Submitted by

Don Holton, 2002 "Birds In The Glen" International Thunderbird Club
Convention Committee Member!

Selected additional material by Dr Rich Schatz, editor Thunderbird Script

Boy am I beat, but this event was well worth it! I would do it again in a heartbeat!!! We had a great time. Kathy and I are working up a possible CD and or VHS tape of the entire week's events, including photos and video that we were able to shoot.

Thursday went very smoothly, with around 35 Thunderbirds cruising the Seneca Lake Wine Trail. There were stops at 4 local Wineries, with lunch along the way. Thursday's dinner cruise on Seneca Lake was a nice way to wind down the day's driving (which, when all was said and done, had tallied 150 miles for my car's first true maiden voyage.) That evening we had a most unbelievable dinner boat cruise on the lake, with about 130 registrants on board. A scrumptious meal and a three-hour cruise on a windless eve with cool air could not have been ordered up any better.

Friday's "Day at Watkins Glen" was amazing! There were 76 cars that made trek from the motel to Watkins Glen. What a great sight - there were Thunderbirds everywhere! With an impressive lap of the original street

and road course of the old track, and with the help of the Watkins Glen Police Department, everything went smoothly. What a neat cruise!

Next it was up to the Watkins Glen International Road Course, and what a ball we had. We had been given 5-plus laps on the track, at fairly racy feeling speeds doublewide! "WOW" is all I could say, and it was a day my 16-year old son won't soon forget. He put our rusty-but-trusty '88 Sport through its paces solo, as I enjoyed the top-down feel of my 79 ACC Convertible! What a day with lunch soon to follow! The evening's activities included a cookout-style dinner with door prize giveaways and a great presentation from Ford Motor Company. Ford representative Miles Johnson showed up at the Convention with the Living Legends Tour, including the 2002 Thunderbird Sport Roadster prototype, GT 40 prototype (planned for production in 2004), a 2003 Thunderbird, The 2003 Mustang Mach I, the Pony Mustang, and last but far from least, the Forty-Nine Prototype.) It is interesting to note that ITC was the only club selected to host the Living Legends Tour for its convention. We were truly honored.

ITC was also pleased to have attendance of Gary Boes, Chief Nameplate Thunderbird Engineer. Gary replaced Nancy Gioia, who has moved up to Vehicle Line Designer. Miles and Gary each rendered an interesting speech at the evening barbecue, replete with overheads and videos.

Even though there were NO Box Birds (80-82) in attendance, there was one there in Spirit along with it great owners! The Honorable Mention goes to Martin and Donna Dickinson, who made the trek from Calgary, Alberta, in Canada, only to be side-lined with a mechanical breakdown in the Midwest. Still desperately wanting to attend this great event, they rented a car and still made the convention! We can only hope that they enjoyed themselves after leaving their car to be repaired in Indiana. Donna had an album of pictures of their fabulous low mileage Box Bird in attendance for all to view!

Approximately 100 pre-registered cars attended the event. Over the course of the day eleven others presented for the special Show & Shine. Car-corral cars made their way to the show from as far away as Southern PA! There were even 4 Thunderbird Flea Market Vendors, including a surprise stop by the Buffalo NY area's own Rick Muck and Greg Zimmerman! It was great to see Rick and Gregg in attendance!

The Saturday evening banquet, providing an elegant repast, gave us the opportunity once again for Miles Johnson and Gary Boes to deliver words of support to Thunderbird lovers from both Ford Motor Company and themselves. The evening finished with the long waited for awards for the winning cars. We also enjoyed bestowing such other awards as longest distance driven in a Thunderbird, longest distance traveled, and the President's and the Editor's plaques.

If you were not able to attend this affair, you missed a wonderful event. If you haven't ever attended an ITC convention, you need to do so. Every one who has attended tells us that they are sorry they have not come before, but they certainly will again. Our conventions are all about people and great times; we also get to drive or bring our cars too!

© 2002 by Don Holton, Thunderbird Script, and ITC