Boy what a show!! I was there three days and manage to see maybe half of the show. The swap meet was at least ten times larger than L-ville. I don't know the finial show car count but I would guess about 15000+.. Someone might know the exact count. We would like to know if someone has the that. Our club ( Citrus County Cruisers) had a great parking area along with many other clubs. The weather was perfect all weekend. Cruising A1A was awsume. I have never seen so many burn outs before. Almost every block had a burn out area. Of course the police tried to control it but that was next to impossible. The main cruise-in filled a shopping mall lot to the hilt. If you missed this one you should plan on attending next year if you can. Keep Roddin ....Ra
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Grump

Grump- I would have loved to go but I was stuck up on a mountain in NC in a 2 day rain with crappy food! (I'm gonna change my plans for next year that's for sure!!!!!) Glad you guys had a good time!

That sounds like one of my deer hunting trecks. Bad food and a wet, cold butt...Lol
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Grump

Hey Ray! Wuz I exaggerating about the Turkey Run? Sorry I couldn't spend more time with you and Denise. ALL my plans for the Run went awry. Had a blast, though. Only negative for the whole weekend...my trailers axle snapped in half on the way home. Luckily, I had my MacGiver Do-It-Yourself repair kit (Home Depot and Discount Auto Parts) nearby. Lost about an hour, but got home ok.
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Fred aka ZZFord or 33Highboy

Hi Grump, A good friend of mine was there, he asked for the official count.....5406 registered.

Ed, it sure seemed like more than that. That place is so big it is hard to guess for sure.. It seemed larger than L-ville for sure....
Sorry to hear about your axle Fred. Now you can fix it right at home anyway.. I only saw Dense now and then myself. It's hard to spend time together at a show that big. There is just so many things to see...I think the Tampa NSRA show was better, there you could just relax and enjoy everything.....I did like all the super cruise-ins that went on every night though. Sure was a bunch of them. Did you catch the 33 willy that was running 2000hp on the street.I told him I would run him to New Smyrna Beach (14 miles) but he said he couldn't carry enough alky to run that far. I couldn't believe all the drag cars running around on the streets, unreal....
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Grump

Just got home. I agree with Grump, awesome show! It was great seeing Grumpy again and finally meeting Fred and his lovely wife. The weather was perfect, sunshine, blue skies and temps in the 80's. The cruzn action at nite was just as much fun as the daytime show itself. Put 2,400 trouble free miles on the Vette this trip. She does need a good bath now from driving on the salty sand there. :)
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YOUR ROD-LESS CRUZN BUDDY, DENISE

I agree with Grumpy and Denise on the fantastic show !!! It would have taken at least a week of hard walking to have seen all the cars and vendor booths there. They said 5400 cars but I know there were alot more than that there. My biggest problem was the first nite...trying to sleep...my roomy snored too loud...Oh bye the way....nice meeting you Grumpy and next time bring your ear plugs...lol...

Dave

LOL Welcome aboard Dave. Glad you finally found your way in here. It's a great group of guys, you'll enjoy yourself. Now that everyone here knows YOU snore, you'll never get any of these guys to share a room with you at a show!!
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YOUR ROD-LESS CRUZN BUDDY, DENISE

Hey Dave hows the weather back up that way. I heard it was still warm so get that car out and cruise. Are you still driving the Green Sheen are did you sell it?? It was nice to met you guy and we had a good time for sure even if Denise wouldn't give you a break....
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Grump

Man it was 70 degrees today here in upstate NY, Havn`t stopped cruisin and the January thaw is soon gonna be here.

Hey Grumpy, I had Mr Green Sheen out yesterday for about 3 hours and yes its been great weather here. I didn't get it out today and your not gonna believe what I had to do. I had to mow the yard as the grass was getting way out of hand !! Now thats not bad for Dec. 5th in southern Ohio.....lol....

Dave

It has been so dry here that I have had to run the sprinklers more than I want to. I only mow about once a month now. I'm off to a show in Fanning Springs this Saturday, right on the Suwannee River I hear. Our club has a cruise of the month and this is it for this month... Drive-um while you can guys
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Grump

Boy what a difference a day makes around here. Beautiful here yesterday with a high of 76 and then about midnite it starting raining and 24 hr.s later and its still putting it down. Got up in the 50's today but it looks like its down hill from now till who knows when.

