Pony Express. September CRMC P.O. Box Charlotte, NC The Power of the Pony. by Brett Smith

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1 Pony Express September 2017 CRMC P.O. Box Charlotte, NC The Power of the Pony by Brett Smith By now it s old news that the past few weeks have been tough for some long-time CRMC members. One of our core members and long-time leaders, Larry Kilgore, passed away July 11th. A Celebration of Life was held in his honor August 19th. This time the gathering had little to do with Mustangs or the car hobby or even the Performance Driving School he cherished. This gathering was about remembering a great man, a great friend and a mentor to countless individuals who had the remarkable luck to get to know him in any capacity. I have been a member of CRMC since the mid 90s and though I don t remember the exact time we met, I recall very well what a presence Larry had. The tall man from Texas had no concerns about telling people how things should be done. Larry believed that you should not just take from the club, rather you were obligated to GIVE to the club. He had such an impression on me, shortly Continued on page 2

2 after joining I decided I needed to volunteer to take over the Newsletter publishing duties from him as he was already the Treasurer. But Larry being Larry, he didn t just hand me over the template and say good luck. Nope. That was not Larry s style. I created the newsletter and then sent it over to him (via fax actually) for his review. He would make comments and mark his edits and suggestions and fax it back to me. Larry wanted it to be RIGHT. Anyone who knew Larry is shaking their head in acknowledgement of that sentence. If you are not going to do it RIGHT, then what is even the point? That process started a decades-long friendship that I will treasure the remainder of my life. He made me want to confirm the newsletter was Pony Express right before sending it over. It made me WANT look over it one extra time, put just a little more thought into sentence structure, pay just a bit more attention to page formatting and grammar each time. Of course as time passed, I did get better and the newsletter got better as well. Back then, we didn t have and nobody had Facebook. The Newsletter was a key tool the club used to relay information. Of course Larry knew that and he wanted what was essentially the public face of our club to be held in the highest regard. Our conversations every month eventually turned into having a cold beer with dinner at Matthews Township Grille at every meeting. I attended many road trips to many shows with the club and Larry always had time to speak and offer help as busy as he was. There were also many Saturday night stories created during those same trips that aren t fit for print but are memories that I will cherish forever nonetheless. The Mustang was of course the focus of it all but the friendship quickly became the POINT. One month Larry submitted his then new 2001 Bullitt to be featured as the Pony of the Month. I recall immediately noticing something was not right. Was this a test? Larry had spelled the name of his special-model Mustang using the normally accepted spelling for the word BULLET throughout the article. Should I point it out or just fix it? I decided to just fix it without any discussion on the subject. I faxed the corrected newsletter over to Larry for his usual comments and suggestions and held my breath. Shortly after, it came back across the fax machine, seemingly taking forever with the fax tones screeching and squawking. And there it was. Thanks for catching my mistake. The newsletter looks great. I think you can take it from here. You don t need my help. RIP my friend. Carolina Regional Mustang Club Page 2 September 2017

3 Parading Ponies Our annual participation in the Waxhaw July 4 th parade literally got off on the wrong foot when our Parade Chair Ray Michue had to withdraw at the last moment to visit the Emergency Room for a dramatic foot infection. But never fear, other leaders stepped in and made it all work. With 37 vehicles, including a record 18 convertibles, all went off without a hitch. The weather was warm and sunny, a perfect day for a parade. Also perfect, and for the first time ever to anyone s recollection, was the participation of all six Mustang generations! Yes, there was a Mustang II (NOT owned by the Miller s!) and a couple Fox bodies. As usual, our convertibles led the parade with town dignitaries in front of what may have been a record crowd (later estimated at 17,000). They love their annual July 4 th parade in Waxhaw and we love participating. There is nothing like showing off our shiny steeds in front of an adoring crowd. Per usual, the parade was followed by the club winding (literally) its way back to Hickory Tavern for a gabfest. The good thing? We get to do it all over again at Christmas! Carolina Regional Mustang Club Page 3 September 2017

