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What do you think of when you hear "I'm Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot" and "We Are Family"? No, not Buster Poindexter and Sister Sledge - but the 4th Annual Mustang and Ford Roundup, sponsored by the Ft. Lauderdale Mustang Club, which was held Sunday, June 13, 2004 at Sportsman's Park in Dania Beach. Now you are probably wondering why I would reference these two songs - explanation: IT WAS HOT, HOT, HOT and the Mustang Club of America changed its regulations and created a judged class called "Ford Family" in which our Jaguars are a part of. Thomas Lanahan has attended this show the past two years and has really made the rally to get our Jaguars recognized and participate at this Event. The first year, Thomas was the lone Jaguar at a Ford Show and the JCNA Journal actually wrote a story about it. The second year, there were three SFJC members at the Show. Enter into present day Florida … HOT, HOT, HOT Florida. Early that HOT Sunday morning Jack drove the 1966 XKE while I was driving Lady Jane, our 1962 MK II, we met up with Rick Hartwell in his 1988 Daimler and proceeded to make our way to the ever popular I-95 and as Thomas mentioned in a previous email, just driving on I-95 with our LBC's (Little British Car's) is an event in itself. Jack in front, Janey in the middle and Rick as the tail gunner was quite an impressive sight and we got a lot of thumbs up and waves along the way. In fact, Andre and Ginny Haluska's son passed us and gave us a good British honk and wave! We speed down (and I do mean speed because Zippy was out in front in his red rocket ship!) to the events' location, which was at the Bass ProShop Outlet and IGFA Museum. We were actually given a wonderful parking area since there was a grassy area and two trees that provided shade the entire day right next to us and we did get a great breeze most of the day. When we arrive, we are efficiently directed in by the Mustang Club members and see that Thomas and MaryAnne had been there and had the new 8'x8' tent already set up, which was a life saver in providing much needed shade. We proceed to unload and soon Roger and Gloria Seitz zoom in their 1954 XK 120, now I might add that when I was taking interior pictures of their car, I noticed that there was a radar detector on Roger's dash board. Is this standard or optional equipment? Inquiring minds want to know. Thomas and MaryAnne show up soon afterwards in The Hope Diamond, Thomas' 1969 XKE, followed by Bob and Carmela Scibelli in their 1952 XK120. I turn around and all of a sudden there is this flash of red and its Jack and Kay Kaislin with a 1965 red Tiger Sunbeam with a Mustang engine! Well, after all, it is a Ford Show and we should have one Ford powered car among us! So we had a great turnout of 7 cars! It wasn't much longer before Andre and Ginny appear with Bob Matzner arriving shortly thereafter.
Of course while all of this is happening, there are incredible Mustangs and Fords of every type arriving. I would have to say that when the field was full there had to be over 150 spectacular cars in all sizes, sounds and colors. It was really great to see the amount of interest amongst the Mustang owners of our Jags and of course we had the same amount of interest in their cars. There were some awesome cars there as well as great tales to tell. There was a 1970 Shelby Cobra GT350 parked directly behind us that had 30 day temporary tags on it. Jack started talking to the owner and found out that he had just purchased the car in Salem, Massachusetts. A short while later a gentleman walks up to the car, looks at it and asks where the owner bought it, when he finds out that it was purchased in Salem he laughs and says "This was my car, I sold it to the guy in Salem!" Small world! And right next to Cobra were two guys from Pompano that had two Mach Ones fully restored that could go toe to toe with some of our Concours restorations. And we thought we spent silly money! This show was also celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Mustang so all of the Mustangs were there in their shining glory, from race cars, to daily drivers, to Steeda's, Shelby's, old, new, original, restored, you name it - it was there. There were also other great examples of Ford like the T-Birds, Falcons, Ramblers, Rancheros, Trucks. What I really enjoyed was the different, vibrant colors of the older cars. When they said it was Turquoise, they meant it! There were also some great matching outfits to their cars like John Prosje sitting in his 1965 Falcon Ranchero. The Board Members had decided to hold a brief meeting and disappeared into the air conditioned Islamorada Restaurant and left the rest of us outside in the HEAT with the promise that it would be a brief meeting and they would come back to get all of us for lunch. Time passed and no Board Members! The gang finally gave up on waiting and went on to lunch. The moral here is - always follow your Board Members, they're the smart (and cool) ones! There were a lot of spectators at the Show due to the location and I think we might have recruited three new members! One of the new recruits, Michael Saltzman was there in his 1966 Pony Car, but he also recently purchased a 2001 S-Type and has been singing "I'm in Love With My Car" ever since! As I always say, the more, the merrier! There was also some discussion between the Mustang Club and SFJC about doing a joint driving/rally event at Moroso in October. There was a great DJ, Rockin' Rich Bedford, playing Oldies and Rock and Roll and there was a stand where plenty of water was being sold. It was nice to have music in the background, maybe that is something we might want to look into for future Shows. I had to laugh because I always say before a Show that I am going to bring our portable CD player and Big Band and Oldies disks and I never do, well this time I had the CD player and disks in hand and never unpacked them!
There were wonderful raffle prizes, of which MaryAnne won two beautiful baskets, and Rick won a case of Amalie 10/40 oil. There was also a 50/50 drawing which actually became quite large; the winner took home $183.00! The awards started around 3:45. Thomas and Bob tied for Third, Jack got Second and Janey took First. We have started a new Club Tradition for our events. When we were at the Bonnet House Picnic and Tour, Thomas bestowed upon Jack and I his 100th Trophy, which was very special to him, for us bringing two cars to the Picnic and getting members of the Gold Coast Triumph and British Car Club to join us. On Sunday, we passed on the Trophy to Jack and Kay for bringing the only British car to the show under Ford power and also traveling the furthest to get there. It will now be their choice at the next Event as to who to pass the "Torch" on to. It will be fun to see how creative we all can get and what prompts the bearer of the Trophy to select the new recipient! The Mustang Club deserves a large thank you for letting us become part of this wonderful Show and it once again goes to prove that there are other crazy people out there that are like us that can spend all day with a bunch of car nuts in the HEAT talking about their beloved cars, whether it be Jaguar or Ford, American or Foreign. My hats off to a Show well run and I hope we get invited back next year. May I just take this moment to really thank Thomas and MaryAnne for all of their hard work in developing and setting up these monthly Events. It takes a lot of research, effort and time to put these together and the past two have been a tremendous success. Our Delray Day at the Theatre and Blue Anchor Pub Event will have already passed when this story hits the presses but I already know that it will be phenomenal. It's nice to get together with everyone outside of the Monthly Meeting and our Concours Events. I know, personally speaking, Jack and I are having a blast getting to know everybody better. And I'm giving you all fair warning, we keep our friends forever!! Let's keep the fun going and give Thomas and MaryAnne ideas for future Events. For now, my dear friends, Lois Lane, your Roving Report will sign off. Purrs - Cyndi V.
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