I guess it's about time to wrap this up.
I would list this as a good news bad news kind of weekend, but all in all successful. The weather was predicted as hit or miss showers and was pretty much spot on. This may have kept the number of Opels down. The bad news was the folks coming in from up north got the hit part of it while here in Springfield it was for the most part dry during the event activities. We did have to wipe the Opels down Saturday morning before leaving the Hotel. The rest of the day was decent weather. The bad news of course was the wet pavement helped to contribute to our first Opel on Opel accident. Being at the front of the line we did not hear about it until we were downtown. The good news was that Opelers being who they are, several stayed behind to help those involved. During this time Tom King had a bit of an issue with his Kadett Rallye not running right and our folks got that fixed too. Opelers are a top notch group. I would say they are special, but we won't go into that. Anyway, after we got settled in I think most everyone had a good day. I think Mel finally cleared out his garage of opel parts. We told him that it does not let him out of coming back. As the day wound down we did our Auction, door prize, and Awards and went off to dinner. I will not try to name all who helped on this as I would probably leave someone out. Just know your help is appreciated. Everybody thanks myself and Connie for putting together the show, but as I said Saturday. We just do logistics, you guys showing up year after year makes it what it is. I am not sure of the number of Opels this year, I think 12, but we had about 35 Opelers. That means a lot to me. That says folks think it is worth showing up to be a part of the group even without an Opel. Sunday was a small group downtown, and we waited in the rain to see who took home the Awards. It was nice that Gordy and Scott could pick theirs up in person. I will have to say I was somewhat disappointed but perhaps not surprised that Tom King was not in the top three. Not to take away from those who did get awards, but Tom's Kadett is very good. This kind of ties in with some of the other threads on here about Opels not getting the love they should at shows. Unfortunately it even happens at a show where we have an OPEL CLASS. This is the main reason we still do our Participant voted Awards on Saturday. GT owners are not the only ones who put effort into their Opels.
Dinners
We tried a couple of new places this year with mixed results. Friday at Motorhead's was so so. Food was okay but service could have been better. Part of that was I had no idea we were going to have around 30 people go. Also this place is hard to get into on any Friday night. I talked with the owner Monday and we are going to talk again later. He is constantly working on the place and may be able to seat us in another area next year. This is something you folks need to express an opinion on.
Saturday at the Dew.
Once again we had about 35 show up.
Hind sight is 20/20 but I should have warned folks about the Chili. Connie and I do not like the Chili either. We do however like a lot of the other menu items. The Dew is a Landmark Est. in Springfield. It has been around since about 1920. Just goes to show there is no accounting for taste. While eating there I noticed is was not packed on Saturday evening. I asked the Manager if he thought he could accommodate our group. he thought he could handle it. You have to understand most restaurants do not want to have a group of 30+ with separate orders and checks on a week night much less a weekend.
The situation was a bit funny but if you guys can give them a second chance let me know.
Club Hotel
It seems it is time to say goodbye to the Route 66 Hotel. The rooms have never been great but the rate was good. Too many are saying the rooms and rates have went the wrong way. When I get us set up with a new home I will start a new thread for 2020. Since it will be the 50th anniversary for the Manta we will try to put them in the forefront.
See ya next year