The Dana Point Classic Car Show write-up, for which I’m responsible, finds me dragging my feet getting it to Tim, our fearless newsletter editor. Not sure why-- I think maybe it’s because I’m not the car guy or the gearhead. What will be my angle tonight—for I certainly don’t know or care to learn the difference between a carburetor and an intake valve. What’s the engine manifold again? Ha ha ha! The show was held the last Sunday of August on Del Prado, off of PCH.
Morning of-- before wondering why our alarms were going off at zero-dark-thirty, we had to quickly reassure ourselves getting up that much earlier than a regular weekend morning would be so worth it! We know it to be a ton of fun every year! Somebody had worked out all the logistics for our Club--- you just had to show up at precisely ‘when and where.’ Where and when. And, as I always say, these events are ‘only as fun as who gets there.’ Yes, it is 250 parallel-parked cars along a palm-tree lined street in a quaint town of SoCal, but, the nuts and bolts of the day, for me— are the vast amount of time we get to simply sit or stroll or dine with our really-fun Healey friends.
This carefully orchestrated early-morning plan begins to Pill-in nicely, and, magically, we are parked in premier spots, chairs are up on what, a little later, we’ll see as the shady side of the street and, after we’ve paid our check at our group-of-twelve-for- breakfast, the day will have smoothly ‘begun’ for us. Just a simple case of ‘where and when.’ Now fully in the rear-view mirror— a super day. Super friends – Don Newman, Tom and Paige Rubinate, Phil Caliva, Chuck Lakowski, Tim McNiff, Mike and Tom Biss, Anna Johansson, and Steve Heck. Excellent Kodak moments.
Car entries were all over the map.
Classics-everything. Gorgeous paint jobs. Shiny chrome and lots of it. You’d see one entry and you’d instantly remember how old you were when your mom drove that very model or which of your friend’s moms had everyone pile into hers, with its way- back full, to head someplace special.
One memory built on another, car after car, moving along that ‘carousel of time.’ (Thank you Joni Mitchell, 1966.) Paint jobs and color selections were incredible. The shine and the attentions- to-detail were front and center. We’d return to home base and get into more fun conversations or more photos, based on who’d shown up or stopped by for a visit since we were last at our car and chairs. Truly a glorious day! For our family, the day was crowned by an award my sweetheart brought home for Best Restored Foreign. Pretty exciting for the little primrose girl! Sorry! that sometimes we just don’t all quite get our registrations in in time, or maybe our Healeys are in a container heading for the UK! But for me, it’s one show not to be missed. Get your entry in early next year, at first glimpse, and we’ll be together again, to stroll along the carousel of time on Del Prado! Night night!