DALLAS AUTORAMA 2011 at Dallas Market Hall (February 18, 19 & 20)
by Frank & Brenda Moren

What a show, whether you like cool cars, monster trucks, toys, parts or even just people watching, it was all there.  Setting up the display was easy with all the support we had; and the new rope worked well.  We all enjoyed “Lenny’s” subs as a lunch snack on Thursday, along with the camaraderie.  The display was perfect with Huelyn’s 66 GTO next to Steve’s 79 Trans Am, Frank & Brenda’s 58 Chieftain next to Brian’s 98 Formula, John & Colleen’s 55 Star Chief next to Shawn’s 76 Trans Am and Tom & Judy’s 39 Sedan next to Brenda’s 02 Formula.  Spectacular !!!

Following are words from some of the participants in this year’s AutoRama:

Brian James - hey this is Brian I had a great time at my 1st one and I even got Best in Class !

John & Colleen Darling - Hi ! Well this was our sixth consecutive Autorama (fourth in the DAPA group) , and we received another “Outstanding in Class” award (2nd place). We had a great time the entire weekend at the show, meeting many new people, visiting with friends, our stay at the hotel, ($10.00 for a HAMBURGER ??????????) and snacking on Brenda’s spicy pretzels. Gad ! How can you top that ? – Just do it again next year. John & Colleen D.

Huelyn Duvall - Nice to meet all the DAPA entries at Autorama.  This was a good time for me as I don’t get out to shows with the car very often.  Autorama was a very nice experience.  Well organized by both Autorama and DAPA.  I needed the help and everyone provided it. The sandwiches hit the spot.  I felt right at home each day.  My plaque was for “outstanding in class” which was very unexpected but very much appreciated. Other than the last minute ”flu bug” that left me without a place to stay, the experience was good.  I was going to stay in Trophy Club until my grandchildren came down with type A flu.  Thanks to Frank for watching after me and thanks to you (Brenda M.) for helping with my “ZIPPER”.  We will just leave it at that!!!!! Hope to see you again down the road,

Brenda Neyra - 2002 Formula Firebird – Best in Class – Well…it was my first time at AutoRama and I really enjoyed meeting and spending time with our DAPA members who also joined us displaying their wonderful cars, and I wish to thank the other DAPA members who stopped by and helped us by talking to people and promoting the Southern Nationals. We had a tremendous amount of visitors who appreciated our Pontiacs and stopped to chat. I think we all had great eye catching displays, and we had the privilege of having Elvis with us for the weekend – he was quite the eye candy!  I heard a few horror stories about past happenings at AutoRama, and we did not see any of that (at least I didn’t). The event was well organized, the weather was excellent, and there was a fantastic turnout. The cars all had their recommended fuel allowance, drip pans/pads, tape for the fuel caps & ability to disconnect the batteries so we were good to go!  The only negative were the unruly children that unfortunately seem to show up with neglectful parents at most car events, who were evidentially blind, because they could not seem to go anywhere without following with their hands along the rope, but there was always someone with our display to make sure no one bothered our cars.

Shawn Pergande - Ellen & I had a great time as usual spending it with our fellow DAPA Pontiac Lovers at the Autorama. Got to spend time with fellow enthusiasts and my brother was able to come up from Houston in his newly acquired 2001 WS6. He enjoyed the event as well. The outcome with our entry (1976 LE 50th Anniversary TA) was such a surprise as it took “Best In Class” beating our fellow Bandit Runners (David Hersey’s 77 SE TA & Anthony Rusing’s 78 SE TA) and another entry was a 75 1/2 Cosworth. Needless to say we were very greatful. Thanks for the great times and we’ll keep on Pontyaking!!!

Frank & Brenda Moren – This was our third time showing “Ilene” in the AutoRama with only one year being skipped out of the last four years.  She took “Outstanding” in her class; we are oh so proud !!!  The experience we have each and every time gets better and better.  We love spending time with other DAPA members and talking “car” with the spectators.  Most people are in awe of seeing our beloved 58 and many say they “remember seeing these types of cars when they were young”.  It is a wonderful feeling seeing the expressions on their faces as they reminisce back in time.  Overall the show is very well organized, both entering and leaving, and it never ceases to amaze me how many wonderful cars they can get into the building each year, along with the multitude of various vendors.

On behalf of Tommy & Judy Rivers – after speaking with them on the phone they informed us that their car took “Best in Class” for their class and they said they enjoyed themselves very much especially getting to spend time with the other DAPA members.  They look forward to seeing everyone at the Pontiac Nationals coming up soon.

On behalf of Steve Kahn – We didn’t get a chance to speak with Steve, but we believe his car took either Outstanding or Best in his class for his beautiful 1979 Black Trans Am.

