Mass Cruisers July 2015 Monthly Cruisin' News

MONTHLY CRUISIN’ with the Mass Cruisers Auto Club

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

“CRUISIN’ AT THE SPEED OF FUN” July 2015

Volume 25 Issue 7

Is Summer really here? There is still snow in the woods and the ocean will still keep the beer cold.

But the cruisers are finally out and tanking up with some fresh PC corn juice with a splash of Sta-Bil for good measure.

Black was the color of choice at Bass Pro Cruise Night winners: a 1958 Impala on May 28th and a 1969 Road Runner on June 11th. Get all the details from John Buchanan on pages 10 and 11.

Aprylle Gilbert’s 3,652 mile run from Long Beach CA to Provincetown, MA. on U.S. Route 6, including the Rocky Mountains to Denver, CO., easily a monstrous version of “Heartbreak Hill”. We follow her progress on page 6

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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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From the President’s Tail Pipe;

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Car Shows and Events

Weekly Cruisin

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Club Officers President– John Buchanan Vice President—Diane Thornton Secretary—Patrick Touhey Treasurer—Wayne Lestan

US Route Coast to Coast Run

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Cruisers help at Goodguys and Norfolk Days

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Webmaster—Steve Vining

Just One More Story, Then I’ll say “Goodbye”

by Marcia Silvestri

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Newsletter Editor—Paul Saulnier

May 28th 50/50 drawing for the AMVETS

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Facebook Admin. – Patrick Touhey

May 28, 2015 Cruise Winner 1958 Impala -----------------June 11, 2015 Cruise Winner 1969 Roadrunner

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New Member Liaison—Dole Cole

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Sgts. at Arms—Rick Lawlor & John Sturniolo

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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

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 – Marcia Silvestri

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From the President’s Tailpipes

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Every now and then, a car show or cruise night has something special in store for us that is totally unexpected.

That happened with our June 11 cruise when Dave Smith, owner of Factory Five Racing in Wareham, called with a special request. FFR was celebrating the 20th Anniversary of their iconic MK Series Roadsters with the introduction of a special production run of twenty 20th Anniversary Special Edition MK-4 kits at their June 13 Open House. Lone Wolf Media out of Portland Maine was also videotaping a four-part reality series about Factory Five Racing and wanted to include a segment that included the unveiling ceremonies of the 1st assembled 20th Anniversary Special Edition MK-4 kit but, because of the crowded conditions expected at the June 13 open house, they would prefer to do it at a larger open venue like our Patriot Place Cruise.

Wow! No problem I thought, but we are only guests at Patriot Place and we ran into some issues last year when another uninvited and unannounced camera crew showed up at one of our cruises to video tape a segment for a 50th Mustang Anniversary special they were producing without permission from Patriot Place. Fortunately, we were forewarned early enough to get the clearance by the Patriot Place Promotions people, and the unveiling of the 20th Anniversary MK-4 Roadster went off to the satisfaction of Dave Smith, Lone Wolf Media and everyone else who ignored the Weather Reports of pop-up thunder showers between 4 and 7 pm that Thursday. Lone Wolf Media is an independent producer of reality programs that have appeared on NOVA, Geographic, Science and History Channels. We have no idea when or which network will air the series, but when we find out we’ll let everyone know.

John

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Car Shows and Events

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US Route 6 Coast-To-Coast Run Aprylle has run across Nevada’s northern Mohave Desert, through Utah and is now attempting the most challenging leg through the Rocky Mountains to Denver, CO., a monstrous version of “Heartbreak Hill”. The elevations through Vail are around 8,000 to 10,000 ft. followed by the arduous climb up Route 6 near the Arapahoe Basin ski area to the 11,990 ft. Loveland Pass. Because there are long stretches without any civilization, she also camps out overnight in a tent when she stops each day. This is an amazing and determined woman and hopefully we may be able to play a small part in communicating her cause “CoastTo-Coast-For-Kids”.

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Mass Cruisers Help out at Goodguys & Norfolk Days

Above left. Club members find a great spot to relax in the shade at Goodguys 23rd Grundy Worldwide East Coast Nationals at the Eastern States Exposition (“The Big E”) in West Springfield.

Above right. Twenty Mass Cruisers and friends handled the parking duties for the different judged class areas; Goodguys Builder’s Choice, Homebuilt Heaven, Ya Gotta’ Drive ‘Em, Mighty Muscle, Deuce Doin’s, Trick Truck Corral, Young Guys/Gals, Canadian Corral & Modern Machines.

Below left. Mike Rabbitt watches over a sibling rivalry valve cover race…the girl beat out her brother and was jumping up and down for joy with the win.

Below right. The June 9 Norfolk Days event held at the Holmes Barn property saw 20 club member cars on display at the entrance.

