Houston to Cleveland and back

["William H. Swilley" <billswilley@xxxx>]

I made it back to Houston Monday night after my 2825 mile round trip to 
Cleveland. More Kudos to Ken, his family, the Substelny's, and the many 
others who brought this show together!

My personal highlights of the trip:

Meeting JZD and getting three autographs, including the Official Concours 
Judging Handbook, an early DeLorean brochure, and my original dealer tag 
showing me as the purchaser of #4730 on March 12, 1982. I even had his 
nephew, Mark, take about three pictures of me with John.

Coming out the front of the hotel, running late for the Saturday Night 
Dinner, hoping onto the Holiday Inn shuttle bus with John and Katherine, 
thinking they must be headed over there as well. Turns out they were headed 
for dinner some distance away, so I just sat in the back of the bus between 
the two of them and chatted for 15-20 minutes. Very pleasant people, and I 
even managed to get a laugh out of John with him saying that he'd have to 
remember that one. He seemed to be genuinly impressed with the outpouring 
of affection for him as well as the condition of so many of the cars. He 
was truly impressed. Great guy to put up with us all with such style and 
grace. We all wish him well.

My trip to Cleveland also rewarded me with the 1st Place Award for over 
100,000 miles, as well as the Farthest Traveled (1507 miles, as I went up by 
way of Dallas to spend an evening with my daughter there). The trip was 
flawless, with the exception of a fuel tank baffle that shifted and was 
causing the pickup to cavitate. Stephen Wynn was kind enough to diagnose 
that and shove it back into place. The only other incident was catching a 
rock on the forward edge of the windshield starting a small crack that is 
working its way up. S___ Happens! Original windshield, so it's about time 
to replace it anyway after over 170,000 miles.

The only downside to the show for me, was serving as one of the Concours 
Judges, which didn't allow me much time to check out all of the cars or the 
vendor's tables. But judging has its plus side, in that it lets you really 
poke your nose deep into the best prepared D's at the show. The gold 
DeLorean from the museum was to be entered, but they had some legal 
difficulties with moving it to the site, and the rules do not allow judging 
anywhere but the designated area. Bummer! I was REALLY looking forward to 
nosing around that one! But I did get up close and personal with the Johnny 
Carson car, which was kinda cool.

Mike and Patti gave me one of the copies of the news clip on the show, and 
if anyone wants me to make a copy, contact me directly and we'll work 
something out. It's very brief, but a great shot of John feigning shock at 
the BTF car blowing smoke. Probably worth blowing a 2 hr cassette on a 
thirty second clip.

All in all, a great show. This is going to tough to top, Ken!

See y'all in Memphis!

Bill Swilley
Texas 81 DMC
#4730 (Now, well over 170,000 miles and going strong)


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