So this past weekend I had an interesting adventure with the crossfire. One of the things that helps me enjoy a vehicle that has recently been very difficult to love, is to take it to events where it wouldn't be expected to show up. A couple years ago, I put it in the Deutsche Classic, which is an all German car show. Who would expect to see a crossfire there---minus those on this forum? Exactly.

This time around I spent the weekend at the Concours D'Elegance of the Eastern United States. This event was headquartered at this very connery era, bond-esque place called the Skytop Lodge, in Skytop, PA, located in the poconos. I didn't put the car in the show, but did participate in the driving tour that took place the day before. I have assembled some photos of my experiences on both the tour and the show. Side note: I was about 15 years younger than anyone else on the driving tour (I'm 34)

The driving tour began when we arrived at the Skytop Lodge around 8am on Saturday. This is what it looked like when we showed up:
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Here is a "family" photo of the chrysler products that went on the tour:
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Couple of individual pics of the cars participating:
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(More on this later)
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So at 8:30 we saddled up, fired our engines and headed out for 2 fearless laps at Pocono raceway. Talk about a mess! There were no pre-event instructions and so it was a bit of a free for all--which was kind of dangerous sicne the hp levels ranged for like 10 to 430. I didn't really that there were no real rules, so I only got the car up to 70mph. And before I knew it, my laps were over. We then headed back to the cafeteria section of the infield to essentially BS and watch the cars at the stock car school run laps.

Here are some photos of that:
My point-and-shoot didn't do too well capturing the 30 or so cars that I traveled with:
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After everyone took a potty break and got bored just sitting around, we headed to Camelback Ski "Resort" for a pre-arranged lunch and more time to talk with the people on the tour. The concours group is definitely different than myself. Some had a TON of money, some spent a lifetime saving and finally had money to buy something they always wanted, and others like myself, were just regular people. It made for some interesting interactions. I had to re-set myself by sampling the suds at the barley creek brew pub down the street from Camelback.

Here's a poor quality group shot at the resort:
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Wanna see a $2 million+ car? Here's the 1938 Horch 853A Special Roadster--a car which won Pebble Beach several years ago and was the featured car for this concours. And the owner took it out to the track and to lunch. Much respect. However, it didn't prevent him from breaking down on the side of the road on the way back to skytop after lunch.
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So those are some of the highlights from Saturday. And then today was the actual show. There were over 100 cars supposed to be in attendance, but not all showed up. It was cold and damp, but it didn't rain thankfully. Here are a few of my favorite cars:
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(This guy also went on the driving tour)
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(Tucker with a twin turbo V8)
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Cool pictures. Thanks for sharing.

How did you manage the premier parking position at the Skytop Lodge!?

 

Looks like a fun week end. How was the Crossfire received?

 

Regarding the parking situation, that ended up being a first come, first served sort of affair. I just happened to show up before most of the other drivers. And as it turned out, not all of the cars pictured participated in the drive, such as the Liberty or Maserati. But there were some very plain cars that did participate, such as a dodge caravan, nissan rogue, and a caddy DTS.


It was definitely something new and different. The show has been going on for the last 20 yrs, but this is the first time at Skytop and the weather wasn't all that good. The attendance wasn't as great as I thought, but hopefully as word gets around and if the weather is nicer, more cars might be in attendance in the coming years.

The crossfire didn't really receive much attention to be honest. But really, that's not terribly surprising when there were cars like the Superbird, the Horch, and even a 911 speedster. Since I was parked next to the Superbird, the owner did give me a compliment on the nice lines of the crossfire. Though when we all sat down together at lunch and someone asked what I drove, they didn't really say anything when I told them I had a crossfire. Because of the age of both the driver (no offense guys!) and the types and ages of cars that many people drove, I think most people thought that the crossfire was just another chrysler.

One guy at the table during lunch purchased a 997 carrera cabriolet after waiting his whole life to be to purchase one---well since he was 13. When I told him I had a crossfire, he told me about his wonderful Chrysler LeBaron. I didn't care all that much, but my gf for some reason took great offense to what she thought was the 997 owner likening the crossfire to a LeBaron. I didn't quite see it that way, but overall the car didn't have nearly the same effect on the people at the drive as it does on the typical clueless driver you see on the road.

 

Thanks for charing, an eclectic bunch of photos.

Makes me want a Morgan even more, if thats possible

 

Tighed1 ..I'm surprised you didn't say that if his car was BLUE, it would not only have been highly accepted, but probably won 1st prize .....

Great shots ..... and event ... thanx for letting us view.....

 

So since you were behind the Bird, did you experiance spoiler envy?

 

You had me with the Tucker on Dubs.

 

Seems a shame to hack up a "one of fifty two" piece though.

 

Figured I'd give you a chance to chime in!

 

A Tucker bastardised? OMG!
I think it is incredably neat but That's Sac Religious!
Not to mention costly...
Mike

 

That's pretty funny. I didn't so much have spoiler envy as much as I had exhaust note envy. I LOVED hearing the owner get on the throttle after stop signs and stop lights. The crossfire is so damn quiet next to pretty much anything there, except the Morgan Aeromax. For such a beautiful (and very crossfire-like, IMO) design, as well as packing over 400hp, it was just too quiet.

 

Relax. It's a replica.

 

BTW--I have a closer shot of the engine in the Tucker if that will help things out!

 

Back in 1972 I took a real plain jane 67 Satillite body and put a 440 6-pac 4 speed in it. My thoughts were to built a sleeper. But alas I was young and put Thrust mufflers on it. No sleeper after that.

 

Thanks for the great PIC S