Steve Moskowitz

That's the plan...

You should see the pictures of the staff!!!

I'll be "on the job" all weekend again so I will snap some pics for you guys. One of our cars, the 1926 Pontiac Race Car is now on display at the Philadelphia auto show.

NO INFO YET, THIS WAS A LATE EDITION TO OUR SCHEDULE BUT I CAN TELL YOU THAT THE SHOW WILL BE INDOORS!!!

W finally have opened up the online registration system for our shows this year. Puerto Rico is now opened and we have had our first registrations go through already and all went smoothly. We thought all this would be a bit easier than it turned out to be but after a lot of hard work from our team the problems were solved. We do have an issue with PayPal so right now that is not an option. Charlotte will be open possibly in the next 24-48 hours. This took way longer than expected but we promised it would be here for 2024 and it is. I will never expect anyone to understand the complexity we deal with but it is massive. Our custom software engineer was challenged but he came through and the system is easy and intuitive.

Oh yes it is, 41 Olds shortened 18 inches, 303 engine, Corvette trans and about every other make of car you can think about. Car has been the Olds Special and raced since 1958. It is plenty fast and faster than my 1903!

Sherm played football and baseball at Western Michigan University. There is no mention of Sherm being an NFL payer in his obit but i think he got a tryout with the Lions.

AACA has a large display of cars there and the Classic Auto Mall has one too. Check out our newest donation, oldest known Pontiac certified race car on display in the AACA area.

We have not stopped in making this year's convention the best ever! Two NEW seminars will be added shortly that should be spectacular. One is about the journey in a Model T from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans! The other is a visual tour of the Ford Piquette Museum and plant where many Ford models got their birth including the Model T. For you history buffs and aircraft buffs a retired Smithsonian staff member is going to have two very different seminars for us. Naturally, all the seminars are worth attending so pick your favorites and make good use of your time and make as many as you can. Yes, of course, our forum favorite Mr. Minnie will be joining us for presentations! Click here for a January 17, 2024 updated seminar listing!

It was Charlie Nogle's car! He also had a blue 75 Pontiac convertible. He was one of my favorite people ever and I enjoyed every minute of his visits. He was a special guy. Dammit, tenugent, between this post and your PM to me I now have a tear in my eye. Charlie was like another father to me and although we did not see each other often, each time was special and he was one of my true confidants in business. I just loved the guy.

Yep. this one that you have read about before. 455 w/16,000 miles on at the time. Given to me by a close friend who was a customer of my dealership. There was a TV episode about this long story but the end is I will never sell it but give it to some other worthy person who has to promise to do the same. Significant value, really not but so valuable to me because who gave it to me. The 1908 Olds Limited Prototype was one of many cars donated to AACA but this one takes the cake! Yes, it is valuable...extremely!

Craig, the man who gets the least due for some reason. Ransom Olds! He had many first in the industry and some of those on your list either learned from him, worked for him or were suppliers. He founded two automobile companies. We can't forget DuPont either for his accomplsihments with GM and leading so much of the WWII war effort in manufacturing. Oh and Ed Minnie too!

Ted makes a very important point. Many (not all) clubs and others who host an event have to guarantee X amount of rooms. A shortfall comes out of the organizations pocket. Many of these events pray that they break even let alone make a profit. When you can and when you know a club has a room block that is guaranteed please try to stay at the host hotel. Our convention this year (AACA) had a 700 night room guarantee which we have exceed by a significant amount and we do have an overflow hotel with 20 rooms that are called a complimentary block and we are not charged anything if the rooms do not get sold.

Bob I use to live in Frankfort when I worked for Olds Division and the dealership was Bettenhausen and was near where I went for my groceries. I see they have a new facility now...how dare they. Don, great thread!!

Wow, that brought back a memory. In 1968 or 69 we took a test in the automotive program at Ferris State to get a certificate for the Perfect Circle Doctor of Motors. Yes, I got one, which will be shocking to Ed but I never saw this manual. Interested in selling? It would eventually end up in our library here. PM me if you care to let it go.

Thanks for the PTSD thread. When I closed my Oldsmobile store in 2003 I had a large tool room overflowing with K-M tools we were required to buy and many of them never unsealed from the packages. I did sell them as a lot but got cents on the dollar.

