The President s Squeak

Transcription

1 The Official Newsletter of the Indy Miata Club Volume 29 Issue 3 March 2018 What s Inside Page 2 President s column continued Classified Ads. Page 3 Membership renewal / PayPal Eric & Mike perform New Members Page 4 Breakfast & Classics report Page IMC Event Schedule Page 6 Post Tax Blues Rally information Page 7 Spring It On! Gathering Page 8 Non-IMC Events of 2018 Page 9 Funny Stuff! Page Advertisers & March holidays The President s Squeak By Dave Phares The Breakfast & Classics Mingle was a success, and the weather was cooperative as well. YiaYia s House of Pancakes did a great job with everything from seating arrangement to fast and friendly service. Ray Skillman s Classic Cars Museum is definitely one of the area s best kept secrets. The autos and memorabilia that are on display represent many different eras of time, and one would be hard pressed not to be able to relate to the cars of yesteryear. Continuing from last month: Getting back to that once cherry 49 Chevy that was creamed by a very nice 57 Chevy brings back memories that I almost forgot. Well, sort of. If you can picture this car with the trunk area almost caved into the rear window area you would think it should have gone to our local auto junk dealer. Actually this car was still drivable and that is exactly what I did. The insurance company settled by giving me what we both thought was a fair value for the car, and also I was allowed to keep the vehicle. This allowed me to have transportation while looking for another set of wheels. There was, and still is, a dealership in Shelbyville that happens to be one of the nation s oldest car dealerships. A car setting on their lot caught my eye that I couldn t resist checking out. This was a 1950 two-door Ford. This car was a cherry, one owner, driven by a little old lady. With having two vehicles now, I thought that it would be best if I stored the Ford for a while until I could get the Chevy sold. I did not have a garage but some of our neighborhood friends had a garage that was not in use. They agreed to let me store the Ford there. That was working out fine until the garage caught on fire! Amazingly, the garage did not burn down, and the area in which my car was didn t have much damage done to it. However the heat and smoke did some damage to the Ford by blackening the chrome and some of the paint. It did have smoke damage and, as I recall, the smell was present for quite a while. Just my luck. The 49 Chevy was sold a few weeks after the fire so I started driving the Ford, but not before getting it to look its best, all things considered. Well the Ford was a V8, flat head of course, with an automatic transmission. The automatic had to go. A friend and I gathered all of the parts necessary, from a local junkyard, to change Continued on page 2 A final call to renew your IMC membership! Send to Treasurer, Ben Hecht 7812 Ashton Lane Fishers, IN 46038

