Central Oklahoma Classic Chevy Club

The Dashboard A publication of the
Central Oklahoma Classic Chevy Club.
A not-for-profit corporation.
A chapter of Bow Tie Chevys
and Classic Chevy International.
February 1999

Panoramic view of COCCC display.
This panoramic view shows the Central Oklahoma Classic Chevy Club's display at the recent Darryl Starbird Rod & Custom show held in Oklahoma City's Myriad Convention Center.
Click to view full size image.

Starbird 1999 (good news, bad news)

By Mel Harris
COCCC member

As most of you know the Starbird show was held during the second weekend of January, 1999. However, getting individuals interested and sending in their registrations started much earlier. The good news is we had 17 people who were committed to do the show. The bad news is we didn't know that Starbird was limiting each club to just 15 cars. Now Jerry Webb and I are asking ourselves what will we do if everyone shows up?

Not much space
Wednesday evening arrived and Jerry (who had prayed all week) drew for our spot, which, luckily turned out to be located in the largest room downstairs away from the doors. Unfortunately, it wasn't much bigger than a two stall garage!

Some of us went ahead and put our cars in that evening because a weather change was predicted for Thursday. If you'll remember,
Trophy winners
the ice storm hit just around rush hour and poor Coleman Zellner was the last of our group to arrive and was quite thankful for power steering when maneuvering to fill the only open slot. Then, he had to clean all of the salt and sand from his truck.

Our display included cars from members and nonmembers of the club. With a wide range, from original to pro-street. The biggest headache was trying to arrange five black cars, seven red, two yellow and one black and silver. We somehow managed, but there was very little room to move around between them.

Those who participated are to be thanked for all the pushing and pulling they had to do while trying to get everything in place. I'll have to say it appeared to be a pretty good show with many quality cars. As the name implies it is a Rod and Custom show and lived up to that billing. One full custom '62 Impala was trailered in from Wisconsin was rumored to have cost around $200,000 dollars. A 64 Lincoln was the same one shown on the front cover of the current Custom Rodder Magazine. I believe everyone felt the entertainment provided was a little weaker than in previous years.

Now some more good news. Of those 15 shown, 13 received trophies and Ben Byers also received the "Personality Plus" plaque for his 1957 Chevy. Congratulations to the winners.

In the past our club has been very fortunate and won money from Starbird for the club display.
Bad news is - not this year. The mini-truck club won the top award of $1,500 because of their quality, the display itself and I might add, they deserved every cent. Those young people hauled in sand, built a lifeguard tower, had a jet ski and other things you might find at a beach. It was quite impressive and certainly beat our balloons, lights and stanchions. Don't get me wrong, we tried. But future shows will call for new and fresh ideas.

Our thanks go out to those who participated and also to those who came for a visit, stayed with the cars, brought food, loaned us things or in any way helped make the show a success. We appreciate your efforts.

Here's who took part ..
Listed here are the participants' names and types of cars shown with the club at the Darryl Starbird Rod & Custom Show:
  • Jerry Horn - 1957 Chevy
  • Johnny Hewett -1955 Chevy
  • Charlie Weatherman - 1957 Chevy
  • Jerry Webb - 1957 Chevy
  • Mel Harris - 1956 Chevy
  • Keith Marang - 1956 Chevy
  • Patty Gunter - 1957 Chevy
  • Coleman Zellner - 1957 Chevy Pickup
  • Rip Riley - 1956 Chevy
  • Mike James - 1957 Chevy
  • Shean Hollis - 1958 Chevy
  • Ben Byers - 1957 Chevy
  • Brad Sawyer - 1957 Chevy
  • Jack Byers - 1941 Buick
  • Tom White - 1949 Chevy Truck


  • Jerry and I would like to let someone else coordinate the Starbird show next year. The Myriad should be complete, allowing for more cars or at least a little more room between them. It will also be only a few days into the year 2000 so those with inventive minds might come up with thoughts for the millennium and create a display for the new century.

    We wish whoever takes over the best of luck and will be glad to offer advice if asked. One final thought. If it is the goal of this club to pursue an award such as "Best Club" then a fundamental change must occur. You must have some means, either by committee or individual to control what cars are shown with the COCCC. We've all been to enough car shows and understand what the judges are looking for. Anyone who enters such a show, knows what is expected and should live up to that obligation by making their car as presentable as possible. Bottom line is, if you don't do it for our club ... then do it for our charities.


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