Written By: GregTheUPSMan

With November being a fairly “quiet” month with the SCC, the City of La Verne held a car show, and toy drive, on Nov 28th. I proposed this show, as a last minute event, which was optional for SCC members to attend. Being on a holiday weekend, I was quite surprised that we had as many Challengers as we did.

Art, Joe, Howard, Chris & family, and myself, represented the SCC at the show. We also had guests, Pete and Beth that wanted to roll with us in their Red ’68 Charger.

All of us met at the Applebee’s, in San Dimas, at 6 am. We had a 30 minute briefing, and began our single file drive to the show’s entrance. We had pre-assigned numerical parking places for the show, so it only made sense to arrive in numerical order. As we arrived at our parking area, we noticed a Black BMW 5-series illegally parked in our assigned section. The BMW ended up splitting between Art’s space and the “68 Charger’s space. The area was clearly marked, “tow away” but the show staff didn’t make any effort to have the car removed. We were able to park around the BMW, but it definitely disturbed the appeal of our lineup.

Once parked, we began to touch up our Challenger’s even with a 50% chance of rain in the forecast. The show area began to fill up with other show participants. There were a lot of old Camaro’s, Chevelle’s, ’55-57 Bel-Air’s, Nomads, classics, and all kinds of hot rods. It didn’t take long for the pedestrian traffic to find their way to our Challenger’s. Massive groups of spectators smothered our Challenger’s all day long. Folks were even hitting up on Chris to fire up his supercharger, which is always cool! In all modesty, we all were liking our chances of at least one of us winning something by the days’ end.

About 2:30, they announced that the trophy presentation was about to begin. Everyone congregated to the presentation area, and that’s when we noticed a lot of guys wearing identical jackets. They were all wearing “Team jackets” with the name, “Cal Rods of the San Gabriel Valley.” I couldn’t even begin to guess on how many of them were there. I knew at that point that any chance of winning something had just dwindled, because the voting was predominately participant’s choice. The actual presentation took place under the “Cal Rod” E-Z up.

We would like to congratulate the Cal Rod members that took home about 90% of the trophies that day. On a side note, Beth won $175 in cash on a winning raffle! Once the award presentation was over, we went to our Challenger’s, said our good-byes, and went our separate ways. It was a good day and we all had fun.

Written By: 1HotRod

Temecula – It was a beautiful November day, and a perfect day for a cruise.  The day, Sunday 22 November 2009, a dozen Challengers from across Southern California convened in Old Town Temecula to participate in a cruise to the small mountain community of Julian in San Diego County.  The goal for many was to purchase some renowned Julian Apple Pies for Thanksgiving.  The route was a simple but scenic one, State Route (SR) 79 through Warner Springs to SR 78 at Santa Ysabel and on into Julian.  The route back took a turn at SR 76 that led us through Pauma Valley to Pala Road then back into Temecula.  The weather, road conditions, and traffic were ideal for a cruise. 

It was assumed from the beginning that due to the last minute planning, and the date being the Sunday before Thanksgiving, we would be lucky to get a handful of cars to make the cruise.  To maximize exposure and reach the largest possible audience of Challenger owners, the SCC Julian Pie Cruise announcement was posted on four forums, SoCalChallengers.com, ChallengerTalk.com, Challengerforumz.com, and MOPAR360.com.  The greatest response was from the SoCalChallenger.com forum, of course.

It was great day for a ride to Julian.  When they got to Julian, they noticed that parking was going to be an issue, especially if SCC wanted to park together.  They checked out a couple of the lots in town, and talked with the attendants at the largest parking lot in Julian.  When asked if the lot operator would consider offering a discount to our club for 6-12 cars, they took my name and email address, and in a couple of days Father Moraga of St. Elizabeth’s of Hungary emailed me offering SCC $3/day parking, a 40% discount off the regular rate of $5/day.  One must wonder if he is a MOPAR man with his reply “If you can’t Dodge ‘Em, Ram ‘Em”.  

