Corvetteditorial
Rear View Mirror - May, 1992: Memorial
day trip to Vegas; Review of March
COCSD rally and Bates Nut Farm
Hamburger Cookout; Brunch run to Marie
Callendars put on by Diane De Chantal
and Donna Bernard; 125 Entrants at
Wind & Thunderfest, with funkana '92
Vettes provided by Chevrolet, show
trophies to Steve Montagna and Merle
Walker, and private Beach Boys concert;
Otis Chandler Museum run; Planning for
Cafe Del Rey Moro and San Diego Auto
Museum brunch run; Planning for Big
Bear Bash; Clarence Thomas spotted
driving his black '90 ZR1; And '67 435HP
range from $40,000 to $75,000;
Our Weseloh Autofair was a success
again this year, although smaller than in
years past. Thank you all for the trophy, I
apologise that family matters prevented me
from going to the Sunday Brunch run.
1000 Miles
I recently went on a road trip in the ZR1. I
needed to get to Santa Cruz to be in my
nephews wedding party, and I needed to
be their early to get my tux rented, so I
drove while Laurie, Lois and the baby flew.
I got a slow start, so I had lunch in LA with
an old friend, which put me into the
afternoon rush hour. By the time I got to
Morrow Bay it was getting dark and I had a
tremendous headache. I rented an
anonymous motel room, had dinner and
went to sleep.
Friday I got up early, well rested and ready
for a blast up the coast. I went for a walk
down by the water and found a place for an
excellent breakfast, with a picture window
view of Morrow Rock rising from the fog. I
finally got everything together and was on
my way, pulling onto the coast highway just
as the fog was pulling back out to sea.
"This is going to be great" I thought.
Two miles up the highway I saw the sign -
"Route 1 closed 12 miles north of San
Simeon." "This trip is not going as well as I
had planned" I thought as I pulled a U-turn.
I resigned myself to a moderately scenic
trip up 101.
I decided to cut back over to the coast at
Salinas. Naturally, the road turned into a
gorgeous two lane winding country
highway, with me stuck behind a belching
furniture truck. After many miles of this, I
finally had the chance to pass. Freedom!
A real drivers road, with no traffic thanks to
that darn truck. As I came up a hill, still
decelerating from passing the truck, a CHP
black and white crested the hill in the other
direction, immediately slamming on the
brakes and lighting up the Christmas tree.
He apparently was trolling for someone just
like me. "Hmmmm" I thought, realizing that
as he turns around, he will get caught
behind the aforementioned truck and all the
traffic piled up behind it. I acted like I had
seen nothing, and drove along at the speed
limit, trying to ignore that sinking in the pit
of my stomach combined with the slight
adrenaline rush that always accompanies
seeing police lights come on. I drove a
long ways before he finally caught up to me
- I noticed a sign that said 1 was closed at
Lucia. He followed me for a while, then
pulled me over, right in front of Laguna
Seca Raceway, where every hot bike in
several counties was turning in to see the
GP motorcycle races. I couldn't help but
think he did that to show off. He was far
too enthusiastic about his work. 78 in a 55,
$167 to pay bail or take traffic school.
I finally made it to Santa Cruz. It rained.
The wedding ceremony itself was at a
resort near Aptos, outdoors with a
breathtaking view of the ocean. Sunday
dawned foggy, making for some surreal
wedding photos. By the time the photos
were finishing up, it finally started to clear
up. When the ceremony started it was
clear and quite windy. The bride, Peggy
Kalmar, was radiant. The groom, my
nephew Michael Gross, was handsome in
his tux with tails. Several helicopters flew
over, perhaps thinking it was the Brooke
Shields/Andre Agassiz wedding. Music
was provided by a band that Mike usually
plays in, that plays 16th century music on
replicas of 16th century instruments, and
whos members are all in the Astronomy
Graduate school at UC Santa Cruz. It was
very difficult to light the candles in the wind,
so they put that off till later at the reception,
predictably setting off the smoke alarm.
The DJ played James Brown and Weird
Al Yankovich, and we danced and a good
time was had by all. The couple is off soon
to Maryland, where Mike will be a
theoretical astrophysicist for NASA
Goddard. I'm proud.
Monday dawned hazy, and after a big
breakfast with the family at a local pancake
house, I set off toward the south. I had a
pretty sour attitude about what the drive
would be like. I resolved to set the cruise
control and just cruise. Sunday had been a
widely publicised (locally) zero tolerance for
speeding day. At various farms in that part
of the state they have lifesize or larger
plywood cutouts showing ordinary people
buying produce. I saw one that showed a
guy attempting to put a giant artichoke into
the trunk of a Nash Metropolitan, and it
obviously wasn't going to fit. As the traffic
thinned out past Monterey, my attitude
improved noticeably. I put one of my
favorite CD's on, settled back and drove
into the Big Sur, stopping every so often to
take a picture of the clearing spectular
coastal views. I reflected on the previous
times I had done this route - in my '81, in
my '63, about every five or ten years. I
decided, everyone who can appreciate
such things should do it, prefereably when
there is little or no traffic, as I was finding to
my delight. I stopped for gas at the BP
dealer in Big Sur, and asked the ol' guy if 1
was open. He hadn't known it was closed.
