California Roadster, California Roadsters, California-Roadsters, Roadsters

	Chuck Small, the event chairman for the 2005 Roadster Roundup hosted by the LA Roadsters said there were a lot of excuses for not attending this year’s event with only 84 entrants. President Jerry and Judy Kugel brought ten members of the California Roadsters to the 40^th RR in SLO who didn’t need an excuse to cruise back to the Central Coast. Members included: Max & Sue Jamiesson, Ray & Sally Wilcox, Chet (Rookie) and Ruby Norris, Dr. Mark (Rookie) Van Buskirk and his brother Matt, Bernie (Rookie) Couch, Don Prieto, Joe Scanlin, Duane McKinney and yours truly, Mark Byer. Terry Terrell and Steve Kelly both signed up for the 40^th, but Terry got the call to help out the survivors of Katrina and Steve was sent out of town on company business, making this the second year he had planned to attend. Steve says next year for sure, so we have at least one member signed up for the 41^st. On Thursday morning, we did our standard two prong assault on SLO, with Don leading the southern group from his shop in Torrance along Highway 1 through Malibu. Dr. Mark drove his ’32 Roadster in it’s roadrace setup, straight from the Monterey Historic Races, including a rollbar, removed hood sides, bucket seats, safety equipment and open headers. Co-pilot Matt did a good job of taking pics, making sure we were happy at happy hour and took a special liking to Bernie The larger northern group went straight to Jockos for brunch, while the southern group stopped at Joe’s favorite choke‘n puke in Carpentaria for burgers. Ray didn’t disappoint us and went on the hook at Jockos with the tow truck drivers saying, “Haven’t I met you before”. Since we’ve worked on Ray’s roadster many times, we did our best pit crew imitation and tore it apart in the parking lot of the Embassy Suites and got it back on the road by Friday morning. Friday afternoon we’re ready for a little R & R, which entailed a coastal cruise to nearby Morro Bay for some seafood. We ended up at the Flying Dutchman, which just so happened to the same name of Dr. Mark’s racing team. So how does a midwesterner celebrate his first visit to a seafood restaurant bearing the name as his racing team? You guessed it . . . by ordering a cheeseburger. The rest of the afternoon was nap time to rest up for a terrific dinner at Tahoe Joe’s. The Saturday morning run through the rolling hillside north of Santa Margarita ended up at the Loading Chute for a nice buffet lunch. This is a real cowboy bar’n grille in the middle of nowhere frequented mostly by the locals, with a dirt parking lot, hitching post and barn dances on Friday and Saturday nights. The LA Boys really put a lot of effort into planning and execution of a memorable RR, including a banquet dinner on Saturday night with a 40’s theme including: period costumes, a big band and swing dancers. A dance club from Cal Poly provided four young couples in period costumes that really cut a mean rug, including jitterbugging and my favorite, throwing the girls into the air. With the 40’s décor, costumes, excellent food/drink and entertainment, this has to be one of the most memorable dinners ever. Pres. Jerry honored Bernie by introducing our legend member and told the crowd that he is driving his original roadster on his rookie RR. Next year will be BAR’s turn to host the 41^st RR and they always do a bang up job, so put the second weekend of September, 2006 on your calendar now, and lets have a better showing for the CRs. This is the one roadster event annually that we should attend as a club and show our appreciation to BAR for the invitation.






*The Roadster Roundup* FROM THE OUTSIDE, LOOKING IN Matthew G. Van Buskirk When my brother Mark called and offered to bring me along with him to the Roadster Roundup, I was excited, just because spending 4 days with him, and fooling around with his car would be fun. Let alone the fact that it would be in California, completely across the country from my North Carolina home. Well my excitement was realized, much more than I could have ever imagined. Mark, Mike (my other brother) and I grew up in a Chicago suburb and spent a considerable amount of time in the garage, with our Dad, working on cars. I must admit, for me, some of that time was not voluntary. I was young and unwise. Dad’s car of choice at that time was the VW beetle. You know, VWs don’t have speedometers, they have calendars. Dad liked VWs because they were slow and safe. I wanted a ’65 Mustang, and his answer was “NO, too big of an engine, and too light of a car”. Being a parent now, I understand his point. In any case, Dad did a good job of planting the ‘automobile love’ seed in our family. He would have enjoyed being at the roundup. During the weekend I heard the club founder, Duane McKinney, say that the California Roadsters Club is about fellowship and camaraderie. Well gentlemen, from the outside looking in, I think you’re doing a damn good job. One of my many fond memories from the weekend that solidifies this, is the way that many club members pitched in, and in the blink of an eye, Ray Wilcox had a new water pump and radiator installed in his beautiful 29 fendered roadster. The people I met over the weekend were exceptional to say the least. How many people on earth can say that they defended our country in WWII, have owned the same car for 65 years, have an original SCTA tag from El Mirage, appeared on the cover of Hot Rod Magazine, and at the age of 81, drove that same car for a total of over 500 miles, to spend time with friends? Bernie Couch is in a class of his own. Riding with him to Morro Bay was truly a privilege. Don Prieto’s hospitality and friendship was very much appreciated as well. It’s amazing that one person can be involved in so many things, and do all of them very well. All in all, this amounts to a large ‘Thank You’ to all of the California Roadster Club members. You made this outsider feel very welcome. Most of all, thanks to my brother Mark for dragging his pesty ‘little’ brother along. You know what, about 5 years ago, I bought that ’65 Mustang, and I still have it. In fact, once Dad and I took a ride in it. It needs attention, and recently, I’ve been thinking about ways to get it fixed up. Seems like the Roadster Roundup planted a bug. And by the way, I do own a roadster, it doesn’t have side windows, it’s an off brand, and rather small, and I’m sure the year it was manufactured was after 1939. Do you think the fact that it cuts grass precludes it from being a ‘real’ roadster?