Cruise day started with some freshly brewed coffee from Starbucks in Old Town Temecula where we all met.  Old Town Temecula, with its Early California architecture, is home to the annual Spring & Fall Old Town Temecula Car Shows formerly known as the Temecula Rod Run.  In its hay-day they were pulling in over 1000 pre-1973 cars, trucks and motorcycles.  I will be petitioning the event coordinator for acceptance of the “New” Challenger (Modern Muscle Cars) at next year’s events if anyone is interested.

When I arrived in Old Town at 8:20, he was met by Dave (REDDOG), Chris (SparkChicken) and Rick (SRT4RJ).  G1 rolled in behind me - we met on the I-15 freeway as I accelerated down the onramp.  At 8:30 more cars started to roll in, Chuck (ChuckR), Bill (HemiLvr), Julio (MrJay_RT), James W (CookieMonster), James (DutchChallenger), and SpeedKing.  At that point there were 11 Challengers lined up on Front Street.  G3 took his list of participants and started checking off names when he found that James W in his B5B RT did not sign up.  He drove in from Thousand Oaks, and picked up his friend from Victorville at Bass Pro Shops.  We were waiting for Challenger #12, Tom (Furious).  He rolled in around 8:50.  At that point, we had 12 cars – 5 HO, 3 BSM, 1 TR, 1 SW, 1 BB, and 1 B5B.  The HOs won for most popular color.

The first 5 miles through South Temecula were the toughest, with no less than 15 traffic signals.  Leading the pack, I kept the speed down to keep the group in my rearview. I was in constant contact via 2-way radio with Dave who was bringing up the rear, and G1 keeping the center line.  Just beyond Temecula, SR 79 turns into a twisty two-lane road that climbs through the valley north of Palomar Mountain.  Knowing this route is typically heavily patrolled by CHP and San Diego Sheriff Deputies, I set the cruise control at the posted speed limit, and this is how the group rolled most of the day. 

Our first stop after 30 miles was the Sunshine Summit General Store.  We had our 12 Challengers lined up side by side for great photo op. We lined them up once again and continued south on SR 79.  The traffic was so light that day that we were able to get all 12 cars back on the road without any breaks. 

We continued our drive through Warner Springs, and past Lake Henshaw.  This is where we saw the only CHP that day.  He was alone on the left shoulder with his bubbles flashing.  With the cruise control set at 55, we were not breaking any obvious laws, and we did not invite him to come harass us.   We made it past him without incident.  

Our next stop was the Inaja Memorial Park.  This is a small park along SR 78 just east of Santa Ysabel.  There were just enough parking spots left for our 12 Challengers.  We attracted a lot of attention here.  The view from the park over the Santa Ysabel valley is tremendous, and the pictures don’t do it justice. There is a memorial marker at this park in honor of the 11 firefighters who lost their lives in the Inaja Fire on November 25, 1956.

From here we proceeded to our destination in Julian. I pulled into the St. Elizabeth’s parking lot, where the attendants were expecting us.  They were excited to see us and told us to park wherever we wanted. The lot had plenty of space. It was high noon already.  Figuring an hour and a half would be enough time to grab some lunch, pie, and do some shopping, we agreed to meet back at the cars at 1:30.   We all went our separate ways, some in small groups, some with the significant other, and some with family. First stop for me was the Julian Café!

Story by Deuce

Los Angeles- Fifteen members of SoCalChallengers attended the 14^th annual “Cops for Tots” car show which was held at the old Los Angeles Police Academy in Elysian Park on October 25^th, 2009. SoCal Challengers swept the “Challenger Class” at the show and also took home trophies in the “Daily Driver”, “Special Interest”, and “Group Participation” categories. The “Cops for Tots” show raises money for selected children’s charities in the greater Los Angeles area. Over 500 cars filled the entire police academy parking lot as well as the surrounding Academy Road that runs between the police academy and Dodger Stadium.

