Mass Cruisers Auto Club Cruisin’ at the speed of fun
September 2018 August 2 Cruise Winner: Page 4
August 23 Cruise Winner: Page 5
Food Pantry Update: Page 7
Cruising Woodward: Page 6
ALSO INSIDE:
Riding Shotgun with V.P. Diane Thornton
(VALVE COVER RACING COMMENTARY)
Cruising Around Upcoming Cruise and Car Events CRUIZN Cruise Nights We’re on the Web
Celebrating 27 Years of Cruisin’ Volume 27 Issue 8
September 2018
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 Dunkin Donuts and across the street from the Police Station. Visitors, guests and those interested in joining the Mass Cruisers Auto Club are welcome to attend one of our monthly meetings DIRECTORY
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RIDING SHOTGUN
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AUGUST 2 CRUISE WINNER
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AUGUST 23 CRUISE WINNER
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CRUISING WOODWARD
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FOOD PANTRY
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CRUISING AROUND
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Club Officers President – Ed Beatty Vice President – Diane Thornton Secretary – Patrick Touhey Asst. Secretary – OPEN Treasurer – Wayne Lestan Asst. Treasurer – Kevin Rushlow At Large Board Member: Steve Huntington
Special Assignments Webmaster – Steve Vining
SUPPORT OUR ADVERTISERS
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AUTO SHOWS & EVENTS
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WEEKLY CRUIZN
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Managing Editor – John Buchanan Newsletter Editor – John Guravage Facebook – Patrick Touhey New Member Liaison – Don Cole
SSgts. at Arms – Rick Lawlor & John Sturniolo Charity Coord. – Frank Bryant Food Pantry - Ralph Chadsey By-Laws – Wayne Lestan MAAC Rep — John Buchanan Cruise Nights – Steve Huntington
Sponsors – John Buchanan & Fred Tierney Club Events – Rich Armando Photographs – Steve Vining, John Buchanan, Steve Mirabile
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Riding Shotgun Vice President Diane Thornton
Mike & Lorna Rabbit and Zeke Sawayer hit a home run when they started making available Valve Cover Race Kits for the kids to build their own creations. And, with their 1st Annual Homebuilt Valve Cover Race Off held during the August 23 Cruise, the kids were excited beyond words to show off their creations and demonstrate their newly honed racing skills in competition at the Christmas Tree. It was a success, see the attached email sent to us by one of the participant’s dads: Hello I wanted to take a minute to say thank you to your club and especially the people who put on the valve cover racing. My family and I have enjoyed the car shows several times each year and my son especially enjoyed trying out the valve cover racers each time we went. He was very excited when we went and they gave us the opportunity to get parts to make our own. He and I spent a lot of time together deciding how to build it, buying parts, and putting it together. He learned a lot about how to plan out a project, put something together, test it, and adjust it to make it better. It was a great experience, and we look forward to continuing to be a part of this great event. I hope that events like yours will help my children continue to grow their appreciation for history, automotive mechanics, and hard work. Good luck in your continued success. Scott A. Winkler
Finally, the Thurs. Sept. 13 cruise is our annual dash plaque night. Club members don’t forget we have the New England Wireless & Steam Museum event on Saturday Sept. 29 and also the Westwood Day event at the H.S. on Nahatan St. on that same date. Late word from Steve Huntington is that our go-to BYOB restaurant Yellowfin’s at the Sept. 14—16 Old Orchard Beach Cruise Weekend is now called The Boardwalk Grille and we’ll still be able to BYOB.
