July 2013 Volume 23 Issue 7

MONTHLY CRUISIN’ with the Mass Cruisers Auto Club

“CRUISIN’ AT THE SPEED OF FUN”

We’re on the Web

www.masscruisers.com

And Facebook

Cruisers were everywhere in June, rain or shine ( http://vimeo.com/68826134 )

Page 2

Visitors, guests and those

interested in joining the Mass Cruisers Auto Club are

welcome to attend one of our monthly meetings held on the

third Tuesday of each month in Norfolk.

Contact us by snail mail: P.O. Box 217

Wrentham, MA 02093

Or by email:

Phone: 781 551-0520 for more

information

Our clubhouse is located at 124

Main St. behind the Dunkin Donut

and across from the Police Station

in the center of Norfolk MA

MASS CRUISERS AUTO CLUB CRUISIN’ AT THE SPEED OF FUN

Monthly Cruising Page 2

We’re on the Web!

www.masscruisers.com

Club Officers

President– Fred Tierney Vice President—Larry Nyborn Secretary—Bob Hines Treasurer—Wayne Lestan Webmaster—Steve Vining New Member Liason—Dole Cole Sgt. at Arms—Rick Lawlor Special Contributor—John Buchanan

Editor—Paul Saulnier

Special Events

Cruise Night—Steve Huntington Car Show—Rich Armando

Advertising Rates

Business card space…….$25.00

per year

To advertise in the Monthly Cruiser, please send a business

Directory 2

Classifieds & Elm Bank Classic

Car Show, Natick

3

May 30, 2013 Cruise Winner 4

May 11th SSAAC Trading Bee 5

Monthly Calendar 6

July Cruisin’ Massachusets 7

A Dying Art,

By Pat Touhey

8

A Dying Art(cont.) 9

Car Shows & Events

-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 9th Annual Norwood

Arena Reunion - Sunday

June 2, 2013

10

- - - - - - - -

11

Classified Page 3 Monthly Cruising

For sale

Bally “Hokus Pokus” pinball machine (Model: 1508-47-G S/N 1657) The first $250 takes this nostalgic electro-mechanical fun

machine in this age of smart phone game-boys. Can be seen and played at Mark’s Upholstery shop on Rte. 140 in Foxborough. Call

or email Mark at 508-543-3400 marksautouph@verizon.net for details.

June 23, 2013 Elm Bank Show, Natick.

Unseasonably hot but they came, they saw, and they

drank like fish. About 700 cars, including a bazillion Cor-

vettes filled the field of dreams and flowers. Promoter

Charlie Harris managed to keep things moving and pre-

sented raffle prizes and trophies to the winners on time.

Left. John Nunez & newest member Assad Zogheib

relaxing by John’s BMW in front of the Garden God-

desses of the Italianate Garden designed by the

Olmstead brothers in 1914 . Cruisers with class.

Bob Cecca’s ‘59 Corvette, John Buchanan’s ’31 Dodge

and Paul Saulnier’s ‘64 Mini Mouse each took 2nd place in

their respective classes.

May 30, 2013 Cruise Winner Monthly Cruising Page 4

The question sometimes comes up as to how the cruise night winner selection is made. Although the 2013 award

plaques are sponsored by Accurate Automotive & Performance from Hyde Park, Boston, selection of the winning

vehicle is made by one of the Bass Pro Shops Associates or Managers. Tony Jones, Bass Pro Shops Promotions, is

responsible to identify the lucky judge for each cruise night. See video: http://vimeo.com/67636471

The May 30 cruise was a first when the Associate

selected passed that honor on to her 13 year old

son, Alan Salachi, who happens to love cars. What

13 year old doesn’t? That responsibility was not

taken lightly either as our webmaster, Steve Vining,

chauffeured Alan and his mom in the club’s golf cart

through the cruise to make their selection. Following

our basic rules, no recent selections from the past

two years or a Mass Cruiser member’s vehicle could

be picked. That left more than 1,000 cars, trucks and

motorcycles to choose from before our 5:30 pm

targeted deadline and Alan chose well. His favorite

turned out to be a mixture of old and new, Denis

McCarthy’s modified 1962 Corvette roadster.

