MattDoscher

Congratulations on your purchase! The '59 Ford's and Mercury's are very nice cars! A 3 speed manual transmission was standard on the Monterey with the Merc-O-Matic automatic being a $173.00 option. I believe the Merc-O-Matic is a 2 speed transmission using type F fluid, Dexron is for newer transmissions. I'm not sure of the refill capacity. The filter should be removeable to either clean or replace. I would recommend getting a '59 Shop Manual. Matt

Bob/Tommy, The results have been posted to the ODMA site. Here is a link to the results http://odma.aaca.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/47/2018/05/2018-ODMA-Meet-Results.pdf Matt

The Tidewater Region held its 17th annual Square Car Tour yesterday. Nineteen antique vehicles participated, seven of which were pre-war including a 1914 Model T Ford Touring, a 1929 Buick Master, a 1929 Model A Ford, a 1931 Chevrolet Sport Coupe, a 1937 Pontiac Deluxe 6, a 1940 Oldsmobile Series 90, and a 1941 Packard Deluxe 110. We began the day by meeting at a club members home for coffee, donuts and socializing and after a brief driver’s meeting by Matt Doscher we departed and were on our way. Matt and Vickie Doscher served as road scouts in Vickie's '65 Mercury Comet driving several car lengths ahead of the group ensuring safe road conditions. The tour was officially led by Terry Bond in his 1914 Model T Ford Touring. Our route consisted of rural backroads through southern Chesapeake and Virginia Beach. We had a scheduled pit stop at Munden Point Park to allow for folks to stretch their legs and enjoy the scenery. Following our pit stop we motored in a northerly direction, dodging a few low lying spots in the road along our route containing standing water from nuisance tidal flooding from the Back Bay, and had to detour from the planned route due to a flooded out road. We all made it to Blue Pete's Restaurant in the Pungo area of Virginia Beach for our lunch stop. Everyone arrived safely and without incident and enjoyed a hearty lunch. Thankfully the weather held out allowing for a picture perfect day! A brief synopsis on what exactly a Square Car Tour is: Years ago, we began to notice that older cars were not touring like they once did, so we decided that Tidewater Region would create a special activity to help encourage use of the earlier vehicles. Thus the "Square Car" tour was born. The Tour is intended for good old fashioned "square" shaped vehicles, like the Model T's, A's, and cars that are generally more boxy and square shaped. Of course we do allow those with modern cars to participate, but our only rule is that they need to bring up the rear, and try to keep up if they can. (Terry Bond didn't have any problem keeping pace at almost 40MPH again this year)! It's a simple tour, laid out on beautiful farm country back roads with very little traffic, no traffic lights, and as few stop signs as possible. This corner of Chesapeake and Virginia Beach still have a lot of wide-open space and lots of scenic winding roads to choose from. We usually start at the home of a club member who has room to gather for coffee and donuts before we start. For those who wish to trailer in a vehicle we always ensure there is some room to park the rig. We've had a lot of fun doing this - it's as casual as can be, with a lunch stop at a local family restaurant for a good meal and more fellowship. We managed to get the weather arranged about right again this year, but except for some flooded roads that necessitated a slight detour, we did just fine. Some of these roads we've covered previously, but we discovered that if you just drive on them from the other direction, it's a different road with different things to see! It's great to slow down, enjoy the smell of the country (except where they were fertilizing a field), and enjoy the fellowship of our Tidewater Region members. Photo's courtesy of Matt Doscher and Bob Stein

Nice photos Mark, thanks for sharing! Matt

Registration has been extended until Monday April 16th. Matt

The corral was like this last year too. New vehicles mixed in with old. The corral should be limited to AACA eligible vehicles only. There is a distinct line between Hershey and Charlotte, with Hershey catering more to the antique and brass folks while Charlotte caters more to the newer stuff. Both of these annual meets are well run and well attended, it's all a matter of what you're looking for and what you're expecting out of it. Matt

Nice pics, thanks for sharing! Matt

James, You have a nice looking GT fastback! Looks like you were in a nice gathering of Mustangs; 2 fastbacks, a coupe and a convertible and all different colors too! Nice to hear you drove it there and back. Here is a pic of my '65 Caspian Blue coupe. Matt