Bass Pro Shops Cruise Nights
REMAINING Thursday Cruise Dates
SEPTEMBER 13 Dash Plaque SEPTEMBER 27 Factory Five OCTOBER 11 Halloween* OCTOBER 25* Final Cruise or Halloween Cruise Rain Date
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August 2 Cruise Winner By John Buchanan
This is Dennis Geniuch’s second time for his awesome HEMI powered 1966 Plymouth Belvedere II to be selected at our Bass Pro Shops Cruise for the cruise award plaque, this time sponsored by Vintage Motorsports. The first time was back on Sept. 6, 2012 when the award was sponsored by The Old Car Shop. Over five years elapsed time between selections is O.K. in our books. What makes Dennis’s Mopar so attractive to our gearhead auto enthusiasts is two-fold; 1. Dennis is the original owner who campaigned it from 1966 to 1971 in Top Eliminator classes at dragstrips throughout the Northeast including New England, Oxford Plains & Connecticut Dragway. He also was 1968 & 1969 Top Stock Champion and 1970 Grand American Racing Series Top Stock Champion posting a ¼ mile Best Time/MPH 11.19 et @ 128 mph at N.E. Dragway and 1/8 mile Best Time/MPH 6.73 et @ 99.55 mph at Oxford Plains Dragway. 2. He sold the car then later tracked it down and bought it home again where he has maintained and displayed it at area car shows and cruises. Google “kid buys hemi” and you’ll find the whole story on www.hotrod.com. With that kind of racing provenance and beautifully maintained fit and finish along with its original owner-driver in attendance with all the photos and documentation to validate his well-earned achievements, how can you go wrong by honoring this car for another cruise award every now and then? There was less than 7,000 miles on the odometer when the car received its first cruise plaque at our cruise, most of which must have been accumulated ¼ mile at a time, and tonight the odometer displayed 11,386 which indicates Dennis is not afraid to add some additional mileage so the Mopar gearheads and race enthusiasts alike will have the opportunity to see this car up close and personal. The Plymouth Belvedere model was around from 1954 to 1970. 1966 was the year that Plymouth changed the intermediate Belvedere body style, hence the II was added to the Marque name. They also made available it’s 426 cu. in. hemi-head V8 that developed 425 hp @ 5000 rpm as a street version of the A990 race prepared Belvedere I that was being cam-paigned at the drag strips in 1965. Of course, those that bought them to drive on the street didn’t wait too long to begin tweaking the performance for weekend drag racing, just at Dennis was doing back in the mid-sixties.
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August 23 Cruise Winner By John Buchanan
We first spotted this unusual customized first generation 1940 Carryall Suburban driving into our May 24 cruise and knew this was not only an unusual vehicle due to the custom paint with air brushed graphics and custom wheels but also because these were made in small numbers, less than 1,100 in 1940, making them rare sights at area car shows and cruise nights. Although it was on our judges’ top pick for that cruise, when they went back to find the Carryall, it had already left. We were glad to sit it return to our August 23 cruise. Owner Arthur MacFadgen from Pembroke was looking for an unusual resto classic
that he could enjoy and found this Texas built custom for sale last October and bought it. Our judging team had no problem picking it once they looked inside at the detailed hand-stitched custom tan calfskin & red ostrich accent leather seats and interior walls with hand finished ok wood floors, console and trim. It was also updated with the latest power side windows that complimented the original hand cranked 1940 front windshield for ventilation along with modern a/c. It has the standard GM crate 350 mated to an automatic overdrive tranny and the front and rear disc brake calipers can be seen peeking out from behind custom wheels. Although this Carryall would be perfect a great American Road Trip, Arthur fears having any scratches to the custom graphics which would be extremely difficult to match in a repair. Our cruise in Foxborough from his Pembroke home is about as far as he dares travel at this point in his ownership and it’s great that he is driving it and not trailering it to the car shows. Everyone needs to see this beauty on the road.
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Cruising Woodward By John Buchanan
Long Distance Mass Cruisers Bruce Berry, Rick Lawlor and yours truly John Buchanan drove out to Detroit for the 2018 Woodward Dream Cruise. It was the first time for Rick and me and it was 10 years ago that Bruce and a bunch of other club members who did the Woodward Dream Cruise. For those unfamiliar with this annual happening, the 15 mile designated cruise route of Detroit’s Woodward Avenue, is an eight lane divided boulevard, a.k.a M1, between Ferndale at 8 Mile Road to Pontiac where is does a 180 degree return loop south back toward Detroit.
