Hello Everyone, Greetings from the home of the Corvette. Yes, we just returned from Bowling Green (what a great name for a car color!!) and if you look farther in the newsletter, you will find a monster article that explains all of the fun we had in BG. I have to tell you that this was one excellent party. Every detail was covered, well, except for the weather! We could have done without the chilly temperatures. But fun was had by all!
Gary and Joan were nice enough to update me on the last meeting. Sounds like I missed the yard sale that she had!! But it also looks like we have a lot to talk about and make plans for.
NASCAR Cafe, Margaritiaville and that show in St Augustine sounds like we could have some fun. I do want to thank everyone who has helped organize the events we have had to date. WOW, Dixie Crossroads turnout was unbelievable !! 55 people, and NO rock shrimp!!! Must have had enough soup to keep everyone happy! But this is what this club is about, having fun with your fellow members and enjoying your Corvettes. Oh, by the way, The bed wetting signs are back!!!!! Be careful, check your car thoroughly BEFORE leaving any event!!! Discrimination is not a factor, so even if ‘they’ don’t know you, you are a potential target!!!
May holds some great parties. The anniversary party on the 15th will be one not to miss. Please call Dan or Willy , if you have any door prizes or just want to help. This is a very big party to plan and put together. And the Fox Rally is always fun. Cows & Corvettes, how could you go wrong!!
Remember this will be ‘The Best Year Yet!’
Have a wonderful May, Happy Memorial Day! See you at Don Ashe’s Lake on the 15th. Save the Wave Lisa Lafferty
Hello everyone and Welcome to May! If anyone knows where April went would you please let me know?
Event wise, April was quiet compared to March. Our meeting on April 15th was a bit ghostly. We had a total of 16 members attend and 5 guests. As promised, I did bring a large selection of shirts and merchandise to the meeting and the shirts sold like HOT cakes. Thanks everyone for supporting your club!
Membership Update: Our membership is holding strong at 92 however, I have personally spoken to several people who want to join so I anticipate a jump in membership very soon.
Eckler's C&B Shirt Update: I met with R.J. Saturday while I was attending the C4 Polish and Buff seminar at Eckler's. The shirts have been ordered from the vendor and should be in the 1st week of May. The digitizing of our State logo came out EXCELLENT!!! The colors that the digitizer used for our sample will go perfect with the shirt colors with only a few alterations. I will have the sample with me at the May 6th meeting. There are still 7 members who ordered shirts that have not yet paid me for them. If I don't have your money by the May 6th meeting I cannot order your shirt. You can mail your checks to me at 2313 Runyon Court, Orlando, FL 32837.
Name Badge Update: I have placed the order to have United Trophy make 50 blank badges for us. We have switched to United Trophy for a few reasons. 1 - they are cheaper, 2 - we can order our badges with 3 different types of applicators (clip, pin or magnet). If any existing members would like to order a new name badge with a clip or magnet on it let me know at the next meeting. The clips are $5 and the magnets are $6.
To The Membership: I'm not sure how many of our members realize the exposure CFCA has been getting lately but I can tell you as your Membership Director that I converse via phone and email with a lot of people who are very interested in joining our club. We must be doing something right! I would like to take a moment and THANK all of you for your hard work and dedication. It means an awful lot to your Board of Directors. Special recognition to the folks below…
John "Hutch" Hutchinson and Susan Barton - have put countless hours into redoing our new web site and maintaining our old one. The site looks very professional and we are getting quite a few hits on it. I am going to try and keep track of how many new members we get that found out about us on the web.
Shelley Schwartz - spends every meeting and party selling 50/50 tickets. This brings revenue into our treasury and helps us to support our charity. Shelley is also coordinating our Christmas party.
Dan Dragonetti and Willy Thiess - have spent the last couple of months coordinating our 26th Anniversary party. They have done a fantastic job so far and now they need OUR help. Please contact them and let them know what you will bring to the party in the way of food and door prizes.
Gary Wollenhaupt - as your newsletter editor, has put in many long nights producing the CFCA Review. Since January he has acquired several new advertisers which is revenue for our club and helps offset the cost of producing and mailing the newsletter every month.
Don & Betty Ashe - have been so wonderful to this club over the years. They have opened up their home and their wallets to us. They have hosted several parties at Bad Acres and truly have CFCA, NCCC and the NCM 's best interest at heart.
Gene & Chris Willard - are incredible people. They have donated a multitude of gifts to every one of our parties for our 50/50 drawings. Between Gene & Chris donating the prizes and Don & Betty buying the tickets we have taken in a ton of money to support our charity and the National Corvette Museum.
