Car Show Season

[eaton53]

Drew's Crew Car Show in Clinton, IA.

Screenshot 2019-07-07 at 6.50.19 PM.png (709.43 KiB) Viewed 11166 times

The 1961 Mercedes 300SL roadster parked next to me is worth about half a million bucks. It is not a replica, it's the real deal.
30 year restoration was just completed. The trim alone cost about twice as much as my car.

Screenshot 2019-07-07 at 7.06.39 PM.png (128.13 KiB) Viewed 11166 times

[eaton53]

IMG_20190810_190142.jpg (30.19 KiB) Viewed 10783 times

[Bob Weir]

"The 1961 Mercedes 300SL roadster parked next to me is worth about half a million bucks. It is not a replica, it's the real deal.
30 year restoration was just completed. The trim alone cost about twice as much as my car."

I bet you drive more miles on yours enjoying it more than the garage queen.Was side by side positioning of the XR and Benz accidental or on purpose? Two unique rides side by side had to gather a lot more attention than the traditional cars at the show.

Thanks for promoting the Merkur. MCA Board still discussing flag on pole for Carlisle.

[eaton53]

"The 1961 Mercedes 300SL roadster parked next to me is worth about half a million bucks. It is not a replica, it's the real deal.
30 year restoration was just completed. The trim alone cost about twice as much as my car."

I bet you drive more miles on yours enjoying it more than the garage queen.Was side by side positioning of the XR and Benz accidental or on purpose? Two unique rides side by side had to gather a lot more attention than the traditional cars at the show.

Thanks for promoting the Merkur. MCA Board still discussing flag on pole for Carlisle.

Yeah, that Mercedes is not going to be driven much. I'm out representin' every week during the season.
I think I was the only one brave enough to park next to him. Note that I did put the pole on the other side.
It wasn't windy or anything, but I didn't want to make Mercedes Guy nervous.

The photo at the end of Page 2 was taken in 30+ mph winds. Not much flex!

At the car show in today's post, I ran into a former tech and a 30-something lady that had one in college in the late '90's.
She said her dad bought it for her because it was cheap. She drove it a little over a year, then it broke, there was no part and it got junked.
Mine was the first one she's seen since. I let her sit in the driver's seat and take a picture with her daughter.
She had a big smile on her face the whole time.

I see that Harbor Freight has this flagpole:

https://www.harborfreight.com/20-ft-tel ... gIW1_D_BwE

That is very inexpensive for a not-skinny telescoping flagpole.
Obviously not on the same planet as mine, but it's a fraction of the cost and won't be used nearly as much.
I like the size of it. Get a member to fab up a wheel stand, have a MCA flag made and you're in business!

[eaton53]

68302864_2689465921105503_6771347625288400896_o.jpg (481.28 KiB) Viewed 10719 times

[eaton53]

Perfect weather today... sunny, breezy and 75 degrees. Hopefully it stays this way for the next 6 weeks.

IMG_20190824_145459.jpg (87.88 KiB) Viewed 10547 times

[eaton53]

Screenshot 2019-09-04 at 6.30.01 PM.png (894.12 KiB) Viewed 10280 times

[eaton53]

Fun car show story...
I run into ex-owners and techs all the time, but yesterday I ran into the owner of Strieter Lincoln-Mercury here in town.
They sold quite a few XR4Tis back in the day and he drove both XRs and Scorpios at that time.

He told me that back in '15, he got a phone call from Curt Gustafson, the owner of Gustafson Ford in Kewanee, IL who was a friend of his.
Told him he had this really nice XR4Ti and he should think about buying it. He told Curt he would think about it.

While he was thinking about it, some guy swooped in and bought it.
I said that next time he talks to his buddy again he should tell him that he has seen the car that he called about years ago.
The owner has gone off the deep end and kicked it up a few notches from 2015...

[Bob Weir]

Small world...

Ask him to please check with his Parts Manager or another old time employee if the dealership might have any Merkur parts collecting dust.

My favorite local parts manager [since retired] from local dealership would find OEM parts in some of those "once-upon-a-time Merkur" dealerships.

[eaton53]

Small world...

Ask him to please check with his Parts Manager or another old time employee if the dealership might have any Merkur parts collecting dust.

My favorite local parts manager [since retired] from local dealership would find OEM parts in some of those "once-upon-a-time Merkur" dealerships.

That did come up after he saw my dealer book. He said he thought he had some literature and dealer books.
I asked if he had anything interesting to sell and he said not now, but his kids may at some point.

I had previously talked to the guy who was his service manager in the '80's (since retired) a couple of years ago.
He told me when they killed the brand, to avoid hard feelings Ford agreed to buy all of their parts inventory.
They boxed up everything and sent it back.

But here's another one...
I was at a different show on Saturday and I was wearing one of my mechanic's shirts.
A guy came up to me thinking I was an actual Merkur mechanic and told me he had a bunch of Merkur specialty tools.
He was a long time tech and this stuff was in his tool chest collecting dust. I told him that I don't work on my car, but I know people who do.

I gave him the board's web address and said there's a FS section. Put your tools on there and someone will probably want them.
He wrote it down... let's see if he posts his stuff.

[eaton53]

Last cruise in of the year for my other car club.

2019-09-14 20.16.29.jpg (161.8 KiB) Viewed 10119 times

[eaton53]

Screenshot 2019-11-10 at 11.38.50 AM.png (195.96 KiB) Viewed 9416 times

Everyday is like Sunday.
Everyday is silent and gray.

[Bob Weir]

Stored away until the next car show season... Thanks for promoting the marque!

[eaton53]

Stored away until the next car show season...

18 weeks from next Saturday!
Just in the nick of time... it is snowing today. Yuck.

Thanks for promoting the marque!

You're welcome, Bob. It's fun.
When I roll in now there are people that say "Time for the flags to fly!" It's almost become my trademark at this point.
Some other people have also started using tailgating flagpoles. The Camaro Club has picked up on it, they've usually got several up.

I had someone on GM Inside News PM me that he was thinking about buying an XR. Maybe a future member?

[eaton53]

My employer's flag will be joining the throng on the MegaPole this upcoming season. There's plenty of room.

Capture.JPG (18.1 KiB) Viewed 8458 times

Unbelievable deal on custom flags at Bestofsigns.com right now... 2 x 3 flag for $20.70 shipped. How they make any money at that price... ???
That's less than half of what the MCA flag cost, so I pulled the trigger.

Just five weeks until my car is back.