Wow! What a great show we had today. We had 49 registered cars and just about 65 Z's showed up in total! This was a fantastic result for our first car show as a newly formed club. Yes, we learned a few lessons, but they were minor and I think everyone who attended would agree that it was a huge success and that they got their mony's worth. I would like to recognize some people that were responsible for making today's show a success:

Nissan Darien: These guys have been fantastic to work with and without them, there would not have been a show. In alphabetical order, Peter Bush, Randy Demaio, Andy Sileo and John Turner all helped in some significant way. Without John, I'm not sure we would have figured out how to use the Hot Dog Cart! (I know that is pretty sad - but true). Of course the ultimate backing and support was given by dealership owner Bill Steinmetz who allowed use of the dealership parking lot and funded the cost of the show. Thanks guys for allowing us to have a very successful event!

Bob Sharp: How cool is it that Bob Sharp belongs to our club?? As usual, Bob did a lot of shmoozing, signing autographs and speaking to others just like the regular guy he is. The fact that he stood through 23 photographs with trophy winners and smiled in each one of them is a testament to the type of guy that Bob is. Thanks Bob.

Frank T: Frank did a geat job coordinating the Table Raffle and drawing, issuing nametags, and anything else that was asked of him. He was a great help all day long and in fact was the last guy to leave the parking lot!

Jim Hagani: Jim did the job that most people who run car shows hate: he helped to tally votes and keep me on the straight and narrow when it came to handing out trophies. Although he got to soak in some A/C, this was a thankless job, which got done by Jim very quickly and accurately. Jim's another guy who always pitches in when you need him.

Dave Sirico: Dave was instrumental in getting all of those Z's to fit in a relatively small lot and parked properly by class. Dave purchased those customized parking vests that were very helpful for Z's turning into the parking lot. He also helped me to get my two Z's home and cleaned up until the very end. Hopefully Dave will forget me yelling "get that p.o.s. non-Z out of here" and will agree to do this job again!

Mike Rosann: Mike was also invaluable in getting people parked properly today. Mike is one of those rare guys that actually volunteers to help regardless of the job and hopefully he too will agree to help again (I also yelled once to many times at Mike).

Phil Parent: Phil lives 90 minutes away from Darien but always makes our events and always does a great job as our official club photographer. Phil was especially challenged today with the volume of cars, people and trophy photos. Another guy that does anything you ask of him.

Lisa Little: After viewing one example of how to register people (and it was complicated to facilitate judging) Lisa had the system down pat. She did a great job at bringing organization to one of the most important jobs at the show. Thanks Lisa (I don't thnk I yelled at Lisa today).

The Little Rascals (Nicole Williams & friends): These guys did an awesome job of selling 50/50 and table raffle tickets. The money raised from these raffle goes directly to our club account and will be used to fund future events such as our Fall Outing on October 18th. So this was another important job done well.

Danielle Williams: Danielle managed the hot dog stand for most of the day. This was a hot job that became hectic when lines formed. Danielle loves to cook but this was her first experience in a vending role. I thought she did a great job coordinating the supplies and keeping things moving.

Brenda Williams: What can I say about my wife who has been helping me make decisions about the show for months now? This week was particularly streesful as we tried to pull everything together. Getting the judging and vote tabulation forms together this week was difficult but she handled it masterfully. She also helped out at the registration desk and figured out how to get the hot dog cart to cook hot dogs! Thanks honey, and I know I owe you dinner (don't worry, she'll remind me).

And a final thanks to all of the folks that drove short and long distances to attend the show. Our goal was to deliver a fun event at a reasonable price and have you driving home with a smile on your face. I hope that we accomplished that for the vast majority of you.

Sincerely, Ross

Ross, you did a GREAT job of coordinating this event, everyone was happy with it and we all remain amazed at the incredible turnout we got. We had cars from (I think) SEVEN states! I honestly didn't think there were that many Z cars left in all New England.

While I agree with your Kudos to everyone mentioned, I would like to add some praise to one of them.

Danielle, I was especially proud of the way you stood at your post for hours and did such a tremendous job with the hotdog cart. While everyone else was looking for shade ~ any shade ~ you stood beside the hottest device on the lot, and SMILED thru it all! And you did that NOT so your car would win a trophy, or because you couldn't think of anything else to do with a sunny Saturday, but so we could eat and the club could make a buck or two. Totally selfless! I think you're about 14, but that kind of dedication is hard to find in 20 year olds! WELL DONE, Lassie! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I will add some photos to this post as soon as I'm finished rubbing AfterSun on my head.

Great job all of you who contibuted to the shows success, and it was a fantastic success... The heat was hot but the show was COOL.. Well done and thanks to the club.... Tom Wasney p.s. Selfless plug, had to get my car in there

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Now on my 15th/update/16th Zcar, Z's4vr....

this nice lady has THREE (3) Z cars sitting idle in her garage! She happened to be passing the NISSAN dealer and noticed our Five-Dozen cars being shown, so she swung in. When we told her Bob Sharp was a member, she got all excited so we offered to take her picture with him. She was really cool and about four or five of us asked her to join the CTZCC.
Please join us, Joyce!

There were more Z cars in our show today than I thought there were in New England!

Every year and style Z was represented. Some were very well preserved in original form; others had been "worked on":

Bryan's daily driver 240. The only good thing about the end of our events is getting to listen to this car when Bryan winds it up as he leaves.

Engine work on some of these cars was tremendous! Others were bone-stock. All were exciting and got attention.

Our help was great. Traffic control on a hot day was no fun, but our guys made it happen.

Even the junior membership really got their heads in the game. 'Wish you could have heard the Rap song they created to sell raffle tickets!

"Don't ask me where to park. I'll TELL you where to park!"

There was a constant chow line at Danielle's hotdog cart. She handled it like a pro.

Administration was handled by the ladies (which is probably why things worked as well as they did!)

"Frank, you tell me to 'SMILE' one more time, and I'm gonna show you something you didn't know that camera would do!"

Wow! That looked like a great show. I see some excellent Z representation new and old. Now I'm even more upset I got stuck out of state >:-|.

Thank you for the pictures.

P.S. Congratulations to the CTZCC team for pulling this thing off.

Thank you and nice meeting you all! Dee and I had a great time.

http://z.modeltrainguide.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=album53&page=1

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280zx NA to T... http://z.modeltrainguide.com