So I will write up the social aspect of the meet. Hopefully one of the car gurus will chime in with the car details. I'm a little iffy on all the car details. (Keith also has more pictures.)
I got there around 11:45. I was worried that I was late, but after driving around the park a few times, I couldn't find anyone. Turns out they were stuck in traffic! Alan, Seth, and Keith got there around 12:15. I think they thought I looked silly in my winter hat but when they got back from the bathrooms, I think they wished they had a winter hat! (It was very windy and cold. And loud from being right beneath the Triborough Bridge.)
While they were in the bathroom, Patrick showed up.
We had 9 people who said they were coming to the meet, so we hunkered down and waited for everyone else to come. We got a text from Robert, so he knew he was on his way. We spent the time eating snacks and drinking assorted drinks. Seth made a new friend ... Pip the squirrel. We all agreed it was the most aggressive squirrel we had ever seen. But, he WAS a New York squirrel.
Rob got there around 2. About 5 minutes after he got there, it started to rain. We decided to line the cars up for pictures, and cut our losses. Keith had PMed everyone his cell phone so we figured if anyone else was going to show, they would call him.
Time for lunch! We climbed into 2 cars and headed off into Queens looking for a place to eat. The main requirement ... 2 parking spaces. After driving around for a bit, we saw the Neptune Diner, which had a banner proclaiming it the "Best Diner In New York". Sounded good to us, AND they had 2 parking spaces. So after some creative NYC driving (good job Alan!) we ended up there.
PICTURE = The Best Diner In NYC
We spent a few hours eating and drinking (thank you NYC for having cocktails in diners) and talking all about cars and life in general. It was really a lot of fun.
Afterwards we got back into the cars and headed back to
Astoria Park. We were hoping the huge bridge over the parking lot would protect us from the ongoing downpour, but it did not. We stayed in the cars for a few more minutes and then headed home.
I can't speak for anyone else, but Rob followed me back to the NJ Turnpike, and it was one of the worst drives I've ever been on. I actually cheered a little bit when I got out of the Lincoln tunnel. Then it POURED almost all the way home. Ugh.
As always, it was great to meet people from the club.