The
jubilee Big Meet 2002 was a gigantic event with record
attendance and 389 vendors. A piece of advice
for the future is to visit Big Meet on Friday or Sunday,
when it is a lot calmer
than Saturday.
An extended area of rain passed Västerås during Thursday
and Friday morning. The 40 mm of rain made the ground saturated with water, making
for difficulties in the entrance lanes.
Many long way visitors did not even get in to this years Jubilee
Power Meet. We can only say we are sorry and apologize. The weather combined
with an enormous amount of enthusiast cars made for an unsolvable equation. Västerås
is one of the biggest cities of Sweden, but it has its limit.
Crowded
Paradise
The diversity of cars that come to Big Meet is fantastic,
providing something for all tastes.
Despite Thursday's rain, Friday was sunny and warm with lots of visitors.
Saturday was more chaotic, beginning with tens of kilometers of lines,
and when the field was packed with 7,800 cars there was still seven kilometers
of lines outside.
Perfect
Swap Meet Weather
This year wasn't as hot as last year, and the vending
strip was packed all three days.
The selection of parts is extremely good in Västerås.
An American visitor bought a lot – better assortment and better prices
than at home.
There have been some complaints that there are other things than
car parts and nostalgia on the strip, but 85 percent of the swap meet is made
up of just that.
Jubilee
Winners
50 points – equal to perfection – was the score for Thomas
Karlsson's
Olds 98 Coupe from 1958. The car was also awarded People's Choice.
This year's Long Distance went to a couple from Finland who had
driven their New
Beetle all the way from Los Angeles.
In the list
of results you will find the winners of first through third place in the
ten categories.
Special
events
Because of the jubilée the visitors had
been asked to wear their old Power Big Meet t-shirts.
Seven people had almost the whole collection,
of which three had all nineteen shirts. Henning
Ståhlhammar from Hammenhög had all
of the shirts – and
they had never been used.
How many people have been to all 25 Big Meets since 1978? As far
as we know, it is about 10-15 people, some of which can be seen with the trophies
awarded for this feat.
Clubs
The social aspect is as important as the cars, as can
be seen by the excellent attendance among the brandname
club.
Club of American Ford was the biggest with 175 cars. This year's
newcomer, with 77 cars, was the Pontiac Trans Am Club. New clubs this year were
the Cadillac Club and the Chrysler 300 Club.
