Warning! This post is way too long in words and and way too short in imagery but I decided to post it anyway while the details were still fresh so I would not have to rely on memory alone when recalling what it was like to take The Alfatross to her first Concours.
So what is it really like, taking a car to a concours event for the first time? It must be fun! All the excitement, the beautiful setting, the beautiful cars, the beautiful people! Kind of an exotic weekend vacation just like in the car magazines, right? And at Scottsdale's uber-luxurious Arizona Biltmore Hotel, too!
Well . . . not exactly. Not this time, at least. It was more of a . . . learning experience. The reality was a lot different for The Alfatross and I than for most of the other entrants and attendees, many of whom seemed to be old hands at this.
Dave has driven this route many times. He gleefully points out the highlights: a billboard commanding drivers to "Eat Here, Get Gas." And another classic "Your Wife is Hot . . . And She's Calling Me!" (an air conditioning company). The big Dodge Ram 2500 eats up the road--and diesel fuel--but a fill-up gets you almost 500 miles, even pulling an enclosed trailer. At the halfway mark the vehicle condition monitoring screen sends a cryptic message to the effect that something is wrong with the engine and it needs immediate attention. We keep going, taking turns at the wheel as the miles and hours go by.
Our first objective is to rendezvous with Tim Marinos, who did all The Alfatross' paint and bodywork, at the home of a friend of his, Wayne Cooper, in Mesa just East of Scottsdale. This is not Tim's first rodeo and he knows The Alfatross is going to need some considerable primping to be ready for the show field.
He also knows that Dave and I don't know how to do that to the level necessary for an event like this and, left to our own devices, we would not be capable of showing 2 years of his hard work to best advantage. So he pretty much insisted on coming all the way from Nashville, TN to make sure we didn't drop the ball in the 11th hour. Which is fine with us! By the time we arrive, late, and drop the car off, we are in no shape to be of use to him anyway. We can't leave the trailer in Wayne's neighborhood or at the Embassy Suites where we're staying, so we tow it back across town through rush-hour traffic to a lot designated for that purpose at the Scottsdale Automotive Museum.
After breakfast it's pedal to the metal again. Tim sends us a list of things we need to pick up for him before we drive out to Mesa. It means several stops. Dave calls around to all the Dodge dealers to find out what the warning message means and discovers we need to replace some parts on the intake system. We do the shopping first and pick up the trailer last then make the 45 minute trip to Mesa to link up with Tim.
He puts us to work immediately. The main task is to sharpen The Alfatross' "presentation" (car-show speak for its only chance to make a good first impression). Later, as the buffing, scrubbing, and polishing are winding down, I call DeWayne Samuels, who built the engine, to get some carburetor tuning tips. Then we fire her up and hesitantly back out into the cul-de-sac to conduct the first real tests of the engine, clutch, brakes, and transmission. We decide The Alfatross will be OK as long as we don't ask her to go fast, stop quick, or do wheelies.
It's dark and chilly as we make the short trip back to the parking garage where a big crowd is already gathering. With about 100 cars in the show there are at least that many drivers, and a lot of couples, too, so the place is thrumming. Engines are firing up, some with difficulty. Soon the whole garage is filled with eye-burning unburned hydrocarbons and a cacophony of ear-shattering under-muffled exhausts.
The organizers brief us to follow the car in front and look for directions from marshals with flashlights who will usher us to our appointed station on the lawn. I get the impression that it's a tricky route and there could be surprises along the way. The Alfatross starts easily but runs rough and the brake pedal goes almost to the floor before it begins to overcome the car's inertia. As we make our way to the exit through the echo-chamber of the garage I realize that The Alfatross is still running rich and probably making more than its share of both exhaust fumes and entertaining exhaust notes, that she is not going to let me down, and for the first time since leaving Santa Fe I am optimistic that this escapade is going to turn out all right after all.
The trip to the show field snakes up a public road a short distance before it turns into a narrow service alley, cuts across someone's lawn, passes over a tennis court, climbs a flight of stairs, squeezes between two guest houses, turns onto a golf-cart track, crosses over a swimming pool, makes a couple of switch-backs and finally ends with a climb over a plywood ramp to poop out onto the totally enclosed show field. OK, I could be wrong about crossing a swimming pool--it was dark, my eyes were watering, and the windshield kept fogging up.
About half way through the journey, really a series of abrupt starts and stops while the cars in front of me grope their way, Dave appears out of the night, much to my relief, to coach The Alfatross and I through the obstacle course. Looking concerned, he tells me we're overheating and wipes the fog off the windshield, but there's nothing to do except press on. It is with a great sense of relief that we reach our spot, park, shut down the engine and take stock of the situation.
One by one the other cars find their places on the field, engines go silent, an early morning calm settles over the field, and it slowly sinks in that we made it! Such was the surreal beginning of The Alfatross' first public outing. A lot happened after that, too. After all, the sun wasn't up and the Concours hadn't even started!
