CAPITOL PANTERAS 
September 2006
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We would encourage everyone to become
a POCA member, if you aren't already a member. Your membership in the
national club helps fund your local chapter. You can download a
membership application at http://www.panteraclub.com Please help our club grow.
Concorso Italiano
2006
by Emilia Seiferling
Day 1
It was early Thursday morning and we were ready
to be on the road to Monterey for the "Big Car Events". Last year we had
a horrible trip over to the Coast. So this year it was an
earlier start and different route. This year we would take the longer,
less direct route and hopefully the better route. We were on the road only
15 minutes behind our desired departure time! The traffic on Highway 12
east was light and moved well. Then it was south on I-5. We got
to Stockton in time to catch some morning commute traffic and a fender
bender on the other side that caused people going south to be "looky-loo's"
and slow traffic to a crawl for a few miles. After that slow down, it was
quick light traffic all the way to the Highway 152 cut off. This good
fortune continued all the way to our juncture with Highway 101. It
almost immediately slowed to a crawl and then it stopped. Jim threw me the
map and we found a bale out point, county road G-11. That road saved
us a very long delay. We were on our way to Watsonville and then south on
Highway 1 to Carmel. Even with the longer route we had some extra time to
stop and top off the gas tank for the weekend. We arrived in Carmel about
11:15 AM and found a parking spot a few blocks from the "Pebble Beach Tour"
downtown. Walking down Ocean Avenue there were several cars that
had arrived early! We also ran into CP member John Worsley and his brother
Ray. We continued down the street to "The Grill on Ocean
Avenue" to walk in as their doors opened for lunch! We enjoyed
a very good lunch; Jim had a chicken Caesar salad and I enjoyed a salmon
club sandwich. Both entrees were very good. Part way through
our meal, we were joined by a fellow instructor at UOP Dental School.
I had told him about the "Tour" so he, his wife, and two grandchildren
drove over from their home in Gilroy to check it out. After lunch, we toured the
display. There were 116 cars on display. That is the best way to see
the Pebble Beach Concourse cars and it is free to the public! After that
we headed to Carmel Valley and the Los Laureles Lodge. We once again
had the good fortune to stay with PCNC. After unpacking the
Pantera and opening the goodie basket of Italian items and a special 35th
anniversary shirt provided by PCNC, it was time to go to the
hospitality room and have a much deserved cocktail. We relaxed and
planned our free evening. We decided on an early dinner in Carmel Village
at The Village Fish House. The restaurant is a sister of The Monterey Fish
House. We hopped in the Pantera and headed for the Village. Our map
program gave us a misleading location and we almost gave up and started to
go to plan B. I saw the restaurant at the last moment; Jim made
a U-turn and parked the car in their ample parking lot.
We enjoyed a very nice dinner; Jim had Mahi Mahi and I enjoyed the Sand
Dabs. We shared a piece of "Tuxedo Cake" for dessert. It was a multi
layer chocolate wonder with Bailey flavored crème filling and a chocolate
icing. While we were there, Terry & Sherry Morofsky came in for
oysters and a glass of wine. They were dining later with a group from PCNC, back
at the Los Laureles. When we returned to the hotel, the PCNC group was just
going to dinner; we ended up going along, for conversation, no more
food!
Day 2
Another early day, the cars were grouped in formation for a 7:30
AM departure for Concorso. It was a smooth drive over the Los Laureles
Grade for the 13 deTomaso cars that were up early enough. The designated
deTomaso parking was wonderful. There were 83 cars signed up for the
event! We heard later that the Lamborghini people were not very happy about
being next door to the Pantera people. There were some remarks
made along the line of "there goes the neighborhood"! It was cold, but Jim
and I had allowed for this with multiple layers of clothing over lightweight
long underwear! The fog didn't burn off until almost 2 PM. There
were several other CP members at Concorso; Linda & Jeff Budelli, John
McNamee(entered his Ferrari since the Pantera was in the shop being painted, but
he did wear a deTomaso shirt while parked with the Ferraris), Glen Cramer and
family, John Worsley, Greg Armitage. We spoke with Greg about the upcoming
Nevada City Brunch, so we may see him there if not at regular CP meeting!
We also spoke with Tom & Kathy Vona, our newest CP people (Don't know if
they have sent in their POCA form yet). Jeff and Glen both won awards in
the voting conducted by PI. Jim managed to get our new white
Pantera signed by Tom Tjaarda! It was a long day, but an enjoyable
day. I never made it to doing any crocheting. That evening we attended
the dinner put on by PCNC at the Los Laureles, with an Italian theme.
