ACB Trip Report Fabulous Fords Forever 2003

Fabulous Fords Forever 2003

April 26th & 27th, 2003

(Trip Report by Dean Hathaway)

Our trip to Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California for the 2003 Edition of the Fabulous Fords Forever car show began with a trip to Todd Zuercher's house. The small caravan of ACBers we assembled there included three Early Broncos. Todd Z. and Winston "Brownie" Brown each drove solo this trip, while Keith Jones and Mike Wiley occuppied the high-dollar seats of Project Proto Fab. Bonnie and I came along for the drive without our Bronco since it was not registered to be in the show.

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Adorning the front of Keith's bright blue machine was a brand new front winch-bumper prototype. I wanted one as soon as I saw it. It is more compact than the pre-runner type bumpers, is made of plate steel instead of tubes, and has a very functional and attractive look. Two odd-shaped holes in the lower front face allow a jack to grip the bumper, even though it is designed to slide around everything else that comes its way

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(Those familiar with Project Proto Fab may notice something else new. The 80's Look is finally over. No more Diamond Plate and rectangular headlights. An actual Early Bronco grille!)

We were soon on the road and cruised at an easy pace as Todd led us toward Quartzsite for fast food and cheap gas (by Phoenix standards). After a quick lunch and a few stops for Todd to tweak his soft top, we fought through about six Saturday afternoon traffic jams to get from Riverside to Buena Park and our hotel.

We just had a few minutes to relax and then it was off to the now traditional pre-Fab Fords get together at a Hamburger joint called Angelos. The lot was already full of EB's when we arrived to jam in our three more. All evening they kept rolling in. By the time the place closed for the night I think EB's had filled all the parking spots for about half a block around the place.

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This place has good food and drink and plenty of indoor and outdoor seating so it was a good fit. They also have some of the cutest roller-skate equipped waitresses I've ever seen. After the place closed there were still a few Bronco nuts talking and laughing outside the back door, next to Keith's truck. About that time one of the rollergirls came shooting out on her skates and shot straight to her car. Once in the car she took off the skates, gunned the motor and careened away. I guess she didn't want to take any chances with such a motley crew hanging around.

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Sunday saw such a huge turn out of Early Broncos and other great Fords that I actually used up three sets of camera batteries, took literally hundreds of photos, and still never made it over to the east side of the show, where most of the Mustangs reside.

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Every year the organizers set aside a special area for featured vehicles. This year that area featured a primo example of the first production year of each Ford model. Naturally, Terry Marvel's sublime '66 Bronco Roadster was the crown jewel of that showcase!

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A Ford military Jeep in full combat trim commanded so much respect that it actually won the Best Truck award.

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As usual there were wall to wall vendors and celebrities and displays and historic vehicles. At the end of the show Todd told us he had been offered VIP access for his whole entourage but he couldn't find us. So, we missed out on our chance to meet some of the racing legends on hand. I did see Carroll Shelby. Several others were there as well. Maybe next year?

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One thing I always like to do is check out the sights and sounds as the show is breaking up and some of the wilder machines are fired up and hit the street (even if it's just to reach their tow vehicles in the next parking lot). Click HERE for 1 minute of poor quality MPG video with sound (from my Digital Still Camera's movie feature. Not it's best asset.)

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Thankfully there were no traffic jams on the way back and we made the trip in about 6 hours, complete with pit stops.

Thanks to all the EBR folks who make this a fun event for the Early Bronco crowd. They have actually built up EB attendence from virtually nothing to overshadowing all other models except Mustang.

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We enjoyed the trip very much. You would too. Next year I'm registering the Bronco for the show and driving it again, as it just isn't the same without one.

-deano