Do you believe
it?? (or not)
Whether or not you believe it, the month of June and the
Fourth of July weekend are over and gone. It was a wonderful but hectic time
around the old workbench, or should I say, away from it. As a result, there was
no “Workbench” last month.
We left shortly after the monthly meeting for the Grand
National in
The
host region allowed us to help at the registration desk. They did a great job,
and I think we might even be able to add some improvements. What a wonderful
way to meet old friends and make some precious new ones. It was very flattering
to hear all the good comments about The
Dagmar and “Walt’s Workbench.”
From that time on, it was hard to keep me away from the
swap meet and the cars coming to the parking lot set up for the main show. The
parking setup was a work of art the way it was done, where every car either for
judging or show had an assigned space where they could come and go for the
whole four days. We participated in some of the scheduled activities whenever Phyllis could pull me
away from the cars (mainly the LaSalles).
Would
you believe it, many people looked me up to find out if there really was a Walt
Brewer at “Walt’s Workbench?” It is amazing how many people from other regions
read The Dagmar.
As the judging is really the main objective of Grand
Nationals, the national officers were in charge of this aspect. Being asked to
be a judge meant a free meal at the judges’ breakfast (as you know I don’t miss
many free meals). After getting all the instructions and
forms, my team was sent out to score ’37 to ’42 Cadillacs. There were
about 15 teams of judges and this took until late afternoon to do all of the
cars.
The
hospitality room and our own room provided a nice rest before the awards
banquet that evening. Would you believe it — one of our local members tied for
first place in his class? That’s right, Harvey DeLockroy with his
newly-restored ’47 convertible. Congrats, Harv.
Of course, my favorite car (would you believe it?) was
not a LaSalle but a very beautiful, fully-restored 1939 Cadillac Cathedral
hearse that was shown by a member family who operates a funeral home in Moses
Lake, Wash. There are no words to describe the artistic beauty of this coach.
Also, would you believe it, but there was even a 1940
LaSalle that drove from Illinois with a carload of spare parts, including a
rear differential. After cleaning off bugs from all those states, he even won a
trophy. I heard later that the car ran so well, he even sold most of his spare
parts at the swap meet.
I really feel sorry for you folks that missed this Grand National and remind you that you have only one more between now and the time we are the hosts in 2001.
On our way home, we stopped a couple of times in Nevada
and won back some of the money we left on the way out. Of course, a big highlight
was stopping is Salt Lake City, where our granddaughter had just come home on
leave after completing her boot camp in the U.S. Marines.
After getting home, we just had a couple of days to rest
and get ready for our Regional Meet in Fort Morgan, part of the Glenn Miller
Days celebration. Would you believe it, we had over 25 cars there and, of
course, old Walt here took a ride in a WWII AT6 airplane and did a couple of
barrel rolls over the crowd. Of course, at the People’s Choice voting, the LaSalles
had a clean sweep, taking the top three places in their class.
As
long as we’re at it, you should take note that at the Grand National the
big-fin ’59s had to take a back seat, with only five being shown while there
were 23 beautiful, well-loved LaSalles. You better believe it!!!
See
ya next month.
—Walt