22nd Annual Gunnison Colorado Car Show

Just pulled into town,drove over Kebbler pass with the sedan on the trailer,made for an interesting drive
see y-all tomorra

 

Arrived in Gunnison in time for lunch at Gunnisacks. The organizers are getting set up for the cruise on Main tonight. Need to scrape some grasshoppers off the grille...and then let the fun begin...

 

Any picture updates???

 

I snapped a couple yesterday that i will post later on today. All in all an outstanding show. Good job Johnie, hope your wife told you hi for me.

 

Made it back home from the car show and no big parts fell off, I expect my hearing to return soon after standing next to the MAD-CAD When he fired the blown Bonneville car. Great town and time thanks all.

 

Big thanks to "Fivewindow Johnnie" Walker and Gunnison Car Club for a great show! Huge turnout with 365 cars, a record for them. The weather was perfect, eighties with not a cloud to be seen.

Axle (Alex) flew out from Riverside, CA to do an all-day DJ stint. Loved the surf tunes, took me back to my Cali days. Big surprise at the end of the day when Axle was awarded the Lee Iacoca award for his work promoting traditional hot rods, customs, and the car culture. BIG Congrats go out to Axle!!

Great seminar by the finally-on-board (HAMB, that is) Dave Crouse of Custom Auto up here in Loveland. He did a tech seminar for proper construction of a bullet proof Ford Flathead V-8. Lots of good information on selecting a good block, what parts to source, proper temperature for optimal operation, etc. etc.

Special thanks to both Johnnie and Laura Walker for the "visit" to their house and shop. Mets lots of like-minded real folks and had a hell of a good time!

My camera is giving me hell, so will try to post pictures later if I can get them downloaded.

Lots more to say...but the work is piled up.

Tom

 

Had this on the I-Phone. Parking in front of Fivewindow Johnnie's house


The clouds in the background arrived late in the day but left no trace. Drove through quite a bit of rain on McClure pass on the way home. Top leaks on the drivers side. Good thing that Michelle was driving...

 

**** ! ! ! ! ! THANKS TO ALL WHO ATTENDED ! ! ! ! ! ****

Just wanted to say thank you to everybody who made the effort to come up to Gunnison for the show. We offically had 365 cars, with a few more that came in after the registration booth closed, to set a new best by 40 cars ! (in this economy).

The Friday night Cruise-In was amazing, cars and people everywhere ! And the Mezcal Brothers went above and beyond the call of duty entertaining the crowd.

Special thanks to the guys who brought out their race cars for the display, it was great. Tim's Bonneville car and Jack's Altered wheel base '64 Thuderbolt really shook our ears when they blipped the throttles.

Also thanks to Dave Crouse and Roger Jetter. Dave did a great Flathead workshop and Roger was autographing his great books.

Congratulations to Alex Idzardi for being awarded the Lee Iaccoca Award for his work promoting traditional Rods & Customs. It was great to see the local club acknowledge the work, and the turn out of HAMB friendly cars was nice. I just put the boy and Celeste on a plane a couple of hours ago. His DJ work was also greatly appreciated during th show.

****PLEASE POST ANY PICS YOU MAY HAVE TAKEN ****

I worked all weekend, so took no pics. Please post any pics of interest, and give us some feedback. We are always looking for constructive comments to improve the show.

Thanks again, Johnnie.

 

I want to know did everyone enjoy the pinata??

 

Enjoyed the pinata...and the contents. Not sure how Axle felt about his first "try at bat"!

 

Finally some pictures!

The latest "five window" from the fivewindow johnnie estate:



Axle doing the DJ thing...not knowing that the Iacoca award was about to be delivered...



Dave Crouse of Custom Auto giving a lecture on fine points of building a flathead V-8



That's about all I managed to take. Anyone else???

 

Here's one:



My bro and I had a great time at your event Johnnie...and you know that it took a lot of pulling to get me away from the HAMB drags (selling books and autographing copies will do that, ya know...???) so thanx to you for the invite, besides, I didn't trust the Caddy engine to make a 14 hour one way trip to Joplin (or the 14 hour trip back home) and felt it would be easier to rebuild a running engine instead of a grenaded engine. The 200 mile trip to your event was much easier on the ol' "oil budget" (it was only a two quart trip) anyway...!!!

Since you're moving your event a week away from the HAMB drags next year...I'll be able to do both...I WILL be back.

R-

And Axle...I will "THINK" about your event...it was a pleasure meeting you (and the rest of the people I met) .

Here's another:



Here's one more...



One more...



