GM centennial events dominate Flint calendar

[BUICK RACER]

Tuesday, January 01, 2008 By James M. Miller
jmiller@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6318

FLINT - Look for lots of major happenings in 2008 tied to the centennial of General Motors.

The Flint committee of the Automotive National Heritage Area is planning a series of events for July 13-20 to mark GM's big birthday.

In 1908, William C. "Billy" Durant was head of Buick, which he used as the foundation to create what would become the world's largest auto company.

The Flint committee is working on a parade with vehicles from the 100 years of GM, plus a car cruise, concerts, fireworks, special museum exhibits, tours of historic sites and more. Events will be in downtown Flint, Carriage Town, the Cultural Center and other locations.

A parade committee is looking for at least one vehicle from each year of GM's history. Cars should be unmodified, but can be in original or restored condition. Entry forms will be available at www.flintgm100.com
(NOTE: Needs work! RV)

The Buick Club of America will hold its national meet from July 16-20 in the Flint Cultural Center, marking GM's 100th and Buick's 105th.

The Buick meet will include a swap meet, self-guided tours, concerts, programs on Buick history and technology.

GM cars also will be the feature exhibit at the 2008 Sloan Summer Fair on June 28-29. Including my '86 GN!

***

[serb]

Needs Work? Yes, they should run a spell checker through their handiwork.

[1953mack]

EVERYBODY LOVES A PARADE! Can GMC outdo the two-hour Oldsmobile 100-year celebration parade in downtown Lansing, Michigan in August of 1997?

My vote would be for a Saturday afternoon parade. Attendance was around 100,000 people and I was one of them. Honorary Grand Marshalls in the parade included R.E. Olds Anderson, Randy Travis, Arie Luyendyk (1997 Indy winner), Tammy Wynette ("Stand by your Man") (before she died in 1998), along with Linda Vaughn (Ms Hurst) and many other big names. I thought the parade of Oldsmobiles in chronological order separating the decades with marching bands (Michigan State Spartans and others) and other parade units was a good idea. The display of Oldsmobiles downtown after the parade also drew alot of interest from the towns people. The newspapers mentioned that approximately 2,500 Oldsmobiles attended the Centennial Celebration and alot of them participated in the cruise around Lansing on the interstate highways. The hotels were booked up in town and we had to drive up to Flint to find a vacancy.

Count me in.

Al Mack
"500 miles West of Flint"

[BUICK RACER]

The Parade is going to be Sunday starting a 1PM, and will be very cool. Will start on the south end of Flint, go up North on Saginaw, through town, turn around and park on the west side of the street in order. On the east side all other cars that want to participate can park and enjoy the parade and then peruse the 100th GM Parade Cars!