John Force Holiday Show December 2, 2007 - (Southern California)

[57AGIN]

I've been in contact with the John Force events program manager regarding the John Force Holiday Car Show.  This year they are featuring 57 FORDS & Chevy's (Brand X) at their Holiday Show.  After seeing the flyer announcing the featured cars I contacted Craig at the John Force Race Station and sent him some photos of the 57's we showed at the Labor Day Cruise.  Below is a copy of the correspondence I've had with them regarding getting 57 Ford's to this very prestigious event.  I hope we can get as many 57's out as possible, because I'm sure Brand X will all be there.

Craig:
Attached are photos of some of the 57 Ford's that I will be contacting
about the December 2, 2007 Holiday Show.  Please let me know what
numbers of cars you would like to see at the show.
Thanks,
Bob

followup message from Craig

Bob,
These are all awesome cars.  Try and get as many as you can.  I have room
for at least 70 Ford's in our "FEATURE CAR" section.  Remember that the Chevy
guys are trying to get 70 Chevy's also, so we don't want Chevy to beat at the
Ford's for most vehicles!!!
Craig

  final message re the show

Craig:
I will try to get as many as I can.  My past recruiting efforts have only had modest success.  Twenty three is the largest group I've been able to get to a show in the past three years.  I'll do my best to get all of my contacts to show up.  Can't let those Chevy's win.
Bob
 

[57AGIN]

57 Owners - West Coast & Long Distance Drivers

I touched bases with the John Force people last Friday, 10/26/07.  There are currently only nine (9) 57 Fords registered for their Holiday Show on December 2.  There is 1 Fairlane, 2 Custom 300's, 1 Custom, 2 Ranchero's, 1 Skyliner, and 2 T-Birds signed up so far.  I sure hope we can get more of our great cars out to this event. 

I was at a pretty good sized car show (in my back yard) at the Los Alamitos Wings, Wheels & Rotors car show on the Joint Forces Training Base, located just East of Long Beach in Los Alamitos.  Out of the close to 1,000 cars in the show, there were only four (4) 57 Fords  at the show.  This year we got our cars pictured in front of one of the Predator remotely piloted airplanes,  Weird looking bird.  Three (3) of us parked together just behind the lowered tail ramp of the shows featured aircraft, a giant C-17 cargo plane.  We were parked perfectly for maximum exposure of our rides, as the line to board the C-17 passed right in front of our cars.  The judges picked one of our 57's as Best in the 1950 - 1959 Modified class.  It's nice to have your car recognized at one of these events.  I'll post some photos as soon as I can work them over (reduce the size)

Bob
57AGIN

[57AGIN]

Well, it is Thursday before the John Force Holiday Show this comming Sunday.  There are twenty-five 57 Fords registered for the show which promises to be a pretty good one.  Jay Leno is supposed to have his "Tank Car" at the show and besides the entire John Force racing family one of the greats from the mid & late 60's Ford drag racing days Gas Ronda is going to be there too (hope he comes with his AFX Ford Mustang).  I'll try to get pictures of each 57 for the Gallery. 

I'm really looking forward to the time when we'll be able to show up at one of these shows and display our cars under a Club banner.  This has been a great year for the Southern California 57 owners to display our rides.  We had special recognition and parking at a number of the larger shows celebration our 50th Anniversary and our cars did the marque proud. 

As this year draws to a close, everyone have a safe and happy holiday season and get those rides ready for 2008.

Bob
57AGIN

[shopratwoody]

Bob,
Today really turned out well. Force really puts an effort into the show.
Thanks for all your hard work and the effort you've put into these deals.
Later, Ron

[57AGIN]

Well, the John Force Holiday Show is history, as is just about the 50th Anniversary of the 57 Ford automobile.  Thanks for the kind words of Shopratwoody and the very nice plaque presented to me by Rick Crawford on behalf of James and the Club (very sneaky).

I was really worried that the local 57 Ford owners, being in much shorter supply than that of the 57 Brand X owners, wouldn't be able to put up a respectable number of examples of our fine cars.  Well, my concerns were unfounded.  Not only did we show up with really high quality cars, but we outnumbered the Brand X cars.  We had twenty 57 Ford cars and five 57 T-Birds representing the Ford marque in the featured car display area, the Brand X cars turned out eighteen of their 57's.  We took home three Best of Show Trophies honoring Eric Medlin and presented to 40 cars judged to be the Best Cars in the Show (I believe the Brand X 57's got two of these Trophies).  Our Trophy winners included  a Fairlane 500, a Skyliner and a mild custom Ranchero (photos attached). 

