David Hodgkins
04-29-2014, 03:02 PM
http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=28443&d=1398867260
“It’s the day after Christmas. Now we have to wait a whole year ‘til we can do it again… ”
That was my text to Dave Smith, Sally Bean, Tony Zullo and Erik Hanson on Sunday. And Sunday was spent the way the day after Christmas is always spent: In quiet glee, playing with new things and reflecting on great times.
Wow, what a great weekend. The party started EARLY Friday this year and didn’t stop until the last piece of Filet Mignon on Sunday evening. It included a great multitude of friends old and new, fantastic moments, great embarrassment, laughs, scares, incredible fortune, and because this is So-Cal, a frikkin’ traffic jam.
http://www.robscobra.com/images/hb2014/content/bin/images/large/IMAG0325.jpg
Rick Young and Rob Barron on Park Green Drive, April 25th 2014
The first guest to arrive on Friday was Rick Young from Morrow Bay in his HIGHLY modified MKIII. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a car with more mods on it. His car is a rolling work of art. He was followed closely by Britt from Visalia and our long distance winner Troy Reider - from Canada! - with the first Spyder GT I’ve ever seen.
http://www.robscobra.com/images/hb2014/content/bin/images/large/IMAG0391.jpg
Troy Reider's Spyder GT draws a crowd on the HB Pier Plaza, 2014
I still had some work to do to get the Anni Build (http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?13397-15th-Anniversary-MKIV-build-thread-4-years-late!) ready for the trailer so the garage was open all morning. As we neared the scheduled 3pm cruise time the street began to swell with a multitude of trucks, trailers and roadsters. When we left for Dana point to meet up with more friends, we had a nice quiver of Cobras, 7 in all, with my son Grant escorting us in his ’66 Mustang. However, we ran into a bit of a traffic jam on PCH due to an accident in Laguna so a leisurely 45 minute cruise along the shore turned into a 75 minute crawl. Grr. No time to hold onto the negativity though as we reached Dana Point and were escorted into a very nice community just south of the Ritz Carlton by John Tongish. The community has a park on the bluff overlooking the ocean and we took the opportunity to capture the moment on “film”. Then it was back in the cars for a much quicker return to CDM.
http://www.robscobra.com/images/hb2014/content/bin/images/large/IMAG0337.jpg
When we returned from the cruise we greeted all the new guests and took some time to admire all the cars for in our own mini car show on Park Green Drive. Lots of neighbors stopped by to admire the cars too and the street started to look like Main Street HB! It was a sight to see and I've been getting a lot of great neighborhood feedback ever since.
http://home.comcast.net/~289fia_cobra_three/images/HB2014/HB2014_026.JPG
http://home.comcast.net/~289fia_cobra_three/images/HB2014/HB2014_027.JPG
We then retreated to the back yard for burgers, dogs, refreshments galore and great conversation. It sure looked like a great time was had by all and it wasn't until late that night that I learned that someone had fallen in the pool (name withheld to protect the soaked). This gave me quite a scare and led to a new change in our backyard as an offending table and chairs have been permanently relocated. I’ve been assured that there were no injuries but it still scared the bejeezus out of me!
The crowd was a bit smaller than expected and this would end up carrying over to Saturday, as a freak spring storm blew through, dumping rain throughout the night. When we awoke the next morning the streets were mostly dry but the skies were threatening and the wind was howling. No rain was on the Doppler radar but it was cold and the wind was pushing our cars around as we traveled to HB.
http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=28495&d=1398874336
The winds were blowing STRONG all aday at the HB Cruise-In 2014
We were so incredibly fortunate that we moved the show completely to Main Street this year! The wind was steady all day, blowing sand onto the parking lots but we were sheltered and the wind was a non-factor inside the show since we had buildings all around us. The skies quickly cleared and it turned into a wonderful day! The biggest nightmare - parking trailers - turned into a non-event as we discovered plenty of parking just a few blocks from downtown. As a matter of fact, the guys never called me for a lift back to their rigs later because we were so close. I assume they walk to get them later; if not, I’m sorry!! Definitely an area we don’t have to worry about next year.