I could go on and on about our great membership and how this club has evolved. Some of the changes that have taken place so far in the past 4 months are: Newly revised club By-laws / Newly revised Standard Operating Procedures / Newly revised Point & Point Sheets / A new, more spacious venue for our monthly meetings / Newly revised CFCA Information Cards / Newly revised CFCA Web Site / A new CFCA VetteLine / Newly revised Information Guide and Membership form / A new welcome letter has been added to the "new member" packet.
Thank you everyone for making CFCA what it is today. A club of this size and standing just does not happen over night, it evolves over time and thanks to our past and present Boards and memberships, we have evolved into the greatest Corvette club in the State of Florida.
SAVDWAV! Joan
CFCA Minutes, April 1, 1999
Meeting called to order at 7:36pm, President Lisa Lafferty presiding, 4 board members present, 34 members and 4 guests.
Officers Reports
Secretary – Trish Stone read the minutes of the last meeting. Motion made and passed to accept minutes.
Treasurer – Pat Gardner reported. Motion made and passed to accept the Treasurer’s report.
Membership – Lisa Lafferty reported that we currently have 92 members and introduced 4 guests. Eckler’s shirts are ordered.
Competition – Lisa Lafferty discussed the upcoming CFCA and NCCC events.
Governors – Jon Gardner - There are 12,400 National members and 600 of them are in Florida. Jon also has information on the Scholarship program that NCCC offers, if anyone is interested. NCCC is also thinking of expanding their ads in catalogs because of the response they have been getting especially from the Ecklers catalog.
Old Business
Dixie Crossroads – Titusville April 10th – Meet at Builders Square 3PM, arrive by 4PM to eat, Need a count by April 1 of who is going.
Hooters Kirkman 2PM April 11.
Bowling Green Birthday Bash – April 15 – 17. Lisa and the Gardners will be attending.
May 8th Fox Hunt – Hunt Club 10 AM. First car is out at 11AM.
Anniversary Party May 15 at Don Ashes’ Seminole Woods Park lake. Dan & Willey needs everyone to sign up to bring a covered dish. Motion made and passed for approval of a $450 budget for the Anniversary Party.
September meeting dates changed due to a conflict with the caravan for Labor Day. A motion was passed to change the Meeting dates to 9/9 and 9/23.
Christmas party Dec 4, first Saturday in December.
Bowling party will be put together by Shelly
Gators at Hunt Club – May 23 2PM instead of a Hooters drive out
March of Dimes event has been postponed to a future date (to be announced).
Meeting Place – Motion was made and passed to continue to meet at Classic Chevrolet in Maitland with the condition and we keep our eyes open for another place if something more convenient for all becomes available.
New Business
Nascar Café outing June 13th or 27th
Test Track (Disney EPCOT) Summer, Lisa will check on getting club or group rate.
Motion was made and passed to have the Nametags done by United Trophy. Badges can be made with pin, clip or magnet when individual magnets are engraved. Badges with magnets are $0.75 extra.
Draw 50/50 - $50.00 Jackpot $26.50 Bette Ashe, $13.25 Russell Home, $13.25 CFCA
Meeting adjourned at 8:25 PM by President Lisa Lafferty.
CFCA Minutes, April 15, 1999
Meeting called to order at 7:35pm, V.P. Joan Wollenhaupt presiding, 3 board members present, 16 members and 5 guests.
Officers Reports
Secretary – Trish Stone read the minutes of the last meeting. Motion made and passed to accept minutes.
Treasurer – Trish read Pat Gardner’s report. Motion made and passed to accept the Treasurer’s report.
Membership – Joan Wollenhaupt reported that we currently have 92 members and introduced 5 guests. Eckler’s shirts are ordered. Badges available with magnets, they are an extra $1 more than regular badges.
Competition – Gary Wollenhaupt discussed the upcoming CFCA and NCCC events.
Governors – Gary Wollenhaupt provided the Governor's report – Just a reminder that Jon has information on the NCCC Scholarship program.
Old Business
Dixie Crossroads – Titusville April 10th – 53 members including Mike Wilson of Eckler’s. All had a great time..
Bowling Green Birthday Bash – April 15 – 17. Lisa and the Gardners attending.
Anniversary Party May 15 at Don Ashes’ Seminole Woods Park. Dan & Willy need everyone to sign up to bring a covered dish.
May 8th Fox Hunt – Hunt Club 10 AM. First car is out at 11AM.
Bowling party will be put together by Shelly
Gators at Hunt Club – May 23 2PM instead of a Hooters drive out
Christmas party Dec 4, first Saturday in December.
