A Route 66 reunion in Tampa? Wait a minute. Isn't Tampa about 1,000 miles or so from the nearest stretch of Route 66 when it existed?
"Route 66" television show fanatics, however, will recall that the very last episode was shot in Tamp. Entitled "Where There's a Will There's a Way," this wild two-parter ended with Tod getting married to a character played by Barbara Eden, and Linc (played by Glenn Corbett) hitchhiking back home to Texas.
The fact that the end of the line came in Tampa was enough to inspire the Sun Coast Corvette Club to name their annual Corvette show after the highway and TV program. It wasn't a bad idea. The first reunion was held in November 1987, and organizers Dan and Diane Colbeth pulled off a major coup by landing Martin Milner and George Maharis as special guests (with a little help from the Days Inn hotel chain, one of the event's sponsors).
A gala party was held that first year at the Rocky Point Days Inn, one of the filming sites of the last episode (it was known back in the '60s as the Causeway Inn). During the course of the reunion weekend, Maharis and Milner obliged dozens of Corvette owners by posing for pictures with their cars. They also stoically answered questions from "Route 66" enthusiasts at a press conference.
Maharis and Milner have not made it back since the '87 reunion, despite the Colbeth's persistent efforts. Still, the "Route 66 Reunion and Corvette Show" is an upbeat, down-home event for the Corvette faithful.
Held this year in the Curtis Hixon Convention Center in downtown Tampa, the reunion is primarily a regional Corvette show with a Route 66 twist. Many of the Corvette displays had a Route 66 theme, vendors sold Route 66 paraphernalia, and episode of the show played constantly on VCRs in the display area.
The Colbeths say they plan to keep the Route 66 theme and in the future hope to attract more Route 66-related exhibits. This year's show is scheduled for Nov. 3-4, 1990. For more information, write the Suncoast Corvette Association, P.O. Box 425, Clearwater, FL 34617.