Weekly Magazine

Vol. 17, No. 9
The Official Newsletter of the Staten Island Region of the Antique Automobile Club of America
Ragtops &
Rumbleseats
Sept 2010
• Last Meeting Before Car Show - 9/7
Vintage Advertising
I’m betting that this ad for the
1939 Chrysler wouldn’t go over
too well in today’s world. It
portrays women as incapable of
understanding car-speak terms
like “horsepower” and “steering-wheel gear shift”. It does
give them credit for having the
common sense and intuition to
understand what these words
mean to them in terms of their
driving experience with a Chrysler.
It’s a clever ad for sure, actually
bridging the gap between the engineering features of the car and
the benefits the owner receives
from them.
People today care very little for
clever at someone’s expense,
leaving today’s ads fairly dull.
In This Issue
Show time! What’s required?
Don’t miss the September meeting!
Members needed for Richmond
County Fair, September 4-6.
American Graffiti Tour stops
next door.
Destination: the Nicola Bulgari
Collection.
One of many Thunderbirds to
recently enter the SIRAACA Garage.
Trivi a Qu e s t i o n : Ok l a h o m a n a t i ve Carl Magee invented this item in 1932, and many
were f i r s t i n s t a l l e d i n Ok l a h o m a City. They remain in use in cities and towns the world
over, s l ow l y g i v i n g w a y t o n e we r, electronic versions. What is it?
Answer: The parking meter.
RAGTOPS & RUMBLESEATS
September, 2010
Volume 17, Number 9
SIRAACA Who’s Who
EDITOR Paul Arena, Jr. - nuyear68@aol.com
PRESIDENT Paul Arena, Jr. - nuyear68@aol.com
VICE PRESIDENT Mike Signorile - onehot51@aol.com
SECRETARY Tony DiAngelo
TREASURER Phil Boffa
MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY Fred DiGiovanni
SERGEANT-AT-ARMS Jeff Tucker
WEBMASTER - siraaca@yahoo.com
Frank Nathanson
www.aaca.org/siraaca
Minutes of the 424th Meeting
August 3, 2010
1. The 424th meeting was called to order at 7:30 PM by President Paul
Jr. Following the Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silence, the
minutes of the 423rd meeting were accepted as read by Secretary Tony
DiAngelo
2. Debbie Parsons and Jack Semich from Staten Island Project Homefront joined us to discuss our upcoming car show and review volunteers, donations and press coverage.
3. Bob Johnson addressed the members regarding our participation at
the upcoming Bikers for Babies event on August 29 at the Mall.
4. Car show posters have been printed and are ready to distribute.
Dash plaques have been ordered, featuring John Bruno’s 1966 Impala
SS and Tony Provato’s 1966 Olds 442 convertibles. Steve Trotto continues to work on the soap box derby participants’ attendance. The show
field at CSI is being slightly reconfigured by the school, which will give
us a dozen or so additional spots.
5. The club was offered a large donation of used trophies, some which
may need updated years or faceplates. Our trophy supplier will donate
whatever cosmetic upgrades we need. Arrangements to pick them up
and store them were made with the help of Jeff Tucker.
6. It was suggested that we clarify our insurance coverage with the
AACA now that we are a 501(c)(3). Paul Jr. will verify all’s well .
7. Please have all raffle monies, tickets, and donations in for the September meeting.
8. Paul Jr. reviewed a plan to allow our club to apply for financial grants
in support of our mission. A long term plan must be devised towards
several goals, such as a building of our own. A motion to form a committee to prepare for this was put on the floor. The motion was voted
on and approved unanimously by those in attendance. The committee
consists of Steve Trotto, Kevin Keenan, Charlier Auer, Bob Stephens,
Jon Schulman and Paul Jr.
9. The club will purchase a raffle car banner to help promote each
year ’s car.
10. Phil Boffa gave a Treasury Report. All’s in order.
11. The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 pm. The 50/50 collected $39.00
and Ken Haase won $20.00.
Respectfully submitted,
Tony DiAngelo, Secretary, SIRAACA
c lub happe n i n g s
FE A T U R E
Richmon d C o u n t y F a i r
A m e r i c a n G r a ff i ti Redux
This year ’s Richmond County Fair returns for
three days over Labor Day weekend, from Saturday, September 4 through Monday, September 6. Each day, the club will display several
vehicles and sell tickets on the raffle car. At this
point, we have a very small list of attendees,
and need more volunteers. Please contact Paul
Jr. with your availability. Ideally, a minimum
of six cars each day makes a decent display and
gives us enough people to manage the raffle
table. Members without cars are still needed
to help out, too. Richmond Town is also looking for some volunteers to help them with their
gates. If any family members want to help out,
they’re welcome, too.
The weekly cruise nite at TGI Friday’s in Woodbridge
was one of the stops of an American Graffiti tour, featuring actors Paul LeMat (“Milner”) and Cindy Williams (“Laurie”) on hand signing autographs, and
plenty of Graffiti-inspired rides. Henry Ford’s Model
A was well represented, along with several bowtie Bel
Air ’s. A handful of members joined in the fun, and
the raffle car did well while promoting our upcoming
show. Fred DiGiovanni won an award for his customized 1949 Cadillac, while Joe Brande showed his 1971
Olds Cutlass and Paul Arena brought along his 1948
Dodge. Friday’s hosts a weekly cruise nite each Tuesday, located off of Route 1 South across from the Woodbridge Mall.