I pulled into Dave’s shops’ parking lot at a quarter to six that morning. It was dark, it was foggy. I was excited as this show we had been looking forward to for some time. We had our own class for our cars, (Which has only happened at one other show this year), and there was a group participation trophy to be had as well. I thought we had a good shot at getting that group trophy with our projected turnout of fifteen cars. Several members were already there when I arrived. Bill and Macy, Joe, and Rick were good to go. James, Dan, and G1 were there soon after. Then G2, Kevin, Jim, Chris, and the rest rolled in. We were excited to meet Joe M, who had come from the inland empire to roll in with us. His Inferno Red R/T was nice to see as we don’t have that color in our group yet. Jeff had been nice enough to give him his pass for the show as he was unable to attend. We were waiting for Brendon from San Diego, but needed to go as the staff at the show wanted us at the gate at 6:30 a.m.

As we pulled up to the show we passed a long line of entrants cars and were put into a side staging area in the Dodger Stadium parking lot. Then we got a lesson in waiting. Although we were asked to be there at 6:30, we were still in that staging area waiting to be placed at 8:00 a.m. We hung out in that area, talking and such….dee ..de….dee. It seemed like forever. We learned of James’ hatred of spiders. We also picked up another Challenger driven by Chuck and his wife. They accepted our invitation to park with us. Most of our wives and kids went back to sleep in their respective cars. Right about 8:00 a.m. a golf cart came over and said they were ready for us to come in. We were taken past the rest of the cars in line and were placed on two adjacent roads, not together like we were promised. I remember Rick coming back to my car while we were in line and letting me know they were doing that. He wasn’t happy about it. Neither was I. It ended up working out as we set up our ez up on the corner in between the two groups and also the “Challenge Her” dragster of Richard’s. It also gave us a gap to place Brendon as he showed up later in the morning.

After we were placed and got our cars cleaned up, Dave and I went to the Judge’s tent to get our briefing. We were judging the modern LX cars other than Challengers. Two SoCal LX members (Mighty Noid and SRT John) were judging the Challenger Class. As we got our judging sheets and were explained the process we were supposed to follow, I noticed that Dave and I were given a bunch of old Mopar cars to judge as well. That was fine by me, the fun part was finding them. They were all over the show as they did not put the same make of cars together. I had one sheet that said “’34 Dodge”. That’s all. No area where it was, no license plate, color, nothing. I never found that one. The organizer in the judges tent told me, ”If you have a sheet, then it’s here”. I responded, ”Well, you better show me where it is then ‘cause I can’t find it.” Freekin’ 500+ cars and I have to find a ’34 Dodge somewhere. There were some beautiful cars though Dave and I got to judge. The Blue Road Runner was stunning. There was a great old Hemi-Orange Challenger there too. I was happy to eventually find all the rest of the cars and get them judged.

We ended up taking home six trophies that day. We won the “Group Participation” Trophy. Rick won in the “Daily Driver” category. Richard won in the “Special Interest” category for the dragster. In the Challenger Class, I received first place for the very first time this year. Dan and Dave received “Show Stopper” runner up awards. Although it was poorly organized at best, we as a group made our usual best of it and took home more bling for the mantle.

I’d like to thank the LAPD for personally inviting us to the show. Thanks also to Dave for providing the meeting place for us to roll in from. And thanks to the members who helped me later that day…It meant a lot……

Thanks to Dave (RedDog) for this awesome video depicting 9 months in the life of SoCal Challengers:

Written by: Deuce

Van Nuys – SoCal Challengers participated in their second CPW “Fling” event of the year October 17^th at Woodley Park. Twelve members and eight guests made for a 20-car line of pristine Challengers that took up an entire row at the show. Member Kevin L. won a ribbon Certificate of Merit from CPW for his outstanding Torred R/T. The event featured all years of Mopar vehicles which spread out over eight rows covering the majority of the park grounds. The final tally was somewhere in the neighborhood of 350 cars at the show. There was also a parts swap meet and numerous vendor booths for classic Mopar owners to find that missing part for their restoration or classic memorabilia.

