MARCH 2003, Volume 6, Issue 3

General Meeting-March 4th, 2002
The meeting was called to order by President, Ted Bechtel, at 7:15pm.

Minutes were approved as printed in the News Letter.

Old Business:

Past Events:
Leo reported on the Valentines Day Brunch on February the 16th at the Radisson Hotel. We had a very good showing with our cars. The Radisson has a circular drive and we were allowed to park our cars around the drive in full view of anyone coming into the hotel.

Lunch was outstanding. Every conceivable breakfast dish and more, including champagne. The deserts were to die for, from puddings to pies to cakes to what every you wanted to do with ice cream.

Leo presented an award that was earned at our Super Bowl party held at Straw Hat Pizza in Rancho Cordova. A certificate of achievement was presented to Paul Gershon, son of Dave and Paula, for eating the most pizza.

Pearl Ackerson was also in attendance. Pearl doesn't make many events and it was really a treat to have her there.

Keith reported on Autorama held February 7th - 9th. We had a showing of 13 cars. The Coke display was very well done. There were tables with Coke lamps and glasses and floor lights around the entire Club area. The cars were all nice and shiny and very well placed for viewing. We had a page and a half of visitors interested in knowing more about our cars. Dave Karnes took the Best Of Class trophy that stood about three feet tall. We also received an additional six trophies.

Gratitude was expressed to Leo Brown and Dante' Higgins for the very fine job of putting this event together. Getting thirteen cars and people to work the display was very commendable.

Club Dues:
For those of you who have not paid your dues for 2003 please do so as soon as possible. They should have been in by March 1.

Message Board:
We need to use the message board. It is no longer a matter of "when" the categories are going to be merged but "are" the categories going to be merged. Leo is holding a Board Meeting right after the regular meeting to discuss this problem. Anyone wishing to stay is welcome.

New Business:

News Letter:
The last News Letter you received will be Theo's last. As President, his time is taken up with too many other duties. This task as been passed on to Irene. Theo will be giving her instruction for the next month, or two or three. We have had several people volunteer to write articles for the News Letter, which will be a great help. The new Publisher program has been ordered but currently is on back order.

Up coming events:

March 8th:
Angels Camp, Moaning Caverns and Murphy's. The cost to enter the cave is $5 for Children and $10 for adults. If you choose to rappel, the cost is $45.

March 16th:
Chili Cook Off. Meet at K-Mart at 12:30PM leaving at 1PM. This will be at the Raff's house. Bring your home cooked chili.

March 29th:
Movie and pizza night. Movie to be announced. Leo's phone committee will be letting you know well in advance.

Dave Gershon reported that S.L.P. Days will be in Palmdale on April 26th. They put on a Customer Appreciation Day in about six areas through the year. Last year it was in Las Vegas. There is no cost to participate in the event. You can auto cross, drag racing, burn out contest and car show, etc. Dave has flyers with the web site address on it for registration. Ted Klein said Days Inn is close to the event. It is across the street from a McDonalds and an In and Out Burger.

Trans A Rama:
Terry and Dennis Trimble have volunteered to ram rod this event. The dates have been set for July 18, 19, & 20. The run on Friday night will be to Jaspers Burgers. The car show will be held at Reliable on Saturday. The banquet on Saturday night and the going away brunch Sunday morning will be held at the same hotel as our event last year. The first meeting for Trans A Rama will be March 15th, at 4pm at Jerry's Paint Shop. (This is where Ted Klein works).

A man talked to Keith about the Towe Ford Museum at Autorama. They would like our Club to participate in their car presentation. The only draw back is that the cars must remain in the museum for a month. Club membership in the museum is $100. This would allow us to display our cars and all Club members have free admission for the year rather than pay the $7 entrance fee.

A State Representative has submitted State Bill #SB108 to the legislature which requires cars and trucks to comply with the state air and emission standards through the smog check program until the vehicle is older than 45 years old. J.O. has submitted a message to his legislator speaking against this bill but hasn't heard anything back. Everyone needs to do the same, especially if you own one of the older model cars. Trans Am models or other wise.

Dave Gershon had a follow up on this bill. At Trans A Rama last year, Dave spoke to a gentleman who is with the Association of California Car Clubs. The association spends most of it's time fighting bills such as this through the legal process. He would like to come and speak at one of our Club meetings to let us know what his association is all about and what they do.