Dave

Sounds like it was a real blast. I've attended Daytona Bike Week for nearly 25 years, but never made the Turkey Run. Maybe next year. I've had a bad hankerin' lately for Hog Heaven B-B-Q, Duff's Buffet, and a few cold ones at Molly Brown's!

I wasn't aware of all the A1A cruising. During Bike Week, burn-outs on the street (especially Speedway Blvd. and Main Street) are a MAJOR no-no. Guaranteed ticket every time. Even towaway and impound if too extreme. I guess the local constables are more lenient with rodders. Nice to hear.

A quick question for you Turkey Runners. A friend of mine who was there purchased a blue '67 Skylark ragtop at the show. Anyone familiar with this car? Any inside info on it? I think the car/owner was from Venice FLa.

Mrs. Graybeard and I are thinking about the Cruisin' The Coast run next year as well. Any info on this event? Good, bad, overcrowded, police tolerance, price gouging by locals, hotel availability, security problems, etc?

Any upcoming events closer to South Jersey?

(8^P)

I haven't done the cruisin the coast but check with slammin about local stuff coming up he's in Baltimore (or Timonium some place up there!) but he's usually up on the local stuff. In March there's a run to the sun in Myrtle Beach if you want to come south or later in the year there's a show in York,etc,etc.

Hi Bud, I went to both the Cruzn the Coast show and the Turkey Rod Run so I guess I can shed some lite on them for you. Yes there was a lot of cruzn A1A in Daytona but it was nothing compared to bike week. Traffic never got backed up on Main St at all. Most of the cruzn was north of Main St to just past the LaPlaya Hotel. There was some burning out in front of some hotels. I did see lots of wet spots and folks with hoses in lawn chairs but the police were out and I did see some get pulled over.

The show itself was your typical speedway style show. Lots of vendors, a ton of swap spaces and no shade. One of my gripes at this show was the "club parking" spaces that are saved. From what I gathered, if you sign up for the show as a club, they will save you that many spaces in an area that has your club name on it. Some areas even had members with clip boards checking to make sure you belonged to that club. You even got special stickers with your club parking area on them. It wouldn't matter how early you got to the show, if you didn't preregister with your club you were stuck parking way out in turn 3 or on the other side of the lake toward where the motorhomes were parked. Another peeve with this show was they had a cut off of 1978 which is fine with me if everyone plays by the rules. On Thursday we parked my 90 Vette in the host hotel parking lot across the street and walked in. Low and behold, one of the first cars we saw was a newer Vette and not long after that a Prowler. There were also PT's and even a Focus! We went right over and registered the Vette. Drove the Vette into the show after that and no one gave us a second glance. I guess they really didn't care what cars were there, seems they just wanted the quanity.

Hog Heaven BBQ was up to snuff, had all you can eat crab legs at Charlie Horse, (yum, yum) and prime rib at a new place on Main St called the Wreck. Its owned by the same guy that owns the Daytona HD shop and has some really cool old bikes inside. Its on the canel, is open to the water and has a really cool bar area. Very pleasent place to hang out. The live band at Boot Hill was great. It was the only place during the week that had live music and people dancing. The Bank was only open on Fri and Sat but had a very good blues band. The rest of the places had DJ's. You could actually walk into any bar along Main St and get a seat. One of my favorite spots for watching the bikes and cars go by is the railing in front of Dirty Hairys. Never had a problem getting a seat out front there all week long.

As far as hotels and motels go, there were plenty of rooms availablew, in fact I think the only place that was booked solid was the La Playa and maybe a few that were real close to there and the speedway. All in all, it was a good show, but I enjoyed the people more then the actual show itself.

The Cruzn the Coast show has a very unique setup. It takes place at 5 different locations spread over about 40 miles from Bay St Louis to Biloxi, MS. Like Daytona it takes place right along the water but unlike Daytona you can actually see the water from the road. All the hotels, motels, and beautiful homes are along the north side of the road so when you cruz all you see on the south side is sand and water. Truely an awesome site.

Bay St Louis was my favorite venue there. They closed the streets in the "Old Town" section and had the cars back into the curb. Lots of quaint shops and great places to eat and drink. Live band everyday and no vendors taking up spaces. There were vendors set up in Biloxi and you received 2 passes to get into the area free.