Nascar Café outing June 27th
March of Dimes event has been postponed to a future date (to be announced).
September meeting dates changed due to a conflict with the caravan for Labor Day. A motion was passed to change the Meeting dates to 9/9 and 9/23.
New Business
C4 Polish & Buff Seminar & Swap Meet at Ecklers on April 24-25 Starts 11AM to 1PM.
Test Track (Disney EPCOT) Summer, Lisa will check on getting club or group rate.
New Smryna Car show June 12th. Dinner at the Sea Harvest. Club event? Will vote on this next meeting.
Vettes at the Village, World Golf Village, - June 19th. Open & NCCC show. Club event? Will vote on this next meeting.
Ecklers Drag Races at Speedworld - June 19th. Club event? Will vote on this next meeting.
Ecklers volleyball Tournament Corvette cruise – July 24th Cocoa Beach (times to be announced) Club event? Will vote on this next meeting.
Ecklers Sterling Casino Cruise – August 21st Meet at Ecklers at 5PM. Club event? Will vote on this next meeting.
Mid-Year Russell Home Charity event? Suggestion? Workday? Need to fix stove.
Margaritaville @ Universal City Walk? Interested?
Draw 50/50 - No drawing was held
Meeting adjourned at 8:10 PM by Joan Wollenhaupt.
Hey Gang
Nothing new to report on the regional or national level at this time. However, I would like to pass along several items of interest.
Having attended the C5 Birthday Bash at the National Corvette Museum, I had the good fortune to have access to virtually all of G.M.’s key people that are associated with the Corvette program. Chief engineer Dave Hill, Design chief Jim Cafaro, Brand Manager Jim Campbell, Motor Program Head Jim Minnecker, Plant Production Manager Will Cooksey and on and on. To the man, they are absolutely ecstatic that we are so fanatical about the results of their labor. As a group, they care what we think of their efforts and indeed actually solicit our input and opinions.
We sometimes put these guys up on a pedestal because of what they do to create and build our Corvettes. However, these people are personable, approachable, down to earth and just plain fun to be around. Events such as the Birthday Bash at the NCM are truly historic happenings. It is at events such as these that we reinforce the relationship with our fellow club members and the cars that bring us together.
Item two, the latest Corvette Fever magazine indicates that approximately 10,000 Corvettes will converge on Bowling Green on September 2nd for the Caravan 99 event. This promises to be the largest Corvette gathering of all times. Talk about history making! Make your plans early.
Lastly, my purple beauty is gone. With the help of Dave and Roger Judski, there is a lucky guy in Indiana with a new purple metallic Corvette. Who said that you couldn’t sell a purple car? In support of one of our newsletter sponsors, I just want to say that these guys are very good at what they do. Give them a call, whether you are buying, selling or just plain looking around.
Jon Gardner
- Jon
Revisiting "By the Numbers"
It’s been nearly a year since the first "By the Numbers" article appeared. With our growing membership, it seemed about time to revisit our club’s Corvette "inventory" (statistics as of 4/12/99):
- Hutch
Total Members: 92 Total Corvettes: 70
By Era:
C? No. Pct.
C5 11 15.7%
C4 38 54.3%
C3 12 17.1%
C2 6 8.6%
C1 2 1.4%
By Color:
No. Pct. Color
18 25.7% Red
11 15.7% Blue
10 14.3% Rose/Purple/Burgandy
8 11.4% White
6 8.6% Silver/Gold
5 7.1% Green/Aqua
4 5.7% Yellow/Orange
3 4.3% Black
3 4.3% "Other"
2 2.9% Pewter
Special:
3 4.3% 98/95 Pace Car
4 5.7% 96/82 Collector Edition
2 2.9% Grand Sport
1 1.4% 40th Anniversary
By Year:
Year No. Pct.
99 6 8.6%
98 5 7.1%
96 3 4.3%
95 5 7.1%
94 3 4.3%
93 4 5.7%
92 3 4.3%
91 2 2.9%
90 4 5.7%
89 2 2.9%
88 4 5.7%
87 3 4.3%
86 2 2.9%
85 2 2.9%
84 1 1.4%
82 4 5.8%
81 1 1.4%
76 1 1.4%
75 1 1.4%
74 2 2.9%
72 1 1.4%
69 2 2.9%
67 1 1.4%
66 2 2.9%
65 2 2.9%
63 1 1.4%
62 1 1.4%
60 1 1.4%
It sure still looks like "All Corvettes are Red" at over 1/4 the total! The most popular era? Well, it’s still the C4’s! But it’s the C5’s bringing in the numbers for the most popular year - 1999! Solid axles to C5’s - we’ve got ‘em all represented! Again you have it - "by the numbers"....
