What: 2001 Northwest Imperial Picnic & Junk Yard Prowl

When: Sept. 8, 2001. All Day Event. Arrive between 8:30 AM & 11:00 AM

Where: Meet at All American Classic Junk Yard
15209 Fourth Plain Road
Vancouver, WA

Leave All American Classic in Vancouver at 11:00 AM for caravan of Imperials
to Sandy, Oregon and the Wildcat Mopar Junk Yard via Latourell Falls for a
picnic lunch. We have local members who have suggested a route for the
cruise that allows us to picnic out of the wind and then cruise on to the
Wildcat Yard in Sandy.

(Click on Small Photos to View Large Ones)

Mark Hall 66, Loren 64, Bill Ulman 66 Vert	The Seattle Contingent Caravaned Down.	Rest Stop and Photo Op
Arrival at All American	Lots of Imperials	Greg Bristows Fabulous 61 Vert
Caravan to Scenic Columbia River Hwy.. Mikey's 62	a Vista along the Highway	The Gang and Titanics Front End

In Mikey's words:

Good Morning all.....

Just a few words ( not so few, it was a long and overall very very good
day ) about the Junk Yard Prowl yesterday! First off, a sincere thank you
to EVERYONE who was able to attend this event, and specifically to Loren
for spending the time, effort and no doubt some $$$ on organizing this, and
to Roger Van Hoy and his wife for their efforts on the picnic. Secondly,
it was great to finally meet more of our fellow IML members who beforehand I
had only read posts from.

For us, our day was an early one, leaving Yakima at 6 am and taking the
usual Gorge route along the Washington - Oregon border. I was accompanied
by my father in law, since we really hadnt done anything involving the mopar
side of our family before, my friend John who works at a local Chrysler
dealership and is a mopar guy from day one, and my 2 oldest sons, Chris and
Ryan.

Traffic was light, the weather was beautiful and other than a couple snack
and restroom stops for the kids, we made it to Vancouver at about 10. The
directions were spot on the money and we found All American, with Leslie,
Erik and Roger Van Hoy waiting for us.

All American was great, not an all Mopar place by any means, but acres of
cars with some very unique vehicles. When was the last time you saw a
hearse circa 1941 or some vintage 50's ambulances? Lots of stuff you just
dont see in any yards, this place is definetly not in a hurry to crush
anything. Imperials......yes, I saw 59's, a 56 that was purported to be a
55 and may or may not have been the prototype for the Trettin Checkerama
Dreamcar, some freestanding years and some of the 64 and later era......just
so many different cars to look at I didnt really get to soak it all in.

By the time we left, some very beautiful Imperials as well as some very
kewl non Imperial mopars were waiting for us in the parking lot, I know if I
attempt to ACCURATELY list them by year and model and owner I will step on
someones toe, but suffice to say it was a treat to be able to see these vehi
cles. Some that stand out in my mind were the red 61 vert ( can you say
show quality, this should be on a poster somewhere ) , the black 51 windsor,
Roger's 66 ( ?) Belvedere vert, and the light blue metallic 70 (?)
fuselage Imperial. I wish I had taken the time to chat a bit more with
everyone who was there, and found out more about these great cars.

Ok..rather than mortally clog the server with such a long post, I shall
continue my ramblings in the next one!

Mikey
62 Crown Coupe

Dick Rohms marvelous 51 NY'er at Wild Cat	Bill Ulmans 66 Vert	One of the many car's at Wild Cat this was alledged to be a 56, but upon closer examination proved to be a 55
One of the Oldies	A shot of the Group	Roger Van Hoys Great looking Belvedere. He left the gussied up 81 Volare at home !

Hi again, continuing with some ramblings on the junk yard prowl....

After soaking it all in at All American Classics, our caravan headed south
east to La Tourell Falls for some great scenic views and a very nice picnic
lunch. It was a short hop along the gorge eastbound , a quick fuel stop for
a few of us, a little bit of Keystone Kop shuffling along the exit to get
everyone in one place and off to the Falls.