It was convenient that our meeting place was already pegged ahead of time for this show. We had used the closed down jewelry store parking lot for the Spring Fling event earlier in the year. After getting my wife her coffee at a Starbucks down Burbank Blvd. we rolled up in the parking lot to find several members there already. It made me smile that Bill and Macy were there. I had met them at the Spring Fling event earlier in the year. They ended up not thinking we were nuts and subsequently joined SoCal Challengers after that show. Seeing them there in their SCC gear was a good thing. They were now attending as SCC Members. Anyone with a Mopar tattoo on their arm is hardcore and ok in my book. Those are the type of members we love to have, bleeding Mopar blue! We had some new cars show up there as well.  Jim brought his convertible R/T to our meeting place to roll in with us. Jim had an Inferno Red Challenger that definitely turns heads. It’s the only convertible I’ve seen in person to date. The entire group took a gander at the topless muscle machine. I had seen his car the weekend before at the Tri-City Park Car Show in Placentia. I kept checking back that day looking for the owner, but never saw him. Then he just pulls up at our meeting place the very next weekend. Small world and a super nice guy. He ended up getting a ribbon Certificate of Merit as well from CPW. Congrats Jim! Marcelo pulled up in his black 2010 SRT-8 to ride in with us too. Ryan at Stack Performance had hooked him up with our group and it was great to meet him and see our first 2010 model at one of our events. Nick, of BF Xenon, also brought his Charger to the meeting spot to say hello and hang with us for part of the day. If you’re looking for HID lighting for your ride, Nick is the man!!! The Diceman made an appearance too. We hadn’t seen him since the Hotchkis event. I finally got to give him his club shirt which had been in my garage forever. I had the shirt carbon dated, and it was placed back somewhere in the Jurassic Period. It was good to see him in that shirt finally. Joe, from Mass, was at yet another event. I think he’s been at every event since he moved out to California. After the usual pow-wow it was time to roll into the show.

We got into the staging lines just inside Woodley Park at 7a.m. as ordered by CPW. In front of me were two beautiful black ’68 Chargers. Those are my favorite year Chargers and these were both super clean. We rolled in shortly after and found out we had an entire row saved for us. We all were placed, and began the usual prepping and primping for the show. We had almost an hour before the show officially opened. As more cars began pulling in, another eight Challengers pulled in and parked with us. That was an impressive line of cars. It seemed like it stretched for a mile. We receive a lot of attention that day from spectators at our cars and our table where we sold t-shirts and displayed our trophies our members have earned so far this year. We had someone actually ask us how much for our trophies. Huh? Buy our trophies? Freak. I didn’t expect that one.

Kevin ended up getting an award that day for his beautiful R/T. He had a laminated manifest and purchase sticker along with a Challenger model in his engine bay. The display looked really sharp and we are happy that he won. CPW stealthily put the ribbons on various cars at the end of the show. There were ninja ribbon-placers about. I never saw them once. Some of the members picked up memorabilia at the various booths too to add to their collection. This show had quite a variety.

I can now say that we’ve “Flung” twice this year and loved it! These shows bring out a vast quantity of high-quality classic Mopars. Too many to mention! My fave was a ’71 Challenger that had a new 6.1 Hemi in it. It was a beautiful blue. Man, that car was my favorite by a mile. I’d like to thank CPW for bringing such great Mopars together for us to see and for embracing the new models of Dodge/Chrysler. I’d also like to thank all the member participation at this event. We had a great turnout! And thank you Rick for double-checking the lot ahead of time. Spring Fling is April 1^st & 2^nd 2010!

Written By: Deuce

Costa Mesa- Sixteen SoCal Challenger members and one guest attended the” Cruisin’ For a Cure” Car Show in Costa Mesa on September 26^th. Billed as the nation’s largest one day charity car show, somewhere between 2,500 and 3,000 hot rods, classics, modern autos, and specialty vehicles attended. SCC partnered with SoCal LX to show a strong modern Mopar presence at the event. Proceeds from this show went to the City of Hope and their search for a cure for prostate cancer.

