TomCox

May I ask what you have done to bring change to the club? Have you discussed your ideas for change with Directors or put them down on paper and when? How have you supported the hobby in recent years? What specifics can you cite which indicate a lack of debate amongst "the lemmings" on the board? You have nebulous somewhat condescending opinions. What are your suggestions? As a contemporary, a life member of AACA, and a life-long hobbyist, I'd be interested in any constructive ideas you may have.

Please send contact information to Tom Cox tntoldcarz@aol.com or call 540-819-5850 I am an AACA Director and also with the Virginia Museum of Transportation. This car was built in Lynchburg Virginia, and we would be very interested

Folks, there was an error in the printed version of the Inquirer and corrections have been made to the online story. This is a very historic moment for our club, and we want to make sure everyone has the story correct. Our official statement at this time is as follows : Earlier today, The Philadelphia Inquirer released an exciting story announcing the transfer of the Philadelphia Free Public Library's entire automotive reference collection to the AACA Library and Research Center and the Simeone Museum. Unfortunately, there was an error in the original story which incorrectly referenced an entity other than the AACA Library and Research Center as a partner in the acquisition. The online story has since been corrected and may be viewed at: https://www.inquirer.com/arts/simeone-foundation-philadelphia-antique-auto-club-hershey-pa-free-library-archive-20191209.html The Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA) and the Simeone Museum are proud to be the recipients of this vast collection of important documents and will release a joint statement in the very near future. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact Chris Ritter or Stacy Zimmerman at AACA at 717-534-1910, critter@aaca.org or szimmerman@aaca.org

Unfortunately this is rather incomplete. For those who wish to see a more well rounded account, I encourage them to read the posts Matt Hinson suggests...there is more to come.

Hi Glenn, Hope things are going well down in Danville. Our newly elected Governor does also own a big block Corvette. We are in the process of getting him a membership. Thanks for always keeping the hobby out front in your thoughts Best, Tom

AACA does have a very attractive Mileage Award Program which recognizes those who drive AACA accepted vehicles, so in essence we do have a grille badge which anyone would be proud to put on their car,...even snowflakes ; ) . If you go to the website AACA.ORG click on member info and then click Mileage Award Program on the drop down menu. That will take you to the necessary paperwork to obtain the AACA Mileage Award Badge. Its done on the honor system, but as you reach each driving milestone you can apply to receive additional stars to put on the badge representing how many miles you have driven your AACA acceptable vehicle. It looks like this

Chuck, I sent you a message on this. Thanks

The Museum Board in addition to being self appointed, may remove a sitting Board member for any reason whatsoever (neither is conducive to good practice in my opinion). In this case, the Museum leadership never bothered to contact me regarding their intentions or reasoning. They did however have one of their members call to ask if I was attending that particular meeting, which I was not. I'm sure they were emboldened by my absence. I might add that I have since found their vote was not unanimous. In absentia, the Museum leadership elected to shoot the messenger, but never had the fortitude to contact me prior to or after their actions, which speaks volumes. Museum leadership made this a personal issue, and took the opportunity to take a swipe at the entire club as this decision was made with full knowledge that I would be National President again this year. Such an action is also very telling about how they were postured for future discussions,...or lack thereof. I could say more, but it serves no higher purpose. Just know that as always, I put the hobby and the membership first, and in this case suffered the consequences of carrying out the duties of my job representing the will of the Board on behalf of the membership. I look forward to our future, as the Club and our Library continue to be very consequential to the entire worldwide automotive hobby.

The third party or overseers to which you refer was part of the proposed governance structure of the Letter of Intent to merge the two entities. Of course, as you know, the club Board voted that down. There is no third party oversight at the Museum. Additionally, the Museum Board is not elected by the Museum Membership, but are selected and appointed by their own nominations committee comprised of Museum Board members. In essence they appoint themselves and are beholding only to themselves as a practical matter. The Museum has members, but they have no voting power unlike the membership of AACA which has voting power. This was a major sticking point in negotiations as your National AACA Board did not wish to diminish your voting powers.