What teenage boy wouldn’t want one of these clas-

sic looking Vettes. Although it is pure 1962 Corvette

on the outside, inside and underneath, including the

paint, is all updated resto-rod. The chassis frame was

boxed to improve rigidity and the suspension is C4

‘90’s vintage Corvette. It is also motivated with a

1996 LT1-350/300HP engine tied to a 4 speed elec-

tric automatic tranny. The paint is a custom PPG

single stage clear coat Lincoln/Mercury burgundy

color with gold metal flake added to make the color

really pop in bright sunlight. The bucket seats are

Toyota Supra. It garnered a Goodguys Best of Show

in its first outing at Rhinebeck, N.Y. and it still looks

as good today as it did 12 years ago.

The restoration and build was completed in 2000

and has only added less than 8,000 miles on the

odometer. And because of that, Denis had a tiny for

sale sign with his cell # on the windshield which al-

lowed us to track him down enjoying dinner at the

Olive Garden. Denis says he hasn’t driven the car often enough in recent years which has motivated him to let some-

one else have the opportunity to drive and enjoy it as he did. If you are interested in becoming its new owner, we

have Denis’s contact information.

Monthly Cruising Page 5

May 11, 2013 SSAAC Trading Bee

More fun than a cruise night or car show is what I think the South Shore Antique Auto

Club's Annual Swap Meet at the Comcast Center in Mansfield, MA is on the Mother's

Day Weekend.

The 54th annual swap was held on May 11 & 12, and despite intermittent rain, mostly

on Sunday, it is still be a trip worth taking. The Mass Cruisers had their usual 6 spaces

up front on Rows B & C and over 1500 other spaces are usually sold making it New

England's largest and oldest annual event for gearheads and auto enthusiasts.

There were last minute concerns this year when the Mansfield Board of Selectmen

held up issuing a permit on a close 4 - 3 vote then imposing additional restrictions on

open fires and open container alcohol consumption as well as requiring additional po-

lice and fire details in the swap meet area, however it looks like whatever concerns the

Town may have had before the swap meet, it will not deter the SSAAC from coming

back again nor the Comcast Center from hosting the swap meet again for their 55th

annual in 2014.

Ralph, Rick and Mike did very well with their blue tarp concession.

Contact Mary or Bob Lepore for available months to schedule hosting the monthly winter dinner socials at your favorite restaurant with coffee and pot luck desserts at your home.

Page 6 Monthly Cruising

August

11th, Walpole, car show goodie bag BBQ. Contact Rick or Paula Lawless for more information.

13th, Business Meeting @ Clubhouse 17th. Wrentham, Mass. Noon.

Autofest 2013 . Cruisers signature event

20th, Memebers Meeting @ Clubhouse ** Bass Pro Cruise Nights hosted by the

Mass Cruisers.

July 2013 Su Mo Tue We Thu Fri Sat

1 2 3 4 * 5 * 6 *

7 * 8 9 * 10 11** 12 + 13 +

14 + 15 + 16 * 17 18 + 19 20 +

21 + 22 23 + 24 25** 26 + 27 +

28 + 29 30 31 +

July 4th, see page 10 for multiple listings. 4—7th, see page 10 for multiple listings. 6th, see page 10 for multiple listings 7th, see page 10 for multiple listings 9th, Business Meeting @ Clubhouse 11th, Attleboro Falls, Mass. 16th Annual

Kids Day Cruise Night, Elm Street. 16th, Memebers Meeting @ Clubhouse ** Bass Pro Cruise Nights hosted by the

Mass Cruisers. + See page 10 for multiple listings!!!!!

August 2013 Su Mo Tue We Thu Fri Sat

1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8 ** 9 10

11 * 12 13 * 14 15 16 17 *

18 19 20 * 21 22** 23 24

25 26 27 28 29 30 31

July Cruising Massachusetts

Page 7 Monthly Cruising

Page 8 Monthly Cruising

A Dying Art by Pat Touhey

As you might or might not know, I am giving my Valiant an eight cylinder transplant. I purchased a small Mopar V8 and transmis-

sion. Club Member Bob Cecca from Bobby C’s Speed connection offered to do the surgery and at an agreed rate we picked up the

engine using his trailer. He suggested we do a refresh on the engine and I agreed. So Bob and his young auto tech Mike broke

down the engine and after it was apart, he had an engine master look at it, Chuck Kaplan, it was agreed that the block would need

further work to be reliable. So off to Chuck’s Neponset Valley Machine in Walpole shop it went. Chuck invited me down to wit-

ness the boring of the motor. While I was there Chuck told me some great war stories of being in the industry and teaching at

UTI. Quite a funny guy. Chuck has now retired to his back yard machine shop to practice what he loves to do, rebuild engines and

work on his old Chevy.

