John Frank

Might have to join the Orange Country chapter as I will be spending more time down there for the next few years. My oldest boy starts at UC Irvine in September. As you know the campus is right next to the Orange Co. Airport so I am sure we are going to be operating a bit of an air shuttle between here and there. If chapter activities aren't to far from there I might just arrange my schedule to take in some of them.

Would love to meet with you guys when you come to SMX. If you stay at the hotel on the airport I can be of some help there. I also have the large aircraft hangar and offices next to the hotel and can clear out as much as you might want to park cars overnight or whatever. Could also do a Santa Maria Sytle barbque. Or we could do a real nice dinner on the ocean up at Pismo Beach. If wives are coming and aren't interested in the air show, we can arrange winery tours, going to Solvang, La Purisma mission, etc. There is a Melodrama theater nearby in Oceano that makes for a fun evening. Of course if any one wants to take an airplane ride around the area I'd be happy to oblige. My calendar shows the date of the Warbird Roundup as August 27-29 this year, which is unusual as noramlly it is in late September orearly October. However there are a number of aviation events on the west coast this year in October and that might have caused them to move it earlier. I'll double check the dates with the Museum tomorrow. Let me know what I can do to make your visit as enjoyable as possible.

"Frank, making statements to the effect that the BCA is exercising "bias" against Cal. and maybe Ariz. is negative and you made them without any inquiry into the facts. This type of reckless statement only hurts the BCA because others may actually believe it. Maybe you did so without thinking but your further hostile responses to responses by other BCA members makes me wonder. Get positive instead of negative and add something to the effort not just sit back and complain." Where did I say BCA was biased? I asked questions of why it hadn't been on the west coast and what percentage of the membership was on the west coast and that is all. As far as getting positive instead of negative, I offered if no chapter came forward to bid on a west coast national to put together an independent proposal for a west coast national. After being told that LA is going to bid for 2007 said I would do all I could to help and that other chapters should support LA. How much more positive than that can I be? "I was going to ask Mike Book to send you a packet provided to Chapters thinking about organizing a National but now realize it would do no good." Interesting realization seeing as my company does meetings several times the size and scope of the BCA National dozens of times a year. Do you think a member whose company books tens of thousands of hotel room nights a year could perhaps be a tiny bit helpful in getting BCA a good deal? I assume your refering to me repeatedly solely by my last name is because you did not read my messages close enough to realize my name is JOHN Frank or was that intentional? Enough. If a west coast chapter wants my help making arrangements for their proposal, they know where to reach me. If a west coast chapter is successful in making a bid I will be the first to volunteer to assist in whatever capacity they think I can be helpful. I'll park cars, pick up trash, whatever.

"If your not a BCA Chapter member ask yourself why not - distance? poor excuse!! you might not be able to make every event or activity but even if you make a few events/activities a year, you feel PART of something." You must be joking!!! I think you aimed that at me because of my previous remarks. Apparently you do not realize how big California is. Looking at the list of chapters San Gabriel or Los Angeles are the closest chapters to me, either of whom's events would be at least 175-200 miles from where I live. With job and family how many events do you think I might be able to participate in at that distance. Hearing that LA is going to make a bid for 2007 is good news. Hopefully other CA chapters and members will give their support. I know I will clear my calendar and do what I can to help. Of course my wife and I have current plans to relocate to our home in Nevada by then, but what the heck, Nevada is awful hot in July so a couple of weeks hanging out in LA doing whatever we can to help wouldn't be to bad.

"Why don't YOU, and a group of your friends, set down some day and get real SERIOUS about hosting a Meet on the West Coast, instead of merely complaining that it hasn't happened?" Before answering that, I need to make it very, very clear that I am not soliciting business. My wife and I own a company that supplies management services to an number of aviation and military associations. With the exception of the judging, we put on your sort of meetings for our clients all the time. I dropped in on BCA Richmond, Columbus, Buffalo and have seen the numbers for Plano. So I have a good idea of the size and scope of the meetings and to be frank they are a little small to interest our company from a business standpoint. I would much prefer to see a chapter put it on or several chapters get together to put it on. Even having BCA National do it would be fine with me. But if no one else will step forward and the BCA board would like to see an independent proposal, someone from BCA needs only to tell me where they want a convention, when they want it there, and a rough guess at how many are likely to attend and we will put together a proposal. This would be different than BCA has ever done it before but at least you would have a proposal to say yeah or nay to. Again I would prefer to see BCA and it's chapters solve the west coast convention thing on there own. And if some chapter chooses to bid I will be happy to share with them what I know and help with what I can, gratis.

