Director’s Thoughts, OCTOBER, 2018

 Gas Was Very Cheap: On some days, it was only $0.20 a gallon, and beyond that, the people at the station could also fix just about anything!

Car Seats Were More Like Couches: That’s right – they were big, long, and you could slide all the way across!

Sunday Drives Were A Thing: That’s right – on Sunday, many of us would load up the family car and just go cruising over to the neighbors or just around town!

The Drive-In Was The Place to Be: This 1950’s photo from South Bend, Indiana shows how popular they were!
A while back a member emailed these pictures to me. As I was going through my emails, I came across these & thought how nice is it to remember those days gone by. As a lot of you may remember each picture in your own lives growing up, I remember the front bench seats and Sunday drives w/ my family. With the time of year we are entering now, those Sunday drives & drive-in days will come to a seasonal close.
As we prepare for the cooler weather & begin to wind down the days of driving our BUIICKS, remember, the Annual Old Car Show held @ Kempton is just around the corner. October 28th will be here, have you signed up to volunteer your time? Please do so if you haven’t already signed up during one of the fall meetings.

Your elected Director, Sally Getz

“Free Spirit” Chapter Meeting Minutes, September, 2018

Meeting called to order @ 7:32 pm by Director Sally Getz. 16 members in attendance. All were “Welcomed” to the meeting. Sally went around the room & asked each member what “FUN” things they did this past summer. Some interesting answers were: “Work, driving my wife crazy, attending a AACA meet, visiting children, vacation to Canada, National meet in Colorado, DAF, a Milk Bottle Convention, watching grandchildren, etc.”

Treasurer’s report – Report provided, motion to accept, Isabel Lenny, seconded by Dolores Kennedy, so carried.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
A. Historian – no report
B. Kempton – Show sign-up sheet passed around. At present, there are 33 cars, 2 corral, 1 indoor flea, 5 outdoor flea pre-registered.
C. Membership –All but 1 member renewed for 2108-2019. “THANK YOU”.
D. Newsletter – no report
E. Programs – Organizing a list of guest speakers for 2019. If you would like to hear from a person/group/association please let Sally know and she will do the foot work.
F. Publicity – NE PA Regional & Kempton show ads have been placed on many web sites & in a Carbon County publication, “What’s Happening”. A copy of this publication was passed around so members could view the ad.
G. Technical – no report
H. Ways and Means – David Brady presented a new item, polishing rags with 3 different BUICK logos in them. (Women, these would make a GREAT GIFT for that certain someone in your life!) Sally gave the financial report on the Ways-n-Means sold during DAF.
RAFFLE: Ed Lenny was the proud recipient of this months’ raffle, a Hallmark BUICK GSX ornament! Congrats to Ed!

OLD BUSINESS: Many many “THANKS” to those members who were there very early in the day to help park the BUICK section of the show!! We have saved our shaded area for next year!

NEW BUSINESS: Sally received a “Thank you” letter with monies from Bruce/Shar Kile, 2017 Buick National Meet, Brookfield, WI, hospitality room coordinators for Ed/Isabel Lenny volunteering their time to help out during that show. Many “Thanks” to Ed/Isabel for this!!

Sally/Laura Getz attended the Alleghany Region AACA/Swigart Auto Museum meet held August 10/11, 2018 , Huntingdon, PA. 17 cars were in attendance, 2 of them Buicks: 1937, model 57, 2005 Rainier.

NE PA Buick Regional Meet: 52 cars pre-registered, driving tours in place & confirmed, David Brady/Dennis Snell has display fields laid out, DJ for Saturday confirmed, catered banquet selections chosen (WE ARE GOING TO EAT VERY WELL!!), participation awards & awards, along with shirts are being printed, & hotels have guests registered.

NEEDS ARE: members to help park cars in their appropriate classes, ladies to man the hospitality/ways-n-means areas, & registration. These needs are for the 3 days. Even though there are driving tours Thursday/Friday, we still need members to be available on the grounds for those who do not go on driving tours. PLEASE call Sally, 610-377-6130, 484-464-3418 to volunteer your time. We do not hold Regionals every year & so this is the time for you to SHINE!!! Come out & join in with the fun of running a REGIONAL MEET!!

Those members with whom I worked with in organizing & planning this event, have been exceptionally wonderful. I couldn’t ask for any better! Let us attend to enjoy the camaraderie with others & to share the hobby we all enjoy, BUICKS!! Let us portray, to others, the spirit of the “Free Spirit” Chapter !! We may be a small chapter, but we are STRONG in the spirit to the hobby, BUICKS!!