Bob while I'm an infrequent poster here as I still work 50 + hours a week, I first joined this club at age 13, and am a lifetime AACA member. In recent years I have followed your posts . You always appear to be reasonable, but your comments here compel me to respond to your suppositions which are ill founded. You apparently have missed the point that our entire merger committee on the club side volunteered to step aside and delegate negotiations to a third party non board affiliated group of members, many of whom are substantial advocates for and donors to the Museum. We in fact asked the Museum TO KEEP DISCUSSIONS OPEN. Which is hardly as you charactersize " mind alreadly made up and sees the Museum as an enemy to be FOILED by whatever means (Seriously??) Our offer to the Museum of this continued dialogue through a third party group was rebuffed by demands that we provide full financial support for 2017 for the privilege of having them sit down with that third party group. You will see that letter on this forum. Clearly if there were egos involved they did not come from our side. Our group has spent hundreds of hours on this issue, and I have personally logged nearly 5,000 miles of driving to meetings in Hershey. We have taken this very seriously. We want the club and Museum to be together, but at what cost? Would it matter to you if we made a bad deal which wasn't in the interests of our membership? I have no doubt that if we made a sweetheart deal which lopsidedly benefited the Museum and disenfranchised your voting rights as a member you would be more bellicose than you are now. I would also like to point out that while Steve is intimately involved in this matter as you would expect and for which we are grateful, The "rebuttal" you reference did not come from him, but directly from your Board. Your assertion that we seem "insecure" in our position is interesting given that our Board votes on all relevant Museum issues have been 100% unanimous, which Is difficult with the most benign of motions. I can assure you we are more than confident in our positions, and with good reason. I have faith you will eventually feel the same way. The Museum has presented their case Bob, and we are responding and presenting ours.

Bob, First I have to say that the Museum is in fact a nice facility. However, the real estate is not as free of encumbrances as you may think, due to local zoning requirements. Second, there have been ongoing discussions over many years by many Board Members on both sides regarding a merger. The club prefers a merger in which the membership has equity in the Museum and at the same time allows their Board to run it independently as subsidiary. That was not satisfactory to the Museum Board. Third, if you want a witch hunt then you'd better assume that none of us who volunteer at our expense to serve are looking out for the members interests...because all of our votes have been 100% unanimous. While you may be a cynic, I have to assume you know how hard it is to have 21 people support the same positions multiple times over several years....damned near impossible. Your club board has one thing in mind...the membership and our hobby. Lastly Bob, I am incredulous that you would have the temerity to call for the replacement of our Executive Director. Steve does a great job for the membership. He is in large part the reason your dues are way beyond cheap in this hobby...why?? because the guy works 12 hour days and weekends pouring over every last detail of the business side of this club as well as serving our membership. I don't know of ONE Executive Director who ever actually answers the phone at times....Steve does. Hes never too busy or too good to do anything,...even servicing the plumbing on occasion. You Sir are way out of line, particularly when you do not know that of which you speak. IF you want to talk, you can message me with your number, and I will call you at my earliest convenience and yours. Best, Tom P.S. Try being polite rather than calling people with whom you have no real familiarity by their last name. Your Executive Directors name is Steve!!

How right you are about that!! Thanks! We will keep pitching and hitting .

Thanks to all of you for the feedback ,and support/suggestions we have received from everyone publicly and privately. As I have said before, the learning curve in front of the camera was quick and steep. We definitely tried hard to improve with every segment. Anyhow, we appreciate your indulgence and will take the good with the bad, but appreciate the positive response we've received thus far regarding last nights episode. I know we wont make everyone happy all of the time, but we do want to earn your support through improvement. I have had quite a few inquiries about the club, so that is a positive.