There were 21 cars parked on the grass around the dinning area. It is a
truly beautiful site for the deTomaso aficionado. When you checked in for
the dinner, the guys were given a Mafia style fedora and the
ladies a glitzy bow tie. The food was an Italian buffet of Caesar salad,
garlic bread, veggie salad, chicken cacciatore, pork picatia, two different
pastas and a strawberry trifle. There was plenty of good food and no one
went home hungry. We were at a table with all PCNC members. We were
the only CP members at the dinner, aside from Mike Drew who has
duel membership. Since this was our fifth year going to Monterey, we
now know a lot of the PCNC people. We thank them for opening up the Los
Laureles to fellow POCA members. We feel that this is the place to stay
when in Monterey for the "Car Guys" weekend.

Tom Tjaarda and Jim (Tom's autograph in the door jam!)
Glen Cramers Manugusta on center stage
Day 3
One more early day! We had to leave earlier for the
Vintage races at Laguna Seca than planned due to the fact that PI left our
corral pass out of the envelope with our event tickets and lunch
tickets! We had not bothered to check the envelope when we picked it
up at Concorso. That will be the last time we fail to double check the
tickets! This made us very nervous, so we left very early, ahead of the
caravan to the track. We wanted to allow plenty of time to be hassled on
our way to the corral. We had the PI envelope, marked paid in full,
and our original receipt, but we made it down to the corral area with only one
question about our missing green pass. We parked and Linda Adler of PI was
sorry about the mix up and we were parked by 8 AM. Then it was off for
coffee at the track. We walked the special displays for Cooper and Toyota,
then the garage area for F-1 cars and finally the Trans Am area to find CP
member Carl Stein's Mustang. We saw Carl & Leslie Stein, Rick Moseley
and friend Diane. It was too loud there to say we spoke! We then
worked our way back to the PI area for lunch. It was once again catered by
Tarpy's Road House. Great lunch! Beef, chicken, Caesar salad, garlic
bread, green beans, potatoes, chocolate cake, cantaloupe sorbet, and macadamia
nut cookies, plus beer, wine, soda or water! The PI package is the way to
go at the Vintage Races! There were about 40 deTomaso automobiles in the
coral. After lunch we went over to the bleachers and watched the races for
the afternoon. This year we sat over between turns 3 and 4. I think I like
this area better than at the start finish line stands. Also, since my left foot
has been bothering me for several weeks, this was a much shorter walk! We
were able to watch Ricardo Zonta set a new track record for Laguna Seca in the
current Toyota F-1 car. The sound was great! We also saw Carl
start in row 11 of his race and finish in 11th place. Way to go
Carl! After the F-1 vintage race we headed home. Once back at Los
Laureles, we had a cocktail in the hospitality room and were invited to join the
PCNC group for dinner at the lodge restaurant. So no new restaurant to
review, but we had a great evening of food and conversation and no drive back to
the hotel! We were going to try The Corkscrew Bistro in Carmel Village,
but that will have to wait for another time. It came highly recombined by some
of the locals that we had spoken with at the Village Fish House earlier in the
weekend.

Carl Stein's Shelby Trans Am Mustang at Laguna Seca
Day 4
Finally got to sleep in, to 7:30 AM. We cleaned up, packed
up and hit the road. For the second time this trip, we went over the
Los Laureles Grade with zero traffic in front of us! That makes it a
really fun road in the Pantera! The drive home was smooth with one stop
for gas in Salinas and a stop for lunch at In-n-Out in Stockton. The
burger was the correct food for the end of our "car guy weekend & road
trip"! Pantera #7114 made the weekend very enjoyable. It was a good
inaugural trip, hopefully the first of many such trips. We encourage
everyone to get out and drive their cars, its great fun!
Meeting Notes, September 12, 2006
by Emilia
Seiferling
The September meeting of the Capitol
Panteras was held on the patio at Mimi's. When we arrived at Mimi's the
parking cones were out! The restaurant remembered to set out the
cones this month. Even though it was hot in Sacramento, we had four
Panteras and a DeLorean in the parking lot.
The attendance was good for the September meeting; Ken
Montgomery, John Worsley, Rick Carlile, Jim & Emilia Seiferling, Henry Kirk,
Tom & Kathy Vona, Carl Stein, Ed & John McNamee, Dennis Gacutan, and
Lamar Fairchild. Tom is our newest POCA member and Lamar has already
sent his membership application to POCA! Lamar lives in
Placerville.
