The Vintage Motor Car Club of America. Kansas City Chapter DISTRIBUTOR JANUARY 25, 2019

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1 The Vintage Motor Car Club of America Kansas City Chapter DISTRIBUTOR JANUARY 25, 2019 Kansas City Chapter Web Page - National VMCCA Web Page President Dan Richardson Vice President Steve Wolff Secretary Dave Higdon Treasurer Gary Barth Vice President, Appointed Webmaster Ray Council

2 PRESIDENTS MESSAGE Hello, New Year and what a start. Anita and I just missed the snow storm by one day with no regrets as we drove to south Texas. We understand from neighbors that we sustained a downed tree and a county snow plow coming to rest in our front yard where a huge tow truck pulled it back and forth until finally freeing the dump truck. Neighbor said deep grooves in yard and ditch resembled the Grand Canyon. The club officers participated in the first board meeting of the year starting a monthly planner that will fill in as the month s progress. We are planning a Poker Run, to be different, and will reveal the details at the pot luck dinner. The Lewis & Clark tour in May is coming together, as the rooms are blocked off and everyone should make their reservation very early. All our conversations with the Hannibal Chamber of Commerce are requesting a head count for planning purposes. Each restaurant and event center needs that information for pricing, and space considerations. Please make your reservation soon and if you need to cancel just call the same number you used to reserve your room within 24 hours prior to date of arrival for no charge cancelation. It s not too early to be planning the traditional Fall Tour as well, so someone please step up and take the lead. I hope to be reporting progress on the Chevelle restoration and repairs to the John Deere tractor in future newsletters. But, for now, it is sunny and warm here five miles from the Mexican border. Oh, the fresh caught gulf shrimp are sooooo-gooood. See you at the January meeting. Dan Richardson **The Kansas City Chapter of the VMCCA meets at 7:00 PM the fourth Friday of each month at the Faith Presbyterian Church, 8301 James A. Reed Rd., Kansas City, MO.

3 CALENDAR: Jan 25 Regular monthly meeting and POT LUCK dinner 6:30 Feb 07 Cruise night TBD later (see how we will select locations below) Feb 22 Regular monthly meeting, Faith Presbyterian Mar 14 Cruise night Mar 23 Monthly meeting to be held at KC Auto Museum 10:00 AM Apr 11 Cruise night Apr 19 Regular monthly meeting President Dan Richardson called the meeting to order at 7:05 PM. VINTAGE MOTOR CAR CLUB OF AMERICA KANSAS CITY CHAPTER MONTHLY MEETING NOVEMBER 16, 2018 President Richardson acknowledged the great attendance and called for a health report. Ray Council reviewed his recent efforts to correct a painful problem with his left wrist. His doctor admitted him to St Luke s South and was there from Monday thru Friday. He said they performed a surgery to remove debris from his wrist joints. He has three weeks of treatment ahead but feels like he is getting some relief. October minutes were approved as reported in the newsletter by our Secretary. Secretary Higdon could not be present tonight so Jim Clock will take minutes. Treasurer Gary Barth filled us in on the income and expenses since the last meeting. He reported that it was a busy time with members paying dues and Christmas dinner party fees. A reminder that Gary was collecting $20 for local dues, $40 for national dues and $25 per member for the Christmas dinner. Bob Saderstrom reported on several unique items that came to his attention recently at the Hillcrest Thrift Store. One item was a roll-up, portable piano which Bob demonstrated. His second unusual find was a hard hat with a battery operated flashing red light mounted to the top.

4 President Richardson reviewed the upcoming activities including: Members signed up to attend the Big Creek Country Theater November 24. Annual Christmas party to be held at the Independence, Hereford House Restaurant on December 1, from 2 4PM. Members requested that we use our Car-Go game once again for entertainment. Three rounds will be played for prizes. Question who knows where the game is stored? Dan also explained that the menu items listed in the November newsletter are the choices that you will pick from on December 1. December cruise night at the Crown Center on December 13th 6:30PM John Barnes will secure the rental of the Waterfall Park shelter-house for our July breakfast in the park meeting. President Richardson announced that the executive board will hold a meeting on January 7th. Place and time to be announced later. January regular meeting will also be our annual pot luck dinner January 25th. President Richardson announced that plans are underway for our Lewis and Clark tour to visit the Hannibal, Missouri area. Meeting was suspended for a refreshment break. Refreshments were provided by Anita Richardson and Vanita Beeson. Connie Clock provided hot cider. While spending time in the Branson area recently, Dan and Anita procured a movie titled Ozark Legends. After refreshments we watched the video which followed the legend of a home-made fiddle made by a member of the McFarland family during the early 1800 s. The fiddle was followed through numerous periods of history occurring in the Ozark area. Dan warned everyone at the start that it was a 50 minute movie and that we could split into two showings but it seemed to hold everyone s attention and interest. 50/50 drawing was won by Jim Clock. Dan adjourned the meeting at 8:50 PM Respectfully submitted Jim Clock for David Higdon, Secretary SELECTING CRUISE NIGHT LOCATIONS While we have had some really great locations set up in the past the board decided to get more input from the membership. This year one or more of the members with a

