TxBuicks
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This is a picture of my 1966 Skylark Convertible at a campground near the Grand Canyon going to my first BCA National meet in Phoenix, AZ in 1993. I had joined the club in 1992 and happened to be in the area of the previous year's meet in Overland, KS in 1992, but just stopped in for a one-day visit. That convinced me to go to a National Meet the next year.
Some thoughts on that trip....We went to Carlsbad Caverns and the Grand Canyon. As you can see by the picture, the campground was nothing exciting. We felt like we were camping in a desert. Although, we had to go buy blankets because it got so cold at night up there in that high altitude. Who would have thought that we needed blankets in Arizona in July? Also, we discovered on the first morning, that we were camped immediately across from a helicopter sight-seeing company. Yep, right across the fence, about 50 feet away, helicopters would take off and land, starting early morning. Constant noise and sand blowing. Yeah, that was fun. After a few days there we headed to Phoenix. I remember coming down a pass. It was a straight drive, and we could feel the temperatures rising constantly. When we got to the bottom of the pass it was probably 110 degrees. But the wind chill made it feel more like 120. It was that hot the entire show. We stayed at a campground near Phoenix. Thank goodness they had a pool. It was 100 degrees even after the sun went down. I made the mistake of parking the Skylark with the top down once. Grabbing the metal door handle was enough to burn my hand, but I can't tell you how burned my legs got from seating on those vinyl seats! And I couldn't touch the steering wheel, either. It was my first time judging. The judging was held in the parking garage, where the lighting was terrible. But, it was my first BCA National Meet, and we made it there and back safely with no mechanical issues, so that was good.
More on the 1966 Skylark Convertible.....So, after the first National Meet I was excited to go to the 1994 meet in Atlanta. Now, on the Phoenix trip, I did nothing special to the car, just jumped in it and drove. I decided to go through it a bit before heading out to Atlanta. I had relatives near by so I know I wasn't going to pull a camper this time, I could stay with them. So, I changed the points, cap, plugs, alternator, hoses, belts, and cleaned and painted the engine. it looked good, if I must say so myself. 100 miles from home the new alternator went out. OK, a minor setback. The next day somewhere around Memphis, I sprung a water leak. It appears that one of the new hoses was too close to one of the new belts and it ribbed a hole in the hose. I took a screw and screwed it in the hole, held in in place with a hose clamp, and made it to town where I could change the hose. However, the water leak sprayed everywhere under the hood. There went the new paint and cleaning of the engine bay. The next day, we were going to stay in Chattanooga, TN. When we got there and checked into our hotel, we went to town to eat. After eating and a little sight-seeing, we were headed up Lookout Mountain to our hotel and the car starting running real bad. Sputtering, no power, etc. It finally died and wouldn't start. I was able to coast into a housing neighborhood out of the main road. I had the hood open, trying to determine the cause, when a car drove up. A young guy (probably early 20s) got out and came over. He worked locally as a mechanic, and diagnosed the problem was probably the new points I installed just a week ago. But this was late on July 3, so he helped me push it into a nearby driveway. We contacted the owners of the house and explained the situation to them. We would come back tomorrow, July 4 and fix it. The young man took us to the hotel for the night, came and picked us up the next day, took us to his shop, got the points, went back to the car, installed the points, and it fired right up. And he wouldn't accept any money for his time and effort. I'll never forget that. So, we spent July 4th in Chattanooga. The next day was planned to go through the Smoky Mountains north of Georgia. That day presented a new problem. It started overheating. I had to drive, pull over, drive, pull over, etc. That night I pulled out the thermostat and that didn't fix the problem, so I had to find a radiator shop the next day. Oh, one other thing. My wife, being an organized person, had made reservations in advance for every night. So, each day we were delayed, but had to drive as long as it took to arrive at our reserved destination. This meant driving very late some days.
