MARCH 2002, Volume 5, Issue 3

General Meeting-March 5th, 2002
The meeting was called to order by Sgt. At Arms, at 7:07 pm by Dante' Higgins, President Ted Klein presiding.

Guests were asked to introduce themselves and the type of car they own. Ted still wants to know about the speed in the quarter mile of all potential new members.

Pat Sullivan drives a Forest Green 1993 Trans Am automatic.

Steve Serio, joined a couple of months ago but this is the first meeting he has been able to attend. Steve has a blue 1989 Trans Am.

Dana Tensfeldt, also a guest and new member this evening, has a 1986 Firebird. When asked what color it was she said, “Which part?” It was a re-hab and she only paid $300 for it. She heard about the Club at the Auto Rama.

Brian Naylor, a guest, has a 1978 Trans Am. He has had it for about three months and is ready for the drags. This one is an oxidized black.

Keith Thornson has two 1984 Trans Ams. One is a T-top and one is a convertible. Also an Auto Rama attendee.

We had a late arrival who read about our Club in the paper. His name is Bob Badgley and he has a 1979 Trans Am that he is restoring.

Changes in last months minutes:
My apologies to Dennis Trimble. I tried to change his gender by calling him Denise. I’m afraid Terry would object.

Frank made the motion to accept the minutes as amended and J.J. seconded. Motion carried.

In the absence of Treasurer, J.O. Raff, Irene gave his report for him. J.O.’s report can be found in another section of this Trans Script.

Old Business:

Auto Rama.
Dave said we had a great display with eight cars. Other car clubs had display with lots of 1960 cars, but not many muscle cars. Camaros, GTOs Corvetts. No award for us this year but there were many very good ones. The GTO Club was in the corner of the building and they had taken material and painted a scene about 40 foot down one wall and 60 feet down the other and parked their 1966, 1967 and 1968 cars in front of it. Dave said it was very nice and well done. They worked on this display for about five or six months.

The Mopar Club had eight cars lined up and they had built small buildings to represent down town Sacramento.

Dave doesn’t know the name of the ‘street rod club’ that had the display that looked like the cars were cruising. The back drop was a street with a winding road and when you stood back and looked at it, it was if the road went on for ever.

We may not had the most impressive set-up but people were very interested in our cars. There were 52 people who signed our guest sheet and wanted more information on our Club.

One more exciting note for us “Old Timers in the Club”. Dave said Rick McGee, fondly known as “Screamin’ Chicken, visited our display. Rick was our first President and served for several years. He has a 1978 black Trans Am, with a 400 in it. At the time it was equipped with roll bar and an outstanding sound system with the controls mounted between the T-tops. He may be visiting our Club soon and hopefully will re-join.

Thanks goes out to our Club members who put in their time and effort to man our table. We have many in our Club who are very well versed on the Firebird line of cars and can answer almost any question thrown asked of them. We had 52 people sign our guest book.

Valentine’s Brunch:
We met at Levitz parking lot on Watt Ave. and left almost on time. It was a nice drive up to Rocklin to Sunset Whitney Country Club. We had a great brunch. There was food everywhere on beautifully decorated tables. Ted had a “Pop Quiz” about the history and odds and ends of the Trans Am. He was asked to do another one sometime.

After brunch Leo, Dante’ and Gary made a run up hiway 193. Some guy came sliding down a mud road and just about took out Dante’ and Leo. Couldn’t you just see those two guys if that gorgeous burnt orange TA of Leo’s, and that shiny black Harley TA of Dante’s had been hit? That guy would still be on the run.

Ted made the announcement that dues are payable this month and if they are not paid the Trans Script will not be forthcoming.

One thing that is very important to our Club. We have been asked, for the second time, to please leave Reliable in an orderly fashion after our meetings. That means not only the car lot. The street is not a race track, you can go to the drags for that. Bruce has been very gracious to let us use Reliable facilities for both Club meetings and our Trans A Rama car show. He has done a great deal for us and we don’t want to lose that relationship.

New Business:
Dave gave the new people a run down on what Trans A Rama is all about. He had good news regarding the Auto Cross. Auto Cross will be on Sunday July 14th at Cal Expo in conjunction with Competition Sports Car Club. The format is set up for us to run the first two run groups and then work with them. Afterwards we can have our own little mini event and give out awards at lunch time.

Dave will have a meeting at his house on Saturday March 9th, at 3pm. Anyone that wants to be involved may attend.

Upcoming Events:

Chili Cook Off - March 17th
At J.O. and Irene’s home. A sign up sheet was sent around. Meet at K-Mart, Sunrise and Coloma in Rancho Cordova at 1:30pm and leave at 2:00pm.

Daffodil Hill - March 24th.
Meet at 8:30am, K-Mart and Coloma, Rancho Cordova. We will be leaving at 9:00am.

Dyno Day!
Early April. This event will be just a few days after our April meeting, Ted is sending around a sign up sheet. The cost is around $50.

