January 2016 Mass Cruisers Auto Club Newsletter

MONTHLY CRUISIN’ with the Mass Cruisers Auto Club

We’re on the Web www.masscruisers.com And Facebook

“CRUISIN’ AT THE SPEED OF FUN” January 2016

Volume 26 Issue 1

Happy New Year Mass Cruisers

MONTHLY CRUISIN

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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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Buzzards Bay Brewery Run Junk Yard Junkets

by John Buchanan

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Club Officers President– John Buchanan Vice President—Diane Thornton

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Secretary—Patrick Touhey

2015 Memory Lane Cruise Events

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Treasurer—Wayne Lestan

2015 Christmas/Chanuka Party

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Webmaster—Steve Vining

Jewelry Run

by Diane Thornton

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Wrench’n & Coffee at Robert’s Automotive

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42nd Dayton Turkey Run

by John Buchanan -----------------42nd Dayton Turkey Run (continued)

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Advertising Rates Business card space…….$25.00/yr

To advertise in the Monthly Cruiser, please send a business card and a check for $25.00 to

Mass Cruisers Newsletter P.O. Box 217, Wrentham, MA. 02093

Newsletter Editor—Paul Saulnier Facebook Admin. – Patrick Touhey New Member Liaison—Don Cole Sgts. at Arms—Rick Lawlor & John Sturniolo Charity Coordination – Frank Bryant By-Laws – Roy Rossman 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 votes are in and, without any surprising election upsets, your officers for 2016 are pretty much the same as last year: President: John Buchanan (that’s me over there) Vice President: Diane Thornton Treasurer: Wayne Lestan Secretary: Patrick Touhey Sergeant at Arms: Rick Lawlor Sergeant at Arms Assistant: John Sturniolo Board of Directors Member Representative: Steve Huntington I am thrilled to be your Mass Cruisers President for this special milestone 25 th Anniversary year and, although every year has been as good or better than the previous year thanks to the hard work and dedication of our membership, 2016 should provide us with special surprises and new opportunities that should make this our best year yet since the club’s founding in 1991. Our Club’s official annual business meeting is to be held at the January 12 Board Meeting. Club members are welcomed to attend these monthly business meetings and participate.

Our annual 25th Annual Anniversary for 2016 is going to be something special and Lou Valentine is organizing that happening to occur some weekend in the late March or early April timeframe instead of January as has been past practice. So stay tuned for a final date and location announcement. Because of this change, the normal new calendar year ceremonial aspects that took place at the Anniversary Party will be conducted at a special monthly meeting to be held on Tuesday January 19 at the Bass Pro Shops Conservation Room with the Blue Fin Lounge providing buffet service. I want to encourage all our newest members to attend to meet your fellow club members and officers for the coming year. Everyone, please bring your spouse or significant other as well so they can get to know who their active partner is enjoying this great pastime with. See the included invitation for details and please RSVP to me well before January 15 so I can provide an accurate headcount for the buffet.

May this New Year continue to bring peace, happiness and good health to you and your family.

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Buzzard’s Bay Brewery/Winery Tour

By Diane Thornton

fter a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, the following Saturday began with a little bit of a wet start to the cruise down to Westport, but the weather did not dampen anyone’s desire to go and explore this brewery, its “sister” winery, and a nice dinner later on! We even met up with several members of the Cuz’s Car Club at the brewery and had a nice visit!

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Westport was a nice drive from the Norton Dunkin Donuts just off 495. Steve and Annie Huntington, Frank and Neringa Bryant, Diane Thornton and Tom Giovanella made the first stop at the Buzzard’s Bay brewery.

Beer was served right inside the front door, then their warehouse was transformed into a farmer’s market arrangement.

Honey, nuts, sandwiches, cheeses and other local farm fare was being sold within the brewery’s bottling areas. Very cozy!

Several fire pits were ablaze when we ventured outside.

There were unique rock walls built around the fire pit areas with seats and tables jutting out at handy heights for enjoying a pint or two.

The next stop was the Westport Winery, just down the street. Here is where we began to notice a brightening of the sky. A panoramic view of acres of grape vines and rustic rock walls brought out our cameras! A gift shop, hay ride, a few vendors, more fire pits with hay bales for seating, a petting zoo of alpaca twins and a lighting of a huge spruce tree at dusk were available for exploring! All of us spent a bit of time in the wine tasting room upstairs at the main winery building.