"When will you will be answering the questions I and others have posed? Patrick W. Brooks, President, BCA " Right Now. Here are the questions you asked. "Why has the BCA Board not received a bid to have a California National in the four years I have been on the Board?" I haven't a clue. I live on the Central Coast of California with no major urban center so there is no chapter for me to participate with. "Why hasn't a Chapter in California responded to the interest of the BCA National in having a National in California?" Again because I am not able to participate with a chapter due to my location, I haven't any idea what the west coast chapters are thinking about this. "Will the BCA Board ever receive a bid from a California Chapter(s)n to have a National????????" Not participating with a chapter, I have no idea. However I have a couple of further questions for you. Has BCA asked these questions of the leadership of each of the west coast chapters? If so, what were their replies? If BCA hasn't asked these questions, why the heck not? BCA has a problem with the chapters in areas where a significant percentage of it's membership is located submitting bids for the national convention. What has BCA done to determine what the problem is?

You ask some valid questions, Mr. Brooks, but you didn't answer a couple that I asked. What percentage of the membership is in California? Arizona? As President I would expect you to have these numbers at your fingertips. Also does the National organization make available any guidelines for making proposals? Any sort of RFP? List of requirements such as room nights, meeting rooms, social functions?

I have a spare hood from a 64 LeSabre. Don't know if it is the same as the Wildcat.

Who says that liking Buicks and Corvettes are mutually exclusive? I have a 64 LeSabre convertible I am restoring. I have a 65 GS in decent shape that gets driven occassionally and will be restored once the LeSabre is done. I have a 2002 Park Avenue that I use when I will have more than just one person with me. I also have a 2003 50th Anniversary Corvette that I drive every day and just took delivery of a 2004 ZO6 because there are super deals on new 2004 vettes right now because the 2005 is a new design. There is nothing like the handling of the C5 vette. Perfectly balanced you just sort of think of how you want the vette to track and it does so. I've owned lots of cars, sports cars, luxury cars, RVs, off roads, even had a Ferrari for a couple of years. I have never enjoyed driving anything as much as I enjoy driving the C5 Corvette. Every moment in that car is a delight. Having said that, I must say Buicks from the 30-70s are something special. They have a class and style all their own. They represent the best of the US for their time. When all other GM products were much alike, Buick remained unique. WhenI go to the local car show people admire the Buicks and take pictures of them. But the car those same people want to take a ride in is the Corvette. The 1998-2004 C5 Corvette is universally considered to be the best series vette ever, even succeeding the 63-67 Stingray. It will be interesting to see if next year's C6, which will be lighter and even more powerful, takes that legend even further. Haven't decided whether to get one or not, I usually shy away from the first year of a new model. What a shame that GM "merged" Buick into their overall product line rather than leaving them the one GM independent. It would have been interesting seeing what they would have done in the future given their great track record in the past.

There are some great venues out here in CA. One of the Buick chapters does a real nice show around the Pasadena City Hall. I've been to a couple of really great auto shows at Knotts Berry Farm. I think they do a woodie show on the beach in North San Diego County. The third weekend in June Pismo Beach closes the streets of the town for a car show that has about 700 cars. They even put cars out on the pier. It doesn't get any more California than that venue. Just imagine classic Buicks on the pier and streets of Pismo Beach, with the beach, surfers, palm trees, and weather you can count on. Mission Bay would be a Buick show no one would forget. Buicks at Disneyland! If we could get off of the July time frame Palm Springs or Las Vegas would be super. Or how about the week before or the week after Reno's Hot August Nights! Or Pebble Beach!

I know the board has rejected bids from AZ and CA in the past few years in favor of east coast locations. It will be interesting to hear the percentage of members from the West Coast.

Questions: When was the BCA National last on the West Coast? When was the last time it was within 1000 miles of LA? What percentage of the BCA membership is in California? Arizona? Seems like there is a decided bias towards the east coast and Great Lakes which seems odd as I believe BCA was founded in California.

I need a brake reaction rod, right side, p/n 1357460 group 6.171 for my 1964 LeSabre convertible 4467. NOS preferred but will take used if it is not bent. Every used one for the right side I have looked at is bent at the thread area. Please post suggested sources here or e-mail me at jfrank@cessna.org Thanks

I need a brake reaction rod, right side, p/n 1357460 group 6.171 for my 1964 LeSabre convertible 4467. NOS preferred but will take used if it is not bent. Every used one for the right side I have looked at is bent at the thread area. Please post suggested sources here or e-mail me at jfrank@cessna.org Thanks

The 1963 and 1964 full size Buicks use the same bumper jack, p/n 1396376