An activity for our Club would be a competition bowling event with one of the other car clubs. It was mentioned it would be difficult to get lanes in the evening because four of the bowling centers in Sacramento closed this past year and most leagues moved into other houses. The bowling center out in Vacaville has been opened for a couple of years and is very nice. We could maybe make an afternoon run and bowl there.

Ted, News Letter Ted, asked if we noticed anything missing off the back of the Trans Script. If you didn’t it is the pictures of our cars. If you want you car on the back of the finest news letter in the state, get those pictures to Ted and they will amazingly appear on the back cover. Also, if you would like to do an article for the paper Ted would accept them with gratitude. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a car article, just interesting.

Mark Boyle, our CHP member, said there has been a rash of thefts from cars. Guys walk buy and if they see anything of value inside the car they just break the windows. Identifications have been stolen along with credit cards and checks and sometime used. Out of site - out of mind. If you have to leave things in your car put them in the trunk.

Ted said Jim Prinzivalli has gone to great lengths to get a message board set up on our Web Site. Just go into the site and the directions are there to get to the message board.

With no further business, Frank Brown motioned we close the meeting, Dennis Trimble seconded. Meeting was adjourned at 8:12pm.

Respectfully submitted Irene Raff, Secretary.

The Great Chili Cook-Off
Sunday, March 17th, There was a chill in the air at 1:30pm as we waited in the K-Mart parking lot for Club members to arrive. I was the first to arrive, followed by Pat Brown, and then the Trimbles. As the rest of our club began to funnel in between 1:30 and 2:00, we had a visitor from the Sacramento County Sheriffs Office stop by. He had attended one of our meetings at Reliable, and when he saw us in the parking lot, he came by to say hi.

We left the parking lot at about 2:15 for the drive over to JO and Irene’s home. Let me just say trying to keep 10-12 Firebirds together, driving down Sunrise Avenue at this time of day proved to be a difficult task! The club got separated at the very first light and the plan was to regroup at a parking lot on Madison and Sunrise, but luckily we caught the Madison Light just right and were able to reform right there. The rest of the drive was a piece of cake, and we arrived safe and sound at our destination!

Several other club members were already at the Raff’s house when we arrived and Ted Klein and his family pulled in right behind us. For those of you who have never been to the Raff’s house it is a very inviting home, and it is always a pleasure anytime we have an event there! After a short visit with the club members it was time to get down to business.

The judges, four of us in all, consisting of Ted Klein, Ray Howe, Keith Thornson (one of our newest members), and myself, were given a briefing on the categories we would be judging. What somebody should have warned us was to do the hottest Chili’s last! There were four categories to be judged, Best Red, Best Green, Whimpiest, and Spiciest.

The Green was the easiest to judge, as there was only one entry in this category. As usual JO did an outstanding job of celebrating the Saint Patrick’s Holiday with his entry. My thanks go out to JO for not only preparing a chili but also allowing us the use of his house!

As the judging began, I made the mistake of tasting Dante’s Inferno Chili almost at the beginning. I don’t know how Dante got a recipe for a chili that should only be served in Hell, but there was no doubt that he would be the hands down winner of the spiciest, when people thought his chili was going to kill me after one bite.

The Whimpiest Chili award went to Gary Vollstedt’s entry. It was a pleasure to have this Chili after the torturing Dante’s chili had given us. My personal opinion is that if you were to combine Gary’s chili with a couple tablespoons of Dante’s you would have an excellent chili.

Now for the chili that not only won the Best Red, but also took the People’s Choice. It was an outstanding chili provided by Susan Brown. The slight hint of barbecue sauce set it apart from the others and really made one of the best chili’s I have ever had.

As the rest of the club sat down to eat and visit, the judges conferred on their decisions and all were in agreement on the votes! These events at club member’s homes are always a lot of fun and I encourage all of our members to participate in these. It really serves as a great chance to get to know one another!

Ted (Theo) Bechtel


Attention Club members!!!
It's that time of the year folks, let's get those dues paid as soon as possible!
The Club meeting night has been changed to the first tuesday of the month, see you there!



End of an Era Near for Camaro and Firebird Owners: Muscle Cars' Popularity Wanes, But Memories of Vehicular Passion Live On.

Article from the Contra Costa Costa Times.

Antioch- Mary Negrette’s 1975 Chevrolet Camaro is her sky blue baby, her Rembrandt on wheels.

The 59year old Antioch adult-school teacher bought her sweet ride brand new, rolling it off the lot and into an era in which “muscle cars” were wildly popular symbols of power and speed. More than 251,000 miles down the road, she continues to drive her car to work every day. Some people flinch; others offer to buy it. “

The Camaro is such a nice sporty car. And you have to have the attitude to drive it,” said Negrette, a petite woman wearing a pair of oversized sunglasses. “People always say, “What do you think, that you own the road just because you drive a Camaro?” Well, yes.”

Arrogant? Perhaps. But the people who climb behind the wheel of the Camaro and its closest relative—the Pontiac Firebird—are passionate and loyal drivers. They are every bit as quirky as the “screaming chicken” decal that graced the hoods of some older Firebirds.

