[DeTomaso] Panteras Northwest - Recap: Silver Reef Casino & Birch Bay Picnic Weekend

[Mike Thomas]

Just thought we'd share with y'all.  Have a great weekend!  - Mike


> Well, we had quite a weekend this year!  For the second in a row, we had
> spectacular weather the whole time, and also for a second time, we made a
> full weekend of it with the Silver Reef Casino Classic & Antique Car Show
> in Ferndale, WA on Saturday, September 6 followed by the 24th (?)
> installment of the Birch Bay Picnic and People's Choice Show at Birch Bay
> State Park on Sunday the 7th.
> 
> Jeff and Kimmie Kimball in their twin-turbo '72 and Chris Papendorf in his
> yellow 74 GTS drove up to Ferndale on Friday night to get a jump on
> things, but if you ask me, the early morning Saturday drive is one of the
> best parts of the weekend.  The weather is cool and dry, there isn't much
> traffic on the freeway, and the sight of 5 Panteras blasting a hole in the
> peace and friggin' quiet is just too cool.  Here is a link to Snapfish
> with pics from the weekend.
> 
> http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=241164450/a=25694369_25694
> 369/t_=25694369
> 
> We met up at the usual Northgate mall location at 6:45 (congrats to night
> owl Chris Kimball for making it at what is Oh-dark hundred for him), and
> had 5 Panteras to start the run.  Besides myself in my yellow '74 L, we
> had Tim and Sharon Brennan in their black '71, Chris Kimball in his green
> '72, Doug Braun in the ubiquitous blue '73 L and Mike Reilly in his red 74
> L, one of the last cars brought in by Ford.  Rolling out at about 7:00,
> the road was clear most all the way.  We made a brief stop at the Smokey
> Point rest area and pulled into the parking lot at the Silver Reef Casino
> at about 8:45.  There was a bit of excitement as we pulled off of I-5 at
> exit 260 for Ferndale.  As we were crossing the bridge, a county mounty
> pulled right into the middle of our group and "escorted" us most of the
> way to the casino.  
> 
> Jeff and Chris had already staked a claim in the show lot for Panteras
> Northwest, so the five of us tucked in with them and watched the rest of
> the cars show up.  About a half-hour after we arrived, another yellow '74
> L Pantera pulled in.  It was Doug McIntyre, all the way from Calgary,
> Alberta!  "Course now, I'd be remiss if I didn't confess that he had only
> driven down from White Rock, B.C. that morning, having been in the area
> for a while to see family, but he did drive his P-car all the way from
> home, over 1,000 miles.  He get's our Iron Butt award this year.  Doug
> said the border crossing was miserable, and thought his clutch was going
> to give up on him in the 90 minutes it took to get through the queue.
> 
> It was a very pleasant surprise to see 8 Panteras parked together at this
> all-comers type car show.  There was a little bit of everything from a
> 1916 Model T to modern muscle.  As Ferndale is so close to Canada, a
> number of the British makes sold only in Canada have shown up which can
> make things that much more interesting.  The Panteras were once again
> lumped into an "All Foreign" class, and first place was taken by a tricked
> out 1946 Ford Anglia.  We had plenty of folks stopping to look at the cars
> and ask questions, but the blinged-out rods really do catch the eye, and
> the trophies, at these shows.
> 
> What makes the Ferndale show so enjoyable for us is that at the end of the
> day, when most of the others have to pack up and head home, we can sit
> around, enjoy a few beers, and just watch.  Since we're not going
> anywhere, it makes for a very relaxed afternoon.  We got together for
> dinner that night at the Panasia Restaurant in the Casino.  They put on a
> surprisingly good menu for being out in the middle of nowhere, and kudos
> to the casino staff for putting it all together.  We can't say as much
> however about the "deluxe" continental breakfast the next morning, but
> hey, when it' s free, you can't (shouldn't?) complain too much.  Should
> we?
> 
> We had all left our cars parked together that night after the show, and