Treasurer John McNamee reported that CP has received $60 from
POCA for those members who have their renewed membership in the last
quarter. The club gets $20 per member. The treasury has $971
. John has not yet done the donation to St. Pat's. We voted
several meetings back to donate $300 to the charity. John reported that
several members offered to match and donate to bring the total to $1000.
The money will be used by St. Pat's to repair autos that are donated to them, so
they can get a higher price at resale.
There was also a raffle for a $20 gift certificate for Kragen's
and a F-1 Toyota poster. John McNamee got the gift card and Tom the
poster. A profit of $19 goes into the CP treasury!
Since Treasurer John had missed several meetings, this was the
first chance we had to return the unsold shirts that had been made for the Las
Vegas POCA event in May. Of the unsold shirts, four were sold at this
meeting to our newest members!
Carl reported that he finished 11 in his race at the Monterey
Historics at Laguna Seca. He started 22.
The joint brunch with the Reno-Tahoe
Panteras was held on Sunday, Sept. 10, 2006. The group met
in Nevada City at the Northern Queen Hotel. There were 23 people and 9 Panteras. The weather was just
right, the food was very good, the conversation was continuous. There will be a
full article in the October newsletter.
The CP are currently in first place for
the POCA article contest. Chris Difani has sent a second technical
article to Jack DeRyke. Look for its publication soon! Thank you
Chris! Remember there are bragging rights and money at stake. So
please think about writing an article about your automotive adventures or a
technical item.
Emilia offered to provide breakfast to anyone who joins Jim at
the Rio Rendezvous Car Show on Oct. 14. It will either be at the Rio Vista
Lion's Club Pancake breakfast or maybe a home made meal at our house.
Please contact Jim if you plan to attend.
Tom Vona will be setting up a drive to have lunch in Sausalito
at Scoma's. The target date is early November. Please keep you
calendar flexible so that you can attend this fun event. When Tom
has the exact date, we will get the word out. Tom has done this type
of event in the past for the Corvette club. In order to get the preferred
parking at Scoma's, you must drive your club
car. This is an RSVP event, we must have an exact
count for the restaurant! If your car is out of commission, you can still
attend, but you will have to park on your own elsewhere. Maybe some PCNC
members will be able to join CP at Scoma's in early November!
When the schedule of events were reviewed, it
was noted that it is still early, but that we will need a host for the CP annual
Christmas party. If you are interested in hosting this event, please
contact Jim at jes@rickadee.net.
The Capitol Panteras could have a
display at the Towe Auto Museum in January 2007. We need a
local club member (Sacramento area) to coordinate with the museum.
Duane said that he was willing to display his car. We would need
about 3 to 5 cars to make a good showing. The club
must contact the museum to set this up. So think about having
your car on display in January. Remember that the Nash Club was able to do
this! Who will chair this display?
The election of officers will take place at the October CP
meeting. Jim and I will continue the newsletter, but feel that it time to
get some fresh ideas into the leadership of CP. So come early
to campaign for being an officer or to explain why you can not be an
officer!
Wanted: Articles for CP
Newsletter
If you have attended a car function of any
type, please write about your car adventures and send it to
jes@rickadee.net to be included in the next Capitol Pantera newsletter.
If newsletter articles are not received, then it will be more of Jim &
Emilia's automotive adventures or "The Motoring Mouth".
2006 EVENTS
CALENDAR
Sept. 17 Hill Climb at Virginia
City
Sept. 17 Governors Cup Drag Race at Sacramento
Speedway
Oct. 1 Comedy in the Park, San
Francisco
Oct. 1 Concourse at Serrano
Oct. 8 Italian Car Show
, Alameda. A benefit for Special Olympics
Oct. 10 Capitol
Panteras meeting at Mimi's
Oct. 14 Rio Rendezvous Car Show, Rio
Vista .
Oct.
Sacramento Sunday Brunch, Chairman Karen
early Nov. Lunch run to Scoma's in Sausalito, Chairman Tom
Vona
Nov. 14 Capitol
Panteras meeting at Mimi's
Dec. Capitol
Panteras Christmas Party - Host needed for the Party!
Jan 2007 Capitol Panteras on
display at the Towe Auto Museum ???
Suggestions for other activities in the
coming year include;
Great Pantera back road getting there through
the Montezuma Hills!!
Please keep us informed of other dates and
activities.
Jim & Emilia
Seiferling
Panteras #1575 &
#7114