Cowtown Mopars Performance Team PO Box 162413 Fort Worth, Texas 76161-2413

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UPCOMING EVENTS

November 15th - Club Cruise November 16th - Club Meeting

December 6th - Toy Drive December 14th - Christmas Party

Jeep. MORITZ

www.moritzchryslerjeep.com

November 2008 THE STARTING LINE The Official Monthly Publication of Cowtown Mopars

Cowtown Mopars 2008 Board Members

President: Mike Bearce mbearce@cowtownmopars.com Vice President: Frank Smith fsmith@cowtownmopars.com Secretary: Kevin Alexander kalexander@cowtownmopars.com Treasurer: Dan Robinson drobinson@cowtownmopars.com Membership: Ken Key kkey@cowtownmopars.com Activities: Sandie Powell spowell@cowtownmopars.com Newsletter: Kirk Maisenbacher kmaisenbacher@cowtownmopars.com Race Coordinator: Mark Buchanan mbuchanan@cowtownmopars.com Show Coordinator: Dave Mandato dmandato@cowtownmopars.com WebMaster: Mike Miller mmiller@cowtownmopars.com

For some time, the club has been tossing around the idea of a half day cruise for those members who like windshield time in their cars. Well, we finally have a time, a date and a route. On Saturday, November 15, we plan on meeting at Moritz Chrysler/Jeep in west Fort Worth at 9:00 am. We will caravan west on I-20 to the old Hwy. 80 split by Jerry's Chevrolet. We will stay on 80 through downtown Weatherford until we pick up Hwy 180. That will take us to Mineral Wells. From there we will take U.S. 281 south, crossing the Brazos River, and continuing on until we hit TX Hwy 4. We will take Hwy. 4 back east through Lipan, on into Gran-bury. We plan on eating lunch at Babe's off of the square in Granbury. From there we will head back toward Cowtown on US 377. This time of the year, we should have some fall foliage remaining, the temperature should be pleasant, and the scenery along the route is pretty darn nice. We can allow time for short stops in Weatherford and Mineral Wells as desired. We will NOT be on some tight schedule. Allowing for stops and lunch, we can expect to be back in Ft. Worth around 2:00 pm. Weather permitting, this should be a fun outing. There is NO rain date planned. Cruise info will be posted on the website, especially weather related updates. If the weather turns nasty, a go/no-go decision will be made the morning of the cruise. We will open a cruise thread on the message board. If you think you would like to join us on this cruise, let us know by posting a response, or by calling a club officer. We would like to have some idea of the participation level. It would be great to see 15 or more old Mopars running down some Texas two lane blacktop!

NOVEMBER ROADTRIP!!!!!!!

I can’t believe that November is already here and the Holidays are upon us. It has been a great year for Cowtown Mopars. The Car Show season has basically ended and the Muscle Car Challenge has come to an end. We should be proud of everyone involved because Cow-town Mopars once again made their presence known in a big way. I am proud to be part of this organization because everyone in it puts their best foot forward and takes pride in Cow-town Mopars.

We still have the Toy Drive Car Show coming up on Saturday, December 6th from 10am til 2pm at Moritz Chrysler Jeep. This show is open to all Makes and Models so let all your friends know and invite them to come out and join us. Entry is a new unopened toy to go to the kids. Upon completion of the show, we will load all the toys up and caravan over to the Salvation Army to deliver the toys to help them give to all the children in need. We have always done well with this show and I hope all of you help make this one even better. Also, don’t forget our Annual Christmas Party the following week, Sunday, December 14th at Billy Bob’s Texas. It will start at 5pm and once again we will have Bar-B-Q. This year, the price went up from $10 to $12 per person but we are going to take care of the increase so it will be $5.00 per member and the club will pay the other $7.00. We will also have our annual White Elephant Gift Exchange so be prepared to laugh as it is always full of surprises. Please limit you gifts to $15.00 and make sure they are wrapped. I hope to see all of you there. Last thing, we are planning a Cruise on November 15th to Granbury and then back. Please see the details in this Newsletter from Ken Key for the specifics. Let’s get a good group together and turn some heads. In our last cruise to Decatur we got a lot of attention and it was just a few of us. Hopefully the weather will be good for a cruise. Hope to see all of you at the Club Meeting on November 16th. Mike Bearce President

