The birth of Orange Krate...

[super60]

Jim

Great pictures , it looks like you and Erica had a great time with Orange Krate and the many Camaro Enthusiasts at the Fest . I can see that Oshawa was well represented in Arizona and glad to see you got to meet some of the Camaro Team and get their signatures Hope all is well , and i wish you Erica and your family all the best and Happy Easter .

Mike Judge
Super60

[Orange Krate]

Jim
Great pictures , it looks like you and Erica had a great time with Orange Krate and the many Camaro Enthusiasts at the Fest . I can see that Oshawa was well represented in Arizona and glad to see you got to meet some of the Camaro Team and get their signatures Hope all is well , and i wish you Erica and your family all the best and Happy Easter .

Mike Judge
Super60

Mike thank you for the well wishes and Happy Easter to you and your entire team up in Oshawa. It was truly a whirlwind trip but real fun and I would have liked it to go on for a week! I am hoping that the timing and world events will allow us to go next year. What I really would like is to drive up to Canada and see the big north! I have been to B.C. but never your part of the world. One of these days it will happen.

Blessings to you and yours! Thanks again!

Jim (and Erica)
Simi Valley
Home of Orange Krate (and Litho #182!)

[Orange Krate]

45th Anniversary Edition and the spectacular ZL1! Outstanding!

[JoeP@TeamBeckyD]

Jim & Erica....

What a pleasure it was, to meet!!

You are both, truly a treasure!

I am so very fortunate to know you!

Becky

[ChvyBoss]

Great pics Jim. Came out nice

[Orange Krate]

Just what every finely coifed Camaro owner should be wearing! Vans IOM deck shoes complete with orange racing stripe! Makes for smooth shifts, even braking and brightens the pedals! Orange Krate didn't bat an eye when I stood next to him.

[Blueclyde]

Great Pics! Nice car!

[OrangeVert]

Jim, very cool! Likewise, I've got my orange polo t-shirt ready to go - should be warm enough to wear by early June when we're expecting OrangeVert! Cleaned out the garage and am putting up shelves this weekend.

Looks like you guys had a really great time in AZ, thanks for posting your awesome pics and your story! So glad that you, Erica, and OrangeKrate had a great time! And so cool that you got those signatures!

Please keep us posted on your fun times ahead this summer.

[SSE 4 2SS]

Originally Posted by Orange Krate

Thanks so much! I wish Erica and I had more time at CFest as well. We were literally under the time crunch but compressed a whole lot of fun and travel in a short amount of time.



Thank you for your kind words. The Camaro is a fun car to take photos of because of its classic lines and brute muscle car appeal. Just yesterday I had an older bright lemon yellow BMW converted to a wannabe Fast and Furious car, pull along side me on the freeway and the young driver had this deer in the head lights look as he glanced at my car and then he did a double thumbs up and was all grins. I guess my Perma Grin was contagious! HA! Gotta love these Gen 5s! They just bring out the smiles in people.



Robert my good man...I hear you are back down to the rigs! Be safe down there. I had a nice, quick, tedious and surprising trip to Texas. I received an unexpected award from my colleagues in the disaster medical services world. I truly wished we could have hooked up but as it worked out I was sequestered about 90% of the time in management classes. I didn't get away from the Gaylord Texan but for one evening and that was to the Bass Pro Shop and Whataburger which I love! We don't have Whataburger or Sonic where I live so I have to go whenever I get the opportunity.

BELOW ARE A COUPLE OF CAPTURES FROM TEXAS...

The last photo is my Orange Krate security cam capturing my face during a hard acceleration on the onramp.

Cool pics, and yes, I figured you might be bowed up like a blowed up chicken... I was.... We'll get together some day... Fest IIII, Congrats on the award... It's a small community in the rescue world, but hard to do anything distinguishing since there are so many good people involved... You musta done something Amazing... so Kudo's to you...

[speedster]

Hey Jim -

I'm so sorry we didn't get to meet while out at C5FestII. You are one of the people on the list I wanted to see. Sounds like you and Erica had a great time at the fest with both new friends and friends you've known your whole life. THAT is what it's all about. Thanks for sharing all of your great pictures and experiences.

