AACA Newsletter - February 2000
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ANTIQUE AUTOMOBILE CLUB OF AMERICA NORTH CENTRAL FLORIDA REGION Gainesville, Florida Volume 18, Issue 02 |
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Club meets on the 3rd Monday of the month Next Meeting: February 21, 2000 7:00 PM at Semolina's Pasta, Oaks Mall Plaza, 6795 Newberry Road (Next to old Mill Rest.) Come early if you want to eat. Program starts promptly at 7:30 PM | |
President: Larry Galyean (352) 372-8661 Vice-Pres: Mike Whyte (352) 377-0390 Sec/Treas: Stuart Cullen (352) 375-8999 Editor: David L. Johnson (352) 378-7573 |
| Inside this Newsletter | |
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AT 103 LOUIS STILL ENJOYS THE "OLD" CARS: |
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Certainly, at 103 years old, Louis is a Gainesville institution. Louis was around when the very first autos were being made, and I do mean the very first. He was about 4 when the 1901 curved dash Olds was being built. He was about 11 when Mr. Ford's first Model T came off the line in 1908. Most people have only read about the history of cars, this guy has seen it all. In fact, he is older than almost any car ever built. Somehow, our "old" cars don't seem so old anymore. His hamburger place called "Louis Lunch", was started in 1928 and it still is operating while hidden away in old Gainesville. Of course, he doesn't flip many burgers any more, that task being left up to his 'younger' family members, but Louis still shows up. How does this man figure into AACA? Well, read on and see what you missed if you were unable to attend our January special tour. | |
| AACA FLAGLER CRUISES TO G'VILLE FOR ACTION: |  |
| On January 22, several members of the Wheels in Motion-Flagler County Region of AACA made the trek to Gainesville in their vintage cars to meet up with some of us locals for a day of motoring and car collection reviews. Everyone meet at Louis Lunch for hamburgers. The Flagler Region brought about 10 cars, including a 1917 Studebaker, a 1960 Buick convertible, a 1955 T-Bird, a 1938 Chrysler and other good looking vintage vehicles. Larry & Patty Galyean, Carl Fritz, Don McCullen, Frank Wheelus, and Dave Johnson met the Flagler contingent, had a long lunch, talked cars, took pictures and continued on to the next stop on the tour. Bob Grimes joined us on the next leg with his '35 Ford. | |
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COACHBUILDER'S OPENS DOORS TO THE TOUR: |
| Don and Donna McCullen once again opened the doors to their convertible manufacturing plant in High Springs. The Coachbuilder's plant is always a favorite stop since it offers a unique look at what's required to take a brand new Cadillac (or other make) and turn it into a real live action convertible. The surgery is mind boggling, but the end result is beautiful. As always, the highlight of the tour is Don's personal collection of award winning automobiles. Besides the 40 or so finished cars, there are others in various stages of restoration. Although this collection is centered around 1950's thru 1970's vehicles, you never know what you will find. Don's tastes sometimes run rampant and they seem to be diversifying more with each new moon. As an example, see Don's 1932 Pontiac featured in last month's Spark & Throttle Newsletter. | |
| TOUR ADDS DR. CADE'S WILD COLLECTION: |  |
| Probably more Studebakers than any place but the namesake's museum in South Bend, Indiana. I'm not sure, but there can't be many places that have well over a 100 Studebakers in one place. Even though some don't run, and they go from basket cases to museum pieces, there are about 60 that are "runners". And, the parts warehouse is large, overflowing and must have more Studebaker items than almost anywhere else. Folks...we are talkin' truckloads! Dr. Robert Cade, a long time prominent urologist at the University of Florida is also known as the inventor of the sports drink "Gatorade", but in our circles he's known as Mr. Studebaker. Dr. Cade loves to talk about his cars and show everyone around the buildings and yard which are nestled in a farm like setting a few miles outside of Gainesville. He likes to reminisce about his first Studebaker, a 1957 station wagon and a 1951 that he bought for $10 because he needed quick transportation to New York. It came with a tank of gas and a big can of oil which he found useful when it was discovered that it used about a quart of oil every 25 miles. But, the car got him from Florida to New York and back. Thus started his long time passion for this brand. | |
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AREA CAR COUNCIL MEETS AT NPD IN OCALA: | On February 8, our area car club council met at the National Parts Depot in Ocala to work out the car show schedules for this year. About 45 people showed up, including representatives from four new clubs. That attendance was a record. Larry reports that the meeting was a huge success. The Council meets primarily to coordinate events to minimize date conflicts. A joint club picnic has been set for May 21, details will follow. |
| JANUARY AT SEMOLINA'S: |  |
| Another good meeting! With plenty of jollies, a little news, some dynamite music, a new deck of cards, some dues collected, and a whole lot more. Birthday wishes were in order for Suzanne Kirk, Gary Bennett, and Gene Honeycutt. Wayne gave an off beat version of Andy Kaufmann "singing(?)" the birthday tune, but others declined citing alzheimer's, laryngitis and other reasons. One of Semolina's waitresses sang her fabulous version of Happy Birthday in Italian. She's dynamite! | |
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PAUL ZIMMERMAN HAS A HEART: |
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Just in time for Valentines Day, doctor's have confirmed that Paul Zimmerman has a heart.
