2014 EVENTS
Saturday March 15, 2014 saw the weather break and become absolutely beautiful. What better than to get the club out for a cruise. This time to down below Marineland Fl to one of our friend's personal collection of cars. We had no idea what to expect. Well, to understate it by 100%, it was beyond belief. Chris and Kathleen's assortment of primarily early iron includes some one-only remaining cars, a few 1000 point cars, some originals w/ 75 year old interiors nicer than mine...and on and on. He has a car Edsel Ford built out of sight from his dad as his dad would only tolerate function and no style, and Edsel has some very nice stylish tastes, so he secretly had the body build in Germany, then shipped over and he put it on a Ford frame...the car is amazing.
The day was beautiful as I mentioned so the hour long cruise was terrific (though...I've got to work a little with this crew...when you have 8 cars traveling together... um...ya gotta stay a bit more bunched up or you'll get split up by every traffic light along the way).
And...what would a cruise be without some breaking... yes... it has been a long while (his black GTO), but Mr Harrison lost his brakes and was running a little hot. He got a little practice with using the parking brake. As usual, we bailed him out. This time Charlie had a 1/2 can of brake fluid, and the restaurant had a pair of channel locks (his radiator cap, well, let's just say it needed a little help). But, he made it home, via I-95 to avoid using the brakes much. Wait...if you have to hit them on I-95, isn't usually an emergency stop???? But...he must have been flying in that old original 61 Catalina, as one of the crew stopped for gas...and at 70+ mph we still couldn't catch up to him.
5/24/14 at the Springfield/Main Street cruise. Great (though hot) weather with a light breeze made for a fantastic evening. We had a pretty good showing for a holiday weekend, and some old friends, the Simpson's stopped by (see the incredible 65 red GTO w/ original Hurst wheels). The overall crowd up by the Crystal's end was huge as usual. We had 20's cars up through full on race cars cruising the boulevard. Check out Harrison's new orbit orange GTO convertible. Matt, John, Ron, Richard and Joel rounded out the regulars. Mike Jole in his 64 gto was down the block a ways and Dawson ended up parked up behind Crystal's in his 70 GTO convertible...so we missed getting a few pictures on film....er.... disk.
Main Street / Great Race Cruise Saturday June 28, 2014
I know many of you are very busy, but I don't really have enough accolades, adjectives and adverbs to apply to the event that occurred Saturday night at the regular 4th Saturday historic Springfield Cruise that became part of the 2014 Great Race. In case you haven't heard, there is an annual cross country rally race (racing for a specific time between stops), this year from Maine to Orlando Florida, cars have to be '72 or prior. This year it came through Jacksonville and coincided with the Springfield cruise's 2nd year anniversary. Yes, the heat was a challenge, but everything else was simply spectacular. The club planned on getting there a bit early...say by 3:30 (the event officially starts at 5). The Great Race cars were to begin coming through a minute or two apart beginning at about 5:15 or 5:30. A few of us got there at 3pm....and at 3:15 there was NO parking left for any more than two cars together, none, zip, nada. We're talking 2nd street to 11th...fully packed. Cars on the sidewalks, people had to walk in the streets. We did a rough estimate, we're talking 500-600 cars easily. And the cruise had a great cross section; from grandma's rambler, to full on fiberglass body race cars. And then the Great Race came sliding through, mostly a few minutes apart allowing for some time to absorb each one, some really spectacular old cars (oldest was a 1915, newest a 1972...101 in total). While were able to get 7-8 club members out though spread all over the place, but Pontiacs overall were well represented. Take a look and enjoy. Matt
Check out 111 large size pictures from the day on our facebook page:
Dixie Chapter POCI club picnic - 9/6 at the Musil "ranch". We hadn't done a picnic in years, and new member Andy Musil said we could do it at his place..and park in his back yard? Back yard? Seems Andy lives in an equestrian neighborhood and folks have horses and room to run them...which coincidentally sets up for bringing a bunch cars. We had 9 member cars and 3 friends...plus others driving their...um..daily drivers. The food was overwhelming and the scenery incredible. We did some planning for the 10/25 annual club show as well. Check out the pictures, and if you're not a member of the club... remember...Pontiacs are on the endangered species list...you might want to join up with our merry band.
Check out 83 large size pictures from the day on our facebook page:
Dixie Chapter 10/25 annual Fall Classic Pontiac/GMC show. Another great show and mother nature pulled out a chamber of commerce day for us. By now you've heard the saga of the new RiverCity Marketplace mall management and the tragic end to all car events there. So...onward and forward. 10/25 also happens to be coincident with the monthly 4th Saturday city wide Springfield cruise (10 city blocks of parking and cruising). We worked out a location at the 4th & Main Car Wash. Host Silas Jones opened up his 2 lots by the street to us, and the realty company selling the empty used car lot across 4th street came through as well. Over 50 Pontacs/GMCs made it out in great variety. As we wound down around 4:30 the monthly cruise ramped up. Folks just grabbed their chairs and moved to the curb, or fired them up and took part in the city festivities... a big time.
Check out 125 large size pictures from the day on our facebook page:
