A Report on the Glassic Reunion.

by Don, the webmaster.

Through the GlassicAnnex website, the first Glassic reunion was held in Orlando, Florida on the May 2, 2003 weekend. Originally, the event was to be a HOMECOMING -- the cars would return to the place of their "birth," West Palm Beach, Florida. Logistics, tourist attractions, and a great hotel rate in Orlando, coupled with the fact that the factory where the cars were made was no longer there to see, prompted Orlando to become the event location.

The event was a howling success! While the group was relatively small, the people there were outstanding. Seven Glassics -- 6 Phaetons and one Roadster were parked in front of the AmeriSuites on Saturday, and the rest of the hotel guests enjoyed seeing them as well.

As had been planned, the reunion was loosely structured - with lots of informal chat time. On Friday we cruised up to a local SONIC Burger and ate outside -- I had told everyone that it was about 3 miles up the road from the hotel. I was HALF right. On Sunday I went back and measured the distance. It was EXACTLY 6 miles. No wonder I got nervous leading the pack and looking for the restaurant.

Present at this reunion were, among others, car 101 -- the very first Glassic manufactured in 1966. The car looked and ran great, and is for sale, too. Also present was Joel Faircloth, who ran Glassic and Replicars for most of the time. He brought his own car, the LAST car built. Joel shared a great deal of "inside informaion" about the company and the cars.

Most surprising of all was how nice a group of people attended. The guests were a very diversified bunch -- younger, older, hot rod interests, parade types, highly technical people, and plain old drivers. Yet, our common interest drew us together instantly. EVERYONE had something to add, yet everyone also wanted to hear from everyone else. It was truly amazing and thoroughly pleasant.

People brought LITERATURE from their collections, and photos were taken by everyone. Those items will be added to the website.

Saturday morning we parked our cars together and had "show and tell" outside. The weather was perfect, and we got to see the changes in the cars from year to year, as well as lots of owner modifications and improvements. There was much tire kicking and many photo op's.

Saturday afternoon was a sit-down in the very nice conference room with Joel (and others) sharing technical info and giving insight into the car's production. I got some feedback about the website, and we discussed the idea of buying a bunch of embroidered Glassic patchesfor hats, shirts, etc.

Saturday evening, 6 Glassics made their own parade down the highway to Old Town -- this is a tourist shopping area where old cars are invited each Friday and Saturday. The OLDER cars were assigned Saturdays, and when we arrived, we paraded together down the quaint street to our assigned area, and wandered around and looked at the hundreds of other cars there with us. The event ended with EVERY old car parading back down the street with huge crowds packing the narrow sidewalks and watching and cheering. One group gave us a large round of applause as we all drove past them. The Glassic people split up after the parade, with some going home directly from there and only one getting left behind for a few minutes when the police split our group while directing traffic.

Sunday morning essentially ended the event with some chat at the breakfast buffet. By Sunday afternoon, most had left to head back home.

Those who didn't attend missed a great event, and those who did attend seemed to have a woinderful time. The group inquired often as to WHEN we would do this again, and I have no doubt that we will, although not right away. Perhaps next time the event would best be scheduled from Friday evening through Sunday noon -- keeping the activities within two nights at the hotel.

There were NO reports of any Glassic mechanical problems, although Harold had to un-trailer his Glassic to use IT to go get parts for his tow car (a newer van) when it overheated. Go Glassics!

Thanks to Joel, the hotel staff, and all of our guests for making this a great event.

Don