelia is not a quiet event. Last year’s reported attendance was around 25,000 folks, and people arrive and tour the field between 10am and 4pm when it starts to thin out. Each year Amelia is an amazing event with even a greater number of amazing people – which grows about 15% in attendance each year.
So….placing the cars on the field is wonderful on Saturday. It’s quiet, and we can spend some quality time with each of the participants in the Forgotten Fiberglass class – as you can see in the photos below:
Rick D’Louhy inspects his Meteor SR-1 while on his right stand Kyle Fellar and Craig Johnson ready to help. Nick Bujnowski, on Rick’s left, rushes to see the latest car delivered to the field on Saturday.
Kyle Fellar is at the wheel of the Meteor; Craig Johnson is holding it back with great strength. Caseem “Cass” Michaels is at the upper right of the Meteor. Rick D’Louhy and Marshall Foxworthy stand at extreme left.
Merrill Powell on Left; Geoff Hacker in Center; Rick D’Louhy at Rear. All of “stake our claim” to the field – Iwo Jima Style – on the Saturday before the main event at Amelia.
Guy Dirkin at the door with his Kellison – preparing it for the next day’s show.
Rick D’Louhy with the “Dawes Clan” of LaDawri fame. From left to right are Bob, Rick D’Louhy, Marilyn, Lynn Dawes, and Joan Dawes. Great to have all of you with us at Amelia!
Here an unruly mob begins to gather…from left to right are Kyle Fellar, Cass Michaels, Craig Johnson, and Bob Craig.
From Left to Right are Kim Bone, Ed Watson, and father/son team Pete and Nick Bujnowski.
Merrill Powell From Victress – at extreme left – was besieged with admirers where ever he went. From Left to Right are Merrill Powell, Jeff Bone, Jim Robinson (Guy Mabee Victress owner) and Marvin McFalls – President of the North American Renault Group.
We aim to get off the field on Saturday around 6pm, because the next stage begins at 7pm – our annual Forgotten Fiberglass Get-Together/Pizza Party at the Hampton Inn near Jacksonville Airport.
Stage 3: The Forgotten Fiberglass Blowout (Pizza Party at the Hampton Inn)
We schedule a Pizza Partys during each of the major showing of the collection of our group’s cars – and this year was the biggest yet – about 40 folks in all. Very fun. However, if you look for “pizza” in the “pizza party” this year I’m not sure you’ll see any. I think it took about 2 hours for the 15-20 pies to arrive, so by the time they did arrive, all cameras were dropped and the eating and drinking began. I’ll figure out the logistics of this some day so we can meet, greet, take photos, and eat 🙂
Ed Watson and Gerianne Powell at the Pizza Party…
From Left to Right Are Phil Cox from Woodill Wildfire, Dick and Jeanette Foster – Woodill Wildfire owners, and Ann Fowler – former Wildfire owner with her husband Stan.
From left to right: Ted Griffin – original Wildfire owner and builder, Geoff Hacker, and Phil Cox from Woodill Wildfire
From Left to Right: Kim Bone and Karen Fenstermaker
Great friend Van Fenstermaker
From Left To Right: Pat Tobin – owner of Carleton Bump’s Gazelle, Nick Bujnowski, and Pete Bujnowski
From Left To Right, Ted Griffin (in red), Phil Cox, Dick Foster, Jeanette Foster, Anne Fowler, and Stan Fowler
From Left to Right, Susan Gunn and Cindy Gunn
From Left To Right – 1/2 of Marshall Foxworthy, Craig Johnson, Marvin McFalls, Casseem Michaels, and our first Forgotten Fiberglass Intern – Kyle Fellar
Rick D’Louhy in grey t-shirt in conversation with Dawes family – on right of photo. Merrill Powell, Bob Murray and Mark Barker at Left.
From Left to Right: Jeff Brown and Geoff Hacker (me)
From Left to Right: Merrill Powell, Bob Murray, Mark Barker, and Marilyn from Dawes family.
Ed Watson – who announced that he had just “retired” – a surprise to hear for lifelong friends of Ed Watson. Good luck on your retirement Ed 🙂
Summary:
So “fun” was had by all which is the goal of any event for any hobby and I’m pleased we met this head-on. And while we finished up around 10:30pm that night in the lobby of the Hampton Inn, I was soon to give up my room and pull an “all-nighter” in the lobby (see photo below) as we readied ourselves for the next day – our debut of Forgotten Fiberglass class at the 2015 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance.
We have a few more stories to share about Amelia so stay tuned to your favorite fiber-channel. Hope you enjoyed the post, and remember gang…
The adventure continues here at Forgotten Fiberglass.
Geoff
I would like to do a photo shoot about the meteorcan i come meet u some sunny day let me know thanks Roger
i am an old car nut. will be in the Tampa area next week. would like to visit you/FRP farm, my schedule is open if you can make time for me to visit.
I have the font & rear corvette suspension for my next project. i fabricate my own frames, would like to do something like the Kurtis 500KK.
good day dave
That car crosses my mind nearly every day…if you only knew how much that means to me and my family, I grew up around meteors but this one in particular holds a special spot. Hope it’s being cared for and enjoyed.
@Nasser – Good to hear from you and glad you enjoyed the story. Look forward to seeing you – come to our Fiberglass Farms tour just before Amelia next year….
great story. great shape, lines, design for this meteor.next year reserve a place for me. i\’ll bring some photos of brazilian fiberglass cars. nasser