Dave had arranged for us to meet at SoCal LX’s meeting spot to roll into the show with their group. We met at 4:00 to 4:15 a.m. They had attended this event as a group before, so we took their experience and their lead for this event as it was new for us. The fog was heavy, and pretty much everyone was in zombie mode at that hour. Chris’ kids were sacked out, as well as Kevin’s wife. It was early, early, early. We had a guest show up at the meeting spot that we had talked to online but had never met. Joe, who was from Massachusetts, had moved out to California just three weeks before. It was great to finally meet him and his Hemi Orange R/T. After a pow-wow with SoCal LX, we left the Best Buy parking lot and rolled to the show shortly after 4:30 a.m.

Upon arriving at the OC Fairgrounds we were promptly split up into several lanes for entry. It didn’t matter that we came as a group and were going to park as one. We got split up and would have to re-form once we got in. I was talking to a volunteer while we were waiting to go in and even she thought that was dumb. I second that opinion. Being the last car in of our group driving Ryan’s Charger, I was two lanes over from most of the group. As we came in we made our way to the rear lot where we had our own area next to SoCal LX. A sign said,”Challengers, Chargers, and Corvettes” with an arrow to the right at one point. I started to turn right there and was yelled at by a parking volunteer not to turn there. He responded that “I would cause a traffic jam turning there so go to the end and double back”. Silly me for following those signs. Can you tell my frustration with the organization of this event so far?  The German in me was coming out big time. We did our double-back and parked with everyone else eventually and everything was good.

This car show opened to the public at 7:00 a.m. We had a couple of hours to kill before the peeps eyes would be on our rides. We couldn’t really clean anything, because the fog was wet enough to promptly ruin what you had just cleaned. I ventured inside to the vendor area to help Ryan setup his booth. Stack Performance has been a huge supporter of SCC. They had a booth at this event with three cars, one being my Challenger. I helped  Aaron, Tim, Ryan, and his fiance’ Cheryl set up their booth. The vendor building hadn’t turned on their air conditioning yet and it was humid as could be and hot. We knocked out Ryan’s booth quickly and could now enjoy the show as it unfolded.

As the show opened, cars were still pouring in to park. Thousands of them. I don’t know what the final tally was, but they were at 2,700 or so cars signed up a few days before the show. I think they all showed. I’ve been to this show as a spectator before so I knew what to expect as far as the enormity of it all. The unique part of this show is the “Cruise” portion. You can leave your parking spot and “Cruise” your car around a pre-set route that goes throughout the whole show. I know Dan took advantage of this and loved it. If my car wasn’t at a vendor booth, I’d have done it too. Cars were constantly “Cruising” around this show. It’s a very unique feature. I ran back and forth between the Stack Performance booth and where our cars were parked. I think if I would have worn a pedometer I would have seen plenty of miles racked up going back and forth. It was great to see all the members that were there, some we hadn’t seen in a while. Jon”Milk Carton” S., Robert H, as well as Bill and Macy were there and had been sorely missed. It was Kevin’s birthday as well and I gave him an old magazine ad of a Challenger  R/T that was mounted and ready to hang. You just can’t have enough Challenger memorabilia. I think everyone had a good time. This show goes from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. That plus us meeting at 4 a.m. made us toast by the end of the day. I had suggested a group dinner afterwards but everyone just wanted to get home. I understood that completely. Some of the members took advantage of the free prostate cancer screening as well which can now be done by simple blood draw.

I’d like to thank Dave and Socal LX for arranging the meeting place. I’d also like to thank Ryan and the crew at Stack Performance for their support of us. And Kevin, thanks for spending the better part of your birthday with your SoCal brothers and sisters. We are honored to spend it with you and hope you enjoyed it as much as we did….

Written by: Deuce

Woodland Hills- On August 30^th , eleven SCC members drove to the weekly Calabasas/Woodland Hills Cars and Coffee car show. Several hundred cars of all varieties came and filled the entire strip mall parking lot. After the show the members cruised to Neptune’s Net for lunch through the scenic Topanga Canyon.