All 5 locations had stuff going on. Cruz ins, live entertainment, food, etc but some were better then others. Half the fun was cruzn from one location to the next. You never felt that you had to get up early and get to "the show" to get a parking spot. The show was all around you, everyone was cruzn night and day.

If you like to gamble, this is the show for you. All the casinos had special parking set aside for the classic cars with security.

Prices for the hotels were about the same that you might pay at a vacation spot. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Biloxi, (228-388-1000) kind of in the heart of the night time cruzn action, and paid $79 per nite for 2 double beds. The cool thing about this place was not only the free breakfast in the morning but they had FREE cocktails and beer everynight for a couple of hours!! They have a great grassy area out front with some trees that overlook the water. Truely an awesome place to relax and watch the cruzn action.

And cruz everyone did. There was far more cruzn and burnouts then in Daytona. The cops tried to keep it under control but they couldn't keep up with it. Someone would lay down a burnout and others would line up trying to out do it!! One guy did a burnout for so long and the smoke was so thick that he didn't see the cops come up. As he was getting his ticket, someone passed a hat and he received enough to pay for the ticket. There was another guy in an Astro van that had the crowd on their feet. He'd burnout, then go hide behind the hotel and come out half an hour later and do it again. Never got caught by the cops. It really wouldn't surprise me if next year the local police have state reinforcements to help keep everything under control.

If you had to choose between the 2 shows to do next year, this would be the one I'd choose.

A third show that I'll throw into the mix was the Back to the 50's in St Paul, MN. Over 10,000 cars. The fairgrounds are the nicest I've ever been to. Paved, tree- lined blvds with tons of cruzn room. The night time cruzn action outside the fairgrounds was grid locked. It got so bad the cops had to block the main drag and divert the traffic onto a cross street. The BBQ at Famous Daves was so good we ate there twice in 4 days! The nice thing about this place was it's on the main drag so you can watch the action as you eat then hop right back into the thick of things. This is a for sure show for me for next year. Cruzn the Coast is a probley, and Daytona is a maybe.

Love to hook up and meet you and Mrs Greybeard soon. Maybe at Bike Week next year?

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YOUR ROD-LESS CRUZN BUDDY, DENISE

Thanks Denise! I was hopin' for a reply from someone, but didn't expect such a great review of both events! After talking to my friends who attended the Turkey Run, as well as reading your review, I think I'll pass. I've been to Daytona plenty of times, so the location alone wouldn't hold any surprises. And I'd probably get a bad attitude over the parking situation. Especially if the promoters fills parking spots with late model cars, no matter HOW nice they are (kinda defeats the purpose of a "rod" run). As far as the cruisin', I can do loads of that around home and save the travel expense.

So it looks like the Cruisin' The Coast run will be a goal for 2003. You've made it sound VERY cool. I checked out their website, and was a little put off by the amount of restrictions, warnings, requirements, etc. they has posted. Also, the entry fee seemed high. But if it's as good a run as you describe, it should be well worth it.

We have one problem with long distance events. Actually two. Our cars! Mrs. Graybeard's car (a really adorable '59 Anglia, known as the "Cherry-Bomb") is an old warrior from the gasser wars of the 60's with a straight axle front end and a 4:88 rear. It's been tamed down and converted for street duty, but still isn't really designed for extended hiway travel. And mine is a fenderless open motor '34 Ford coupe. Neither car is really well suited for travel in bad weather like rain. And neither car has much storage space. Trailers are out of the question unless we're broke down.

I know it's no excuse. Some guys travel cross-country in t-buckets. God bless 'em! But I just don't enjoy grudge-runs anymore. I got that out of my system long ago with motorcycles. 1200 mile rides in 18-20 hours on a rigid frame '47 Harley Knucklehead (in February). Rain, snow, ice, whatever. It's what made me appreciate the doors and roof on my hot-rod! So a run from New Jersey to Mississippi would be tough unless we schedule a LOT of time to get there and back. Avoid interstates. make it a long vacation and enjoy the trip.

We might just put off all long distace events for the upcoming year and save a few extra pesos. By the following year, both Mrs. Graybeard and I will be retired, so time will cease to exist in it's present form! For this reason, we've begun asking a LOT of questions. There are loads more events than budget would allow. So we're "shopping around" to see where we'll want to go once we have the time. CHoosing is the hard part!

