President's Message December 2016 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Christmas and the Holiday season is around the corner. This time of the year brings different types of events. It’s also that time of year to store the Corvettes for the winter months. I store mine in a garage and do nothing special to it, so I can drive it anytime the weather permits. The only thing I do is use a battery tender to keep the battery charged. I know other people do different things like, gas stabilizer, inflate tires, cover the car, and even up to heated garages. Do whatever works for you. November 3rd was the last Bass Pro event with very little attendance. We will continue with the Wednesday lunches probably through the winter. Dennis does his CWC (cold weather cruise) and will notify everyone. November and December are not as active as the summer months except for meetings and Holiday parties. November 20th we had two events. Bob Gardner delivered Thanksgiving food for the needy with help from some members. The second event was lunch and a show from The Corvettes. We met at Rocky’s Ace in Walpole and drove to the Norwood Theater to park. There were ten spaces saved in front for our
Transcript
President's Message December 2016
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Christmas and the Holiday season is around the corner. This time of the yearbrings different types of events. It’s also that time of year to store the Corvettesfor the winter months. I store mine in a garage and do nothing special to it, so Ican drive it anytime the weather permits. The only thing I do is use a batterytender to keep the battery charged. I know other people do different things like,gas stabilizer, inflate tires, cover the car, and even up to heated garages. Dowhatever works for you.
November 3rd was the last Bass Pro event with very little attendance. We will continue with the Wednesday lunches probably through the winter. Dennis does his CWC (cold weather cruise) and will notify everyone. November and December are not as active as the summer months except for meetings and Holiday parties.
November 20th we had two events. Bob Gardner delivered Thanksgiving food for the needy with help from some members. The second event was lunch and a show from The Corvettes. We met at Rocky’s Ace in Walpole and drove to the Norwood Theater to park. There were ten spaces saved in front for our
Corvettes. We went to lunch at Victories in Norwood Center and then returned in time for the 2:00 PM show. A group picture was taken and posted on Facebook and the website. The show was a doo wop band called The Corvettes who played music for a couple hours. It was a great time and enjoyed by all who attended.
December 2nd is our annual Holiday Party. This year it will be held at Joe Lorusso’s heated garage with buffet food, raffles, Yankee swap and FUN. Bring your favorite $20 gift to swap and favorite drink. December 5th is the next business meeting for the membership.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL AND YOUR FAMILY !!!!!
Thank you so much EMCC. Let’s keep it going. Save the Wave.
The CORVETTES Doo Wop RevueStory and Photos By Bob Gardner
Ed Forsberg organized a great trip to the Norwood Theatre to see TheCorvettes ... a 50’s Doo Wop group. From Ashmont we traveled to downtownNorwood where Ed had arranged for parking of ourCorvettes right in front of the theater. After parking wewalked over to Victoria’s Café where we enjoyed agreat meal. Back at the theater people were definitelynoticing our rides as we paused in the Common for agroup photo op. You can tell it was a bitter fallafternoon.
The Corvettes did not disappoint. The show was greatfeaturing two hours of Fifties Rock n' Roll. It was mostentertaining. I’m a big “In the Still of the Night” fan.They did a great job on Danny and the Juniors “At theHop” and “Duke of Earl” was truly outstanding. At one point they even had Mal and Judy dancing in the aisles. The Norwood Theatre is a treasure and a must see. Check out their winterschedule for something you might enjoy. Thanks to the Forsbergs for putting this all together.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Meet Our Members
FIVE CORVETTES AND COUNTING By Bob Gardner
When I retired from the FBI in 1994 it was a time of bucket lists, doing those things I’d always wanted to do, seeing those things I’d always wanted to see. We took a cruise to Alaska and we started attending car shows. At one of those shows in Johnston, RI... I fell back in love with Corvettes. The Corvettes at the show were clustered under a group of trees and I just couldn’t walk away. I ended up talking to a really nice fellow and learned a lot about locating and buying antique cars, specifically Corvettes.
Fast forward seventeen years and I am now the very proud owner of my fifth Corvette. I wish I could say I own five Corvettes but that wasn’t possible. So as times changed, we changed,
finances changed, I sold and bought five Corvettes. I loved each one of them. They were specialto me. Shortly after I bought my first Corvette I joined Eastern Mass Corvette Club.
