Mass Cruisers Auto Club Crusin’ at the speed of fun
November Signals Preparing for a Long Winter’s Nap*1 October always finds a rash of car events on everyone’s calendar before the clocks are moved back one hour in November. Don’t forget to install new batteries in the smoke detectors and check the CO alarm expiration date. The same flurry results in end-of-season blues that holds true for our two final cruises held on October 12 & 26 with the sun setting at 5:46 PM. Meanwhile visions of Florida warm Gulf sunsets and
September 28 Cruise Winner 1955 Pro Street Chevrolet
October 12 Cruise Winner 1983 Pro Street Monte Carlo
South Atlantic sunrises followed by year round cruising and car shows await our snow bird club members heading to Florida in late fall to escape the inevitable cold winter winds and snow shoveling duties that lie ahead. Fortunately we had a dryer than normal in the remaining weeks of October to enjoy it all.
*1; Unless you are one of those lucky Snow Birds that has a second car stashed away down in Florida We’re on the Web
Celebrating 26 Years of Cruisin’ Volume 26 Issue 11
November 2017
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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Sept. 28 Cruise Winner
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1955 Chevrolet Pro Street
MAAC Quarterly Meeting
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Provincetown Cruise Page 6 Weekend November Events Page
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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
Collings Foundation
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Best Years Yet Expo at Gillette Stadium
Oct. 12 Cruise Winner 1983 Monte Carlo
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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
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The final note in my last month’s Presidential Emissions gave everyone a heads up about the South Shore Antique Auto Club ending their 60 year run with New England’s largest annual swap meet, a.k.a. Trading Bee. It has been held at the Great Woods/Xfinity Center in Mansfield for the past 20 years. Your Board met with Carl Webber to find out more about the history and details of running a similar event should the Mass Cruisers vote to carry on the tradition of doing our own Swap Meet in May, 2018. After meeting with Carl and having more detailed deliberations with our Board at the October monthly Board Meeting, the proposal was brought before the club members for discussion at the following monthly general meeting. As you can imagine, with many diverse active members, there were many strong feelings about whether the club really needs to take on another event or replace our annual August AutoFest Car Show with a May Swap Meet, or just concentrate our club’s best efforts to continue the highly successfully 15 bi-weekly Bass Pro Shops cruises at Patriot Place. The challenge is that many members enjoy doing these events, but the amount of effort required to do an excellent job against any perceived financial rewards, real or imagined, need to be weighed in the best interest of our club members. If the club chooses to go forward, someone will have to step up and take on the leadership role just as Steve Huntington has for our Bass Pro Shop cruises and Rich Armando has for our Annual Car Show. When members like Steve and Rich take on those responsibilities, club members do step up to support them and work hard to make it a successful event. We should know what the club plans will be for 2018 at our November meeting. Also it is that time of year when we wrap up cruising to car shows and prepare our vehicles for winter storage or wade into some needed repairs or upgrades. Our final planned cruise with other car clubs is the annual Wright’s Chicken Farm gathering on November 5 followed by a wine tasting window shopping in the village of Chepachet. Haggerty published a useful step-by-step guide to winterizing your car back in 2011 that can be found by Googling or use this link Winter Storage Tips For the internet challenged, here is the Reader’s Digest version: Select a dry, dark location for storage — preferably with limited access. ... 1. Give the vehicle a good wash/wax. ... 2. Fill the fuel tank (preferably with premium) and add fuel stabilizer. ... 3. Change the oil and filter right before putting away the vehicle. ... 4. Check the antifreeze. 5. Add air to the tires. Finally, there are a number of strategies employed to keep nesting critters from making your car their new winter home and to reduce condensation during cycling temperatures in unheated storage. Place a plastic bag over the air intake or wrap aluminum foil and tape. Place mothballs in the tailpipe or pack the end with steel wool. Don’t forget to remove these if you like run the engine periodically. Place desiccant bags or baking soda inside the interior and trunk areas if the storage is not heated. Add cheap fabric softener sheets rather than mothballs in the interior to deter nesters . Fabric softener leaves behind a more pleasant odor that Tony Marano (left) , Director of Volunteer Services for the Wrentham Development mothballs don’t come spring and I’m told Center where we hold our Annual AutoFest Car Show, is presented the check from mice don’t like the smell of the cheaper the proceeds of the 50-50 drawings and club donation from Car Show Chairman brands. Rich Armando (right).