Future tours:

• Boyertown Museum, November 17, 2018
• Morgantown Museum
• Bill’s Old Barn & Bikes, Bloomsburg
• Eastwood Co.
• Seiverling Antique Car/Pedal Car Museum
• Kevin Keenan, director of NJ BCA chapter, has invited our chapter to attend their car show @ Straub Buick GMC, Keyport, NJ on October 20th:
  Keyport, NEW JERSEY
  The New Jersey Chapter of the BCA will be holding their annual car show at Straub Buick-GMC, 400 Hwy. 35 South, Keyport, NJ 07735. Show hours: 9:00 AM to 2:00PM. Registration is $20.00 the day of the show. Flea market registration is $25.00. The show is open to all makes and models. Contact Kevin Keenan 908-461-8301.
  Motion to adjourn: Dolores Kennedy, seconded by Tom Sylvester, 8:35 pm, so carried.

Your Elected Director, Sally Getz

November 17, 2018 Day Tour to Boyertown, Pa

Kathleen/Thomas Duckett will be taking the group to the Boyertown Transportation Museum on the morning of November 17th. Everyone will meet @ the Starlite Diner & Lounge. Be sure to get there early enough if you want to have breakfast @ the Diner. By 9:30 sharp, the Group will leave for Boyertown, Pa. Once at the Museum, a tour guide will be provided to give the group a nice & informative tour of the many transportation vehicles at the museum!

For lunch, the group will head for CD’s, no not the tapes, but CD’s the Restaurant, HaHa. There everyone will consume a most scrumptious lunch, or at least according to recent & past reviews!! After lunch, the group will then be taken to the Peppermint Stick Candy Store! There you will find all kinds of candy, plus their many flavors of Gummy Bears!! Besides candy, everyone can get a taste of their ice cream for dessert! Sounds like a fun time to me, how about you? See you at the Starlite Diner & Lounge by 9:30am!!

Check payable to “Free Spirit” Chapter of PA for $3.00 per person = MEMBER. $7.00 per person = NON-MEMBER. Children 15 & under = FREE. Submit to Kathleen Duckett, 6023 Riverview Rd., Slatington, PA 18080, 610-760-2467, klduckett@verizon.net, by November 13, 2018.

AACA Eastern Regional Spring Meet, Gettysburg, PA

Wayne & I attended the AACA Eastern Regional Spring Meet held July 11-14 @ Gettysburg PA. It was a great venue for the meet with the host hotel, alternate hotel, show grounds & plenty of room for trailer parking all in the same location. Each day there were plenty of activities for the attendees with at least 2 tours offered each day.
Wednesday we opted for the bus tour to Ft McHenry where we spent the morning learning about the War of 1812 & Francis Scott Key writing our National Anthem. We left there to have a delightful lunch in Baltimore Inner Harbor & then the afternoon with a tour guide at the Museum of Industry learning about the industrial revolution of Baltimore. The alternate tour was to UTZ Potato Chip Factory & Prueitt Restorations which I understand was also good tour. That night the club presented the movie “Fields of Freedom” about Pickett’s last charge during the Civil War.

Thursday we took the driving tour to Antietam Battlefield where the National Park Ranger explained the history of the area & the events of the Battle of Antietam. When we left the battlefield we drove to Chesapeake Region member, Don Bowman’s house for a buffet lunch provided by the club & to view his private collection of 85-90 antique cars. The alternate tour that day was a bus tour to Gettysburg Battlefield. That night there was a Welcome Party & a Comedian/Magician.

Friday we opted to not participate in the tours to Strasburg or the Eastern Museum of Motor Racing but instead we looked through the flea market, watched the race car & motorcycle checks & got our Buick ready for the meet. Since the meet was being held on the grounds of the hotel, the car show owners were allowed to start parking their cars on the show field so we actually got a preview of the show on Friday. Friday night was the ice cream social. How can anyone turn down making your own ice cream sundaes & we also had a surprise visit from General Ulysses Grant and his wife Julia! (The Grants were talking at the ladies luncheon on Saturday)
Saturday was show day with over 500 antique show cars spread throughout the complex to view. My Buick Skylark was awarded another repeat preservation award at the banquet that night.

I’m Old & This Is Why I Drive A Buick

As an old person who drives a Buick, I can tell you that it’s all about comfort. It’s very cold here now, so I slide in and sit on heated leather seats, holding a heated steering wheel. If someone else has been driving the car, I simply push button 1 and my seat moves itself into position for me— me-me-me. If it’s frosty & the windshield isn’t clearing fast enough for me, I can use the heated windshield & melt the frost away.