From The Desk of El’ Presidente

The final Christian Classic Cruisers car show for the 2008 season was on October 18th. A group met at Rosa's for dinner and cruised across the street for the show. We had almost 20 cars at the show. Those winning plaques for the night of the final show include: Tommy Martin (2 - one for his Cuda and one for his Charger) Bobby Avis Dave Mandato Ken and Lesa Key Joe Valentino Plaque for Club Participation In addition to the awards for this show, Dave Mondato and Ken and Lesa Key had cars in the Top Ten for the season. They were presented with Top Ten trophies as they drove across in front of the stage. This is the second time for both Lesa and Dave to have taken the Top Ten award for a show season. A fun night and a great showing by the club!

Christian Classic Cruisers Final Show

As discussed in the last newsletter and meeting we are looking at offer-ing some new apparel other than the T-shirts. The items we are consid-ering would be on an as-ordered basis because of the cost of the items. There is no club markup on these items. After speaking with the apparel shop, we came up with the following prices: INSULATED JACKET: $55 Name embroidered on the right chest, and both front and back logos. Add an extra $2 per X beyond Large (a XXXL would be an extra $6). These jackets are insulated with elastic cuffs and waistbands. The jack-ets used previously are no longer available, but the embroidery shop found a close replacement. The jacket would be black. WORK/PIT SHIRTS: $30 Name embroidered on right chest, small logo on left chest, NO REAR LOGO. As a club we need to decide what color shirts we want to have. Black is generally considered too hot for summer wear. Would we want to go with a medium blue similar to the Mopar logo? (This is where getting the COLOR newsletter comes in handy). Putting a logo on the back of these shirts is not feasible as it is not comfortable on the back (lots of thread). It can be done, but you may not be very comfort-able. HOODED SWEATSHIRT: $52 Name embroidered on the right chest, and both front and back logos. These are heavy 10 ounce sweatshirts with front zippers. The cost of the rear logo is $20, so this could potentially be a $32 shirt with only the front logo and name. We could also use a lighter sweatshirt, or a pullover type (no front zipper) to reduce cost. Keep in mind you get what you pay for. This sweatshirt would probably be gray, but that is up for debate. The cost to embroider your name on any item is $5 (included in quote). If you opt NOT to have your name put on the item, it will be $5 cheaper than stated above. All of the prices were quoted independent of quantity, if we get only one of each, these are the prices.

CLUB APPAREL

MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION

Current CMPT dues are as follows: Single Membership, New $25 / Renewal $15

Family Membership, New $35.00 / Renewal $25

Membership applications are included on the last page of the newsletter and are available on the club

website, as well as from Ken Key.

CLUB CONTACT INFO

Cowtown Mopars Performance Team PO Box 162413

Fort Worth, Texas 76161-2413

www.cowtownmopars.com info@cowtownmopars.com

Remember to check for up to date events and club news at http://www.cowtownmopars.com Also, remember to check the club message board at: http://www.aimoo.com/forum/freeboard.cfm?id=415517 Or click the “Message Board” link on the club website.

ITEMS FOR SALE

If you are interested in any of the following items, please contact Mark Buchanan At mbuchanan@cowtownmopars.com or call 972-617-2068 (home) or 214-727-4324 (cell). 2007 Kawasaki Ninja ZX1000D, 2,650 miles, 3 year transferable extended factory warranty, $8,500 (purchased May 3rd 2008) 96 Dodge 1500 SLT, extended cab, short bed, dark green w/ tan interior, 180K miles, 360, towing package, $2,900 Want or need something? Send the information to the newsletter editor via phone or email and it will make it to the next newsletter. Please include a good contact number or email for people to reach you at.