It was hours to go before the first spectators would arrive so we drivers, owners, and support crews could mingle at out leisure among the great cars, meet and greet and swap stories. Much to my delight the car next to us, a Zagato-bodied 1956 Ferrari, turned out to be shepherded by Dan Allen, a name that should by now be familiar to readers of this blog. After corresponding for years, trading information and parts, we finally got to meet in person! I think Dan and another old friend and Alfa TZ owner, Richard Ballantine, were almost as surprised as I was that The Alfatross made it to the show. I felt no sense of competition between the owners or representatives of any of the other cars in the Zagato class, just a spirit of camaraderie was as uplifting as it was genuine.
Lest anyone misinterpret my intentions in telling this story, the organizers of the Arizona Concours d'Elegance get my highest praise, as do the staff of the Arizona Biltmore. In my opinion they did a superb job. The challenges we had were entirely self-inflicted. If you've even been a visitor to a concours, concorso, or just plain car show and thought it was exciting, now you know that's nothing compared to what an entrant experiences!
The Alfatross did surprisingly well at the Arizona Concours--so well that many people got the impression its restoration is complete. From my perspective there is still a lot of work to be done. Now that the weather up here in Santa Fe is getting better we will soon be able to take it on the road for real-world testing. There's more to the story yet to come . . . .
So what is it really like, taking a car to a concours event for the first time? It must be fun! All the excitement, the beautiful setting, the beautiful cars, the beautiful people! Kind of an exotic weekend vacation just like in the car magazines, right? And at Scottsdale's uber-luxurious Arizona Biltmore Hotel, too!
Well . . . not exactly. Not this time, at least. It was more of a . . . learning experience. The reality was a lot different for The Alfatross and I than for most of the other entrants and attendees, many of whom seemed to be old hands at this.
10 PM, Thursday, January 21st
Having started The Alfatross for the first time in 46 years, and driven all of about 60 feet from the back of The Shed to the end of the concrete slab, beyond which lay only ice and snow, all we knew for certain was that it would engage first gear, the clutch worked, and the brakes would stop you . . . eventually (see video below). The engine started easily, but ran much too rich because it was tuned for an elevation that was about 6,000 ft lower than Santa Fe. To be completely honest, I was hoping that it wouldn't run and we could use that as a perfectly valid reason for being a "no-show" at the Arizona Concours d'Elegance. But The Alfatross had other ideas!4:30 AM Friday, January 22nd
I'm up before the 5:00 alarm has a chance to wake me. The plan is for Dave, Toni, and I to meet at The Shed at 6:30 to start loading The Alfatross in its trailer. It's cold as Hell and still dark. That's good, because it means that the 1,200 ft dirt road from The Shed to the pavement is frozen solid. But there are complications: We're going to use "bonnets" on The Alfatross' tires to hold it securely to steel tracks Dave installed in the trailer, but this is the first time we've used them so they have to be adjusted and set up in advance. I'm watching the time because we're on a tight schedule and our destination is 500 miles away. We finally get off to a late start at just before 9:00. Toni and Lydia, Dave's wife, will fly down later in the day to join us in Scottsdale. |
| We didn't. |
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| Tim Marinos went the extra mile to make sure The Alfatross put her best foot forward . Eric Hoover. |
Our first objective is to rendezvous with Tim Marinos, who did all The Alfatross' paint and bodywork, at the home of a friend of his, Wayne Cooper, in Mesa just East of Scottsdale. This is not Tim's first rodeo and he knows The Alfatross is going to need some considerable primping to be ready for the show field.
He also knows that Dave and I don't know how to do that to the level necessary for an event like this and, left to our own devices, we would not be capable of showing 2 years of his hard work to best advantage. So he pretty much insisted on coming all the way from Nashville, TN to make sure we didn't drop the ball in the 11th hour. Which is fine with us! By the time we arrive, late, and drop the car off, we are in no shape to be of use to him anyway. We can't leave the trailer in Wayne's neighborhood or at the Embassy Suites where we're staying, so we tow it back across town through rush-hour traffic to a lot designated for that purpose at the Scottsdale Automotive Museum.
Saturday, January 23rd
By this time my only thought was "OK, one more day to go and then it will all be over--one way or the other." And I didn't care which way. We can't register and pick up our entrant packets until 8:30, so we have a leisurely breakfast at the hotel and drive over to the show venue, the spectacular Arizona Biltmore Hotel. While we get registered and case the joint to see where The Alfatross will be displayed on the field, Toni, smitten by all the swag on display, thoughtfully loads up on Concours items to present to the Car Table Cavalry guys back in Santa Fe who worked so long and hard to get the car ready.After breakfast it's pedal to the metal again. Tim sends us a list of things we need to pick up for him before we drive out to Mesa. It means several stops. Dave calls around to all the Dodge dealers to find out what the warning message means and discovers we need to replace some parts on the intake system. We do the shopping first and pick up the trailer last then make the 45 minute trip to Mesa to link up with Tim.
