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Release. The sudden relief of pressure that comes from the end of something. The last exam, the successful dinnerparty, Hearsecon 08.

(Click the above, eventually you’ll get to a great 3000×10000 panorama of the day)

The run-up to last weekend was a 6 week journey into the unknown. We’ve got a new to us car, unfamiliar technology, and a dead…uh…deadline as it were. Axle in, drum brakes bled, various fluids filled (and refilled), and success. Belfry ran great! I never got that call. (‘That Call’ being something along the lines of ‘the Hearse is dead, I’ve called AAA, get a hole made in the garage’) Don’t get me wrong, I love working on cars. I take great satisfaction in conquering problems. But when it’s not _my_ car, and there’s a looming date on the horizon, and I’ve torn into three or four major subsystems. I was nervous. But that’s not what this entry is about. This entry is about

HEARSECON!

(all images link to progressively larger pics. If you like something, keep going – they keep getting bigger, but have a care for my limited bandwidth. ) 

A long (and I do mean long) weekend of people, cars, shows, movies, and friendship, Hearsecon seemed a lot like the other car club shows I’ve attended, with some slight differences. In every group I’ve been in in the past, there’s the usual spectrum of people, the aloof, the obsessive-compulsive, the dedicated – pinching every penny possible to celebrate the hobby they love. Hearsecon was the same way…they just moved the boundaries a little further in every direction.

It’s the first car gathering I’ve been to with belly dancers, a cappella, and people blowing fire. 

It’s the first gathering where the average gas milage was less than 10 mpg.

The first gathering where the only candy-apple-metalfleck was in the lipstick. 

The first gathering where I discovered that a casket makes a pretty damn good speakerbox. 

And looking through the windshield of a hearse makes for a pretty good Drive-In experience. 

Several more great pictures here!

Update: It made Jalopnik too: http://jalopnik.com/389936/hearse-convention-defies-convention

The official Hearsecon website is here: http://www.hearseclub.com/hearsecon/hearsecon.htm