HENRY FORD MUSEUM IN DEARBORN
PERFORMANCE PARK IN ROYAL OAK Back in the day Woodard was popular for cruising, lined with movie theaters fast food dining and drive in theaters. Today car shows and special events are held during the Thurs. through Sat. prime cruising days with car shows in Ferndale at 9 Mile Road, Royal Oak at Performance Park on 13 Mile Road where we were, Birmingham between Old Woodward and M1, Mercedes Benz at Bloomfield Hills and in Pontiac at Saginaw Road. Live television broadcasts with on-site reporters spread out interview participants throughout the Saturday cruise and is also rebroadcasted again at night. All commercial traffic is banned on Saturday and through traffic uses the two outboard passing lanes while cruise vehicles usually drive the inside two lanes. We registered to park at the Royal Oak Car Show held on Friday and Saturday thanks to the heads up recommendation by Rick Finamore and the location didn’t disappoint. Friday you could drive in and out at will but on Saturday when there is about 900 cars parked on the grass, you were supposed to stay the day if you park there and, if you leave to cruise, you are not allowed back in, although we couldn’t see how they could police it. Each of the shows are filled with vendors like any big event. Chevrolet performance was the major sponsor at Royal Oak where they displayed many special edition Corvettes and Camaro’s and there was a separate tri-five Chevy show event as well. Ford’s Mustang Alley display a few block south at 9 Mile Road had the original 1969 Bullitt Mustang, the 2019 limited Edition Bullitt Mustang, Serial #1 1964 ½ Mustang Convertible, the 10,000,000th Mustang. It can be overwhelming for first timers like Rick and I, but we took in what we could absorb.. We ate a late lunch at the iconic Vinsetta Garage on Woodward Ave and did a rainy Thursday tour of the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn before settling in at the Royal Oak Park show field for Friday and Saturday cruising up and down Woodward Ave. The total mileage we logged was VINSETTA GARAGE ON WOODWARD about 2,200 miles and we made the run home Sunday from our Auburn Hills hotel in 14.5 hours. Now that’s some CRUIZN.
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Food Pantry Update Photos by Ralph Chadsey
Since Ralph Chadsey started a Thanksgiving 2015 food pantry drive, this effort has grown to become an integral part of our Bass Pro Shops cruise personality. In 2018, after driving the long entrance road that leads from the top of the South Retail Shopping Plaza at Patriot Place to our cruise entrance opposite the Bass Pro Shops, vehicle and motorcycles owners are now led into a two-lane split in Lot 16 where our front entrance team of Mass Cruiser member volunteers will ask if you have any food for the five local area food pantries. As has been our practice for the past two years, in addition to the bi-weekly food donations that Ralph personally delivers in his pickup truck the day following our cruise, 100% of any money collected is divided among the five area food pantries in Foxboro, Wrentham, Walpole, Norfolk and Attleboro. Thanks to your generous donations to date we have collected and delivered FOXBOROUGH 4,700 lbs. of food and Ralph hand delivered five $1,000 checks to each of the food pantries in midAugust.
ATTLEBORO
NORFOLK
This is a critical time for the food pantries because struggling families have not had the benefit of the school lunch programs for their kids during summer vacation and they are also faced with outfitting them with new clothes and school supplies for the start of school in September. They rely heavily on their local food pantries to fill their own kitchen shelves. July and August is also when food and monetary donations to the local food pantries are at the lowest point. The importance of the money donation is two-fold. The first benefit is they can purchase from the Boston Food Bank $20 equivalent worth of donated food that they need for each $1 donated. They can also use the funds to purchase much needed equipment for their operation. The second benefit is they can fill their pantry shelves with balanced offerings not provided through the food donations received or local super market colWRENTHAM WALPOLE lection bins. We thank everyone that has contributed, most have done so on a regular basis, and as we head into the fall cruise season, our volunteer club members will continue to ask if you have food donations up until our last cruise on October 23.
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Cruising Around Another long distance CRUIZN Award has to go goes to Bob Walton who drove his 1968 Cadillac DeVille Convertible to the 2018 Cadillac & LaSalle Club Central Texas Region Grand National Show in San Marco Texas back in June for, a total of 4,400 miles logged. Bob, for those of you who are not familiar with his exploits in his ’68 Caddy with his buddy Sal Santoro, drove Route 66 together, took a ton of photos and then published a great photo travel book called “Route 66 – The People - The Places-The Dream” that was featured on Jay Leno’s Book Club show.. There was only one printing of the book which sold out after their Jay Leno appearance so getting a gently used one will cost about $77 on Amazon. Bob said, one book and one printing is enough for him so we won’t expect a sequel or one documenting his later cruising adventures like his Texas Grand National road trip anytime soon. http://www.route66guys.com/
SOUTH ATTLEBORO LIONS CAR SHOW AT LASALETTE SHRINE: There was a good turn out of club members on Sunday August 26 South Attleboro Lions Annual Car Show at LaSalette Shrine. Club members performed classing of the more than 300 show cars that competed for class award trophies in peer judged competition and the five Best of Show selections were made by a team of club member judges led by President Ed Beatty. Our club cars do not participate in the show, but are displayed off the entrance road on the grass for viewing. Vice President Diane Thornton accepted a plaque of appreciation from the Lions and a $500 donation in the Mass Cruisers name was made to the Lions Medical Research Foundation.
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September 2018
Last Page
Member meetings are held the 3rd Tuesday of each month.
P.O. Box 217 Wrentham, MA 02093
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