Gayle spoke about the Roaring Camp which is a gold mining camp. We discussed this last year but were too late to get reservations. She said that if we wanted to do it this year we need to get a head count and make our reservations right away. This is a five hour trip starting in Pine Grove just out of Jackson. You get in a big truck and are taken down the hill to the river. They teach you to gold pan and you can keep all the gold you find. After you gold pan and get rich they serve you a big steak dinner, The cost is $36 per person. She would like to schedule it for June 28th.

With no further business the meeting was adjourned at 8:32pm.

Respectfully submitted Irene Raff, Secretary.s

ANGELS CAMP/MOANING CAVERNS
by Leo Brown

March 8th was the day we were going to venture out to Angels Camp/Moaning Caverns. Our day started at 9:00 AM in a dusty parking lot called "Levitz". One by one, fine tuned machines dressed in their spring attire, came rolling in. There were approx. eight T/A's all in line and ready to rock-n-roll! Dean and Tammy took lead and I picked up the rear.

What a sight indeed! Eight T/A's rolling down the black pavement in what would be considered "perfect" weather. First stop: Angels Camp, where we took a tour down Main Street. There, we went in and out of antique shops familiarizing ourselves down memory lane. This is the perfect place to go if you like antiques.

After visiting several shops, people were getting a little hungry, so we decided to pass up Moaning Caverns for now and head to Murphy's for lunch. Per Tammy's recommendation, we refreshed ourselves at a place called "The Pick & Shovel". That's right folks, lots of food for a reasonable fee. Thank you Tammy, for selecting a great place to eat. After lunch, a few of us went on a wine tasting spree hitting winery after winery (well, maybe not winery, but tasting rooms of wineries) while the rest visited several shops.

We finally mounted up and headed to our final destination which was Moaning Caverns. Once we got there, some chose to venture down into the cavern and some passed. Mr. and Mrs. Iriarte chose to hold back and wait with their 5 mile radio in hand in case we needed help. Nobody braved the quick way down by repelling. Princer (better known as "P-Ditty") was holding Keith's hand (it could have been the other way around) as we started down into the cavern. Less than 5 feet down, P-Ditty didn't ditty and quickly headed back to the surface. P-Ditty (Princer), by the way, is a potential new member who heard about the Trans Am Club at Autorama where he was given a schedule of events if he was interested. The irony about this is, it was a schedule for the Capitol City Firebirds. They were having a gold mine run about the same time we were doing our run.

Anyway, Keith had to brave it alone. 165 feet beneath the earth we went and 165 feet back up. A total of 468 stairs. I wasn't sure if Terry Trimble was going to make it back up. We all made it back to the surface and were ready to head back to Sacramento.

My thanks to Dean and Tammy for a great run and all those (Mike and Kristy, Keith, P-Ditty, Terry, etc.) who participated.

CHILI COOK-OFF
By Leo Brown

On March 18th, we held our 10th (?) annual St. Patrick's Day - Chili Cook - Off and what a day it was! Some of us met at the K-Mart parking lot at 12:30 to leave at 1:00. A total of eight T/A's and 3 OTT/A's (other than Trans Am's) lined up and headed to what would be an experience to remember. J.O. and Irene Raff graciously opened up their home to 30+ people for this festive event. We had a total of 15 chili's which were judged by Pat Brown, Dave Karnes and Gordon Tackitt (you're welcome Gordon).

The Raff's, in consideration of children and those who don't really care for chili, provided pizza. Other members provided salad and dressings, corn bread, cookies, chips & dip and sodas. Everyone lined up their chili's and an announcement was made "Let the games begin". Well, maybe not in those words, but it was on. The judges were the first to brave the venture down "Chili Row" and what a challenge they had! The categories were as follows: Best Red, Best Green, Hottest, Wimpiest, Best Poultry or White Chili and People's Choice. The judges had no problem determining which chili was the hottest, but when it came to the other categories, it was difficult. After several hours of tasting and discussions amongst themselves, (well, it seemed like hours when your hungry), a decision was made.

Best Red was awarded to Aaron Bechtel. Best Green went to the infamous, undefeated champ, who always wins because he's the only one in that category - OK, J.O. Raff is the man! The hottest chili went to the person with the best looking sunset orange car - which is also fast! (Also the one taking advantage of doing the write-up), Leo Brown. Keith Thorson took the Chicken Award. Okay, Keith Thorson took Best Poultry and Les Griffith and not Gail Scaparro, took the Wimpiest chili award.

