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  '99 |
by
Curt Scott (with the material assistance of
phellow photojournalist Gerry Ashley) |
.......Only
five Knott-ical miles northwest of Disneyland!
24
& 25 April, 1999
Above:
AHA President Harout Markarian (left) and Henry Caroselli
with Henry's "President's
Choice"
trophy.
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24 & 25 April,
1999. The
1999 AHA/Knott's Berry Farm Show. I shot this aerial shot at
your left from the south end of the show area, a bit removed
from the center of activities, since that's where KBF's aerial
booth was set up. I took this shot at the very beginning of the
show on Saturday morning (24 April), just as the enthusiasts
began to arrive... |
KBF's
legendary hot & sunny weather turned just a bit cooler this
year. Temperatures in the 60s and 70s instead of '80s and '90s.
Just the same, the crowd was there in full force on both Saturday
and Sunday. The AHA/KBF show just keeps getting better and better.
Because
this '99 AHA/KBF coverage boasts more photographs (75+) than
we've ever provided for you in any prior feature, we've done
two things to speed up this article's download time:
Just
about every photo below is smaller in size, but is itself a hotlink
to a larger, higher-resolution image, so you'll endure extended
download times only for those photos you really need to examine,
peruse and enjoy; and
the
article is divided up into multiple pages (there's one separate
page covering Sunday's awards presentation and another for AHA/KBF's
extracurricular activities on Saturday evening... which are always
pretty much (in motorcar vernacular) turbocharged!
Again
you've been provided with hot links to the Web page on kitcar.com
or cobracountry.com where you'll discover more information about
that company, car, product or service! Note that
each hotlink (both for the Hi-Rez photos and the URLs) will open
up a new, temporary window for you to check out, while your AHA/Knott's
article remains open; this significantly speeds up your using
these links.
Each
(indicated) photo below is hot-linked to a higher-resolution image.
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That's
Karl Kanthak of Wombat
in a customer's white Hummbug spectacularly decked out for a
surfin' safari. This rugged and nimble on-road/off-road machine
is the quintessential outback rover and lightweight motorhome
tag-along. Hot-linked
photo. |
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A
dazzling, metallic silver & deep-blue 1935 Auburn Speedster
on display. Hot-linked
photo.
Photo
by Gerry Ashley.
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Behind
the 1935 Mercedes 500K replica, that's a genuine (all-steel,
no replica!) 1936
Mullins "Red Cap" travel trailer. There's
a bona fide "abandoned '32 Ford roadster in a farmer's barn"
story here; 500K/Mullins owner Jay McCullough of Huntington Beach
(California) spotted the rusty, discarded trailer in a classified
ad, and picked it up for a song ($150). Another $2,000 or so
for a first-rate, ground-up restoration, and voilá,
a reborn Red Cap of the first rank! License plate reads "4HR.BAGS." Hot-linked
photo. |
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Harold
Pace photographing a silver GTO Spyder from VeloRossa. Harold is frantically
waving his hands, desperate to pick random passerbys' brains
for their advice on the fundamentals of motorcar photography. |
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Precision
Design
had a brace of their GT250s on display. Great drivin' machine...
in essence, sensual, Italian coachwork with an occupant-friendly
passenger compartment... and Cobra performance lurking just beneath
the surface. Hot-linked
photo (shows a detailed closeup). |
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Even
Kilroy was here...
Shades
of Bill Mauldin, Ernie Pyle, George Patton, the 'Go-for-Broke
442nd." It's a nostalgic, never-say-die WWII-style
Willys scout car, which saw service from Guadalcanal to Sicily
to Ste Mère Eglise, replicated in rugged, rustproof,
reinforced fiberglass. With its reliable VW propulsion, it provides
a best of both worlds' blend of the legendary (albeit
whimsical) Willys Jeep and the Wehrmacht's VW-propelled Kübelwagen.
Bob Garrard (behind the wheel) and his colleague Ken Auga assure
us that their Veepster represents one of the least expensive,
MFFTD (Most Fun For The Dollar) and easiest-to-build replicar
(well, repli-scoutcar) kits on the market. Hot-linked
photo.
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If
you're a Cobra enthusiast, you already know all about Lynn Park
and Trigo
Wheels.
Lynn has owned and driven more original Cobras than just about
anyone else (including 289s, FIAs, 427s and a Daytona Coupe).
His Trigo wheels and wheel adapters are the standard of
the industry; those are Trigos on his Buick-propelled
1956 Ford pickup. A card-carrying, board-certified good guy. |
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That's
Bob Shaw of Operations
Plus
(in center, blue shirt), Cobra replica outfitters extraordinaire.
