2002 Rhody Festival Florence, Oregon

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(All Photos on this page are thumbnails click on small image to view large one)

Day 1 Erik arrives Thursday evening.... He says his car still needs a little cleaning... Keeping in mind this has been parked outside for 2 years. He had managed to scrape a layer of moss off of the exterior. We took the 2nd layer off with rubbing compoud and then did the inside, which had powdery mildew on every inch of it. After 8 hours in my garage till 2:30am it actually looked almost presentable...

Hood this headliner is supposed to be black
You can see the area's we've allready used rubbing compound on.    
  Powdery Mildew on Headliner A couple of shots of the headliner, that's supposed to be Black but it's covered with powdery Mildew courtsey of the Damp Northwest Climate we live in!

Day 2 I drag myself out of bed and go to work.... The first of our afternoon cruisers arives at 1:30pm and brings me a wonderful 67 Brochure. Thanks Rick! Everyone else show's up by 3:00pm. Lee's Coronet overheated yet again, so he drives his new Dodge Truck. We drove up the Coast to Cape Perpetua (about 15 miles) Gorgeous sunny day! Drop up to the top of the point to an old World War II lookout and got some great pictures.

Cape Perpetua Looking down the Cliff Another Shot
Looking South Towards Florence Looking Straight Down the Cliff  
Looking South Towards Florence Another Shot Erik's 67
    Erik's Car in the Parking lot at Cape Perpetua
Erik's Car Erik's Car Erik's Car
  Cruising back to Florence I snap a couple of shots of Erik's Car. If you Want to see more of this Scenery Join us on this year's Cascade Loop.
101 right along the Beach a small but neat bridge on 101 another shot of Eriks car on 101

On our trip back to Florence we stopped at the Beach below the Heceta Head Lighthouse, There's a Fantastic Bridge, you look up at, a great view of the beach and the light keepers house.

40 Ply Pick up Hood of Pickupt Back Ends
Front end of 40 Plymouth Pick up owned by Nancy and Robt Dillman Shot of Light Keepers house over 40 Plymouth Pick Up Hood Back Ends, with light keepers house in background
40 Ply 68 wagon and 67 Imp Erik's 67
Nancy and Robert Dillmans 40 Ply Pu with lightkeepers house in background Back Ends Erik's '67 Crown
67 with Rocks Cave Creek Bridge Eriks car Under Bridge
Eriks 67 scenic shot Cave Creek Bridge Erik's car under Cave Creek Bridge
On top of Bridge   Sea Lion Caves
Erik's car on top of Bridge, just before entering Tunnel   Sea Lion Caves

Loren didn't make it from Seattle in time to go on the cruise. But he was already at my house when we arrive back, this next batch of photo's are his.

Lorens 64 Erik's 67 68 Ltd Wagon
Loren Cleaning his 64 Erik Ariving back. Me arriving Back
The 2002 Rhododendron Festival in Florence, Oregon last weekend was a big
success even though there was only a small contingent of Imperialists and a
smaller contingent of actual Imperials.

I left Seattle at 10:30 AM after a light drizzle when the streets began to
dry. I drove the freeway south to Eugene, OR. and then took two lane Highway
126 to Florence. I was blessed with bright sunshine from forty miles south
of Seattle for the rest of the 400 mile drive.

I arrived in Florence with a two year old memory of how to drive to Leslie's
house on the beach and no phone numbers but did manage to reach town just
five minutes before Bob (Mr. Leslie) closed their dry cleaning business for
the weekend.

Bob gave me a map to their house and the keys since Leslie and those who
arrived earlier were off cruising up the coast to see some of the sights. I
arrived at their house on the beach and unloaded my gear. When Bob arrived
home I was cleaning the "Bugs of Washington and Oregon Collection" out of my
grill. See Photo 1. Next year I am going to back down to Florence in reverse
because the trunk lid will be so much easier to clean.

Erik arrived at the house next (Photo 2) and Leslie cruised in in the wagon
(Photo 3).

Bob, Leslie, Erik and I had dinner at the local hot rod diner and turned in
pretty early in order to be ready for an early start to the car show on
Saturday morning.

 

Group Meeting Group Front My car at show
Our group meeting before the show in front of Bob's Cleaners.
Roger and Jan did not arrive before we had to leave to check in so our contingent was limited to 		Leslie's '67 Ford Wagon, my 1964 Crown, Erik's '67
Crown and Robert's 1940 Plymouth pickup		  
Lorens Car 1940 Plymouth Pickup 68 Pherd Wagon
     
67 Crown 4dr Picture 12 Picture 13
     
Picture 14 Truck Display Dodge Fire Truck
Our group teamed up to block vote like the bigger clubs. Either we managed
to swing our weight effectively or we just happened to pick many of the
category winners after careful consideration of the hundreds of cars entered
in the show. Nancy and Robert's 1940 Plymouth pickup won the Mopar Award.