The April 1999 issue of the NCM publication, "America’s Sports Car", acknowledged CFCA as a contributor to the Land Donation Campaign which totaled $64,978.74 through April 2nd. The campaign ends on April 30th.
On the local front, we’ve begun discussion to organize a mid-year event in our ongoing support for Orlando’s Russell Home for Atypical Children. More to follow next month!
C5 Birthday Bash at The National Corvette Museum
Several of your fearless members attended the 2nd Annual C5 Birthday Bash at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green Kentucky. This is how the weekend went:
Thursday:
The mini caravan left Orlando around 9 A.M. It consisted of Jon & Pat Gardner, Pete Malzone, Anne & Monty LaFaber and yours truly. The drive to Bowling Green would be a long one! With the help of those 2 way radios and the Valentine radar detector we avoided the Georgia police(which were out in force!) With several stops for lunch, dinner, and body breaks, we made it to BG by 9 P.M.(It was 40 degrees!!!) Very weary from the trip, we walked in the hotel lobby and there was Don & Betty Ashe and Jim & Charlene Barker! What a pleasant surprise to see these familiar faces right off the bat !! Well then, it was off to our rooms for a good nights sleep.
Friday:
The wake up call was for 6:30 A.M. and boy was it freezing out. But the sun was shining and we were surrounded by some of the most beautiful cars in the world!! The hotel had provided rags, buckets and water hoses for you to wash your car. Believe me, they were out in that cold washing those beauties!! So we had 2 Corvettes in our party, and Monty was going for the dirty car award, so Pete wanted to wash his car. I decided to help ( 4 hands are better than 2!) So the rest of the group were off for Cracker Barrel to set up for breakfast and Pete & I washed the car. It didn’t take very long (you seem to work faster when your hands are numb!) and then we were off to meet them at breakfast. Pulling into the Museum that first day was very exciting. We were ready for some double doses of fun!! There were over 500 people registered and the Chevrolet Theater was SRO! Dan & Jake (these are the two people responsible for C5 Registry’s existence) had a run down of the agenda for the weekend and it was a full agenda at that! All of the weekend events would be videoed and sent to all the news stations across the country, and GM will be releasing parts of this video! After the meeting we started to mingle with some of the other Corvette owners and (Thank goodness for name badges!) saw some names I recognized from the C5 net. I had talked to these people through email, but now I get a chance to meet them face to face. One very fine couple were the Buick’s, (yes that is there last name) Lisa & Mike Buick were wonderful. And Lisa & I kind of look alike. Same height , short dark hair. Well this would prove to confuse most of the other C5 net people, I would be mistaken for her ALL weekend!!! It was fun to see their faces when they realize that they are talking to the wrong Lisa!!! Well after the meeting we were off to the Corvette plant. I was looking for those new colors for 2000. We saw a Millennium yellow convertible being built and we saw a 2001 prototype (this one was red, what a surprise!!) As we were going through the tour, we saw something I did not expect to see, Roger Judski standing behind the line with one of his customers waiting to be the first to start her car! As the car slowly creeped down the line, she got in and turned the key, that baby started right up ! And she was presented a birth certificate for her Corvette! All the time you could see Roger in the background with a smile from ear to ear! As we were exiting the plant we finally saw a back bumper painted the dark bowling green metallic, this would not be a good test for how this color really looks and we would get to see both colors outside in the sunlight. The Yellow, well its REALLY yellow and the green is REALLY dark green, its a winner in my book!!
After the plant tour we were back at the Museum to hear John Cafaro, C5 Chief Designer, speak. He had a slide show of some of the concept cars his people had designed. He was very witty and informative. Then it was back to the plant, a huge caravan of C5s & some C4’s headed over. It was Plant employee appreciation time. Mid-America was generous enough to produce a limited edition C5 pin to be given to each plant worker. As each worker was leaving work for the day, they were handed a pin and as they made their way outside, there we were waiting (50 or 60 of us) and cheering, thanking them for making the ‘Best Vette Yet’!! Some people had candy bars and were handing them to the workers as they made there way down the line. Some of the plant workers were a little overwhelmed by our enthusiasm and some did their best Rocky imitation and shook everyone’s hand as they made their way down the line. It was a great feeling to see their faces and be able to thank them first hand for this wonderful automobile. Even Wil Cooksey, the plant manager, was on hand for the festivities. Well after losing the feeling in my toes it was time to go indoors! So back to the museum for a seminar by Dave Hill, Corvette Chief Engineer. More slides, and his knack for avoiding the questions relating to any secret information was classic.