5 Birthday in a particular month will determine the location of the cruise night for that month. So, members with birthdays in February, come to the January meeting you re your pick. BIG CREEK COUNTRY SHOW On November 24, twenty-six members and five guests attended an entertaining performance at the Big Creek Country Show in Pleasant Hill, Missouri. In addition to the talented regulars, the following guest singers were featured: Duke Mason from Webb City, Missouri, Alicia Kay formerly of Shawnee now living/working in Nashville, Tennessee and Patrick Stump from Belton, Missouri. The instrumental offerings were Holden, Missouri s Ty Green on the banjo and lead guitar playing/singing Rick Hontz from King City, Missouri. A key employee to this operation is our own Don Oberholtz who wears several hats, one of which is ticket collection. Don arranged our visit and had us sitting together in the middle of the theater. Ray Council submitted a few pictures but they featured mostly the back of the head of the person sitting in front of him so you ll have to use your imagination. If you have not been to this show you should make an effort to go, as it is always entertaining. 48TH ANNUAL LEWIS AND CLARK TOUR Lewis and Clark tour will be held in Hannibal, Missouri, May 16, 17 & 18. Arrangements have been made with a hotel and a special rate negotiated. The board recommends that you make your reservations, which can be cancelled with 24 hours notice, due to the popularity of this location. More information will be shared at upcoming meetings but it is important to make those reservation now. Best Western on the River CLUB CHRISTMAS PARTY On December 01, our chapter met at the Hereford House Restaurant in Independence for our annual Christmas party. Switching our format to holding the party in the afternoon does not seem to have discouraged members from attending as we had thirty six in attendance at this year s event. Great turn out! Dan Richardson welcomed everyone and shared a few of his one-liners and the restaurant staff began to take orders. For efficiency the restaurant had selected four items off their menu for our group to select from. I believe at our table we had an example of each item and everyone seemed pleased with their food selection. Following the meal dessert was brought out and enjoyed.

6 Rather than a gift exchange, which we have done at most of these gatherings, it was decided to play the antique car hobbies version of Bingo called Cargo. It does require a professional caller which we already have in Larry Delmont. Larry actually does call Bingo each week in Lathrop which is close enough to being a professional as we required. Larry passed out cards and chips, went over the rules and the fun began. As you would expect there are always a few who feel they are at a disadvantage as their numbers are not being called sorry Gary. Soon after Gary s complaint, I believe he won a round. We played four rounds to give each of the prizes away. Winners included Gary Barth, Cheryl Delmont, and Maurica Campbell. Following the game period members had time to visit with one another before heading for home.

7 BIG TURN OUT FOR JANUARY CRUISE NIGHT It is difficult to tell from the pictures but we had twenty-six members attend our cruise night to Michael Forbes Grille in Brookside. The restaurant managed to reserve a number of tables so we could visit, which was extremely nice as this is a popular restaurant. Those in attendance seem to have enjoyed their meal and catching up with friends. Happy Birthday to Connie Clock 2/05 Karin Erickson 3/06 Dave Tope 2/11 Wanda Tope 3/10 John Barnes 2/19 Debbie Wolff 3/17 Ginny Fishback 2/24 Pat Behrens 3/17

8 A VMCCA EVENT REMEMBERED I think there are a fair number of our club members that have sort of a déjà vu moment whenever we pass this sign in Cass County Missouri because somewhere north of 7000 nights ago, we went on an adventure down this road to an event that most of us had never even heard of. This sign is at the intersection of 7 Highway and State Route T, the spot where the Kurzweil s store, long known as a destination for travelers between Kansas City and the Ozarks, took up the entire southwest corner. Summertime would find it full of Boy Scouts enjoying a pit stop on the way to Osceola. So how did we end up headed down this unfamiliar road on our way to a mystery event? Credit that to our dearly departed member, Bob Gough, whose family had a long history in the area. Bob was a wonderful, humble guy who was convinced (and then convinced the Board) that we should attend the Austin Bean Eatin event in late September. Bob was hard to say NO to so we planned to attend. We were even told that we would get preferred parking if we would display some of the old cars for the afternoon. Based on the crowd size, it turned out we needed it. So what is the Austin Bean Eatin all about? As is not uncommon around here, the Civil War had a very divisive effect to the people living in or around Austin, MO. Brothers fought against brothers and recruiters would ride into church services and enlist members who would then end up on opposite sides of the battle. In an attempt to heal the wounds of war, the Guardians of the American Revolution (the GAR) decided to hold a bean eating social in the fall of Apparently around 800 people showed up and the event took roots. Some of the crowds in later years approached 15,000. The accounts are a little vague about how long this went on but apparently it sat dormant for a while until it was rekindled in 1978 as a fundraiser for the Austin Cemetery. While originally held on the grounds of the

