Mass Cruisers Auto Club Crusin’ at the speed of fun
July must be race car recognition month in Foxborough July must have been collector race car recognition month at the July Bass Pro Shops cruises when our Judges selected a legacy 1963 1/2 Ford Galaxie 500 Lightweight Factory Race Car for the cruiser award on July 6. Arrangements were made for the Bass Pro Shops sponsored NASCAR #3 Camaro piloted by Austin Dillon fresh from the New Hampshire Motor Speedway and the Overton’s 300 won by Danny Hamlin. Austin finished 15th and by the looks of #3 there were no dents. What made this cruise special in recognition of National Collector Car Appreciation Day was the displaying of local legacy small track race cars as well as the Norwood Arena 1967 Dodge Coronet Pace car.
We’re on the Web
Celebrating 26 Years of Cruisin’ Volume 26 Issue 8
August 2017
www.masscruisers.com And Facebook
MONTHLY CRUISIN
Page 2
Contact us by snail mail: P.O. Box 217, Wrentham, MA 02093 Or by email: HO350@comcast.net
We’re on the Web! www.masscruisers.com
Our clubhouse is located at 124 Main Street, Norfolk, behind the Dunkin Donuts shop and across the street from the police station. For more information please call: 781 551-0520. Visitors, guests and those interested in joining the
Mass Cruisers Auto Club are welcome to attend one of our monthly meetings held on the third Tuesday of each month in Norfolk. Directory
Page 2
Presidential Emissions
Page 3
July 6 Cruise Winner: 1963 1/2 Ford Lightweight
Page 4
Barrett Jackson Northeast Part II
Page 5
Viva East
Page 6
July 20 Cruise Winner(s)
Page 7
Rockabilly Weekend Car Show
1963 Ford Deluxe Coupe 1965 Plymouth Satellite
Club Officers President– Ed Beatty Vice President—Diane Thornton Secretary—Patrick Touhey Asst. Secretary—Lesley Corda Treasurer—Wayne Lestan Asst. Treasurer- Kevin Rushlow Webmaster—Steve Vining
August Shows & Events
Page 8
Support our Advertisers
Page 9
Annual Bourne Scenic Park Cruise & BBQ
Page 10
August CRUIZN Calendar
Page 11
Newsletter advertising is offered for club member businesses, Car Show and Cruise Night sponsors. Contact: newseditor@masscruisers.com
Newsletter Editor— (Open) Facebook – Patrick Touhey New Member Liaison—Don Cole SSgts. at Arms—Rick Lawlor & John Sturniolo Charity Coord. – Frank Bryant By-Laws – Roy Rossman MAAC Rep — John Buchanan
Special Events Cruise Night—Steve Huntington Car Show—Rich Armando Events Sponsors – John Buchanan Club Events Calendar – (open)
Monthly Cruisin
Presidential Emissions
by President Ed Beatty
Our July Bass Pro Shops cruises were great and excitingly different as East Coast racing seemed to take center stage. A legacy Ford Factory built Dawson & Brady drag racing campaigner from 1963 & 1964 was picked at our July 6 cruise for the Vintage Motorsports sponsored cruise award plaque. Current owner and restorer Joe Conlon’s dedication to keeping the car’s legend alive has continued to race the car at events up and down the East Coast from 1996 up until 2016. Likewise the Bass Pro Shops Marketing group was able to divert one of their two sponsored NASCAR race cars, the #3 Camaro (Tracker Boats), to our July 20 cruise. This triggered several racing groups including New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Seekonk Speedway, Pronyne Motorsports Museum, Norwood Arena Reunion Pace Car and Factory Five Racing All this while celebrating SEMA’s annual July 14 Collector Car Appreciation Day which our July 20 cruise was listed as a participating event. But July is over and we are now preparing for our 26th Annual AutoFest Car Show at the Wrentham Fairgrounds on Sunday August 20. We have exciting new additions to this year’s AutoFest. In addition to the flea market which is utilizing a new layout that brings show cars and vendor displays closer together, the always popular valve cover race track for the kids and return of the Antique Fire Apparatus parade and show field and Lost in Space Chariot, we are sponsoring an engine build competition with teams from area trade schools and have invited the RTS Expo Club to host a model car build table for kids attending our show. And, as always, the proceeds from the 50-50 drawing go to support the Wrentham Development Center ’s resident programs not covered by State funding. Members have been passing out flyers at area car shows and cruise nights and placing them in auto related business establishments to get the word out. So, we’ll see you at the Sunday August 13 Goody Bag Stuffing BBQ at Rick & Paula Lawlor’s garage in Walpole and then the Show Field setup on Saturday morning, August 19 before the Sunday Car Show.
