March 2013 Newsletter
EVENTS . . . at a glance
April 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . 6:00 p.m. Dinner w D Coy Duck’s w 201 N. Main w Lawton w 269-624-3341
8:00 p.m. Meeting at the Lawton Community Center
April 17 . . . . . . . . . 7:00 p.m. Round-Up Meeting w All are welcome!!
Frank & Judi Southwell’s home w 8044 West Q Ave. w Kalamazoo w 269-375-1375
April 20 . . . . . . . . . . . 8:30 a.m. Breakfast w LaRue’s Family Restaurant w 6375 Stadium Drive w 269-375-7113
Safety Check (following breakfast) at the home of Kathy & Dan Cargo w 649 N. 1st Street
Round-Up Goodie Bag Stuffing at the home of Kathy & Dan Cargo
Potluck Lunch after the Safety Check and Goodie Bag Stuffing w Bring a dish to pass
April 27 & 28 . . . . . . . Workdays at the Model A Museum w All are welcome w 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. w Any time you can give will be greatly appreciated.
May 4 - 11 . . . . . . . . . Women’s Build for Habitat for Humanity
May 17 - 19 . . . . . . . . Michigan Model A Round-Up w Hosted by our Club w Have you registered yet?
DUES ARE “ALMOST” PAST DUE . . .
Dues are $10 (per person or per couple). Please submit cash or a check (made out to Grape Country Model A’s) to Donna Renuart when you see her or you can mail her a check. Send to: Donna Renuart w 1400 Northpoint Dr. w Kalamazoo, MI 49004. Dues must be paid by March 31, 2013.
SPRING SAFETY CHECK . . . . Dan Cargo
It was discussed at the March meeting that the Safety Check was going to be at Bob & Phyllis Culp’s home on April 20th. That has since changed. Kathy and I will host the Safety Check at our home … 649 North 1st St., Kalamazoo. Plan on a potluck lunch. We will supply plates, utensils and drinks. You bring a dish to pass. The date will be the same - April 20th. We will meet at 8:30 a.m. at LaRue’s Family Restaurant on Stadium Drive for breakfast. Don’t want breakfast?? We should be to our home by 9:45 a.m. Hope you can attend.
ROUND-UP GOODIE BAG STUFFING . . . . Trudy Morrissey
In conjunction with the Safety Check, the Goodie Bags for the Round-Up will be stuffed with all sorts of “goodies.” Since so many women attend the Saturday breakfast, I thought this would be a perfect time to do this task. And … we will be doing the stuffing at the Cargo home. Plus, since the Safety Check will have a potluck lunch, we can partake in this meal also. Only thing is, the women will probably be making the “dish to pass”. Menu ideas will be discussed at the April meeting. If you have any questions regarding this event, please contact me at 269-372-7936.
Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently. - Henry Ford
frOM OUR CLUB PRESIDENT . . . Frank Southwell
As I write this, I realize we are two months away from our Round-Up. I hope all of our planning has made us ready. Because of all the publicity in National magazines, I am thinking this will be a really big event. The last date to register, without penalty, is April 17th. I hope you all register and take part in the fun.
Looking ahead to April, did you know that our club was founded April 15th, 1987? Did you realize we are 26 years old? Do you know who founded the club? Are any of the founding members still active?
Hope to see you in your Model A soon.
MINUTES FROM THE MARCH 5th MEETING . . . Norm Smith
It was snowy and chilly outside, but inside the LaCantina Ristorante Italiano in Paw Paw, it was warm with conversation and good food. Twenty-nine members of the Grape Country Model A Club met for dinner, prior to the March meeting at the Lawton Community Center.
President Southwell called the meeting to order at (an early) 7:45 p.m. There were no guests present. The minutes for February were approved.
Treasurer's Report: Donna Renuart reported $516.79. Membership dues ($10 dollars) need to be paid by March 31st. Also, if you have any changes to the roster, please let Donna know so she can update the information.
Frank sent around the sign-up sheet for this summer’s driving tours and/or ideas for places to visit or things to do. Please contact Frank if you would like to host a tour.
Sign-ups sheets for Round-Up task assignments were discussed by Dan Cargo. He indicated many members have already signed up. Please contact Dan if you are interested in assisting. Presently, there are only 14 members of the Club registered for the Round-Up (ed. note: as of 3/24/13, 23 members have registered). Remember, even if you paid the $100 advance, you still need to send in your registration form, and deduct the $100. Send in your registration, so we can have a good representation of our local club at the Round-Up. April 17th is last day to register without penalty.
