May 2019 Mass Cruisers Auto Club Newsletter

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Mass Cruisers Auto Club Cruisin’ at the speed of fun

May 2019 April 11 cruise winner 2011 F350 Lariat

5th Annual Senior Spectacular

From left to right: Spectacular host Rep. Betty Poirier, Gov. Charlie Baker, John Buchanan, Steve Vining

April 18 cruise winner 1952 Chevy Deluxe Gasser Coupe

So long clubhouse

INSIDE:

PRESIDENT’S TAILPIPE CRUZIN RIDING SHOTGUN / AUTO SHOWS & EVENTS

Celebrating 28 Years of Cruisin’ Volume 28 Issue 5

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

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Contact us by snail mail: P.O. Box 217, Wrentham, MA 02093 Or by email: HO350@comcast.net

www.masscruisers.com

We have moved all monthly meetings to the Bass Pro Shops Conservation Room at 1 Bass Pro Place in Foxboro, MA beginning in May. Monthly meetings will still be held the third Tuesday of the month starting at 7 PM, guests and visitors are welcome to attend. Business meetings will be held an hour earlier, club members are encouraged to attend.

DIRECTORY

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PRESIDENT’S TAILPIPE

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Club Officers President: Mark Crichton Vice President: Larry Nyborn

APRIL 11TH CRUISE WINNER

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5TH ANNUAL SENIOR SPECTACULAR

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APRIL 18TH CRUISE WINNER

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Riding Shotgun

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Special Assignments

SUPPORT OUR ADVERTISERS

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Webmaster: Steve Vining

CRUZIN

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Newsletter Editor: John Guravage

AUTO SHOWS & EVENTS

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Secretary: Lesley Corda-Majeski Asst. Secretary: John Guravage Treasurer: Kevin Rushlow Asst. Treasurer: Rich Armando At Large Board Member: Steve Huntington

Managing Editor: John Buchanan Digital Graphics Editor: Diane Thorton Facebook: Patrick Touhey New Members: Zeke Sawayer Sgts. at Arms: Rick Lawlor John Sturniolo Charity Coord.: Frank Bryant Food Pantry: Sean Sullivan Bob Okerholm By-Laws: Wayne Lestan MAAC Rep: John Buchanan Cruise Nights: Steve Huntington Sponsors: John Buchanan Fred Tierney

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President’s Tailpipe

By Mark Crichton

I want to thank all Mass Cruisers who continually show up with their support of time and energy to make the bi-weekly cruise event fun for everyone.

A great new addition are the corn hole games with the club logo to put out front at each and every cruise night. Hopefully we can get more people (spectators) involved in playing – take a break if you need and try your luck.

As you know we are going to include a set of corn hole boards, Jump Pac and gift card for the annual drawing this year. Thanks to Walpole Signarama for donating the corn hole artwork for both boards and also Rose Sawayer for making the corn hole game bean bags. Big hug to you!

The Food Pantry can goods drive is going well with donations, 5-0/50 drawing.

We’ve been fortunate weather-wise in April for our first two cruise night during the 8th wettest April on record and we’ve got a couple of early May club events coming up, the Seekonk Speedway Show & Go on May 4 and the annual anniversary buffet & Norwood Theater Van Dells show on May 11.

Now that we are holding all our regular monthly meetings in the Bass the Bass Pro Shops Conservation Room on the 3rd Tuesday’s of the month at 7 PM, our business meetings will also now be held earlier on the same night at 6:15 PM beginning May 21. As always, club members are welcomed to attend the business portion of the meeting. Remember, if you have any questions, call me, which I prefer. And for those members that have been emailing me, be sure to use my marksautouph@gmail.com address and not the Verizon address.

Be aware of upcoming Thursday Cruise Night conflicts.

August 29th Preseason game with the NY Giants October 10th game at Gillette with the NY Giants Patriots Schedule: https://www.patriots.com

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April 11th Cruise Winner

By John Buchanan

First look at seeing Tony Tortolano’s 2011 Ford F350 Lariat Super Duty 4 x 4 coming down the road raised a question in my mind just as high as the lifted 11-inch Precision Metal Fab (PMF) suspension mods that really made this truck a stand out Vintage Motorsports selection at our April 11 opening Bass Pro Shops cruise; would Tony’s truck pass our Massachusetts Chapter 90 Section 7P law (Height of motor vehicles; alteration restricted)? The 540 CMR 6.05 calculations that determine the maximum combined lift height over the original manufacturer’s door height above the ground, ostensibly for road safety, can be mind boggling. This, my lifted truck enthusiasts, is why mastering basic math skills in school along with understanding those tricky word problems becomes important later in life.

Except for some mild body custom work on the exterior and those wild 26 inch x 16 wide custom INTRO Prowler Exposed 6 series wheels, this F350 was kept bone stock with its 6.7 Liter Power Stroke Diesel engine that delivers 18 mpg on the highway and the original Ford interior, which, at the big 4 Wheel Jamboree Nationals in Bloomsburg Pennsylvania last year won the “Best Interior” award along with a few chuckles. However, Tony’s F350 did much better at the 2019 World of Wheels in Boston garnering a 1st Place in the 4 x 4 class and “Outstanding Undercarriage” awards. Placement of mirrors underneath the truck, to the delight of the kids old and young, allowed everyone to see the workmanship and detailing that went into this outstanding 4 x 4.

