NEWS BRAKE. Director s Message. Livingston A s Region Model A Restorers Club. Fred Tryles. September 2017 NEXT BUSINESS MEETING

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1 September 2017 NEWS BRAKE Livingston A s Region Model A Restorers Club NEXT BUSINESS MEETING Tuesday September 19th 7:00 P.M. Livingston County EMS Building 1911 Tooley Road Howell, MI Park on the North side of building opposite the main entrance. Director s Message My apologies to all of you for being a bit late submitting this Director's Message. My youngest granddaughter Lauren, Sandy and I attended the 26th Annual Round Up in Jackson, Michigan. Lauren just loved it. She asked if we were going to another one of these next year. On Sunday, August 27th we drove the Model A home, parked it in the garage, walked across the yard to the previously loaded motorhome and immediately drove off, bound for Bayfield, Wisconsin, and the Apostle Islands. Lauren loves to travel just like her grandmother. We semi-circled Lake Superior, visiting the Porcupine Mountains, Tahquamenon Falls, Whitefish Bay and finally the Soo. The weather was cool. Some of the hardwoods had color. Fall is very close. It is September. Where has the summer gone? If you haven't joined us on a driving tour, what are you waiting for? Check out the Tours and Events scheduled for the months of September and October. Those are ideal Model A driving months. Our club had a respectable showing at the 26th Annual Michigan Round Up, which was hosted by the Spartan Horn Club from Jackson, Michigan. They did an excellent job. Livingston A member Gary Reutter had a profitable weekend, winning one of the two 50/50 drawings. Just prior to the drawing he offered to trade tickets with my granddaughter, who DECLINED the offer! Gary was gracious enough to give her a twenty dollar bill. I'm not sure she would have reciprocated had she accepted the trade. Rusty and Rita Gould and I won some nice prizes in the raffle. We toured the decommissioned Cell Block Seven at Jackson Prison. It was just as I remembered it. Just quieter. The next day we observed the re-enactment of the First Battle of Bull Run and experienced a cavalry charge. After the Saturday evening banquet, the Jackson club arranged for busses to transport us to the Cascades for the night light show. My granddaughter and I snuck off to tour the Union troops encampment and to experience the night firing of the Union artillery; Very Impressive! On a sad note, There may not be a 27th consecutive Michigan Round Up as there was no passing of the baton. No club has stepped up to volunteer to host the next round up. Is this another portent of things to come? We are slowly whittling ourselves away. As I said before...there are fewer of the "willing." Fred Tryles Director. Livingston A s Livingston A s News Brake Page 1

2 Early Ford V8 Annual Pig Roast Marty Kapanowski, News Brake Contributor On August 13th Vic and Cheryl Caporosso led a tour to the Early V8s Pig Roast in Jackson. About 6 cars met up at the Pinckney McDonald s, we picked up a few more at the Stockbridge potty & gas break, and some met the group at the roast. Among those enjoying a ride in the country on one of the most beautiful Michigan days were people from the clans of Caporosso, Haskins, Thibodeau, Frisinger, Kapanowski, Tryles, Points, Remenar, Panicacci & Family & Friends & grandchildren! In all, 11 cars connected to Livingston A s made the trip, carrying 24 people. Not a bad showing! The ride down M106 from Gregory was right out of a Norman Rockwell painting, with farms, picket fences, free-range chickens, cloud-adorned blue skies, and perfect temperature and humidity. Only one repair had to be made, fortunately. It was almost two! Marty K s brake light had a 12 Volt bulb in it, making it hard to see the brake light. Note, he bought it that way and didn t know! But the dimness of the bulb resulted in Ed Thibodeau giving his brakes a really good lock-up test when Marty decided NOT to go through a yellow light that Ed (behind Marty) was planning on going through! Thanks to Ed s excellent brake jobs, all unwanted vehicle contact was avoided! Phew! Perry had a spare 6 volt bulb and Marty replaced it in Stockbridge but it was still not great. LED brake lights are in Marty s near future! Arrival went smoothly and we had some time to look at the other As and the early V8s. Boy those babies sound good! There was even a 19-something REO. Its external overhead valves had a total loss oiling system. I asked the owner how the rollers on the rocker arms that pushed on the valve stems got oil to them. He pointed to an oil can under the hood! Wow. Of course it started right up and sounded way cool! (continued on next page) Livingston A s News Brake Page 2

