We had a ball!
U2, his wife Malia, Jamo, and I left Colfax California at 6AM.
The trip out there was one laugh after another -
Jamo was a great host (we used his Expedition) with water in everyones cup holder, a steady supply of Bastirma (?) and string cheese - which Malia (U2's wife) rolled into an Armenian Taco - fruit, candy, etc.
Aside from a brief (but exciting) bout with some black ice near Truckee, the trip was smooth.
We arrived on Friday afternoon late and went straight to the Kirkhams - they whole place was still setting up for the week-end, hanging HUGE posters of their cars, installing Race Deck flooring, polishing parts, setting up displays, etc. Quite impressive how much work ALL of them went through for everyone from Tom and Mary Kirkham (Tom and Davids parents) on down....
We then went back to the hotel and met everyone for drinks and dinner -
The next morning we met for breakfast and ran into Morris - new Club Cobra member who is a three time National Champion road racer and who is buying a Kirkham - turns out he is a really nice guy and total gearhead - has about 40 Harleys including one that took best of show at Sturgis....need I say more? It was good to talk with a real racer - someone who has a clue about what it takes to race a car.
Anyway, we arrived at KMS around 9:30 AM and socialized as we climbed over all the fantastic cars that were on display. Not often you can poke around an original 427 that is on a lift...about 50 - 55 people were there.
Presentations were made by:
Tom and David Kirkham on their aluminum suspension pieces, interesting details on their original Cobra, safety wiring and wheel tightening tips (tight!), etc
Mike Lefevers on the Shelby engines - some really good history about when the block was first planned, what it took to get it into production, the timeline on the cylinder head program, etc. Good stuff.
Next was David Kee - the MAN!!! If you needed to know anything about a toploader - this was the time to ask! He had a really well done cutaway of a toploader there and discussed theory and operation the the transmission as well as his plans for the replacement iron and aluminum versions. He also gave some excellent tips on maintenance and operation that I had not heard before.
We then broke for lunch - excellent food. We had roast beef and some potatos that were cooked in a Dutch Oven ( or is called Dutch Oven...still not clear) and a salad that was excellent! Dessert was either peach cobbler or blackberries and ice cream. I over ate.
Following lunch, Jamo put on a presentation about how to get your car registered and titled - the counselor did an excellent job! Surprised me. Just kidding. It was informative and funny - of course he used Turk as the example of what NOT to do and had the crowd laughing. After Jamo got done - I think his presentation was about two or three hours -
- the Kirkhams put on a presentation showing how they got started, what they have done, and where they are going. Very interesting.
After this everyone inspected all the displays and we all helped ourselves to all kinds of parts. More accurately - if your Kirkham needed a part you asked and it was provided to you - at no charge. I have never actually experienced that kind of customer support before so I must say I am stunned. As an example - I decided to do my roll bar a little differently than the one that came on the car. I mentioned that to David and he went into their back room and came back with a brand new roll bar and just gave it to me. I asked him how much...."no charge - thanks for buying a Kirkham!"
I had the pleasure of meeting "Big" Bob Evans. What a gentleman. I was seriously impressed with what a nice guy he is. I later saw him sitting in a 289 (of course) - it looked like he was getting measured up...he even let me autograph his Kirkham cap.....
We finally left at about 7PM - the Kirkhams were all still willing to go on it seemed - what enthusiasm! - and as we left we were given examples of original style suspension pieces - nice way to get spares!
All in all a great visit - I would do it again.
Thanks to all the Kirkhams.