Ford National V-8 Car Meet in Keystone

The weeklong Western National V-8 Ford Car Meet started today in Keystone.

Nearly 220 registered participants are signed up, with more drive-ins expected for the gathering, which will be run under the direction of National Chief Judge Waymon Brownlee.

All cars present will be 1932-1953 Ford, Lincoln or Mercury models, judged on the accuracy of the owner's restoration to the car or truck's condition when it rolled out of Henry Ford's factory. Owners who earn 950 points out of the possible 1,000 win the Dearborn Award, the highest honor at such an event, where cars are not compared against one another but against the standard of the Ford Company.

This Wednesday the cars will be lined up in Tenderfoot Parking Lot at Keystone and judged from roughly 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Spectators are welcome, as long as they don't touch the cars or interfere with the judges.

There will 10 to 12 classes spanning 21 years of cars, with perhaps five to 10 cars in each class. There can be multiple Dearborns awarded per class, or none at all.

A separate class of vehicles not considered for Dearborns will be the touring class, cars from the '32 to '53 era that have been modified from their original states.

Thursday and Friday the cars will tour Summit County, going from Keystone to Leadville, Montezuma, Breckenridge, Frisco, and Dillon. At five consecutive stops on Friday owners will pick up a playing card to form a Poker hand. Those with the best hands will be awarded prizes at Friday's banquet, where Dearborn winners will also be recognized.