The morning started way early for us in the OC. We met at Dan’s shop at 4:30 a.m. for a 5:00a.m. departure. As Dan said, ”This is fishing time to be up right now”. He threw on some coffee which my wife inhaled in no time. Did I forget to say it was EARLY? Anyways, Greg came soon after with wifey Brenda and Barbara. Greg called them B1 and B2. It’s good to see that people see the value of my numbering system. It works! I was happy that we had some others besides drivers going with us…They could keep us awake! We left at 5a.m. sharp for the valley, in the dark, winding our way up the 5 and 101 freeways.

My cell phone rang at about 5:45a.m. and startled me. It was Dave asking how far away we were from the show. I replied, ”We are 8.4 miles away” quoting my nav unit. He was glad we were so close. “I don’t mess around” I quipped jokingly. He let me know the parking lot was already filling up. As we pulled in, Dave was already there along with Kevin, Rick, and Eddie. Jeff came soon after we did and that made for a nice lineup. It was still dark out and there were a ton of cars there already. This group gets there earlier than the Cars and Coffee in Irvine by far. Later on that morning Brian, Jim, and Rick joined us to hang out and see the sights.

I was amazed that cars just kept coming, and coming, and coming into the parking lot. It was endless it seemed. A big Mustang group was there as well as a fairly large Corvette group that we irritated by taking their usual spots. One actually was miffed enough to say something to me about an hour after we arrived. He asked, ”What time did you guys get here, like 3a.m.? I knew he was pissy so I decided to play. I replied, ”You know, I think we got here about 1:30a.m. or so.” “Don’t you know this is where the Corvette guys park?” he said back. My reply was,” Hmm, I didn’t see any piss marking these spots so we just parked here”. Saying that with a smile is confusing to people. Did I just verbally give you the finger? Or am I joking? His look was priceless. His only answer was to say that he’ll get there earlier next time. The real funny part is that he will go back and tell his ‘Vette buddies that they have to get there earlier to beat those Challenger yo-yo’s and we won’t be there! The show had pretty much every type of car you could think of. Many, many, high-dollar rides. Full-on race cars and six-figure exotics and classics were everywhere. We got a lot of attention as we always do even with cars around us that were worth several times our own. It just goes to show you what a home run the Challenger is from a design standpoint. People love the car no matter what their pocketbook. We met a lot of really nice people. There were huge crowds at this show!

After the show ended at 10a.m. we left for Neptune’s Net to get lunch. Dave led us through Topanga Canyon to Pacific Coast Highway where we made a right turn and headed North. Neptune’s was slammed for parking as usual so most of us parked along PCH on the shoulder. We made our way in past endless motorcycles and people to order our lunches and try and find tables to sit at. All of us found a place to sit and we enjoyed great conversation with each other. That’s what it’s all about for us; cars, friends, and family. Our next cruise will be more of the same fun we always have. It truly is a great group of men and women. I’m lucky to represent them as a Co-President. A lot of Car Club Presidents represent and lead a group of schmoe’s. I don’t.

Thanks to Dave for planning this event for us. Thanks also to Dan for letting us meet at his shop and also for the many pictures he took throughout the day. Rick, thanks for the heads-up on getting there earlier. It was wise advice. Until we cruise again…

Written by: Deuce

Glendale – August 8^th saw a dozen Challengers winding their way through the Angeles Crest Highway stopping at Newcomb’s Ranch and the scenic Mt. Wilson Observatory. This was SoCal Challengers second cruise event this year and was as memorable as their first cruise which went across the Ortega Highway in Orange County. A pre-ride breakfast at the historic Foxy’s Restaurant in Glendale was enjoyed by a majority of the participants.