After almost a year of searching for a straight axle, Route 66 Corvette I ended up buying a 1967Marina Blue roadster with sidepipes and a big block hood from a great guy in Cumberland, RI. It was a turn-key show car ready to go. Barbara and I went from show to show winning trophy after trophy. I ultimately decided to “restore” the car by reinstalling the matching 350 engine and redoing the engine compartment (thank you Wild Bill Davis). After more trophies and more Sundays spent sitting in the sun as strangers critiqued my baby ... I’d had enough.
I went to Corvette Mike in Plymouth and traded the ’67 straight up for a ’97 Torch Red coupe with an automatic. By then I was very involved in the EMCC and cruising all the time. This was a better car all around for that type of activity. Still ... it won its share of trophies. I missed the manual transmission and the removable top was a pain. So I traded again.
My third Corvette was a 2004 Magnetic Red Metallic convertible. Again I bought it from Corvette Mike. This car had belonged to Joey Kramer, the drummer from Aerosmith. I loved this car and drove it all over. But there was new technology out there and I’m a techno-junkie. One night we were all at Muzi Chevrolet for the debut of member Alan Factor’s new Z06. While everyone was oohing and aahing over Alan’s stealth car I was falling in love –again- withhis trade-in, now prominently displayed in the showroom. It took some hard negotiation but
about a month later I drove out with my first orange Corvette. Forever known as “Alan’s Car”, this was an Atomic Orange 2008 fully loaded roadster. I really thought this would be my last Corvette. What more could you want? And then the C7 came out in Daytona Sunrise.
I took a couple unsuccessful runs at buying a new Daytona Sunrise C7. I just couldn’t get over the “nut” ... the difference between my ride and a new car. And then I got sick and lost most of a summer. One day long after Chevrolet had announced the last Daytona Sunrise had rolled off the assembly line, I called Corvette Mike about a 2015 he had recently posted. I sent him pictures of my 2008 and the VIN and he made me a very generous offer. I was hooked. Within aweek I was bringing it home with 10,000 miles on the odometer. That’s a lifetime of driving for me but just break-in mileage for a C7. This is a Z51 fully loaded coupe. I love the C7 coupe so much I gave up the sun on my face and the wind in my hair in favor of those classic, throw-back lines. I have the Daytona Sunrise I wanted with black accents. I don’t know if this is my “last” Corvette. I’m not getting any younger contrary to popular opinion. But if there’s a sixth Corvette in my future it will have to be orange!
*********************************************
EMCC Membership
As of October we have 85 paid members, 1 associate, and 5 honorary
Next Board MeetingMonday – November 28th at 6:30 PM
at Finnegan's Wake
Next Business MeetingMonday – December 5th at 7:30 PM
at Finnegan's Wake
Come early at 6:30 to enjoy dinner & schmoozing
***************************
News from the National Corvette MuseumStory by NCM
Spring in the Smokies, Tail of the Dragon, and Biltmore all combined in one great MiM tour.
Once again we hit the road, leaving Bowling Green and heading East to run the famous TN-
129, aka Tail of the Dragon. This year again, we will be staying at the beautiful Biltmore Inn
on the Biltmore Estate grounds. The Monday Biltmore visit includes a specially arranged
early morning photo op of the cars in front of the manor house followed by breakfast in the
Biltmore Stable Café adjacent to the house. Included in our Biltmore plans are your choice of
1 specialty tour: The Legacy of the Land Tour, Rooftop Tour, Wine & Chocolate or the
Upstairs/Downstairs Tour. Lunch will be at the Deer Park Restaurant on the grounds. After
hours – enjoy a special private guided tour of the Mansion. New friends will be made while
enjoying one of the most beautiful areas of the country during the colorful spring
season. GPS as well as two-way radios highly recommended!
Please be sure to check out our customized MiM Merchandise
Members: $1350 Driver / $500 Passenger | Non-Members $1390 / $540 Passenger (includes 1-year discounted membership upon completion of MiM
Advance registration closes at 8am CT Monday, March 13th, 2017. No registrations or refunds are available after that date.
When: April 30, 2017 @ 12:00 am – May 3, 2017 @ 12:00 am
This is a melancholy time for Corvette owners as the days shorten and werecognize it’s time to add the STA-BIL or Sea Foam to the gas tank, fill thetires, change the oil and store their Vette for the winter season. Some bravemembers will purchase all season run flats and drive year round. I’m fortunate to have a heated garage for my Vette. I will take it out of storage on an exceptional mild winter day when the roads are clear and dry. If I do, I always ensure I run it to full engine temperature. Taking your Vette out cold and letting it idle without reaching full temperature doesn’t do the engine any good. Not long ago Chevrolet showed the new Grand SportCollectable at The SEMA Show. At this time about 1000Collector Issue Z75 model Grand Sports have beenproduced and are being sold to the public. 850 will go to UScustomers. The Collector edition is painted a Glen GrayMetallic with an appropriately named Tension Blue interior.One of the early sales was to John Mulane of Edwardsville,Ill. John already has a 1996, a 2010 and now the 2017 allGrand Sport models. Interestingly enough all his Vettes sport VIN V006.