We've also heard great things about events in Pidgeon Forge Tennessee, Syracuse New York, and York Pennsylvania. Decisions, decisions.... The future's so bright, We gotta wear shades!

(8^P)

Gray, let me be the first to tell ya York NSRA Nats East is a must do for anybody, Pigeon Forge Grand Run's another hot one on the schedule, that'n leans towards the high end rods (pro hi-buck stuff) but hey, a rod run/show is a rod run/show no matter if it's a strictly beater show or whatever. You'll love York and PF for sure.

Slammin
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Hold your ears folks...ITS SHOWTIME!!!

Denise, I guess you lucked out getting your 'Vette in. In the past I have tried to slide my late model truck in, never made it past the gate. As far as the other late models that were there this time, according to the entry papers, later cars must have four significant modifications. As far as the lack of shade, One thing you learn being a Florida rodder is to bring your own shade. Many of the runs down here lack good shade. Most of the trees in South Fla. don't offer a lot of shade. Lotta pines and like that. Poor shade trees. I bought a canopy and use it alot. Parking at Daytona is like most rod runs, if you want a good spot, better get there early. Friday we got a late start and ended up near the outermost edges of the earth. I like Daytona 'cause there is so much to see. I enjoy the cars, but the swap meet is my favorite. I'd go for it alone.
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Fred aka ZZFord or 33Highboy

Fred, None of the late models we saw had ANY body mods at all. As far as engine mods go, well then I guess I fit the criteria, got more then 4! LOL

We got there pretty early on Thursday and although we were just walking, not looking for a place to park, there were all those little signs around stating club parking. Hardly anyone was parked in the "playground" area yet there wasn't any "legal" parking for just anyone. That whole area in there was just for stated club members only. I might go again but only because I like the area alot and there's lots to do beside the actual show and of course, all my great buddies that were there. The ones that don't live in Michigan, and I don't see enough of (you know who you are :) They're the ones that made it so special. It was very nice to met you there. Hopefully next time we met up we can hang out alittle more. Give Cruzn the Coast a shot next year. It was truely awesome and very unique.
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YOUR ROD-LESS CRUZN BUDDY, DENISE

I did not get to go this year(daytona),but i have allways liked the swap meet section.So much stuff you cant possably see it all. The nite life is a lot of fun in the area if you avoid the tourist traps.(we wont go there for fear of pissing off a certain person again) .Also some fun short tracks with in and hour of daytona.Grey beard if i can run a ridged 48 pan in feb from mass you can make it in the old gasser LOL (man i about froze to death above mur-land) I think i would not want to miss the daytona event when you retire. Heck lot of guys go to syracuse from NJ so that would not be a bad ride either.Just take your time and have fun ,thats what its all about. Hurry up and retire,than maybe build a big car!!! LOL On the late model deal,why would you even bring a late model yuppie car to a rod meet if it was allready parked ??? I think they have them as rental cars in fla (well maybe a little newer) LO
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Drive like you stole it !!

Your ignorance doesn't piss me off, I truely feel sorry for you. I would feel sorry for anyone who is as unhappy in their life as you are. Your unhappiness in life really shows when your so neginative about other people, other things and other idea's. You never have anything nice to say about anyone or anything. You really need professional help and I hope you realize that soon and get it. It really would help you become a happier person and probley a more pleasent person to be around. As far as I'm concerned, you don't exist on this board, this will be my only post to you regarding this matter. Good luck in getting that help sooner then later.
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YOUR ROD-LESS CRUZN BUDDY, DENISE

When we talked face to face you did not think that :) All you asked was i married did i have any kids and some other funny stuff. I think you may have the problem.LOL For the record i dont like new corvettes or PT cruzers or harleys or vipers or powerparker's at hot rod shows .so.....those are my only dislikes. I do need some professional help,this friggin house is drivin me crazy drivin nails.I need a house i can weld on.LOL Sorry to piss you off again. LOL
mike hopelessy unhappy.
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Drive like you stole it !!

Hey Mike, not only that but you are a rookie hotrodder, These people are professionals. What they say is golden. Us rookies should just listen and be damn glad we did. lol