The burled walnut interior is very nice, &, despite the mid-size of the car & the very small size of me-me-me, I can reach everything. I can even tilt the steering wheel down far enough so I’m not having to peer through between its top round & the dashboard! The interior mirror moves itself as it senses headlights behind, so I am never caught by glare from there, & there are extra headlights which illuminate to the side when I start a turn.

The rear seat is more leather, very comfortable, lots of legroom, can seat three, or two w/ a nice armrest between. Or, you can reach through to the trunk- & oh! Let me tell you about that trunk! I can fit three dead bodies in there! Okay, I don’t know that from experience, but we’ve fit suitcases & bags for 4 for a week in there without a problem, so I’m figuring dead bodies would be just as easy.

It’s quite quiet, too — with good tires. There’s little road noise,& when you do hear the engine — for instance, accelerating fast to get away from some youngster who thinks a four-barrel’s sound is the same as its power — it’s a good throaty sound, not like a sick sewing machine. I have XM, OnStar & Bluetooth — I’m connected.
Now I had traded in a black HHR with the chrome package & some rare pinstriping (the pinstripes ended in the Chevy bowtie logo — I’ve never seen it since) & I LOVED that car — I fit a Christmas Tree in it every year — &, while I still mourn its loss, I have to say it was not nearly as comfortable as the Buick.

And, while the Buick isn’t fast off the line, it can get up to some good speed — hold it with pretty good mileage, & not make you feel every little bump in the road. When you’re old — like me — that counts.

Buick & Cadillac Continue To Attract The Oldest Buyer

Buick & Cadillac have tried very hard to reduce the average age of its buyers & appeal to a younger demographic. However, according to a recent report from IHS Automotive, a global information company, both General Motors brands have among the oldest clientele in the U.S.

Buick’s buyers’ average age is 60.3 years-old (second-highest of all brand in the American market, behind Lincoln), while Cadillac’s is 59.5 years-old − tied with Bugatti’s.

Loyalty often plays a role for older consumers. “Generally speaking, domestic brands and older buyers go together,” says the senior director of insights for Kelley Blue Book, Karl Brauer. He added that older customers may rely on nostalgia for their perceptions of a brand, while younger buyers have less attachment to car brands & use the internet to make more informed purchase decisions.

Brauer adds, “Luxury appeals to people who have more money to spend & who want to treat themselves,” although it’s worth noting that Land Rover is an upscale brand that has a much lower average age.

Automotive analyst for IHS, Tom Libby, says, “Once you get labelled as [a brand] associated with the older buyer, you’re really in a bind with younger buyers.” He uses the example of Buick and Cadillac to suggest they “have a reputation of being driven by older buyers … no manufacturer wants to be known as the old persons’ car brand.”

Buick, Cadillac Have Most Elderly Buyers In Pre-Owned Market

If a Buick or Cadillac is sitting on a CarMax dealership lot, chances are an older individual will drive the car home. CarMax compiled and studied the average buyer age at its dealerships for one year and ranked which brands draw the oldest buyers in the pre-owned vehicle market.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Buick and Cadillac sit at the top of the chart. Cadillac ranked number one with an average age of 47.1 and Buick came in second place at 45.6. As for other General Motors brands, GMC was the next oldest in fifth place and a 42.2 average age and Chevrolet came in 17th place with an average age of 38.9.
Mazda and Volkswagen draw the youngest buyers with average ages of 36.8 and 37.4.

CarMax also looked at vehicle segment to see where buyers trend. The oldest buyers flocked to pickup trucks (43.7 average age) and minivans (42.8 average age). Sports cars drew buyers with a 38.4 average age. The youngest buyers stuck by sedans and coupes with an average age of 37.4

42nd Annual Old Car Show, Kempton, Pa. October 28, 2018

Don’t forget about volunteering your time for the 42nd Annual Old Car show to be held & hosted by YOU, the “Free Spirit” Chapter members!! It’s human nature to just sit back & let others do a job, but it’s courteous to others that everyone comes out EARLY to help out in any way they can for this show. We are down 4 extremely active members who have been there EARLY for this show. You may think that you can get there mid am and just be able to walk around to enjoy the show, but, you need to step up to the plate & come out EARLY to help, then you can walk around & enjoy the show once registration has stopped at noon. Then everyone else can have a sigh of relief that the busiest time is over for the day.

