This put a smile on my face........ This past weekend I took what may be my final '57 roadtrip for the year. Went to the Run to the Inn of the Mountain Gods, in Ruidoso, New Mexico. 300 miles of non stop rain on the way out on Thursday. Friday rained most the day and put a damper on most of the pre-show stuff, but Saturday was gorgeous. Not a cloud in the sky all day. Beautiful hotel on a lake in the mountains with the show cars on the grass park between the hotel and the golf course and lake. There were 232 entries, I'm guessing maybe 75% of them trailered in. The small 20 room motel I stayed at I was told was gonna be full with the car club from El Paso that puts the show on. Friday night came and there wasn't a single show car in the parking lot except mine. The rest were all the pickups that towed the trailers in. There were 3 project cars there, but non of which were entered in the show. Probably alot more more trailered cars than usual because of the weather. The NM shows are always heavy populated with Chevys and other GM products. That's normal as we know in a Hispanic community, and this one was no exception. I did not see any Fords between '46 and '56 except 2 T-birds. There were 3 '57s and a 58. The only 60's Ford I saw was a '62 survivor convertible with a 406. There were a handful of 60's Mustangs and Tbirds. I don't know how he found me, but late morning I was out looking at cars when a guy approached me and asked if I owned the dark silver '57 Ford. I said yes, and he said, well, don't leave before the awards ceremony. I'm the Goodguys New Mexico rep and I'm giving you an award!! That put a smile on my face for the rest of the day. I had no idea what the award was for. They gave out alot of awards. Almost all of them were specialized.."best tri-five", best chop, best upholstery, best 30's coupe, best roadster, etc etc. Mine was the last they gave out and it was announced as the NM Goodguys rep's favorite of the show. How frikin cool was that! I liked the wording they carefully used on mine and alot of other awards. On most of the awards, they smartly avoid terms like "best of". Mine was a long way from the "best of" catagory, but I'll take the "favorite" of the show from a Goodguys rep any day!
Sorry, I did a real poor job of picture taking on this trip. To get an overall feel of the show, you really need to get up on higher ground, and I didn't this year. Anyway, my point was I thought it was awesome for that "F" word to get an award like that deep in Chevy country, and it made me personally proud to get it for my car that I built in a one car converted carport with a dirt floor. I don't think the Goodguys rep ever knew that or that it was built 100% by a first timer. It was not a Goodguys event, btw.
Thanks Guys. Looking thru my pics, there were two 64 Fords, and lucky for me, the Goodguys rep was a Ford guy. He had a beautiful '64 Falcon wagon. That's his heading down to the parking area I love that purple 34 coupe, and spent some time looking at that 36-38? Chevy sedan in front of the Falcon. This pic was taken from where I was parked in the parking lot above the show area on Friday it took about 2 1/2 hours to get the line of cars parked down on the grass area. Once down there, you can't leave until the show is over on the next day, so it only works if your staying at the hotel or trailered your car in and have something else to drive. I needed to get back to my motel, so had to wait until show day to get down there.
BTW, I had ordered a new cooling fan motor last week that hadn't come in before I left, so the entire700 mile trip was done without a cooling fan. Not sure how long it had been not working before I discovered the issue while working on my A/C. This time of the year, I knew it wouldn't be a problem since my engine runs at 195-200 and the sensor doesn't turn the fan on until 205 anyways.
After all the blood,sweat and tears and an engine change that you went through you persevered and deserved that reward 110%. I'm sure the rest of the members will join me in saying how proud we are of what you have accomplished hopefully there will be more rewards in your future,great job !
Good job! That's a fine looking car. I was in Ruidoso earlier this year and also spent a full day of driving in pounding rain getting there while at home in Oregon, my buddies were all out riding in the sunshine.
top stuff texas57...makes the dramas of the engine problem fade into the distant past..... well deserved
Thanks for the kind words, guys. My reference to "the F word"..............This was taken last year at the same show. All in fun, but the Chevy vs. Ford feud is very much alive in New Mexico. Sorta......if there are any Ford guys around, lol. In the same area where the lines of cars were waiting to get down into the parking area, there was also a bunch of us waiting for the cruise to start. I saw a line of cars parked, but headed in the opposite direction, so I went over to ask them if this was the line for the cruise. It was, but I made some comment about what's with all the 8 cars there being all chevys or Camaros. They laughed and one replied, because Chevies rule, man! Ya gotta love it.
Actually, I have attended a few shows in the Cleveland area this past Summer, and I am always surprised at the lack of 52-59 Fords. (Especially wagons) I have yet to see one like mine. It's always the "tri-five" Chevy guys. I keep thinking that I might have the only 55 Ford Country Sedan wagon in Northeast Ohio.
I think there are 4 '57 Fords in Amarillo. My housing tract has 4 '57 Chevs!........including 2 identical black 2 dr htps with red interiors.
The Jalopy Journal
