September 2020 Mass Cruisers Auto Club Newsletter

Cruisin’ at the speed of fun

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Mass Cruisers Auto Club September 2020

“CRUIZN” TO GEORGE’S SURF & TURF

REOPENED DAILY 10 AM TO 5 PM 1947 WEST MAIN ROAD PORTSMOUTH, R.I.

CARentine Cruising Adventures, Part IV

“CRUIZN” to the NEWPORT CAR MUSEUM

INSIDE: PRESIDENT’S MUSINGS WEEKLY CRUZIN & MONTHLY AUTO SHOWS & EVENTS We’re on the Web

Celebrating 29 Years of Cruisin’ Volume 29 Issue 9

www.masscruisers.com And Facebook

Cruisin’ at the speed of fun

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

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www.masscruisers.com

All monthly meetings in the Bass Pro Shops Conservation Room have been cancelled until further notice due to COVID-19 Phase implementation. Business meetings are conducted either on line using ZOOM meetings or held on an emergency basis as needed. With all of our 2020 cruise and car show events being cancelled, Club member cruises to alternate sites that allow group gatherings will be announced via the club’s email list.

DIRECTORY

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PRESIDENTIAL MUSING

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COVID-19 MUSING

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Club Officers President: Larry Nyborn Vice President: Open

CRUIZN TO GEPRGE’S SURF ’N TURF CARENTINE CRUISING ADVENTURES IV

Secretary: Lesley Corda-Majeski Asst. Secretary: Open

Treasurer: Kevin Rushlow Page 4 & 5 Asst. Treasurer: Rich Armando At Large Board Member: Steve Page 6 & 7 Huntington

NEWPORT CAR MUSEUM CRUISE

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Special Assignments

SUPPORT OUR ADVERTISERS

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Webmaster: Steve Vining Managing Editor: John Buchanan

CRUZIN MASS

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AUTO SHOWS & EVENTS

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Newsletter Editor: Open Digital Graphics Editor: Open Facebook: Patrick Touhey New Members: Lou Valentine

Sgts. at Arms: Rick Lawlor John Sturniolo Charity Coordinator: Open Food Pantry: Steve Fernald Bob Okerholm

By-Laws: Wayne Lestan MAAC Rep: John Buchanan Cruise Nights: Steve Huntington Sponsors: John Buchanan Fred Tierney Club Events: Rich Armando

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Presidential Musings

By Larry Nyborn

II think we've all been a little spoiled after driving our modern cars with their modern capabilities: efficient engines, great handling & cornering, improved ride quality, good braking, weather-tight & quiet, care free maintenance. So, when you take that old car out for a ride, are you paying attention to what it is telling you? Does the engine purr or is it a candidate for rebuilding or replacement? If the transmission is weak, maybe it's time for a modern upgrade. Is the car sloppy when cornering?

What about upgrading the drum brakes to discs? What about tightening up ride with modern suspension? Do you hear whistling noise around the windows...time to replace the rubber moldings. While you enjoy putting that classic through its paces, you would increase the enjoyment by making it more road worthy so it can be right at home on modern roadways in modern traffic. Of course, this is where the expense comes in, but also the fun with the build. Besides, everything doesn't have to be done at once...you can spread out the work as the budget allows. Now I know the purists out there are cringing right now....why would anyone restore that classic to anything other than factory specs?.....well, that is every owner's choice, but you have to admit that many cars were not engineered correctly and did not run well when new. Well, I think I just presented the case for a resto mod! Are you listening to what your classic is saying an what are you going to do about it?

COVID-19 Musing

By John Buchanan EDITORIAL

I am reprinting, with permission, an email comment posted by a Rhode Island Veteran’s Home resident we know as “Jack”. We, along with several other car clubs, participated in annual car shows to benefit the “veterans’ chapel fund”. Jack was responding to one of those circulated emails questioning; “What is the end game for this COVID-19 Pandemic?”

Very well put. I have been in a lock-down situation here at the RI Vets home since March 12th. That's 164 days if I counted correctly. I have been told numerus times by people in the administration that there's ''nothing going on outside''. I finally got to the VA on the 6th for a vascular appointment and if ''nothing is going on outside'' there's a lot of people out there driving aimlessly around going nowhere to do nothing.