I thought perhaps it might be helpful for me to comment on this, given that I could take constructive critique back to the producer, and also speak from a vantage point which is vastly different for obvious reasons. I have perused the forums regularly for years, but seldom got too much into the fray outside of pushing for action on Legislative issues affecting the hobby,...the main reason being that some of you guys seem to wake up on the wrong side of the bed too often and love to complain. Much of that contention is supported by the fact that none of you who are grousing the most have emailed once (I gave you my email) to make suggestions. Sorry, it is what it is, in my very humble opinion ; ) As to the comment above regarding episode 3 which states "few of the car displayed" were stock. I would point out that all of those cars are AACA eligible. I'm just sayin...... Frankly to my recollection, there are only two vehicles featured in the ​entire season which would not qualify to be shown in AACA if 25 years or older. ...and while I'm here, ; ) regarding Chris Ritters moniker of "Car Geek" . It is both an endearing as well as a positive statement about him and his level of experience and expertise. As a librarian with a Masters in Library Science Chris has earned the right to label himself as what modern interpretations of the word "geek" imply according to the latest Meriam Websters Dictionary; "an enthusiast or expert especially in a technological field or activity" . I don't think I could describe Ritter any better except to say that he is EXACTLY the type of person this hobby needs. So,...now that I have probably ruffled your feathers, I will close by saying that we all need to relax a bit, and try to enjoy each other while promoting the heck out of our hobby because if we do not do that in every possible way that is available to us, our cars will have no caretakers in the future who respect their history or heritage. That is the truth, ....or we can be cantankerous and scare off all the newcomers and young people rather than imparting valuable knowledge to them which is fast disappearing. "HEY YOU KIDS...GET OFF MY LAWN" sound familiar?? : ) Thankfully there has been a lot of very positive feedback about the show along with good suggestions.

Episodes are available through discoverygo.com on the morning after the initial showing of each episode. Thanks.

Point well taken on the suggestion related to the music. I've already passed the input here along, and I believe it would receive the attention you would like in a second season.

In response to your requests, The Appraisers is now available on demand via streaming at https://discoverygo.com/the-appraisers/for those who do not get the Velocity channel. Thanks for watching.

First of all, given Mr. Moskowitzs last comment about having a sunnier disposition like "Lambo" Steve, makes me think we should fundraise to buy one for Mr. Moskowitz!!! Although the thought of him being chipper all the time is pretty disconcerting : ). Nah....we're used to him as he is. Steve was a great guy to work with. He loves the exotic cars ,and its written all over him. He's a great guy. Frankly the honest truth is that every last person we worked with was absolutely fantastic, and I am not embellishing that. We can all be proud that our hobby has such great people in it. The best part of this whole experience was talking to and getting to know that car owners. It was great!! Yes the perspective of being directly in the mix is interesting...Im sure we could have been bored between on camera times, but having no lines etc...we were busy stressing out... to make sure we covered what we could on camera about the cars etc. since it wasn't scripted. Also, as mentioned, certain aspects before, during, and after editing can be annoying...heck I annoyed myself on occasion, so some annoyances will exist...course that happens here on the forums now and then too ; ) . The MONEY issue comes up a lot, and I understand why some of you have issues with it, but its a fact of life. People like to know what everything is worth...not all of us mind you, but a very large percentage nonetheless, and the Networks, Sponsors, and Producers cant simply ignore that...especially today when there is so much fragmentation of the viewing audience. You have to appeal to the largest potential audience at times. You have to make money to stay on the air unless you have a guaranteed funding source similar to an infomercial or other promotional programming. Even Jay Lenos show ,which many seem to like, has Money/value woven into the show via David Osborne's segment. He and Jay discuss the valuation and return on investment of three cars, pitting them against each other to determine which is the best investment. Bubba (above) mentions a reunion type of show, I briefly worked with a production company that was contemplating a show based upon re uniting people with lost cars or cars exactly like ones they had in high school etc. but it was doomed due to the HIGH budget they required. Im sure someone is out there working on that concept yet. We hope you will keep watching and giving us suggestions while finding something to like. Send them to me tntoldcarz@gmail.com .

