It has been a long time coming, but the St. Louis area Fiat owners of the Roamin Chariots got together for a preliminary meeting Aug 23rd, 2003. We met at Ken Dickson's Fiat garage in West Alton, just North of St. Louis, between the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. Mother Nature smiled on the event with beautiful clear skies and 90 degree weather. Perfect top down driving on a Saturday afternoon.

There was a good turnout with a couple of new owners joining the group. We had six cars all together out of a possible eight. Deano had a float trip scheduled and Dan was AWOL (He will need some kind of excuse for the next meeting.

Everyone met at the Garage Mahal (Steve Wood christened it). It was the first social event in Red's new home. The lanscaper had put the finishing touches only an hour before the cars started to arrive. We are looking forward to many more meetings here.

The cars started to arrive around 4:00 with Steve and his lovely wife Melinda (Mel for short) in the metallic red 75 spider from Clayon, MO. Then Marc and Lia Sova pulled in off the highway in their 'new to them' 74 spider that he bravely drove up from Belleville, IL without 1st gear. Marc's only previous trip with this car was on a dolly when he brought it home a couple of weeks ago. Next down the driveway was Ken Wood and his amazingly red Yugo from Fairview Heights, IL. Shortly afterward Rick and his son Taylor Wilson arrived from Chesterfield, MO in their rose colored 73 spider.

The meeting started out at the barn with everyone getting to know each other and checking out the cars. Karen Dickson put together some snacks and the group made a feeble attempt to empty the garage fridge of water, tea, and beer. They will have to try harder next time. It was great to see so many couples turn out for the meeting. The girls are already planning an outing at the antique shops in nearby St. Charles while the guys stay at the barn and compare induction variations.

After snacks and checking out the cars, we loaded up a couple of coolers and moved the meeting a mile and a half down the road to Harbor Point Marina where we had access to the clubhouse, pool and (a rather disfunctional) barbeque. We parked the cars in front of the sailboat bay and went over to the clubhouse for an excellent dinner prepared by Steve of Burgers, brauts, and ballpark dogs. The party broke up shortly after dark as who would want to get bugs on the nicely prepared cars. We are all looking forward to the October wine run to Washington Missouri.

Three of the cars were MOFLO veterans. Steve's 75, Kris's 76 and Ken's 71 'Red'. There were three new cars to be welcomed to the group. Everyone is looking forward to taking the cars to MOFLO 04 and it would be great to see them there. Here's some info about the cars.

 
Marc and Lia Sova's 74

One of the few 74 cars around with the unique bumpers, Marc just aquired this car from some good information from long time fiat owner Jon Logan. Extremely solid car with no rust and 99% complete and correct, this car should make a great restoration project. Marc and Lia are accomplished artists, and we are hoping that they will be able to lend their skills to making a mural for MOFLO. OK Marc, lets get first gear working and get the ready for the wine run.

 
Ken Wood's Yugo

Here is a 1988 GV well traveled Yugo with over 140,000 miles on its odometer. This car is Ken's long term daily driver. The car shows years of good care and maintenance. While in the service, Ken, a long time member and contributor to Mira, shipped the car to Korea where he was stationed. There it acquired it's striking red paint job. Currently the car has the original fire breathing 1100cc engine in place, but there is a 1500 prepped and waiting to go into the engine bay.

Rick and Taylor Wilson's 73

Another unique color on a small bumper car, this spider is destined to be a Father / Son restoration project. This is Rick's first Fiat and he gets high marks for choosing a spider for this project. The car is in extremely good shape and should prove to be a fun and rewarding project. Save the small bumper cars!!!

 
Steve and Melinda Wood's 75

A veteran of three of the four MOFLO's including the very first one. This year the spider carried Steve to Freak Out. We enjoyed hearing all about the event. Especially about how well some of the cars from MOFLO did. This spider also had the honor of bringing Steve's new bride Melinda home after they were married this May. Steve volunteered to chef the event and did a great job at the Barbeque!

 
Kris Dickson's 76

With only about 1,00 miles on his newly restored spider, Kris's car still looks fresh. Sporting a new stereo complete with subwoofer and some fuzzy dice hanging from the mirror, the car is a study of mixed cultures. At 16 Kris is the youngest owner, but he has been riding in Fiats since he was born.

 Ken and Karen Dickson's 71

Host of the event, Red benefited from some needed paint touch up some electrical repairs and a general goin over since 03 MOFLO. He has been patiently waiting for his owner to get that new respray that he has been talking about for the past two years. In the meantime he is enjoying his new home and friends.