ST. PATRICK'S DAY PARADE, ANYONE?

[Fierofool]

Everyone check our your vehicle's cooling system to be sure it's properly filled.  I will be bringing coolant and water in the event anyone overheats along the way, but if you have coolant of your own, bring it along.  If you have concentrate, premix it before putting it into your trunk.  It can be pretty embarrassing to have to pull over or out of the parade due to overheating.

A tip to keep the vehicle from overheating during the slow and often stop and go of the parade is to disconnect the compressor cycle switch on the receiver-dryer.  It will allow you to press the NORM button of your climate control, making your engine cooling fan to run but not allowing the AC compressor to run.  Since we will be driving the parade with the windows down in what is predicted to be low 70 degree temps, you won't need the AC. 

[Fierofool]

This morning I received a call from one of the parade officials to let us know our position in the parade.  We are # 71 out of 155 as of this morning, so right now, we're right in the middle of the parade.  He said he and his wife were looking forward to seeing our Fieros.  His wife had owned one at one time and had always wanted another.  She just recently acquired her Fiero. 

When we get assembled at the Church, we need to quickly move up the street to our position which will be marked on the street or sidewalk with #71.  For that reason, we all need to be there at one time so we can move out between 9 and 9:30 to our spot, then get our cars decorated and the banner set up. 

Bring your radios and a chair to sit in while we wait or after the parade.  Oh yeah, did I remind you to bring your radios for communications?  We'll start out on channel 7 and later change to another if the traffic is too heavy.

[Raydar]

Charlie... Not going to make it.
I got the exhaust system cobbled together, but the carbs need completely gone through.
It's been asleep too long, and when it woke up it was pissed.

The gray car is having minor clutch issues that need looking into before they become major clutch issues.

[f85gtron]

LOTS OF FUN!  the luck of the Irish must have been with us because no sooner than I pulled in the drive, the ignition control module crapped out!  I had an original acdelco modual on hand that i never removed from the original distributor. I think I've learned my lesson and will buy an extra to keep in the car as a spare!
Ron

[Roger]

Glad you had the spare Ron!

It was good to see those at the parade and we missed those who could not make it.
The weather could not have been better and the crowd was AWESOME!!!
Although there were some issues with cooling systems, they were overcome and I
hope all had a grand time.
Thanks to Charlie for organizing everything with the City of Dublin, GA.
They were very nice hosts.

It was very good to see that Don and Daryl made it, even though the cops wouldn't
let them in as late arrivals.

I hope everyone had a safe journey home.

[Fierofool]

Ron and Susan finally made it home after multiple stops to let the 86 cool off.  Don and Darrel left later with Roger, Pat and I and our ETA home was 6:30.  I called Don just before 9 and they had only made it to the Six Flags area on their journey to Douglasville.  Slow traffic and overheating for them, too.  I got a call from them just about 9:20 and they had just arrived home.

With everything going on, I only managed 3 pictures.  Hope we can get a collection from the rest of the group and the parents of Summer Kelly who were taking pics and video.  I'll talk to them tomorrow at church and see if I can get theirs.  In the meantime:

[TopNotch]

Here are my pictures....

[Fierofool]

There are so many of you to thank for making this day.  First, I'd like to thank those who guided us through the day.  Summer and Sophia who carried our club banner.  For their first time, they did a superb job.  They seemed to be having a good time.  I saw a lot of interaction with the spectators. 

Roger and Brenda, Ron and Susan, Ron S. and Paul and Toni for making the long trek.  Pat and Linda for providing almost half the cars in our group.  Don and Darrel for making the trip even though you knew you might make it in time to join in. 

I think we were well received by all except the one passer-by who remarked that our cars were "Ugly".  I think it might be possible that there were more sidewalk spectators at the Dublin Parade than at the Atlanta Parade.  Shall we do it next year, I believe we need to have a printed map of the city so that we may find our way to the staging point or to find lost souls to guide them in or rescue them.  Maybe the club should purchase a couple of used GPS units to loan out when we do these little junkets. 

[f85gtron]

An earlier rally time and a driver meeting would help allot. Then, we could work out our figure-eights and doughnut burn outs. Then, all we need are special hats! 
I had a GREAT time. I think we earned a whole lot of exposure. My car's ugly, but Paul's isn't and his attracted a lot of attention after the parade. That's what it's all about!

[f85gtron]

Some more pics
One of Paul and his groupies.
One of me, but i needed Rogers green skirt to pull it off completely,
One green spooky headlights shot,
And one of our rear ends!
How are you getting pics into the body of the message?

[pgackerman]

140 pictures, including two videos.

https://plus.google.com/photos/101244603559962497427/albums/6129053867678610753

My view didn't change much, but my wife's did.

[Raydar]

Looks like a lot of fun! 

Next year...

[Fierofool]

I think that next year I'm going to get a room alongside TopNotch at the Super 8.  Getting up at 5AM and all of the goings-on was just nearly too much for me.  Kept wanting to fall asleep on the way back home. 

[pgackerman]

Looks like a lot of fun! 

Next year...

It was.

[Fierofool]

Paul and Toni, thanks for such a good documentation of the day.  The first time this kind of coverage of our Parade participation because our people are all in the cars. 

Ron:  To post pictures in the thread, go to the Administrator's Announcement section at the top of the message board.  There is an image posting application there.  Download it.  It will show up as PIP but anytime you post with it it will have a Georgia Fiero Club tag line.  You'll just have to resize any pictures to about 100mb to download them in your message.  They are there for anyone to see without having to register and log in.  This can help to bring in new members, seeing some of the things we actually do.  And the pictures will be there until the message board goes away. 

Did anyone get a head-on shot of that Cross-Eyed Bumblebee?  The best shot I could see was in Toni's number 107.