Perhaps it's somewhat used and needing some repair, but nevertheless he has a heart. Like so
many of us in this club, it seems that we require a little personal maintenance from time to
time. Paul needed a valve job. Considering Paul's mileage, that's not bad. Hey, we've got automobiles with a fraction of the wear that have been re-valved more than once. Paul is reportedly doing really well, and we wish him a good and speedy recovery. He ought to be good for another 100,000. | |
| SHERWIN IS "PUBLISHED" |  |
| That 1957 Buick has gathered another honor. The picture of the red beauty is shown on page 34 of the February issue of Hot Rod Magazine. The picture was taken while Sherwin was a participant in the Power Tour East. | |
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JIM'S PONTIAC IS THE MARCH "PLAYMATE" IN THE AACA 2000 CALENDAR |
| Jim Schmidt was surprised to see his incredible "win everything" 1960 Pontiac as "Miss March" in the AACA Calendar for 2000. It's a gorgeous picture (almost as good as our wives.) | |
| STEVE CULLEN REPORTS "IT'S A BOY": | Oliver Cullen, the newest edition of the Cullen dynasty has reported for duty. Steve reportedly is already showing him how to use a wrench and how to get rid of annoying rattles that seem to plague babies and old cars. Congratulations to all the Cullen's. |
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CADILLAC CLUB HOSTS OUR AACA MEMBERS: |
| The Tarpon Springs, FL Cadillac Club played host to Jim & Jean Buffington, Jim & Sally Schmidt, Don McCullen, Larry & Patty Galyean and Doug Jackson on Sunday February 13. Three Cadillacs and one lonely Ford were driven to Tarpon Springs for the day. JB had his '57, JS his '56, DM his '60, and LG his '55 Ford. After brunch and some show and tell, the group toured the "Classic Car Restoration & Service Center" in Tarpon Springs. This state-of-the-art facility occupies two city blocks and comes complete with a replica 1930's style gas station. There is also a large collector car sales area where the offerings were decidedly upscale. The Center is owned by Al Wiseman, along with Jim and Chris Brand. Impressive, but Larry reports he was blown away by Mr. Wiseman's personal collection housed in it's own immaculate facility. The vehicles were high quality, unusual, some true classics, and everywhere was a lot of matching & supporting memorabilia. | |
| SHERIFF TOM RICHARDS? |  |
| Tommy Richards from North Florida Cruisers in Lake City has announced his candidacy for sheriff of Columbia County. (Guys...better put some governors on those hot machines.) | |
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BEFORE THERE WAS GASOLINE:
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There was life before gasoline. We tend to think of the automobile only in terms of gasoline
power. But, there was a great deal of automotive activity, and even some commercial success,
long before gasoline. | Wind powered carriages were running in the Netherlands in the 1600's, but destinations were limited. A clockwork propelled carriage was demonstrated in Paris in 1748. Forced air and gun powder were also tried as power sources. By 1808, coal-gas and hydrogen were patented for use, but had limited operating success. What did work reliably was steam. Probably the first real automobile was a steam powered tricycle built by Frenchman Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot in 1769, which could run for 20 minutes at a blazing 2.25 miles per hour while four breathless passengers feared for their lives. Steam was a hot subject for over 150 years, from the late 1700's forward, but, most of the effort went to the steam powered bus. Some ran in Paris in 1800, and by the 1830's the manufacture of steam carriages became a minor industry in Britain. By 1831, there was regularly scheduled passenger service using steam buses. One line servicing the City of Gloucester made the nine mile trip in 45 minutes four times a day and carried 3000 passengers in four months. Thousands rode these steam buses before the steam railroads were ever built. But, the vehicles were noisy, they torn up the roads, and were dangerous. At the urging of existing horse related transportation companies, laws were eventually passed that put the industry out of business by 1840. But, work continued on light steam powered personal vehicles. "Sporty" two seater models could have gone into production in the 1860's, moving the start of the automobile age back 30 years. But, the laws concerning steam vehicles remained prohibitive until 1896, and history was forever changed. Alternatively, experimentation with gasoline power was pursued with some success by several French inventors through the 1860's and 70's. Then, when Carl Benz developed his gasoline powered German auto