WOW what away to finish the year! Ron said there were 190 cars at Kennedale today. There were 44 run-ning with us. Maury was there in his Merk. Rick was there in one of his darts we had not seen in a long time. And Bill was back behind the wheel in Rick's wagon. Our F.A.R.T. cook Ken had some GREAT brisket for us to feast on. What a day! Our winners were: GRADY HENTZ----------BIG DOG WINNER Frank Bonczek--------winner super pro muscle Ross Dinkins---------winner pro muscle Mike Miller----------runner up pro muscle Mark Buchanan--------semifinalist pro muscle Richard Deveau-------semifinalist king muscle Eric Ebersole--------semifinalist super muscle David Huffman--------winner street muscle Michael Gonzales-----runner up street muscle Sam Jeffus-----------semifinalist street muscle Rick Brownell--------semifinalist stock muscle How about that 10 class winners and the "Big Dog Champion"! At the TMCCC banquet on November 1st we had 9 racers in the reward program that received awards. David Huffman-----1st place street muscle Randy Hall--------2nd place street muscle Pete Phelps-------3rd place super muscle Grady Hentz-------1st place King muscle Chuck Buchanan----2nd place king muscle Mark Buchanan-----2nd place pro muscle Gary Mitchell-----5th place pro muscle Frank Bonczek-----6th place super pro Brad Smith--------7th place electronics We had 2 racers that had awesome years! Grady finished the year with 4 wins, 1 runner up, the "Big Dog" race winner and the most points of anyone in the challenge. David Huffman had 3 wins, 1 runner up and the 3rd most points in the challenge. Congratulations to Grady, Dave and everyone for another great year!!!!!! OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS: 2009 Mopars at the Motorplex will be on April the 18th. Be there. See ya Mark

The Go Fast(er) Department Mark Buchanan - Race Team Coordinator

The Cowtown Mopars Race Team is proudly sponsored by:

HEY SEVEN TIME TMCCC CHAMPIONS!!!!

MONTHLY CLUB MEETING - November 16th, 2008 - at Billy Bob’s Texas - 5pm. Club board meeting is also this day, and will start about 3:30pm in the same room as the general meeting.

Mopar Events Schedule Just in case you actually needed a reason to drive your Mopar!!

CAR CLUB CHRISTMAS PARTY - Sunday, December 14th - Billy Bob’s Texas at 5pm. We are verify-ing the cost at this time, and will know for sure by the November newsletter. This is always a lot of fun and we always have a good turn out. Remember to bring a wrapped gift for the White Elephant gift exchange. Please try to keep the gift under $20.

ANNUAL TOY DRIVE AND CAR SHOW - Saturday December 6th - Moritz Chrysler/Jeep Fort Worth The show will run from 10am until 2pm. After that we will convoy to the Salvation Army center to drop off all the items we collect. Entry fee is a new, unopened toy or other gift for those in need during the holidays. Remember the show is open to ALL makes and models, so be sure to have your neighbor with the GM, Blue Oval or (gasp) import car come on out!! The show will be participant judged.

NOVEMBER GRANBURY CRUISE - Saturday, November 15th. We gather at Moritz Chrysler/Jeep at 9am. See the article in this newsletter, or the website, for details.

NEWSLETTER INFO If you catch me at a club event I will be more than happy to take pictures of your car for Car Of The Month. I also have pictures that I have taken at many events over the last two years. I may HAVE a picture of your car. Check with me, and if I do, just get me a write up and I can get it in a future newsletter. If you have a car of the month, and have not yet gotten your plaque, I have it. I bring the plaques to every club meeting. If you are unable to make the club meetings, let me know and I’m sure I can get it to you some other way. You can email me at: kmaisenbacher@cowtownmopars.com Kirk Maisenbacher Newsletter GuRu

NOVEMBER 2008 CAR OF THE MONTH Ron Russ’ 1969 Fury III

I acquired the '69 Fury III in April, 2004 in a pure swap deal, no money changed hands. The car belonged to the original owner in upstate New York with 54,000 original miles. The owner aged to the point of not driving and no family member was interested in maintaining the car. A nephew saw an ad I had placed on Fossilcars.com offering to swap a one-of-a-kind stretched '87 Mercury Grand Marquis Limo for a Mopar. The nephew contacted me, we exchanged pictures and questions and the following week he drove the Plymouth to Texas and returned with the Limo. The transaction took less than 30 minutes. I felt that if the car made it from New York in 2 days that I didn't need to drive it. On my word he departed in the Limo and 2 days latter sent me a note that he arrived with no problems. The Fury III is pretty much original. I had it repainted into the correct A4 color, Platinum, installed a new 3-core 26" radiator and dual glasspacks. Other than detailing, that's pretty much all that has been done. The Fury is a basic 318-2V, auto with power steering and brakes, AM radio and 8-track player. It's a fun car to drive and I personally haven't seen any others around the area. Ron Russ

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