His assistant said they had been doing
work on it the previous week. The
neighboring business owner came out and
started ribbing the ol' guy about needing
two people for all the business they had.
Good vibes, man.
1 was awesome. Almost no traffic, clear
blue skies over windy whitecapped ocean.
No rush to actually get anywhere, just
driving for the pure pleasure of it. An
occasional glimpse of waterfalls up
mysterious canyons. I stopped at the inn at
Lucia for lunch. A bit pricey, but well worth
it. You can sit out on the patio on a bluff
overlooking the ocean, watching the whales
go by. The ribeye steak sandwich was just
right. A teenager and his girlfriend were
there from Arizona, they had a flawless '69
(I think) Firebird convertible with the tach in
the hood. I can dig it.
The rest of the drive was predictably
perfect, just accented by about four
sections of Caltrans construction. I almost
got sideswiped by a very large truck going
the other way on a very sharp hairpin. But
nothing bad happened at all. I drove into
an odd weather pattern where the
temperature went up as the sun went down,
so as I drove through Santa Maria I turned
on the A/C. Dinner at Dinahs in
Westchester (where I grew up - all the
delicious fried chicken you can eat on
Monday nights) and on home by 10 PM.
1040 miles, 21.4 MPG.
Membership News
By Shawn Silva
Membership Chairman
President's Message
Awards at Weseloh Show
63-67:
1. Ron Kurz - '64
2. Mike Brough - '66
3. Andrew Lamache - '67
4. Danny Czapski - '65
68-72:
1. Jerry Diruscio - '71
2. Craig Heidman - '69
3. Fred Gulck - '68
73-77:
1. Ron Nichols - '76
78-82:
1. Steve Lucero - '82
2. Larry Schneider - '82.
88-91:
1. Craig and Ann Howlett - '88
2. Ted Henke - '89
3. Rob Roffey - '88
4. Jo Heidman - '89
92-95:
1. Betty McManus - '95
2. Bob Wiltse - '93
3. Jessica Muzio - '93
Custom:
1. Ted Galkewicz - '92
2. Top Flight Corvette - '87
3. Terry Shrock - '88
BEST OF SHOW
Harmon Anderson - '64
Palm Springs Concours D'Elegance
By Anne Lamache
The Palm Springs Car Classic, held April
17-20, 1997 was the 4th Annual Cruise-In
Downtown Palm Springs and the 27th
Annual Palm Springs Concours
d'Elegance. Chevrolet Motors Division
was a Cruise-In Palm Canyon sponsor.
They were proud to roll-out some motor city
muscle on the streets of Palm Springs - the
5th generation Corvette and the 30th
anniversary Camaro shared center stage
on Palm Canyon Drive. It was an
opportunity to talk with representatives at
Chevrolet, who turn your dreams into
reality. This was a great weekend to
celebrate the long awaited introduction of
the new 1997 Corvette. Corvette was the
honored Marque at the 1997 Palm Springs
Car Classic. All Corvettes, regardless of
year, were eligible to participate. Trophies
were awarded for the various years, plus
Corvette Club participation and the Mayor
of Palm Springs favorite. The event
registration included a complimentary
breakfast for two before the Poker Run on
Friday, a buffet dinner for two at the Poker
Run party and the awards celebration that
evening at Fantasy Springs. Saturday,
Prom Night was held at the Palm Springs
Marquis Hotel, host hotel for the event.
Lil' Elmo and the Cosmos high energy
Rock-n-Roll band and the appearance of
Elvis and Buddy Holly provided the
entertainment. On Sundy the Concours
d'Elegance was held at the O'Donnel Golf
Course. Over 360 cars were on display
and there was an estimated attendance of
30,000. Exhibitors, vendors, live
entertainment and dancing in the streets
were enjoyed by all. Sponsors for the
event were Palm Springs Life, Desert
European Motorcars Ltd. and Fantasy
Springs Casino. This event was a benefit
for Cerebral Palsy.
North Coast Vettes Club members
attending the event were Andrew & Anne
Lamache, Terry & Kevin Shrock, Mel &
Jessica Muzio, John & Sally Pawoll, Wes
& Kathy DeHoll, Shawn Silva, Ed &
Helene Sheehan, Richard & Trish Eaton,
and Rick & Marilyn Otto.
North Coast Vettes
P. O. Box 188237
Carlsbad, CA 92009
Sponsored By
Weseloh Chevrolet
Car Country Carlsbad
5335 Paseo del Norte
Carlsbad, CA 92008
(619) 438-1001
Advertising rates are $5 per issue for
business card size.