A big hats off to whoever picked out this spot, we had a nice spot to all
sit back, enjoy lunch and engage in some mandatory Imperial content. On top
of that, the falls were spectacular to see, my son and I walked the trail
down to the base of the falls and were able to walk right up to the cascade
of water. By volume it was no Niagara, but the distance the water drops and
the setting that it was in made up for that .

Ok, lunch is over and its time to go to WILDCAT ...the all mopar yard that I
have been hearing about for years. This is what I personally have been
waiting for the most. But first.....imho....we had to traverse DONNER PASS!

Now, I really try to be fair and even and stay fairly mellow in life.
Unfortunately I have hot buttons like all of us, and I get more than
somewhat irrational where my Imperial is concerned. I will say upfront that
I dont wish any personal attack on whoever made the choice of route, it may
be very possible that nobody knew the physical lay out of the roads we were
about to embark on, it may be that no one actually said " lets go this way "
, that doesnt matter. I presume a computer plotted the route since it is
so easy to go online and say " I am here....I want to go there".

Anyway, by distance it probably wasnt more than 20 or 30 miles, but the
first 15 or so was a beautiful combination of ..oh, I dont know...40
percent grades, hairpin turns, switchbacks, more down grades, more
switchbacks.........can you say " I LOVE THE SMELL OF BRAKE LININGS
COMBUSTING " Now like I said, a beautiful road if you were driving a
motorcycle, or a Porsche 911, or maybe something that wasnt 5000 pounds
empty and didnt have an additional half ton of people and stuff crammed in
it. Since I was near the end of the pack, maybe I was smelling other
peoples hot brakes too, or maybe it was just frustration...justifiable or
not, or who knows.

Finally the road got straighter and leveled out, and before long we were at
Wildcat. You could easily drive right past it, no billboards, no neon
signs, just a little painted sign that says Wildcat.

You drive up the road a few hundred yards, next to a big garage, and behind
the fence is the closest thing to Mopar heaven on earth since Bob
Hoffmeister opened up his yard!!! Acres and acres of all and only Mopars!!!
A bodies, B bodies, C - D - E up thru X Y and Z bodies!!! A few
Imperials, I was looking for 61-63 parts but I did notice some late 50s, a
75 and a 74, and I know I probably missed some others.

I had to look at some Barracudas, for my wifes car, and my son had to look
at some 66-67 Charger stuff for my old Charger that will be his before long.
My friend John was having an out of body experience during this time, even
my die hard GM owner father in law was getting into this.

My other big faux pas of the day, I spotted a power antenna and it looked
ok...so I rounded up one of the guys and asked him a price. I will swear on
oath I heard him say " 25" for it. Sounded good, so I spent all of 5
minutes pulling it to find out he said " 125 " . Ohhhhhhhhhhhhkay.....big
pause, uh...." I guess I can just go put the thing back "! No harm was
done, they werent bothered at all and other than my own embarrassment, no
ruffled feathers. On the plus side, I know they have the thing, and in a
week or two I can contact them online and get it if its still there, I just
couldnt justify it yesterday.

Soon it was closing time, personally I could have spent another day just
browsing amongst the cars and the barn full of goodies.....radios, carbs,
small parts, too much to name off hand. Suffice to say, a visit to their
website doesnt really do justice to everything they have on hand.

We headed west back to the Portland area for dinner. We stopped at the Jim
Dandy drive in for some much anticipated burgers and such. I dont know who
found or picked that, but a big thank you!! I could have spent a few hours
there just reading the old newspapers they had framed along the walls, the
old automobilia here and there, old advertising......I love places like
that. Soon it was nearing 8:30 and we still had a 3 hour drive.

Night Shots at the Jim Dandy Drive In		Titanics Parking lights decided not to work

After saying goodbye, we meandered a few minutes getting oriented back to
our route eastward. By now, the sun had set, and we had a wide open road
heading home. The Imperial was feeling fine, the air was nice and cool and
the traffic got lighter as we went east.