Upcomi n g R o a d Tr i p
The club is planning a trip to visit part of the car
collection of Nicola Bulgari, world renowned
Italian jewelry master, at his 10,000 square foot
hangar in Allentown, PA. His stateside collection numbers around 50 cars, many from 1941
(the year he was born). His favorite make is
Buick, but his collection ranges far and wide.
Andrew Napoli will sort out the details, and
the trip most likely will be on a weeknight in
September. We have the option of driving ourselves, or if the turnout is strong, perhaps rent a
bus for the evening.
ELIQUAT
SIR
AC A
AEUGUER
Cover : A 19 4 7 D o d g e Cu s to m 6 - Pa s s e n g e r Co u p e. Ad s pro claimed it the “smo othest car a float ”. (photo by Paul Jr.)
From the P r e s i d e n t
The September meeting is by far
our most important of the year as
we finalize our plans for the upcoming car show and flea market
on September 19. All members
are asked to attend so that we can
organize work assignments and
collect all outstanding monies.
Please bring in all of your sold
raffle tickets, and trophy donations.
The raffle car has a few key appearances coming up, including
the March of Dimes event on August 29 at the Staten Island Mall
and the Richmond County Fair
over the Labor Day weekend.
Members are encouraged to attend these events as well to pitch
in with raffle sales. Both events
take place before our meeting in
September, so please contact me
if you need information on either
event.
- NEXT MEETING - September 7 Our next scheduled meeting will be held on Tuesday,
September 7th at 7:00 PM at The Manor House at 917
Manor Road. Each meeting is held on the first Tuesday of the month.
Remember that $5.00 is collected
from each member to offset the cost of the meeting.
M o d e l A a n d D e l a h a y e a t Monterey
Just as Hershey becomes the center of the collector car universe each
October, so does the Monterey Peninsula each August. Home to the
Pebble Beach Concours, it also features numerous other gatherings
such as The Quail, and plenty of auctions with serious money changing hands.
One such auction is held by RM Auctions, who this year saw fourteen
cars top the $1,000,000 mark, including a “no sale” at $10.7 million for
a 1958 Ferrari 250 TR. Eight others were Ferrari’s, and only two were
American cars - a 1933 Duesenberg SJ Phaeton fetched $1.43 million,
while a 1933 Packard V-12 Coupe took in $1.62 million.
A 1949 Delahaye 175 S Roadster by Saoutchik, seen below, sold for
$3.3 million.
The fruits of our efforts are soon
to ripen and be enjoyed by all.
Thanks! - Paul Jr.
The Eleg a n c e
A new event has been announced,
to be known as The Elegance at
Hershey, scheduled for June 1112, 2011. Limited to just 75 cars,
it’s a true “best of the best” exhibition on the lovely grounds of
the Hotel Hershey. It will also include vintage racers attacking the
fabled Hershey Hilltop course.
Beneficiaries of this exclusive
event are the Juvenile Diabetes
Research Foundation, the AACA
Museum, and the AACA Library
& Research Center. Stay tuned
for more details.
(photo cour tesy of sup ercars.net)
Another notable “no sale” was a 1903 Ford Model A Tonneau, recognized as the oldest car ever sold by Ford Motor Company to still
exist. It is one of three Model A’s ordered on July 13, 1903, and the
only survivor. The money received by Ford for these three cars kept
the company from going into receivership and provided a safe foundation for the Ford Motor Company to build upon and become the
empire that revolutionized the fledgling auto industry. The car has
had only four owners in its lifetime, but couldn’t find a fifth with a
rejected high bid of $325,000.
SIR AAC A
LOREM IPSUM
Inside the SIRAACA Garage
Tom Lavin has three 1965 Thunderbirds in the SIRAACA Garage, and
this one is Special, literally.
It’s a Special Landau, an unofficial
10th Anniversary limited production
model, with just 4500 built. All had
a parchment-colored vinyl roof and
matching interior, and most were
painted in exclusive Ember-Glo Metallic. Ember-Glo accents appear on
the dash, bucket seat backs, carpeting, and deluxe wheel covers, too.
About 5% of all Special Landaus were
painted Wimbledon White, and there
are reports that one or two may have
been ordered in Navajo Beige.
( p h o tos by Paul Jr.)
Additional features unique to this
model include simulated burled walnut interior trim, and Special Landau
nameplates on the roof rear quarter
mouldings and front door interior
trim.
Under the hood is a 390 V-8 topped
with a four-barrel carburetor, mated to a three-speed Cruise-O-Matic
transmission. It exhales through factory dual exhausts. Base price for the
Special Landau was $4,368.
Upcoming Events
Hop into your car and gather your friends for a ride to one of these upcoming events:
Do you have a car (or had a car) that
should be featured in the SIRAACA
Garage? Let me know at the meetings, or via parena2@si.rr.com.
Last month’s mystery car from 1914
was a Marmon.
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End of Summer Doo Wop Concert, South Beach - August 27
March of Dimes Bikers for Babies & Car Show, S.I. Mall - August 29
Richmond Town County Fair - September 4-6
Monsignor Farrell H.S. Car Show - September 12
Motori d’Italia, Casa Belvedere (Howard Avenue) - September 18
SIRAACA 34th Annual Car Show & Flea Market, CSI - September 19
Fall Englishtown, Raceway Park - September 24-26
SIR AAC A
LOREM IPSUM