MONTHLY CRUISIN’
with the Mass Cruisers Auto Club
We’re on the Web www.masscruisers.com And Facebook
“CRUISIN’ AT THE SPEED OF FUN” Volume 23 Issue 7
July 2013
Cruisers were everywhere in June, rain or shine ( http://vimeo.com/68826134 )
Page 2 Cruising Monthly Contact us by snail mail: P.O. Box 217 Wrentham, MA 02093
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MASS CRUISERS AUTO CLUB CRUISIN’ AT THE SPEED OF FUN
We’re on the Web! www.masscruisers.com
Or by email:
Phone: 781 551-0520 for more information Our clubhouse is located at 124 Main St. behind the Dunkin Donut and across from the Police Station in the center of Norfolk MA
Directory
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Classifieds & Elm Bank Classic 3 Car Show, Natick May 30, 2013 Cruise Winner
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.
Club Officers President– Fred Tierney
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Vice President—Larry Nyborn May 11th SSAAC Trading Bee 5 Monthly Calendar
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July Cruisin’ Massachusets
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A Dying Art, By Pat Touhey
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A Dying Art(cont.)
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Car Shows & Events 10 -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 9th Annual Norwood 11
Arena Reunion - Sunday June 2, 2013
Secretary—Bob Hines Treasurer—Wayne Lestan Webmaster—Steve Vining New Member Liason—Dole Cole Sgt. at Arms—Rick Lawlor Special Contributor—John Buchanan
Editor—Paul Saulnier Advertising Rates Business card space…….$25.00 per year
To advertise in the Monthly Cruiser, please send a business
Special Events Cruise Night—Steve Huntington Car Show—Rich Armando
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Classified
Monthly Cruising
For sale Bally “Hokus Pokus” pinball machine (Model: 1508-47-G S/N 1657) The first $250 takes this nostalgic electro-mechanical fun machine in this age of smart phone game-boys. Can be seen and played at Mark’s Upholstery shop on Rte. 140 in Foxborough. Call or email Mark at 508-543-3400 marksautouph@verizon.net for details.
June 23, 2013 Elm Bank Show, Natick. Unseasonably hot but they came, they saw, and they drank like fish. About 700 cars, including a bazillion Corvettes filled the field of dreams and flowers. Promoter Charlie Harris managed to keep things moving and presented raffle prizes and trophies to the winners on time. Left. John Nunez & newest member Assad Zogheib relaxing by John’s BMW in front of the Garden Goddesses of the Italianate Garden designed by the Olmstead brothers in 1914 . Cruisers with class. Bob Cecca’s ‘59 Corvette, John Buchanan’s ’31 Dodge and Paul Saulnier’s ‘64 Mini Mouse each took 2nd place in their respective classes.
Monthly Cruising
May 30, 2013 Cruise Winner
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The question sometimes comes up as to how the cruise night winner selection is made. Although the 2013 award plaques are sponsored by Accurate Automotive & Performance from Hyde Park, Boston, selection of the winning vehicle is made by one of the Bass Pro Shops Associates or Managers. Tony Jones, Bass Pro Shops Promotions, is responsible to identify the lucky judge for each cruise night. See video: http://vimeo.com/67636471 The May 30 cruise was a first when the Associate selected passed that honor on to her 13 year old son, Alan Salachi, who happens to love cars. What 13 year old doesn’t? That responsibility was not taken lightly either as our webmaster, Steve Vining, chauffeured Alan and his mom in the club’s golf cart through the cruise to make their selection. Following our basic rules, no recent selections from the past two years or a Mass Cruiser member’s vehicle could be picked. That left more than 1,000 cars, trucks and motorcycles to choose from before our 5:30 pm targeted deadline and Alan chose well. His favorite turned out to be a mixture of old and new, Denis McCarthy’s modified 1962 Corvette roadster.
What teenage boy wouldn’t want one of these classic looking Vettes. Although it is pure 1962 Corvette on the outside, inside and underneath, including the paint, is all updated resto-rod. The chassis frame was boxed to improve rigidity and the suspension is C4 ‘90’s vintage Corvette. It is also motivated with a 1996 LT1-350/300HP engine tied to a 4 speed electric automatic tranny. The paint is a custom PPG single stage clear coat Lincoln/Mercury burgundy color with gold metal flake added to make the color really pop in bright sunlight. The bucket seats are Toyota Supra. It garnered a Goodguys Best of Show in its first outing at Rhinebeck, N.Y. and it still looks as good today as it did 12 years ago. The restoration and build was completed in 2000 and has only added less than 8,000 miles on the odometer. And because of that, Denis had a tiny for sale sign with his cell # on the windshield which allowed us to track him down enjoying dinner at the Olive Garden. Denis says he hasn’t driven the car often enough in recent years which has motivated him to let someone else have the opportunity to drive and enjoy it as he did. If you are interested in becoming its new owner, we have Denis’s contact information.
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May 11, 2013 SSAAC Trading Bee
Ralph, Rick and Mike did very well with their blue tarp concession. More fun than a cruise night or car show is what I think the South Shore Antique Auto Club's Annual Swap Meet at the Comcast Center in Mansfield, MA is on the Mother's Day Weekend. The 54th annual swap was held on May 11 & 12, and despite intermittent rain, mostly on Sunday, it is still be a trip worth taking. The Mass Cruisers had their usual 6 spaces up front on Rows B & C and over 1500 other spaces are usually sold making it New England's largest and oldest annual event for gearheads and auto enthusiasts. There were last minute concerns this year when the Mansfield Board of Selectmen held up issuing a permit on a close 4 - 3 vote then imposing additional restrictions on open fires and open container alcohol consumption as well as requiring additional police and fire details in the swap meet area, however it looks like whatever concerns the Town may have had before the swap meet, it will not deter the SSAAC from coming back again nor the Comcast Center from hosting the swap meet again for their 55th annual in 2014.