When asked when things would return to normal the new administrator said maybe by the end of September. I'm confined to my ''neighborhood'', which is a gentle way of saying cell block because there's really no difference between the two. I cannot visit friends in other ''neighborhoods'' / cell blocks.

While we have observed staff bringing in take-out food we cannot have food from the same establishment delivered. The barber shop is closed, so is the library, the PX, the Bistro cafe.

Not only did they remove the pool cues but they then removed the balls when they realized some guys had their own cue sticks and shared. The bank is closed. Better hope someone here can fix your cable if it goes out because the cable guys can't come in. No outside vendors can come in. Yet somehow the lottery machine gets refilled on a regular schedule.

I have called the Dept. of Health. Left a message which has never been returned. I used the governors site to email my concerns, never heard back from her either. How much longer will they keep us caged in??

John Choquette aka Jack Pictures of “Jack” in his RED mobility cart viewing all the show cars attending the Sept. 29, 2019 Bristol Vets Cruise-In Car Show

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Cruisin’ at the speed of fun CRUIZN TO GEORGE’S SURF ‘n TURF

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By John Buchanan

Our youngest club member Nick Mullen sent a picture of a 1957 Chevy parked at George’s Surf ‘n Turf in the little town of Mendon (Rte. 16), suggesting the club should plan one of our COVID-19 cruises there. It didn’t take a lot of persuading for club President Larry Nyborn to jump on Nick’s suggestion by sending out an email to club members for a planned rally point at the empty lot in the center of Wrentham at the intersection of Rtes. 140 & 1A at 5:30 PM on Thursday July 31. However, with forecasted thunderstorms and possible hail, a late email and a few phone calls to members canceling that Thursday date and was rescheduled for Thursday August 6, the same date as our cancelled Bass Pro Shops cruise night. Unfortunately, Dave & Maureen Reavill were running 10 minutes late on the 30th and hadn’t checked his email, they did go and he sent us a picture of their tray filled with George’s delicious looking scallops, fish & chips and onion rings which tempted all to cruise there.

RIGHT: Dave Reavill’s photo from a week earlier on the right really whetted our appetite’s to try some of George’s fried seafood goodies

Ten club member cars lined up at the Wrentham vacant lot for Larry Nyborn to lead us over the roads less travelled through Franklin, Bellingham and Mendon to George’s Surf ’n Turf. Three other member cars cruised separately and met us there.

We then discovered the best way to avoid the social distance long wait-line to order the food and ice cream was to call our orders in by phone after perusing the menu, then wait for our names to be called to pick up our orders. There were plenty of outside benches for us to sit comfortably distanced and enjoy the seafood and later ice cream deserts. The weather was perfect for a cruise and everyone really enjoyed the opportunity to sit outside, enjoy sharing food and updating one another about what safely socializing is all about in this COVID-19 world we are now experiencing.

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There were 10 cars leaving the vacant lot in Wrentham led by club President Larry Nyborn for the 45 minute cruise over the back roads of Franklin, Bellingham and Mendon. Three additional club member cars cruised separately to meet us at George’s

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CRUIZN TO GEORGE’S SURF ‘n TURF Continued from Page 4

Continued from Page 4 With our face masks on, those of us that had not left George’s to head back home, posed for a group photo. Can you identify who’s who?

A group shot with all wearing our per the COVID-19 protocol facemasks followed after eating all that seafood and ice cream which was rated THUMBS UP!

Mike & Lorna Rabbitt later invited everyone to follow them to their newly built home in Uxbridge, about 4.5 miles from George’s. It must be a big change for them to move this far away from their old Newton home in suburban Boston to the New England countryside, which to some may seem like in the middle of nowhere, but they did put some mathematics to the process. Mike created a Venn Diagram on a map of New England, drawing a 20 mile radius circle around Patriot Place in Foxboro and another around the farm in Grafton where Lorna boards her horse. The overlapping area of the two circles was where their search for a site to build their future retirement home.

From the experience we now have gained organizing these alternative COVID-19 cruises for clubmembers, we are looking forward to the lucky dozen that will be cruising to the Saturday August 30 Polo Match in Georgetown.

Hopefully, good weather will be on our side for this cruise.

A quick post mini cruise to Mike & Lorna Rabbitt’s new retirement home in nearby Uxbridge followed for a club housewarming gathering.

