2013 Konect Aviation Car Trophy Winner

2013 proved to be another good year for the Ezra Koch Car Show here in McMinnville, Oregon and Konect Aviation was honored to have the privilege of awarding a trophy again this year to the hottest car! There were many amazing cars and after narrowing down the competition to less than 10 cars out of nearly 100 I really started to feel the pressure.

Honestly, I knew the car I would choose when it drove through the entry gate but was determined to give all the rest a fair shake.

Even after taking a closer look, this car screamed quality, original American craftsmanship and high performance.  Add on top of that my personal nostalgia for the Dodge Challenger, we’ve got another no-brainer for 2013.

Meet Steve and Sharon, proud owners of a 1970 Dodge Challenger! In 2013 one might argue the car is in better condition than when Steve bought it in 1972 for $2100.00. He has kept the car true to the MOPAR design with only upgrades originally offered as options and the restoration of worn parts and interior. Since he is a mechanic, he has done most of the work himself but did get it professionally painted in 1992.

The 1970 debut model of the Dodge Challenger was arguably the best in terms of options. According the article “Dodge Challenger: History of the Dodge Pony Car” (Tyll, 2008), there were 9 power-train options available in 1970 a number which was drastically reduced the 4 subsequent years the Challenger was produced due to increasingly more strict EPA and Safety standards.

“So what’s under the hood?” you might ask. This car has the 340 cubic inch V-8 to which Steve added the Six-Pack option later on which has three Holley carburetors with a total of 1350 cfm. What makes this one special is that it has the A66 Performance Package with the following features:

  • raised hood with call-out emblems
  • 150 mph speed-o-meter
  • Rally dash with needle gauges
  • front sway bars
  • 15 inch Rally wheels
  • heavy duty 11 inch front and rear drum breaks
  • 3-speed console shift 727 transmission
  • full-harness seat belts

There is a lot more to this car, but I tell you what makes it really special is that Steve and Sharon have kept this American Classic as a family car in such great condition and are now sharing it with their 7 grandchildren who will likely get to appreciate it when they are old enough to know what it is.

Thank you Steve for sharing your awesome car!!!

To learn more about the Dodge Challenger visit this article.

Konect Aviation supports the Metro Toy Drive

We’re getting closer to christmas and it’s time to think about gifts for the beloved ones. Especially kids are really looking forward to the time of the year when Santa is packing his slay and deliveres gifts to all kids in the world.

Santa usually gets high priority from the FAA, but he is so busy that he can’t deliver all gifts to all of the kids. That’s why he needs our help.

Konect Aviation is supporting the Metro Toy Drive which year round ensures kids get the toys that make them happy.

This years Metro Toy Drive’s holiday toy drive runs from November 13th to December 26th. Help the Metro Toy Drive by dropping off new, unwrapped toys at any participating Starbucks Store.

For more information please visit the Metro Toy Drive Webpage.

Happy holidays from Konect Aviation!

Dragging the Gut in McMinnville Oregon

One day early in June, Ingo and I went to Noah’s wine bar off 3rd street to talk about wine and helicopters when we happened to meet Ruben Contreras and learned about the Dragging the Gut Festival.  My first response was “dragging the gut?! What kind of name is that?” but Ruben’s enthusiasm was contagious and it didn’t take long for intrigue to take hold.

Having a muscle car buff for a father, I started to think of the possibilities and how cool it would be to drag the gut ourselves.  Of course, helicopters is a tough business so we would have to get pretty creative to find a car cool enough to cruise in.  Then it occurred to me, what if we could create a Konect Aviation award for the hottest car?

Well the rest is history, and August 25th I got the afternoon off of staffing wine country tours to go to the Ezra Koch Car Show, find the hottest car, and award it Konect Aviation’s trophy.  Even though I worried that I didn’t have what it takes to give a car award, I trusted my upbringing and worked my way through the amazing selection of nearly 100 car entries.

It was an amazing collection of cars, making it the best car show I have been too.  Fortune would have it, though, there was one car that was the perfect Konect Aviation award.  I couldn’t have imagined I would stumble on this car making the decision so easy and I almost couldn’t believe my eyes.  Low and behold, a 1968 Shelby Mustang GT 500 Eleanor with Carroll Shelby’s signature on the dash.

What makes the 1968 Shelby GT500 the perfect car for the Konect Aviation trophy?  Well, not only is the designer Carroll Shelby known for racing and designing high performance cars, he is also known for his aviation experience as a flight instructor and test pilot during WWII.  You can find a bit more about him and his cars at the following web pages

Shelby American Collection

EAA Article

Carroll Shelby’s Life

Thanks Chad and Lisa for showing off your awesome car!

Willamette Valley Event Showcase at the Salem Conference Center

All preparations are done. Tomorrow we will be at the Willamette Valley Event Showcase in Salem.

It was a work to get everything going for this event. We wanted to bring in our beautiful helicopter to show it to Willamette Valleys Event planners in Salem. We had to find an appropriate landing spot close to the Conference Center. A big thank you goes to the Bravo! Crew who helped us a lot in talking to the landowners and make it possible.

After having the permission of the landowner we had to talk to the Salem Police, the Fire Department, the City and the Salem Airport to make sure everybody is fine with us landing in the middle of the town.

We are looking forward to the show and you are certainly invited to stop by and say hello.

Konect Aviation Wine Tasting Afternoon

Last week on Labor Day we decided to appreciate the help of our friends and colleagues by visiting our good friends and customers Vista Hills Vineyard and Winery and Stoller Vineyards for an afternoon of winetasting and snacks.

We all had worked hard and we certainly appreciate the help of our friends and colleagues. A 7-seater van and a designated driver made it possible for all of us to enjoy the afternoon tasting wine, chatting and chilling in the shade of two wonderful vineyards in the dundee hills.

First we visited Vista Hills Vineyard and Winery. Ryan – the Tasting Room Manager – welcomed us. After chatting for a little while he started serving us a flight of 6 wines. We had 2 white wines and 4 reds. We sat outside on the porch enjoying the great view in the shade of the trees surrounding the Treehouse. With the wines we enjoyed a tasty cheeseplate.

After about 2 hours we bought some bottles of our favourite wines and continued on to the next vineyard.

Arriving at Stoller Vineyards we were warmly welcomed as always. Sitting in the deckchairs in the shade, sipping on the Stoller Wines we enjoyed the afternoon. We tasted 5 wines and relaxed and chatted.

To complete our afternoon of non-flying helicopters and enjoying wines we headed to McMinnville Downtown to the Hotel Oregon and climbed the stairs up to the famous Rooftop Bar to get some dinner.

Usually we are unable to enjoy the wines at the wineries since we are working with the helicopter. So we really had fun just hanging out there sipping wine and chatting with our friends.