Classic Memories
(Part Four)--Page #1
By Gary Porter

Classic Memories (part four)
By Gary Porter

Here is a picture of the original club jacket on the left, which was light blue with our crest on the front and back. To the right is me with the new melton and leather club jacket. Our crest was on the front with your name and vehicle on the sleeve. Some chose to have the club crest on the back as well.

A membership survey indicated that the “Members Classic” was a popular feature (at least from a reader’s perspective), so it was decided that each member would have a turn scheduled for the newsletter starting with members 1 & 2 in the January newsletter. Being member #1, I obliged with a story and picture of my ‘55. Features on members #2 & 3 followed in the February newsletter. Hmmmm, maybe we were on to something!

At the February meeting, Earl Deveau was elected vice-president. It was also announced that we got permission to use the large field next door to the Glengarry for our show. This was a big improvement over trying to arrange the cars in the Glengarry lot. This field is part of the Truro Armory property. I got permission to use it from a fairly high ranking military officer here in Halifax. The problem was he never informed the Truro commanding officer. To jump ahead a bit, although these to properties are adjacent to one another, there is a high fence with barb wire at the top separating the two. In order to facilitate easy passage between the hotel and the show, Arnold Neil built an elaborate set of stairs to go over the fence. Now when we show up in July to make our preparations for the show, the Truro Armory commanding officer was surprised and p.o.ed as he new nothing of this and had equipment and material stored in the field that needed to be secured if civilians were to be in there. There were a few tense moments, but the show went on as we planned.

In March we decided to purchase golf shirts with the club logo on them. The newsletter had a couple of pictures of members’ cars in progress, but no written article. A members feature was included in the April newsletter, but it was not the member scheduled. It seems like, what was a very good idea, did not get the support it needed.

As usual, with the return of spring, car events began again. One of the first is the Golden Age Club show in Hilden, near Truro, held in late May. There is always a large turnout. For many, not having driven their “classic” or whatever for almost six months, this show is an opportunity to get driving again. From then on, it seems there is at least one show somewhere every weekend. No matter which show or shows you attend, there always seems to be at least one Classic Chevy Club member there.

Our event, which is a different format than most, was held on July 3-5. The weather was better than the year before (in other words, it didn’t rain all weekend), we had a better spot to display the cars, as elaborated on above, we had a vendor come all the way from Ontario with a truckload of Classic Chevy parts and all four Atlantic provinces were represented. Despite all these improvements, the event was a bit disappointing to us as only 43 classics registered, which was down about 13 from the previous year. To add insult to injury, we also went into the red.

 However, feedback indicated that those who attended, had a great time and, coincidently, 43 awards were given out.

These are some of the many classic in attendance at the fourth annual Classic Chevy Weekend. The two Nomads in the foreground were all the way from Newfoundland.

Members are enjoying the barbeque. The late Earl Deveau can be seen flipping burgers on the left

For the first time a multi month (June- July- August) newsletter was issued. It did, however contain features on two members’ classics.

As with any other year, there were lots of shows and events throughout the summer following ours. One that seems to have stood out in 1987 was the sixth annual All Chevy Weekend held in Augusta, Maine. This originally was a 55- 57 event and many of our club member regularly attended this event. Nine members attended this year and brought home six trophies for our 1:1 classics as well as a couple in the model contest.