Cruising & Camping Turku - Ruissalo 20-22.7.2001

AMCCF's second main meet of the year 2001 was held in Turku. Just line last year it was organized by Juha Makkonen, but this year it was a 2 night event with lots and lots more to do than last year. We decided to take part on the event from my hometown of Pori with 3 AMCs.

In the picture above you can see our convoy from Pori to Turku (from right to left) Timo Rytkönen's '72 Matador 4d 360, Janne Valtonen's '65 American 220 2d 196cid and my '70 Hornet SST 304. (Here's another front pic.) It was interesting to see that on the way we aroused the interest of couple people, maybe the cars were just so 'mean' looking or something... got a few seriously curious glances.

The pictures above might give you the idea that the cars were registered and roadworthy, but... Neither Janne's or Timo's car were registered, they were traveling on 'moving plates' and there were many reasons for this. Timo's Matador had some electrical issues along with a broken down cooling system (he had to stop every 20 kilometers to fill it up becouse of the leaks) and Janne's American had even bigger issues, brakes didn't work in the rear at all and in the front only the driver's side worked well. Bigger issue though was that the driveshaft kept falling off the tranny every 20 kilometers or so... This all meant many, many stops along the way. My car suprisingly worked like it should have, and I encountered no real problems along the way to Turku.

The place of the happening was same as last year, which suited us great. A mansion on top of a hill, with rooms to spare and great meeting tables and sunny terrace out front. The way to the mansion was nicely covered with AMCCF -> signs made by Juha Makkonen. Great idea, and it worked like a charm meaning no-one had any problems finding the site.

Upon arrival we found Juha Makkonen's '70 Rebel SST 4d 304, Jouni Lipponen's '67 Rebel 4d 232 and Raimo Vuorensivu's '65 American 440 Convertible 232 already there. It was a nice suprise that Raimo had gotten his car painted & roadworthy soon enough to make it to Turku this year. AMCCF's newest member Pekka Järvinen didn't get his American working just yet, but he was present with his lady. Maybe we'll see his car next year!?

We parked our cars up on the hill and settled down in the cabin and the warm summer day was giving it's best.

Here's a closer picture of Janne Valtonen's American streetkiller-look. Even if the car was a full-project still in Turku it was starting to look pretty good (even with the flat-black paintjob). Here's a picture of the checked & painted 196cid, it sure looked good, but Janne was already working at home to get it replaced by a 232cid & automatic. I guess he was tired of shifting gears...

And here's a picture of Timo's Matador. This car attracted some real attention with it's cruel paintjob. Timo had worked on the car nonstop with Janne working on his American. And with the help of Mikko Nummela (another AMCCF member) they had gotten BOTH cars roadworthy just one day before the meet. Not enough time to fix/check everything so they got 'moving plates' instead of registering the cars yet. The AMC 360cid engine in the Matador was starting to show some signs of trouble and Timo took it easy on the trip...

Just like in every single one of the AMCCF events this year Tero Kinnunen from Joensuu showed up in Turku as well. His '67 Rebel 4d 258 was looking better than ever. Talk about a reliable car, he drives it daily, every day, all year. Not even the freezing Eastern-Finland winters stop this Rambler...Here's another picture from the rear.

Without much hassle, another suprise was that Timo Koskinen showed up from Kirkkonummi with his ex-showcar '70 Javelin SST. His car has a very colorful history with flake-paints, huge scoops and everything that was 'in style' during the '80s. Not much work had been done on the car for years, but then again, why fix a perfectly working car? Here's a closer picture of the car and Interior pic, and a shot from the rear. Seriously a nice looking car.

Friday night was soon at hand and everyone took their time chatting with other members about cars, people and everything. While grilling sausages and drinking beverages it started to rain later that day and so we moved inside and most of us went to sleep soon after.

Saturday morning the rain kept on and we were almost taken down by the weather, but then it just stopped. Sun started to come out and things were looking good again. We ate breakfast and then it was time to hit the road on a 'countryside cruising' that Juha had organized as an alternative to cruising around the crowded (and very traffic-lighted) streets of Turku. A great idea, and it hit home nicely. We lined up the cars down the hill and got ready to go.

Raimo Vuorensivu was propably the most excited driver in the cruising, since he had just gotten his total-project drivable. It's the only '65 American Convertible in Finland, and here you can see it with the temporary small-hubcaps and black-side tires. Raimo's brother also came along on the trip. Quite a pair these two, loud talk, cool cars, and they can keep on partying until late morning. Raimo has been driving Ramblers all his life.

Our first stop on the cruising was in Naantali by a beautiful lookout bridge, Juha had previously cruised the route and it was great to see everything fall into place nicely. I really like to cruise the 'olde-towne' of Naantali with the crowd. =)

On the lookout, there was plenty of time to checkout the cars once more, and here Timo Rytkönen is filling up the cooling system again... In the picture you can also see Juha Makkonen's mean looking '70 Rebel SST...

While on the lookout, we got the idea of visiting the Finnish president's holiday-mansion in Naantali, you can see a slight outline in the picture above...

And while checking out the presidential yard, we decided for a change to take pics of the other houses there (also the palace wasn't visible from the road itself...). But here's one of the smaller houses in the yard anyway =)

After our visit to Kultaranta (if i remember correctly) we headed for a food-store and loaded up our coolers with food and refreshments for the following evening. Soon after the arrival back in Ruissalo Aki Kulmala showed up with his '68 Javelin SST 390cid (sorry no pics yet) and a couple hours later Kari Vilppola also came with his '71 Javelin SST 360cid (pics are also missing, see Pori-Yyteri 2001 report). Later that night Kari Kokkola also showed up with his 'other car'.

All in all, the Turku-Ruissalo 2001 meet was another great success, and I'd like to thank Juha Makkonen once more for the great experience.

I will add couple more pics later on, so check these pages in a couple weeks... / A-V Nauha