Well, before we run out of room we’ll end this write up with a praise to all of the participants for a job well done and thank them for their time.

Oct. 16, 2010 – American Performance & Classic Car Show A Major Success By Don Fenton DAPA and Sewell really know how to throw a party.  Well in this case it was a car show that had a party feel.  On top of all of the fantastic weather, burgers and brats hot off the grill, and a wide array of fantastic American iron we were able to generate a little something for the effort. I would normally start to thank each and every person who was involved, both in the planning and then execution of the event, but just like last year we had so many people step up to help I would be afraid of missing someone.  We did manage to raise over $2200.00 for the American Cancer Society.  Much of the money raised was from a rather large donation from the Dutton family.  The other person who deserves a little shout out is Mark Waterman for donating the air compressor for the raffle from his NAPA Auto Parts store in McKinney.  We took in almost $600 for the raffle alone. The kids band Black Jack came out again to provide the live entertainment.  They were even better this year than last.  If there was one negative it would be that the representative from the American Cancer Society did not arrive until right before the awards.  I am pretty sure they would have pulled in another $400 in donations with just an hour of effort.  Something to remember for next year I guess. Thanks again for all who attended and made this show another glowing example of why we are simply the best.

The American Performance Car Show was alright. And by that I mean everything about this car show was “All Right” – the weather was right, the cars were right, the music was right, the food was right. Well you get the picture.

This car show also set a record for the partnership of DAPA and Sewell doing a car show together, 104 cars were registered and hundreds of people came by to see the cars, listen to the music, and just enjoy the day.

The American Performance Car Show was a bit of a departure from what DAPA and Sewell have done the past couple of years. It was opened up to all brands of American performance cars which of course allowed a larger number of local car clubs to participate. Consequently, higher registration equaled a larger donation to our charity, the American Cancer Society.

Once again, we need to give a Huge Thank You to the staff of Sewell for their efforts and generosity in putting this show together and serving up a great lunch. We would also like to thank Jeff and Lee from Gasoline Alley Car Shows for their efforts in judging 104 cars in a timely manner which allowed us to stay on schedule and have the awards presentation right on time. Maybe it’s just me, but during the awards presentation the word Mopar seemed to come up way to often… just means us Pontiac owners need to try a bit harder next time.

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Autorama Dallas
February 15-17, 2009

The Autorama Car Shows are a series of events at major cities across the country.  Dallas often appears on the schedule the second weekend in February – Valentine’s Day weekend.  This year, Saturday, usually the biggest day of the three day show… was Valentine’s Day.

This dilemma weighs heavily on a man’s mind when he needs to decide if he is going to enter his Pontiac in the Autorama DAPA display; or spend the weekend with his Wife/Significant Other.  Hmm, the wife/S.O., or the other girl in his life, his Pontiac?

But wait! This is not a problem for half of our DAPA displayers.  Their women folk came out to Autorama on Valentine’s Day to spend it with their family members, their husband and their Pontiac!  Brenda and Frank Moren, Colleen and John Darling, Judy and Tommy Rivers, Gloria and Ken Davis, and I think Ellen was there with Shawn Pergande; all spent the day together and appeared to have a wonderful time.  I’m fairly sure the remaining DAPA displayers took off early enough to take their ladies out for the evening.

This appeared to be the case for many of the attendees too.  There was a great crowd in attendance throughout the day on Saturday; right up until about 4:00pm when the Market Hall mysteriously began to thin out – remember the show continues ‘til 10:00pm on Saturday.  Call it a compromise: he gets the day to play with car toys; she gets the evening to toy with romance.  Ahh, “give and take”, the glue of marriage.

OK, reality check, here are the Autorama 2009 results of the DAPA display:

John & Colleen Darling	1955 Star Chief Convertible	Outstanding in Class	Restored Convertible
Frank & Brenda Moran	1958 Chieftain	Place in Class	1958-1967 Restored Original
Tommy & Judy Rivers	1956 Pontiac Chieftain Sports Coupe	Outstanding in Class	1950-1957 Restored Original
Kenneth Davis	1961 Ventura 2 Dr. Hardtop	Outstanding in Class	1958-1962 Restored Original
Robert Kern	1974 Grand Am	Outstanding in Class	1970-1979 Altered Restored
John Dutton	1979 Trans Am	Place in Class	1970-1979 Conservative Hardtop
Randy DeMeyer	1999 Grand Prix GTP	Outstanding in Class	1990-1999 Conservative Hardtop
Shawn Pergande	1999 Trans Am WS6	1st Place in Class	1990-1999 Conservative Hardtop

Congratulations to All!  And the rest of you remember, DAPA tries to include different Pontiacs in our display each year at Autorama, so you have a whole year to prepare.

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