3 Early Ford V8 Annual Pig Roast (continued) The pig was great, with baked beans, coleslaw, potato salad, noodle salad, along with plenty of yummy desserts. It amazes me that we have all these flavors of pork ribs, chops, loins, bacon, ham, hocks etc. in our lives, but when you pull meat off a roasted pig, it all tastes the same. What s up with that?! Everyone won a door prize of some sort. There were tools, a respirator, rags, towels, fuel line fittings, keychains, parts bowls and other odds and ends. Nice souvenirs to come home with. After stuffing ourselves silly, we did what any self-respecting Model A er would do: We at more! Stage Stop was the venue of choice for ice cream in Stockbridge. Nice little place with a car memorabilia décor. From there the crowd dissipated as people went their own ways, and we wrapped up a markedly pleasant and uneventful (repair-wise) afternoon! MARC Anniversaries! Dea Knopf noticed that in the latest national MARC publication, the following Livingston A s were acknowledged for their years of membership in the Model A Restorers Club. Ron Rein 25 years Frank Remenar 35 years Gary and Trudy Johnson 40 years Jerry and Caroyn Smith 45 years Bill Zaharee 55 years CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL! Livingston A s News Brake Page 3

4 Randon Photos: 2017 Michigan Model A Round-up Gary Reutter won one of two 50/50 raffles held at the Round-up. Looks like he walked off with a little more dough than what s up for grabs at our monthly business meetings. Mike & Mary Deluca and others sit comfortably watching a reenactment of the first battle of Bull Run as seen below. Just a few of the many hundreds of Model A s that arrived in Jackson for the Michigan Model A Round-up. Livingston A s News Brake Page 4

5 Haven Hill Festival On the same weekend as the Michigan Round-up, a handful of Livingston A s headed over to continue the Club s long standing tradition of support for the Haven Hill Festival. Organized by Gary and Jan Cornillaud, The event was attended by Dan Samson & Kari Hayden, Bill & Ann Miller, Steve Wild, and Dick Weire. As is always the case, organizers of the event welcomed the A s warmly and were deeply appreciative of our participation. The Haven Hill Festival traditionally features an old time baseball game and as part of the events preceding the game, our A s took the field in shallow center field during the singing of the national anthem. Followng the national anthem, we retired to an area safe from foul balls where visitors of the event could look at our cars and ask questions. I m sure it comes as no surprise that our cars were wellreceived and appreciated by curious on-lookers. Arguably, the most exciting part of the day occurred when it was time to leave. Not long after we got on the busy M-59 corridor, Jan s Cornillaud s Roadster stalled. She coasted safely to the side of the road where a brief road-side head-scratching event commenced. Gary climbed in the car and it started without too much trouble and everything seemed OK but when Jan again began to get the car up to speed, it again stalled and she coasted to the side of the road again. Eventually, a police officer arrived and wanted to know if we had a permit to conduct a car show on the shoulder of M-59. Gary explained what was going on and assured him that everything was OK. The officer took careful notes so Steve Wild asked him if he had any interest in doing a newsletter. He declined. Gary looked the car over again and eventually noticed there was an issue with the choke causing the car to flood at higher RPM. Once he fixed the choke, everything was good. All in all, it was a good day. Livingston A s News Brake Page 5

