Hello--I am a newbie to the forum.

[Guest Joe_Varley]

Hi, I am a newbie to this forum, but not to Oldsmobiles. I have been an OCA member for 32 years, #1448, and was a Eastern Great Lakes Zone rep in the 70's and am now one of the Pacific Southwest Zone Reps. The other Zone Rep is my wife, Gloria. I sold new Oldsmobiles from '77 to '82 in Cleveland, and have attended 19 or 20 National Meets. I have owned over 75 Oldsmobiles and currently have 3. My favorites are the 50's cars but since we live in an area where we can enjoy them all year around, Arizona, I have moved to newer ones which can be driven comfortably any time to club events here, or National Meets. I do most of my own restortion work, so maybe I can be of help to other forum members. Oh, don't blame me. Glenn put me up to writing this!

[rocketraider]

Now if I can just get the other Board members to do the same... <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

[Ron of Chicago]

Welcome to the forum Joe.

It's always nice to have another set of brains around to get all the facts straight.

I too love the 50's cars better. So why don't you feel you can drive them to the events?

Enjoy your stay here

Ron

[Guest Joe_Varley]

Hi Ron,

Oh, I can drive them, and I have, but here in AZ we use the cars year around. Sitting in a bone stock '50 88 with the original seats to Tucson, LA or Reno is not great for the back. I don't have a back problems, but I am 59, and no longer feel like I am 29!! Also with the traffic here, 50's brakes just suck. In June I drove my '72 Toro to Morro Bay, CA to the Zone Show. It was a 1,303 mile round trip at 75 to 85 mph. Nice!! That is about as new as I like except maybe for a '79 or '80 Toro I am looking for as a driver. Also, wives don't enjoy a long ride on old seats without a/c! '50 "88"'s are my favorite. I have had 9 over the years. Club coupes are the best!!

[Guest Joe_Varley]

Hi Glenn,

I wrote to Pat and told him that he needs to do a little write-up in JWO to let people know that this forum is a valuable tool for Olds Club members. I am a very active Olds guy and did not really know much about this forum until last week. Keep up the good work! Maybe Steve Moskowitz can do a write up since his name is very well recognized in the Olds "circle".

Joe

[Ron of Chicago]

Thanks for your input Joe, it's appreciated.

I will also agree to this site being a valuable tool. There is a lot of information lurking around and occasionally they will post that information here to which I have to say thank you. Glenn is a wealth of information and it's always good to have some more people that can contribute to the knowledge base.

Ron

[rocketraider]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">it's always good to have some more people that can contribute to the knowledge base</div></div>

You can say that again! Some people will say I'm an Olds guru, but in reality I'm fortunate enough to own a comprehensive set of factory sales and service literature and to have known some great factory and zone people who were willing to share their knowledge. That's where my expertise comes from- that and having been beat up from working on GM cars since I was about 14.

Sometimes these damn Starfires still get the best of me...

I would like for these forums to be one of the premier online Olds research resources and with some of the really knowledgeable people who are coming on board there's no reason that can't happen. We have a parts man without peer in Oldsfan, and our expertise covers 50s-70s very well. I wish we could get some of the prewar guys on before they die off and that knowledge is lost. I also wish we could help out the 80s-newer guys more, but I don't know much about the cars past 1990 or so.

[Steve Moskowitz]

Joe, as you may recall, I brought this subject up in my speech at the OCA banquet. I have privately brought this up to several officers as I think the club is missing a great recruitment tool and a way to keep members in touch with each other. Look at the Buick site...these guys have fun, fight, inform, etc. but they are very active and really help members out. I am frustrated over the low usage of OCA's forum.

I'd be happy to do an article for JWO and have asked in the past. Maybe I should just do it and send to Brad and see what happens. Glenn has been kind of a one man band here and I try at times to chime in as well.

Please send all your dry, warm weather here to PA. Oct. 4-7! PLEASE! <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

[Ron of Chicago]

Two more things

1. "I wish we could get some of the prewar guys on before they die off and that knowledge is lost."

This is so very true Glenn. There is a great amount of knowledge in these guys heads and it would be super to partake of some of that before it's lost. Working on Antiques and classics for the past ten years at a place that deals in them has taught me much. It was always a pleasure to talk with the "old timers" that would come in and see something I was working on and give up some great information.

2. Steve brings up a good point, but, I have to say, keeping the people in the club is equally important. I used to belong to the O.C.A. and went to many fuctions only to be snubbed for whatever reason. Most of the people that I ran into I didn't know and because of that they didn't want to asscociate with me. I felt very out of place and stopped going. They seemed to only embrace the people in their own little click.

I for one am very appreciative of all the information I collect here in this forum. Glenn, Steve and OldsFan just to name a few are great assets to this forum.

Thank you all

Ron

[Guest Joe_Varley]

Steve, I had forgotten, but now remember you mentioning the site at the banquet. Just do an article and send it to Brad. He is open minded as far as I know, and would put it in a future JWO. It seems like winter time would be the best time to hit JWO since most of the country and their cars are in hibernation, and people would read the article and check out this forum. Maybe send him an email now and mention your plan and see what he says.

Yes, October here is usually much different than Hershey or Carlisle. I have had the distinct fun of having my ankles bathed in mud at one of those great meets, usually Carlisle. October here is just gorgeous, around 85-90, sunny and super dry. I'll think of all of you there and try to will some warm and dry weather to you!!

Joe