Any member of EMCC that knows of member Bob Grenier’s 1959 C1 knows it is a consistent trophy winner. Well it has finally happened. Corvette Central now offers a 1957 Corvette body that replicates the original design as close as it can get. You add your own creativity regarding engine and components and you too can be driving a C1 Vette with fully updated technology as pictured.
That is former Chevy Engineer, Dave Hill, behind the wheel. Further details can be found on Corvette Online.
EMCC CLUB STOREDon’t forget to stop by the EMCC Club Store at the next Business Meeting and get your
apparel. We have hats, shirts, t-shirts, jackets, and sweatshirts available.
Forsberg’s Football PartyBy “Smoken” Mal Smith
Who doesn’t like a party??? On Sunday, October 30th, Joeanne and Ed Forsberg hosted a party at their home for members togather and watch the Patriots play and hopefully see them win. Well, win they did!!! Kay and Jim Gable, Mal and Big Joe, Sue and Mike Campopiano, and Barbara and Bob Gardner joined Joeanne and Ed for great food, lots of laughs and conversations (some of which cannot be repeated). Unfortunately, some members who wanted to join us, had other commitments. You missed a great time.
Thank you so much Joeanne and Ed for a wonderful time and for opening up your home to us. Thanks also for those who brought food items to add to the wonderful food made by Joeanne.
I’ve never been comfortable with the popular terms “Baby Boomers” and“Millennials”. What are they, exactly? They do figure prominently in a recent Globe article that does not bode well for the future of “America’s Only SportsCar.” It seems the Boomers (men born after WWII and before 1964) arechoosing not to buy sports cars in favor of performance sedans and SUV’s. Apparently as we reach “a certain age”, generally seventy, squeezing into a two-seater performance machine just ain’t what it used to be. There are back issues. They rank comfort above performance and style. It seems we’re also cruising past our spending years. And wait, it gets worse.
There will be no generational hand off any time soon, it seems, as our children, the so-called “Generation X” (those about 35-50 years old, aka the “Millennials”) aren’t earning enough money to buy Mustangs and Corvettes. And there are far fewer of them than there are of us!
This month Ford Motor Co. idled its Mustang plant for a week as sales fell 9 percent. 40 percent of Mustang buyers were Baby Boomers this year down from 50 percent last year. The good news is that customers in their 20’s and 30’s now make up 22 percent of Mustang buyers ... a significant increase. Sales of the Camaro and Corvette (I hate mentioning them both in the same sentence) are down 11% and 14% respectively. This may be deceiving since Chevrolet is now selling far fewer Camaros to fleet managers. Actual retail sales are down only 1%. To today’s customer coupes no longer seem “cooler” than 4-doors and SUV’s. Luxury brands like Porsche and Mercedes are now selling sporty SUV’s allowing the well-heeled to make a practical purchase and still have fun behind the wheel. How long before Chevrolet tries to cash in on this new market with a sport SUV of its own? And will it be branded Corvette or Camaro or something else entirely? And as we “Boomers” become less and less of a market share how much influence will we have in decisions regarding design and performance?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
EMCC YEAR END EVENTS
****************************************
A HAPPY THANKSGIVING - THANKS EMCCBy Bob Gardner
The Friends of Franklin provided a happy Thanksgiving to over 200 needy families this year and again EMCC played a major part in making it all happen. I am happy to report that we had nine EMCC Members at our gathering at 8:30AM here in Franklin. We had plenty of helping hands and big trunks to carry almost twenty deliveries. This year each family received a frozen turkey, gallons of juice, milk, potatoes, and other food stuffs. It amounted to two big boxes, twobags, and the bird. All this had to be hauled from the assembly point to the apartments in Franklin and often up a flight of stairs. We had a number of first timers this year including members Larry and Lina Lepore, John Forbes, and Jim Lorusso. Joe O’Connor brought his grandson James. I was assisted by my neighbors Sofia and Nelson Mendonca. Jim Gable, Bob Wodogaza, Steve and Sherry Wilson, Tom Palotta, John and Patti Pinciaro rounded out the crew. Barbara did all the cooking!