A group of us down in the OC decided to meet early to make it up to Foxy’s for the breakfast at 7:30 a.m. We met at Dan’s shop in Anaheim. I made it there first and saw G1 arrive shortly after. It was the first time I was able to meet G1’s wifey Brenda. I was excited that she finally attended an SCC event. Super nice gal, too. We need more participation from our significant others. I’m extremely lucky that my wife attends almost every event with me no matter what. That’s not the usual with the other members however, and I know they would love to have their spouses and family with them. Dan was next to arrive and I got to hear his ride with his new mods. The car sounded fantastic. I was very thankful for Dan as it was my second event without my car. “Jack” was still under construction. Dan let Heather and I use his SRT-8 Jeep for this cruise so I could go. James came last and brought his nephew’s girlfriend Chris. She had attended events with us before and it was good to see her again riding shotgun with James. We hit the freeway and headed north.

Upon arriving at Foxy’s in Glendale, we were greeted by several members that were already there. Dave, Kevin, Howard (Along with wife Nicki), and Jim were parked and ready to eat. We also got to meet Bob from Rowland Heights with his black Challenger. Great guy and we were glad to have him join us. Foxy’s opened in 1964 and is famous for their omelettes that have a south of the border flair. We ate heartily, James and I called each other liars, and after an hour or so, it was time to head to the meeting place for the cruise.

We met at Dave’s shop in Glendale and picked up members Chris and Rick. We had another guest join us too. Brandon came all the way up from Coronado in San Diego to ride with us. He brought his silver Challenger with him (More silver, more silver, more silver). Once everyone was there Dave gave the guidelines for the ride and handed out packets for everyone. I then had the pleasure of giving new members, Jim, Rick, and Howard their club shirts. We welcome them to the SCC family. It was time to drive!

We hopped on the 2 Freeway and proceeded up Angeles Crest Highway. The weather was great, 75-80 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. It was amazing how quickly you go from big city to two-lane mountain road. The curves were as I remembered them, soft and sweeping with lots of middle and late apexes. The last time I was on that road was on my sport bike I had owned some ten years earlier. This time I was on four wheels going much, much, slower and enjoying the scenery. We stopped at Newcomb’s Ranch for lunch and were extremely lucky to find parking for all of us relatively close together. Heather and I sat with Kevin and Brandon for lunch. When we came out people were staring at our cars from afar. I asked Rick to open his hood and all of a sudden people just started coming over to look at his engine bay. A lot of good conversation ensued with motorcyclists and car drivers alike. One gentleman we met was a retired Chrysler mechanic who gave us and our cars a lot of praise. We got the usual rock start treatment before we saddled back up to head to Mt. Wilson.

Upon arriving at Mt. Wilson we encountered a packed parking lot as there was an endurance racing event going on. Lots of runners running around everywhere thinking it was a great idea to run up the side of a mountain on a Saturday….. for fun. Luckily, we all found places to park and enjoyed the view from 6,000 or so feet up. Jim suggested we take a group shot, and me being one with no shame, I used the idea because it was a great one. I walked over to one of the runners who had finished the race and was enjoying a Moosehead Beer to take a photo of us. He agreed to take the shot and it came out great. We chatted for a while and after an hour or so it was time to head back home.

Dan had approached me earlier that day about going home the scenic way through Wrightwood instead of back through Los Angeles. Again, great idea. G1, Brandon, Chris, James, and I joined Dan and took this route home. I had never taken this route before past Newcomb’s Ranch and it didn’t disappoint. Great mountain views and a great view of the high desert off to the left for most of that route. We were surprised as we rounded one corner by a huge glider going straight up very close to the guard rail. You don’t normally approach a mountain corner and think, “I bet we’ll see a big-ass glider fly up right in front of us”. It was definitely a surprise. James hit the big 3,000 mile mark in his Challenger and stopped for a photo op. Dan thought his car was a rock knocker and took out a sizeable boulder. Luckily, he suffered no damage but the Forest Service is seeking his vehicle for rock removal duty. There were a lot of rocks to dodge on that road. Thankfully no one else hit anything. We stopped at the 15 freeway to fuel up and head home. Dan helped a newlywed couple from Italy put gas in their car as they had no clue how us “Americans” do it. They were heading to Vegas. Dan and I took part of the old Cajon Pass road back home which I hadn’t been on since I was a kid on the back of my Grandfather’s motorcycle. That brought back some great memories. It was a great day for everyone.