None of the other cars in our group won because we all decided we had to
vote for the bright red New Yorker Wagon as the winner of the "Family four
door and wagon" class. Check out Photos 12, 13 and 14 and see if you don't
agree.

Photos 11 through 17 are from the car show beginning early in the day and
progressing through the event. Roger and Jan arrived late in the day without
their Plymouth convertable because it wouldn't start Saturday morning.

Photos 18 and 19 show the "Best of Show" winner that also won in its class.
The owner painted the car and also painted the '37 in Photo 11.
Loren's 64 Photo 18 Photo 19
  Best of Show front Best of show rear
Trophy Winner Nancy Dillman with 40 Plymouth Pickup Trophy and a walk through appearance by Kayla Trophy Winner
  Erik, Loren, Leslie & Roger Erik, Loren, Leslie and Roger take a break at the show.

After the show Bob and Leslie hosted our entire group at their house on the
ocean shore for dinner. After dinner we loaded into Leslie's wagon and my
Imperial for the annual old car cruise through Florence.

Photos 21 to 25 were taken during the car cruise. Harley Davidson riders
also flock to Florence for Rhody Days and were lined up three or four deep
on the sidewalks of Old Town Florence when we cruised through.

After two of three scheduled laps around town we headed back to the beach
arriving just before sunset. See Photo 25. Roger and Jan took their dogs for
a walk on the beach (Photo 26) and joined us around an outside fire for
desert and a few Imperial Spare Tire Ales and Lagers. The party lasted
until after midnight.

Sunday morning we were treated to a breakfast that can't be beat prepared by
a surprisingly bright eyed Bob. Gear was loaded, oil checked and goodbyes
said before time to head home at 11:00 AM. See Photo 28.

Photo 20 Photo 22 Photo 23
Photo 20 Photo 22 Photo 23
Photo @4 Photo 25 Photo 26
Photo 27 The Gang Sitting around Bonfire Photo 28

Roger and Jan and I caravaned north up the Oregon Coast on Highway 101 all
the way to Tillamook before they had to turn east. The weather was fair with
an occasional slight drizzle. Photos 29, 30 and 31 show some of the
spectacular scenery on the road to Newport including the bridge approach
into Newport.

The drive home up the Oregon Coast was scenic and somewhat frustrating. The
roads were chock full of cars. Small towns with restricted speed limits are
close together. I didn't really get to do any Imperial cruising until I
crossed the Columbia River at Astoria and headed north up the Washington
Coast on Highway 101.

I reached Washington at 5:30 PM and was alone on new two lane blacktop. The
Coast Highway is not a freeway but is a nice highway for cruising with well
marked curves. I was probably crusing between 65 and 70 for much of the
time.

The Imperial Gods were cruising with me. I caught two slower cars just south
of South Bend. When an open straight stretch of road appeared I pushed down
on the gas slightly and moved left to sail past. When I checked my rear view
mirror to pull to the right I saw a hot Japenese motorcycle right on my rear
bumper. A curve forced the bike in line behind me but after rounding the
curve the bike flew past with a slight twist of the wrist. About one mile
later with the bike several hundred yards ahead, a State Patrol car pulled
out behind the bike with red lights flashing. I had time to slow to the
speed limit before a second State Patrol car working the speed trap got a
radar fix on my Imperial.

I arrived home at 8:30 PM. Dinner was ready and a phone call five minutes
before my arrival had all the other cars out of the driveway so I could pull
straight into the garage.

Round trip was 821 miles. Mileage at last fill up in Astoria was 630 miles
on a total of 41 gallons for 15.32 mpg.

I took all day Monday off to recover from my weekend. You know you had a
good weekend when it takes a work day off to recover.

I want to officially thank Leslie and Bob for organizing and hosting the IML
portion of the Rhody Days Festival. I returned home from the weekend with a
renewed appreciation for the mental health benefits of owning and driving an
Imperial. I feel I've been lifted out of my winter doldrums and am looking
forward to our next Northwest Imperial Event, The 2002 Imperial Cascade Loop
around Mount Hood.

Loren

29 30 31
     
32 34 35
     
36 37 38
     
39 Join us on the Cascade loop and see some of the Oregon Coast. 40

 

 

  
 
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