Mass Cruisers Auto Club Crusin’ at the speed of fun
When the Mass Cruisers get together to talk about engines we don‟t just talk about the old gas powered flatheads or V8s from the Big Three. We talk eco-friendly electric or diesel engines powered by a Big Mac, an order of fries & used cooking oil to GO. At the club meeting on May 17th, Cruiser Roy Rossman enlightened members about his experience with the silent but deadly nuclear power that propels the nation‟s latest submarines. Quite a switch from our usual goal of making lots of noise. See page 5. We’re on the Web
Celebrating 25 years of Cruisin’ June 2016
Volume 26 Issue 6
www.masscruisers.com And Facebook
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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
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Presidential Emissions
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Club Officers President– John Buchanan
May 22nd Heritage Museum & Gardens Cruise.
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May 17th Guest Speaker—Roy Rossman on the operation of nuclear submarines
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April 28th Bass Pro Cruise Night Winner: 1936 Cord 810
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May 12th Bass Pro Cruise Night Winner: 1946 Ford Club Coupe
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Newsletter Editor—Paul Saulnier
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Facebook Admin. – Patrick Touhey
Ralph Chadsey‟s Collection
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New Member Liaison—Don Cole
MayCruising in Massachusetts
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Sgts. at Arms—Rick Lawlor & John Sturniolo
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Vice President—Diane Thornton Secretary—Patrick Touhey Treasurer—Wayne Lestan
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Webmaster—Steve Vining
Charity Coordination – Frank Bryant By-Laws – Wayne Lestan
contact the newseditor@masscruicers.com for information about newsletter advertising options.
MAAC Representative— John Buchanan
Special Events Cruise Night—Steve Huntington Car Show—Rich Armando Club Events Calendar – (open)
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Presidental Emissions
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The remaining cruises we know and love will be enjoying their opening season events this June. If you find the weather perfect to go CRUIZN, grab some car show flyers and call one of your fellow club members to see if they want to go CRUIZN with you. As I am writing this note on the last Wednesday in May, our first 80+ degree day of 2016, Bob Smith calls to find out where we can cruise to. It‟s a no brainer for me. The temperature dictates somewhere on a waterfront with an onshore breeze, so I pull out my latest CRUIZN Massachusetts sheet and there it is among the 17 active Wednesday cruises to pick from, the Sip & Dip Donut Cruise in Bristol, R.I. with D.J. Vocalist Doug Botelho providing awesome covers of our favorite oldies. The big problem with this cruise it that you have to get there early in the afternoon on warm and sunny days like this because there ain‟t many parking spaces between Hope Street and the Bristol Harbor on Narraganset Bay. And the regulars get there early to stake out their favorite parking spots to watch Dougie perform. https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhDZxdIidtk . My point is when you go to a cruise or car show and you have enough time, in advance, call one of your fellow club members to see if they can go as well; and, don‟t forget to bring those car show and cruise flyers with you to pass out. And, as my old friend Tom Yoda from the Mid State Antique Auto Club is fond of saying, “Life is too short to drive boring cars.” Still CRUIZN at the Speed of Fun in my ‟31 & ‟61. This is Chamberlain Schools 4th Factory Five Roadster build, "my first !" It's a Factory Five MK-IV. Last year we got a junkyard 351W out of a 1995 Bronco and began our engine build. We disassembled and sent the block & crank out to Randy @ "Precision Racing Engines" in Dighton. He did an amazing job preparing everything for my students to assemble. It's Bored .030 w/Keith Black flat top pistons approx.. 10.5 :1. Ford Racing Roller Cam, aluminum big valve heads, Scorpion roller rockers, Edelbrock Air Gap intake, Holley Street Avenger 4bbl, MSD ignition. Mike @ Forte's Parts Connection took good care of us with clutch, flywheel and Tremec TKO-600 transmission package. Mike also donated an awesome mechanical throttle linkage set up! Top Shelf Guy! Mark Reynolds at Breeze Automotive hooked us up with their power steering rack and bump steer kit, another awesome guy! This has been an incredible experience for our school‟s auto program; the look on their faces when it fired up was priceless. We hope to have it done soon once I figure out how to get it registered,(ISO 1973 or older V8 car to crush to get EPA exemption) and Cruise it to Bass Pro. Stay Tuned!