I’d like to thank Dave for planning and doing the legwork on this event. It went really well. I’d also like to thank Dan for letting Heather and I attend this event in his Jeep. Another cruise is coming shortly!!!!

Written by: Deuce

Santa Fe Springs – SoCal Challengers attended the All Mopar Open House and Car Show on July 18th at their performance shop in Santa Fe Springs, California. A total of seventeen Challengers and three Chargers took their place for the parking lot car show. The event included a Tech talk on suspension basics, complimentary lunch, and a raffle for Hotchkis and other automobile merchandise. Members of SoCal LX and Chrysler Performance West also showed up in strong numbers to add their Mopar vehicles which helped completely fill the parking lot in front of Hotchkis performance.

SCC Members met at Sako’s Sandwich Shop which is less than a block away from the Hotchkis building. I was doing something I had never done at an SCC event. I was going there without my car. I had originally planned to ride my Harley-Davidson there so I could still hang with my SCC family. My car was at Stack Performance in Anaheim getting some custom work done and it wasn’t going to be ready in time for the show. Ryan Schumacher, the owner of Stack Performance, wanted to bring his Challenger AND his custom 7.3 Charger to the event. He graciously offered to let me drive his Challenger to the event. Of course I couldn’t pass that up. His car is almost as cool as mine.

After we all arrived at Sako’s we had some new faces show up to roll in to the show with us. Dennis and Linda, who came all the way from San Jose, were there. They had come down for the Hotchkis Show and the Glendale Cruise Night. We were glad to have them with us. Finally someone had travelled farther than Kevin to get to one of our events. Rick showed up in his beautiful red Challenger with a Techco supercharger under the hood. Howard also showed up to help support the silver nation of SCC in his silver Challenger (You can’t have enough silver Challengers, you just can’t). Ryan’s customer Shaun brought his very custom black Charger as well. Again, another great group of new people joining us!

After we set up the easy-ups and signed up for the raffle, we had a little time to walk around before the Tech talk started in the Hotchkis building. There were some outstanding Mopars in that parking lot. I liked the 1970 Plum Crazy Challenger myself but there were many other beautiful cars to catch your eye. There was also an old air raid siren that was powered by a Chrysler motor on a trailer. They fired that thing up later that day. I couldn’t help thinking while that siren was going off back to a time when you would be absolutely terrified to hear that sound because of what it used to mean. It used to send everyone running for cover. Thankfully today, it was just interesting to hear.

The Tech talk was put on by Mr. Hotchkis himself. A lot of people say the words, camber, toe, etc. but don’t know what they really mean. This was explained in very simple terms and in excellent detail at the seminar. A number of Hotchkis employees spoke about suspension and Hotchkis merchandise. A lot of great questions were asked by attendees about older car setups too. Hotchkis is making quite a few systems for older Mopars. That’s great news for owners of the older Mopar generation.

After a complimentary lunch we enjoyed the rest of the car show which culminated with a raffle. Quite a few SCC members won merchandise. T-shirts, collectible toys, and Hotchkis parts. Our Member Jim “The Diceman” won a suspension setup from Hotchkis. Nice work, Jim. I picked up some shirts and a collectible toy Challenger hand signed by Steve Strope of Pure Vision. All in all, it was a great day. It was extremely hot and we took things down after that to retreat to cars and homes with air conditioning. We were melting….

I’d like to thank Hotchkis for having us at their event and for putting on a great show and seminar. I’d also like to thank Ryan from Stack Performance for letting me drive his way cool Challenger to this event. I ended up having a Challenger after all that day thanks to him. Thanks to our guests for coming and hanging with us for this show. We had three people become members that day. We didn’t scare you away! I’ll have to try harder next time…To all the members, thank you for making us the greatest car group on the planet!

Check out the quick clip that Motorator was kind enough to shoot for us here.