Well, I finally made it to the show. I didn't score high enough to win any award, but it was fun anyway. The car was running good all the way back home. I-20 west all the way home. We were almost home, just east of Dallas, when we hit a big Texas rain storm. Rain coming down so hard you could hardly see anything. Driving on the interstate highway, he rain would hit the windshield and come through the gap at the top of the windshield and the convertible top. Water was pouring into the car like a waterfall. I guess I had never driven in a rain storm with this car before. I stopped under a bridge but by that time we were already soaked. Water had filled he floor pan. The windshield started fogging up so I took off my shirt and my wife tried to keep the glass clear, wiping it down every few moments. Finally, we made it home, after a full day of driving. Once we got to bed, Michelle told me she will never take another trip in that car again, and I believed her. I sold it soon after that.
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Wow, that is bad news. I've driven past that place several times recently and even stopped a few times. What they had outside was just as interesting. I hope no one was hurt.
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Thanks, Doug. I usually get a few hours to walk around after the registration desk closes each day. And usually on Saturday, when the judging is taking place, I can get out and see the cars for a few hours. My wife, Michelle, covers for me. She works as hard as I do before and during the show.
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As the official registrar, I have no authority to lower the fees. The fees are decided and published far in advance of the show. Personally, it was not pleasant for me to handle such situations. I know telling people it is almost $100 to bring their car to the show and participate for a day is not encouraging, nor beneficial to the BCA.
The most common situation is this: A local non-BCA member heard about the show. They are proud of their Buick and are very excited about bringing their car to a National Meet in their back yard and want to participate. For most of them, it is their first experience with the Buick Club of America. You should their look of disappointment and frustration on their faces when I told them about the fees they would have to pay, even just for one day. Most of them walked away, not wanting (or simply couldn't afford) to pay those fees. And I'm sure that didn't feel welcome. The ones that paid the fees were not happy about it, either.
After the meet, I sent an email to the board members explaining this situation and asked that they consider a special, affordable 'One Day' entry fee to address this situation. This will be a much smaller fee to bring one car onto the show field for Display on Saturday during the show, and it will apply to both members and non-members. I think the idea was well received and I will follow up with the BOD to see if we can get that in place for the next show.
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Al is correct. All judging sheets are kept at the BCA Office. You can call them and request a copy.
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I'm working on the brakes of my 1966 Electra Convertible. I noticed a chunk has been taken out of one of the front brake drums. I asked around and thought I had located one locally, so I went and got it. When I got it home, I noticed it was different than the one I had. All of my brake drums are like the one on the left in the picture. Notice the fins are wider apart and it is not as tall as the one I got locally. Not knowing what problems this would cause, I returned it for a full refund. No big deal. Then, at the recent BCA National meet, I located a set of brake drums that the vendor swore would fit my 1966 Electra. They were exactly the same as the one I had given back before. They were like the one on the right in the picture. They had more fins and were taller. So, now I'm confused. Can someone explain the difference in these brake drums, and what would happen if I used the drums on the right instead of trying to locate one identical to mine, like the one on the left. If the drums on the right would work on my 1966 Electra then I will buy them from the vendor I met in Brookfield. Thanks in advance for your help.
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The registration published in the July Bugle is incorrect regarding the Driven Award. It was submitted for publication 6 weeks in advance. The one appearing in the August Bugle is correct.
The Driven Class of the past is gone for 2018. There will be no more Driven Class judging or a Driven Class. Any car registered for the meet (Judged, Modified, Archival, or Display) can purchase a Driven Award for an additional $10 if the car is 25 years old and driven to the meet. The owner of the car will be asked to sign a sheet at the registration desk claiming that the car qualifies, and they will be handed the award at that time. This is the first attempt at the new policy, so expect a few minor changes, but this is how I understand it to be now. And this is how it is published in the August Bugle.
Also, merely displaying a car is cheaper than having it judged.
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The written registration form is in the Bugle starting this month. The online registration form will be up shortly. We already have a few signed up! It should be a great show.
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Greg, I see your point. Perhaps we can add a check box to the future registration forms to indicate the registrant's desire to not be published in the program. If left unchecked, we will publish it. It has gotten to the point where you have to use a magnifying glass to read the registration form. There is only so much room on a page, and to fit more on it means we have to make the print smaller. But we will see if we can fit it in somewhere.
If we reversed it and had a checkbox to give us permission to publish it, I suspect a lot of people will overlook it and, therefore, we will not have many people listed in the program. I think it is a valuable source of information, and it will probably be listed the same in future meets unless we are told by a higher authority to not publish it anymore.