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May 22nd Heritage Museum & Gardens Cruise by John Buchanan Ten club member cars gathered at the Rte. 123 Dunkin Donuts in Norton off I-495 at 9:00 AM and met up with Bob Woods and Ralph Chadsey who had staked out parking spaces for us with their cars at the Heritage Museums & Gardens parking lot in Sandwich when we arrived shortly after 10 AM. Other than driving through a light shower in Middleboro, the Sunday May 22 Cruise to the Heritage Museum & Gardens in Sandwich turned out to be great weather for this visit. Although the famous collections of flowering Rhododendron were running a week behind their traditional blooming time due to the early spring cold snap, there were enough blooms opening Sunday to make the 11 AM flowering tour and 1 PM pruning demonstrations worth the price of admission. The J.K. Lilly Automobile collection is undeniably the big attraction for us car hobbyists. The quality and variety of this collection and the setting in the two-level round gallery is always a pleasure to experience. Everyone was pretty much on their own, walking in small groups through the 100 acres of roads and pathways that crisscross the gardens to the different displays that included the special exhibition gallery dedicated to the costumes and props used in the cinema, the art and artifacts collection including riding on the 1908 Crescent Park Looff Carousel was another popular take. And then there was the opportunity for our inner child to have some fun by trekking down to the hidden hollow and climbing the multistory tree house. After all that, itâ€&#x;s a leisurely stroll along the Shawme Pond Overlook and a walk around the Labyrinth grove back to the parking lot where we climbed into are cars and cruised over to The Chateau on Winnecunnet Pond in Norton for a late afternoon lunch. We need another Sunday cruise like this. Is everyone up for doing a Sunday afternoon picnic cruise to The Collings Foundation in Stow, Ma? Pictured, left to right, Bob Woods, Rich Armando, Ralph Chadsey (old club logo jacket) & John Sturniolo (new club logo jacket) inside the J.K. Lilly Museum.
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May 17, 2016 Guest Speaker—Roy Rossman by John Buchanan Traditionally we begin our warm weather monthly meetings with a mini BBQ cruise-in at our Norfolk Clubhouse starting in May, but a late cancellation by our BBQ grill meister, Treasurer Wayne Lestan, resulted in V.P. Diane Thornton bringing in our usual winter fare of pizza & roll-ups and me calling in our Guest Speaker wing man Roy Rossman to give us a Guest Speaker presentation of what the USS Abraham Lincoln (SSBN602), ballistic missile nuclear submarine was like. Roy was an Electrician Mate on SSBN-602 during the Vietnam War years. Rather than talk about his service, Roy provided a gearheads look at how these nuclear subs were powered and how they operated. One surprising fact was these subs submerged backwards and not as we would see in Hollywood films with the sail submerging forward. Roy also described how space was allocated and that some passageway areas of the sub were so narrow that you had to walk toe to heel. Now you‟d think that a bunch of car guys would get bored listening to an old salt like Roy talk about submarines, but Roy, who has a 1940 Ford Tudor Sedan street rod, is also an electrical engineering gearhead with a ton of experience in the nuclear power industry as well as the Navy had everyone‟s attention by providing technical details about how they would run silent submerged as well as odd facts like real eggs only could be used for up to three weeks after which they‟d have to switch to powdered eggs for the remainder of a 90 day deployment cruise. From cruising the open seas to cruising for ice cream, our June 21 meeting should be on track to be a quick BBQ cruise-in meeting at our Norfolk clubhouse followed by a traditional back roads cruise over to Summer Scoops in Plainville or the Ice Cream Machine in Cumberland, R.I..
