HOTRODS & CLASSICS
OLD TIMERS ROD RUN 2002
The old timers rod run is held every
year in the town of Port Angeles in Washington State.
This run has been Pre-49
until last year when they changed it to pre 64 and more later
iron did
show up and attend. These guys put
forth a great event and good times. Every
year they come up
with a new theme and a new cruise. The T-shirts they sell reflect the
theme of the show and this year it was famous Hollywood personalities.
Port Angeles is about an hours drive
from the ferry in Port Townsend into
Port Angeles,
but if your coming from the south you can drive all the way. Once there, most of the
locals can direct you to the
fairgrounds, which is where the camping and entertainment
takes place and is one
of the nicer fairgrounds we have been in... very nice . Saturday
night
supper is supplied, again all cooked or prepared by the club members (we
think)
and is followed later that night with a dance and live music.
The dance proved to be fun
and interesting with prizes being awarded to some of
the dressed up rodders, although a
lot of rodders did not dress up including
yours truly and for which we should be beaten
for not getting into the spirit of
things.
During the course of the weekend, many of the members and I assume their
children are
throwing, distributing, giving away, flinging and generally finding curious
ways of
dispensing 'Old Timers Bucks'. If your are fleet of foot, or can do
a great con, you
collect this money for later use at the Sunday auction..
Friday night there is
a cruise-in to a local Pontiac Dealership, Ruddells
Auto Mall, a
local landmark who kindly donates their lot for the
purpose and Friday nights cruise
in was great an the weather co-operated just
fine this year. Awards come in the form
of homemade trophies and are usually very humorous, and coveted. I was a recipient of
one of these awards this year "Best
Back Seat To Go To The Movies In"
and it has joined
by collection of memorabilia for sure.
The Saturday run/cruise is always great and is
combined with games at various stops
and sometimes involves a poker
run. The Saturday morning clouds gave way to a mostly
sunny day
for the run. The members lay out these cruises to provide some spectacular
scenery that only the West Coast can provide.....great ocean vista's mixed with
varying
country side and the cruise usually reflects the theme of the show.
The cruise ends up
in downtown Port Angeles where they block off half of the main street
for the cars. It would appear the whole City gets behind them and the Local
citizens
seem to enjoy it and It's been our experience they are more then willing
to help out
if you need it. The car show is held in conjunction with other
activities and a huge
craft fair. There are different live bands
performing throughout the day and various
food stalls and craft booths setup and
the caliber of the crafts on display is very good.
The show and all the
activities going on around the area are all free to the public.... cool
Sunday morning provides a Continental
Breakfast and coffee and later in the morning the
club
distributes booty to the participants. This is where that hard earned 'Old-Timers
Bucks' funny money comes into play. They hold up a prize and
everyone bids on it. This
is probably one of the funniest parts of the
weekend and enjoyed by all. This show is
such a great success in no
small part to the club members who go out of their way to
make this a fun car
show for all and do it with a very small membership with a big
imagination.
When it comes time to say adieu, all
the club member that can get away, stand in line
and thank all participants for
coming and offer handshakes all around. Way cool !
We are told that next
years theme will be 'Circus' and we are somewhat worried about
that theme, There
are a lot of clowns and animals already in our hobby, but again it
should prove interesting and funny.
All in All a great
event, good people, great surrounding and well worth your
consideration and this car guy gives is a 8 out of 10.