Next a dinner party, There was a DJ and the new C5 Registry T-shirt was unveiled. Wil Cooksey modeled this for us, what a wild guy! I had brought my copy of ‘All Corvettes are Red’ to get it autographed. And all GM exec’s signed it gladly! I was most impressed with Dave Hill, he took the time to talk to me and about my C5. The group was ready to party! The Captain was welcome here!!! Realizing this is only Friday, we pulled ourselves off the dance floor and headed back to the hotel, with a stop at Hops (hehe)!
Saturday:
Oh My Goodness! another wake up call for 6:30 A.M. UGGHHH!!! And off to the Museum, First a group picture of all of us in front of the Museum (Yes it was freezing!!) and we were formed into the shape of a ‘C’ and a ‘5’. Can’t wait to get this back in the mail! More seminars and as we were going through the Museum we caught up with Anne & Monty, they informed us that Jim Barker had been taken to the hospital with pains in his chest! HOLY S#$^ Batman, what now!!!!??? So we regrouped at the hotel and made a plan. First get dressed for the big Saturday party, then off to see Jim at the Hospital. So all of us climb into Jon & Pat’s truck and off we go to the Hospital. Part way there we realize we don’t know exactly which hospital he is in! So we stop at the nearest hospital and , of course, a woman has to go inside to ask for directions (CLASSIC!) Monty did go with me(SEE I admitted it !!) And they knew where he was and gave us directions.. So back in the truck and off further down the road to the other hospital. Well we knew we were in the right place, because we saw Charlene & Jim’s Corvette parked out front. Once inside, we proceed up to the room. He was a bit embarrassed by the six of us crowding into his room and to add to that we recruited one of the nurses to take a picture of this for posterity! It was a short visit, but worth the trip...
Now getting to the Museum from the hospital...sounds simple doesn’t it !!?? We all hopped back in the truck and off we went. First we took the wrong turn, but managed to get on the right road (31W). So we thought this would be easy, Well guess what, we missed the turn (which isn’t really obvious) and off we went into the Bowling Green country side. We traveled down this road for miles, rolling hills, farms, giant houses and finally someone spoke up..I think we are lost!!! And a glance at the gas gauge, well we knew we were in trouble! So we pulled into someone’s driveway, turned around and headed back. First on the priorities was , find a gas station! We saw one and pulled in noticing some smoke, well the dumpster was on fire, no joke, a hot blazing fire shooting from the top of the dumpster. This was not more than 100 feet from the gas pumps! We could hear the fire engines coming to the rescue, but to our utter enjoyment, they continued to allow people to pump gas while this thing was blazing!!!!! You know what happens when you get 6 people in a small truck for a long time?? Well you get a bunch of giddy idiots laughing uncontrollably at things that really aren’t that funny!!! And boy did we get a laugh out of that one!! We did make it to the party in time and we were ready to party! The food was good, the company was exceptional and the only thing left was the auction with proceeds to benefit the Museum. So we filed into the Chevrolet Theater one more time. Some of the things sold were a Dooney & Burke clothing bag embroidered with the Rolex24 logo and John Heinricy’s name on it (he is currently driving the C5R car), The yellow & green fenders that were painted just for this event were sold. The green went for $1,700 and the yellow one was $6,200. Both were signed by all of the GM exec’s present. There were limited edition shirts and books sold. Even a cake was sold for $500.! Yes, that’s right. The catch, well it was then smashed into one the C5 guys face on stage!! Jake was a good sport, then for another $300, the same cake was pushed into another one of the C5 members faces. (Chaz was covered in chocolate cake!) what a hoot!!! Even our very own Don & Betty Ashe got into the spirit, they purchased the C5 Registry Banner that was displayed in the Corvette Museum and it was a very exciting bidding war! But Don would not be out bid! $1,500 later he was the proud owner!! After all was said and done $23,000 was raised for the Museum. We then got up on stage to get some pictures of all of the Florida folks & the infamous banner, well right in the audience was Dave Hill, Jim Campbell, Jim Minnecker, John Heinricy Wil Cooksey and Dave Peacy, so we asked them up on stage and they did that no questions asked. We even had the 10 Best Award that was presented to GM from Motor Trend Magazine in the picture!!
Well it was late by now and we had to head home early the next morning, so our group headed to the hotel. Seems everyone had a smile on their face. This was one of the best in my book. What a great host the C5 Registry and The National Corvette Museum had been. And it always seems to amaze me how our group always finds itself in the oddest situations and ALWAYS finds a laugh in it!!! I won’t miss this event next year and I encourage all of you to try and put this one in your plans for next year!
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