6 A Solo Trip to the Company Car Show On August 11th, one of our club members who is still new to road trips took a 90 mile trip on his own. Marty Kapanowski drove his 28 Fordor to work (Ford) from Dexter to Dearborn to participate in an employee car show there. The 45 mile one-way trip took an hour and half, going North Territorial, to Hines Drive, to Outer Drive. The route provided traffic and speed limits that were comfortable. At the car show there were lots of Mustangs and classic cars, one boat, and something Marty had never heard of: A Doodlebug! For those unfamiliar, a Doodlebug (also known by many other names) comes from wartime, when people couldn t buy tractors. They d take an old car or truck, shorten it, put big tires on and make it into a tractor. This one is made from a Model AA truck. It has wooden roof bows, a raggy canvas roof, and a crock jug of moonshine strapped to the floorboard! Marty s 28 was the oldest car there, and took 2nd place in the employee vote, out of around 30 vehicles! A nice 48 F1 Pickup took first, and the Doodlebug took 4th. While there were no car problems on the way there, nor on the Early V8 s pig roast trip a week or two before, as soon as Marty left work, the Ammeter started to show zero amps charging. After a call to his lifeline (Ed Thibodeau) he pulled over on Hines Drive and looked for a broken fan belt. No luck; it was in place. He pulled the cover off the generator and found a broken wire. Ed said it would make it home. It did. To quote Marty, This car is amazing! 45 miles with no charging system! Upon arriving home, he shut it off to see if it would still crank. It started right up! To push it further, he left the key off then cranked it. It turned ¼ turn (wwuh.) then stopped. Hmm. He then turned the key back on, pressed the starter button, and it fired right up again. Amazing! It only needs less than ¼ turn to start! So he tried hand-crank starting it. It started easily that way too. What an amazing, 89-yearold car! Livingston A s News Brake Page 6

7 Meeting Minutes Fred Tryles called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. 39 members were present with one guest Clinton. SECRETARY REPORT: A motion to accept the minutes was approved and passed. TREASIRER REPORT: Judy Coebly read her report. A motion to accept the report was approved and passed. Tonight the 50/50 was $80/$40 was won by Paul Frisinger. The dozen eggs donated by Rick Giezentaner were won by Sandy Tryles. OLD BUSINESS: OB1: The July Rib-Fest was held Saturday, July 22nd at Jan and John Haskin s home with both the Motor City A s and Livingston A s attending. A great time was had by all and the weather held out to make it a beautiful day. OB2: The July Pot-Luck Picnic was held at Gene Panicacci's home. A big Thank You for holding this event at your home Gene! The Auction raised $ OB3: The Marc National Meet in Gettysburg was a success, the weather was good and (286) cars were on the Grand Tour. It was a very organized event. OB4: The Early Ford V-8 Club Pig-Roast was Sunday, August 13th with (11) cars and (24) people attending from Livingston A s. A big Thank You to Vic and Cheryl Caporosso for leading. OB5: Le Concours de Livingston was attended by several of our members. It was a good show with good food, free drinks and it was a good venue for the show. NEW BUSINESS: NB1: Congratulations to Steve Wild, he was on a sailboat from Port Huron to Mackinac, his boat came in 1 st in the class B. NB2: The Michigan Round-Up will be held August 25 th, 26 th & 27 th in Jackson, Michigan. Fred Tryles will be leaving Thursday, August 24 th from the Pinckney McDonald s at 12 noon. NB3: Haven Hill Festival will be Saturday, August 26 th. Gary Cornillaud will be leading anyone interested in attending meet at McDonalds at M- 59 and US-23, leaving at 10 a.m. NB4: Model-A Day at Gilmore is Saturday, Sept 16 th, Dan Samson will be leading the group Friday, Sept 15 th, leaving the Howell, Burkhart Road McDonald s at 10 a.m.. NB5: Frank Remanar and Gary Reutter will be leading a Fall Driving Tour to Frankenmuth Saturday, September 23 rd. NB6: Sunday, October 22nd is Ladies Night Out to be held at Quarter Bistro in Ann Arbor, $28 for the guys. NB7: A suggestion was made for an October, driving Trip to the Reo Museum in Lansing. NB8: October 4 th 7 th, (Wednesday Saturday) is the Hersey Swap Meet. NB9: The 2018 MARC Membership Meet will be held in Grandville Ohio, April 12 th -15 th, NB10: The MARC National Meet will be heldjune 24th - July 1st in Branson, Missouri. The Host Hotel is the Radisson, (417) (SOLD OUT). NB11: Rita Gould worked the Hospitality Room for the Shipshewana Membership Meet. She was given money to give to her club, she will be splitting that money with Livingston A s and Script A s. Thank You Rita. LADIES LUNCH: Lucille Weaire announced that the next Ladies Lunch will be held Thursday, September 14 th at noon, at the Traverse City Pie Restaurant on Grand River in Brighton. CAR PROBLEMS: Marty Kapanowski has very dim tail lights which almost got him run into by Ed Thibodeau. Vic Caporosso had his bumper brackets straighten out but, now needs to rebend them just a bit. Dan Samson s brake lights are sticking, it is recommended to put a 1929 brake light switch on to help. (Meeting Minutes continued on next page) Livingston A s News Brake Page 7