9 GAR building in Austin, the building fell into such disrepair that it was raised in A shelter house owned by the Austin Baptist Church now stands on that spot. I believe that at the time we attended, the event was held on the private property of Debbie Morgan s father, about 4.5 miles south of 7 on T. Debbie is the local historian of Austin and has even published a book on the history of the area. Sadly, 2017 was the last year for the event as the organizers figured that after 40 years it had run its course. The Facebook page is still active. Not needing to recover from any significant hangover, Debbie (Wolff) and I decided to take a New Year s Morning road trip to see if we could find the location of this event when we attended somewhere between 1995 and Thinking that our destination was around the Baptist Church, we were not successful. An outdated sign along Route T didn t help anything either. While there are some lovely homes in the area, Austin proper is pretty sad so without a Quik Trip or McDonald s to serve as a rest stop, we headed back towards KC. Had we known that the location we were looking for was a little north of town, I think we would have spotted it. Maybe some other time. It seems like it was a beautiful Fall day with old cars on display, a band playing, lots of politicians wandering around amongst the crowd, the feel of history in the air and a generous portion of a small white bean soup cooked in giant kettles followed by a piece of homemade pie. Maybe that s the way it happened and then maybe not but out of respect for Bob, that s the way I plan to remember it. Special thanks to Debbie Morgan of the Austin Cemetery Association, Jennifer at the Cass County Historical Society and to Debbie Wolff for being such a good sport on a cold January morning. Steve Wolff While we are in the remembering mode Dan Richardson came across this toy tractortrailer rig that he received as a gift while on a Lewis and Clark Tour. This was from the 37th Annual Lewis and Clark Tour held in Auburn, Nebraska. It was the practice then to have a gift for members registered and was usually given out at the final banquet.

10 MEMBERS & MORE At the Kansas City Automotive Museum the drive-in exhibit area is dedicated to cub scouts competing with their Pine Wood Derby cars during the month of January. February will feature a collection of Gassers. Mike Welsh and John Barnes learned that a long time member of our chapter had recently passed away and they attended a memorial service. Many of you may remember Tom and Lola Haggard. Tom passed away on November 15. You can find the obituary on our website. Ray Council submits this great video - When you drive a Chevrolet Corvette powered Hennessey Venom GT you don t shift into fourth gear until 160 MPH. The top speed of the run reached 270 mph! /gwaavcjvqvm?feature=player _detailpage Ray also sent in this car tip from days gone by this tip addresses the problems motorists had with wheel ants?? JANUARY MEETING-POT LUCK DINNER 1/25 It is our tradition to start the New Year off with a regular meeting but with a pot luck dinner included. As we have always suggested bring a main dish and either a salad/vegetable or dessert. The club will provide the utensils, plates, napkins and drinks. We start earlier at this meeting due to having dinner so plan to be there at 6:30 PM.

11 Meeting refreshments: (select your month at the January meeting) February: April: June: Anita Richardson & Connie Clock August: September: October: November: 2019 DATES* Regular monthly meetings to be held at the Faith Presbyterian church: 1/25, 2/22, 4/19, 6/28, 8/23, 9/27, 11/22 March meeting will be at the Kansas City Auto Museum 3/22, 10:00 AM May meeting held on Lewis and Clark Tour - Hannibal July breakfast meeting will be at the Waterfall Park date to be determined October meeting to be determined may be on fall tour Cruise Nights 2/07, 3/14, 4/11, 5/09, 6/13, 7/11, 8/08, 9/12, 10/10, 11/14 & 12/12 *Double check your current newsletter and other s for any change to dates ***** Please send any information you would like to see in the Distributor to the newsletter editor, Jim jclock@kc.rr.com NW Eagle Ridge, Lee s Summit, MO., The Distributor is published monthly. The purpose is to keep the membership informed of upcoming club meetings and events. It also includes news highlights about members who have attended an interesting swap meet, car show, and museum or bought, sold or restored a car.