Join a car club, enjoy the ride, tell the stories
When you belong to an automotive club or association, there always are several important annual events that all members are encouraged to attend.
For members of the New England Motor Press Association (NEMPA), that means participating in Winter Vehicle of the Year voting, an event that several times has been postponed because there’s been too MUCH snow for safe travel across the region in recent winters.
NEMPA also co-sponsors and organizes a technology conference with MIT each spring and hosts a fun, convertible ride, the Ragtop Ramble/Crustacean Crawl, every summer.
The Ramble took place Thursday, which was too late for our deadlines but may have produced fodder for an upcoming story.
Besides NEMPA, I’m a member of an organization called NECOA, the National El Camino Owners Association. But it could be the Model A group, BMW owners, Buick Club, etc. The clubs bring together members with a common interest: their cars.
Story continues after gallery
The most iconic Ford cars and trucks through the years
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The Northeast Region of NECOA has been fortunate. Judge John Harris of North Andover, one of the national association’s founding fathers in 2002 and a past national director, has organized regional events for the past seven years.
He’s relentless in recruiting members and making them feel welcome. When he sees an El Camino, or one of its GMC siblings, he puts club contact information on the seat or under a windshield wiper blade. That happens whether he’s at a Cruise Night, in a random parking lot, or even passing someone’s driveway.
In 2009, he collaborated with Lee USA Speedway owner Red MacDonald to have an El Camino Night at the track. Seven or eight El Caminos showed up that first year, and the event has grown annually.
For the past three years, Harris has added a Spring Dustoff Gathering in the spring and expanded the Lee event into a two-day celebration.
Lee provides a separate grassy parking area for the members’ cars, then brings all the El Caminos onto the track for parade laps before the feature races.
Burnouts are encouraged by the track—and especially the fans. This year, Angelo Vasta of Lynn won in his 1987 El Camino Choo Choo Custom, laying down a heavy smoke screen.
About 30 owners stayed in town for Saturday’s events, which began with a breakfast gathering at the Coffee Cann at Lawrence’s revitalized Riverwalk mill complex. Automotive photographer Alison Miniter of Cars2Art.com was taking photos for individual owners against the industrial backdrop, and most owners walked across the street to Steve Levy’s American Electroplating, one of the few remaining “we can chrome plate anything’’ shops in existence.
That was followed by a caravan trip to Amesbury for a tour of the LeBaron-Bonney Company, specialists in upholstery, door panels, and interior kits for antique vehicles.
This all happened on a glorious weekend that produced near-gridlock beach traffic on Rte. 495 and Rte. 110 towards Salisbury and Seabrook.
Enter Dave and Rita Podalski, club members from Kensington, N.H., who used their knowledge of local roads to lead a caravan of Caminos over the back roads of southern New Hampshire for a scenic drive and photo-op along the rocky Rye, N.H., coast.
They then led the group back to the iconic Skip’s Hamburgers in Merrimac where there’s a twice-monthly 300-car cruise night in the field behind the restaurant.
Harris had arranged with show organizer Wes Pettengill to have prime parking spots reserved for the El Camino group.
As with all planned events, not everything went smoothly. Jim Anderson of Norwalk, Conn., stopped for gas in Tewksbury and couldn’t restart his green 1971 El Camino Super Sport.
He had the car towed to Lee USA Speedway on a flatbed. Before the tow truck had cleared the racetrack parking lot, club member Mark Howard of Peabody had diagnosed the problem (a safety lockout switch) and had the car running.
Anderson, however, was the 54th (and final) car to arrive, leading to a spate of “Car 54 Where Are You?’’ quips.
Even when things went really wrong—two member cars were involved in an accident—the club had help. Harris had a line on a front fender for one of the cars and a tailgate for the other.
Those were several additional benefits of being a club member.
The groups’ biggest asset is their members, but those members in turn give the group technical and moral support.
Etc.
Today’s car shows include the 4th Amesbury Chevrolet show (11 a.m.-4 p.m.) at the dealership on Rte. 110 between Routes 95 and 495 … Miatas take over the lawn at the Lars Anderson Auto Museum in Brookline from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. … The Mustang Car Club of New England has its 31st Mustangs & American Iron show today at Solomon Pond Mall in Shrewsbury. Show cars must have fire extinguishers … Thursday, you can go behind the scenes at Heritage Museums and Gardens in Sandwich with curator Jennifer Madden from 11 a.m.-noon. Call Julie at 508-888-3300, x175, for details … Looking ahead to next Saturday. Skip’s Hamburgers (Rte. 110 in Merrimac) has its annual Mega Cruise from 3 p.m.-dusk … Wheels for Warriors takes over Raynham Park, 1958 Broadway, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.… And North Shore residents may spot part of the 70-mile Tour d’ Elegance that leads into next Sunday’s Misslewood Concours d’Elegance at Endicott College.
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