8 Meeting Minutes (continued) TREATS: Treats tonight were, buy your own at the Caboose. Next month will be Carolyn Smith, Jan Cornillaud and Mary DeLuca. BIRTHDAYS/ANNIVERSERIES: Gene Panicacci, Judy Coebly and Jan Haskin all have Birthdays this month. Anniversaries are Leo and Sandra Chouinard 55 years, Jan and Gary Cornillaud 45 years, Fred and Sandy Tryles 50 years Dick and Lucille Weaire 58 years. Congratulations to all. ADJOURNMENT: A motion to close the meeting was approved and passed. Adjournment was 7:55 p.m. Submitted by Mary DeLuca: Secretary. Editor s Corner The other day I sat glued to the Weather Channel trying to determine if my sister and brother in-law were going to have a house for very much longer. Their home is in Cape Coral, Florida and it sits nine feet above sea level. At the time, the Weather Channel was saying that Hurricane Irma could flood that part of Florida with storm surge approaching 15 feet. As I watched the television, they cut to a shot of a highway that was nothing but grid-lock as people were doing their best to evacuate. The image was much like the one shown to the left. Much to my surprise, about the fourth car in this miles -long traffic jam was a Model A. While I was already feeling a heightened awareness of the horrors about to unfold, seeing that Model A sitting there really made me feel for all those people and their situation. I wondered if the owner had other cars in the garage that just couldn t be brought along. What a difficult choice that could be. I wondered if the owner s spouse was perhaps in the daily driver either ahead or behind the Model A. I m sure in the next few weeks we ll see images of vintage cars either flooded out by hurricane Harvey in Houston or crushed within garages in various parts of Florida. I guess a storm like that also puts so many things into perspective; Our lives are fragile and so are our material things. While we should treasure and protect both, we should also get out and enjoy both while we re able. As I write this, I m still not certain exactly what kind of damage my sister and brother-in-law s property sustained (they were both in Erie, PA on an already planned vacation) but I do know the worst case surge scenario never occurred. That alone was a prayer answered. Steve Wild News Brake Editor Livingston A s News Brake Page 8