I got to participate in the show this year and was tasked with introducing beloved friend of FFR Mike Brasfield as a recipient of a Factory Five Legacy award. This award is given to folks who believe in the fellowship of Factory Five and demonstrate that belief in actions of volunteerism and tangible support. Every year, Mike gathers a full set of DJ gear and treks it all to California from Arizona to volunteer as the DJ for the HB Cruise-In. This take a lot of effort on his part, and for his efforts he is this year’s winner.
Wow. I wish I could have just said that during my little speech. Have you ever “gone blank” during a speech in front of a sizable crowd? Yeah, that was me, having a brain-fart in front of scores of people with a microphone in my hand. Oof. What a dork I am!
There were a ton of new folks this year, and I tried to meet as many of them as I could. We are so blessed to draw such incredible people into our hobby! I’ve never witnessed such fellowship in a diverse group of folks before. It really is special, and I feel incredibly fortunate to be part of it.
There was also a great presentation of an all-girl build that will air on TV later this spring and a Hot Rod special edition vehicle that was announced in which 33 will be sold as completed vehicles, a first for Factory Five. The standing of this show within the FFR community is stronger than ever, and as Dave Smith told me, is a show that FFR now believes they can’t afford to miss. It’s difficult to think of ways we can possibly do the event better, but next year is the 20th anniversary of Factory Five and I have a feeling Dave will want to make it something special!
As the sun set on the Huntington Beach Cruise-In, I was too tired to do anything but sleep. I spent Sunday in the garage; no music or distractions, just me and my current build. I am forced to wait a whole year until we do it again, Just like Christmas.
And just like Christmas, you can bet it’ll start with a party at my place. Will you join us?
PS Special Thanks to Grant Hodgkins (GHodgkins), Rob Barron (BMEP) and Herman Hong (289FIA_Cobra) for supplying the pics in this post.
“It’s the day after Christmas. Now we have to wait a whole year ‘til we can do it again… ”
That was my text to Dave Smith, Sally Bean, Tony Zullo and Erik Hanson on Sunday. And Sunday was spent the way the day after Christmas is always spent: In quiet glee, playing with new things and reflecting on great times.
Wow, what a great weekend. The party started EARLY Friday this year and didn’t stop until the last piece of Filet Mignon on Sunday evening. It included a great multitude of friends old and new, fantastic moments, great embarrassment, laughs, scares, incredible fortune, and because this is So-Cal, a frikkin’ traffic jam.
http://www.robscobra.com/images/hb2014/content/bin/images/large/IMAG0325.jpg
Rick Young and Rob Barron on Park Green Drive, April 25th 2014
The first guest to arrive on Friday was Rick Young from Morrow Bay in his HIGHLY modified MKIII. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a car with more mods on it. His car is a rolling work of art. He was followed closely by Britt from Visalia and our long distance winner Troy Reider - from Canada! - with the first Spyder GT I’ve ever seen.
http://www.robscobra.com/images/hb2014/content/bin/images/large/IMAG0391.jpg
Troy Reider's Spyder GT draws a crowd on the HB Pier Plaza, 2014
I still had some work to do to get the Anni Build (http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?13397-15th-Anniversary-MKIV-build-thread-4-years-late!) ready for the trailer so the garage was open all morning. As we neared the scheduled 3pm cruise time the street began to swell with a multitude of trucks, trailers and roadsters. When we left for Dana point to meet up with more friends, we had a nice quiver of Cobras, 7 in all, with my son Grant escorting us in his ’66 Mustang. However, we ran into a bit of a traffic jam on PCH due to an accident in Laguna so a leisurely 45 minute cruise along the shore turned into a 75 minute crawl. Grr. No time to hold onto the negativity though as we reached Dana Point and were escorted into a very nice community just south of the Ritz Carlton by John Tongish. The community has a park on the bluff overlooking the ocean and we took the opportunity to capture the moment on “film”. Then it was back in the cars for a much quicker return to CDM.
