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October, 2002 In This Issue |
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 Dent
fix 101By Ron Conlon |
Eureka Springs '03 Fling It Around Turns By Ron Conlon |
 Two Fiats Do Well in Local Car Shows! By Ken Dickson |
Long straight roads are de rigueur here in the mid
west with high speed cruising on the interstates and hundreds
of miles between covens of Fiat/Lancia owners. So the last
three years Italian car drivers have met in Eureka Springs, Arkansas
for some spirited driving on some of the best roads for this in
America. It is no accident that the motorcycle clubs gather here
in force as well as Corvette and other sports car clubs to take
up about every available weekend. Mike Greer again set a route
that had the tires and engines singing for more. It was 200 miles
of bliss. But there was something more.
This is the mid west and home of the pickup truck
and hot rod. These beasts would have trouble out-cornering
a navy destroyer but can accelerate with G-forces of a jet plane.
It is also, surprisingly, the place where some of the finest older
Fiat, Lancia and Alfa cars in the world can be found. Take for
example this driving event and this is just a small sample.
First to arrive at the motel, after myself, was
Bill Acklin from Iowa. He had a fine 1979 124 Spider until
last year when he restored it to a show-quality fly yellow beauty.
Nothing was spared in turning out this winner and he drove it
about 1000 miles just to get to the rally.
The interior is 2 tone cream and black and sets off a black canvas
top that we installed at our get-together in the summer.
At the bed and breakfast were Allen and Lyn Lofland and Mike and Theresa Greer. Lyn has a brown spider and the handiwork of Allen, which is also a top-drawer restoration. It really is the standard by which I measure any show car and few reach it. It drove from Wichita, Kansas by way of Mike's home in Bartlesville, Oklahoma so they could travel together. What a sight! Mike's deep green (2nd place winner at FFO) and the Brown.
Who should show up next but Rodney and Marcie Haas
in their Maserati Indy? This is not a short car and truly
an exotic from the Dallas area. Then came the Delmer
Teet clan with his red Scorpion and John Houchin in his X1/9.
Both these cars are very familiar to me and draw compliments whenever
they are caught stationary and they have a history of getting
trophies. The Scorpion is still fresh after 7 years with
the Montecarlo look and 2 liter fuel injection conversion.
John's X is blemish free in a metal flake black coat. It
is simply how an X should be. They drove from my city of
Norman, OK, a distance of 280 miles and I returned, at a brisk
pace, with them.
Csaba Vandor, with his hot Spider that does look
driven, sailed into town from Fort Worth, Texas. I tried
to follow him to Tulsa on the return journey and was a long way
back even though I was cruising in the low 80's to keep up to
Delmer. Shaun Folkerts arrived after midnight on his way
home to New York from another adventure to save an old car.
This was a pastel green X1/9 that got a bit too hot on the rally
with a small fire in the air filter. This was no show car
yet but was taking him from west to east to add to his collection
of Fiats. Toby and Janine Smith, who have an 850 coupe and a Multipla
in restoration progress, drove in from Stillwater, OK to enjoy
the romantic atmosphere of the Springs.
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