As the photos will show, this is our eleventh trip with the Friends. I’m proud of what we do.
As someone said, this is something you really feel good after doing. Christmas is coming and we will do it all over again on the Sunday before Christmas, December 18. I will be attending a family event that day in Connecticut so if anyone else wants to “lead” please let me know.
Remembering jack mitchell
Some time ago the club voted to purchase a brick honoring club member Jack Mitchell. Jack followed his dream to retire and move to Bowling Green, Kentucky...close to the National Corvette Museum. After living in Kentucky for a few years Jack was diagnosed with cancer andhad been undergoing treatment for the cancer for some time. Sadly he recently lost that fight and he is no longer with us.
Bill Schroeder designed this brick and a copy of it was sent to Jack...who responded that it was very nice and he was appreciative to his friends at EMCC. His brick was placed next to the club's brick and quite a few of our members bricks are in the same area.
The club was notified of Jack's passing in the following message:
It is with great sadness that I am writing to let you all know that Jack lost the fight. He died peacefully in his sleep on Tuesday. His family thanks all of the EMCC members for their kindness toward Jack. He loved all of us and was very appreciative of all that we did. He will be missed by us all.The following obituary will appear in the Boston Globe Friday and Saturday:
MITCHELL, John Leo age 64. On 11/22/16 died peacefully at his home in Bowling Green, KY after a year’s valiant battle with pancreatic cancer. Jack was born in Norwood, graduated from Suffolk University in 1974, and also lived in Medfield and Westwood. He worked in the IT field for many years (for Carter’s in Needham, Ciba Corning, and the TJX home office) before retiring to KY near the National Corvette Museum. Jack had a lifelong love of Corvettes and enjoyed being amember of the Eastern Mass. Corvette Club. He will be missed dearly by his three sisters (Clare Robinson of Phenix City, AL; Margaret of Fairfield, CT; Marijane of Salem, CT); Patricia LeBlanc and family of Norwood; his cousins, nieces, nephews and their spouses; three grand-nieces; and extended family and friends. Private services will be held at a later date. Memorial donations may be made to the American Cancer Society or Feeding America (800-771-2303)
A man goes out and buys a new Vette convertible. One night he takes it out for a spin, and stops at a red light. An old man pulls up next to him riding a moped. The old man looks over the Vette and says, "What kind of car ya got there sonny?" The man replies, "It's a 2000 Corvette, the best sports car in the USA; it cost me over $50,000.""That's a lot of money" says the old man. Why do they cost so much?" The man answers, "Because they can go 170 miles an hour!" The old man pokes his head in the window and looks around. Leaning back on his moped, the old man says, "That's a pretty nice car all right!"
Just then the light changes, so the guy decides to show the old man what the car can do. He floors it, and in a few seconds the speedo reads 120 MPH. Suddenly he notices a dot in his rear view mirror that seems to be catching up to him. Afraid it might be a cop, he slows down to 65 and suddenly whhhoooosshh! Something whips by him going much faster!
"What on earth could be going faster than this Vette?" the man asks himself. Then, ahead of him, he sees a dot coming towards him. Whhoooosshh! It goes by again, heading the opposite direction! And it sorta looked like the old man on the moped! "Couldn't be," thinks the guy. "How could a moped outrun a Vette?"
Then again he sees a dot in his rear view mirror! Whhooosshh - Blam! It plows into the back of the Vette! The man jumps out. It is the old man! Of course, the moped and the old man are in a world of hurt. The guy runs up to the old man and cries, "You're hurt bad! Is there anything I can do for you?"
The old man groans and replies, "Yes, could you please unhook my suspenders from your side mirror?"
Vettes in Vets ~ West Coast StyleStory and photos by Rooster Brown
West Coast Correspondent
In Remembrance
In November EMCC lost one of its own. Jack Mitchell.He lost his lengthy fight to cancer. Jack was a long time member of the Eastern Mass Corvette Club.I can recall him telling me(many times) about his plans to retire and move to Bowling Green and work at the Corvette Museum. A plan he accomplished!I will always remember Jack pulling into Cruise Night with the top down on his Corvette wearing driving gloves.Jack will be missed.
RIP … Dennis
“WHERE YOU COME FOR THE CARS … BUT STAY FOR THE PEOPLE”