Okay....that was the long and short of it, I hope the others enjoyed it as
much as I did. Again, a big thanks to everyone who was involved, and a big
apology if I stepped on any toes during the day. I would recommend to
anyone if you havent found what you are looking for with the vendors already
on the IML website, to give these guys a call.

take care everyone,

Mikey
62 Crown Coupe

Well the Junk Yard Prowl was our most successful event yet. Great turn out,
great people, great cars, great fun. Titanic and I left Florence at 5am
still dark cruised through the coast mountain range, and got to watch the
Sunrise over the Cascades on our way to pick up Erik, who was unable to get
his 66 ready in time to drive it. This is the first time Titanic has left
the Coast since WPC Nationals 98 in Portland. I was a bit nervous as she'd
been in the shop since Memorial day and I had only gotten her back on
Thursday night...... Just enough time, to finish putting the door panels
together and working out the last few bugs on some uncooperative power
windows....... Yay, they all worked like brand new! The new front end,
Shocks and Sway bar bushings made a huge difference, it didn't feel like my
car, no swaying, so shifting, no jolting, instant response marvelous one
fingered steering, held the road like it never had before, simply amazing!
By the time I had driven the 60 miles to Eugene to pick up Erik I was
starting to feel confident in Titanics ability again..... Grabbed
Erik, sun was up, day was warming up nicely and we cruised into Portland in
about 2 hours, only to discover we were the first to arrive!

First thing we spot is an incredible 42 Chrysler Hearse, it was a SERIOUS
basket case but still had these amazing carved panels on the sides. We
checked out the wall of hubcaps first as I was looking for one for my
non-mopar...........Came back and Roger and Mikey arrived. Ken Miller came
in his gorgeous haze green 67 vert I was glad I had hid Titanic with her
new but very faded doors and hood in the back. Roger Irland and friends
showed up in Dick Rohms gorgeous 51 New Yorker with Highlander Plaid
interior and We headed to the back forty where they had the Imperials. A
huge selection 67 LeBaron, 67 sedan, several 67 hdtps, several 68's and a
number of the finned wonders and the 64-66's. Very impressive collection
also saw some other great Mopars...... When we arrived back at the front
gate Mark Hall 66, Greg Bristow 61 Vert, Dave Duthie 64 vert, Loren 64
Crown, Bill Ulman 66 Vert, and a beautiful 70 had all shown up! We stood
around and talked as the rest of the crowd did the junk yard....

From there we headed up the scenic Columbia gorge to the Falls for
lunch....... Mikey and I both arrived with smoking brakes at the picnic.
The lunch was fantastic and they surprised me with a birthday cake, Titanic
and I celebrated 18 years together and I couldn't have asked for a better
birthday!! After lunch it was off to the Donner Pass Portion of our trip,
I have to admit even I who have grown up with these roads found this one
pretty hairy, but my Budd Brakes didn't give me a bit of trouble and I spent
alot of time in 2nd gear on that section of road. That was certainly a test
of Imperial Durability Braking and Cooling wise.... I think the 67's won
that contest! ;-)

Wild Cat Mopars was truly amazing and the staff was incredibly helpful and
accommodating. Looks like the Imperial club will be getting a link and our
Club Gathering photo's on their site as the webmaster ran out with a digital
camera. Mike and I carefully parked away from the front of the yard as we
were afraid the two tone wonder and the Suede one might look like parts cars
if left unattended to long ;-)

The day went to fast, goodbyes at Wild Cat, more goodbyes at dinner then it
was Loren, Bill, Erik and I off to the motel we were staying at..... We did
however stay up for several hours drinking Loren's wonderful Home Brewed
Spare Tire Ales and swapping stories.......

Lorens Car	Ok After a few Micro-Brews we decided Lorens Car could use some livening up. So here's the Before and After!.....	Nah just kidding this was one of the Finds at WildCat Mopars.

Erik and I killed most of today in one of Portland's historic Antique
districts both of us came home with several goodies! Then the 2 hour cruise
back to Walterville where I dropped Erik off and this time I got to watch
the sunset over the Coast Range as I drove home. Arrived back at 9pm with
a great Imperial weekend under my belt! Quite an amazing trip after so
long without Titanic on the road.

A big thanks to Roger and Jan for helping us map out the trip and the
wonderful cake and Picnic Park selection! Loren for doing the maps and the
organizing, and thanks to the rest of you for showing up and making it such
a GREAT day!

Leslie '67 Sedan "Titanic"