Nonetheless, the Cambirds, as their legions of followers often call them, will soon vanish into the archives of automotive history.

With sales lagging like Burt Reynolds’ career, the racer-styled cars will stop being produced in September when the Canadian plant at which they are built will close.

The startling disclosure by General Motors last year incited a wave of bitterness among fans that rippled across the nation. A Web-site, savethecamaro.com, sprung up in cyberspace.

What would these people do now?

There’s been an obvious decline in the sports-car segment over the years and we’ve seen it happen,”said Richard James, manager of corporate communications for GM in Canada. “Consumers have shifted from these cars to the sports utility segment; the market shifted in that same direction.”

Indeed, production of these rumbling relics of 1970s cool have steadily declined since their peak more than two decades ago.

Last year, 35,453 Camaros were sold, which was down 16 percent from the previous year. Firebird sales plunged 17 percent, with 25,743 rolling off the plant and into a less receptive world.

The State Department of Motor Vehicles could not provide numbers or locations of registered Camaro and Firebird drivers statewide.

But while the cars may be considered a cultural faux pas in some parts of the Bay Area, they continue to fetch attention—good and bad—and seem to thrive in large numbers on the streets of East County.

Even as the region has become increasingly suburban, Firebirds and Camaros remain wildly popular community fixtures here. It’s easy to spot a half-dozen or more on a short drive through Antioch.

Even State Senator Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, owns a black Camaro Z28 convertible, which he bought about a year ago.

Why? The Camaro, in general, caught my eye,” he said. “I looked at a super fast one with aerodynamic features—but it came down to a hardtop versus a convertible, which is more streamlined and sleek, without all the stuff on it.”

Fair enough. “Sleek” and “stylish” are words that purists often use to describe these automobiles, which were created in the 1960s to compete in the growing “pony car” market.

The cars were produced in 1966 as 1967 models to challenge the celebrated Ford Mustang, which made its splashy debut at the 1964 New York World’s Fair.

Their sculpted bodies and high-performance engines—some powered by V-8s—attracted a wide range of curious motorists.

The Camaro was so appealing because of its graceful curved lines as opposed to the straight, boxy lines of the ’64 and ’65 Mustang.” Said Brian Birkeland, the state spokesman for the Worldwide Camaro Association.

The Cambirds, however, will forever be linked to the 1970s, during which Reynolds starred in “Smokey and the Bandit.” The 1977 film featured a stylish black Pontiac Trans Am, which captivated the minds of young adults everywhere.

"Smokey' did it for me - before that I had been looking at a Mustang." Said James Prinzivalli of Antioch. “I had even looked at Gremlins. Why? I have no idea.”

A year after the film was released, Firebird sales climbed to 188,212 their best performance.

Still Prinzivalli ended up buying a 1976 Camaro for about $3,200, a car whose, lime-green color and houndstooth check cloth interior inspired widespread ridicule around Concord High School.

In 1985, he purchased his first Trans Am, a red 155-horsepower model, and he began to slip into the cult-like culture of Firebird mania.

“After I bought that, I was hooked,”said the 39-year-old Web developer and father of two. “I ate, breathed and slept Trans Am.”

Soon, he found himself joining the Trans Am Club of America’s Chapter in Sacramento, a membership-based organization founded in 1979.

A former club president, Prinzivalli now owns two Trans Ams, including a 1993 model, as well as a minivan that he would rather not talk about.

He regularly competes in Firebird shows and races, some of which occur on regular streets with little warning.

One of his license plates is a custom-made introduction to rev your engine: It reads V8XLR8S.

One afternoon, he found himself at a stop light at Oak Grove and Willow Pass roads. He looked over and spotted a Corvette. The light turned green. “I just punched it,” Prinzivalli said. “But he wasn’t playing. He stayed back. But at one point, when I was doing about 30 or 40mph, he decided to do a blow-by. I don’t know what he was thinking.”

Prinzivalli believes, that, even if the Firebird, never returns, it will occupy a respectable place in automotive history. “In 30 or 40 years at some car show,” he said, “will people get excited about a Toyota Camry? I don’t think so!"

Written by Corey Lyons --- Conta Costa Times writer.


The Message Board Instructions.

1. If you want to post messages, you must first register. Just click on the "Register" button above the message board. Enter a user name, password and an email account, etc. Once you are registered, you may post messages

2. To avoid having to log on with your username and password everytime you visit the message board, simply click the "User CP" button and log on with your user name and password. Under Edit Options, click yes where it says "Automatically login when you return to the site". Click no where it says "browse board with cookies". The message board will now automatically remember your username and password.

3. To post in the Members Only section, you must be a member of TACA, GSC. Send me an email stating what your user name is for the message board. I will send the information to GM Forums and they will assign rights, giving you access to the Members Only section. When you are no longer a member of TACA, GSC, you will still be able to post in the TACA general forum but will be restricted from the Members Only section.

Okay, now let's go to the MESSAGE BOARD .