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Lady Cruisers Pages

by Marcia Silvestri

Just one more story, then I’ll say goodbye.

One of the early weekend car show outings the Mass. Cruisers attended as a group, was the “Cool Summer Nights” show in Stowe, VT. It was not the famous Stowe cruise, but a more hot-rodder upstart, held in a field, with a paved burn-out patch, which claimed many of our tires.

We brought our tents, and needed them. It was hot, hot, hot, and then it rained! Many Cruisers trailered their cars, since they were set up for drag racing, or just plain unreliable. Pulling into the field at the same time, was a French-Canadian club. Its members drove their beautiful sherbet-colored rods to shows all over Canada, and the U.S. One of them taunted us as we backed our cars out of the trailers, shouting: “Hey, whatsamatter? Don’ it RUN?!” We ignored him, and a good thing, because they were all big guys, and champion beer drinkers, who made entire walls of empties, all around their large tent, as the weekend progressed. However, the opportunity for revenge popped up when I spotted a tow truck, unloading the heckler’s street rod onto the field, and the heckler himself watching, dismayed.

Confident that looks cannot kill, and that I could outrun him, I shouted, “Hey, whatsamatter? Don’ it RUN?!” Then I ran!

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May 28th 50/50 Drawing The May 28 Cruise 50-50 drawing was facing forecasted pop-up thunder showers in the 4 - 5 pm timeframe when our cruise officially starts so we were not expecting a huge turnout. Our 50-50 charity director Frank Bryant and wife Neringa were touring Thailand and his backup assistant Secretary Patrick Touhey was finishing up a round of golf somewhere in Rhode Island when first time 50-50 charity participants, District 6 Amvets Commander Bernard Planeta and his four Local Post Home volunteers, showed up at the cruise wondering how they should proceed. A cell phone call to Patrick confirmed he’d be at the cruise shortly after 5pm and with our most experienced HQ tent 50-50 volunteer Jean Waite and experienced field volunteers, Jack Lane & Alan Freedman, the drawing was in good hands until Patrick rolled into the cruise.

From 5 pm until 6:30 pm when the drawing was ended due to the increasing darkening skies, $818 was collected. That was an amazing amount for our cruise in such a short time. And, thanks to the generosity of the eventual winning ticket holder who left early and gave his tickets to Commander Planeta to keep should it win, the Amvets were able to leave with 100% of the proceeds. I only mention this because the local District Amvet Post Homes in Randolph, Stoughton and Avon are dedicated to providing the Brockton V.A. Hospital Veterans with monthly ice cream socials and occasional BBQ socials off-station held at the Randolph Post Home and they use 100% of the donations to benefit our wounded and recovering veterans. This donation should certainly help buy a lot more ice cream for more recovering veterans during the summer months.

For more information about the Amvets Department of Massachusetts log on to their website http://amvets-ma.org/ AMVETS National District 1 Deputy Provost Marshall (L) Don McLean with District 6 Commander Bernard Planeta (C) holding the drawing proceeds with Mass Cruisers Treasurer Wayne Lestan in the Background ÂŽ

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May 28, 2015 Cruise Winner 1958 Impala https://vimeo.com/129505859

by John Buchanan

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June 11, 2015 Cruise Winner 1969 Plymouth Road Runner

by John Buchanan Larry Titus’s son Scott is a Mopar fanatic and he bought a former 1969 Plymouth Mopar drag car with a factory 440 and 4 speed shifter back in 2006 to restore it someday. Scott began the 3 ½ years restoration project with his father Larry about 6 years ago and when it was finished, turned the keys over to dad and said, “It’s yours, drive it.”

Video of the Cruise Night: https://vimeo.com/130827003?utm_source=email&utm_medium=cliptranscode_complete-finished20120100&utm_campaign=7701&email_id=Y2xpcF90cmFuc2NvZGVkfGQwZTM5NW M2OTdmY2RhMDY0NDkwZDMxNWM5NzE5MzYyOTY1fDQ1NTA4ODZ8MTQzN DQyMDU2OHw3NzAx

interior. It turns out that Bass Pro Shops Associate Garrett Briggs is also a Mopar muscle car fanatic and when he saw Larry’s Roadrunner, he fell in love with it.

Scott Titus happens to be my plumber and over the past 15 years he would talk to me about Mopar restoration projects including this 1969 Roadrunner. I never saw any project pictures or recognized the finished car until it was picked for the Vintage Motorsports sponsored cruise night award and I was blown away by the quality of the workmanship that he and his dad had accomplished. A job well done.

And drive it Larry does. You can see all the magnetic cruise and car show dash plaques dating from May 2013 proudly displayed on the Roadrunner’s dash board when you poke your head inside to view its black leather

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July 2015

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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