The host hotel is the site for both the showfield and trailer parking. It says the hotel boasts over 1000 parking spaces. I can see where it would be confusing since the self-contained motorhome and trailer parking were combined under 1 column but trailer parking is at the host hotel. Matt

Twenty TRAACA members took advantage of the seasonably warm weather this past Sunday and organized a lunch fun run to exercise our antique cars, and enjoy a nice lunch together. We met at a familiar meeting location, and after a brief drivers meeting, hit the country backroads of Chesapeake and Virginia Beach, passing through the small communities of Creeds and Pungo. We all enjoyed a relaxed, scenic, leisurely, 30 mile drive through the countryside, enjoying the blue skies and warm weather. We had eleven vehicles that participated, including: a '41 Packard, '47 Packard, '50 Chevy, '55 Buick Century, '65 Mercury Comet, '68 Ford LTD, '73 MGB GT, '74 MGB, '78 MGB GT, '84 Buick Riviera, and '85 Ford Crown Victoria.

The Old Dominion Meet Association (ODMA) held their 1st annual fall tour on Saturday November 11th. There were approximately 64 people who participated in the driving tour Saturday. The host hotel was the Country Inn and Suites in Ashland, VA. We all enjoyed a nice pizza social Friday night in the hotel. Saturday's tour started at 8AM as we departed the host hotel for a leisurely drive across the back roads of Hanover County, New Kent County, Charles City County, and Prince George County. We crossed the James River via the Benjamin Harrison Memorial Bridge and drove into City Point, Hopewell for our first stop and tour of the Eppes family 18th century plantation which served as General Grant's headquarters during the Civil War. City Point was an important and strategical location during the Civil War as it was at the confluence of the James and Appomattox Rivers and already had an established railroad. Then we made our way to Weston Plantation also built in the 18th century where we received a formal tour of the 2 story home and enjoyed a nice lunch in the basement. There's a story with this home in that a civil war era cannon ball was fired into the home and remained there for over 100 years until the 1970's when it fell through the ceiling! Luckily no one was injured. The bomb was removed from the home and detonated at FT. Lee! Imagine a live round in your home for over 100 years! After our tour here some folks departed for home while others enjoyed more socializing at the host hotel prior to our 5PM dinner at the Richmond Car Museum. Many thanks to the Richmond Region for hosting this years tour. We hope this becomes an annual activity for ODMA.

That's a nice color combo, white w/ red interior. Even nicer that you purchased from the original owner, original paint and have the window sticker! Sounds like a good HPOF candidate to me! Matt

Hello Mike. What do you mean by registration regarding the 4F07C VIN? The piece of paper registration card? You want to go by what ever VIN is stamped on the inner fender driver side. If you remove the pass. side fender you will also find a VIN stamping there. What does the data plate say on the drivers door? Does the VIN on the door data plate match the VIN on the inner fender? It is common to find VIN mis-stamps on these cars. The 9 25 D3 would decode as: September 25th Dearborn 3rd shift. The 4J17W would decode as: 1964 October 17th specific work shift. I have a '65 Mustang coupe w/ VIN 5F07C395128, so our 2 cars are only 90,039 units apart! When I bought mine it did not have the right door data plate as the drivers door had been replaced at some point before I bought it but based on my VIN I am able to approximate the build date of mine to be around January 15th, 1965. What does your door data plate say? Like I said earlier if the VIN on that plate matches the VIN on the inner fender then your golden. Let us know what you find! Matt

Had a great meet yesterday! Here is a link to our website http://www.traaca.com/recent_events.htm to enjoy the pics courtesy of Bob Stein. We also had a nice video made courtesy of Michael Blankenship of 757 By Air

The Tidewater Region (TRAACA) is holding it's 44th annual meet on Saturday September 23rd at the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach, VA. Our meet runs from 8 AM to 3 PM and features a Preserving the Past show field for all 1992 and older vehicles - AACA style judging. We also have a Mods and Rods show field for all 1992 and older vehicles that have been modified and customized - participant judging. The Military Aviation Museum was the site of our 2015 National Meet that we hosted. Please take a look at our flyer and we hope to see you in September! thanks, Matt 2017_Wings and Wheels_Flyer.pdf