Mark McAlpine

Hello Nick 8086, Great questions and good info provided in response by John S. I'll try to provide a little more detail because others are probably asking the same questions. Handle the “on-the-ground” logistics such as finding suitable locations, host hotel(s), and trailer parking for national shows or tours: - AACA National will assign one of the National Directors to the National/Tour to help walk the host region/chapter through every step of the process, provide advice, etc. For regions that need it, AACA National can help by arranging to provide a Meet Chairperson (although we’d much prefer someone from the host region/chapter be the Chairperson), the Chief Judge, Registration, and even provide “seed money” if a region/chapter with limited funds needs help covering any up-front deposits. (The funds would be paid back to National after the show/tour.) My question is how many rooms? How many of us pull a car to the show? Like do you need to park 20 semi trailers on site? - The number of hotel rooms depends on the size of the show or tour. If possible, negotiate for the host hotel and other overflow hotels to provide a discounted group rate for the show/tour, offered through a certain date (usually 30 days out or less), that doesn’t commit the region/chapter to covering the rooms (that is commit you to paying for them whether they’re sold or not). Others can weigh in, but if you have to guarantee a certain number of rooms, my recommendation is don’t commit to more than 1/2 the number of vehicles you expect to participate. Also, negotiate to get a free “comp’ed” room and some upgraded rooms for every X number of rooms used (usually 1 comped room night for every 40-60 room nights—it depends on the hotel). How many of us pull a car to the show? Like do you need to park 20 semi trailers on site? - Again depends on the number of vehicles you expect. When our region hosted the Eastern Spring National in 2015 we had about 400 cars registered and parked 176 trailers. (A few members parked trailers at private homes, campgrounds, parking lots of non-host hotels, etc., so the number of trailers was probably closer to 200.) What kind of numbers would you have at this tour? 150 cars? 300 people? - For a show in the Eastern Division (deconflicted with other major car shows/activities offered by other clubs), 300-450 cars is probably a good approximation. (With the right venue, time of year, and area, it could be considerably more.) The Eastern Fall National in Hershey gets considerably more (1,200-1,500)--but it's Hershey, the granddaddy of all AACA Nationals. Smaller Nationals, particularly in the Western Division and sometimes in the Central and Southeastern Division, usually get 75-150 vehicles. Grand Nationals vary based on which Division. The key point to keep in mind is a well-organized National doesn't have to be elaborate or expensive, and your region/chapter will not lose money and may even make a small profit to fund future region/chapter (and national) activities. Plus, hosting an AACA national activity is a great way to generate interest and excitement in your club, rejuvenate it, and even attract new members. - For a tour, it depends on which tour (National Tour or Divisional Tour), location, time of year, and most importantly facilities to feed the participants. National Tours can be 100-300 cars, sometimes more. If you have more than 100 cars it takes some creative planning to feed people for lunch and dinner. Not many places can handle that many people showing up at the same time, so some tours stagger the groups so they can have multiple seating times for meals. Do they like to see the private collections or Just enjoy a great time driving the back roads of America? - The answer is yes—people like seeing private (and public) collections and other non-car related historic or interesting things in the area, but they also enjoy driving through scenic areas. The generations of cars participating in the tour will determine the speed and distance you can go on each leg and day. You can do a “hub tour” where you base out of one location, head a different direction/route each day, and return to the host hotel. Alternately, you can do a “progressive tour” where you start from one location, drive to another & hotel each day, and end the tour back at the starting location (where any car trailers are waiting for their precious cargo). Other more experienced people than me—especially at planning tours--can provide better & more detailed answers, but I hope this info gives you and others the basic info to help you and your regions/chapters to consider hosting a National or Tour. There are lots of interesting areas in our country that many of us haven’t visited before, but would love to come to and enjoy.

