10/15/06- This is a cool car show held at the Santa Anita race track
and I heard a lot of
good things about it so I decided to sign
up. After all, horses and hotrods are two passions of
mine so having both at the same place and same time
sounded like a real treat! Checked the weather forecast everyday that
week and it kept saying: Friday, Saturday: rain but Sunday: SUNNY and
clear skies! Aren't you glad modern technology can tell us with such
cunning precision what the weather Gods are up to? :)
Oh! I take it back.
It's 6 AM on the morning of the show and Hiboy, Sean and I are on the
road already, followed by Dave and his 32 Essex coupe. And the sun
rises and BEHOLD! What the heck are those BIG BLACK LOW clouds doing
in MY sunny and clear sky? WHAT sunny and clear sky???
Boy I sure am glad I
am a woman of all seasons (literally) and have packed wisely, and that
I am wearing my brand new ski pants and jacket (100% water proof -
purchased the night before - just to be sure I will never again freeze
to death when driving the roadster). I decide that I am NOT turning
around and that we will take our chances. Lady luck seemed to be with
us for a good chunk of the trip. I got talked into taking the freeway
and it's my first long run driving with the crazies on a bumpy and
boring freeway. Granted it is faster. But there's something about the
way Hiboy jumps sideways when I hit a rough spot that is enough to
make the blood freeze in your veins. "Easy boy easy" I kept saying as
I tried to hold him steady... I really need to redo my suspension and
fix my steering gosh darn it or we are all going to end up in the
ditch!
| Well, Lady luck
decided to vanish right around Eagle Rock and all of a sudden it got
pretty wet. Rain was falling! And I was driving a 1932 roadster, with
NO top, No windows and NO windshield wipers !! And you know what? IT WAS FUN.
Strangely enough, the rain seemed to "glide" over us and I did not
feel a single drop on me... Seeing through the windshield was another
story altogether. But thanks to RainX, which I had wiped all over the
glass few weeks earlier, I was able to see enough to take us- alive
and in one piece- all the way to the Santa Anita freeway exit. My
fenderless tires were making nice roosters as we drove wet surface
streets. Then something really funny happened. We saw a line of
classic cars in the left hand turn lane so we pulled behind them.
There were about 10 of them or so. Cool, all we had to do was to
follow them to the show. After meandering for a while in the
neighborhood it came to mind that we were ALL following a green coupe
and that the green coupe driver had NO IDEA WHAT-SO-EVER as to where
he was going. LOLOLOL... Oh for heaven's sake! So I pulled over and
pulled out my secret weapon - yes, you've guessed it: THE THOMAS
GUIDE! Or should I call it the "saint Thomas" guide, as it only
believes in the directions it can READ (and does not believe in green
coupes) LOL. |
|
I think I can
honestly say that I earned some respect when I pulled to the show,
under the rain, in my 32 open top roadster. They all knew right there
and then that I mean business hehe. We parked in the infield and
waited over 3 hours for the rain to stop. Meanwhile everyone at the
show is bitching: "sunny and clear skies my ass!" (oooops, pardon my
French) was pretty much all we could hear from everyone's lips. Car
owners did the best they could to cover their open roadsters and
exposed carburetors (see photos below). Thanks to my ski clothes I was
dry and even borderline too hot LOL. We all hang out until the weather
Gods decided they had punished us long enough and made the rain stop. Then
everyone went into a wiping frenzy and once again I was reminded that
black primer does NOT like water. But we survived. The show was nice
and I met some cool, knowledgeable people there. I was told about a
cruise night I have not yet checked out (but wait... that's our NEXT
adventure!!). We also watched some of the races but I didn't bet - I'm
too broke cause I own a hotrod LOL. So around 4PM everyone gathered to
hear the awards and see who won what. The last three shows did not
yield any trophy results for me, so I was really NOT expecting...
TO GET A SECOND PLACE
IN THE "UNDER CONSTRUCTION" CLASS !!!
Wow!! How cool! Hiboy
strikes again :). I guess in the end the lovely plaque I took home
with me made it worth all the rain in the universe.. LET IT POUR!