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September 28 Cruise Winner
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1955 Pro Street Chevrolet Race cars of all types show up at our cruise from the Seekonk & New Hampshire Speedway NASCAR round track varieties to the New England Dragway Funny Cars & Dragsters. We never know when something special, like the rare 1963 1/2 Ford Galaxie 500 Factory Lightweight that had a long super stock drag racing career showed up back in July or like a piece of craftsmen-built ready-to-race rolling artwork like Peter Bourikas’s 1955 Pro Street Chevrolet Bel Air. Spotting the Chevy driving into the cruise, I was able to turn and capture the picture posted on the cover page. The car’s stance and, more important, the custom modified House of Color Brandywine Metallic over a dark grey base gives it a candied apple glaze as the late afternoon September sun reflected off the perfectly finished body work that no photo could do justice. Up close those custom craftsman touches became more apparent, particularly the sculpted air intake in the hood and the polished aluminum radiator shroud when the hood is open. The interior, although set up for the hefty business of drag racing, sported Carello Upholstery (Warwick, RI) black diamond stitched Kirkey Pro Racing seats and door panels. The dash and clean uncluttered engine bay is home to a Camco Racing Engines (Weymouth, MA) 540 cu. in 800 HP big Block Chevy topped with tunnel ram fuel injection hidden under a blower hat to give it that unique period correct intake look and is backed by a Turbo 400 tranny and 9 in Strange Rear end. Peter built the Chromalloy tubular chassis with Tube Chassis Designs (Hanson, MA) adding the full roll cage. When Peter says this is a professionally built car, he is the professional at Perfection Auto out of Quincy, MA where he took 8 years to carefully plan and transform this Pro Street beauty from stock.
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4th Quarterly Meeting
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The Annual fall quarterly meeting of the Massachusetts Association of Auto Clubs (MAAC) was held on Thursday October 19 in the Bass Pro Shops Conservation Room. This fall meeting always focuses on reviewing current legislation affecting our hobby and laying out plans on how to improve MAAC’s visibility to the hobby. The legislation review usually sparks some interest, commentary, and angst about the potential of “Big Brother” government intruding further into our hobby interests through newly proposed laws that we need to be on alert for. This year there was anticipation that the new annual inspection system incorporating video cameras launched on October 1 would dominate this meeting. The new system roll out, in typical fashion, quickly ran into significant start-up delays for many inspection stations. Rumors in the antique, hot rod and specialty vehicle communities about possibly not passing the safety inspection, many car owners rushed their vehicles through the old inspection process in September to avoid the October roll-out uncertainty. One of the bigger problems at first was many of the local area inspection stations didn’t have the new inspection stickers for their machines or the video equipment was still sitting under shrink wrapping waiting for installation. By the time this hits print, everything should be sorted out while early feedback from inspection station owners was that results were pretty much the same as last year. MAAC President WilOctober 19 MAAC Quartly Meeting at the Bass Pro Shops liam Ellis deliberately waited to have one of his antique vehicles inspected in October, and experienced the early delay getting it inspected but had no problems during the process when his inspection station was up and running. On the legislative front, handouts of the 23 bills of interest that MAAC is monitoring and in certain cases testifying at the State House Legislative public hearings were made available. These bills can be viewed on the MAAC website and a new interactive Wordpress program with direct links to the Mass.gov postings. MAAC will be at the Oct. 26 Bass Pro Shops cruise and the March 23—25, 2018 World of Wheels in Boston.