We had 57's coming to the show from some fairly long distances, Fresno, Bishop and San Diego, CA and one from Scottsdale, AZ.  It was truly a great way to cap off the year, even the weather cooperated.  Although, one of our Club members would call this to question, as his neighbors hillside wound up in Kid Courier's driveway  due to the rains on Friday and he couldn't get his preregistered 57 Courier out of his garage (he still came out and spent time with our group, thanks Skip).  John Force was at the show with all his family and signing autographs along with a number of other celebrities.  Over 1,000 really nice cars attended the show along with thousands of spectators.  I posted quite a few pictures of the event in the Gallery, check them out when you get a chance.

Have a very Merry Christmas/Hanukkah/etc. and a Safe & Happy New Year.  I'm sure looking forward to see what 2008 brings forth with our Club.

Bob
57AGIN

[57AGIN]

Here are a couple of more photos from the 2007 John Force Holiday Show.  James will especially drool over the first photo I'm sure James will know what I mean).  Like I said go to the Gallery, I've posted a number of additional photos there and as soon as I've adjusted the shots of individual cars, I'll put them in the Gallery, too.

Bob
57AGIN

[57tudor]

Hi All.
The John Force Holiday Show was a great why to bring the 50th. Anniversary of the 57 Ford's to an end. I was very pleased to see that we had 20 57 Fords & 5 Birds attending the event. I was also very pleased that three of the 57 Fords took home an Award. That was more then the brand X guys did. Speaking of Awards, Bob Lee was very supprised when I presented him an Award for all of his time and dedication to the club here on the west coast. He has spent countless hours calling and emailing 57 owners to get as many 57 Ford's in the eighteen plus shows that we attended throughout the year. Well done Bob. For most of us, this is our off season to do some need service, repairs, and for me, a major up-fit to the braking system on my hot rod. I'll be taking photos as the project progresses along with a tech article that I'll be writing to post in eather the club newsletter or the tech side of the website.

Happy Holidays To You All.

Rick
57 Tudor

[shopratwoody]

Speaking of the JFR Holiday Car Show. I was out there talking to Craig on Monday, While picking up
my cel phone..that they had put in the office after me misplacing it. Craig asked that we should write to the
City of Yorba Linda stating how much we enjoyed it etc. I guess the City is giving them a bad time about
the crowds and cars. Maybe Bob could draft someting up that sounds good that we could all send to them.
Any ideas Bob?
later, Ron

[57AGIN]

Shopratwoody:

Yes, I could draft a letter on behalf of 57 Fords International commending the City of Yorba Linda and John Force Racing for hosting a really spectacular car show in conjunction with the California Highway Patrol CHiP's for Kids toy drive.  I was unaware of the City's concerns and was going to send the John Force people a thank you anyway.

Bob
57AGIN

[57AGIN]

Hi Everyone:

The following is the letter I drafted to John Force Racing and the City of Yorba Linda (the two are substantially the same):


                                                                                                        
December 11, 2007

Mayor Castellano & Councilmembers:

On behalf of the 57 Fords International car club I want to extend our thanks and appreciation for our clubs opportunity to participate in the Holiday show as a grouping of the "featured 1957 cars."  The organization of the event was superb from the beginning of the day to the very end of the show.  The City of Yorba Linda is a great location for this Holiday car show, with its ease of ingress and egress from the freeway and the many amenities available.  The people I was able to get to bring their 57 Fords to the show from Arizona, Nevada, Bishop, Fresno and San Diego appreciated the opportunity to stay at the local hotels and commented on the nice restaurant options available.  Both the City and John Force Racing are to be commended for hosting this great event.  I know that the many toys collected on behalf of the California Highway Patrol's CHiPs For Kids charity will be appreciated by the many children that would otherwise do without.   Once again, thank you for permitting and hosting this great Holiday event in your city.

Robert Lee
West Coast Event Coordinator
57 Fords International

[lotsafords]

Nice job Bob.  I think all who participated in the event would agree that it was managed very well.  The police support at major intersections was very helpful and truely sped up the ingress and eqress.  Looking forward to next year.

Jack
Fresno