Of course one of my goals for this car during this and the previous restorations was to show the car. It is great fun to share this car and it's history with interested folks at car shows and cruises. This page will recap the shows and larger cruises I attended in 2001.
How better to start the show season than by attending the largest Chevelle-only gathering in the world! Chevell-Abration takes place in Goodlettsville, TN, part of the Nashville area and is sponsored by ACES (Amerian Chevelle Enthusiasts Society). I was honored to receive a Top Three award at this show. The dark green car is another L79 car, a Malibu convertible and the red car is a fine 300hp/327ci SS coupe. It rained on the way there and it rained when we got there. It finally dried up on the third day.
The National Chevelle Owners Associataion (NCOA) was folded into the Late Great/Yestersyears club before I could ever attend one of their national conventions. To cater to the newly absorbed Chevelle owners, this convention judged Chevelle as a separate group within the show as if it were the final NCOA convention. Judging-wise, this was the biggest test of my restoration results and I met my goal of building a 950+ point car. I won a First Place in my class and was awarded a Gold Certificate for earning 967 out of 1000 points. I also got to meet a few great first generation Chevelle owners and a couple of L79 owners. It was a good time. It rained like mad for the first two days. It finally cleared up late on the second day and stayed nice the rest of the show.
I grew up in a small town in Nebraska called Gretna and my folks still live there. Every year the town has a celebration called Gretna Days. A few years ago a local car club began coordinating their annual show with this event. Since it's my home town and since my folks had not been able to attend any of my far-flung show locations, I decided to enter this show as kind of a warm up for the Midwest Regionals coming up. I'm glad I did. It turned out to be an outstanding local show with cars from three states and a good 170 car turn out. It was judged by the sponsoring club's members and so was a fairly serious one day event. I was pleased to land a First Place in the 1960-1969 Stock class but I also was honored with a Best of Show for the stock classes. Wow! And it didn't rain a drop but it was blistering hot.
This was the last "big" show of the year. This was a seriously judged show but I was in a real groove at this point. The car was showing well and the trips were getting easier. I also for the first time was able to travel with a fellow Chevelle enthusiast. The show was a good time, but being able to travel with friends made it even better. We also made friends with more Chevelle people at the show. Again, I was honored with a First Place in the 1964-1965 Stock class. The competition was probably as tough at this show as any I attended all summer. It rained a little the first day there but the rest of the show was dry and hot.