As Terry Bond said, the Tidewater Region was well-represented at this year’s Annual Meeting (now to be called the Annual Convention beginning next year)--we had over 20 members present. In addition to the awards Terry mentioned, Dot Parrish received the Samuel E. Baily Award for her outstanding contributions to the AACA Judging System—a well-deserved recognition of the many years Dot has served in Judging Administration. Terry Bond, Bob Stein, and I also presented some well-attended seminars and were able to attend other great ones. I particularly enjoyed the seminars and displays highlighting some notable women in automotive history and hope the club includes more in coming years. Thanks to June Crane for her initiative to include this information in this year's meeting. The seminars, displays, and activities were great (including the Philadelphia Auto Show which was being held at the same time down the street at the Philadelphia Convention Center), but the best part was the time spent with AACA friends (and making new ones) from across the country whom we only get to see at AACA activities. One of the best things I heard over the weekend, and it rings true, was “You join the club for the cars, but you stay for the people.” Kudos to Mike Jones, his entire team, and the AACA Headquarters staff for planning, organizing, and holding another great Annual Meeting! Marion & I are already looking forward to attending next year’s Annual Convention. For those who couldn't attend, here are some photos from the Annual Meeting.

Thank you to everyone for your suggestions!! Keep them coming. They will be very helpful as we flesh out our activities calendar for the next five years and approach regions/chapters about hosting an event in their area.

Hello Everyone. I'm Mark McAlpine, the 2019 AACA VP for Activities. Your AACA Board of Directors is working on the long-range calendar of national meets (simply called “nationals” now) and tours to be held in the next five years (in particular 2020-2024) and would like your suggestions on where you’d like them to be held. Please either post your responses to the two questions below or private message me: - Where in the past have you participated in an AACA National show or Tour and would like the club to return to the area again and hold another show or tour? - Where has the club never held a National show or Tour that you’d like to see us do so in the next five years? (And why do you think we should hold a national show or tour there?) Also, how about your region or chapter—would you be willing to host a national show or tour (or even a divisional tour)? Members want to visit new places to experience and enjoy the local sights and activities that make each of our local areas unique and special. AACA National can help you hold a successful and fun national or tour: a National Director will be your direct liaison to help you every step of the way and provide recommendations based on extensive experience. If needed, AACA National can assist your region/chapter with registration, provide a Chief Judge, etc., but we need regions/chapters to step up to handle the “on-the-ground” logistics such as finding suitable locations, host hotel(s), and trailer parking for national shows or tours. (You know the area better than us.) Smaller regions/chapters can work together with other regions/chapters to share the workload. Hosting a national show or tour strengthens regions and is a good way to generate activity, excitement, and new members. (Just ask the Deep South Region who hosted a successful national show in Mobile, AL, last year with only four months of preparation.) Please post your suggestions (or private message me) about where you’d like to see a national show or tour (especially those areas where you’d likely participate in the national show or tour). Thank you very much! I look forward to seeing you at a future AACA National show or Tour.

Please educate me--what is this? I have a nephew who was recently gifted a Model A. (It's a solid car, but needs restoration.) Is this book the equivalent of an assembly manual (which my nephew could use)?

Great location--lots of indoor & outdoor vendor spaces, centrally located, easy to access, and easy to find. I'm looking forward to seeing some new vendors from outside the Tidewater region.

