Winter Cruisin

[theJUDGE]

Here's proof that you can still get those GOATs out to cruise, once the leaves are long off the trees, so don't fret. 8)
This is a pic from the Mark D archive collection of the once & famous Royal Botkin 66 GTO collection.
Yes, to your amazement all the these 66's, 2 Burgundy & 2 Candelite Cream, in hardtop & covertible, belonged to the Royal Botkin.
But then he decided to become a professional drag racer, & something had to go. ;)
As my memory serves me, this is a day where we decided to take out the Botkin collection & go for a rip.
The pic is at Marymoor Park in Redmond.
Royal Bob was driving the Candellite Convert, Reed Racing was piloting the Candelite Hardtop, I was driving the Burgundy Hardtop, & some cat named Steve was rolling the Burgundy Convert.
Both Candelite GTOs Royal Bob still has, the hardtop in the pic was a 13 second ride at the time, while the Burgundy GTO now belongs to club member Brandon Warren. (Hey Brandon, check out your GTO with Hurst Wheels & Redlines! - Wohoo that looks killer! - I got lots of thumbs up cruisin through Moss Bay)
The Burgundy Convert went to the dude Steve who drove it that day, but he kinda vanished with the car.
Fun day, we ate at Kidd Valley in Kirkland & Reed Racing proceeded to line lock the Candelite Hardtop & hazed the tires all the way down the Ave. in Kirkland. ( He sent the people on the sidewalks running for cover) But I took great care of your GTO while driving it Brandon! ;D

[LonnieS]

Cool picture - love that Burgundy.

[G6T8O]

Mark .. :)

*Love to see some pix of your stable out and about !!

Bill P. 8)

[Brandon]

Hey Mark,
Great shot! *It's good to be reminded that we don't have to hibernate until Tiger Run.

I wish I was there when Reed Racing lit 'em up! Those latte-sippin', laptop-totin' Kirklanders must have thought the world was coming to an end!

I'm a little jealous to know that I'm not the first man that's "had" my GTO. >:( *I'll just have to remind myself that it was before we even met. *At least you were gentle with her *:-/

-Brandon

[theJUDGE]

Brandon,
Ha!
My thoughts excactly, Reed Racing invaded & disrupted the yuppies & their sidewalk cafes with tire smoke. ;D
We were in true Hooligan form.

And yes, your GOAT was in good hands, let's just say she can be a good girl, but she can be a BAD girl too! hehheh... 8)

I'll rummage through some of my vintage Legends pics this fall & begin to post some. It'll be a treat. :-*

[1PROGTO]

:)That's good stuff, guys. That reminded me of last winter about a week before Christmas. I had gone down to Portland to pickup my first gasser. It was pouring down rain for a week straight and I wasn't ablt to take it out. So I worked on it in the garage for a few days until one Saturday when the skies parted. So I wheeled her out, put a little air in the vintage Goodyear Blue Streak Dragway Specials and decided it was time to roll. Hold on the driveway is still frosty from a chilly overnight. So I wait, check the jets, fluids, etc. I go to the rear of the gasser, pull the battery "on" and get in. I hit the battery toggle on, then the fuel pump, and then after a few primes with the go pedal, the tunnel ram fires!! It came to life as I listened to it rumble through the fenderwell headers to the chambered muffler pipes that originated from a '66 Corvette sidepipe setup. This is her maiden voyage, no one around, just me and the 'ol gasser. As a side note the car hadn't even been registered, so I was trying to keep a low profile, like that was going to happen.
After a little warm up I stroll down the driveway, rumble, shake, rumble, as the straight axle negotiates a corner, I'm thinking I can take it all the way. Just then the engine stumbles, and quietly snuffs out like I'm running out of gas.
Great, I'm almost on the road, and I need to get this thing running, as it's kinda blocking traffic. Ok another issue..... this thing has a tilt front that takes two to get open. So I go to a neighbor who gladly helps, digging it all the way. A little tap on the fuel pump and it starts again, then off again. Well my confidence was shaken at this point so I limped it back into the garage. Turns out I had a bad pump.

The next time out was after Christmas, a buddy and I had trailered it to it's new home in SoCal. We hopped in and cruised to work. First a stop at the local Jack In the Box for an AM O.J. We come out and there are 15 people checking it out, this is at 7:45 in the morning. Let me tell you that was the best commute I've ever had.

Brad