For obvious reasons I have been reluctant to post on the topic here. However, I think there are a couple of items I can address which may shed some light on certain aspects of the show. First of all we have to thank a lot of people for watching, and the majority who have been positive about the show. Im not quite sure where to start here other than to say I first joined AACA at age 13, so it is near and dear as are the cars and all of my many friends who are now part of my extended AACA family. Several years ago, as Steve may have mentioned, several of us began talking about how to associate with or somehow bring a show to television, which would at least publicize our organization among the many unaffiliated thousands who do watch the programs available on Velocity and similar venues. In order to have the uninitiated appreciate AACAs segment of the hobby, they need to know we are here. Too often these days most programming is dedicated to the high end or to chop cut rebuild shows. Its no longer the day when Ed Hermann hosted "Automobiles" on History Channel which was a GREAT show. Things have changed, and it can be argued whether that is good or bad ...nonetheless AACA efforts to get programming didnt succeed to this point. A couple of years ago I was asked to do some consulting work for a production company which allowed me to gain some insight into the industry from both the production and network side. I applied that insight and newly gained knowledge when I contacted the Executive Director and owner of the company which now produces the Appraisers. He had an idea for a new show, and was somewhat receptive to weaving our segment of the hobby into the show. We talked and met many times as I was not originally going to be part of talent, but only work behind the scenes. Ultimately, I was asked to present as opposed to consulting only, and I invited Chris Ritter to audition. He did well, they liked him. The producers recruited Ben Neff, and the rest is history. Every year Velocity receives well over 1,000 pitches for shows to take the few available open slots. We were quite fortunate to make it to air against those odds. Unfortunately, if this show fails, it will likely be replaced by a Chop, Cut, Slam, program or something very similar...so, Its hard to make it to air and also to sell a show which is exclusively representative of the AACA segment of the hobby. Thankfully to this point most of the viewer feedback has been positive. I know we will never satisfy everyone or come even close. That is a fact of life. To those who are on the fence, I ask you to consider a few points 1. This is a first year production, and there are learning curves etc. It simply isnt going to be perfect in content, delivery, or in personalities for that matter. 2. We did not have Jay Leno or Top Gears budget, and probably wont ever have that. 3. The Executive Producer did produce family programming with no gratuitous cussing and drama. What humor is injected is our own...good or bad. We own it ; ) 4.This is the first time AACA has had the opportunity to receive this much on air National and Worldwide attention. Whether you like the show or not, we are causing the uninitiated to ask about and investigate who AACA is and that is a plus. 5. We were not scripted...not AT ALL...tough to do, we should all have to go through that ; ) 6. We will feature cars that you dont like...we will even feature cars I dont like, but if you will check out the website photo gallery at http://www.appraiserstv.com/gallery.html You will see some of the cars featured in future episodes. I think all of us will find a lot to like about those featured for the remainder of the season. As presenters we can suggest, but both the Network and Producer have ideas as well. They do listen though. 7. We feature cars all of makes, models, sizes, and values as you will see if you watch the entire show season. We cannot simply appeal to any one grouping as it wont support viewership, and again we get replaced by chop, cut, slam. 8. If you have suggestions, or if something crosses you (no chance of that happening on this forum right? : ) ) . Don't just complain. Try helping to make it better through your input..email me and I will pass along suggestions tntoldcarz@gmail.com . Remember, this is the first season. 9. In short, it aint perfect. We serve many masters. Watch the show, you will find something to like. Preserve its position/slot by watching and telling others to do the same because its gong to be hard to get another shot in the near future. After you watch, be sure to email and tell us how much and why you loved or hated it, but most importantly try to be helpful through suggestions. We have already made note of many,....and if you dont like me, Ritter is one heck of a great guy!...something or someone for everyone . Thanks for giving it a look and watching : )

