Message from the President

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1 Editors: John & Ruth Ann Ronchetti 1025 Pine Knolls Rd. Kernersville, NC Phone: (336) Fax: (336) Special Interest Articles: Message from the President Car Events Schedule Personal Notes Birthdays & Anniversaries Keep On Keepin On A little Chuckle Doo-Wop, Rock and Roll General Greene Flyer Pictures Classifieds A Word from Our Sponsors On the Web: National: NC Region: Old Salem Chapter: OSC Facebook: Old.Salem.AACA Greetings! July 2018, Volume 20, Issue 7 July Meeting Olympic Restaurant Kernersville AACA s Old Salem Chapter monthly meeting will be Tuesday, July 17 th at The Olympic Restaurant, 1541 W. Mountain St., in Kernersville. Dinner starts at 6:00 PM and the business part of the meeting will start at 7:00 PM. Don t forget to invite and/or bring your antique/classic vehicle friend(s) with you for a fun evening! See ya Tuesday for some great food, fun, and fellowship! Message from the President On a lighter than normal note, here are 1) a factoid about my wife and 2) an anecdote about my father-in-law. I hope you find them interesting. Factoid: My wife, Sally, is from Venus and she has relatives who are from Mars! Seriously! Ask her about it some time. Anecdote: Sally s father, Russ, was a kind, gentle man with a self-deprecating sense of humor. He worked for many years as a mechanic at a Chrysler/DeSoto/Plymouth car dealership in a small town in western Pennsylvania. After he retired, he continued to service his own vehicles at home because of his extensive experience as a mechanic. One day while he and I were talking, Russ laughed and told me about a situation he had gotten into many years ago while performing a routine servicing of his automobile at home. The service required that he disconnect the battery while working on the car. When the service was completed, he reconnected the battery and started the car to be sure there were no problems. The car ran fine, but he noticed that the radio s digital display did not show the correct time, presumably because the battery had been disconnected. Therefore, before shutting the engine off, he decided to reset the time. I can t remember exactly what time he said it showed, but, it was something like 900 AM. Since it was after noon at the time, he began advancing the time displayed until it passed 1200 noon. There was a problem however. As the display rolled past noon, it did not change from AM to PM. He spent a considerable amount of time trying to figure out how to change the designation From AM to PM but was unsuccessful. He finally gave up and decided to get back to it the next day. The next morning, he needed to run an errand, so he started the car and decided to listen to his radio while driving. He selected his favorite station, i.e., one on the FM dial. Yes, you probably guessed it, when he looked down at the digital display, the time had changed from AM to FM. My expert mechanic father-in-law had gotten confused. What he thought was the time shown on the display had actually been the AM radio station! We had a good laugh about that one. And, since then, anytime I do something stupid while working on one of my cars, I laugh and don t feel nearly as bad as I did on the many earlier occasions when all I could do was hang my head and utter something I can t include here. By the time you read this article, I will be away on a family vacation in Ohio. So, I won t be at the Cruise In on Saturday or at the OSC meeting on Tuesday. See you at one of our other upcoming events when I get back! Nelson 1

