USA-Americarna-GoodGuys-Tour

Hi all! Well our first official Americarna GoodGuys tour to Pleasanton is now a memory of excitement, fun, laughter and new experiences for us all. We had a great bunch of people join us who have made new friends.....

Day one was arrival of the main group into San Francisco, then onto our Hotel at the Four Points Sheraton in Pleasanton.  Typical of a Kiwi on Holiday, the first night was (as was most) a ripper with laughter generated by a few of the hard cases that joined us...namely Lottie.  What a hoot she turned out to be.

Monday morning we started day one of four days of Hot Rod week which is arranged by Fred Zimmerman.  Fred does a great job of putting this week together.  As you will see from our photos all of our group had rides with people during the four days.  Some were fortunate enough to have more than one ride.

Lloyd Wilson (Magoo) who has a Hot Rod in the USA along with his mate Mike Gialdini from the States were just awesome, ensuring as many of our group as possible had a ride with them.  So to Mike and Lloyd and to all the other people who provided rides for our group, Thank You!  You played a major part in making the trip special.

	Steve Curle from Kiwi Shipping along for a ride with Duane Jones from Kiwi Connection in his 32 Roadster.
	Dale Coster in Mike Gialdini's 32 Hiboy Hemi Powered Roadster.
	Peter Phillips in Lloyd Wilson's 30 Roadster Pickup.
	Bruce Ekdahl generously given a ride in a Pick Up (unfortuantely driver unknown but working on the details).
	Ross McCall in Lloyd Wilson's Roadster Pick Up
	Julie Simons in Mike Gialdini's Roadster.
	Ash Cook with Mike Gialdini.

Monday night we finished with a group dinner at Eddie Papas just down the road from the Hotel.  In true Kiwi style, another great night.

Some the team at Eddie Papas.

	Colin McKay in Jim Ward's 62 Chevy.
	Dean Cadman in Lloyd Wilsons Roadster Pickup.
	Tony Etheridge about to cruise with Lloyd Wilson in the Roadster Pickup.
	Lois McKay and Yvonne Chambers with Henry Gong and his 56 Chevy Nomad Station Wagon.
	Peter Coster with Mike Gialdini and his Roadster.
	Jan McAleer with Doug Owen, his wife and their 55 Chevy.
	Malcolm Mortlock with Paul Burrows and his Corvette.
	Judy Wright with Duane Jones - Bakersfield, and his 32 Roadster.

Part of day two of Hot Rod week was a visit to Willis Johnson's car collection.  These are just a few of the incredible cars  in his collection.

Peter Coster checking out the quality of the cars .... inside, outside, upside & downside.  Peter was spoted in this position a number of times during the week.

 

The Americarna GoodGuys Tour Group. In front kneeling with JR is Willis Johnson (collection owner), Buck Kamphausen (private collection owner from Vellejo) and Gary Meadors (GoodGuys).

 

Major excitement at the end of day two.  A blowout on the left front tyre of our bus at 65 mph.  Top job by our driver to get us out of this potential disaster unscathed.

 

	Wednesday night we hired four stretch limo's to ride into down town San Francisco.  Awesome night, well at least in the JR limo!!

 

	Paul Ekdahl with Jim Ward and his 62 Chevy Belair.
	Greg Honnor with Paul Burrows and his Corvette
	Catherine Honnor with car owner Bob Temmermand.
	Craig Skevington about to cruise with Lloyd in his 32 Roadster Pickup.
	Kathy Mortlock with Mike Gialdini.

 

 

 

	Mark Joblin with Jim Ward and his 62 Chevy Belair.
	Wayne Fabish and Gary Meadors from GoodGuys with Gary's 28 Roaster.  Gary's Roadster was in NZ for Americarna 2009.
	Greg Honnor with car owner, Bob and his very cool ride.
	Nitro Nan aka Lottie Cadman, crusing with Duane Jones in his 32 Roadster.
	Toni Fabish (Americarna Administrator) with Gary Meadors from GoodGuys ...........Thank you Gary the ride was a trip highlight!!
	Wayne Fabish with Henry Gong and Henry's 56 Chevy Nomad.
	Don Wright crusing with Gary Meadors in his 28 Roadster.
	Jan McAleer, Lyn Maxwell, Lois McKay and Yvonne Chambers with Henry Gong and his 56 Chevy Nomad. (Photo kindly supplied by Pete Phillips)
	Tony Etheridge crusing with Mini Cooper owners Paul & Margaret Burrows.  This Mini was purchased in NZ when the Burrows attended Americarna 2009 and was shipped back to the States. The car along with the owners has been blinged out with many things Kiwi.  Great to see Paul & Margaret again!
	Connie Murphy with her 56 Chevy Nomad.  Connie and her 56 have travelled 200,000 miles and 12 times across the States.

Friday was day one of the GoodGuys Street Rod nationals, man it was hot, 100F plus!  The show was a real eye opener for all of the group as apart from two of the team, none had been before.

	Kay Fabish & Tania Dowie enjoying the sunshine, cars and trade displays at the Alameda Fair Grounds.

We repeated Saturday at the Fairgrounds before a farewell group dinner in down town Pleasanton.

The Americarna team at the farewell dinner presentations. Toni, Tania, JR & Bob

Sunday was a tour of San Francisco before we headed to the airport with half the group returning home and the rest visiting different parts of the USA.

I could write for hours but I guess if you want to experience it, then join us in 2010 when we hope to return.  If your keen, then drop a line to Toni at admin@americarna.com