Well Mr. President you asked so here is my OPINION. Before I say anything I want everyone to know that I blame NO ONE for what happened as sometimes all the best plans just go to hell when you least expect it. I had a wonderful time and I think I can honestly say it was the BEST Birthday celebration that John Russell and ME ever had............but just the facts...
1. The host hotel was in no way prepared for us....granted they comped <sp> us some rooms across the street.
2. The host hotel had no provisions whatsoever for trailer parking and that was the first and foremost request that we had.
3. The road construction right at the hotel made navigation for out of towners a nightmare.
4. The amazement to walk into a RETAIL store and see one of our club logos on just about anything you could think of...shirts...hats...etc.....for sale for profit to anyone off the street. I'm sure...correct me if I'm wrong but I think that 1st year artwork was copywrighted by the designer and whether or not permission was granted to use it could be at issue......I don't think any of our group would have agreed to it. I'm just glad they did not have access to this years artwork as I would have gone ballistic. It was bad enough.....and I'll take most of the blame for not following up on it....that the artwork for this year was changed from it's original form. For those of you who don't know who Mr. Bill Neale is....he is one of the premier automotive artists of our time and happens to be a friend of mine. I asked Bill if he would do some artwork for our Cobra Club and he agreed......well to make a long story short I DID go ballistic when I saw the T-Shirts with the altered artwork. I am in the process of getting the artwork back and returning it to it's original form for future use. I personally would not wear one until I had made peace with Bill. That's all water under the bridge now and like I said it was just as much my fault as anyones and I only blame myself.....BUT Bill Neale's artwork WILL be used again and I will follow it through myself...............I'm just glad that it was not silk screened and embroidered on things that WE did not authorize.
5. I'm pretty sure when Tom was elected President he stated that the event would be in Dallas next year and most of us agreed.
I love Austin and think it's a very cool place but I vote Dallas just the same. Probably if you check at least HALF of the cars were from Dallas anyway so it just makes sense. We drew 26 Cobras for the last major show in our area. I don't think any other region can come close to that.
BUT.....BUT.....I WILL GO WHEREVER MY BRETHERN WANT TO GO AS LIKE WE HAVE STATED ALL ALONG....CAR OWNERSHIP NOT REQUIRED AS WE ARE A FAMILY!!!
That's my .02
Gary
P.S. For those of you looking for a fix...the Yellow Rose all FORD car show is August 11, 12. in Ft. Worth. Texas Cobra Club will have 14 entries in attendance.
