HEY COWTOWN MOPARS MEMBERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well the Autorama and as it seems winter has come and gone. I hope I'm right about winter. We had another great display of Mopars at the years Autorama. Thanks to all the guys for taking the time to participate this year. As always it's time consuming but cool to talk to different folks who appreciate the old Mopars. Thanks again to Tommy Martin, David Fajtasko, Rich Lemmon, Kyle Hill and Mark Buchanan. Last but certainly not least thanks to Kirk Maisenbacher, Kevin Alexander, Barry Hansen, Mike Miller and Ken Angyal for there time and efforts on the club smoker. It looks GREAT!

As you all probably remember at our March meeting we will have nominations and vote for our leadership for the approaching Cowtown Mopar calendar year. Please attend the next meeting and show your support.

April will bring another yearly Cowtown Mopar event, our annual car show. For the first time in years it will be on a Saturday. I look forward to this change and the time to show support for the club and our sponsors. Please help this years show be the best in years. Thanks!!!

Barrett-Jackson had their big winter auction in Scottsdale, AZ, January 15th thru the 20th. I watched very little of it live, but saw daily summaries on their website.

Folks, if auction results are any reflection of the market, then things are on the way up again.

The highlight of the show was the original Batmobile from the '60's hit television show, starring Adam West and Burt Ward. Pre-auction estimates averaged around 1.5 million, but it bid up to an incredible $4.2 million with buyers fee! "Holy Overbought Batman!!"

Mopars did rather well at the event, with sell prices on average cars showing modest gains over the past few years, and really nice or desirable cars showing significant price increases. Dodge had 38 vehicles go across the stage, but most of those were resto-mods or average restorations. No real show stoppers, but a couple of interesting ones did show up. Most notable was a 1970 Challenger 440 auto survivor car in Plum Crazy, that brought $94k. A '69 Mcode SuperBee with non-original motor got $55k, and a '70 Coronet Hard Top snagged $63k.

Plymouth did notably better with 40 cars hitting the block. The most highly anticipated Mopar sale at the auction, was undoubtedly the In-Violet 1971 Hemi Cuda Convertible. This car while real, has been literally brought back from the dead. Some of the pictures I have seen of the car before "restoration" was started, show it consisted of nothing but the cowl (with the VIN number), the windshield frame and the driver side door. I understand that part of the radiator support yoke was salvaged. Anyway, the car gaveled down at $1,320,000.00! Wow! Several other Plymouths brought north of a 100k. A sweet '70 Hemi Cuda 4 speed in Lemon Twist, brought $275k; a '64 Ray Everham Belvedere 2dr. hard top custom snagged $198k; and a really nice '70 Red 440 auto Superbird sold for $128.5k. In my opinion, one of the best bought Mopars at the auction, was a red, shaker hood, numbers matching '71 440-6 Cuda that sold for $154k. That is a very rare car. Was said to be a very well done restoration, but who knows? Also, really neat, was a black '69 Cuda with a 383-4, auto console car. It brought $88k, which is serious money for a second generation Barracuda. There were five or six more that went over $75k.

Having followed Barrett-Jackson for ten years now, I confess to getting the urge to go see the "circus in the sand" for myself. Mostly, just for the experience and excitement. Would definitely leave the check book at home......then again, maybe not.

Don’t forget your 2013 Club Dues:
Single Membership, New $25 / Renewal $15
Family Membership, New $35.00 / Renewal $25

We still have several members that have not renewed their membership. Please see me at the next club meeting or at the April Car Show to bring your membership current. Upon renewal, you will get your Membership Card for 2013 which will allow you to get your parts from Allen Samuels Dodge for 10% over their cost and also allow you to buy a car for Employee Pricing.

March 17th – Cowtown Meeting at Spring Creek – this is election day so hope to see a good turnout
March 23rd - Cruise to Magic Mopars car Show (Shreveport).
March 24th - Race at Ennis
April 6th - Haltom City/BISD Car Show
April 7th - Race at Denton
April 13th - Cowtown Cars and Coffee
April 20th - Our car show!! (this serves as our April meeting)
April 21st - Race at Crandall
May 11th (Tentative) - Car show at the Chrysler PDC
May 18th - Picnic and club meeting at Longhorn Park at Benbrook Lake - menu and specifics will be posted later

Well race season is finally here and since the Autorama is over I finally got to take my car to the track. Today it was North Star Dragway at the Texas Thaw. It was a good day and I was pleased with the way the car ran with the crossram manifold. That means I'm ready for another year.

Beep Beep!