June 2018 Mass Cruisers Newsletter

Mass Cruisers Auto Club Cruisin’ at the speed of fun

June 2018 INSIDE:

APRIL 26 CRUISE WINNER 1967 Chevy II Nova See Page 4

2018 Seekonk Speedway Show & Go A four part car show unlike any other See Pages 5

APRIL 26 CRUISE WINNER 1960 El Camino See Page 6

INSIDE: Upcoming cruise and car events on Pages 10 & 11 We’re on the Web

Celebrating 27 Years of Cruisin’ Volume 27 Issue 5

May 2018

www.masscruisers.com And Facebook

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 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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PRESIDENTIAL EMISSIONS

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CRUISE WINNER

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1967 Chevy II Nova Seekonk Speedway Show & Go

Club Officers President – Ed Beatty

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CRUISE WINNER 1960 EL CAMINO

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27TH ANNUAL BANQUET

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Great Woods Flea Market

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SUPPORT OUR ADVERTISERS

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AUTO SHOWS & EVENTS

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WEEKLY CRUIZN

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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 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 By-Laws – Roy Rossman MAAC Rep — John Buchanan Cruise Nights – Steve Huntington Sponsors – John Buchanan & Fred Tierney Club Events – Rich Armando

Monthly Cruisin

Presidential Emissions

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President Ed Beatty

I want to thank Fred Tierney for putting together another great 27th Annual Club buffet at the Olde Colony Café followed by the entertaining Everly Brothers Experience performance at the Norwood Theater by the Zmed brothers and their five piece band led by co-creator drummer Burleigh Drummond. Although the Café’s upstairs function rooms are not conducive to making speeches and announcements it does allow for members to freely move around from table to table and schmoose with everyone.

It appears our cruise entrance back-up problems of the past have been resolved by Ralph Chadsey’s Food Pantry Collection team by implementing new club member Steve Mirabile’s suggested two lane collection setup. Although 20 parking spaces had to sacrificed at the entrance row area, relieving congestion at peak period entry times is a welcomed relief that cruise car owners and our own parking team members alike.

We were hoping to kick off the summer monthly member meetings with cruises to other area Tuesday night cruises. Unfortunately, the Tuesday May 15 cruise to the Ice Cream Machine in Cumberland, R.I., not a regular cruise night location, was rained out. However, for the June 19 meeting date, we will be cruising to the new Push Rods cruise in Marlborough at the Bolton Street Tavern on Rte. 85, exit 25A I-495. It will require everyone to cruise on their own and meet there due to the cruise 5 PM – 8 PM start-finish times. Steve Mirabile, who already sampled the cruise, said the food at the Tavern is great and the lot where the cruise cars park overlooks the Fort Meadow Reservoir.

Of course, the rain out alternative for the May 15 cruise rainout was to meet & greet at the Bass Pro Shops Conservation Room where we would either have a guest speaker or member project bull session. At the May 15 rainout we worked with Steve Vining fill in the posted website calendar with all our upcoming planned events, so use the calendar to plan your own participation calendar. Everyone wants to do more cruise events like the excellent New England Air Museum cruise that John Nunez organized for us, so get in touch with Rich Armando to select an appropriate date that isn’t in conflict with another event. Rich can also provide guidance on what needs to be done to organize an event if you haven’t done it before.

The other big change to note is moving the previously planned Trade School engine build competition from our June 7 to the June 21 Bass Pro Shops cruise. This was due to the June 7 date conflicted with one of the school’s scheduled graduation exercises.

Bass Pro Shops Cruise Nights

Thursday Bi-Weekly Cruise Dates JUNE 7 & 21 JULY 5 & 19 AUGUST 2*,16* & 30 SEPTEMBER 13* & 27* OCTOBER 11 & 25

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APRIL 26 CRUISE WINNER

By John Buchanan

Don Fardie’s 1967 Chevy II Nova was purchased from Claire Leasing in 1989 with an original 327 cu. in 275 hp 4 speed tranny, 12 bolt posi rear, bench seat and tinted glass. It sat in a Lakeville MA barn until 2000 when Don bought it and began campaigning it in the NHRA Stock Eliminator F/S class up until 2017 with the original engine & tranny and winning the national Championships in 2007 & 2008. He transformed his Nova last year into a Pro Comp Gasser with a big block 427 last year, named it “Deuces High” and has been competing in the nostalgia class Gasser Wars up and down the East Coast. He recently returned from competing in the March 10 Atmoor Alabama Dragway Gasser Blowout and will be back at it again on May 12 for the East Coast Gassers event at the Atco, N.J. Dragway. The workmanship and finish on Don’s gasser also qualifies it as a show car, not only picking up the Vintage Motorsports sponsored Cruise Night award at our April 26 cruise, he also carried home a Best of Show trophy at the Seekonk Speedway Show & Go event on May 5.

https://vimeo.com/265115140

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2018 Seekonk Speedway Show & Go

By John Buchanan

Unlike 2017 which was a rainout, this year’s Annual 2018 Seekonk Speedway Show & Go Car Show and Burnout Drags experienced sunny but breezy and a bit cool weather. This is a four part car show unlike any other you will experience. It has an automotive flea market area, the car show portion which the Mass

Cruisers are the host club that handles the show car parking and judging (Mass Cruisers cars are not judged), the on-track test and tune practice runs by the race car owners and finally the 100 foot burn out drags on the track for show car participants. All of this is free for spectators and for car Show participants that pay the $10 entry fee, they also get a cool looking tee shirt and dash plaque. We had a good member turnout for the 8 AM opening and more than 300 show cars were on hand for the car show portion.