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US Route 6 Provincetown Cruise By John Buchanan
We moved the 2017 U.S. Route 5 Provincetown Cruise weekend a week earlier due to the calendar six-year cycle conflict with the Columbus Day holiday weekend. The threat of rain showers, which we did run into along the Historic Route 6A segment from Denis to Eastham on Cape Cod, did keep a number of cars from participating this year. But for those of us that stayed the course and overnighted Sunday and Monday, we were rewarded with two beautiful sunny and mild summer-like days. Our first stop at Factory Five Racing that provides the dash plaques for our annual cruise is always a treat with Owner Dave Smith personally giving everyone a tour of the manufacturing operation and
Factory Five Racing Rally Point in Wareham
a peek at their latest project destined to be introduced at the upcoming SEMA show in Las Vegas. The new 1933 Pickup truck was excitedly welcomed by those of us that can no longer climb in and out of the roadster models. Our stop at the Cape Cod Visitor Center Rally Point had Patti Lloyd hosting coffee, cookies, fall apples & Cape Cod potato chips for us with Downshifters member Paul StLaurent providing DJ duty for John Remedis who had another conflicting event scheduled. Our stay at the Outer Reach Resort also included the Saturday night sock hop with D.J. Vic Barboza spinning the oldies. Cuz’s Car Club President Bob Bramwell brought along some framed “Fast Eddie” Crossword puzzles, a couple of which were presented to your truly and Vic. Of course there is the Diane tries on a F5R ‘33 Truck Cab inevitable parking our cruise cars on McMillan Pier and window shopping along Main Street. A few of us trekked out across the dunes to Coast Guard Beach to see the hundreds of seals pull out onto a sand bar at low tide for their mid morning nap. Then there are the inevitable sunrise & sunset photo ops that mustn't be missed.
Seals pulling out at Coast Guard Beach
MacMillan Pier in Provincetown
Sunrise along historic US Route 6
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NOVEMBER 2017 Area Auto Shows & Events Page Always verify before attending
Events of interest that MASS CRUISERS Club members regularly support and attend are asterisked * SEE M.A.A.C. WEBSITE http://clubs.hemmings.com/maynardaac/events.html for additional up-to-date listings NOV 4-5 THOMPSON CT SPEEDWAY; GIANT AUTO/FLEA MKT. 100 ACRES/750 VNDRS 860 923-2280 NOV 5,,,,,,EVERYWHERE,,DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME ENDS AT 2AM,,,TURN THE CLOCKS BACK,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,978 555-1212 *NOV 5,,HARRISVILLE, RI: ANNUAL MULTI CLUB GATHERING AT WRIGHT’S CHICKEN FARM NOV 5: BRISTOL CT,,CT STREET RODS 28TH SWAP MEET,,COMPOUNCE PARK-RT229,,EX31 OFF 84,,www.csra.org,,203 697-9113 NOV 11-12: LEE NH, HUGE TWO DAY FLEA MARKET @ THE SPEEDWAY, RT 125 978 462-4252 NOV 17-19: HARTFORD CT; CONNECTICUT AUTO SHOW,,CONVENTION CTR 100 COLUMBUS BLVD,,800 258-8912 *NOV 23-26: DAYTONA FL; TURKEY ROD RUN,,LARGEST VEHICLE GATHERING IN SOUTH EAST,,386-255-7355 DEC 4: DEDHAM; ANTIQUE/COLLECTIBLE TOY SHOW-HOLIDAY INN 9am-3pm WES3,,978 465-3140 DEC 9: ATTLEBORO; Bristol County Street Rods HOLIDAY PARTY/DANCE,,LODGE/ELKS,,RT 152,,WOODY,,508 222-7518
MASS CRUISERS Club Events NOV 5: WRENTHAM: ANNUAL WRIGHT’S CHICKEN FARM CRUISE: Meets & leaves from the Wrentham American Legion parking lot on Rte. 1A (Wampum Corner) 592 South St. at 11:00 AM NOTE: MAX 36 RESERVED SEATING LIMIT. RESERVE THRU DIANE. Cruise to Wright’s for our 12 NOON seating for a family style chicken dinner along with other car clubs http://www.wrightsfarm.com/ ;
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Collings Foundation “Battle for the Airfield” Diane Thornton
Every year over the Columbus Day Weekend, the grounds of the Collings Foundation Museum in Stowe, MA becomes a WWII reenactment battle ground with the Battle for the Airfield from German troops by the Allied forces. WWII Sherman Tanks, troop carriers, reconnaissance planes flying overhead and ground forces battle for two shows daily and you are there observing and experiencing this realistic simulated battle. A “Battle for the Airfield” could not be more interesting than seen reenacted on a grass airfield using real Allied and Axis military tanks, cannons, troop carriers, half tracks, motorcycles, aircraft, over 300 re-enactors in battle field dress, and spectators! Allied and Axis camps were set up with authentic tents and supplies. This year’s event was showcasing the recent acquisition of a military collection from a West Coast collector. First photo: Hitler’s Mercedes drove by seemingly to canvas the airstrip for takeover. This was a bit creepy to see, but the following hour or so showed visual elements and pyrotechnics to make one realize what our military men and women are put into all in their days work. Second photo below: The Allied armed forces cautiously move up the airfield straight toward the German army encampment.
