Past MetalMeet Events

The 2007 Regional MetalMeet season kicked off with Bob Neinke's "Shaping in the Heartland" event March 10th & 11th, in the Wichata Kansas area. The weather ended up giving the attendees a break, and everyone had a great time. New members were treated to a great selection of equipment to use, and the more experienced members were there to teach the basics, and work on their own projects and hone their skills. Congratulation to Bob on another great regional event.

An absolutely beautiful Southern California day greeted the Menifee Meet attendees, and it was a huge success. Members from Washington, Wyoming, Idaho, Nevada, and California converged on Tony's shop under sunny and warm So Cal skys. What a blast. As is a tradition, Judy catered a fantastic Enchiladas with all the trimmings lunch, and we even noticed a couple of afternoon siesta's, as the temps climbed into the eighties. Tony was busy keeping everyone supplied with tools and materials, and there were plenty of equipment demos by various folks that brought tools to show.

With all the talk of bad weather leading up to BuglyToolS annual meeting, it is with great pleasure that I can tell you from first hand knowledge, that the weather was great (except for the tornado warning and a few sprinkles), and the annual meeting was a huge success. The weather didn't dampen the turnout, and the die-hards came in from far and wide, and never slowed down for a second. In terms of metalshaping projects, it was through the stratosphere. Folks were set up in both the shop and garage buildings, and tons of extra equipment was hauled in, so there was plenty to go around.

Once again this year, the guys across the pond got together at Jon's shop in Cleethorpes, N.E. Lincolnshire, for another super successful UK MetalMeet, with Ben and Emile travelling all the way from the Netherlands. The group enjoyed a fantastic BBQ, and got lots of work done on several projects.

The 2nd Annual Southern Ontario Regional MetalMeet turned out to be an "International Affair" with two attendees coming across the border from New York state, and the rest of the group coming from all over Ontario. Some new projects including a Solidworks designed buck for a Yamaha motorcycle tank, and a new fender for Ken trailer. Work continued on the basketball skin from last years event.

The 2nd Annual Gator Meet kicked off Friday with a personal tour of Gator's high tech manufacturing facilities which was a great opportunity for folks see new and innovative metal fabrication techniques and processes. Saturday and Sunday were filled with various projects including digging out the '51 COE Truck, a model A fender repair, a beater stand, a 35 dodge truck bed repair, a motor cycle gas tank dent removal, smoothing a tailgate and making a 33 Vicki grill shell. Also made copper roses, did some wire edging, and experimented with flame embossing. A great lunch menu on Saturday afternoon topped off with a great lineup of door prizes.

Another great weekend at Randy's Midwest Regional. The weather was great, and attendance was fantastic. World Class hands on instruction from the Master himself, and a lot of real work got done. This meet focused on producing panels from the '37-'42 Willys coupe quarter panel bucks built last event. These panels were a good learning experience as they had high and low crown areas, reverse curves and feature lines created with a tipping wheel.

It was a beautiful day high in the Rocky Mountains for the 1st Annual Rocky Mountain Regional MetalMeet, where folks from all over the West came together to shape metal. Several pieces of machinery were hauled in my members which made the event even more fun and interesting. For all but a few, this was their first MetalMeet, and the shop was full of excitement and enthusiasm. BuglytoolS President and CEO Roger came through for an inspection tour, and seemed to be pleased with what he found.

The 1st Annual Viking Meet in Denmark was a huge success drawing members and friends from all over Europe, and the United States. The facilities were just plain awesome, and the on site dorm facilities made it easy for all the participants to have the greatest experiance imaginable.

Once again, Keith Daleen from Sedalia Misouri hosted his annual Rebel Meet, and once again the place was packed. Oldtimers and newcomers alike, jumped in and had a great time. The weather was much better this year, of course last years event was in the middle of November. From the pictures and comments, it is obvious that everyone had a great time, and thanks to Keith for putting on such a great event.

The peace and quiet of upstate New York was disturbed once again this year during Dutch Comstocks annual Northeast Regional Meet, at his shop in East Herkimer. The nearly week long event had a huge turnout, and members brought in projects from all over the country. Members came in from at least a dozen states, all looking forward to Dutch and Linda's warm hospitality. Check back for a link to pictures from the meet.

Sunny and hot Pelion South Carolina was the venue for the 1st Annual Deep South MetalMeet. Jim's shop facilities were awesome, and there we lots of projects underway. Everyone got a chance to try out the new group project Kick Shrinker, and looks like a lot of progress was made on Jim's Ford PU. It's was reported numerous times that the food was a prime example of Great Southern Hospitality, and as is tradition, Jim was eager to present his Welding Seminar, and Kerry put on his Metal Shaping 101 Seminar.

Who would have guessed that attendees of the 2007 International MetalMeet in Oblong Illinois would enjoy sunny and warm T-Shirt weather for the whole week. Attendance was up, and the projects were awesome. Activities started early each morning, and went to all hours of the night. The Seminar schedule was so full, that at one point there were three going on at the same time. Our member farthest from home was from Argentina, and we enjoyed a lengthy visit from world famous Hotrod Builder Gene Winfield, who presented several seminars. We had vendor representitives from as far away as Switzerland, and as usual were treated to great down home hospitality from the wonderful folks of Oblong Illinois. Tuesday evening the group got together for a big cookout put on by MetalMeet. Wednesday through Saturday evenings, we were treated to meals provided by local groups from Oblong at the Vets Hall adjacent to the fairgrounds. Each evening during the dinner hour, members welcomed local residents and visitors into the activities buildings for tours, to show off what MetalMeet is all about. Projects included complete "new skin" for a '41 Willis, a K-8 Vintage Sprint Car, a '23 "T" Lowboy Roadster project, the Art Deco Imperial scratchbuilt roadster project, fenders doors and hoods from all kinds of vintage cars and trucks, scale models of a railroad boxcar and gondola car, copper roses were seen being crafted, and the variety of tools and equipment hauled in from all over the country exceeded our wildest dreams. Members dug deep in their pockets for the 50/50 drawing, benefiting the local Christian Childrens Home, and as promised, the beautifully completed McBearen was on hand for rides and photo ops. This was a World Class Event in all respects.

Dale's Shop in South Dandenong, Melbourne, was the site of the First Annual (or possibly semi-annual) Down Under MetalMeet. The turnout for the event was awesome, and the guys enjoyed Displays and Demos of all kinds of metalworking equipment and tools, took part in seminars, and just enjoyed banging on metal. The weather was beautiful, and all in all, couldn't have been a better event. Everyone enjoyed themselves so much, it sounds like they are already planning another event in six months or so. Now that's an indication that a good time was had by all. Congratulations to Dale and Ian for organizing and putting on a "really good show".

Another great weekend at Randy's Midwest Regional. Thanksgiving weekend proved to be a great opportunity for many members to visit the Ferguson Coachbuilding Shop, and get some hands on experience hand fabricating Willis sheetmetal parts.

The Route 56 Regional Metalmeet 2007 hosted by Dan Pate, was a huge success. A very wide variety of projects from fenders to metal sculpture. Looked kinda cold outside, but from all indications there wasn't any frost collecting inside. Great job by everyone involved in planning and organizing the event.