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CARentine Cruising Adventures, Part IV

By John Buchanan

August CARentine cruising adventures saw a smaller number of Mass Cruisers attempted to enjoy their cars in this COVID-19 environment, Glen Brayman and I have been sampling some cruise nights that were operating using state or local Boards of Health mandated guidelines, mainly exercising social distancing, wearing facial mask coverings and following event organizers rules. The third week of August gave us some of the most favorable cruising weather of the summer so it provided us with the opportunity to try some old cruises like the Tuesday A & W Cruise in Greenville, R.I., the Thursday Hebert’s Mansion Cruise in Shrewsbury and the revived Friday Blue Hills Cruise at the Trinity Church in Canton. Bruce Palmer has been the DJ at the A & W Cruise for as long as I reHarking back to years past, the A&W Root Beer stand parking lot was filled to capacity on perfect weather for CRUIZN Tuesday August 18 so the overflow parking across the street in the Walgreens parking lot came into play

member. Of course my memory is being taxed these days. However, I do remember those awesome root beer floats so ordering one in a souvenir mug along with burger & fries was on my to-do list at this cruise.

The Hebert’s Candy Mansion cruise was filled with cars by the time Glen with his wife Jeanie & I arrived cruising the back roads. Steve Fernald and his wife Maureen had already been there when we arrived. NOTE: 6 PM is when the inside chocolate store closes along with the bathrooms. The take-out ice cream window continues up until 8 PM so we opted to back track on Rte.140 to the Art Brandish Snack Bar for some roadside dining nostalgia.

The Thursday Cruise Nights at the Hebert’s Candy Mansion on U.S. Route 20 continues to run in the Phase 3 environment

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CARentine Cruising Adventures, Part IV Continued from Page 6

Glen mentioned the Old Coots Club was going to cruise to the reinstated Friday Blue Hills Cruise at the Trinity Church in Canton so Bob Walton pulled out his ‘66 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible and we drove the roads less travelled for a relaxed and enjoyable evening on the grass with live music provided by Bernie Allain.

Alan & Cheryl Freedman also showed up in their 1967 Fury Convertible. Complimentary homemade chocolate chip cookies from cruise organizer Betty Pietro and her daughter passed out their home baked chocolate chip cookies to go along with the cooked-to-order burgers.

On another update, Kevin Rushlow on vacation up in New Hampshire, attended the annual Hampton Falls Cool Wheels and Concerts on the Common featuring the All Summer Long Beach Boys tribute band on Thursday August 13. Kevin and his family usually just go camping in Hampton Falls earlier in the season but opted during this unpredictable COVID-19 pandemic environment to repeat NH again in mid-August instead of their usual Carolina camping vacation. A13 minute YouTube slide show video of the cars complimenting the musical concert can be watched at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZPwXvlKo-Y&t=322s

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Newport Car Museum Cruise

By John Buchanan

We were disappointed that the August 23 inaugural 1 st Annual Newport Car Museum AutoFest had to be cancelled due to COVID-19 outdoor gathering size limits. However, that didn’t stop Diane Thorton to take advantage of a beautiful warm Sunday morning & afternoon to shout out a call to club members willing to cruise down to Portsmouth and visit Gunther & Maggie Buerman’s awesome collection of beautiful automobiles that USA Today, in 2017, named as one of the 10 Best New Attractions in America. The museum’s ample display layout design allows for easy social distancing inside.

Starting off with a 9 Parking our cars at the museum using a social distance parking protocol AM tailgate coffee break at the I-95 rest area in North Attleboro from Steve Huntington’s 1964 Chevy Pickup truck, Steve then led the cruise to Portsmouth via the Mount Hope Bridge to Aquidnick Island. We parked our cars, every-other-space distancing, in the far parking lot for a mini car show that other arriving visitors appreciated.

Not wanting to just visit the museum, we continued the cruise on the lesser traveled roads along the Narraganset Bay to the Newport beaches and up the Sakonnet River shoreline and then to Dicky’s Clam Shack on banks of the Palmer River on U.S. Route 6 for an afternoon seafood late lunch before heading back home.

Obligatory, MASKS ON, group photo in front of this beautiful Buick Skylark

The clamshell parking lot at Dicky’s Clam Shack provides the perfect atmosphere for some seafood take-out dining

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P.O. Box 217 Wrentham, MA 02093

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