A leisurely dinner followed and then we were off toward home.

The day ended with all of us being thankful for good friends, good times and good cheer!

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Junk Yard Junkets

by John Buchanan

ur Plan B “Junkyard Junket” to Blanchard’s Auto Salvage in Wilton, N.H. turned out to be picture perfect; perfect for picking & taking pictures coupled with a beautiful morning drive along Rte. 119 through the picturesque towns of Groton, Pepperell, Townsend and Ashby into New Hampshire on Rte. 31. Despite the scrap & crunch fever that hit most New England salvage yards a few years back, owner Wendy Blanchard likes to keep a lot of the old iron that harkens back to when her late father started the 30 acre salvage yard in 1945 after coming home from his WWII service.

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It’s been nine years since our club visited Blanchard’s and yet it still offers picking opportunities as Don Cole discovered when he salvaged a pair of 1966 Volvo rear windows for his Volvo parts stash. Bob Hines, with Steve Huntington’s help, was looking for a cap to his Falcon windshield washer bag without success but he did come away with a Divco front bumper with a monogramed “H” for Hillcrest Dairy, now repurposed to be a “Hines”- mobile wall hanging.

Bob and I also toyed with the idea of grabbing a complete 1977 Cadillac front nose to convert into a “Saturday Night Fever” disco boom box wall hanging. It was such a cool looking piece, I just might go back and get it for a winter project.

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2015 Memory Lane Cruiser Events (continued)

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2015 Christmas/Chanuka Party Mark Crichton hosted the club’s annual Christmas/ Chanukah party at his Foxboro home, preparing and serving the best tasting Turkey, Roast Porketta & Roasted Rib Beef found anywhere. The 52 members attending also filled in with so many complementary dishes, sides and desserts it was overwhelming for those of us suffering from that long term battle of the BULGE. A collection box was set up at the front entry for nonperishable food donations for the Attleboro Hebron Food Pantry, an extension of what Ralph Chadsey started at the cruise nights. The weather was unbelievably perfect, a mild 52 degrees at night resulting in many member relaxing on the back porch and around the backyard fire pit. Last year it was raining and the year before heavy snow that week had filled the back yard. This is when I start thinking the signed Paris agreement on climate change conference really needs more study because I’ll take 50 to 60 degree December days before Christmas like this for the remainder of my life, then they can have all the snow filled freezing weather they want.

Thanks to Mark who provides an enjoyable environment each December much better than any restaurant, with excellent prepared meats that he prepares and that all the Lady Cruisers pitch in to make happen without a hitch.

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Jewelry Run

by Diane Thornton

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n December 9th some Lady Cruisers and several others were treated to an opportunity to go to Mass Cruiser member Larry Nyborn’s business, Precious Metals Reclamation Service, for a private social “event”. Larry had set aside a very nice selection of silver and gold jewelry pieces for sale.

He also provided a gorgeous table of cheeses and crackers – and wines! While some attendees chatted, others “shopped” and tried on pieces that caught their eye.

(Marie Armando and Neringa Bryant compare and decide on what to try on next!)

Decisions were easy for some and not as easy for others because of the nice selection.

Marie’s granddaughter is probably going to be wearing some new pieces under her hockey uniform! Diane Thornton enjoyed the miscellaneous other “yard sale” items for sale – and scored a nice aluminum carpenter’s level! Her daughter, Kelsey, received an early Xmas gift because the necklace was calling her name! Johnny Sturniolo brought in a necklace or two from his high school years – and we had a demonstration of how Larry analyzes the content of (Kamilla Carmignami, Frank Bryant and the metal. Fascinating! Thank Wayne Lestan hover near the wine and you very much, Larry! You’re cheese offerings.) the best!

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Wrench’n

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Coffee

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Robert’s Automotive

he December Club Wrenchin’ n’ Coffee session at Robert’s Automotive in Attleboro was moved one week to Dec. 19, a chilly but sunny day to bring out the cruise cars for one final work session before some serious winter weather hits us. Diane Thornton brought her ’66 Mustang in for an oil change but John Nunez used it as a teaching platform for host Bob Hines’ Godson and newly minted MA licensed driver, John Hebert, to learn how to perform a 24 point check while the Mustang was up on the lift. As a result, Diane also got a free chassis lube by young John and had an a/c condenser line that was rubbing up against the chassis re-routed plus a couple of other items corrected.