Jerry Morrissey thanked the members for the February workday turnout at the Model A Ford Museum and that a lot of tasks were accomplished. Future workdays are to be held on March 16th and 17th and April 27th and 28th. The day starts around 9:00 a.m. and goes to 5:00 p.m. If you can only work for a few hours, that will be fine. There are jobs for everyone from painting to hanging signs to assisting with clothing displays. (ed. note: it’s almost done!!)
Cyndee Mishler gave us an update on the door prizes and raffle items for the Round-Up. There is still time to provide items for the raffle/door prizes. The goal is to have a door prize for a third of the attendees. A committee will be sorting the donated items into either raffle prizes or door prizes in mid-March. Please contact Cyndee if you have something to donate.
Discussion of the "Adopt-A-Highway" program was brought up again since a segment of M-40, by Lawton, was thought to be available. There was support to look into this and Kathy Cargo will find out and let us know.
Bob and Phyllis Culp will again host the Safety Check on April 20th after breakfast at LaRue's on Stadium Drive at 8:30 a.m. (Note: there will not be a luncheon as in years past.)
NOTE: Due to health restrictions on Bob & Phyllis, the Safety Check will now be held at the home of Kathy & Dan Cargo. Breakfast will still be at LaRue’s on Stadium Drive.
Cyndee Mishler gave an excellent presentation on how and where to look for era clothing; or patterns for making clothes with the vintage look. She shared with us the fashion seminar guideline by Anne Neely-Beck on vintage-looking clothes, shoes and make-up and how to store and care for your vintage outfits. Thank You Cyndee.
Dinner will be at D Coy Ducks in Lawton prior to our April 2nd meeting.
Trudy Morrissey took home $11 in the 50/50 drawing.
Meeting adjourned.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Many persons think that by hoarding money they are gaining safety for themselves. If money is your only hope for independence, you will
never have it. The only real security that a person can have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience and ability.
Without these qualities, money is practical useless. - Henry Ford
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ANSWERS TO
THE OFFICIAL MORON TEST . . . . taken from The Accelerator, Model A Ford Club of New Jersey
(the questions were in last month’s newsletter …)
1. Yes. It comes right after the 3rd.
2. One (1). You can only be born once.
3. Twelve (12). All of them have at least 28 days.
4. Six (6). Don’t forget there is a top and bottom to every inning.
5. No. He must be dead if it is his widow.
6. Seventy (70). Thirty (30) divided by 1/2 is 60.
7. Two (2). You take two apples, therefore YOU have TWO apples.
8. One hour. If you take the first pill at 1:00, the second at 1:30, and the third at 2:00, the pills have run out and
only one hour has passed.
9. Nine (9). Like I said, all BUT nine die.
10. None. I didn’t know that Moses had an ark.
11. Meat… that is self-explanatory.
12. Twelve (12). How many eggs are in a dozen? Twelve. It’s a dozen.
13. Dwight David Eisenhower. As far as I know, he hasn’t changed his name.
So, how did you do?
13 correct… GENIUS...you are good.
10 - 12 correct… ABOVE AVERAGE...but don’t let it go to your head.
7 - 9 correct… AVERAGE...but who wants to be average?
4 - 6 correct… SLOW...pay attention to the questions!
1 - 3 correct… IDIOT...what else can be said?
0 correct… CONGRATULATIONS, you are a certified MORON!
HOW MANY? . . .
The question “how many Model A’s are there?” is frequently asked when someone approaches us to look at and talk about our Model A’s. The following article appeared in the January 1965 issue of the MARC News, and may shed some light on the topic.
MODEL “A” BY THE MILLIONS
The first Model A was built December 2, 1927. Production was far behind the demand the first half of 1928, but 818,734 Model A’s were produced that year. The million marks were released as follows:
One Millionth … February 4, 1929
Two Millionth … July 24, 1929
Three Millionth … March 12, 1930
Four Millionth … October 1, 1930
Five Millionth* … April 14, 1931
*Does not agree with the figures released by Ford archives in 1955.
The best year was 1929 when nearly two million were produced. Production figures show that 5,017,486 is the total number produced. These figures were printed in the “Ford Field” magazine in 1945.
