ABOVE: Mechanical judging at Salado, Texas, April 2009.
Originally published in the May-June 2009 (# 288) issue of Lincoln & Continental Comments magazine.
The first National LCOC Meet to be held in Salado, Texas, was successful beyond all expectations with 64 cars exhibited or judged and over 200 members and their families attending. This was the first time the spring Texas Regions’ meet has been expanded to a National Mid-America Meet in the 21 year history of the event and it was awesome.
Salado is a spring car tradition in LCOC in Texas and preceded the first LCOC Mid-America National Meet, held in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1989, by a year. Over the years Salado has attracted approximately 40 cars every spring at Blue Bonnet time, but this year 64 cars set the record. The meet is always at the historic Stagecoach Inn and this year the inn was booked to the max and the dining room was packed to an overflow for the Saturday night Awards Banquet.
The four-day event began Thursday, April 23 with the registration desk opening and dinner on your own. Nothing was changed from the regional format according to LCOC President Glenn Kramer who said that Salado has always been kept simple, informal, fun, and relaxed.
Friday was mechanical judging and a tour of sorts which was actually a scavenger hunt on Salado back roads with members doing the tour on their own.
Friday evening was the traditional cocktail hour and barbecue at Don “Doc” Ellis’s City Garage a few blocks north of the hotel. Former LCOC President Doug Mattix and his wife Carol of Rowlett, Texas, were on hand both Friday night and Saturday. Doug and Carol have not been present at LCOC National Meets in recent years due to Doug’s health problems with his back and legs, and it was good to see him back.
Saturday the area in front of the hotel was awash with cars, so much so that cars overflowed down the entry street and into the trailer parking lot. There was only one car that did not show up, a limousine from Minnesota owned by Gordy Jensen, but six other Minnesota cars did show, most of them driven the 1,200 plus miles from Minnesota to Salado.
The traditional LCOC Awards Banquet Saturday night was altered somewhat in keeping with the Salado tradition. Members dined in the main dining room of the Stagecoach Inn. After dinner everyone walked across the hotel grounds to the Conference Center where the awards presentation was made. At the awards presentation there was the addition of a People’s Choice Award which is a Salado tradition. That award went to John and Dorothy Palmer, Bamum, Minnesota, who drove to Salado from Minnesota in their 1946 Lincoln sedan.
Friday night at the City Garage.
Charlie Steward from Florida did not quite get the Hard Luck Award even though he took two rocks in the windshield of his 1994 Lincoln Town Car. Charlie received the Drive Tour Award. The Hard Luck Award went to Bruno Hernandez with a 1969 Lincoln Continental Sedan. The Long Distance Award went to Harvey and Marie Bane who drove their 1958 Lincoln Continental convertible 1,439 miles from Martinsburg, West Virginia.
The Elliston H. Bell Founder’s Trophy was awarded to Bob and B.C. Hardisty, Southlake, Texas, for their beautiful Taos Turquoise 1956 Lincoln Premiere convertible. This is the second time that a 1956 Lincoln convertible has won the Bell Trophy.
All in all, it was a great meet, reminiscent of LCOC meets of the fifties and sixties. A full report on the Salado Mid-America National Meet will be carried in the September-October issue of Lincoln and Continental Comments.