Events & Activities

2019 Club Activities

The club had a great time at their 2019 Holiday Party held at the Black Forest Café in downtown Monument on Dec 7.

Please click on the file below to see the Lewis Palmer Homecomming event!

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Club members took the Wasson Car show. Steve- Most Original for his Avanti, James- Best Paint on his continental, Eric- Best interior in his Ford and Bill Best Daily Driver for his pickup. X won the award for most exotic foreign car.

Tri-Lakes Cruisers presented a check (above) for $4,500 to Tri-Lakes Cares. This was the proceeds from their 17th annual car show that occurred on August 4, 2019 in Downtown Monument Colorado. The show featured 170 cars with approximately 1,500 people in attendance. In the first photo, from left to right, are Joe Mentek, Barbra Beeson, Lon Wartman, Donna Wartman Steve Gutman, Dewey Brownback and Tony Verrico. The two ladies from Tri-Lakes Cares are Executive Director Haley Chapin and Christine Bucher the Development Manager. The 1949 Olds belongs to Robert Gould

Last Sunday, Sept 15, four of our Cruisers attended the American Heroes Car Show at the big VA Clinic west of downtown Colorado Springs, put on by Ace Entertainment. Our perennial trophy winner, James McGraw, picked up another class trophy for his fabulous suicide-doors 1963 Continental, and Bob Gould picked up a class trophy for his lovely dark metallic green 1948 Olds. Both cars have been beautifully restored and always attract visitors. Their awards were made as a result of technical judging, not People's Choice, and both of our Cruisers winners should be proud of their awards. James saved Steve a spot next to the Continental and the Olds for his 1979 survivor Avanti II with its stunning tan saddle leather interior, but instead of winning any hardware, Steve had to be content delighting the ladies with the slide-out cosmetics tray vanity and pop-up mirror in his Avanti, standard on all pre-1980's Avantis. Bill and Barb Beeson dropped by to support this show for our Veterans on a truly gorgeous Colorado Sunday afternoon. Gorgeous cars, lovely people. Looking forward to our next show!

The Tri-Lakes Cruisers 16th Annual
Benefit Car Show August 4th, 2019
(click Play on the first photo, upper left corner)

The photo below is from a photo shoot for the "Forest Living Magazine" taken by Lois Gonzalez. The participants are Steve Gutman and his 1979 Avanti, Joe Mentek and his 1965 Cobra, and Gill Geisz and his 1935 Auburn

The Cruisers started off the 2019 car show "season" early...perhaps too early..., with two small "non-shows" where local not-for-profit event sponsors just wanted a few cars to help set the tone for their events.

The Tri-Lakes Women's Club invited our participation in their annual "Spring into Vintage" fund- raiser ON APRIL 27-28. The Womens' Club has been serving the Tri-Lakes Monument area for some 40 years, raising millions of dollars for local community services organizations and schools. We positioned a handful of cars with member-commentators at the main entrance to Lewis Palmer High School. Event attendees enjoyed seeing our cars and talking with us about their stories. Gil Geisz brought his stunning 1935 Auburn Boat-tail Speedster, James McGraw left his suicide door 63 Continental customized with a number of unique features, gorgeous metallic paint, and maple burl interior decor inserts. (Nice details under the hood too, James) Visitors enjoyed seeing Chuck Markl's spiffy light blue 1965 Mustang convertible, and hearing how Chuck took back the car from his daughters and restored it after they both used it as their college ride. Joe Mentek drew a lot of lustful looks with his 1965 Cobra roadster. Steve Gutman brought his 1979 Avanti II, 27,000 miles all-original "garage find" from Edmonton, and James & Kelly Izatt set up a command position for their Korean War veteran Willys Jeep. We had planned to be there both days, but really fierce winds prevented our encore. Thanks to X and Lois for showing up in their beauties on Sunday only to be sent home or face a severe sand-blasting of Lois's 1973 Porsche 914 and X's 1969 E-Jag. Great turnout, Cruisers! We were much appreciated.

Our second early season "non-show" was a one-hour stint at the entrance to Bear Creek Elementary School to welcome students to their graduation party ON MAY 17. Steve showed up with the Avanti again (any excuse to start up his baby will do...) and James brought the Continental, which was showcased by his son Noah, a student at Bear Creek. Good job, Noah! Bob Gould's 1949 Oldsmobile Rocket looked spectacular in the sun, and what a beautiful interior that car has! Dewey Brownback's jet black 2014 Corvette provided just the right touch to round out our display, which was joined by a T-Bucket and Camaro owned by school staff. We left as soon as we gracefully could, because the wind was really getting nasty...again, and Dewey's Corvette was turning tan with dust. Steve was warned that, if he schedules another event where the winds are better suited for kite flying then showing priceless collector cars, he will be banned from scheduling any more. We have already heard from the School that they really appreciated our presence.