D.J. Bruce Palmer handled the music & announcements portion and this year there was also a special President’s Lifetime Achievement Award presentation, signed by Donald Trump, made to Don Doucette, Executive Director of the Massachusetts U.S. Route 6 Tourist Association in recognition of his 10 years of volunteer service. Representatives in recognition of this prestigious award. From the opening salute to Old Glory to the best of show awards to the final burnout drag match race between a Ford Model A rat rod and AWD Mitsubishi it was another enjoyable day at the Seekonk

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Monthly Cruisin

May 10 CRUISE WINNER

By John Buchanan

This was John Ciszek’s first cruise down to our Bass Pro Shops cruise from his Chelmsford home with his 1960 El Camino that he finished restoring in 2016. Restoration was started 15 years earlier. John became its owner at age 21 when he found the El Camino posted for sale on eBay where it had been hiding in an Idaho potato silo for many years. After a tune-up and brakes, he drove it for three years before beginning the long restoration in his small garage.

John did all the work himself except for the awesome PPG Copperhead metallic clearcoat paint and interior. The engine is a GM crate 350 with Edelbrock Performer cam, intake & roller rockers. He recently replaced the TH350 tranny with a T56 6 speed salvaged from a wrecked Camaro and was concerned that the recent swap might prevent him from coming to Foxboro, but he made it and was rewarded with the Vintage Motorsports cruiser of the night award.

The comfort level in the cabin was not compromised either as it has Vintage A/C, power windows, remote door poppers, LED interior lighting along with a 3rd brake light and Dynamat insulated interior to deaden road noise as well as softening those sweet V8 euphonious sounds emanating from the Hooker ceramic coated headers & Flowmaster mufflers. It has 2 inch dropped spindles and springs up front with 17” Torque thrust wheels and 18” wheels in the rear for a perfect stance, a really sweet looking ride for any El Camino fan.

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Monthly Cruisin

Our 27th Annual Banquet

By John Buchanan

Fred Tierney put together another great club anniversary annual banquet to celebrate our 27th year as a car club. There were 90 Mass Cruisers club members and guests starting things off with the 4 PM cocktail hour before a buffet style meal at the Old Colonial Café in Norwood. The food was excellent and this year I remembered to hold off filling my plate with pasta, meatballs and other front end delights so I could pile on their famous baked cod which is absolutely delicious.

After the buffet it was a short walk across Nahatan Street to the Norwood Theater to see the Everly Brothers Experience performance by the Zmed brothers. Their show mixed the musical performance of this famous rock duo’s catalog of hits with a photo & video history of the Everly Brothers and the Zmed brothers, whose father singer/actor Adrian Zmed, was the rookie partner Vince Romano in the T.J Hooker TV series as well as Johnny Nogerelli in Grease II, along with just enough Smothers Brothers humor thrown in to make this one of the best tribute shows I’ve experienced. It far exceeded everyone’s expectations leaving everyone going home feeling this was perhaps the best anniversary celebration yet. Thanks Fred for pulling this together.

This will be a tough act to follow for 2019.

Monthly Cruisin

59th Annual Great Woods Flea Market

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John Buchanan

Friday May 18 finally came for Bob Smith to set up at the resurrected 59th Annual Great Woods Flea Market at the Xfinity Center in Mansfield. Thanks go out to Rapoza Auctions https://rapozaauctions.com/ in nearby Rehoboth for taking over this popular annual swap meet at the 11th hour from the South Shore Antique Auto Club. Although it looked like many of the national vendors may have made other plans when the word spread that the Great Woods Flea Market was dead for 2018 and some of our own club members who usually rent space along with Don Cole with our own club space had opted for the earlier Fitchburg Flea Market, there was still a very good showing of vendors on the Saturday morning I was there despite the forecasted late morning rain. Bob said his best day was Friday afternoon when the weather was perfect, Saturday was pretty good with many vendors closing up shop and leaving when the afternoon rain finally came; but Sunday some of his flea market neighbors didn’t return and his single space expanded to three. Don Cole reported that the two additional club member spaces were no shows for both Saturday and Sunday due to the less than favorable weather forecasts. We do hope the resurrected 59th Great Woods Flea Market was successful enough, despite the unwelcomed bad weather, for Rapoza Auctions to give the 60th Annual Great Woods Flea Market another go for 2019. https://vimeo.com/271605704

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June 2018

Last Page

Member meetings are held the 3rd Tuesday of each month.

P.O. Box 217 Wrentham, MA 02093

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