Page 3
Monthly Cruisin
July 6 Cruise Winner
Page 4
Ford Galaxie 500 Factory Lightweight Joe Conlon loves storied race cars and has restored a couple of the 1963 ½ Ford Galaxie Light Weight super stock race cars that campaigned up and down the East Coast during the 1963-65 drag racing seasons. The Dawson & Brady Lightweight Galaxie 500 with the Sport Top that he drove to the July 6 cruise is well documented from the original bill of sale to Wesley Dawson who traded his 1961 Galaxie Starliner toward the purchase of the $3,700 special ordered factory built race car, to pictures during its racing days with Driver “Diamond Jim” Brady and subsequent restoration that Joe and his sons completed in 1994. Tracking the life of a race car after its done racing can be just as interesting and challenging as its former life and subsequent resurrected life. What Joe later learned after he spotted it on a car carrier in a Carlisle, PA motel parking lot in 1988 and purchased it was that the car was painted red and sold to become a daily driver after campaigning for two years. Joe brought it back home to Massachusetts to restore it. But, restoration wasn’t easy because missing was the engine, drive train, lightweight aluminum and fiberglass fenders, hood, trunk lid, doors, bumpers, brackets and the special Bostrum seats. As an example of serendipity though, or Irish luck, the current owner of the special Bostrum seats, who had bought them for his 1955 Chevy drag car, offered to return them once he learned the Galaxie was being restored back to its original race condition. Other expensive and hard to find parts like those bumpers, fenders and doors were scored at a flea market, parts saved from another iconic Al Swenson Ford Light Weight driven by Al Joniec. Since completing the restoration, in 1993, Joe has been racing the Dawson & Brady Galaxie up and down the East Coast at Nostalgia drag races along with his other restored 1963 ½ Tasca Ford lightweight.
Page 5 Monthly Cruisin
Barrett Jackson Part II By John Buchanan
Based upon the success of the inaugural Barrett Jackson Auction at the Mohegan Sun in 2016, the 2017 auction was extended from a three day event to four days and the number of cars being offered was increased to 630. Steve Huntington and Larry Nyborn, who attended the Thursday auction thought there were many newer cars this year compared to 2016. Bob Walton and I went on Friday as well as Paul Saulnier who was producing a video for his local HollistonReporter.com web newspaper. His extensive photo and video log of his first Barrett Jackson experience can be viewed on their website: Holliston Reporter - Barrett Jackson I also posted a YouTube video which included a 360 degree viewing of the 2017 Ford GT Competition Model YouTube - Barrett Jackson The exciting bidding war on Friday was for a 1947 Indian Chief Motorcycle with sidecar that sold for $110,000. The highest sales of the auction was on Saturday for a 2017 Ferrari 488 Spider that went for $434,500 and a 1969 Ford Mustang Boss 409 Fastback that went for $407,000. There were some deals on Friday as well. Most mentioned by our crew was a beautifully restored and maintained 1941 Cadillac series 62 sedan that sold for $22,000. The auto portion of the auction experienced a 96% sell through bringing in $24 million with automobilia contributing another $800,000. Not too shabby for a New England auction.
