This is Shaun's (happy face on right) first MOFLO. Last year he attended the Eureka Springs event, and in typical Shaun fashion, he was here because he was collecting another Fiat for his collection. We are lucky that he was able to schedule the pickup from Csaba Vandor (also smiling on the right) in Missouri. Csaba spent quite a lot of time gettin the 131 ready for the road trip in Texas.

We enjoyed meeting and talking to Shaun when we could catch up with him. He really made the rounds getting to know everyone and checking out the neat cars. Shaun's is the first "Official" 131 for MOFLO. This one is in really nice "original" condition with a nice recent respray.

As a long time contributor to Mira, he had a lot of Fiat information to share and kept many entertained with his stories. He brought a few FLU license surrounds along with him and they were gone in less than 30 minutes.

Shaun has a large eclectic collection of Fiat automobiles. They can be viewed on the internet here. Below is Shaun's MOFLO story as only he can tell it.

Via MRIAFIORI message board:

The groundwork for this year's MOFLO trip was actually lain many months ago on a different 'Western Fiat Rescue' adventure.
I was passing through Southern Texas headed westbound on my way to Las Vegas for an assignment for work. Because my Grandmother had wanted to come along with me, stops along the way to visit family were mandatory. Of course, whenever I find myself traveling any 'out of the norm' route, I also try to work in stops to visit FLU and Mirafiori friends old and new. Since we were in the Houston area paying a visit to my Step-sister and her family, I gave Brian Harston a call. We arranged to get together for me to meet him and his family, and to buy some parts that he had been saving for me. Had a great time meeting
Brian and his family, and the X1/9 seats I bought from him are real beauties! In the course of our conversation and knowing I
am a big fan of such cars, Brian had mentioned he had recently 'found' an original-owner Fiat 131 for sale, and put me
in touch with Marc, it's owner. I arranged to meet with Marc as well, and spent all of maybe 15 minutes checking out the car in
Austin, Texas.

It was pretty solid and straight, but also needed a few things to be roadworthy, mainly a radiator electric fan, a rear side window, and some other minor attention here and there. But his price was more than fair, and one just doesn't find cars like this one in the Northeast any more. So I told him that I most definitely was interested in buying it, but unfortunately had to hold off on doing so until my Las Vegas assignment was through due to logistics and time limitations. I thanked him for showing me the car, and left his driveway to meet Josh, Mel, and Justin to deliver parts to them and go for dinner. I kept in touch with Marc via email in the subsequent months, but could not seem to find a good opportunity to claim the car. Starting a new job in the fall (2002) and buying a fixer-upper home the following spring did not help. But I had a great time at the last Roamin' Chariots event (Eureka Springs, late summer 2002) and wanted to find a way to get to the next one.

I began exchanging emails with the 131's owner, Marc, Josh Poage, and Csaba Vandor. Eventually, we devised a plan - Csaba
would pick up the car from Marc and trailer it back to Fort Worth to be prepared for the drive from there home to Pennsylvania. He hired a local associate to paint the car, and found some time to do tune-up type work on it. Finally, when all was done, he secured a temporary registration for the 131 and drove it northward to Missouri on June 6.

June 6 started normally for me. I drove to work with my bags packed for a weekend away, and had arranged for a friend/co-
worker to take care of my cat and dog in my absence. The company I work for had different plans. I had anticipated leaving the
office at no later than 3PM, catching a ride to Allentown/Bethlehem airport with a co-worker, and leaving work behind for a few days. At quarter-to-three, my boss paid me a visit, asking " can you come up to Rock's office for a minute?" Sure, Dan. Wasn't exactly a minute, but then again, considering the conversation, I'm glad it wasn't. Turns out the company is looking to expand into a new market and wants me to be an integral part of it. But the downside is that I need to find myself in Houston by Monday evening. Well, I'll do what I can. Luckily, Rock had to excuse himself to attend a different meeting, and I scavenged a laptop computer and rushed out the front door to the waiting car of my ride to the airport. Made it in great time, and had a relaxed check-in and boarding process.

