National report

[Fid]

In the course of my travels, I did take a side trip over to Sweetwater. Nice place, very nice weather and some fine looking cars. I believe there were about 30 of them there, including the Argentina (or was it Brazil??? I only know of IKA which was Argentina... were there others? Perhaps Jack can clarify) Willys which was really interesting to see:

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

The Willys Aero 2600 (Intermarity) was a product of Willis-Overland du Brasil which was the big South American Willys operation out of Sao Paulo.  When Ford Motor Company bought Kaiser-Jeep's share of the operation in the late 1960's, the Intermarity was still in production and for a time was produced as a Ford Motor Company product...the photos of the car with a "Ford" license plate are correct!

[Fid]

Thanks for clearing that up. The license plate had what appeared to be "Sao Paulo" on it  but of course, if it's in Portuguese it's hard to know what it really said. A couple of people there said Brazil so that would be correct. I was in Sao Paulo in 2009. The closest thing I saw to a collector car there was an old Volkswagen Beetle with a racing stripe.

[joefrazer]

Plenty of hot weather and lots of nice cars have made this a great week so far! The 2600 is a neat car as is the one off Willys Aero convertible. Built by Derham of Rosemont Pa, it's here too. Judging tomorrow!

[Fid]

Sorry I wasn't able to stay longer Jim but I've been away from home a bit too long and have more traveling to do next week. It was nice to be able to stop in when I did. Perhaps next year I can even bring one of my cars.

[Roadmaster49]

OK, meet is just about over. Time for a recap especially with photos!

[Chris Luecht]

I agree, I need some photos to get my KF fix for the week as I wasn't able to attend the National this year 

[joefrazer]

Just back from the drive national...we took several detours to sightsee...and if you missed the convention, you missed alot! We had four convertibles in attendance, not counting the Darrins, a 12K mile original 49 Virginian, and several rare factory prototype cars too.

One car, billed as a 53 Willys Aero, was a factory commissioned convertible built by Derham for Willys. I saw, and had an opportunity to purchase the car many years ago. I passed and thought the car was junked when it turned up at the meet. It is being restored after literally breaking in half when pulled from the barn where I last saw it. I will post a pic once I get the chance.

There were 180 members and guests at the banquet, so many that we had to put the overflow in the hospitality room! Something like 45 cars were judged, with nearly 60 on the field on show day.

Plan now to attend next year's meet in Shipshewanna, Indiana...you'll be glad you did!

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

But what about what happened at the Business Meeting?  What happened at the Board of Directors meeting?

[Aeroman]

Just a few notes on that Brazilian Aero Willys 2600:
The company name is Willys do Brasil and they were located in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Ford bought them out in 1967 and continued the Aeros until 1972 and the F-head engine continued in the Maverick (their replacement) until 1975.
The 2600 and the Itamaraty were separate models although the Itamaraty was just an up-trimmed 2600 with a little more horsepower.
The license plate actually said Sao Bernardo (dunno why) but it was a plate issued to the factory as the number is "AW-2600."
It was a re-skinning of the 1960-62 Aero Willys which was just the Toledo Ohio built 1955 Willys Custom 4-door transplanted to Brazil. Designed by Brooks Stevens, this car was from his collection and purchased from his estate by Bill Tilden, who so kindly shared it with us. He and Richard Forgay only got it running within the last two weeks for the first time in over 40 years. The tires are the original 50-year old Brazilian tires and the car only has something like 10,000 km on the odometer.

[KWZ]

Has anyone posted any photos of the National?  I was there, but by five year ol daughter managed to just get photos of grills and door handles.....  Next time I'll handle the picture taking. 

[Aeroman]

I took many and posted on my Facebook page - how do I post on the KFOC website?

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

When you hit REPLY so you can post something here, at the bottom you will see ATTACHMENTS AND OTHER OPTIONS in the lower left corner.  Click on that and look for ATTACH as you go down the opened information.  BROWSE will let you navigate to whatever file you have pictures in.  Note the restriction for # of pictures and file sizes (plus total size). 

[Fid]

Here's some. (I prefer posting them via a link but it's not always easy to grasp)

[kdar353]

Darrin#353 just finished the day of judging at the Nationals = (1 of 5) at the show. Great event and well organized. Thanks to Rick and all who had a hand in this event.