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I will not publish his phone number, but if you call me at 214-354-1348 I can give it to you. He is at the show now.
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We are over 420 registrations with 300 Buicks now. Almost 40% of the registrations (163 out of 420) came within the past month. I'll see you all there.
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If you arrive between 7:30 and 9:00 we will probably still be at the registration area. We don't move to the judges administration area until judging starts.
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Yes, you can pick up your registration packet on Saturday. The registration desk moves to the judges administration room at 10:00 on Saturday morning. We will have your registration there.
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Hopefully there will be no more rejections on this PO Box. I talked to the back-office supervisor yesterday and asked him no to reject anything addressed to that PO Box. I've used it for over 10 years exclusively for BCA National Meets so I don't get a lot of wrong mailings. And, if I do, I turn them in.
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I have used this same PO Box 467 for over 10 years. I ONLY use it for BCA National Meet registrations. To my knowledge, I have NEVER had anything returned until this year. I don't know what or who is screwing this up, but I have a list of envelopes with various names that WERE received to show them the variations in the name. I'd like to find the exact person that rejected the ones this year and talk to them directly, but that will never happen.
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"This tank is not useable."
Toss it if you aren't going to ever use it again. It is just taking up room. You can't worry about other people's future wants. They will find what they need when they need it. I recently went through my garage and tossed out items I've had for years and wonder why I ever kept them in the first place. Hoses and belts I've replaced, old spark plugs, broken headlights, rusted trim pieces, etc. It feels good now to look at my shelves and see empty places for the next item.
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There have been 5 or 6 people that I know who had their registration rejected by the Post Office. I have talked to them already and thought I had it resolved. Call me after 7:00 CST, I'm normally home by then. And, if not, I will let you know when to call back.
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I have talked to the post office about this numerous times. Apparently, they have gotten more strict about the names on the PO Box. The names have to match exactly. For instance, if I had the PO Box listed as 'Buick Club of America National Meet' and someone sent in a registration with 'BCA National Meet', they were being rejected. I had to come up with a dozen different names someone could list it on the envelope and had them officially added to the PO Box. What a hassle.
Yes, you can send it in again, or call me at the number at the bottom of the form and I will register you over the phone, if you want. You do not have to pay the additional $15 late fee.
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I would love to be part of the infamous Texas Road Warriors someday, but we usually leave earlier. We are leaving Friday June 30 and going to spend a few days in Wisconsin Dells, and maybe take in a Brewers game before heading to Brookfield on Tuesday afternoon to start setting up the registration desk. Have fun and safe travels to all.
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Yes, I am curious to see if the $15 late fee really has an impact. I will be able to tell if the rate of registrations fall off significantly from now until the beginning of the show. In previous years, I received a lot of registrations with a few weeks to go. I think we can get at least 400 registrations entered by the time I leave for the show, which will make this show a pretty good sized event.
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What a week! I have received 90 registrations since 05/25/17. And still almost a month left before the deadline.
# Registrations: 342
# Cars: 252 (111 Formal Judging, 41 Display, 42 Archival, 22 Modified, 36 Driven) We have 5 Buicks over 100 years old, including 3 x 1908 Buicks.
# Vendors: 37 different vendors, occupying over 100 spots.
# People: 637
It's going to be a great show. There is still time to get your registration in, although you will pay an additional $15 registration fee since it is after June 1.
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Yes, it is a public place. Spectators have always been welcome at the Buick Nationals free of charge. You will see a lot of people wandering around the show field on Saturday when the cars are all parked in their spots for judging.
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Yes, we are having problems with the online registration form for anyone with a non-US address. If you are one having problems, call me at 214-354-1348 and I will get you registered. I have notified the web form designer about the situation. I apologize for any inconvenience that has caused.
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The Landau was sold to a GM employee in the early 1960's, when Buick had decided it was no longer being used as a transport vehicle. His son, who drove it quite a bit, now lives in Austin, TX. He was there for the event in Texarkana.
2017 Buick Club of America National Meet Brookfield, WI July 5-8
in Buick - Meets & Tours
Posted
Contact the Buick Club office for the status of your award. They have the awards now.