Earle just returned from Florida where his Cadillac Flower Car won a huge trophy! Here is Earle’s email to me along with some pictures. Congrats Earle!
Vinny,
I just returned home from Daytona Beach and the 2012 PCS Show.
I had a great time,the car showed well, I have some pictures for you as well as some exciting (I think so any way) news.
As you can imagine, it was hot in Daytona Beach in the third week of June. Not exactly peak tourist season in Florida, but I expect that is why we were able to secure the facilities. We stayed at the Shores Hotel/Resort right on the beach. The hotel has a parking lot across the street and that is where the show was held.
There were sightseeing trips set up during the week, but I was just there for the show and did not opt for any of the activities. In retrospect I have to think that three laps around the Daytona track would have been a cool thing to cross off the bucket list – oh well.
The weather threatened to rain and did rain some the day before the show. It turned out hot and sunny on Friday and we got the entire show in with out any downpours. There were over thirty cars on the field when I counted, most old Cadillacs of course, and a few more came in on show day that I didn’t get included in my count. I heard that 24 cars were entered in the show and were judged. There were some beautiful cars there and I did not envy the folks who had the job of judging and scoring the cars. It took nearly all day, but they did a great job.
Since the Flower Car class only had two entries and the Service Car class only had one car, the two classes were combined to fill out a full slate. The service car was a 1937 Buick Flixible and from what I saw quite nice. I didn’t look at it close because it wasn’t in my class originally and it wasn’t a Caddy. The second car in my class was an El Camino set up for use as a Flower Car. This is something that some Funeral Homes actually do, but the vehicle wasn’t a hit with the judging staff. In the end, that Buick came in third, the El Camino second and my car was judged to be best in my class. In addition to that, and much to my surprise my car was also awarded Senior Status. This is the result of scoring at least 185 points out of a possible 200. I scored exactly 185, but that was enough for the assignment. Making Senior was a goal of mine, but I didn’t think it would come so soon. I figured maybe the next time out, but I am thrilled that my peers recognized the effort I put into the car and deemed it worthy of this honor.
Just for the record, my list of improvements and/or upgrades includes: repair of surface rust on rear quarters, new vinyl roof, new bulkhead window, new radiator, new air intake hose, new custom drain cover and my favorite, new stainless tie down rails along the sides of the tub. I also had a custom ID piece made up that made use of a stud that stuck out of the bulkhead behind the right hand seat. This will have to be replaced by a spare tire as the lack of a spare was a major demerit – 4 points – that I will look to rectify for the next show.
Also, since my mom used to own a 1967 Chevy Camaro, I was happy to see three of them find new homes that day (though a little saddened that one of them wasn’t coming home with me!).