It was estimated at that time (14 years after production), that there were more than 3,000,000 still in use. Although no definite figures are available for today (1965), there are 300,000 Model A Fords in the U.S. with about 280,000 registered for state licenses and in actual use.
HELPFUL MECHANIC . . . Orange Peel Gazette, Volume 5, Issue 6
Taking my car to the mechanic, I was fearful that any needed repair might be too expensive. I was relieved when he told me all I needed was blinker fluid.
REMOVING RALPH’S HEAD . . . Dan Cargo & Terry Hoy
If you were to ask Ralph Borton, at our next meeting, how many people it takes to remove the head from a Model A engine, he will tell you three to remove it and three to reassemble it.
Ralph checked the oil in his Fordor, and it was milky and way above full on the dipstick. Terry Hoy, Tim Osborn, and I could smell this project from miles away, and this crew assembled on a Saturday morning in the North 6th Street Model A Garage to change a head gasket.
The head nuts were loosened, then the car was “started” to break the head loose. After trying to massage the head, it was quickly discovered that the head was really stuck. It would not budge. Many of the studs were already removed. We worked it and worked it unsuccessfully. (This would have been a good time to own one of the head pullers sold by Bratton’s.) Terry had the idea of stuffing heavy rope into a cylinder, then hitting the starter to let the piston do the work of pushing the head up. Repeated attempts of removing the rope and inserting it into a different cylinder gained ground ever so slowly. Screwdrivers and putty knifes were inserted in many places around the perimeter as progress was very slowly advanced. After two hours of this, the head finally was lifted off. It was discovered that the head was hung up on two very rusted studs. We should have pre-soaked the whole car in a pond of Kroil to make the task a little easier.
The Fordor sat quietly for about three weeks, giving Ralph time to order the parts and clean the head and block.
The reassembly team was Jerry Morrissey, Tim Osborn, and me (Dan). A Monday evening was spent placing the freshly painted head back on without incident. The engine started right up and ran like new.
The four of us know that Ralph has more Model A wisdom than we will ever see, and he could have done the repair in half the time by himself. It was just more fun getting friends together to work on the project.
WOMEN’S BUILD FOR HABITAT FOR HUMANITY . . . Trudy Morrissey
It has been an entire year since eight women from our Model A club volunteered to work on a home for Habitat for Humanity. This is the fifth year of the Women’s Build and I am again asking anyone in the club if they would like to join me for this cause. Usually, we volunteer on Tuesday - the same day as our May meeting. Hopefully, the build will extend into the second week of May and we can sign up for the second Tuesday instead. If you are interested, please email me at [email protected] or call me at 269-372-7936. I will have more information in the coming weeks. We have a new volunteer coordinator this year and I think she will put forth the effort to make this event enjoyable for all.
THE “BIRTH” OF OUR MODEL A CLUB . . . David Lyon
It was the middle of winter in 1987. The snow blowing across M-40 and the temperature was hovering at 20 degrees. Jane and I met with Vivian and Max Kinney at the Big T to plan the founding of the Model A club.
These were momentous times and we discussed the venture with excitement and some apprehension. As we finished desert, we finally settled on the name “Grape Country Model A Region” and decided to announce the initial meeting of the Club through the Arc & Spark, the newsletter for the Kalamazoo Car Club.
The evening of that first meeting, later that spring, was interesting. We had identified nearly 100 cars in the Kalamazoo club and thought that many people would arrive with cars in hand. We soon found that not to be, as we went around the tables asking each person to describe which of the several Model A’s they owned.
Max Kinney (now in heaven) had a beautiful 1928 Phaeton with AR features. Jane and I had a Tudor, which had been restored by a member of the Music Department of WMU, but featured a very poor, black vinyl interior. Frank Southwell had a running Tudor, which he restored the following winter. George Bolton didn’t have a running car, but owned a chassis of a car which belonged to his father, but had burned up in a fire. He was sure that the car was restorable, although he did purchase another roadster and restored it. Some of the others had a car that did not run, and others were planning to purchase, including Fred Grant who owned several Model T’s and a flat head V-8.
Fred would tell us stories of his search for a Cabriolet, although most of us didn't know what that was. One trip Fred took was to the Dakotas to look at a car, but it didn’t suit his fancy, so he drove home. Over the next few years, Phil Hissong, Bob Packer and Gordon Brown purchased cars and joined the club . . . . . . . (to be continued next month)