> when a couple of us early birds went out to check on things and wipe the
> dew off, we noticed that Doug Braun's car had disappeared.  Suspecting no
> foul play but just wanting to be sure, we tracked him down to find out
> that he had just made it up before us and taken the car over to the
> station for fuel, etc. earlier that morning.
> 
> And what a morning!  Where Saturday had been lightly overcast through much
> of the day, which did keep things cool for most of the Silver Reef show,
> Sunday opened without a cloud in the sky.  Considering how crappy much of
> August had been, we were very happy.  After topping off the tanks, we
> motored over to Birch Bay State Park on some great shade-dappled back
> roads to arrive by about 10:30.  While still at the hotel, we had heard
> from Sean Mundy that he was on his way, and he was at the park when we
> arrived.  Shortly after we got there, the other cars started rolling in.
> Herman Leong and his wife arrived from B.C. in Herman's white GT5,
> followed shortly by Dave Nunn in his spectacular red '72, making a repeat
> appearance after taking the trophy last year.  Bobby Kelley rumbled in a
> while later in his gorgeous red '72, and was telling us about another red
> Pantera that had met up with him at Northgate, but had fallen back when
> they got off of I-5 to get to the park and lost track of him.
> 
> We commenced the usual bench racing, harassing of Bobby Kelly and looking
> into getting some lunch pulled together when the mystery Pantera finally
> pulled in.  Rob Steil, in his excellent red '72, encountered a bit of a
> brake problem.  Seems one of his Willwood front calipers decided it didn't
> want to stay on the car and promptly shed a bolt.  When Rob heard noises
> like something was falling off the car (which it was!), he did the natural
> thing, he stepped on the brakes - hard!  Well, the end result was that the
> remaining bolt on the left front caliper couldn't take the strain, and
> proceeded to shear itself off, leaving nothing to hold the caliper to the
> rotor and lending a whole new definition to "floating caliper".  By the
> time he was able to get stopped off the freeway, it would only go in one
> direction (backwards) as the loose caliper had wedged itself in the wheel.
> He literally had a tow truck and a cab at the car to get things picked up
> when some guy at the gas station walks over and asked what's up.  Next
> thing Rob and his buddy know, this guy is coming back with a tool chest
> and proceeds to pull the wheel, remove the brake caliper and cap the line,
> and get Rob on his way - on three brakes!  The Perseverance Award goes to
> Rob!
> 
> We spent the next hour or so talking to visitors, voting on the people's
> choice and having a bite of lunch, and then it was awards time.  I tried
> to figure out the best way to break the news to him, but since Dave Nunn
> won the trophy for the second year in a row, I had to figure out a way to
> have him hand the trophy to himself.  So that's basically what we did.
> Congrats Dave!!  We'll see you again next year.  Considering all the
> attention he put into that beautiful car, he deserves that and much more.
> 
> So, at about 2:30, we rolled out, wishing all fare well and to look
> forward to the end of year Christmas party at Tim and Sharon Brennan's.
> It was a great drive back down in the sun, with probably the lightest
> traffic we had in many years.  Going through Everett, we had 6 or 7
> Panteras flying in formation through the traffic, and it was a great
> sight.  The other gorks on the road didn't know quite what to make of us,
> and it put a great cap on the weekend.  Jeff and Kimmie Kimball, Doug
> Braun and I stopped off at McMinnamen's for a beer and munchies, and Terri
> and Stephen Braun and Forest Goodhart joined us.
> 
> Thanks one and all, it was a great time.  Let's look forward to next year,
> and to this fall/winter.  We have a couple of motors to pull (Chris
> Kimball and Warren Lubow) and one to get back in (Roydon Hughes).  We also
> still want to try to get Mike Drew up here for a steering rack redux.
> 
> See ya!
> 
> Mike Thomas, Pres
> Panteras Northwest