[arod55]

Jim: I also missed you at the Fest, I had e-mailed you before because my step-son is a firefighter in Ventura County, and lives in Camarillo. My wife is spending more time up there because we have a 3 month old grandson, and you know how it is with grandmothers. We will have to hook up one day at Johnnie Rockets Resturant in Camarillo. I had a great time at the Fest and also made some new friends, but like everyone else said the time went by to fast. Enjoy you Camaro!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Mud]

Just read the entire thread. This is exactly what I've been feeling the last couple months. Although instead of having a '69 Camaro like Jim had, I had a '68 Chevelle. Has a '67 Belair in college. Spent more time under them than in them.

Many years later, having a bit more money than I did when I was 17, I'm riding across town in my 2010 Camaro, blasting Foghat's "Drivin Wheel" and rowing through the gears.

It's a shame I caught this thread so late because I attended Camarofest2 and would have liked to see the Orange Krate and meet you, Jim. Drinks are on me next time you're in AZ.

I can certainly relate to the Schwinn story as I also rode a Spyder style Schwinn bike although it was second hand ($25), one speed and coaster brake. Broke a few handlebars, sissy bars, and went through a lot of tires but that bike is so much of what I remember of my youth.

I built ramps and launched that thing many times through the air. Most of the time I landed on the wheels. I WAS Evel Knievel. Or so I thought, anyway.

There was one kid down the street who had a Lemon Peeler. I envied him so much. That gear shift looked so cool!

Been like a kid again with this car...it'll do that to you, ya know. The designers and engineers really nailed it with this iteration of Camaro. My friend had a black '69 Z-28 back in the day and the sound of that car was superb. I remember him changing gears with that T-handled Hurst shifter.

It has become full circle for me three decades later. My enthusiasm for muscle cars, Chevys, and that sweet sound that can only come from a V-8 engine.

Here's to many more miles in your "Orange Krate."

[walt353]

Hello again Jim. Walt from Indy here. Probably be heading your way in a couple of weeks. Not sure exactly of dates. WE will be in Vegas for a while , Pine Mt. for a while and probably Tahoe for a while, But at some point we wil;l be in beautiful Simi. Need to know whare the Big Boy is. Im fairly familiar with San Fran Valley. Another brother has a sheet metal shop at Tampa and Parthainia, close by,. So If u see a red 1SS in front of the Coffee Bean on I think Alamo with IN plates ,probably me. I get over there some mornings. By mornings I mean noon. lol Out for now

[Orange Krate]

Originally Posted by walt353

Hello again Jim. Walt from Indy here. Probably be heading your way in a couple of weeks. Not sure exactly of dates. WE will be in Vegas for a while , Pine Mt. for a while and probably Tahoe for a while, But at some point we wil;l be in beautiful Simi. Need to know whare the Big Boy is. Im fairly familiar with San Fran Valley. Another brother has a sheet metal shop at Tampa and Parthainia, close by,. So If u see a red 1SS in front of the Coffee Bean on I think Alamo with IN plates ,probably me. I get over there some mornings. By mornings I mean noon. lol Out for now

Hi Walt,
There are a couple of Big Boys to go to. The original is in Burbank/Toluca Lake. The one in San Fernando Valley is on Corbin near Roscoe. It is smaller but new. They have a hot rod meet there on Friday nights. It is packed with old and new iron.

Pine Mountain hey? That is a great ride. I made that one with my wife in Orange Krate some time back. I am ready for another run up there. We usually make a circuit and go over the summit and come out at Frazier Park and hit the 5 Freeway south and stop off at In and Out Burger in Santa Clarita by Camping World. It makes for a great loop seeing Ventura County back country. I use to work on an ambulance up in that neck of the woods coming out of Ojai. we would have 1.5 hour Code 3 responses up the canyon when the helicopters couldn't fly. It got very interesting on occasion when we would have multiple victims and the next ambulance was 2 hours away!!! Good times... wild times.

I will PM you my cell phone. Hook up with me when you are in the neighborhood.