http://www.robscobra.com/images/hb2014/content/bin/images/large/IMAG0337.jpg
When we returned from the cruise we greeted all the new guests and took some time to admire all the cars for in our own mini car show on Park Green Drive. Lots of neighbors stopped by to admire the cars too and the street started to look like Main Street HB! It was a sight to see and I've been getting a lot of great neighborhood feedback ever since.
http://home.comcast.net/~289fia_cobra_three/images/HB2014/HB2014_026.JPG
http://home.comcast.net/~289fia_cobra_three/images/HB2014/HB2014_027.JPG
We then retreated to the back yard for burgers, dogs, refreshments galore and great conversation. It sure looked like a great time was had by all and it wasn't until late that night that I learned that someone had fallen in the pool (name withheld to protect the soaked). This gave me quite a scare and led to a new change in our backyard as an offending table and chairs have been permanently relocated. I’ve been assured that there were no injuries but it still scared the bejeezus out of me!
The crowd was a bit smaller than expected and this would end up carrying over to Saturday, as a freak spring storm blew through, dumping rain throughout the night. When we awoke the next morning the streets were mostly dry but the skies were threatening and the wind was howling. No rain was on the Doppler radar but it was cold and the wind was pushing our cars around as we traveled to HB.
http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=28495&d=1398874336
The winds were blowing STRONG all aday at the HB Cruise-In 2014
We were so incredibly fortunate that we moved the show completely to Main Street this year! The wind was steady all day, blowing sand onto the parking lots but we were sheltered and the wind was a non-factor inside the show since we had buildings all around us. The skies quickly cleared and it turned into a wonderful day! The biggest nightmare - parking trailers - turned into a non-event as we discovered plenty of parking just a few blocks from downtown. As a matter of fact, the guys never called me for a lift back to their rigs later because we were so close. I assume they walk to get them later; if not, I’m sorry!! Definitely an area we don’t have to worry about next year.
I got to participate in the show this year and was tasked with introducing beloved friend of FFR Mike Brasfield as a recipient of a Factory Five Legacy award. This award is given to folks who believe in the fellowship of Factory Five and demonstrate that belief in actions of volunteerism and tangible support. Every year, Mike gathers a full set of DJ gear and treks it all to California from Arizona to volunteer as the DJ for the HB Cruise-In. This take a lot of effort on his part, and for his efforts he is this year’s winner.
Wow. I wish I could have just said that during my little speech. Have you ever “gone blank” during a speech in front of a sizable crowd? Yeah, that was me, having a brain-fart in front of scores of people with a microphone in my hand. Oof. What a dork I am!
There were a ton of new folks this year, and I tried to meet as many of them as I could. We are so blessed to draw such incredible people into our hobby! I’ve never witnessed such fellowship in a diverse group of folks before. It really is special, and I feel incredibly fortunate to be part of it.
There was also a great presentation of an all-girl build that will air on TV later this spring and a Hot Rod special edition vehicle that was announced in which 33 will be sold as completed vehicles, a first for Factory Five. The standing of this show within the FFR community is stronger than ever, and as Dave Smith told me, is a show that FFR now believes they can’t afford to miss. It’s difficult to think of ways we can possibly do the event better, but next year is the 20th anniversary of Factory Five and I have a feeling Dave will want to make it something special!
As the sun set on the Huntington Beach Cruise-In, I was too tired to do anything but sleep. I spent Sunday in the garage; no music or distractions, just me and my current build. I am forced to wait a whole year until we do it again, Just like Christmas.
And just like Christmas, you can bet it’ll start with a party at my place. Will you join us?
PS Special Thanks to Grant Hodgkins (GHodgkins), Rob Barron (BMEP) and Herman Hong (289FIA_Cobra) for supplying the pics in this post.