Once aboard the plane, seated and seatbelted in, I noticed that the delay seemed excessive in backing out from the terminal.
Finally, a flight attendant picked up the microphone and introduced the other woman in the business suit standing behind
her, who had just boarded the plane. "I'm sorry to have to tell you this, folks, but Chicago is experiencing some weather, and
we won't be able to leave here for at least another hour. Anyone who wants to get off now and try to make other flight
arrangements is welcome to try. Those who stay on the plane will most likely miss their connecting flights." Wonderful. I have
Csaba, and a friend of his whom I've never even met, driving from Fort Worth to Springfield to pick me up, and I won't be
getting there. I made a couple of calls to the airline and decided to take my chances with a sprint from one terminal to
the next at Chicago (since they were only a couple gates apart) ­ assuming the Allentown flight gets me there with even enough
time to do that! Somehow, it did ­ and actually worked out well, as there was no waiting for the connecting flight. Off one
plane, straight onto the other, and on the way to Springfield.

The plane actually arrived ahead of schedule. I walked to the baggage claim, and called Csaba's friend Jerry on the cellphone
while waiting for the carousel to start. Csaba was handed the phone, and we began to figure out how to meet. Turns out that he was just parking the car in the parking lot right outside of where I was calling from. It was great to see Csaba again, to
meet his friend Jerry Lee Phillips from Fort Worth, and to finally see the 131 that I had been helping restore from a
distance ­ financially, anyway. Csaba did all the work. The car ran and drove just great, and looked a lot better than the last
time I had seen it. We made a stop for dinner, and then one for gas, and we were on our way northward toward the Lake of the
Ozarks. Can't recall exactly when we arrived, but it was probably 1:30 AM. In walking from the parking lot to the front
desk, we took a little time to admire all of the cars that were present. Some familiar, some new, and some surprises. It took
forever to wake the hotel owner to get us checked into our rooms, but eventually we made it to our beds to catch up on some
sleep.

The next morning I awoke at 6:30 and was outside by about 7:30. Folks were just beginning to unpack/repack, wash their cars, and gather for coffee, doughnuts, and conversation. I quickly jumped right in. It was great to see the familiar faces ­ Ron Conlon, the Greers, Delmer Teet and John, Chris Layton and Marcus, Bill Acklin, the Loflands, and Laura Pletcher and to meet some folks for the first time ­ the Dicksons, Jim Fierst, Dan Book, John Williams, Gary Blessing and Gary Blessing (father and son) and the guy that Csaba had purchased his 850 Coupe from (sorry, can't recall the name). {Mike Shay ed.} First priority, besides saying hello to everyone, was to help Jerry out with the repair to the exhaust system of his Spider. By the time I arrived at the surprise tech session, he and Csaba had it all figured out already. A little cut here, a little bend there, and the flex hose "test pipe" fit right in where the cat had broken away.

The group headed over to a State Park for the carshow and lunch. I always love following a line of Fiats and Lancias down the
road. Close to the Park entrance, I spotted a Scorpion in the parking lot of an auto body shop. I told Csaba immediately, but
he seemed skeptical. When the caravan missed the entrance to the park, this seemed to be a good opportunity to sneak away with
Delmer to check it out. Well, I was right ­ it WAS s Scorpion. We pulled into the parking lot, and the Loflands were already
there. Seems they had been keeping this guy a secret, and had been buying parts from his two parts cars and huge stash of
Scorpion parts. The owner of the shop was named Lance, and following a tour of his very impressive client cars, he followed
us over to the car-show site in his own very-original Scorpion. The grilled hotdogs and hamburgers were excellent, and hanging
out with all the MOFLOers was even better. Toward the end of lunch, a Mazda sedan pulled up. Seems most of the crowd knew who it was, and insisted I did, too. It was great pleasure to finally meet Michael Heath and his wife, who unfortunately had
to make the trip Fiat-free.

Later that afternoon, all of the cars were moved over to the other side of the campground for the group photo. What an
assembly of cars! The only black eye on the whole weekend was when my car got whacked by the door of the car parked next to
me, leaving a big chip in my brand-new paintjob. Oh, well, at least I got to enjoy it for about 18 hours! Ugh. The group
organized for the road rally from there, and after an hour or so of cruising around the lakes, we reassembled back at the hotel.
The silent auction fundraiser was completed, and I felt good about giving the money (and a FLU license plate frame) to a good
cause while 'winning' some really nice stuff in the process. The 'tech sessions' started after that, but since Laura already
had her radio installed, my 131 electronic ignition upgrade was the only remaining project. With a group of perhaps a dozen
gathered behind the car enjoying their beverages, Csaba and I went to work. The conversion was a lot easier than I had thought
it would be. The only glitch at all was the lack of a distributor gasket, and Delmer was nice enough to offer to run
me up to WalMart to find something that will work. Actually, he didn't offer me a RIDE up there, he offered me his keys! It's
never been a secret that I absolutely LOVE his red customized Scorpion ­ and this was my first ever opportunity to take it
for a drive! Very impressed by the smooth ride, great handling, and smooth running fuel-injected two-liter of Delmer's very
custom, very clean, Scorpion. Once back at the 131, the ignition conversion was complete, and I further upgraded the car with the beautiful 3-spoke Spider steering wheel that Bill Acklin had sold to me.

