Mason County Forest Festival Car Show Summary

By Sam Barer

Sound Classics

Despite its claim as the “Christmas Tree Capital Of The World,” Shelton, Washington is not the epicenter of anything. Considering that the town closes its streets at least twice in June for car shows, though, it can at least be identified as the most octane-friendly place west of Puget Sound.

Shelton again hosted the annual Mason County Forest Festival (curious isn’t it that there’s a forest-themed fair in a place that lives and dies by the timber industry?) Car Show this past weekend. The show draws people from all over Mason, Thurston and Grays Harbor counties, which means that if a bomb dropped on the show, pretty much everyone who used to read my weekly “Sound Classics” newspaper column would be wiped off the map. That also meant that despite the pouring rain, I had an obligation to be there to support my car friends.

In the past I’ve taken my 1960 Triumph TR-3, 1986 Ferrari 328 GTS and a long-since-sold 1969 big block Corvette Convertible up there, but I decided this year to introduce the townspeople to the Infamous Craigslist 1976 Ferrari Dino 308 GT4. I suppose that I could have also taken the ’79 Chevy K10, but I still can’t excited about showing what I consider a work truck.

By the time the GT4 and I had made the 20-mile run to Shelton, the rain had subsided. I handed them my $15 to enter the car and filled out the registration paperwork. As with many town shows, the organizers provided a list of 25 classes all allow entrants to pick two in which to compete.

Over the years I’ve noticed that you can tell quite a bit about the organizers and the host city from the available classes. What the classes told me about the organizers of this show was that there are basically five types of vehicles out there: trucks, Fords, GM, Mopars, and orphans. To be more specific, the majority of the classes were dedicated to Fords and GM, with Best Pre-1981 and Post-1981 classes for each. There were also categories for Radical Car, Radical Truck, Custom Truck, Custom Car, as well as pre-1930, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, and Post-60s. After scanning the list up-and-down, I could find only one class in which the 308 GT4 would actually fit: Best Post-60s. Unlike most shows, there were no classes for Best Foreign Car or Best Sports Car.

As a second class, I shoved it into “Best Stock Car”, even though with its Bosch Red Super Coil ignition, and red wrinkle-painted cam and timing covers, it really doesn’t qualify as stock. At least it was a better fit than the one my friend Bill selected for his Lancia Beta Coupe: Best Orphan. When I challenged Bill on his selection — noting that the 104-year-old Lancia corporation continues mass production of its vehicles , he retorted that none of his friends serving as judges for the show would realize this.

The off-and-on rain hurt attendance, but roughly 100 cars lined the street. Most of the cars were the requisite tri-five Chevys, Chevelles, 30s Ford rods, and modded Chevy trucks. A fair number of stock newer cars, such as Mustangs and Dodge Challengers made the area look like an ad-hoc dealer lot. I had seen most of the cars over the years, but a few I hadn’t stood out. I was quickly drawn to a 1956 DeSoto Fireflite Convertible with its signature two-tone paint, sleek lines and 330-ci 255-hp Hemi. Two perfectly-restored 1970 Mach One Mustangs standing side-by-side also attracted deserving attention. The wildest entry was definitely a ’55 Chevy straight-axle gasser with Pebble Beach-levels of detail.

Despite losing the Best Stock Car and Best Post-1960s to the yellow Mach One, the 308 GT4 had a constant pack of admirers. As always, people wanted to know how much horsepower the car has and if it “is fast”. In the days of 385-horse Korean sedans, many looked disappointed to learn that the GT4 is good for only 240 hp, 0-60 in seven seconds and 140mph flat-out. When I pointed out that in 1976 the GT4 far trumped the output of Camaros (165 hp) and Corvettes (180 hp standard/ 210 with the L82), the bit of perspective won the Ferrari back a little small-town street cred.