I see Stude Light posted a photo of Vinsetta Garage. Another cool car-related place to eat in metro Detroit is Ford's Garage in Dearborn. Although it's not in a historic building like Vinsetta Garage and apparently is a chain restaurant (there are 10 of them located in Florida; the one in Dearborn is the only one outside of Florida that I know of), it still has cool ambience (and great burgers) with Model A shell's on display inside and outside and other automotive-themed displays and fixtures inside. The "Ford" logo branded into the hamburger buns is a nice touch. Yes, Detroit is a bit down-trodden right now, but it's recovering. I admit a bit of bias (I was born in Detroit and raised in Detroit proper for the first five years or so of my life, then lived in its suburbs until I joined the Air Force at 26, and still return home 3-4 times a year and spend a good chunk of the year there), but there are plenty of antique auto-related (and other) things to do in the area, from being welcomed by the old Uniroyal Tires Ferris Wheel (from the 1964 New York World's Fair) as you head into Detroit on I-94, to the Henry Ford museum and Greenfield Village, Ford Piquette Plant, Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum, the GM Heritage Collection in Sterling Heights, the R.E. Olds Museum in Lansing, the Sloan Museum in Flint, the Stahls Automotive Foundation in Chesterfield, the Packard Proving Grounds, the Chrysler Collection (which may be open to the public again in a year or two after it relocates to the old Conner Avenue Assembly Plant Viper plant), Automotive Hall of Fall in Dearborn, the Detroit Historical Museum, the carcass of the old Packard Plant in Detroit (which has a new remodeling vision announced every few years), car and truck plant tours, etc. Time your visit and you can also catch the Detroit International Auto Show in January, the Detroit Autorama ("The World's Greatest Hot Rod Show"--home of the Riddler Award) every March, the Woodward Dream Cruise in August, the smaller Cruisin' Gratiot cruise in June, the Clinton Twp Gratiot Cruise in early August, etc. Drive Jefferson Avenue (Lake Shore Drive in points) along Lake St. Claire and see some of the remaining mansions of the early auto barons (many of the estates have been razed and subdivided, but there are still some impressive homes) including visiting the Edsel & Eleanor Ford House in Grosse Point Shores. As I said, I'm a bit biased about my home town. There are plenty of other cool "car things" to do in the metro Detroit area--other members will probably weigh in and add other things I haven't listed. Oh, yeah, don't forget the Gilmore Museum is only about 2.5 - 3 hours away.

Marion & I are looking forward to the Ocala National. Like Tommy & Debbie Nolen, we're staying at the LaQuinta (and already have our reservations for Charlotte, Auburn, Parsippany, and Hershey). Ed: You definitely have my curiosity piqued. I can't wait to see what vehicle you're bringing. Safe travels everyone! See some of you at the Annual Meeting in Philadelphia next month (7-9 Feb for Chistech) and the rest of you in Ocala.

About 10 years ago a cargo ship carrying about 2,800 BMWs sank in the English Channel. BMW scrapped all the cars (understandable if they had been submerged) and did not allow anything to be salvaged from them, not even wheels or tires. Not sure if that was BMW's decision or the insurance company's (assuming the cars were covered by insurance).

Anyone who ever met Carol knows we lost a kind, considerate, friendly and intelligent woman. She'll be missed greatly. She and Don are in our thoughts and prayers.

The real 1934 Edsel Ford Model 40 Speedster (a one-of-a-kind speedster hand-built on a 1934 chassis for Edsel Ford) is currently on display at the Taubman Museum in Roanoke, VA, in its "Drive! Iconic American Cars & Motorcycles" exhibit. We saw it during the ODMA's Fall Tour this past weekend--it's beautiful.

Sorry, I just saw this post. It looks like there was a great turnout for the meet despite the rain. Thanks for posting the photos, Annie!

Sorry you couldn't make it to the ODMA Fall Tour, Wayne, but I know you had fun on the Sentimental Tour. The ODMA tries to schedule its annual Old Dominion Meet (usually held in the spring) and now its newly added Fall Tour (this was only the second one) so as not to conflict with AACA national activities, but it was particularly difficult this year to deconflict the fall tour because of the unusually busy AACA national calendar this fall: we had the Central Division Tour and Glidden Tour in September, the Eastern Fall Meet in Hershey and Founders Tour in October, and the Sentimental Tour in November. Add in also wanting to deconflict the ODMA Fall Tour with the major activities of the ODMA member regions (e.g., the Tidewater Region's annual meet in September and the Bull Run Region's Edgar Rohr Show in October), plus the questionable weather beginning in mid-to-late November, and it's a challenge to find a weekend in the fall that doesn't conflict with something. We'll try our best to avoid conflicting with national activities next year. (The national meet in Fallbrook, CA, may pose a problem, but I suspect there is a very limited number of OMDA members who will travel to the West Coast for the meet if the ODMA Fall Tour is held on Veterans Day weekend again.)

Ron Vanderpool and the Roanoke Valley Region did a great job. Marion & I are sorry you and Debbie couldn't make it, but Debbie's health was considerably more important. We're just happy things went well and wish her a speedy & complete recovery. We look forward to seeing you both at the Annual Meeting in Philadelphia this February.

A few more photos from the 2018 ODMA Fall Tour (9-10 Nov 2018).