There was a little bit more time for continued BSing with the gang before getting cleaned up for the banquet dinner. The
restaurant had prepared our own private room and menu, and the food and atmosphere were just great. We voted the astoundingly original 850 Coupe (14,500 miles, and original Cavis spark plug wires, paint, and tires!) the very deserving winner of "Best of Show" and presented the award to it's proud owner. The 'award', by the way, is to be featured as the 'logo car' of NEXT year's MOFLO. Well-deserved. Following dinner, one group went out to try their luck with go-karts, and the other headed back to the hotel. Ron asked if he could relive his days with a 131 by driving mine, and I was more than happy to oblige. It was a beautiful night, and we all sat around talking until well into the morning before turning in.

It was great to sleep a little later the next morning, Sunday. When I finally got outside at around 10AM, I had found many participants had already departed for home. Sadly, I didn't get to say goodbye. The ones that were left met at the local
Shoney's for brunch. I made a quick detour to WalMart again to pick up a map to start to do some planning. Following brunch,
the rest of the MOFLO group packed up and headed out, and I started making some phone calls. I had to get to Houston in less
than 36 hours. This should be interesting. My first step was to figure out whether I was going to drive or fly. Due to the huge
distance and my busy schedule back in PA, I decided flying made the most sense. The next step was to decide where to fly FROM. In calling the airlines, it seemed that Indianapolis, Indiana would be the cheapest, and was about the right distance away. So I booked a flight and made all the necessary arrangements with my boss, and I headed out on the highway.

It was about 85 degrees out, under blindingly bright sun when I started out at about 3PM. Let's give this newly-charged air
conditioning system a workout! I drove many many comfortable hours, with the air conditioning keeping the car nice and
comfortable. If only all my cars had a climate control system that worked this well! The 131 averaged 26.2 miles per gallon
with the A/C on constantly, at an average speed of 75 miles per hour. The car rode smoothly and comfortably, had decent power
(which is really surprising considering it's an 1800, stock with small carb and exhaust manifold) for the hills, and was, in
general, a pleasure to drive. I'm very impressed with the previous owner's care given this car, and even moreso by Csaba's
ability to get it to such fine condition for my trip. My thanks to you both!

Pulled into Indianapolis at around 10PM, and found a Motel 6 right near the airport. Configured the company laptop computer
to be able to get online using my own personal account, but was then too tired to do much, so I called it a night. That brings
us to the present day. I woke up this morning, repacked everything I can use for the week in Houston, and rushed to the airport. Hated to leave the car all alone and subject to more door dings and sun damage already, but I had no choice. It's currently in the airport parking lot awaiting my return on Friday. I've written all of the above on my flights from Indianapolis to Charlotte, and Charlotte to Houston. I'm due to land there in a few minutes, and meet my company's owner and a
coworker.

As for the upcoming week, I've been in touch with Shawn Miller, Connie Keller, and Jody Farr by cellphone, and plan to visit
each of those locales starting Friday night, when I fly back to Indianapolis and my waiting 131. Unfortunately, I had to scrub
my weekend on Long Island next weekend to make this all happen, but it'll be good to see some of the midwest friends again. I
should be back home in Reading Sunday night, very late, to be reunited with my cat and dog, and to 'introduce' the 131 to all
of it's new brethren in the garage. Not sure what my internet access will be from Houston, but I'm thinking I'll be able to
check in almost every night. If anyone needs to reach me this week (or just wants to say hi and/or chat a while), you can do
so, as always, on my cellphone at 516-983-FIAT, or at my web-accessable email, fiatlancia2@yahoo.com.

A big thanks to all involved in making MOFLO such a huge success (Conlons, Dicksons, Greers, and Loflands) and a great time for all attendees, and a special thanks to Csaba (and also Delmer, Jerry, and Bill) for their help in preparing the 131.

Next event up will be the FLU-DelVal Wyoming Road Rally. Stay
tuned!

Shaun Folkerts
Eastern PA and Long Island, NY
FLU #443 (1989)
http://home.earthlink.net/~fiatlancia/auto.html Ebay: "fiatlancia"