2 Page 2 Open Road March 2018 Indy Miata Club Officers 2018 President Dave Phares president@indymiata.org Vice-President Jim Seebeck vicepresident@indymiata.org Treasurer Ben Hecht treasurer@indymiata.org Secretary Sonya Cady secretary@indymiata.org Membership Director Dick Cady membership@indymiata.org Website Editor Sara J McBride webmaster@indymiata.org Newsletter Editor Steve Crouse editor@indymiata.org The President s Squeak, cont. it over to a straight stick. We had planned to do this the first weekend that the both of us was free. That particular weekend happened to be a cloudy day with possible rain showers. With neither of us having a garage to do the work in, we were forced to do it in his driveway. As I recall, we got through Saturday without getting wet, and we were able to complete most of the transition. Sunday was the day we were going to finish and have it on the road. Although the day started with a drizzle and clouds, we were able to complete the work. I now had a three speed on the floor with a Hurst shifter. The shape of the rear wheel well of this model was curved up to about half of the wheel itself and extended to practically the end of the wheel. My thought was that if the rear wheel well was cut and rounded to show most of the wheel, making it similar to the front wheel well, it would give the vehicle more of a sleeker look. This was done by Bob Metz, a local nationally-known body man that some of you may have heard of. The grill of the Ford had room for improvement because of its bulky outward appearance. The grill of a 1953 or 54 Chevy was known as a tooth grill because of the uprights that went the length of the grill. This grill fit practically perfectly into the grill area of the Ford, which made the Ford have more of a cooler look, for lack of better words. Okay, enough of history for now. Hopefully boredom hasn t been your state of mind while reading my first three articles. I hope you are finding them to be somewhat humorous. There are a few more stories that I will share with you regarding my past experiences and fortunes, or misfortunes along this line. So stay tuned. More to come next month. Thanks to Ken Koehler, we have what will probably be a great rally coming up in April. Mary Jo and I are personally looking forward to getting out-and-about now that, hopefully, the worst of old man winter is long gone. And hopefully, this rally will be just the start of many to come during our Miata driving season. Let me remind everyone that I still have lots of Mazda USA give-away items left from the Christmas party. I ll probably bring them along to the club events MJ & I attend, hoping to pass them along to members. Zoom Zoom CLASSIFIEDS 2004 MazSpd Velocity Red, Many extras, 93K miles, $12000, Details on club Classified webpage. Contact jceaw@sbcglobal.net A stock dual-exhaust muffler for a 2007 Miata MX-5, in good condition to give away. Call Rick Rosado at (317) IMC logo stickers: Three sizes! The stickers are printed on white vinyl. Only $2.00 each. Contact Sara J via or see her at an event. More information on our website Classified. The Open Road is published monthly for the members of the Indy Miata Club. The Indy Miata Club assumes no liability for any information contained herein, or injury or damage resulting from the use of this information. The ideas, opinions, maintenance or modification tips expressed are to be used at the reader s discretion. Individual contributors and/or the editors express no approval, authentication, or endorsement. Thank you. I have a nice 1990 Red for sale - $3995. Contact Bob Elliott for more information. Call or text Pictures available. I have a 1995 M-Edition in fair condition for sale. $2995. Contact Bob Elliott for more information. Call or text Pictures available. For Sale: A 2010 Copper Red NC with 33k miles. Selling for $15,000. See more information on the IMC website Classified. Contact Gary at gcollings@live.com.

3 Page 3 Open Road March 2018 The Up-to-Date Procedure for Renewing your Membership! In the old days, you walked out to the mailbox to get the latest copy of the Open Road and your mailing label would have a date on it, showing your Indy Miata Club renewal date. As your club has jumped into the electronic age and we use to communicate with you, there's no way to put an expiration date on your label. So, as we zoom into 2018, we would like to gently remind you for the last time that you may need to renew your Indy Miata Club membership. Want to make sure we've received your renewal information? Go to the Members area on our website, find your name and, if you've renewed, you'll see Membership - 12/31/2018 listed after your city location. If there's no date, that means it's time to renew! (Hey! While you're there, make sure your webmaster has your correct information. No picture? Send one to webmaster@indymiata.org and, just like magic, it will appear.) Renewal memberships are still $20.00 (It's been that same amount for 16 years! What a deal!). You may renew one of two ways: 1. You can now pay using your debit or credit card through PayPal at no charge to you! No need to set up an account. Just click on the Payments link on our website and follow the instructions. Easy-Peasy. Or, 2. Mail your $20.00 check (made out to Indy Miata Club) to: Ben Hecht c/o Indy Miata Club 7812 Ashton Lane Fishers, IN If you don't renew, several things will happen: 1. No more Open Road newsletters will be ed to you 2. Your access to the Member Only sections at indymiata.org will not be available. 3. We'll miss you We have another great year planned, so don't miss out! Hello friends. I wanted to let everyone know that Eric & Mike will be performing Saturday, March 24th at Hopwood Cellars Winery (hopwoodcellars.com), 12 E. Cedar St., Zionsville, from 7:00 to 9:00 PM. We hope you will be able to join us as we usher in Spring and a new Miata driving season! Mike and I hope you can join us to enjoy some great wine and fun music. I also want to let everyone know about up-coming dates. Eric & Mike are scheduled to play the following dates at Hopwood Cellars in 2018! May 5, Sat. 7:00 to 9:00 PM July 20, Fri. 7:00 to 9:00 PM Sept. 29, Sat. 7:00 to 9:00 PM Some of these dates may conflict with Miata Club events. I m sorry about that, because I won t get to drive them, and some of you won t be able to join us! If you aren t able to partake in the club events we hope you can come out and support Eric & Mike. Hope to see you soon! Eric Drumwright The current membership count for 2018 is 73. We have three (3) new members. Muyu Guo Jim & Debra McWhinney Kevin White Welcome to our club!

