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The WPC
Club Chrysler Products Restorers Club |
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Plymouth, Dodge, Fargo, DeSoto, Chrysler,
Imperial, Maxwell, Chalmers, |
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July 24-26-2014 WPC
Northwest Regional Meet,
Parksville, BC "Mopars and Sandcastles" on Vancouver Island, off
Canada's southwest coast.
We'd been
planning this meet for almost a year, and the
day finally came on Thursday July 24th. WPC Member friends from
Washington, Oregon and BC began arriving at the host hotel starting at noon, and everyone had arrived by late afternoon. After a
Monsoon on Wednesday - that many people were caught in driving through Oregon,
Washington and BC, the rains dried up on
Thursday thankfully with intermittent sun and clouds. Thursday
afternoon we had a tour to a local private Bone Yard, in Errington,
the home of Mr. Joe Pullen who has about 200 cars in the back of his acreage -
many of which are Chrysler Forward Look and later vehicles as well as many Cadillacs and other GM and a handful of Ford
Products. Most are rusting away in the field but there are many
salvageable parts. Prior to this none of us had ever had the opportunity
to visit Joe's place before so this was a complete surprise to us and it was
absolutely thrilling to see so many of these old cars in one
spot. Joe is restoring a 1957 DeSoto Adventurer.
Needless to say those who arrived at the hotel early in the day had a great
time wandering through Joe's acreage.
Thursday
evening brought our Annual Ice Cream Social, hosted at Parksville
Chrysler. We had command of the showroom and parking lot and a great time
was had by all who attended. After we finished there we took a tour
5 miles up the road to the town of Qualicum Beach and
parked our cars right in front of the beach for a relaxing time of viewing and
chatting about the day, and the cars.
Friday Morning
dawned, still with some gray skies but NO
rain. We met at 9 AM and toured to the McLean Steam Sawmill in Port Alberni,
a National Historic Site, approximately 33 miles away, right in
the forest. When the McLean Family closed the mill in 1965 they simply
left all the equipment on site. A group of historically minded men
decided that it would be a great idea to keep it operational and the rest is
history. We had a live demonstration of a Steam Donkey and of the
mill actually milling raw lumber from the forest nearby. Lumber is
milled and sold on site. Lunch was provided by the Steam Pot Cafe
on site. After leaving the mill many of us stopped in Coombs for a bit of
shopping and Ice Cream at the Country Market, featuring
goats on the roof. Friday evening was free time to wash cars, see local attractions in Parksville
such as the International Sandcastle Competition.
Saturday was
the day of the car show. With approximately 30 WPC members' cars
on the field at Coombs Rodeo Grounds and another 62 MoPars that dropped
in for the show we had a total of 92 MoPars on the field by late morning.
All in all it was a great day. Weather cleared even more with a day of
mostly sunshine with a few cloudy periods to dispel the sun's
heat. We had one gentleman? arrive
in a late 70s Dodge Aspen with 2 friends driving Brand X cars. We
explained that it was an event only open to Mopars.
(It was heavily advertised as such). Well this fellow was not too
pleasant, ranted, raved and swore at us, and
said a club like ours would never be able to fill the field with just
MoPars. How wrong he was.
Saturday
afternoon we announced winners of the drop ins right on the field and presented them with their
trophies. Most people left around 2 PM and members went back to the
the hotel to freshen up or take in the local
attractions. Happy Hour was at 6 PM at the Coast Quality Inn across
the street from our host hotel, and the catered
buffet banquet started at 7 PM. A delicious meal was enjoyed by
all, and after dinner was over we presented the Trophies won by club members
and had a little entertainment by the Fabulous MoPar PentaStars
singing a repertoire of spoof songs, and ventriloquist Gary Green had us
laughing with his clever act. Many door prizes were given out
- in fact I think just about everyone got a door prize.
Sunday Morning
dawned with completely clear blue skies and by mid morning it proved to be a
gorgeous hot summer day. Members departed from the host hotel and
we waved some on as we passed them on the highway south.
All in all it
was a very successful weekend, enjoyed by all except our one
complainer. Many thanks go to all who planned this meet and show, and thanks to all who attended to make it a huge
success.
Until Next
Year, in Oregon, Ian
Show Winners: No best of
class judging, just the peoples' Favorites as
follows:
(2 of each except for hard luck, long distance and Spirit of the
Meet Award)
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2 Favorite
Plymouths |
Paul and Emmy Knight,
1955 Plymouth Belvedere 2 door HT |
Dave and Diane
Crawford, 1950 Plymouth Suburban Wagon |
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2 Favorite Dodges
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Jack & Shirley
Perry, 1962 Dodge Polara convertible |
Ron & Jean
Wenzel, 1960 Dodge Polara four door hardtop |
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2 Favorite DeSotos |
Barrett and Shirley
Taft, 1959 DeSoto Firedome sedan, |
Paul & Marja
Mitchell, 1958 DeSoto Fireflite 2 door hardtop |
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2 Favorite
Chryslers |
Frank Daly, 1958
Chrysler 300-D |
Ian & Shannon
Smale, 1960 Chrysler Saratoga 2 door hardtop |
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2 Favorite 2 tone
Paint Schemes |
Ian & Shannon
Smale, 1960 Chrysler Saratoga 2 door hardtop |
Paul & Marja
Mitchell, 1958 DeSoto Fireflite 2 door hardtop |
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2 Favorite Engine
Compartments |
Frank Daly, 1958
Chrysler 300-D |
Larry Zappone, 1956 DeSoto Adventurer |
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Hard Luck |
Rod Walker
- 1977 Chrysler Cordoba (Differential howl ) |
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Long Distance (Driven
to meet) |
Dick Romm & Norm Purdy 1952 Plymouth Suburban Wagon |
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Spirit of the meet
Award |
Kit Carson - over 90 years old, drove his 1965 Valiant
Convertible to the meet. |
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BELOW: the tour to the private
Bone Yard of Joe Pullen, in Errington, Thursday afternoon.
Top 2 photos are of members cars who have arrived on
site.
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Below - Cars parked at the host Hotel, the Parksville Travelodge, Thursday July 24th, and at the Parksville Chrysler Ice cream Social at 7 PM
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Below - Late Thursday Evening Tour to the town of Qualicum Beach. Cars are parked right at the beach.
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Below- Friday Tour to the McLean Steam Sawmill. This Mill is a National Historic site and the ONLY working Steam Sawmill in Canada.
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Above - A
minor problem with the Voltage Regulator on a 56 Adventurer. |
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Below - a comparison of a 300-D and a 1958 DeSoto.
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Saturday - The Car Show at Coombs Rodeo Grounds 10 AM till 2 PM
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Below - Registration Table at Show. |
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Below- Banquet and
Entertainment
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Below: the MoPar PentaStars and Ventriloquist Gary Green ( Papa G) |
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