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GRAND NATIONAL DEARBORN MICHIGAN U.S.A
45TH YEAR OF THE EARLY FORD V8 CLUB
OF AMERICA.
Staged in July 2008 the Grand National is held every five years and is a chance for club members to bring their car back to it`s birthplace in Detroit! I have attended the last two Grand Nationals in 1998 and 2003 so I wanted to keep the pattern going and go to this one, so I did. I went out on the Wednesday before the meet and had arranged to visit relatives in Ottawa, Canada for a week after the meet, making a good holiday. I saw a bit more of Detroit and Michigan state this time in my hired Honda Accord. Like a good Ford man I had asked Hertz for a Ford but in the event the Honda turned up. Imagine that, in the home state of Ford and no Ford available. My first trip was to the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. A Ford man visiting a Ford museum in a Honda! I had been to the Museum complex and Village before but it was good to look round again. Not much had changed and most of the exhibits were the same save for a few minor changes. The British disease of parking charges made their presence felt as a five dollar parking levy was imposed when your admission charge was paid.
I went to a couple of other Museums, the Auburn, Cord and Duesenberg Museum in Auburn Indiana, a three hour run from Dearborn, then a `local` museum in Ypsilanti. An excellent museum but only one Ford to see, a 1952 Lincoln Capri.
The Grand National started properly on the following Monday, and was centred around
the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Dearborn. This is a truly massive hotel and even towers
above Ford World Headquarters just down the road! Owners and vehicles were arriving
from Sunday on. Some cars driven, some in boxed trailers and some having been shipped
by their owners from California and simply then driven from the local freight depot.
One car was shipped all the way from New Zealand to be at the meet so this was a
big deal for the owner. Throughout the meet I was snapping away with my camera and
took most of the cars at the meet so if you need a photo of a specific 1932 -
Throughout the meet the whole topic of conversation was the `gas` price. No not North Sea gas but petroleum to us. $4.09 a U.S. gallon a little different to our $11.00 gallon. If you are driving a big pickup for every day use the gas is still expensive. The main bone of contention was that the price suddenly leapt from $2.00 overnight so was a big shock.
Numbers of vehicles attending the meet were about 250 overall. Five years ago there were just over 400, so it looks as though economics were taking their toll.
English club members Stuart Wade, Guy Maylam and Mark Farmer joined me on the Monday evening. Guy had hired a Dodge Avenger, an American car so a step in the right direction. There must be a starvation of Fords at the rental companies! There were 27 V8 members from outside America. Mainly Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Leif Fredriksson from Sweden. I believe Leif has attended every Grand National from 1973. An unbeatable record! The meet was so large I did not see Leif at all but I believe Mark Farmer did.
The meet started to get serious on Tuesday with the opening of the Swop Meet in the Great Lakes suite of the hotel and also stalls outside in the car park that was given over to the club for the event. The car park then also became the centre for all arriving cars and the preparation site for the all day concourse on the Thursday to come. Some brisk trading going on at the meet and it was difficult to decide what to take home in one suitcase that was already half full from the museum gift shops I had visited. Several books caught my eye together with a Model 40 starter switch. After that it was back to photographing the cars. The Early V8 Club comes to life at these events and several trips had been arranged for members to go on by coach or should I say `Bus` as the Americans call their coaches! One such tour was to the Ford Rouge Plant. When Henry Ford started building this in 1918 it became the largest manufacturing facility in the world. Iron ore poured in at one end and finished cars coming out the other end. Today or the day we visited there had been no production since July 2nd and no restart planned before September end!. Meanwhile the employees were on 95% lay off pay! Just a little insight into the U.S. economy at that point. The plant tour cost $27.00 and was still interesting although no vehicles to see in production. An entrance hall with restored Ford cars to view, a film theatre, then T.V. screens around the plant describing operations, up in the observation tower then for a view right across the historic site. Much of the old plant gone now though. As always in America there is plenty of food! The V8 meet was no exception a Welcome Dinner was on the Tuesday night and a surprise guest was Henry Ford 111. Great grandson of Henry. He gave a good speech and it was a big deal to have him at the V8 Meet.
