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Title: Deirdre's First Car Show
Category: High
Blog Entry:   Yellowstone Roaring 20's Car Show - June 8, 2008What I wouldn’t give to get Al Gore and all those weather-predicting groundhogs into a giant blender so I could hit the “puree” button… as far as “global warming” goes, Montana seems impervious. Hey! Save the polar bears: buy them plane tickets to Billings!!My tirade stems from enduring a dreadfully cold and windy weekend, not the type which attracts folks to swap meets and car shows. While I was able to sell a grease can on Saturday, I ended up hanging onto all the big VW items I brought. What made matters worse: a guy down the way selling off the remnants of HIS Volkswagen ended up giving me two dairy crates of “stuff”… and two doors from a ’64 Ghia convertible. And all this time I was working on the premise that going to swap meets meant getting rid of all my unwanted parts, making a bit of cash and going home to an (almost) empty garage… Lawdy, what was I thinking??If suffering gale-force winds wasn’t bad enough, sporadic rain came down all day Sunday. I was seriously thinking about leaving Deirdre in the garage; I swore to all that I wouldn’t risk rusting up my new body for a car show… but pride can make folks stupid. With menacing gray clouds ready to burst upon my head, a little voice inside said to me, “It ain’t raining NOW… get that buggy of yours to the show, then just cover it up with a tarp if it starts to sprinkle.” I gathered up a small tarp, some bungee cords, and some absorbent cloths then headed out. About halfway into my trek, it started to rain. RAATSS!! The good news was that, while heading into a headwind, the windshield was nearly free of any falling water; the bad news was that the little bit of water had to stay put… cuz my windshield wipers didn’t work!!! Sidebar…I’m beginning to think there was a transaction akin to the metaphoric “deal with the Devil” when I had Classic Auto Works fix my lights. Seems my headlights and signals are allowed to work only because all the other fixtures are dead! To add insult to injury: I found out that my gas gauge DOES work… step on the brake, and the pointer pegs out at the over-full mark. What the… ??!! Back to soaking the Ghia…The showers weren’t all that bad: once the rain stopped, the gusty winds soon dried everything off in a jiffy. Unfortunately, the winds (and the low temps) kept folks from attending this year’s event. Deirdre was one of 31 entries, keeping company with such standard rides like a ’57 Chevrolet Bel-Air as well as more exotic machines like a 1982 Delorean DMC-12 (Great Scott, Marty…!!). A people’s choice voting contest was held, with the top three cars winning some lovely trophies. The club doled out some inexpensive doo-dads in a raffle held before the big awards; I ended up taking home a 4-inch magnetic parts dish. Chintzy as it may have seemed, the dish was a little nicety I’d been wanting for a while; it will be a welcome addition to the toolbox.STAY TUNED!!