My next task was taking the transmission to Steve

Peluso at Lee Myles in West Roxbury to have it re

-built. When I dropped it off, Steve, said to me

hang around it will see if there was anything

wrong with it and possibly learn something. In my

amazement he proceeded to break the transmis-

sion down in less than 20 minutes all the while

talking to about politics, helping his staff with their

own assignments and generally keeping an eye on

the whole shop. Which brings me to the shop. It

is a time portal. He has several classics on lifts and

in the lot. There was many awards for customer

service with Steve’s name on it. Not a big sur-

prise, because Steve is so friendly and attentive.

Many old transmission carcasses stacked about

the ends of the shop. An organized chaos if you

will. He quickly diagnosed the transmission as

pretty good shape and would need just a regular

rebuild, to my delight. As he was taking out bolts,

clips and clutches, I remarked that he was a mas-

ter of the transmission world.

Monthly Cruising Page 9

A Dying Art (cont.)

If you know Steve,

modesty is not part of

him to a degree. He

said he was an old has-

been in the trade. I

beg to differ. He is an

artist doing an art that

is being lost. It’s a

shame that there

aren’t many young

kids with his talent and

passion.

As I drove back to

Bobby C’s I was still in

awe on how Steve

dismantled that trans-

mission so quickly. He

said come back the

next day after all the

parts are cleaned and

he would so me the re

-construction. Which I

did, the transmission

was complete, along

with notes to do when

installation happens.

He also offered his

services to go to

Bobby C’s and check everything out before final installation was complete. A class act from the get go.

Now that the transmission is complete and the engine is almost done, Bobby Cecca and Mike will be doing the assembly of the

engine and putting in the car. I can’t wait. Bobby has been great getting the best prices for the parts needed, educating me along the

way and generally not draining my bank account. I highly recommend any one of these three great guys to help you with your clas-

sic car project. Since I am not that knowledgeable when it comes to doing these tasks, I am forever grateful for the assistance get-

ting the Valiant ready for the future. I will be sure to have a follow up article with the final results.

Page 10

Monthly Cruising Page 10

Monthly Cruising

PP11

9th Annual Norwood Arena Reunion Sunday - June 2, 2013

Monthly Cruising Page 11

Many of our club members are probably

unaware that our own Johnny “Jack” Lane

is among the 9th Annual Norwood Arena

Reunion of former car owners, drivers and

sponsors that tore up the local oval tracks.

In the late 50’s Jack drove his number “0”

1938 Chevy coupe in the old six-banger

Bomber Division and in the following years

sponsored cars and drivers like Leo

Cleary.

Although the number of former Norwood

Arena race alumni attending each year at

Bezema Motors on the Automile is getting

smaller, memorabilia from those days con-

tinues to grow, and Ric Mariscal still finds space at the Pronyne Motorsports Mu-

seum in Pawtucket to display them. One

new item added to their collection on Sun-

day June 2 that caught my eye was the

driver’s side door from the late “Wild Bill”

Slater’s Vitrai-Bombacci owned “V8” that

was leaning against the NEAR trailer which

honors the past Hall of Fame inductees.

Bill was a four time Norwood Arena

champion who was among the first induc-

tees to the New England Auto Racing

(NEAR) Hall of Fame in 1998. In addition

to “Jack”, another familiar name from the

past, Leo Cleary, was in attendance along

with the three Stampfl’s, Henry, Denny &

Daryl, 1970 Daytona 500 winner Pete

Hamilton, Paul Roche, Jerry Capazzoli, Jack Malone, Dave Brooks, Bob

Glass, George Savory, Don McCollough, Bill Singerson and Jeff Horn.

There was a great collection of race cars in addition to film clips of

past racing events played continuously inside the garage area. And fi-

nally, Jack’s bone stock 1951 Ford Tudor Sedan was selected for the

“Best of Show” trophy award along with former Norwood Arena

alumni and former Modified and Pro 4 driver George Savory for Best

Motorcycle.

July 2013

Member meetings are held the 3rd Tuesday of each month at the Norfolk MA clubhouse.

P.O. Box 217

Wrentham, MA 02093