*click on photo to enlarge
The intention was to finish out the weekend, compose my thoughts and put together a professional overview of the Route 66 Fun Fun Weekend. Professionalism be damned!
This was hands down the most amazing automotive event I have ever attended. I will take that a step further and say the distance between this event and my next favorite is about the overall length of this rally/block party – 180
miles.
This event has always been interesting as it combines the best of southwestern scenery with the romance of Route 66. This year, however, the truly awe inspiring array of vehicles participating made this one for the record books.
I talked with a young man from Cold Spring Harbor, New York, that was celebrating the completion of college with a road trip that included stops in Key West, Port Arthur, Texas, and San Francisco, California. He was driving an original, mostly unrestored 1938 Dodge coupe!
One vendor sold home made ice cream. The kicker was the churns were being turned by a vintage “make ‘n break” engine.
On the drive to Kingman from Seligman I passed a couple of daring senior ladies with big smiles cruising in a 1913 Ford Model T, a couple of elderly gentlemen in a 1912 Cadillac, and a fellow with long beard and overalls piloting the original rat rod – a T model Ford truck with missing front fenders and doors but an original engine clicking off the miles.
Street rods and custom cars ran the gamut from “original” 1950s built deuce coupes to a 1950s Jeep station wagon transformed into a close coupled, eight wheel drive mechanical wonder.
Original, unrestored vehicles were overwhelming in number as well as variety. I saw a 24,000 original mile Studebaker Lark and a 1971 Ford Ranchero with just 9,000 miles on the odometer. However, my favorite in this category had to be a 1952 Ford F-3, sun baked but straight as an arrow, with a mere 42,000 miles on the clock.
If foreign cars are more to your liking there were a wide array of Alfa Romeo products as well as a 1970 Datsun sedan, a herd of VW built vehicles, a couple of Rolls Royce sedans as well as Jags, Triumphs and MGs.
It was definitely rag top weather with temperatures in the mid 80s and they were well represented. There was an original 1948 Pontiac, a 1948 Chrysler, a 1948 Packard, a herd of Corvettes and early T-Birds, Model A Fords and a wide spectrum from the 1960s. In the latter there were several Mercury Comets, a couple of Cougars, a Rambler, a GTO, a Challenger, and a Galaxie.
Hi Jim!
Yours is the only photo I have found with any part of my truck in it from the 2008 Fun Run. I had participated in the Run for years with family, but this was the first time I participated with my own vehicle. My husband and I had flown in from Hawaii where he was stationed to attend my mom’s memorial service. We had just enough time to be able to participate before having to fly back. We participated in the parade in Seligman Friday night, something I had never done before, then spent the night in the cab of my truck. Oh, the joy of being young! We were both bleary-eyed and rumpled for the morning line up, but it was an experience I’ll never forget. Thank you for capturing a part of it.
Thank you for sharing that story.
A continuation of your 2008 Fun Run story here, the Green low mileage Lark above was purchased by a Maryland couple in 2012 from someone in Arizona. The couple enjoyed this Little Lark until Melissa’s husband Chris passed away in 2018. I purchased the Lark from Melissa two weeks ago and was able to trace it to your site because it won the “Best Studebaker” Award in the run and I have plaque!
If you have any other photos of the Green Lark or the owners information who drove it in the run I would like to contact them to finish this story….
Thank You!
MikeC
Wow! Let me see what I can find
Great! Any additional stories or pictures of this Green List 63 Lark, 259 V8, Automatic, no PS, no PB, no dome light and Radio Delete will be fun to see. SN 63V-35590. Thanks Again, MikeC