in 1885 and Gottlieb Daimler followed in 1886, the beginning of the first real commercial auto was begun. Both men promoted the manufacture of their vehicles and were driving forces in the development of the industry. In the U.S., the earliest commercial efforts at gasoline powered autos are usually credited to Charles and Frank Duryea. In 1893, they introduced their first car. Although there were many others building individual cars before and at the same time, the Duryea became a commercial success and over shadowed the other players of the day. Despite the advances in gasoline power, steam did not lose its allure all together. Americans made a strong effort and manufactured several highly successful autos, among them the renowned Stanley Steamer which set the world speed record in 1906 at 127.66 MPH. Many brands and thousands of steamers were built, hundreds can still run and many more are just tucked away in collections. For well over 250 years, we have been struggling with the sources of power to be used in transportation. Steam had its day, gasoline conquered all, but in between and amongst it all has been just about every conceivable power source. Wind, compressed air, electric, solar and springs. Plus we've used fuels like kerosene, hydrogen, benzoline, alcohol, methane, and many others we probably wouldn't recognize. And the story is still unending, because fuel cells are on the horizon, as well as hybrid gas-electrics, and many of the "old" forms of propulsion, but with new twists. Everything is being revisited again and it will be interesting, but in the interim it's still gasoline. Fill 'er up! | |
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STUMP THE CAR BUFF: |
1. Why did Henry Ford name his tractor "Fordson"? 2. What auto was built by an early maker of radios and refrigerators? Answers |
| CRUISE-INS & SHOWS: |
| ACTIVITIES NEAR-BY: |
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Feb 18-20: Webster, FL 7th Winter. Feb 24-27: Zephyrhills, FL 26th Winter Auction & Flea Market, plus. Mar 12 : Amelia Island, FL Concours d'Elegance (Auction is on Mar 11). Mar 10-12 : Tampa, FL Tampa Bay Auto Fair 2000, trophied Show, Corral, Swap, Kruse Auction and entertainment. State Fair Grounds. Mar 18: Gainesville, FL Gatornationals Annual Car Show by the G'ville Street Rods, all collector cars welcome. SAM'S Club 4-10 PM. Mar 24-26: Daytona, FL 11th annual Spring Auto Show plus Vendors. Apr 14-16: Ft. White, FL Camp & Cruz by Cresent Community Cruisers. Call Larry Osten (904) 454-9434. Apr 29(?): Waldo, FL Waldo Railroad Days. Plus car show. May 6: High Springs, FL Annual Pioneer Days. May 20: Trenton, FL Suwannee River Early Ford Club Antique Car Show at Ayers Health Center. 2nd Sat each month: Gainesville Street Rods Cruise in of customs & antiques at Butler Plaza, by the Texas Road and Gainesville Ale Houses. The 2nd Sat. of the month from 6-9 PM. Call Sherwin at (352) 473-2268. |
| SPECIAL AACA EVENTS: |
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Mar 2-4: Ft. Lauderdale, FL AACA Winter Nationals, (561) 272-7705. Apr 6-9: Charlotte, NC Autofair 2000 May 19-20: Winchester, VA Eastern National Spring Meet. Jun 3: Hershey, PA 5th annual AACA Museum Exposition. Jul 14-15: Mountoursville, PA Grand National Meet. Jul 20-22: Charlotte, NC Special Southeastern Division Fall Meet. Aug 4-6: Macungie, PA 37th Das Awkscht Fescht Show Aug 17-19: Waukesha, WI Central Division National Fall Meet. Oct 4-7: Hershey, PA Eastern Div. National Fall Meet (THE SHOW!) Nov 16-18: Cape Canaveral, FL Southeastern Div. National Fall Meet. |
| Other U.S. Events for 2000 |
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Feb 25-27: Kruse-Atlantic City, NJ Mar 10-12: Kruse-Tampa, FL Mar 25-26: Kruse-Ft Myers, FL May 5-7: Kruse-Volo, IL May 12-14: Kruse-Auburn (spring) Aug 30-Sep 5: Kruse-Auburn (fall) |
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PAST SCHOOL HOUSES TAKE IT SLOW LET THE LITTLE |  |
| "Stump" answers: |
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1. Some promoters from Minneapolis cleverly hired a young man named Ford allowing them to
use the name and bring out the "Ford Tractor" ahead of Henry.
2. The Crosley. Most parts for the 4 cyl. air cooled engine were stamped out of sheet metal. Begun in 1939, 10's of thousands were sold, before its demise in 1952. |
Note: Dues Time
Pay your $26 National dues directly,
see form with your Antique Automobile Magazine.
Pay Stuart $26 for your local dues.
See You Monday!
Shown at Louis Lunch Gainesville, FL
Photo by Editor
ANTIQUE AUTOMOBILE CLUB OF AMERICA NORTH CENTRAL FLORIDA REGION
[ APRIL 2000 ] [ MAY 2000 ] [ JUNE 2000 ] [ JULY 2000 ]
c/o David L. Johnson
3752 NW 21st Place
Gainesville, FL 32605
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