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Don Cole brought in his 2007 Ford Ranger to check the play in the front ball joints and wound up also replacing front disc pads.

Frank Bryant brought in his 1940 Ford Tudor Sedan after replacing warrantee repaired P/C board in the Vintage a/c system to finish installing the unit and plumbing back up under the tight dash panel quarters with helping hands. I brought my ’61 Impala in to steam clean the Route 66 bugs off the a/c condenser grill and under carriage. You don’t need to just bring cars in to work on them either. Fred Tierney brought in the starter motor from his rebuilt 312 Y-Block engine to clean up and re-build with new brushes before install in it in his project 1957 Mercury Monterey Convertible. The drawing this week was for a Robert’s Automotive donated 20 piece GearWrench SAE/Metric combination ratcheting box end/open end wrench set won, fair & square, by a well deserving young John Hebert. The next Wrenchin’ n’ Coffee session will be the 2nd Saturday in January, the 9th so mark your calendar.

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42nd Dayton Turkey Run

by John Buchanan The 42nd Annual Daytona Turkey Run is billed as the largest car show in the U.S. with over 5,000 registered show cars, plus over 2,500 cars for sale in the car corral and several thousand flea market and vendor spaces filling the Daytona Speedway. The Thanksgiving dinner gathering at Daytona this year, hosted by Bob & June Smith, after the Thanksgiving opening day of this four day extravaganza, is growing each year with 20 now sitting at the Steve’s Diner reserved table.

A traditional turkey dinner was followed by carrot cake, pumpkin pie and coffee back at the Smith’s Daytona home. Weather was a perfect mid 70’s to low 80’s for the entire four day show with a few intermittent showers that didn’t seem to hamper attendance. We also met former Mass Cruiser member Howard Tarnoff for a photo-op and saw his returned prodigal 1946 Dodge coupe, “Magoo”, now renamed “Boomerang” by his wife Wanda displayed in the Orange County Street Rod area.

Bob Wood also found a 1947 Ford Deluxe Tudor Sedan that he liked among the 2,500 cars for sale in the car corral on Thursday, so he bought it and had Interstate deliver it to his Westwood home.

Friend of the club, Andy Oliveira, trailered his 1969 Olds 442 convertible to Daytona to sell and it was gone to a new owner on Saturday. Jack Lane, once again chauffeured the media golf cart that the Turkey Run pro-

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42nd Dayton Turkey Run (continued)

One of the show highlights this year was the crew from Daytona Beach based Classic Motor Car Company Garage building a totally disassembled 1955 Chevrolet from scratch during the four day event using parts , including engine drivetrain, wiring and hardware procured from vendors at the show. The Dream Build was being video-taped to be featured in an episode of “Two Guys Garage” in April.

Of course, after each daily show, the show cars and crowds head for Belair Plaza on North Atlantic Ave. where the cars cruise up and down the avenue all night and try to find parking spaces in the Plaza parking lots.

We had such a great time again this year that we’re already making plans for next year’s Turkey Run. This event is a great getaway to not only see cars, but also get some relaxing beach time in and watch those palm trees swaying in the breeze.

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January 2016

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Member meetings are held the 3rd Tuesday of each month at the Norfolk MA clubhouse.

UPCOMING 2016 EVENTS Saturday Jan. 9 ATTLEBORO: 8 am – noon “Wrenchin n’ Coffee” at Robert’s Automotive, 193 Pine St. Tues. Jan. 12, NORFOLK: 7:00 PM Annual Business Meeting at the clubhouse (MEMBERS ONLY) Tues. Jan. 19, NORFOLK: 6:00 pm – 9:00 Bass Pro Shops Conservation Room Buffet served at 6:30 PM 25th Anniversary year recognition meeting and introduction of new members; spouses & life partners RSVP to John Buchanan or Diane Thornton no later than Friday Jan. 15 for headcount Saturday Feb. 12 ATTLEBORO: 8 am – noon “Wrenchin n’ Coffee” at Robert’s Automotive 193 Pine St.

P.O. Box 217 Wrentham, MA 02093