Classic Memories
(Part two)--Page # 2
By Gary Porter

Thirty eight people and 13 classics went to Augusta, Maine in August. This was a Classic Chevy only event. There were lots of activities, games, a dance and, of course, a show and shine. Individually, we did well winning prizes and trophies. As a club, we almost got the club participation award, narrowly losing to the Bay State club. Considering the distance we came, there was no same in second. I think that event raised our level of interest in hosting our own event.

Later in August we went to Oakfield Park for our picnic. Thirteen Classics and 16 members ( 50 people) attended.

By the time the fall of '82 arrived we had attended many events Our membership had grown to 43 with 47 Classic Chevys. It is interesting to note that along with a variety of passenger car body styles, we also had two '55 pick ups and a '55 Corvette on our roster.

Here is Gary Wright's '55 Corvette. This was later owned by fellow club member Karl Shay, who also owned the first pick up in the club.

With campaigning to rival the recent Bush - Gore contest, our annual elections were held. Just kidding. Things were no different then than they are now. I became President and Skip moved to Vice President. Peter Phillips continued as Secretary, Graham Swann was elected Treasurer and Wayne Cooper took on Sergeant at Arms. We also formed an entertainment committee and a ways and means committee. The $1.00 per meeting was dropped in favour of making the annual dues $20.00. These were still being collected monthly, based on when you joined.

To get off on a tangent for a second, the dues are still $20.00 per year. What else is still the same price it was 19 years ago? Going through my magazine collection recently, I notice that a 1982 issue of Hot Rod cost $1.75. Today it's $4.99. That's a 285 per cent increase. At this rate our dues should be $57.14. This isn't to suggest that dues be increased, just to let everyone know the good value they are getting.

The newsletter included an interesting, but short lived feature called Classic Flashback. Some brave members were willing to share some pictures of themselves taken a few (or many) years earlier or of Classics they previously owned. It would be interesting to see this revived. But, like everything else, it relies on contributions of the members.

While I haven't been specifically indicating the names of new members as they joined the club, I think it is appropriate to mention here that our long serving president and the person who should get a lot of credit for keeping this club going so that we have a 20th anniversary to celebrate, Jeff Kempton, joined the club in November of 1982.

1983 got off to a good start with well attended regular monthly meetings. We had a couple of meeting with the Province lobbying for personalized plates. I don't think we can take the credit for now having personalized plates, but I would like to think that we helped show the Province that there was an interest in making these available.

The first Classic Chevy Club dance was held in March. It was quite successful. Here are Bernie and Carol Fraser enjoying the music. That looks like Bob Reid at the right of the picture.

The indoor car show season started in April with events in Halifax and Kentville. The Golden Age Automobile Club held their first Show and Shine in May. This has grown to be the biggest event of this nature in this area and perhaps, the Maritimes. We had 12 Classics at the event, which was good enough for a tie in the club participation award. When you consider the narrow focus of our Club and the broader range of vehicles accepted by other club's (and potentially more members), we put a lot of other clubs to shame in terms of participation.

We attended an ever growing list of shows throughout the summer. I'm not going to list every one, but one that stands out for 1983 was the "Hot One" in Chicopee Massachusetts. Wayne Conrod and I and our families attended with our Classics, while Ron Garnier and his family attended but were Classicless. Wayne won second place in the '57 original class. Although we traveled a long way, a guy from Texas took long distance.

Other highlights of the year getting an official mailing address, a regular coping source for the newsletter and an attempt to organize a photo shoot to submit to Classic Chevy for inclusion in Classic Chevy World magazine. Susan McAuley made a quilt for the club to raffle off as a fund raiser. It was won by Darrel Clark. I wonder if he still has it?

By the time elections rolled around we had 46 members and 51 Classics. Most areas of the province were represented from Weymouth to New Waterford. We also had members in P.E.I. and Newfoundland. Our roster included '55, '56 and '57 convertibles and a '55 first series pick-up.

The 1983 election brought in a new slate of officers. As our bylaws put limits on how long someone could hold office, some of the previous executive were not permitted to run. Bernie Fraser took over as President, while Peter Stokdijk, Jeff Kempton and Bob Reid were elected as Vice president, Secretary and Treasurer, respectively. The Sergeant at Arms position was changed to Director and Graham Swann was elected into that position. After writing 34 issues of the newsletter, I retired and Jeff Kempton volunteered to take on the job. Serious discussions on having an event of our own took place. A questionnaire was sent out to all members.

The year ended with a decision to hold a club event on the July 1, 1984 weekend, with John Perry taking on the task of organizing the event. Bernie stepped down as President. Peter stepped up to the position and Rick Merrill was elected Vice President to replace Peter.

Although I had no idea how this article would evolve when I started, it's obvious that it can't all be reported in one or two chapters. The end of 1983 looks like a good point to end chapter two. For those with Internet access, check out this article on the club website to see the pictures in colour.

There obviously will be a chapter three and, at the rate I'm going, probably a four and maybe a five. Stay tuned. I welcome any comments