4 March 2018 Page 4 Open Road Breakfast & Classics Report report So, I m wondering, what happened to the members that signed up to attend the Breakfast & Classics gettogether but didn t show up. I calculated that we would have nearly 30 members registered to attend, but only about 16 showed up for breakfast at YiaYia s. Granted, I knew that a couple of members wouldn t join us until we moved over to Skillman s Classic Car Sales, which they did. For those of you that signed up for the event but didn t make it (not counting missing spouses), we ask that you un-register if you know you won t be able to attend. That way we know how many to expect. Please. As for the event itself, breakfast went well. We had a couple of new members in attendance. Always nice to see. YiaYia s took very good care of us. We had tables set up for our use only. Service was fast; waiters were cordial and the food was as good as last time. Skillman Classic Cars was also very interesting. It s hard to tell if they have new cars since there are so many on the floor. There was, however, a new addition to the displays. They have added a carousel which is under construction. We hope it will be operational once it has been completed. If you like classic cars, you really must drop by Skillman s Classic Car Sales sometime. It s very fascinating, and there is no charge to get in. Check them out on their website for open hours.

5 Page 5 Open Road March 2018 Tentative 2018 Event & Rally Calendar If you are planning to enter a club event onto our calender, please report the date & info. to Event Coordinator, Jim Seebeck. Contact him at events@indymiata.org. The Post-Tax Blues Rally April 21-22, 2018 Information on page 6. Make your room reservation before April 7! Quarterly Board of Officers Meetings April, July, October Dates, Times & Locations To Be Announced Spring It On! weekend trip May 4-6, 2018 See page 7. Make your room reservation before April 4. The Night Before the Indianapolis 500 Mingle Saturday, May 26 Event Organizer needed! Time & Location TBA The Yogi Bear Rally & Pic-a-nic June 23, 2018 Marietta Madness weekend? Looking at September or October. Thanks, TL. The Night Before the Brickyard 400 Mingle Saturday, September 8 Event Organizer needed! Time & Location TBA The Hidden Drives Rally November 3, 2018 Details TBD Annual Christmas Party & Election of Officers December, Date TBD

6 Page 6 Open Road March 2018 The Post Tax Blues Overnight Rally April 21-22, 2018 Event details are, mostly, in place. Check the EVENTS page of website for updates. Sara and I have a great run planned to take your mind off the taxes you just filed. We'll begin Saturday, April 21st around 9:30am at our old meeting place in Mooresville in front of the Kroger and near the McDonald's (so we can make last minute breaks or buy snacks). Then around 10am we'll do our best to caravan (or run flat out if you'd prefer) down some highways and small "by-ways" to French Lick. After our first almost 2-hour leg, we should be good and hungry for some Mexican food at El Compadre Mexican Restaurant in West Baden. If some of you would prefer "Italian" cuisine, the French Lick Winery is right down the street and is also fabulous with some of the best fresh made bread anywhere (and good wines to taste and buy, too, if you want them rolling around in your trunk while we rally -- or in your bloodstream). After lunch we'll break into our fast, medium and conservative (speed-wise) groups and head out into the country surrounding West Baden and French Lick for a fun 2 hour rally. We'll be finishing up at the hotel where I hope at least 9 other members will stay overnight with us to enjoy dinner at 'Ohana Grill & Bar which specializes in sushi, but has a full a quite wonderful looking menu besides. The Comfort Inn & Suites has a great looking indoor pool and full breakfast for the next morning. We do hope other members will stay over as we've reserved a block of 20 rooms for the discounted price of $105/night + taxes. If we don't get 10 reserved by April 7th, the rate jumps to $159/night +. So, please, consider staying over to enjoy visiting both the West Baden Springs and French Lick Resorts. If you like to gamble, French Lick Resort has a huge casino! Sara and I are going back to French Lick over her Spring Break to prepare another rally for Sunday morning. We plan for this route to take us south towards Lake Patoka and west to Jasper. After the run, we'll find somewhere to have lunch. Once we've finished our lunch, we can head up US 231 to the new I-74 interstate all the way to Bloomington and then home. We think it will be a fun two days with some good Miata roads and plenty of interesting sites and food! Please plan now to join us! Want to make a room reservation? Contact Comfort Suites, French Lick, IN Please specify if you'd like a king or queen bed. Group discount ends April 7th, so please reserve before that date. When making a reservation, be sure to mention you are with the Indy Miata Club to get the group rate ($105/room; Need 10 reserved rooms to get this rate!) And don't forget to REGISTER on our website so the rallymaster knows you re coming.

