The trip to the Mustang Club of America (MCA) show in Concord, California on June 22-24 started out with a bang. Literally. I was on I-5 southbound, heading for the Maytown rest stop at Exit 95 just south of Olympia when I heard a sudden BOOM! come from a large delivery truck in front of me. The driver’s side inside dually tire had exploded, sending smoke and chunks of tire shrapnel all over the road. I was about 150 feet back, one lane to the left, so I was easily able to avoid any potential issues. But there was a white Ford Ranger pickup that was right next to the truck at that moment and he swerved completely into the center median. He was obviously shaken, but he was ok. If you ever wondered where all those “tire snakes” (the long strips of tire tread) in the roadway come from, well this incident shows how it happens. Fifteen minutes later, I arrived at the Maytown rest stop to meet up with the rest of the group, with the first story to tell.

In all we had ten Mustangs in our caravan. Among the others in the caravan were Mike Koehnen, Randy and Cindy Drake, Dick and Karen Knight, Wendy Minniweather, Monika Kirkland, Lori Matthews, Sonny and Barbara Alvarez, Bill and Nancy Johnson, and Ned and Gail Bellinger. Other fellow Mustangers who joined us later at Concord were Pat and Connie Trine, Jim and Taylor Cassidy, Karena Peterson, and Mike Godwin.

Along the way we compared gas mileage figures. Many of us were posting some incredible mileage numbers, with most of us in the high twenties. My car achieved an amazing 28.6 mpg at one point, and Barbara Alvarez reported just over 30 mpg. Not bad for a V-8 engine. Overdrive sure makes a big difference.

The distance from Seattle to Concord is about 850 miles, with most of it on I-5. We had perfect weather for the entire trip. Our first overnight stop was in Red Bluff, California, which was about 175 miles from Concord. We checked into our motel and had a good dinner at the Appleby’s that was located across the street. The second day of our journey was much shorter, so we were able to sleep in a little and take our time getting to Concord. Actually, Bill and Nancy Johnson needed to get to Concord by 1:00pm for a pre-Mustang show wedding. One of the side roads that we drove, just before getting to Concord, was I-80. It was a really rough stretch of road, and Mike Koehnen claimed that it even knocked his front end out of alignment. Before long, though, we had arrived in Concord. It was hot, and we had our air conditioning cranked up the whole time we were there. Bill and Nancy arrived in time for the wedding, and yes, both the bride and groom brought their Mustangs to Concord for the judged show.

On the Friday before the big show, there was a Pony Trails cruise to the top of Mount Diablo, the highest point of elevation in the area. It took a few minutes to get to the parking lot at the top, but when we arrived the views were spectacular in every direction. About 40-50 cars participated in this event.

The host hotel was located next to a local landing strip for smaller and charter type aircraft. The show filed was actually a fenced off section of the tarmac, with room for several hundred cars. We could actually look out of our hotel room window and see the show area. 292 Mustangs eventually checked in to be judged. There were many vendors selling Mustangs parts, apparel, toys, and other related items. Even Hertz showed up with a new Shelby GT-H convertible. The sign in the window said, “Rent Me”. Pat Trine mentioned to me that the Washington contingent probably judge a third of the cars at this show. There is little doubt that the judging situation would have been stretched very thin if we hadn’t shown up to help.

There were several interesting cars at this show. One of the most unique was a 1966 Mustero, which is a Mustang that has been converted into a Ranchero. Sonny, you gotta get one of these. There were a few late model cars with extremely low miles, such as a 1979 Indy 500 Pace Car with only 1,000 miles, a 1993 Cobra R with 120 miles (it still had all the factory crayon markings on the windows and plastic on the steering wheel), and a 2000 Cobra R with about the same amount of miles. There were two beautiful 1964 ½ Indy 500 Pace Cars, and very rare 1988 Mustang SSP that was used by the U.S. Air Force as a U-2 chase vehicle. But the rarest and most valuable Mustang of all was the World War II vintage P-51 Mustang that was parked next to the show site. We had the opportunity to get photos of our cars next to the plane and about 150 people took advantage of it.

Finally, judging day had arrived. It was time to get serious. As many of you know, MCA does not pre-arrange their judging teams; instead they put them together immediately after the judges meeting, right before judging begins. This can present a problem, as some teams might not have enough people. Such was the case when Pat Trine decided to help out, and was promptly given 22 judging sheets. During judging, many teams reported that too many cars were locked, or had hoods closed, or windows rolled down, etc. In most of these cases, the owners were located and the problems quickly resolved. Despite the heat, all of the Mustangs were eventually judged.

On Saturday evening, the host Mustang clubs held a Hoe Down. This western-themed dinner had lots of food, live music, and dancing. I even met a couple people who wanted to buy the Shelby T-shirt off my back. Nyet, comrade. Instead, I handed them a Roundup flyer and told them to call Bill Smallwood, whose phone number was listed there. (Did you notice how I worked that Roundup flyer into the conversation?) Apparently, he owns a car exactly like the green one on the back of the shirt.

Later in the evening, we decided to get a photo of all of the Washington participants in Concord. We took several photos, and when we were done, Bill Johnson called everyone over to introduce two new MCA Gold Card judges. Mike Koehnen and I were announced as the new 3rd Generation Gold Card judges. It was an emotional moment, and although this had been our goal for the past couple years, no one was expecting this to happen so quickly. Mike and I are very appreciative of this opportunity to serve MCA in a higher capacity. We are already looking ahead to future MCA judged shows, such as the MCA National show in Pensacola in Spring 2008 and the MCA Grand National show in Salt Lake City (Park City) on Labor Day weekend in 2008.

The trophy ceremony was held on Sunday. Bill Johnson began by saying a few words about MCA. We must have made a big impact on this show, because everyone from Washington won a trophy. The trophies were wooden jewelry boxes, about 8x10 inches. On the lid, there were five cut-outs for an MCA logo, the Judged Class, owner’s name, a photo of the car, and the show logo with the placement (1st, 2nd, 3rd) listed below.

The trip home was the same route, but we had to stop to pay a toll to cross a bridge just a few miles out from the show site. While waiting in line, Wendy Minnieweather bumped the car in front of her and lightly damaged the front end of her car. Nothing serious, but the bumper cover, grille and hood will need to be replaced. The car remained drivable for the road home. We drove that same section of I-80 again, but this time it was a lot smoother in the “going home” direction. Again we stopped at the same motel in Red Bluff for the night. But there would be no sleeping in, since we had a long day of driving ahead of us. The rest of the drive home was rather uneventful. We finally got home around 10:00pm Monday night. Our road trip was now over, but we had a boatload of memories and stories tell. I also took 438 photos along the way. Throw in two new Gold Card judges, and it all added up to a very successful weekend.

Rob Ogden