Hopefully this baby finds a good home. It would look really awesome painted up with a period company logo. Im surprised it lasted all these years in stock condition. It goes off on ebay in a few minutes,. but its cool http://www.ebay.com/itm/161708387638?forcerRptr=true&item=161708387638&viewitem=

West, I have inspected this car and it does not appear to have any of the characteristics of a coach built vehicle. The front snap moulding at the windshield appears to be of modern design. the rear quarter windows are filled in by simple blocks of wood cut and loosely fit into the holes where the windows went. There is no divider window, and the front seat is done in vinyl over a cloth upholstered seat. In my opinion even the lowest end coachbuilder would not turn out a car anything like this one. I would say buyer BEWARE. This car was owned by American on Wheels and sold for $2,500 a few years back to the most recent owner who passed away a couple of months ago. The description makes it seem as if the seller just doesnt have time to work on it and just decided to sell it...That is really odd since they just bought this car last week from the Widow of the owner for a lot less than the current bid. If I had to guess...in my opinion someone tried to recreate the 1939 Graham town car built by Corbett and Company and did a poor job. In my opinion this car is being misrepresented and I doubt the seller has any authenticating material save a photo of the original car which if you look closely had its top made differently than this car. Scary stuff West!!! Oh ,and I hardly think that the America on Wheels Museum would have sold an authentic one off coachbuilt 1939 Graham Town car for $2500.00 .

It is my understanding that beyond what you have mentioned that Ethanol increases the occurrence of vapor lock. Additionally, the burning of ethanol laced fuel creates formic acid which leaches into the oil . Formic acid will damage rod and main bearings over time as well. You can also find non ethanol gasoline by going to the pure-gas.org website.

The big reason legislatures pursue such means of taxation is the creation of yet another revenue stream. IF it were simply an issue with "needed" revenue alone, they would raise the gas tax which theoretically would extract the most tax from those who not only drive the most but who also have the heavier vehicles (lower mpg) that wear the road surfaces, as you point out. There are other motives at work here in addition to creating a new tax such as data mining...now they know more about you since they are directly monitoring how much you personally drive...paying gas tax is anonymous. Of course now they have to check your mileage every so often, install monitoring devices etc. etc. I would also caution that this type of taxation has been discussed at the Federal level along with a Federal Registration for vehicles....just another way to gain more government control through data mining and the passage of additional restrictions and taxes to modify our driving behavior etc etc etc. I simply never ends. Its just one more tentacle the govt. attaches to each of us. It would be a mistake to characterize this move as benign