April 11 cruise video: https://vimeo.com/331141630

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5th Annual Senior Spectacular

By John Buchanan

MA State Rep. Betty Poirier asked the Mass Cruisers if they would be interested in displaying at her hosted 5th Annual Senior Spectacular on Thursday April 18 at the North Attleboro Middle School. Although this biannual event was started as a way to provide answers to seniors questions about available services catering to their needs as well as letting the service agencies and businesses use the event to display and provide direct contact, Betty thought that letting the seniors also be aware that there are entertainment and hobby opportunities like our popular bi-weekly Bass Pro Shops cruise in Foxborough available locally for them to enjoy. Our board agreed this might be another way for our club’s senior members to share their automotive hobby interests as part of the local community outreach. After all we are living longer and experiencing more opportunities to enjoy our Golden years than previous generations.

Club member retirees John Buchanan, who lives in Attleboro, and webmaster Steve Vining, who lives in North Attleboro, agreed to host a table for the club and have our Bass Pro Shops cruise flyer booklets and post card schedules plus additional active legislative information provided by the Massachusetts Association of Auto Clubs in addition to displayed memorabilia from epic cruises like Route 66. A continuous video of our recent April 11 Bass Pro Shops cruise was also running on a laptop.

Not knowing what to really expect, there was surprising interest shown in our display, not only by the seniors attending but also by the vendors, political dignitaries like Governor Charlie Baker and WARA-AM radio which was broadcasting live and did a Q & A interview about the Bass Pro Shops cruise itself. The event was a complete success and we should look at doing similar outreach displays when similar opportunities arise.

Paw Sox mascots SOX (left) & PAWS (right) pay a visit

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May 18 Cruise Winner - 1952 Chevy Gasser

By John Buchanan

Everyone loves a good back story for a cruise winner selection and Kyle Spicer and his April 25 Vintage Motorsports winning 1952 Chevrolet Deluxe Gasser Coupe provided us with a good one. Back in the 1970’s when Kyle was a 10 year old school boy, his dad Jackie Parker built a gasser Chevy to go drag racing at New England Dragway.

Like all custom built cars of that era an, today as well, it had to have a distinguishing name so, it was call “MIND BENDER”. Back then, kids like future World of Wheels Boston entrepreneur Rick Finamore, would go nuts when they would see the MIND BENDER gasser pull up to a red light along Route 1 in the Dedham area. To just hear that 502 Big Block with open headers take off at the GREEN light was pure ecstasy for any future hot rod dreamer.

For the unknowing enthusiast reading this article, a gasser was a particular style of drag race hot rod built back in the late 1950’s and 1960’s into the early ‘70’s that ran on pump gas instead of racing fuel. Because they were classed by engine size and weight, the car bodies used were the lightest stripped down shortest wheel-base coupes they could find like 1940’s Willys, 1950’s Chevy’s & Henry J’s and the import Anglia’s. They would typically have straight axel front ends to raise the center of gravity which gives them that iconic lifted aggressive front end stance. The heavy metal hood and fenders would typically be replaced with a lighter weight fiberglass nose hinged to tilt forward to allow easy access to the biggest V8 you could afford to build and stuff between the rails; perfect for front to rear weight transfer to the big rear race slicks with smaller light weight wheels & tires up front. Back in the day this was the best way to build a 10 second ¼ mile drag race car which Kyle’s Chevy did during his dad’s drag race campaigns in 1975 & 1976.

April 25 cruise video: https://vimeo.com/333477070 Continued on page 7

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May 18 Cruise Winner - 1952 Chevy Gasser

By John Buchanan

Continued from page 6 Kyle underwent a search recently for his dad’s car which had to be sold 38 years ago to settle debt obligations and he found it last year after it had passed through a half dozen subsequent hands. But the car’s current owner wasn’t interested in selling. However, after hearing Kyle’s story and realizing that if the car had to have a final home it really needed to be with him, so the MIND BENDER came back home to Dedham last November. Rick Finamore hearing, about the return of the MIND BENDER to streets of Dedham, convinced Kyle to bring MIND BENDER to his 2019 World of Wheels Boston show last month where it took a 3rd place in class. And today, Kyle drove it to its first cruise event of 2019 where it was selected as the cruise winner.

In addition to the Vintage Motorsports recognition plaque, Kyle also gets two adult free admission Patriot Place PLAY ACTION PASSES for his choice of either the Hall of Fame at Patriot Place, Patriot Place Showcase Cinema, The Comedy Scene, Patriot Place Splitsville Luxury Lanes, 5 WITS Adventure, a REV’D Indoor Cycling class or Pure Barre fitness class. Now, how cool is that?

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Riding Shotgun

By Larry Nyborn

Any organization that's been in existence for many years has a lot of history-tradition-nostalgia… the Mass Cruiser's Club is no exception. What brings this to mind is the abandonment of the clubhouse. In previous years the clubhouse served as a multi-use meeting place used for various functions & a spot the club could call home. Times have changed and so had the use of the clubhouse......strictly for board & member meetings. The surroundings became a little run-down and somewhat of an embarrassment for visitors/guests. For $300 per month it no longer made any economic sense. The membership has discussed leaving the clubhouse for almost a year so most of the members had plenty of time to prepare and the majority was on board with the decision. I want to thank Mark for taking us out of the talking stage and into the doing stage. Still, we will have the memories of all that's happened there in the past.

2007 Club VP Steve Huntington presents a Magic Wrench Award to John Sturniolo for performing emergency road repairs on Steve’s truck during a club Junk Yard cruise to New Hampshire

2010 Guest Speaker late automotive historian Ed Pettersom on the Hyde Park manufactured Pope-Robinson cars built from 1899 1904.

2002 Club Pres. Larry Nyborn receiving thank you plaque from the late Tony Brenna founder of the My One Wish Foundation.

2016 Guest Speaker Dave Wilson author of “Give Me a Brake”

2013 Guest Speaker Gameroom Pinball restorer & customizer Brian Sores & son Sean

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May 2019

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

P.O. Box 217 Wrentham, MA 02093