On the left is Cobra aficionado Mike Langford of Santa Ana, California.
Mike and his law partner Charlie Ferrari (no kidding) provided
me with material legal assistance in the infamous "Florida
telepredator" SLAPP suit. Another trio of certified good
guys.
Hot-linked
photo.
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Rover
and the roving writer...
Meet
"Missy" (low, center), perhaps the most popular attraction
of the show; trained to impersonate a sheepdog, mutt comes in
handy as a car duster. Left and center are Missy's (DNA-verified)
parents Glenda & Tom Garrison of Oceanside, California; on
your right, globetrotting photojournalist Gerry Ashley. Hot-linked
photo.
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Lone
Star Classics
had this trophy-winning Lone Star/Boyd Coddington '32 roadster
on display alongside one of the firm's Cobra replicas. Lone Star
and Boyd Coddington have teamed up to produce high-end streetrod
reproductions.
Hot-linked
photo.
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Vintage
Spyders'
550.Spyder
replicas are always one of the main attractions of the AHA/KBF
show. That's VS's Gregg Leach (center, sans headgear).
Photo
by Gerry Ashley.
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| Above:
Now listen carefully, 'cause you're not gonna believe this: as
you can see, Bert Furman's (Gardena, California) 1927 Bugatti
Typ35 sports a genuine, 6-cyl. Bugatti... no, wait, say what?
That's a Jag engine with 1927 Bugatti engine logos. But that
isn't the end of the story: this Typ35 has a dual personality:
that Jag/Bugatti powerplant is just for looks; throttle response
comes from the '69 VW bus thruster in the rear! Hot-linked
photo. |
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Luis
Yanez drove his 355 replica all the way from El Paso. Not only
is this a dazzling driving machine, it has a sound system to
rival the Hollywood Bowl's! Most of the high-end hi-fi componentry
is attractively custom-mounted under the front deck.
Hot-linked
photo (alternate view).
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Eurosport
replicas were abundant; in the foreground is a Mazda Miata-based
Spyder from Simpson Design & Development; in the background
an entire lineup of VR Engineering's (aka VeloRossa) Z-car based driving
machines. |
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Another
well-executed Euro-styled driving machine, this one driven in
by Steve Terteryan.
Hot-linked
photo (alternate view).
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Cobra
Country/kitcar.com booth on Sunday morning. The new (3rdEd) "Complete Guide to Cobra Replicas"
was on display at KBF for the first time. |
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Snakes
alive!
This
is just a small sampling of the dozens of
Cobra replicas at the 1999 AHA/KBF show.
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Shell
Valley's trophy-winning 427 super snake.
Hot-linked
photo.
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Shell
Valley's crowd-stopping new hard top, engineered to encompass
the rollbar. Not too shabby, Shell Valley!
Hot-linked
photo.
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Sandy
Ostash & Rick McElroy (Northridge, California) had their
menacing duo of Contemporary Cobras on display. |
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Other
Cobra manufacturers represented at the show included RU Car
Crafters, JBL
Motorsports and Factory Five Racing. House of Cobras (HOC) commandeered a triple-booth
section replete with Johnex, Can-Am (Mustang 5.0-based)
and Superformance Cobras and even a Cobra Coupe. Privately-owned
Cobra replicas on display numbered into the dozens. |
You
may obtain information about joining the AHA (Association of
Handcrafted Automobiles) and participating in its cornucopia
of activities by writing to:
The
Association of Handcrafted Automobiles
P.O. Box 1384
Apple Valley, California 92307
The
AHA is actively seeking to expand its membership among fellow
replicar enthusiasts, and looks forward to hearing from you!
The
unsung heroes of the AHA are those many AHA members that I didn't
get photos of (or of their cars) for this 1999 KBF show coverage;
of equal rank and importance in AHA's scheme of things are those
spouses and family members that lend so much priceless support
to this fine organization... including before, during and after
the Knott's show itself. Next year these unsung heroes/heroines
will get their own, long-overdue parade in our KBF show coverage.
I'd
once again like to voice a special "Thank
You" to Janét Wilson-Irving of Knotts Berry Farm
management
who graciously and cheerfully went far beyond the call of executive
duty to make sure that we could obtain outstanding photos for
this article; she once again arranged to provide the special
hydraulic elevator for the "aerial" shot at the very
beginning of this page. Thank you, Janét!
-Copyright
Notice-
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99
main
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take me to Knott's
99
Saturday
night festivities page
take me to Knott's
99
Sunday
awards presentation page
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