All chili's were real good this year, according to the judges, and not like the year when Gary Vollstedt produced a chili with half-cooked beans. Everyone had the opportunity to choose their favorite chili to complete the final category of "Peoples Choice". I don't know what Keith promised you or how much he paid everyone, but Keith Thorson took Peoples Choice. Congratulations Keith! Second place for Peoples Choice was awarded to me (Leo Brown) with my second batch of chili, and we had a three way tie for third (Frank & Michelle, Les & Gail, Dean & Tammy). Congratulations and thanks to the rest of you who participated in this event (Dave & Paula, Mr. & Mrs. Iriarte, Dennis & Terry, Gary & Gail, etc.) and again, to the judges and the Raff's for their hospitality and the pizza.

(P.S.) Happy Birthday Mom!

MOVIE/PIZZA
By Leo Brown

It is March 30th and we just experienced our first of several "Movie/Pizza" extravaganzas! We had a whopping three cars (What's up with that?) show up at Woody's on Watt Ave. Despite the low participation, we were determined to have a good time. We left Woody's at approx. 10:30 AM and headed to Laguna 16 in Elk Grove. I had lead, Dean picked up back door and Terry had nothing but space and opportunity between her car and mine. The day was gorgeous. Dennis and Terry rode with their top down (Dennis was the one with his top down) and Dean and Tammy removed the tops as well (T-Tops, people). As for Sue and I, the air-conditioner did quite well.

When we arrived at the theatre, we parked in the front row, T/A style. Okay, there were many front rows but we got the best front row. Anyway, for those who are not familiar with the lingo, T/A style refers to back end first or better yet, backing in a stall. Everyone had a choice of what movie they wanted to see as long as it was playing between 11:30 AND 12:00. Dennis, Terry and Granddaughter chose to see "Piglet's Big Movie". Dean, Tammy, Sue and I saw "Basic" (I highly recommend this movie because it kept you guessing through to the end) and my two boys ventured out and saw "Head of State". After the movies, we re-grouped and headed to "Pizza Plus" on Carlton Dr. by Sac State where we enjoyed Barbeque Ribs, Chicken and Pizza. I highly recommend this place for excellent pizza and barbeque.

After a late lunch, we called it a day and went our separate ways. We all had a great time, both at the movies and Pizza Plus!

Thanks to all those who participated on this run!

The Starting Line
Okay, Okay I know I have taken way to long to write an article for the Newsletter! As most of you know already, I took over as President of the club as of January. I have huge shoes to fill in replacing Ted Klein both figuratively and literally, I mean have you all seen how tall he is! If it were up to me I would have loved to see Ted as President again, but then again Ted should have a life outside of the club.

So here we are four months into the year, Irene Raff is graciously replacing me as newsletter editor and as I show JO how to put the newsletter together I am writing this article.

This will prove to be an interesting year! We have great officers this year again, to keep the club active and hopefully fun for everyone! Leo Brown and Tammy Yeager have planned a full ( And I do mean full) year of activities that should give just about everyone something they would enjoy to do!

Dean Yeager has stepped up and offered his services as Competition Director, so I will be getting together with him to get some ideas going other than Pontiac Vs. Mopar night.

Dennis and Terry Trimble are the new Major Events Directors and we just finished sending out the first mailing for Trans A Rama on July 18th-20th. They have some really good ideas for a new slant to this event.

IÕm going to make you all either come to a meeting or keep reading the newsletter to find out what those ideas are.

Our new Vice President is Keith Thorson. For those of you that have not met Keith, it will not be long before you do as he is very active and is a great asset to the club!

Our Treasurer and Secretary have returned for another year (SUCKERS) they must really be gluttons for punishment. Honesty I do not know what I would do without JO and Irene Raff!

Jim Prinzivalli has retuned for another year as Web-Site Director, Frank Brown is the clubs new enforcer Um excuse me Sgt. At Arms, JJ Apilado will return as Historian, as well as CC Coppage as Membership Director.

The surprise Officers are our Members at Large, Ted Klein and Dave Gershon. After having them around the house more their wives must have decided they needed something to get them out of their hair! I am glad to have them as advisors though!

Well that's enough blabbing for this month, I've filled up my box!

Until next time, Theo.