Billetproof Florida - Late but Great Post

Just got back Friday from our trip to Florida and a 4 day cruise to the Bahamas (thanks to Jennifer, Glenn's (Ahotrod) wife). I knew a lot of pictures and comments would have already been posted by the time I got back and I may not have been able to add much. After looking and reading all the post I decided I did have a lot to add, so here's my trip report.

After looking forwrad to this trip for weeks, we got up at 4 AM Friday morning to catch a 7 AM flight out of Sacramento. We arrived in Orlando at 4 PM, got our rental and drove the 1 1/2 hours to Ocala. Just as we checked in to our hotel I got a call from Glenn wondering where we were. One of the major reasons for attending this show was to meet Glenn and the rest of the Tampa Poor Boys. It was also a big plus to know that we would have members of each chapter attending.

So we but our stuff away, cleaned up a little and headed for No Where. it was great meeting all the guys from different chapters that I have only conversed with through here or e-mail. I (we) were made to feel so welcomed that it was almost embarresing. I felt really humbled when introduced to Myron Sr. and he hugged me and thanked me for the support he recieved from us.

It's funny how I wound up meeting just about everybody before Glenn showed up. It was like meeting an old friend I hadn't seen in years. Hand shake, hug, tears, hell I almost kissed him. Although Glenn and I had never met before, through our lengthy phone calls and e-mails we formed some kind of close bond. My only regret for this trip is that we didn't have more time together to sit and talk.

Back to the trip report. I got up early Saturday morning because I didn't want to miss a single moment of the show. Walking over to the museum i took this shot of the parking lot.



Once the sun started coming up I started taking pictures of the cars, people and the whole show. Although some have already been posted, here's a few mixed in that I haven't seen here.


Can't have enough of this history making car, rebuilt by Poor Boy member Ted.


Before the gates opened getting everybody their ***ignments.


Cars were backed up so far that they had to start letting them in an hour early so that they didn't block traffic.


A few shots before it got really crowded.

 

More

 

Glenn was at the greeting post saying "thanks for coming" to everybody that drove in.






























The Beverly Hillbillies showed up too.


Even had their own version of a time out kid.


and the club

 

The Poor Boys gathered for a group shot but after the shoot found out the Detroit members were grabbing lunch.


Not to be left out, Detroit members


Glenn picking up his trophy and Ted telling him how much he deserved it


Complete shock




Big Daddy himself




Best of show and trophy

 

That primer grey 47,48 Chevy, are those rims photo-copies taped up on the tires?

 

Bruce,
It was a real pleasure to meet you,your wife and Jay. Thanks for all the support. The Poor Boys is a pretty amazing brotherhood. Your pics are outstanding! Hope we'll meet again soon and have some more time to visit. All the best, Mike PBFL

 

We'll never tell..... Mike

 

Yep,kinko`s did it.there is foam holding them on.Alan let it fly this time,but no more.
my friend did it,his wheels and tires didnt show up in time so this was the next best thing.
rules say no "visible billet".it was all in fun though and we thank everyone for understanding we werent there to piss people off,just have a little fun.there was a guy who was really pissed we did that and got away with it.i just think he wasnt smart enough to think of it.
you can see the real wheels in the first picture all the way in the back.

 

I thought it gutsy and funny. Hopefully everyone else had a sense of humor about it. He should have gotten an award for "best hiding of billet parts" or something. Mike

 

I just thought you guys were hiding plain steel rims, Cool idea though!

 

i was great to meet you and your wife bruce..thanks for coming out to the show...you did a sweet job on the pics too....hope you had a good time ...dave

 

excellent pictures...jeffrey

 

Thanks for posting the pics. Makes me feel even worse about not being able to make it.

Frank

 

Great pics, thanks for posting, Just makes me HATE living in the great northeast even more. 5:30 am this morning it was 4 degrees. It sure aint hot rod weather here yet

 

I saw it in the parking lot Friday night and thought he won't get in with those rims. When I saw it Saturday at the show I just laughed my *** off. Clever thinking.

 

I wasn't quite finished posting pictures but I had to go put the radiator back in the 40'.

 

Just a fraction of Big Daddy's museum































All in all a trip to remember and I'm pretty sure we'll be back.

 

Great pics! Thanks.

 

It was nice to meet you and the wife, and Jay and his pretty lady too. We had a blast, hope we can all do it again real soon.

More great pics, even more stuff I didn't see at the show.

.

 

Great pics. The Poor Boys did an awesome job to make the show run smooth. Look forward to next year.

 

It was great meeting you too Gator, just wish we had more time to BS.

I know what you mean about not seeing things. With all the time I spent walking around there's cars on other threads I don't remember. Funny!

 

I just want to thank the Tampa chapter guys for all their hard work for putting on a great show. Glenn, Ted, Mike, Dave, Skip, Big Mike, Myron, Willie, Art and whoever else I missed, it was great meeting all of you.

Then there was the Tennessee and Alabama boys, what a high energy group. Don't know how they stayed up so late Saturday and then hit the road Sunday before daylight.

Yeah, lets do it again.

 

I can't believe *****y up there has hose clamps and a joint on the brake line, that's just plain stupid.

Thanks for the pics seeing as how I didn't get to see hardly anything.

 

I have to say I had a good time down there and the only thing that I regret was I didn;t get to meet more of you guys. But you got a good pic of me presenting the TIKI trophy. I am a little crowd shy so I did not say anything and I was standing in back of Alan while one of the guys held up the Tiki. Anyway thanks for the pics these are great and I hope next year I will be able to meet more people.

 

Mailboxes,paper hubcaps,machine guns....oh my.

 

yep, one of each in a crowd of 500 cars.

its amazing how people concentrate on the minority of stuff in a show they dont like and ignore the vast majority of stuff they do.

 

You cannot make everyone happy. Great show. I really wish the venue would stay the same.

 

Hey lockwood, we did talk briefly in the hotel lobby after the awards. I was the guy that said I liked your tiki and asked if you do a lot of them. Your reply was it's just a hobby, as we p***ed each other. not much conversation but I think we were both in a hurry to get somewhere.

 

Bruce, since the FL show I have been getting a great response for TIKI's . I am finishing a stainless steel piece right now. I will be posting a picture of it on the Friday night art show here on the HAMB. so you guys will be the first to see the newest piece. I think you may have been talking to the guy who carved the wooden Tiki. I am the guy who had the metal Tiki. I still do these as a hobby but I am not limited to Tikis. You should check out the ART section of my web site.

 

Oh yeah Alan if you happen to lookm in on this thread again I would like to build another trophy for the next Florida Show. If that is ok.