The group of about 100 people began to gather at the Plainwell, Michigan Comfort Inn on Wednesday, August 22nd.  The first official event was the welcome dinner held at a member’s home in Plainwell on Thursday evening.  Great food and a good time to get acquainted and reacquainted with everyone.

On Friday, the first day of touring took us through the back roads of western Michigan to the South Haven Yacht Club for lunch.  We stopped along the way to tour the mostly MOPAR collection of a former Chrysler dealer.  Guests were encouraged to stop and visit a large collection of large steam tractors as well as a small train museum along the way back to Plainwell.  We all came together for dinner in a private dining room at a nice local restaurant in Plainwell.  After dinner, some of us retired to the pool area to discuss cars over cocktails.

Saturday morning was somewhat ominous looking, but we still drove to Saugatuck for a cruise on the Kalamazoo River to Lake Michigan.  Unfortunately the wave height on the lake was such that we did not venture out beyond the mouth of the river.  After the boat ride we walked to the Coral Gables for a nice luncheon.  After lunch, we were on our own with various options to do a walking tour of the art galleries and other shops, take a Dune Ride along the lake and/or visit another private car collection with an eclectic group of vehicles and memorabilia.

Saturday night was the group banquet at the hotel.  A short recap of this year’s meet out in the Sonoma northern California region, a preview of the winter meeting in Branson and also next year’s annual meet in Auburn, Indiana.

Sunday morning came with a temperature inversion induced thick fog.  All the cars made their way to Hickory Corners and the Gilmore Museum complex.  Unfortunately, the damp weather kept a locally owned Silver Arrow from being brought to the show.  The cars to be judged were all examined.  Eight cars were awarded class trophies, including the car I was lucky to be in the one day of touring, a 1928 Series 81 Roadster, first place in Class 1. Greg Long was awarded the David Harris trophy and the Pierce Arrow Museum award was given to Mark Kehoe for his 1937 Model A Travel Trailer.

Article by Duane Wesche