Here's one of our cars on the way:

 

Roger:

First of all, great to meet you and Dan finally.

Trying to figure this photo out:



Either somebody is breaking into your trunk and stealing your books....or you have figured out a way to be two places at once. If the later, I AM impressed!

Tom

 

I AM not only a car guy, an author, and all around good guy, Tom...but a magician as well...

But, here's a clue: see Dan in this pic...??? He's as good at shooting pics as I am...

Oh BTW, watch Hot Rod Hotline for about 32 pix of the Gunnison show in the next internet "issue"...

Tom ( & Michelle) it was certainly my pleasure to finally meet you two...and spend some time chatting with you...

R-

 

Denise,

It sure entertained the shit outta me !

We had Alex step up to take a swing first since he won the Iaccoca Award. Blindfolded him, then raised the Pinata out of reach. I lit a whole pack of firecrackers and tossed them right between his feet......was seriously fun watching him dance.

Johnnie.

 

Wow what a great weekend! Here are my pix.

 

Oh BTW Johnnie...constructive criticism: you need to reinforce that Pinata a bit more for next year...just weren't enuff blows to bring it down...and the crowd was too much so I didn't get a chance to grab any of the "party favors..." (as if I'd need them anyway...!!!)

R-

 

Roger,

I actually did beef up the Pinata construction. It had a board reinforcing the top and was hung by piano wire instead of the plastic zip-tie that came with it. Think it was just the sheer weight inside, that thing weighed 35 lbs easy.

Plus I didn't know that Trish had a swing like Babe Ruth when I put her up to bat !

Johnnie.

 

A fantastic show that everyone ( especially people in the vicinity ) need to check out. Great organizers , great little town, great atmosphere, great cars,great people, and i guarantee you will have a fun time. I am still in shock over everything that happened but i can tell you that the Lonely Knights car club are a bunch of nice guys & gals. All the best to Johnnie & Laura Walker.

Can't get Black Canyon and my Pronghorn Antelope trip out of my head.



P.S. Gunnison Colorado has THE best damn Chicken fried steak on the planet. And this comes from a connoisseur of that stuff !

All the best, Axle

 

I tried to post my pics, but apparently my camera takes pics that are too big for the site. If anyone knows how to adjust pic size let me know

 

Knk...I just sent you a PM on how to do that...

R-

 

She must have known what was inside.

 

Denise,

Trish is one of the "Four" that went home WELL equipped !

Johnnie.

 

Gotta love your '40 Standard.

 

Thanks Johnnie for inviting Julie and I! I wish we would have got in earlier on Friday but oh well. The car show was great and as always your party is one of the best! If any of you hambers are close to Gunnison and don't come to this show you are missing out on alot of fun. The setting is great for the show! Johnnie and his lovely wife Laura throw a great party! He always brings in a great band and the Italian food is awesome and there is always plenty of cold beverages! Thanks again to the Walker's, you guys do a great job with everything!

sled

 

Scott,

The '40 just recently hit the road, we're workin' the bugs out and it's a pleasure to drive. It's a pretty basic Rod, split wishbones up front, a '64 327 with 3-2's pushin' a 9" rear through a manual. My personal favorites are the Halibrand smoothies with redlines, and the interior.

What's up with the Roadster ? Think I saw it on an evil site for sale.

Johnnie.


PS: Thanks again to everyone who supported our efforts, we appreciate it greatly. And
keep those pics and comments coming. !

 

We had a blast down in Gunnison,all round a great weekend,lots of cool cars and even cooler people.Here's a couple of photo's ,they are a bit Cadillac biased but what the hell. The cacklefest was fun,we will be back for next years show thats for sure.

 

This year's show and doin's were the best! My favorites were Dave Crouse's mini-seminar on how to assemble a high quaity, roadworthy flathead V-8, and of course John and Laura's party. Anyone who missed it should consider next year for sure, especially the locals like Alex said. No excuse there... Thank you again so much, Johnnie. I'll post some more pictures soon. See you later!

 

Here, check it all out, lots of pix:

http://www.hotrodhotline.com/feature/2009show/09gunnisonroger/

R-

 

Cool photos, Roger! Same goes to all the others who posted some of their snapshots of the awesome weekend... Here are a few more of my own. Apologies in advance for any duplicates or redundancies. When I posted the last batch of pictures I neglected to thank Tim for letting me sit in (nay, shoehorn into!) his incredible Salt Flats hot rod. Thanks, Tim! I also meant to welcome Arbs and Curt into the Lonely Knights. We're happy to meet with your approval! See you soon!