4 Show Season Begins Our yearly summer Cruise-In was delayed a month this year because our regular meeting date would have been the 4 th of July so we held it August 1 st instead. We had a short business meeting and recessed to Jonathan s parking lot to enjoy all our member s Mustangs. And what a turn-out! As has always been the case, the second and third Generation Mustangs were lightly represented, with even the Fourth Generation seeming to be in shorter supply these days, but the good old First Generation ponies were there in great numbers. The newest Generation cars are continually showing up in increasing numbers. As is usually the case, the early-model year Mustangs took home most of the trophies. With good reason too as all (with the exception of Barry Stone s barn find) have been lovingly restored or resto-modded. Beauties all. Most of the 2005 and up models have no call to be restored at their young age, but modifications to the current generation were plentiful. Of course, this was just the opening salvo for a very busy September and October with events scheduled most weekends each of those months. Events include the annual picnic Sept.16 th, AutoFair September th, our 37 th annual show September 30 th, the Performance Driving School October th and our fall Wine Cruise October nd. Be sure to consult the Events Calendar and use it to register for those events, as most of these activities only accept on-line registrations now. Forty-one Mustangs participated in our annual Summer Cruise-In Carolina Regional Mustang Club Page 4 September 2017

5 CRMC Officers President Mark Hunter Vice President Jim Brooks Secretary Vicci Brown Treasurer Steve Hartung Regional Director Mike Williams Past President Mark Young BOD at Large Dave Barrett Tami Brown Mark Rottger Jeff Garman Michael Shorkey CRMC is a Regional Club of Mustang Club of America CRMC Charter Date August 24, 1978 Bespoke. Unique. Custom. Whether we re talking about clothing, homes or cars these terms evoke images of something special, suited to the style and tastes of the owner. For car owners, custom basically boils down to two categories, Performance and Style. Bling, if you will. It s a little like the old Chinese menu joke, take one from column A and one from column B and a little later you re hungry again. CRMC is blessed with sponsors that can help with either category. Pro-Dyno is a good example of the former, while Diamond Detailing fits the latter. American Muscle, a new CRMC sponsor for 2017, is one that fits both. For either category, the choices are nearly endless. In the performance category there are bolton upgrades for engines, suspension, exhaust and brakes just to name a few but stopping short of buying a new crate engine, which is the ultimate upgrade. Bling it up with aero skirting, head/ tail lights or chrome galore. Some arguably even fall into both, like new Recaro seats that not only look cool but keep you in them while exploring the upper ranges of your speedometer. Tires and wheels also fall into this category of better performance and style. So where should you start? The Perfect Mustang...and why there is no such thing! One thing to keep in mind while you re applying all these custom touches; the dealer who accepts this car in trade generally reacts with, Meh. It can be frustrating to be sure. Here you ve spent hundreds or thousands on your baby to have the dealer offer you only the book value of the base GT. So lesson one is if you spend lots on upgrades, DO NOT trade it in but sell it yourself. Preferably to a fellow CRMC member, but any car enthusiast would be better than a dealer. For example, the first thing that says Muscle Car to me is its sound. Mustangs have a distinctive exhaust note, even with the stock muffler, but only with the GT (V8) models. Have you ever noticed that sound and knew immediately to look back over your shoulder to spot the source? Always a Mustang GT, isn t it? The base V6 and especially the new Eco-Boost come nowhere close. But even the GT s distinctive note can be enhanced with after-market systems from Borla, Flowmaster or MagnaFlow to name a few. I ve bought the latter two from American Muscle and each time had them shipped to and installed by Pro-Dyno. I get compliments all the time from friends and even strangers, how they love the sound of my current car with its Flowmaster Extreme system. Cost: ~$1000 for the system and installation. But little touches (Bling) also have a place and it doesn t need to cost an arm (or leg) either. When I was up in NY on vacation recently, I attended a cruise-in put on by the Adirondack Shelby- Mustang Club and the thing that caught several people s eye was the little Coyote V8 badges I had just put on the hood scoop. Cost: $16. So let your conscience (and your wallet) be your guide. Whether you spend a little or a lot, whether unseen under the hood or in plain sight on the body, the end result is putting your personal stamp on your car. The end result: Bespoke, Unique, Custom. But a different perfect car for each beholder! Carolina Regional Mustang Club Page 5 September 2017