9 MAFFI News Minute We re in the last minute preparations for Model A Day September 16, 2017 and hope that many of you have made your plans to attend. In addition to the new displays in the museum, a 1931 Standrive Milk Truck, a right hand drive Phaeton produced in England, and a Russian built GAZ engine inside the museum we will have a couple of interesting and rare vehicles outside the museum (weather permitting). This year s technical seminars will be on Front End Assembly and Repair, Installing a Cell Phone Power Outlet in a six volt Model A, Roadside Trouble shooting, Model A Accessories, and a fashion seminar Vintage in Style: From Pouch to Purse. (there is a small charge of $5/peron for each seminar). Last but not least is the all-day swap meet and the membership meeting and Hall of Fame ceremony! Don t forget to bring your MAFFI membership card for free admission to the museum. Thanks you for your continued support of the Model A Ford Museum. Loukie Smith MAFFI President Tech Talk: Change the Condenser! Reprinted from the Nickel A News: By Tom Endy On most any Model A tour one of the participating cars will likely drift to the side of the road inoperative. Soon after everyone gathers around, someone in the crowd will surely yell out change the condenser. This knee-jerk reaction has become ingrained in Model A folklore. The truth is that good quality condensers available today seldom ever fail. Over the years I have seen countless numbers of condensers changed out, but I have only observed one that actually failed, and that was because the ground strap soldered onto the back of the condenser came loose due to an over-heated engine. The common practice for checking a condenser is to use an ohm meter. It will tell you if it is shorted or open, but not what the actual capacitance value is. What I have discovered with my new Honeytek tester is that the good quality condensers from Bratton s test out at a nominal.243 micro farads. I have never seen any documentation that Henry ever recorded about how many farads (or portions thereof) are required of a condenser to properly operate a Model A Ford ignition system. It is difficult to describe what a farad is, especially when only a very small portion of one is used in a Model A condenser. A micro farad is but of one farad The Honeytek tester is a unique thing to have along on a tour. You can easily test a condenser while it is still attached to a distributor installed in a Model A. Simply remove the car s fuse, and slip a business card between the points. The plus lead of the tester is clipped to the arm of the points; the negative lead is clipped to ground on the distributor. Honeytek A1613L capacitor tester There is still poor quality condensers being sold by some suppliers. They are easily identified by the ground strap being soldered to the end of the condenser. The good quality ones sold by Bratton s and a few other suppliers will show three little dots on the strap indicating they are stake welded on. Livingston A s News Brake Page 9

10 September and October Events and Tours September 14: Ladies Lunch The September edition of the Ladies Lunch will take place at the Traverse City Pie Company on Grand River in Brighton. Be there at noon for good conversation and a taste for a plate of deliciousness! Day 2: Meet in Hotel Lobby and depart around 8:15 AM Stop for fuel The entire day will be spent at the Gilmore. September 16: Model A Day at the Gilmore Here is the 2017 Gilmore Model A Day Itinerary: Day 1: Depart McDonalds on Burkhardt Rd. at 10:00 AM Pit stop in Mason at Wendy s Lunch stop in Charlotte at Eaton Pub...unless there are objections to this. Drive to individual Kalamazoo hotels Evening dinner and individual leisure time The group will depart the Gilmore at around 4:00 PM and travel to a dinner venue of the groups choosing. Day 3: Meet in the Hotel lobby and depart around 9:00 AM. Stop for fuel Stop for lunch if the group would like to General Notes: It s looking like there are 13 or 14 cars planning to attend the event Dan will provide maps at the McDonalds prior to departure If you have signed up and cannot attend or have questions, please contact Dan at A more southerly route may be used for the return trip. September 23 Gary Reutter and Frank Remenar are planning a fall tour to Frankenmuth on Saturday, the 23rd of September. Details have yet to be announced. Attend the September meeting for more details or contact one of them directly. Frank: Gary: October 22: Ladies Night Out Chuck Hescheles is once again organizing this event which is planned for 11:30 A.M. at the Quarter Bistro in Ann Arbor: 300 S. Maple, Ann Arbor, $28.00 for the fellas and the ladies eat for free. Coffee, tea, and orange juice are part of the price. Bottomless mimosas cost extra. Chuck will be at the next meeting to collect funds. Please either bring cash to the meeting or make checks payable to The Livingston A s. Livingston A s News Brake Page 10

