Central Florida meet and greet at Webster/Bushnell

[dodgeram342]

ill be there hope someone has 6 foot bed my for 67 f100 . first time going

[basketcase0302]

Dodgeram342,

That's cool! Hope to see you there, (check your private messages).

Guys,
I'll be leaving here in an hour or so for the 2.5 hour trip up there.
I've sent my cell number to all who have said they are coming. Please call me if you have truck problems tomorrow in route! I've got my wife following in the Expedition as a "chase vehicle". I can use this resource to help us out. If nothing else I need this comfort factor cause this is by far the longest trip my bump has made in a year!

Looking forward to meeting everybody in the morning, drive safely, (especially watch out for all the chevys).

Jeff Patterson

[basketcase0302]

Well I feel the Central Florida Fordification meet-n-greet was a huge success! First I gotta hope everyone made it home safe, (I think Teacherman or dduude traveled the farthest) but not certain. Thank you all for showing up and thanks for all the help! It was sure nice to meet everyone and put some names with some faces. There were nine of us, (just one truck shy from getting the trophy for the club with the most vehicles). I got a voice mail from someone early this morning asking for directions, (I'm so sorry I didn't get it last night/bad phone signal in Ridge Manor where I stayed). We would've had ten! We were welcomed by the event organizers Craig & JoAnn and asked to come back again, (these were some really nice folks to deal with). We did find out that there are actually two really big events held in Sumter County every month. We met at the Sumter county Fairgrounds, (I believe the other event hosted more motorcycles than cars and trucks).
Here we all are, saying hello to everyone on Fordification from Florida!
From left to right; BigJake/Jacob(standing beside the yellow truck), Joes Garage/Joe, l1k2gadd/Len, Steemer54/Steve, Me/Jeff, Uboughtwhat/Jeff, Dduude/Dave, Teacherman/John.


Some real good conversation on our bumps and some real good company to hang out with. From dual tank operation, to radiator supports, to engines, and everything in between I think we got to talk about a lot of stuff.

Here's a lot more pictures of everyone and some show vehicles in no particular order:
http://s240.photobucket.com/albums/ff13 ... Show%2007/
There was a little discussion on having another meet-n-greet here so hope to see you all there next time!

Jeff Patterson

edited picture

[69rangerman]

Even though I was only there for the last hour and a half I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say excellent job Jeff! What a great bunch! From pros like duude, to rookies like me - it was really cool to see the enthusiasm in everyone's eyes for these trucks. Wish I could have been there earlier. Jeff, Jeff, Lynn, Dave, and John (sweet crew John!) it was a pleasure meeting you guys.







Check out the custom boat awning on basketcase's flatbed! Instant shade!

[Teacherman]

I learned a ton in the few hours I was there (after spending an hour and half and the OTHER swap meet). Even met a couple of guys from Fort Myers who are parting out a F350 crew cab. I plan to head over there next weekend to see if there is anything worth salvaging. They mentioned a front bumper and dash pad ....

Maybe we can try again in February. I'd love to have time to wander around and cruise for parts.

But, the FORD acronym wasn't given without reason. Stopped to pick up my wife and kid on the way home and the truck began spewing gas from the auxiliary tank line. We jumped on the interstate, and switched from main to aux, figuring maybe a flow to the engine would slow down the leak or at least use some of the gas. Got back home, and the leak had stopped. Looked like I lost almost a quarter of a tank though. Put a pan under the truck overnight, in case it leaks again. Think I'll drive it dry, switch to the main and then troubleshoot.

Every day's an adventure.

Thanks again guys!

[bigjake34452]

it was nice to meet some of you guys there, definitely a fun day, i hope we can all get together again some time!

[uboughtwhat?]

This was a great way to spend a Sunday! Getting to meet good people and talk truck.

Thanks to Jeff P/basketcase for doing all the grunt work to make this happen. There is a lot more to putting an event together than most people realize, and Jeff did an outstanding job. Thank You, Sir.

The picture of the trucks with the open hoods was not to show off our greasy engine compartments--we were going from truck to truck, looking at all the things that were the same or different over the years. This was a blast, to actually have these trucks together to be able to compare things was way cool.

Thank You to those that attended for your patience and indulgence with my almost-4 year old son. He loves to go to car shows but with the heat of the afternoon he was getting a little bored/tired. He fell asleep about 5 minutes after I left the show. Once we made it home he jumped out of the truck and chattered to my wife for about 3 minutes on a single breath about all the trucks he saw. I think he had a good time.

Thanks again to all!

Jeff W/uboughtwhat?

[steemer54]

I just wanted to thank Jeff for all his hard work in putting this all together.
My girlfriend and I had a great time !!

[dduude]

I too want say a BIG Thanks to Jeff for organizing the meet / greet.
I had to stop twice on the way home and clean out my fuel filter. Had some junk got in there from the tank. It was great to see some faces finally to match up with the word we all see on the computer. Looking forward to doing it again.. ........Dude

[bigjake34452]

i didnt know if you guys knew this but the feb. show is a 3 day car show. fri, sat. & sun.

[steemer54]

First time I saw a crewcab was sunday, nice solid truck

[basketcase0302]

l1k2gadd,
I'd travel South too if there was enough interest from down there, (sure wish some more folks would "pipe-in" here).
Zephyrhills swap meet sounds like fun!
There's no car show there for the February event, (like my basketcase f350 had a shot in the dark at winning anything)!
Here's the dates for Zephyrhills:

34th Annual "Winter AutoFest"
February 21, 22, 23, 24, 2008

bigjake,
Your absolutely right about the Sumter County Show!

February 02/03/08 and..
Winter Extravaganza 02/15-17/08 (two dates in February)

I know I have one weekend in February booked already for an airboating thing, (I'll have to ask the boss/wife which one it is).

I'll go ahead and contact Craig and JoAnn if enough people here would like to about the February show/meet?

Jeff

[Teacherman]

I've got no big plans for February. I don't know if I can make both (more than $150 in gas), but I can make one. If we save up, maybe I can make both. And now that I know WHICH swap meet is the right one, maybe I can get there on time

I drove the auxiliary tank dry this morning, and will start checking the lines this weekend. Thanks for the tips. And I wish my engine was as clean as 69rangerman's. Wow! You could eat off some of those surfaces.

[69rangerman]

I not much of a planner, but I could make one of those. February - June are usually fairly open. Hope 'Georgia' is still around, but if not I can still make it.

[basketcase0302]

Hey everybody,

I edited my post above to reflect the right date(s) for the Sumter county events. (Thanks l1k2gadd for catching that)!

I'm like Teacherman, I could make one meet in February, but not both due to gas money and my airboating thing on the weekend of the 16th.

Do we want to start a poll to decide on which location, and which date for February?

Jeff