As I have said before, if you are a member of this chapter & you cannot come out EARLY to help host this show which is only 1 day, this will be the last year. Everyone has other obligations & things going on in their lives, but members live according to their priorities. This show should have the #1 priority over your life on October 28th. Contact Sally Getz to volunteer. This show going to need your help! We are down 4 active members. If You do not volunteer some time to host this show, this year will be the last. This is a GREAT event for this chapter, but it needs YOU TO VOLUNTEER on Sunday, October 28th. Looking for members to be out very EARLY to fulfill the many duties (parking donation, guiding people as they come in, flea market space assigning, DOS registration) it takes to host an event. Please call Sally @ 484-464-3418 ©, if you are unable to attend the September/October meetings to volunteer for a duty in hosting this event. This is a 1 DAY SHOW! Be there very early only to return back to home in the later pm & you be assured that you will sleep well that night!!

Calendar of Events

OCTOBER 2018 HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!
2 – Monthly Chapter dinner meeting, Starlite Diner & Lounge, Allentown, Pa. Dinner @ 6 pm, business meeting @ 7:30 pm. Nominations will be taken for officers & 2 BOD’s. Please plan to attend!
4-6 – Fall Carlisle Meet, Carlisle, Pa
7 – Becky’s Drive-In car Show, Berlinsville, Pa
11-13 – Hershey AACA Fall meet, Hershey, Pa
28 – KEMPTON CAR SHOW! ALL MEMBERS ENCOURAGED TO ATTEND. KEMPTON NEEDS YOU!

NOVEMBER “HAPPY THANKSGIVING!”
4 – Riegelsville Car Show
6 – Monthly chapter meeting, Starlite Diner & Lounge, Allentown, Pa. Dinner @ 6 pm, business meeting @ 7:30 pm. Nominations are voted upon.

DECEMBER “HAPPY HOLIDAYS”
4 – Annual “HOLIDAY GATHERING”. Starlite Diner & Lounge, 5-6 pm social hour, dinner = 6 pm. While each person brings a $10.00 wrapped gift to play “CRAZY BINGO”, they get to take home a $10.00 unwrapped gift!

CARS/PARTS “FOR SALE”

1965 Buick Electra 225 4 dr, hardtop, Black. 62,634 original miles. 425 engine. Aluminum valve covers, chromed air cleaner. Vacuum trunk release, PS, PW, PB, power seat & antenna. AM/FM radio. Chrome wheels, remote mirror. UNRESTORED, ALL ORIGINAL CAR! Trim code 642. Garage kept! Needs int headliner. $8,000. 610-377-6130.
1967 Buick Skylark 2 Dr Coupe, black on black, ALL ORIGINAL. Garage kept. Has won Archival Award @ Buick nationals. 610-377-6130
1967 Buick Skylark 4 Dr Sedan 340 2-barrel, ST 300 Switch Pitch, PS, manual brakes, cassette player, no air. 70,100 original miles. Maroon color ext., cloth maroon/int. Was repainted. Interior still original! Garage kept! $10,000. 610-377-6130
1967 Buick Skylark Special Deluxe Sport Coupe 2 dr, 300 2-barrel. Spruce Green exterior w/ vinyl top, black interior. 68,305 original miles. Power steering, manual brakes. RH mirror, AM/FM radio. Spinner wire wheel covers. UNRESTORED, ALL ORIGINAL car!! Garage kept! Runs good! $8,500. 610-377-6130
1976 Chevrolet Impala 2 dr. Green w/ tan Landau top w/ tan leather interior. 92,092 original miles. UNRESTORED, ALL ORIGINAL CAR!! Runs GREAT! Garage kept. $4,000. 610-377-6130
1987 Turbo Regal HT, 73k original miles, 100% rust free, original dark blue ext & int, chrome trim, factory aluminum wheels, drums, & bumper inserts. A/C, PW, tilt, cruise, posi, original exhaust. $20k. Steve Perry 914-262-9965, Carmel NY. sep440@aol.com
1991 Chevy Suburban, 2500, Big block, 454 engine, 111.530 original miles. Turbo 400 transmission. Black w/ gray interior, 3rd seat, AC (front/rear), AM/FM radio, tow package, cassette player, power door locks/windows, vent shades, tailgate window, in GREAT condition. Garage kept! Very powerful! $10,000. 610-377-6130

In Search Of

1967 Buick Electra Conv. 610-730-4599, dwebster80@gmail.com
1976 Caddy Eldo 500 ci – Pete Stoki, 609-915-9948

Chapter Badges

Please remember to wear your chapter badge that has your name on it. Wearing it to the monthly chapter meetings is a must, or you will owe $1.00 to Dolores Kennedy. Also, please wear it to the periodic chapter events, thus everyone can get to meet/greet you if you are a new member. If you do not have a badge w/ your name on it, please contact Dolores Kennedy & she’ll be more than happy to see you receive a badge!