38^th Annual AABC Meet – Topeka, Kansas – June 18-20, 2001

The meet was held in Topeka, Kansas. The first few days were a little windy and we had some severe thunder and lightning storms at night. I found myself getting up at night and watching the lightning from the hotel window for hours, it was awesome! It was a wonderful meet, Bob & Donna Sullivant were the hosts. It was truly a mid west Austin Bantam experience!!! Lynn James

By Wesley M. Phillippi, Photographs by: Wesley M. Phillippi & Jack Hickey

To welcome members to the meet, Terry Williams had his 1933 Austin Panel truck sitting in front of the motel and Austin Anders had his Austin chassis set up in the lobby.

Around the parking lot could be seen some interesting sights. Parked in the lot were a lone BRC body and a couple of Austin coupes both covered and under a canopy. How you travel to the meet is all a matter of opinion. John Tuthill and Brock Peterson were at opposite ends of the spectrum.

On Tuesday evening dark clouds were moving in from the west. Even so, about a mile from the motel, we had a mini car show at Winstead’s, a vintage ice cream shop.

As the cars were arriving, the skies were threatening and the weather turned cool and windy. Fortunately, the darkest clouds and most of the rain passed by to the north and a good time was had by all.

Seminars at Reynolds Lodge

On a wet Wednesday, modern cars were driven to Reynolds Lodge in a large park for a cookout lunch and a couple of seminars. Phil Haynes talked about interchangeable parts for Austins and Bantams and Steve Stillwell discussed how to deal with electrical problems. For a practical demonstration out in the parking lot, Bob Sullivant's pickup was pressed into service. When we arrived back at the motel, Steve used Janine Schulze’s Austin for a continued demonstration.

After the tour on Thursday, owners went to work preparing their cars for judging. The weather had turned nice for which everyone was pleased. As usual, judging was a challenge, especially with about 10 Austin coupes in the running. Special trophies were awarded for: Work in Progress - Austin Anders’ chassis, Most Tenacious – Brock Peterson for constant tinkering to get his roadster running right and Cleanest Car – Brock Peterson’s immaculate racer.