Please read the following message from SEMA regarding this new opportunity legislators in Mass have devised to fleece car owners of all types.....Nothing like being taxed on taking a vacation etc. or trailering your car to a meet!! Tom URGENT LEGISLATIVE ALERT Massachusetts Considers Pilot Program to Tax Cars for Miles Traveled Legislation (H.B. 3142) to establish a pilot program to impose a vehicle mileage user fee administered by the Department of Transportation was introduced in Massachusetts. This bill is intended to supplement the gas tax and implement alternative ways to raise transportation revenue for the state. Under the bill, the Department must report to the legislature on the feasibility of permanently assessing a vehicle mileage user fee. The pilot program would include at least 1,000 drivers of trucks, passenger and commercial vehicles. These drivers would have on-board vehicle-mileage-counting equipment installed on their vehicles which can report the number of miles traveled. Payments would be collected from participants. [h=3]We Urge You to Contact the Joint Transportation CommitteeMembers (List Below) Immediately To Request Their Opposition to H.B. 3142[/h] H.B. 3142 seeks to penalize national efforts to create a more fuel efficient vehicle fleet. As gas tax revenues decrease due to hybrid and electric vehicle ownership, states are looking for new sources of funding for pet projects. [h=3]DON’T DELAY! Please contact members of the Massachusetts Joint Transportation Committee immediately to request their opposition to H.B. 3142.[/h] Please e-mail a copy of your letter to Steve McDonald at stevem@sema.org. Also, please forward this Alert to your fellow car enthusiasts. Urge them to join the SAN and help defend the hobby! Thank you for your assistance. [h=3]Massachusetts Joint Transportation Committee[/h] To e-mail all Committee members, copy and paste the email address block below: Thomas.McGee@masenate.gov; William.Straus@mahouse.gov; Thomas.P.Kennedy@masenate.gov; John.Mahoney@mahouse.gov; Gale.Candaras@masenate.gov; Marc.Pacheco@masenate.gov; Robert.Hedlund@masenate.gov; Michael.Moore@masenate.gov; Mike.Rush@masenate.gov; John.Fernandes@mahouse.gov; Timothy.Madden@mahouse.gov; Mark.Cusack@mahouse.gov; Christopher.Markey@mahouse.gov; Chris.Walsh@mahouse.gov; Peter.Durant@mahouse.gov; Danielle.Gregoire@mahouse.gov; Gailanne.Cariddi@mahouse.gov; Michael.Finn@mahouse.gov; Jerald.Parisella@mahouse.gov; steven.howitt@mahouse.gov Senator Thomas McGee (Senate Chair) Phone: 617-722-1350 Email: Thomas.McGee@masenate.gov Representative Williams Straus (House Chair) Phone: 617-722-2400 Email: William.Straus@mahouse.gov Senator Thomas Kennedy (Senate Vice-Chair) Phone: 617-722-1200 Email: Thomas.P.Kennedy@masenate.gov Representative John Mahoney (House Vice-Chair) Phone: 617-722-2400 Email: John.Mahoney@mahouse.gov Senator Gale Candaras Phone: 617-722-1291 Email: Gale.Candaras@masenate.gov Senator Marc Pacheco Phone: 617-722-1551 Email: Marc.Pacheco@masenate.gov Senator Robert Hedlund Phone: 617-722-1646 Email: Robert.Hedlund@masenate.gov Senator Michael Moore Phone: 617-722-1485 Email: Michael.Moore@masenate.gov Senator Michael Rush Phone: 617-722-1348 Email: Mike.Rush@masenate.gov Representative John Fernandes Phone: 617-722-2220 Email: John.Fernandes@mahouse.gov Representative Timothy Madden Phone: 617-722-2810 Email: Timothy.Madden@mahouse.gov Representative Mark Cusack Phone: 617-722-2637 Email: Mark.Cusack@mahouse.gov Representative Christopher Markey Phone: 617-722-2396 Email: Christopher.Markey@mahouse.gov Representative Chris Walsh Phone: 617-722-2013 Email: Chris.Walsh@mahouse.gov Representative Peter Durant Phone: 617-722-2060 Email: Peter.Durant@mahouse.gov Representative Danielle Gregoire Phone: 617-722-2460 Email: Danielle.Gregoire@mahouse.gov Representative Gailanne Cariddi Phone: 617-722-2450 Email: Gailanne.Cariddi@mahouse.gov Representative Michael Finn Phone: 617-722-2637 Email: Michael.Finn@mahouse.gov Representative Jerald Parisella Phone: 617-722-2877 Email: Jerald.Parisella@mahouse.gov Representative Steven Howitt Phone: 617-722-2305 Email: steven.howitt@mahouse.gov

There are still a limited number of opportunties to be involed in this series. Its unique chance to have some fun and get some cars on the road. These people are legitimate and very professional, so if you know someone with a sizeable collection that needs help it might be the one they are looking for. Pass it along. ANEXCITING NEW TELEVISION SERIES WANTS TO HELP YOU GET YOUR TIRED IRON BACK ONTHE ROAD! Do youhave an out of control car collection? Do themajority of your vehicles need restoring? NERD TV is producing a new televisionseries for a major broadcaster.<o:p></o Our experts want to value your collection andtry to help put some of it back on the road! <o:p</o If interested pleasecontact cars@nerdtv.co.uk <o:p</o *All informationabout you and your cars is kept in the strictest confidence*