He puts us to work immediately. The main task is to sharpen The Alfatross' "presentation" (car-show speak for its only chance to make a good first impression). Later, as the buffing, scrubbing, and polishing are winding down, I call DeWayne Samuels, who built the engine, to get some carburetor tuning tips. Then we fire her up and hesitantly back out into the cul-de-sac to conduct the first real tests of the engine, clutch, brakes, and transmission. We decide The Alfatross will be OK as long as we don't ask her to go fast, stop quick, or do wheelies.
 |
| After an extensive detailing session with Tim Marinos and a thorough (100 yard!) road test on the cul-de-sac in front of Wayne's house, the Alfatross is hastily loaded into her trailer for the race back to the Biltmore parking garage to beat the 5:00 closing deadline. Dave Carrell. |
4:44 PM Saturday, January 23rd
As we pull up to the parking garage, where we expected to find a line of trailers waiting their turn to unload, we are surprised to find it unoccupied. Are we too late? Is it closed already? No, a weary attendant comes out to greet us. With a whole 12 minutes to spare we're the last car to arrive! By the time we find the part needed to repair the truck, install it, and return the trailer to the Scottsdale Automotive Museum it's late and we've put another 150+ miles on the odometer.4:30 AM Sunday, January 24th
Now it's 4:30 AM, the morning of the Arizona Concours and I can't sleep any more so I get up without waking Toni, shower, and put on my work clothes. Dave and I are supposed to meet at 5:30, but he's in the room next door so I hear him when he opens the door at 5:15 and we start loading up. We try to disguise our . . . anxiety? excitement? But there's no denying that we're way too awake for the hour.It's dark and chilly as we make the short trip back to the parking garage where a big crowd is already gathering. With about 100 cars in the show there are at least that many drivers, and a lot of couples, too, so the place is thrumming. Engines are firing up, some with difficulty. Soon the whole garage is filled with eye-burning unburned hydrocarbons and a cacophony of ear-shattering under-muffled exhausts.
 |
| Showtime! We head out of the parking garage for the field. Feets, don't fail me now! Dave Carrell. |
The trip to the show field snakes up a public road a short distance before it turns into a narrow service alley, cuts across someone's lawn, passes over a tennis court, climbs a flight of stairs, squeezes between two guest houses, turns onto a golf-cart track, crosses over a swimming pool, makes a couple of switch-backs and finally ends with a climb over a plywood ramp to poop out onto the totally enclosed show field. OK, I could be wrong about crossing a swimming pool--it was dark, my eyes were watering, and the windshield kept fogging up.
About half way through the journey, really a series of abrupt starts and stops while the cars in front of me grope their way, Dave appears out of the night, much to my relief, to coach The Alfatross and I through the obstacle course. Looking concerned, he tells me we're overheating and wipes the fog off the windshield, but there's nothing to do except press on. It is with a great sense of relief that we reach our spot, park, shut down the engine and take stock of the situation.
One by one the other cars find their places on the field, engines go silent, an early morning calm settles over the field, and it slowly sinks in that we made it! Such was the surreal beginning of The Alfatross' first public outing. A lot happened after that, too. After all, the sun wasn't up and the Concours hadn't even started!
 |
| Hot car, cool morning. Randy Davis. |
It was hours to go before the first spectators would arrive so we drivers, owners, and support crews could mingle at out leisure among the great cars, meet and greet and swap stories. Much to my delight the car next to us, a Zagato-bodied 1956 Ferrari, turned out to be shepherded by Dan Allen, a name that should by now be familiar to readers of this blog. After corresponding for years, trading information and parts, we finally got to meet in person! I think Dan and another old friend and Alfa TZ owner, Richard Ballantine, were almost as surprised as I was that The Alfatross made it to the show. I felt no sense of competition between the owners or representatives of any of the other cars in the Zagato class, just a spirit of camaraderie was as uplifting as it was genuine.
Lest anyone misinterpret my intentions in telling this story, the organizers of the Arizona Concours d'Elegance get my highest praise, as do the staff of the Arizona Biltmore. In my opinion they did a superb job. The challenges we had were entirely self-inflicted. If you've even been a visitor to a concours, concorso, or just plain car show and thought it was exciting, now you know that's nothing compared to what an entrant experiences!
The Alfatross did surprisingly well at the Arizona Concours--so well that many people got the impression its restoration is complete. From my perspective there is still a lot of work to be done. Now that the weather up here in Santa Fe is getting better we will soon be able to take it on the road for real-world testing. There's more to the story yet to come . . . .
