Possible Northwest Indiana mini-meet?

[1987cp]

I should probably have mentioned this on this forum earlier, but I'm expecting to be in Portage, IN (that's just east of Gary for you non-Region Boys, which in turn is around an hour from Chicago, Michigan City, Renssalear, etc.) for a day or two this coming weekend, and torquelover and I were talking a little about the possibility of meeting up for a quick lunch or something of that nature. I'm told there's a new Quaker Steak and Lube right off I-94, so that seems like a possible location. Still not 1000% sure I'll have one of my Panthers along, unfortunately - I'll have to work that out. Just curious to see who all might be interested in a small get-together Saturdayish (July 7th).

[1987LTDmasta]

i dont think i may be able to do this, man.

already got plans for the weekend..

[torquelover]

Not sure if it's good for me, either. I'm the only Supervisor at work right now so until we get some people on board I've been working every day of the week for the last 3 weeks. If you're up late Saturday or Sunday maybe we can meet up after I get out of work?

Any other "region" panthers out there interested?

I was thinking about cruising out to my Friend's shop out in Merrillville, IN near the mall after work sometime this coming weekend. He's modding his Mark VIII air suspension with some sort of home made height controller that I want to check out. He's a Panther fan, and a night owl as well, if you want to meet up out there sometime.

Epi, I see you got the 'Stang. I found some pics of my '86 the other night. I'll scan them soon and post them. I miss mine dearly. We'll have to run it against my Mark sometime

[1987cp]

Your pal's shop in Merrillville sounds like a fun idea, especially since I'm told I'll be in East Chicago for dinner from about 6:00 to 8:00 Saturday - and Southlake Mall is very easy to get to. Ten years ago I knew of a guy named Jim who modded turbo Regals in a little speed shop somewhere around Merrillville. He was friends with a guy from Scherillville I knew called Josh Cook who had an '87 T type that I considered buying from him when I ended up getting the ol' Colony Park from Art Hill Ford.

Too bad there don't seem to be a lot of other guys around there..... sounds a little like out here in the Lansing, MI area.

1987LTDmasta, I was looking at torquelover's pictures, and I guess I hadn't realized you had a '79 front bumper. I like it! Is Epi a nickname?

[torquelover]

My friend will be at a party in Schererville until 12:30 AM Sunday (late Saturday) and I will have my kids until 11:00 PM. If you're up to it and I'm awake and not in the ER, we could meet up there. I haven't torn down the POS yet so I could bring it out (full faded paint and rust glory). Too bad his Viper is without radiator. You have to hear that cammed, ported head, straight exhaust monster start up and rev out.

I am liking Epi's blacked out grille and headlight surround with that old-school bumper. Nice. Glad I have a pic of it.

[1987cp]

A modified Viper too, eh? What other interesting machinery does he have?

[torquelover]

He's got a '94 Mark VIII with a few bolt-ons and an F450 with something very unique attached to it. You'll have to see it with your own eyes. The Viper has everything else beat. It's actually scary to drive. Last time I drove it I eased into it and got wheelspin in 4th gear at around 130 MPH. This was at low revs. Scared the breath out of me.

[1987cp]

Okay, I'm heading out. I'm not sure how meeting up in Merrillville will work with my dad's plans, but if you want to give me a call Saturday evening I'll let you know what's going on.

[torquelover]

Sounds good. I have quite a few personal issues to take care of first, but I'll give you a call Saturday if I'm able to swing out. I'm nursing a kidney stone right now and my Mom just got into a pretty bad car crash, an offset frontal head-on. She was released next day and I took her to the impound yesterday to help her remove her belongings from the totalled car. It's a miracle she wasn't killed. I'll post pics later.

[1987cp]

Yeah, I can definitely understand not being able to do anything at all with all that sort of stuff going on. I've heard kidney stones really suck, and I'm very thankful your mom was spared in the crash.

I doubt this will be the last time I'm in this part of the state, so perhaps a not-quite-so-excruciatingly-mini mini-meet might become possible in the future.

[1987cp]

Okay, quick update for whoever's looking. torquelover and I got together here in Portage around 11:30 local time, but didn't hear back from his pal in Merrillville, so we hung out at the Shell station on 249 near the freeway for a while before driving over to Bass Pro Shop to take some pictures, and went for rides in both cars. It was very cool to see the "POS" in person, although I'm still not convinced it's such a POS at all. Pictures to come!