Third photo below: The Allied ground force makes good progress up the airfield. A few casualties were moved out of the skirmish as quickly as possible. No man was left behind. Fourth photo below: The German army began to look worried. And it turned out, they were correct to be worried. They were vanquished in about an hour.
After the battle, the Mass Cruiser group forged ahead to scout the remainder of the museum and enjoy the
military-themed displays in the main building. The day was very hot, so being inside for a while was a welcome relief to us – but made me wonder how those military reenactors were holding up outside! Turns out, Mass Cruiser Rick Lawlor was also there, behind enemy lines, but we didn’t know this until October’s members meeting! Final photo: Mass Cruisers John and Amy Nunez (on right) and Mass Cruiser Diane Thornton with Dave Thornton (on left).
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Monthly Cruisin
The 2017 Best Years Expo By John Buchanan
Something different for club members to participate this October was a last minute invitation by the 2017 Wicked Local “Best Years Expo” at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro to put on a mini 15 vehicle car show in the BRS Transportation sponsored area in front of the Putnam Club Entrance. Ed Beatty got the call when the Bay State Antique Auto Club, which did the car show last year had to decline due to a conflicting event this year. This annual Expo event is put on to specifically target men and women aged 50 and older looking to make the most of their best years. Whoa, that’s the same demographic of many of our club members and I thought we were already making the most of our best years by immersing ourselves in the old car hobby. Maybe we were still missing something. Well, to attract the attention of the Baby Boomers & Gen X-Cuspers, they had celebrity appearances by singer/song writer Don McLean (American Pie) and Barry Williams (Greg Brady—TV’s Brady Bunch) as well as entertainment by a local Boston Oldies band, The Reminisants, which I was dancing to when I had my heart attack warning this past February and a Frank Sinatra tribute singer I saw perform that was entertaining. As far as the car show was concerned, we had 15 cars plus Ed Beatty’s 1951 NSR motorcycle on display but were disappointed with the layout which resulted in very few Expo attendees passing through the show car area. However, because there was very little activity through our show, we were able to spend time inside the Putnam Club Expo viewing the different exhibitor displays, entertainment and seminars. Plus those of us that had never gotten a lofty view of the Gillette Stadium playing field, that was a real treat.
The question is, would I participate in another Expo car show again? Not likely. The weather was a perfect 75 degrees, sunny and I cancelled a previously planned Audrain Museum “Cars & Coffee” cruise to Rosecliff Mansion in Newport followed by a Newport Car Museum tour in Portsmouth and lobster salad lunch at Quito’s on Bristol Harbor. They were turning cars away at Rosecliff because it was probably the best late October cruising weather ever and I’m still hungering for that lobster roll.
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October 12 Cruise Winner 1983 Pro Street Monte Carlo
When the judges said they had picked a 1983 Monte Carlo for the October 12 Vintage Motorsports sponsored cruise night award, I admit I was skeptical. Particularly after shooting photos of Mark Hurwitz’s more perfect than new 1932 Willys Overland Roadster. But walking up to the rear open trunk of Brett Chmura’s Pro Street Monte Carlo and seeing the custom exhaust and SS rear bumper and spoiler, there was no question this was no ordinary Monte. Everything clicked as I walked around the car that was painted by Brett in PPG Viper Red. Learning that this was an eight year father-son car project done mostly in his dad Charlie’s Pomfret, CT two-car garage warms the cockles of my heart, having worked on a 1965 Mustang with my own son when he was in High School. Rather than bore you with all the technical details; from the 1999 Chevy LG4 1,000 HP 6.0 L V8 sporting a pair of 68 mm turbos, or the custom updated suspension and owner fabricated chrome-moly steel 6 point roll bar, see the detail specs and more pictures on the Super Chevy website Super Chevy Brett Chmuras 1983 Monte Carlo where it was featured; or just Google it to see more pics. Suffice it to say, Brett’s Monte Carlo, the second Chevy Pro Street selection in a row, was definitely worthy of the Oct. 12 cruiser award.
Chuck Vranas did the featured article on Brett Chmura’s 1983 Monte Carlo that appeared in the April 17, 2017 issue of Chevy HighPerformance magazine. Chuck also did one on the Peter Bourikas’s 1955 Chevy that waiting to be published.
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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