Glad I said may as I had not seen the car since it appeared at a concours I was judging at. In fact the Stutz is here in the states and is a 1933 DV32 Monte Carlo.

Mr. Bulgari does own a Stutz but it may now be in the collection in Italy. Mr. Bulgari has an extensive collection in Rome and many of those cars are indeed prestigious. Keith Flickinger (NB's head guy at the Center) is an AACA Board Member and a good friend so I mentioned this thread to him. While the Center does try to accommodate clubs and others it is not an automatic nor are they set up at this time to do regular tours. It is one of the reasons they are building the Welcome Center. It has glass panes overlooking quite a few of their cars. So while they will try to be accommodating, tours will be on a limited basis and they may ask groups to combine with others.

Mark but then the thread went to an explanation of fees at Mecum to some major generalization of the entire industry and even used car auctions that dealers attend. My good friend Mr. Minnie is not alone in seeing thousands of cars go through auctions on the dealer level as I also attended auctions for 30 years. That business is entirely different and not one I enjoyed! I really have nothing more to add than I previously stated as this particular thread probably doesn't pass the smell test on our forum rules but I will let others decide. Happy New Year folks!

Once again, this forum seems to paint things with a wide brush. If I were new to the collectible vehicle world I would run from an auction after reading all of this but it, in my opinion, much of this is not based on facts and pure hyperbole. I have seen the bad side of some auctions and I have seen the good and great results that a quality auction company can get for their sellers. I have many friends, acquaintances, members who were super pleased with the results. Anyone who attends auctions regularly can see cars bring way over the top estimate. Sure some do not make the anticipated results but many factors go into it including the cars are not up to snuff or are not that desirable or even in the wrong auction. At a good auction house you will have time to check out the car prior to it crossing the block, talk to the specialist who consigned it and see for yourself what you are willing to bid. At a good auction house everything is carefully disclosed to the seller and buyer. If there is a shock at the end then people have to take personal responsibility. As far as time on the auction block, yes I have seen the short duration in some of the huge sales but I have also seen at auctions the slow excruciating cajoling by the auctioneer to get bids up even from $500 to $1,000 increments. It does go both ways. No business can exist very long if clients are dis-satisfied with the results. Many of us remember the king of all the car auctions Dean Kruse and the end of his business after nearly owning the old car auction business. Enough said about that! We all have opinions and the right to have so, just think this thread is way to one-sided.

She's working on it!!!

The RM new event in Miami/Coral Gables called ModaMiami needs a few more brass cars to fill out the class. There is no charge to enter a car and you need not buy any of the packages they offer if you do not wish. We have several AACA members already in the class and looking for more. Event is Feb 29-March 3 Please contact me if you are interested as I have been asked to help with filling the field. It is at one of the premiere properties in the US, the Biltmore. aaca1@aaca.org 717-534-1910

Thanks Walt, pretty much think we have wore this thread out. The region and some national directors have read the comments. From my meetings with the Hershey Region President and Fall Meet Chairman I know they are open to anything that will improve our beloved event. As I stated before, it is going to take co-operation between the Region, AACA, HE&R and members to make this experience better. We will be strategizing to see if we can make that happen. Walt, you mean I am not always right? I was raised by a father who had the motto " I may not always be right but I am never wrong". Unlike a lot of the kids today, I said yes sir! P.S. while I was typing this the fall meet chairman came in my office and we had a healthy discussion on some of your ideas!!

Dave is 100% correct on this. We appreciate the region's diligence on this but it does require more work for our staff and also some delays on processing. Some of the delay is caused by our office as we get these at the busiest time of year and this year we have been decimated with illness. As Dave also said, this is a decision solely made by our regions and chapters. No mandate from national. Peter knows our complicated Access based software far better than most since he helped advise us when we upgraded some years ago. Our software engineer is a pretty bright guy but every year we ask more and more of our software and it has become a monster. Every change we make has to be thoroughly tested so that the change does not break another link!

It is an incredible collection of over 200 cars and is not open to the public. They have a restoration shop on grounds, test track and a beautiful building for events. They are in the midst of finishing a welcome center that will have views of some of their cars and that will be open to the public. Mr. Bulgari has a passion for cars that most people would not dream of restoring to the level they do. He is also a major Buick fan. He has built something magnificent out of pure love for American cars.