11 2018 Events Worth Planning for Now! April 12-15: MARC Membership Meet Not much has been announced for the 2018 Membership Meet other than it s taking place on the dates shown above and it s taking place in Granville, Ohio. June 24-July1: MARC National Meet The 2018 National Meet will take place in Branson, Missouri. Lodging will be provided at the Branson Radisson hotel (417) The hotel has over 450 rooms that are locked in for a special nightly rate of $89.95 which includes a buffet breakfast. Additional rooms have been booked at nearby hotels but at this early date, you should be able to secure a room at the main hotel. Branson is a unique town set in the heart of the Ozark Mountains. Branson is known for its scenic, natural wonders and should prove ideal for touring in a Model A. Branson offers three beautiful lakes, hundreds of restaurants, 125 live shows, museums, theme parks and great shopping. The Branson MARC Region has arranged a schedule complete with a riverboat dinner show, an auto museum icream social and fashion show, The Grand Tour to Silver Dollar City (a theme park set in the 1890 s), and a scenic railroad ride into Arkansas through long and hand dug tunnels an deep gorges. The Region is also working with several theatres to get discounted tickets to man of the shows that take place in Branson. Three prizes will be raffled off at this National Meet. These prizes include: 1) one rebuilt diamond block engine, 2) a set of tires donated by Kelsey Tire Company, and 3) a Bergbower radiator. The Region also promises a large swap meet that will feature vendors from the entire Midwest. Some Livingston A s members will likely travel to the event in modern cars while others are discussing the possibility of traveling to the event in Model A s. For Sale! Bill Zaharee has two 1931 Michigan license plates for sale. The plate number is Ed Thibodeau refurbished the metal and Bill Zaharee painted them. Bill is asking $70.00 or best offer for the plates. Bill can be reached at or by ing to bzaharee@earthlink.net Livingston A s News Brake Page 11

12 General Information 2017 LIVINGSTON A s OFFICERS Director Fred Tryles fredtryles@sbcglobal.net Vice Director Dea Knopf modeladea@charter.net Secretary Mary DeLuca marydeluca1@gmail.com Treasurer Judith Coebly greutter@comcast.net 2017 VOLUNTARY POSITIONS Sunshine Group Sandy Tryles sandytryles@sbcglobal.net Ann Miller aom@umich.edu Karin Guinan kmguinan@hotmail.com Mileage Awards Dick Knopf modeladea@charter.net Newsletter Steve Wild stevenswild@gmail.com Lemonade Dick Weaire richardweaire@comcast.net Coffee Dan Samson danieljohnsamson83@gmail.com Keeper of the photo albums Dick Weaire richardweaire@comcast.net The NEWS BRAKE is the monthly newsletter of the Livingston A s Region of the Model A Restorers Club. LIVINGSTON A S WEBSITE: clubs.hemmings.com/livingstonas Membership dues in the Livingston A s are $12 per year and also require membership in the MARC NATIONAL CLUB. Please have our newsletter information to us by the 25TH of each month. If your info is going to be late please let us know. Call or stevenswild@gmail.com. We will do our best to get the newsletter in the mail by the 5th of each month. Books, videotapes and DVD s are available to borrow. Contact the Vice Director. 1. The Art of Buffing. 2. Custom Radiators (Brass). 3. Hammer welding. 4. Brakes and Understanding Overdrive. 5. Model A Introduction. 6. Generator Repair (Gennin Along with Lloyd & Floyd). 7. Patch panel installation (Car Guy) We have many large photo albums depicting events since the beginning of our club in If you are interested in borrowing any of these to browse and if you take any pictures you would like to be included, please let Dick Weaire know. He is now the keeper of these books. The albums as well as an event history were created and maintained by Lucille Duke from 1980 until The Livingston A s have four tables and two large ice chests available for club members to borrow. Livingston A s News Brake Page 12

13 The News Brake Livingston A's Region of M.A.R.C. Steve Wild 1606 Anderson Avenue Ann Arbor, MI Car of the Month Tom and Sherry Wright s 1930 Town Sedan Livingston A s News Brake Page 13