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2011 Letter from the Chairperson
Dear Club Member, October, 2011
In a year with a very tough economy, we have experienced a series of well attended club events. I think it is important to point out how the financial picture for club member benefit is shaping up. Club members who rejoined the club got two years for $10. If a member attends any of our events they are rewarded with free meals and/or gifts and prizes. I have never gone to any car shows that provide such benefits to members. So in these tough financial times, the NE Nash Car Club of America provides fun and a great deal. That being said, now let’s take a look at the past year in review.
Winter Event: This year we held a winter planning lunch in February and had 18 members attend. All had a great meal and most walked away with great door prizes, nice car models or gas cards, nice memories and plans for future fun.
Dust Off Event: In April we joined the “Mystery Run” sponsored by CAMO. People who did the run, said they had a great time. We’ll keep you posted for next year’s schedule.
NENCCA BBQ: BBQ held at our home in June, it was cold and rained. But 21 of our members came, we had good food and a lot of conversation and laughs. Everyone had plenty to eat and we all kept dry and warm in my new garage. After the meal , everyone got a barn tour including an look at my toy train layout. Some got to play engineer. Two people brought their AMC rides, great to see their dedication.
AMCRC National Convention: (Annapolis, MD): In mid-July Jane and I traveled south to Annapolis, Maryland for the AMCRC National Convention. I was invited to be the banquet speaker, to talk about the 1957 Rambler Rebel, a NASH! To accompany my talk, Buck Depkin brought my old Rebel to the car show.
Several of my AMCRC buddies were at the show with their cars, Larry Blatt with has exceptional and extremely rare V8-343, 1967 Rogue (58 built), Brian Yacino, AMCRC club honcho, and Dave Williams with his 73 Ambassador coupe. We had good and warm weather for the show.
The banquet was very good featuring some great crab soup. They had an auction and I gave a presentation on the 57 Rebel. I tried to interject some stories with facts and history. It’s clear the AMC guys like Nashes.
Grand Nashional: (Kenosha, WI) Several of our members travelled to the Grand Nashional held in the town where many of our AMC’s were born. They talked of a great event with lots of car talk and fun events. Many mentioned the Nash Museum.
AMCRC 4 Seasons Regional Event: Many club members attended the Sturbridge AMCRC show, having a record 8 Mets in attendance, led by the Hurd’s and Peter Gilligan. My 67 was not ready to go , so I did not make it. This show is always on my list as a, “must do”. Brian Yacino and company put on a meet the usually pulls in over 100 cars and is a great deal of fun. In the past we have stuffed goodie bags and made donations to their auction.
NENCCA Car Event: Finally we had our Annual Car Show at Garland’s garage on September 11th, with 9 cars in attendance including Frank Nash’s 1927 NASH hot rod. There was also over a 12 cars from the Old Tyme Cruisers Hot Rod Club in attendance, the garage is home base to them. Everyone had a great time checking out and working on cars. Several NENCCA members got free official NSRA 23 point car inspections and most passed. These are inspections that hold Hot Rods to a high safety standard. We offered a catered lunch and a goodie bag to all entered cars. Every NENCCA member who came got a $10 gas car from our VP Natalie Koziell.
AACA October Hershey meet: Jane and I drove to Hershey, PA to experience the biggest and best car show in the USA. This show is four days long and features a flea market of car parts so big it takes that long to see it, if your feet don’t give out. It doesn’t hurt that it is adjacent to Hershey Chocolate World and Hershey Park. You can find parts for anything, and solve that sweet tooth problem. I got an NOS “Rogue” script for my 67. I of course got it through the help of my eagle eye AMC buddy Kevin Shope. He was just one of my PA AMC buddies that we hung out with. The NASH club has a tent on the show field.
This show features over 3000 cars, going from the very early 1900’s, I saw a 1902 Olds, to cars built in 1986. There were very rare one off cars and so many fantastic cars you had to keep closing your mouth (just to stop drooling). I saw two mint Stanley Steamer Runabouts, they held the speed record at over 100 mph for many years, made in Maine.
However, for me the maximum enjoyment was being with the other Nash guys talking about cars, and best weather ever at a Hershey event, it was perfect.
Planning for next year:
I would in general hope that we would have a similar slate of activities for next year. There are some planned activities that should be of interest to our club.
Events:
AMO is planning on having their National Meet at the same hotel that we used for the Grand Nashional in 2007. I am sure they would welcome our cars at the show. I will work on some details.
AMCRC 4 Seasons meet in Sturbridge help on the last weekend of July. As details become available I will post them on the website.
Macungie Car show, held on the first weekend of August. It starts on Thursday and goes through Sunday. There are usually over 1600 cars. Our club is represented directly.
Carlisle car show, April usually the third weekend.
Hershey AACA car show, Second October weekend.
Garland’s Garage is interested in having us back in 2012.
Some final thoughts
We need to get some people in to help with the club work, the same group has been doing this for along time, most since at least 1990.
The club has developed and maintained a first class website at no cost to the club, and apparently rarely used by our club. I hope that more people will use and enjoy it, I try to post photos soon after any event. (www.nencca.org)
So, please think about helping out, even a part of a job would be a huge help to the club.
Finally, the Club Officers would like to wish everyone a very Happy Holiday Season and a terrific New Year. Look for an announcement of our 2012 winter event !!!!!!
Yours, Bill Lenharth