7 Page 7 Open Road March 2018 The Spring It On! Weekend Gathering May 4-6, Plans are beginning to fall into place for the Spring It On weekend. We have a block of rooms set aside at the Spring Mill Spring Mill State Park, outside Mitchell IN. Our discounted room rates are (a) King and Double Queen, $ plus tax/night and (b) Queen, $94.50 plus tax/night. This block of rooms will be held for us only until April 4th, so make your reservation soon. Don t wait until the last minute! Make your reservations by calling the Spring Mill (812) Tell them you are with the Indy Miata Club in order to get this discount. Please be aware that alternate lodging in Mitchell is limited. More choices are available in Bedford IN, about 15 miles (20 minutes) north of Mitchell, on SR-37. As you may recall, Indiana state parks have an entrance fee. The current charge is $7.00 (for state residents). This is a one-time charge for people staying at the park inns. It can pile up if you are just entering the park for a visit. Keep this in mind. We ll choose a meeting location outside of the park for our starting points, to avoid this park entry expense. Another bit of information to remember; there is not a cocktail lounge in Indiana state park inns. Imbibing is allowed only if it is kept inconspicuous, so, BYOB but keep it under wraps! More information is available on the Spring It On! event page on our website. Please check it out. If you have any unanswered question about the weekend, the eventmaster at editor@indymiata.org.

8 Page 8 Open Road February Regional Miata Events See links from Non-IMC Events page on our website, or search Miata.Net. April 14, 2018 Cruisin' for a Cure Car Show The 7th annual event in Plainfield at Hummel Park. See the Non-IMC Events listings on our website. April 26-29, 2018 Miatas at Myrtle Beach XII Myrtle Beach, SC Again at Ocean Dunes Hotel. June 6-10, 2018 Zoomin the Mountains of East Tennessee Johnson City, TN Another year of Zoomin fun! September Rockies Rendezvous Alberta, Canada August 2-5, 2018 Miatas at the Gap Deal s Gap NC 2018 September 20-23, 2018 Hot Lava 2018 Hood River, Oregon Registration will open in early Spring 2018.

9 Page 9 Open Road March 2018 Funny Stuff? I could go for any of these Miatas! Would you guess that these are Miatas under the skin?

10 March 2018 Page 10 Open Road Hughes Insurance Group is an Independent Agency representing over 35 insurance companies. Our ultra-competitive rates assure that you receive the most value at the best price for all of your home, auto or business insurance needs. For a limited time, I m giving away a $20 gas card with an insurance review and quote for your home, auto or business with no obligation! If I m competitive, consider allowing Hughes Insurance Group to write your business. If I can t provide you with a better value, you ll have the peace of mind knowing you re properly insured at a fair price. Tom Lewis INSURANCE GROUP Call or Indy Miata Club member Tom Lewis today! tom@hughesinsurancegroup.com Have a few dollars invested in upgrades? Ask about Agreed Value Coverage for your Miata! Benefits for Indy Miata Club Members -First year dues to the Indy Miata Club after purchase of any Mazda -S-Plan Pricing to Current Members -15% off All Parts & Accessories -15% off Labor Rates -Maintenance for Life with the purchase of Any Mazda -Saturday Service Hours 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM -Free Cookies!! Contact Lauren Auld for more information.

11 March 2018 Page 11 Open Road Daylight Savings Begins March 11 March 17 March 25 Now celebrating 40 years! Exclusive Discounts for Indy Miata Club Members Tom Roush Mazda, Indiana s first Mazda dealer established in 1972 has not only the most experienced sales and service staff in town, but also is the highest volume dealer in Indiana. We hope to serve you in our next 40 years as Indy s premier Mazda dealer. In support of the Miata Club member s we would like to offer the following benefits: 15% off regular door labor rate 15% off any accessory purchase S-Plan pricing to eligible customer s Extended Saturday service hours 7:30 3:30 US th Street Westfield, IN