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April 28, 2016 Cruise Night Winner 1936 Cord 810 Dennis Jolicoeur's 1936 Cord 810 is a rolling piece of art that immediately turned heads in 1936 and still does 80 years later in 2016 when he drives into our Bass Pro Shops cruise. The front drive Cord's chief designer Gordon Buehrig created this innovated car as a mid-range Duesenberg and after getting approval to go into production to meet the Nov. 1935 New York Car Show deadline they were able to it in 15 weeks working around the clock, an amazing feat on all counts. Innovations included the step-down passenger floor, concealed headlamps, first use of a horn ring on the steering wheel, placing the hand brake under the dash, the radio antenna under the car and the most innovated, front wheel drive. Video of Dennisâ€&#x;s Cord: 1936 Cord 810, Winchester - Bass Pro Shops April 28, 2016 Winner
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May 12, 2016 Cruise Night Winner 1946 Ford Club Coupe Bob Mucciarone from Cumberland, R.I. and his custom 1946 Ford Club Coupe are regular Bass Pro Shops cruise attendees. Bob bought his coupe 11 years ago with an already 2 inch body channel, 5 inch chopped top and louvered hood. He‟s a now retired mechanic and service technician who worked at Rodman Ford for 33 years, so it isn‟t surprising that he proceeded to tear the coupe apart and do a total rebuild 8 years ago. Starting with the suspension and drive train, he grafted a 1978 Pacer power rack & pinion front end, added a Ford 8 inch rear end with parallel leaf suspension giving it that 1960‟s era ride height stance. Disc brakes were added all around. Power comes from a 1988 Mustang 5.0L (302) V8 mated to a C4 tranny making it a Ford in a Ford which is what caught Bass Pro Shops Events Coordinator Bob Berkowitz‟s attention after being first attracted by the unusual Merlot color finish (2003 Saab) highlighted by subtle Larry Hook applied pinstriping. Inside, the eye catching original chrome dash sets off the instruments and the custom black vinyl bucket seats & rolled & pleated side panels is eye candy for us hot rodders. The post WWII 1946 to 1948 Ford and Mercury coupes with their flathead V-8‟s were always a popular choice for hot rodders to hop up and customize as these cars came onto the market as used cars in the 1950‟s. Major modifications like chopping, lowering and reshaping the roofline and lowering the body over the frame (channeling), were the stock and trade of professional custom body shops that proliferated across the U.S., led by innovators, the Barris Brothers in California. Remember the cars originally had a theoretical top speed of 80 mph so shade tree mechanics could buy all kinds of aftermarket race equipment to make these cars go fast and with simpler body modifications like adding fender skirts, removing the outside trim & door handles, called shaving, lowering the rear end and applying a custom paint job with pinstriping to make them appear new and different. Bob‟s custom ‟46 is a great example of how today‟s modifications using the latest aftermarket equipment can further transform these cool looking Fords into comfortable road cruising rides with all the comforts that make them fun to drive around town or off to York, PA for the NSRA Street Rod Nationals, East.
CRUISE AWARD PLAQUE SPONSOR: Vintage Motorsports, 86 Washington St. (Rte. 16) in Holliston, MA (Neil Childress & Greg Pellegrino) CRUISE WINNER GIFT CERTIFICATES: Blue Fin Lounge – Entrees for 2 with non-alcoholic beverages The Hall at Patriot Place – 2 Adult free admissions Fudge Shop at Uncle Buck’s – Fudge Sampler Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt – Frozen Yogurt Cake
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Ralph Chadsey’s Collection by John Buchanan Ralph Chadsey‟s initiative last September to collect nonperishable food items from cruise participants that will be donated to a local area food pantry was so well received after his first attempt that the club continued the „Lend a Hand, Bring a Can” drive for the remaining two cruises in October and also at our annual Christmas/Hanukah Holiday party in December. The results last year were 1450 lbs. of non-perishable food and $750 in cash that was distributed, not to one, but to six local area food pantries in Walpole, Westwood, Wrentham, Attleboro, and Foxboro. The cruise entrance team members set up the collection station again this year in the back of Ralph‟s pickup truck for the April 14 & 28 cruises. They collected 200 lbs. of non-perishable food items that was delivered to the Walpole food pantry. There was also $200 in cash donations collected that will be distributed to the local pantry‟s that they can use to augment their donated supplies during the cruise season. They do this through purchases from the Greater Boston Food Bank where $1 can provide the equivalent of 3 healthy meals for those in need. The Boston Food Bank serves the greater eastern Massachusetts food pantries & kitchens with 91% of the donated money they receive going directly to hunger-relief. So, when you come to the cruise and pass a food can, cereal box or dollar bill to one of our entrance team members as you drive in, you are helping support the local communities that are dealing with hunger in our midst every day. As you can see from the photo showing Ralph collecting two of the four bags filled with food items that cruise regular Leo Connolly brought to the April 28 cruise, some are stepping up with more than the one can or item that Ralph was hoping to collect from our cruisin‟ car owners.
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June 2016 Cruisin’ Massachusetts
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June 2016
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Member meetings are held the 3rd Tuesday of each month at the Norfolk MA clubhouse.
P.O. Box 217 Wrentham, MA 02093