Monthly Cruising
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Monthly Cruising
July 2013 Su
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9th, Business Meeting @ Clubhouse
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11th, Attleboro Falls, Mass. 16th Annual Kids Day Cruise Night, Elm Street.
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16th, Memebers Meeting @ Clubhouse
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** Bass Pro Cruise Nights hosted by the Mass Cruisers.
+ See page 10 for multiple listings!!!!!
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11th, Walpole, car show goodie bag BBQ. Contact Rick or Paula Lawless for more information.
13th, Business Meeting @ Clubhouse
17th. Wrentham, Mass. Noon. Autofest 2013 . Cruisers signature event
20th, Memebers Meeting @ Clubhouse
** Bass Pro Cruise Nights hosted by the Mass Cruisers.
Contact Mary or Bob Lepore for available months to schedule hosting the monthly winter dinner socials at your favorite restaurant with coffee and pot luck desserts at your home.
Monthly Cruising
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July Cruising Massachusetts
Monthly Cruising
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A Dying Art
by Pat Touhey
As you might or might not know, I am giving my Valiant an eight cylinder transplant. I purchased a small Mopar V8 and transmission. Club Member Bob Cecca from Bobby C’s Speed connection offered to do the surgery and at an agreed rate we picked up the engine using his trailer. He suggested we do a refresh on the engine and I agreed. So Bob and his young auto tech Mike broke down the engine and after it was apart, he had an engine master look at it, Chuck Kaplan, it was agreed that the block would need further work to be reliable. So off to Chuck’s Neponset Valley Machine in Walpole shop it went. Chuck invited me down to witness the boring of the motor. While I was there Chuck told me some great war stories of being in the industry and teaching at UTI. Quite a funny guy. Chuck has now retired to his back yard machine shop to practice what he loves to do, rebuild engines and work on his old Chevy. My next task was taking the transmission to Steve Peluso at Lee Myles in West Roxbury to have it re -built. When I dropped it off, Steve, said to me hang around it will see if there was anything wrong with it and possibly learn something. In my amazement he proceeded to break the transmission down in less than 20 minutes all the while talking to about politics, helping his staff with their own assignments and generally keeping an eye on the whole shop. Which brings me to the shop. It is a time portal. He has several classics on lifts and in the lot. There was many awards for customer service with Steve’s name on it. Not a big surprise, because Steve is so friendly and attentive. Many old transmission carcasses stacked about the ends of the shop. An organized chaos if you will. He quickly diagnosed the transmission as pretty good shape and would need just a regular rebuild, to my delight. As he was taking out bolts, clips and clutches, I remarked that he was a master of the transmission world.
Monthly Cruising
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A Dying Art (cont.) If you know Steve, modesty is not part of him to a degree. He said he was an old hasbeen in the trade. I beg to differ. He is an artist doing an art that is being lost. It’s a shame that there aren’t many young kids with his talent and passion. As I drove back to Bobby C’s I was still in awe on how Steve dismantled that transmission so quickly. He said come back the next day after all the parts are cleaned and he would so me the re -construction. Which I did, the transmission was complete, along with notes to do when installation happens. He also offered his services to go to Bobby C’s and check everything out before final installation was complete. A class act from the get go. Now that the transmission is complete and the engine is almost done, Bobby Cecca and Mike will be doing the assembly of the engine and putting in the car. I can’t wait. Bobby has been great getting the best prices for the parts needed, educating me along the way and generally not draining my bank account. I highly recommend any one of these three great guys to help you with your classic car project. Since I am not that knowledgeable when it comes to doing these tasks, I am forever grateful for the assistance getting the Valiant ready for the future. I will be sure to have a follow up article with the final results.
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9th Annual Norwood Arena Reunion Sunday - June 2, 2013 Many of our club members are probably unaware that our own Johnny “Jack” Lane is among the 9th Annual Norwood Arena Reunion of former car owners, drivers and sponsors that tore up the local oval tracks. In the late 50’s Jack drove his number “0” 1938 Chevy coupe in the old six-banger Bomber Division and in the following years sponsored cars and drivers like Leo Cleary. Although the number of former Norwood Arena race alumni attending each year at Bezema Motors on the Automile is getting smaller, memorabilia from those days continues to grow, and Ric Mariscal still finds space at the Pronyne Motorsports Museum in Pawtucket to display them. One new item added to their collection on Sunday June 2 that caught my eye was the driver’s side door from the late “Wild Bill” Slater’s Vitrai-Bombacci owned “V8” that was leaning against the NEAR trailer which honors the past Hall of Fame inductees. Bill was a four time Norwood Arena champion who was among the first inductees to the New England Auto Racing (NEAR) Hall of Fame in 1998. In addition to “Jack”, another familiar name from the past, Leo Cleary, was in attendance along with the three Stampfl’s, Henry, Denny & Daryl, 1970 Daytona 500 winner Pete Hamilton, Paul Roche, Jerry Capazzoli, Jack Malone, Dave Brooks, Bob Glass, George Savory, Don McCollough, Bill Singerson and Jeff Horn. There was a great collection of race cars in addition to film clips of past racing events played continuously inside the garage area. And finally, Jack’s bone stock 1951 Ford Tudor Sedan was selected for the “Best of Show” trophy award along with former Norwood Arena alumni and former Modified and Pro 4 driver George Savory for Best Motorcycle.
July 2013
Member meetings are held the 3rd Tuesday of each month at the Norfolk MA clubhouse.
P.O. Box 217 Wrentham, MA 02093