Page 6
Monthly Cruisin
Viva East
By John Buchanan
Viva East is a new multi-day Thursday through Sunday car show event that is trying to gain a foothold in New England. Billed as a “Rockabilly Weekender & Custom Car Show” it was held at the Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel in Marlborough and hosted by the Roadmen Car Club of New England. It featured live bands, record hops, a pin-up contest, burlesque and more….. Be warned, the car show portion was for pre-1965 cars only and you had to submit your car’s description to get a show entrance pass to display your car at the show. Rust is in. This is the show to go to if you like to see Rat Rods and radical customs up close, watch pretty ladies strolling in their 1940’s & 50’s finery with high heels and parasols and listen to live Rockabilly bands imported from outside New England. This first time show had Roadman club members coming from all over the country and also getting support from other similar New England clubs like The Rattlers, Road Devils World Wide and locally the Red Devils Car Club. I think I was the only Mass Cruiser to show up and, although I registered and paid for parking in the show field for the Saturday show, there were Saturday only restrictions to be on the show field by 10 am and your car could not leave the show field until 5 pm so I parked outside the fence as I had to leave around 2:30 pm. Although the rain may have affected attendance, it was a friendly and fun show and I’d go again if they repeat Viva East in 2018.
You can watch “Kid Rocker” on YouTube Viva East Kid Rocker
Monthly Cruisin
Page 7
July 20 Cruise Winner(s)
1963 Plymouth Sport Coupe & 1965 Plymouth Satellite This is a first; TWO cruise night vehicles chosen to receive the Vintage Motorsports sponsored cruise night award plaque. It helped that both cars, a black beauty 1963 Plymouth Sport Fury with an eye popping attitude and its stable mate a light blue metallic 1965 Plymouth Satellite that could easily sneak under the radar gun are owned by Jerry Boissonnault of Falmouth. Both cars travel together with his friend Cathy Cummings behind the wheel of the Satellite. Both Plymouths have the Golden Commando 383 (6.3L) big block performance V8 engines backed with four speed Hurst shifters, hence the sleeper-like appearance goes to the Satellite. The Sport Fury was restored 12 years ago while Satellite restoration is four years old. Which would you have picked? Would you really want to break up this pair of Mopars that have almost equal quality workmanship and finish? Despite being drawn by that Sport Fury attitude, it didn’t take the judges long to agree that both these Plymouths needed to be recognized as a pair of beautifully restored and regularly driven Mopars. Besides that, Jerry and Cathy regularly take a couple of cars from his collection of beautifully restored Mopars to frequently make the long drive up and back from Falmouth, a 120-mile round trip which is why the come early and usually have to leave early.
Monthly Cruisin
Page 8
Monthly Cruisin
Page 9
Support Our Advertisers
Monthly Cruisin
Page 10
Annual Bourne Scenic Park BBQ By John Buchanan
Early morning spotty showers blew out to sea before our annual Bourne Scenic Park BBQ got under way on July 8 and it turned out to be a perfect day to relax and schmooze alongside the Cape Cod Canal. Bob Woods organizes this annual happening for our club with help from his fellow Campground buddies. In addition to an endless supply of burgers, hot dogs, sausage & fresh French fries, all the pot luck offerings
brought along by club members turns this into a BBQ love feast. Forget those diets. You can work off those extra calories by dancing to the great live music from the oldies band “Crocodile Tears�, or walk, run or bike along the 8 mile long canal service road between the Bourne and Sagamore Bridges. Some, however prefer to just sit and watch all the boat traffic pass under the Bourne Bridge while basking in the sun and few even attempt their luck fishing. Thanks Bob for a another great time
Monthly Cruisin
Page 11
Monthly Cruisin
August 2017
Last Page
Member meetings are held the 3rd Tuesday of each month at the Norfolk MA clubhouse.
P.O. Box 217 Wrentham, MA 02093