2 July 16 July 17 July 19 July 20 July 21 July 21 July 21 July 22 July 24 July 26 July 27 July 27 July July 28 Aug 2 Aug 2 Aug 3 Aug 4 Aug 4 Aug 6 Aug 9 Aug 10 Aug 11 Aug 11 Aug 13 Aug 16 Aug 17 Aug 18 Aug 18 Aug 21 Car Events Schedule Mark Your Calendar! Downtown Mocksville Cruise In, 5 8 pm OSC Monthly Meeting, Olympic Restaurant, 1541 W. Mountain St., K'ville, 6 pm Let's Talk Cars, 1628 S. Main St., Kagan's Furniture, High Point, 6 9 pm King's Hot Dogs Cruise-In, Rural Hall Exit 52, on right, 5:00 pm OSC Outing The Paint Shop, 2421 Spaugh Industrial Dr., WS, 10 am & Lunch Yadkinville Cruise In, Shop Cntr, US 421 & US 601, Yadkinville, 4 8 pm Downtown Mt. Airy Mayberry Cool Cars Cruise In, 4 8 pm Mt. Airy Wesleyan Church Cruise In, 2063 S. Main St., Mt. Airy, 5:30 8 pm Pig-N-Out Cruise In, Lewisville Shopping Center, 6489 Shallowford Rd., 4 7 pm Let's Talk Cars, 1628 S. Main St., Kagan's Furniture, High Point, 5 9 pm Forever Classic "Classic Fridays" Cruise In, 6340 Ramada Dr., Clemmons, 5 8 pm Walnut Cove Cruise In, Main St., Walnut Cove, 5:30 pm GAA Classic Car Auction, 301 Norwalk St., Greensboro, $15, Thur. 1 pm / Fri 10 am 5 pm Downtown Elkin, 4 9 pm The Depot at Cody Creek Cruise In, 112 Old Depot Ln, Dobson, NC, 4 8 pm Let's Talk Cars, 1628 S. Main St., Kagan's Furniture, High Point, 5 9 pm King's Hot Dogs Cruise-In, Rural Hall Exit 52, on right, 5:00 pm AACA General Greene Chapter Car Show, Triad Farmer s Mkt., Colfax, 8am 3pm Downtown Pilot Mountain Cruise-In, 3 9:30 pm Downtown Mocksville Cruise In, 5 8 pm Let's Talk Cars, 1628 S. Main St., Kagan's Furniture, High Point, 5 9 pm Reidsville Downtown Cruise-In, Scales Street, 5:30 pm Cars & Coffee, Reynolda Village, 2201 Reynolda Rd., WS, 9 am 2 pm OSC Downtown Kville Cruise-In, Need Baked Goods, Volunteers 2:30 pm, C-I 4 7 pm Alex's Grill Cruise-In, 6750 Shallowford Rd., Lewisville, 4:30 pm Let's Talk Cars, 1628 S. Main St., Kagan's Furniture, High Point, 5 9 pm OSC Display at Salemtowne Retirement Community, 190 Moravian Way, WS, 2 4 pm Cars & Coffee, UNCG, Tate St., behind Weatherspoon Art Gallary, Greensboro, 8 10 am Purple Heart RCR, Welcome, Parking/serving volunteers needed, 3 pm OSC Monthly Meeting, Olympic Restaurant, 1541 W. Mountain St., K'ville, 6 pm ******************************************************************************************************* Personal Notes Member Lou Ann Chipman will be having surgery on her right shoulder. Keep her in your thoughts and prayers. Member Pat Hardy just had surgery on her shoulder, thoughts & prayers for her. Also, thoughts and prayers for Gurney Yokeley s wife Sandra as she remains in a nursing facility. Prayers for both Gurney & Sandra. Please remember our members Duke & Sara Marley, unfortunately, we have not seen them lately and it is getting more & more difficult for Duke to be moving around, thoughts & prayers. And our founding member Allen Martin, also difficult for him to get around any more. Allen, we are still thinking about you. 2

3 Barnes Daniels - July 18 th Daniel Atkins July 19 th James Mauro -- July 26 th Sandra Yokeley July 26 th Charlotte Waddel July 29 th Imogene Lambe Aug 2 nd Charlie Watson Aug 2 nd Ben Meeks Aug 3 rd Sally Wilson Aug 12 th Marsha Earnhardt -- Aug 16 th Shirley Tharpe -- Aug 17 th Tammy Isley -- Aug 19 th Jo & Jim Ruckdashel Aug 3 rd ******************************************************************************************************** Keep On, Keepin' On! Ruth Ann Ronchetti, Activities This coming Saturday, July 14 th, 4-7 pm, will be our next Downtown Kernersville Cruise-In! This month ushers in our great DJ Barry Rentz of Mobile JukeBox who always does such a great job for us spinning those Oldies! We look forward to seeing him and his sidekick Max whenever he accompanies him again! As always, we will be selling water, those great homemade baked goods, and 50/50 tickets with the help of our member Crissy Tanner! We are so grateful to her for filling in while our bestie Lou Ann Chipman takes care of her injured shoulder. We will also be selling our NEW Hand Fans for a buck! Hoping they will be well received with all this hot weather upon us! COME ON! BRING OUT THOSE GREAT RIDES! Mark your calendars for next Saturday, July 21 st, 10:00 am! Our OSC will be going on an Outing to Scott Winfield s "The Paint Shop," 2421 Spaugh Industrial Drive, Winston-Salem. Scott and his team do an amazing job! John and I can attest to that since Scott has repainted dings & dents in three of our cars and never able to tell where the work was done! Take a look at our 55 Chevy and 66 Charger and see if you can see where he did the work! LOL He even painted one of our past members, Kay & Jim Hilton's 60s red Corvette, super job! They were VERY pleased! 3

4 We will meet at Sheetz, 1551 Glenn Center Dr., Kernersville (at Glenn HS) 9:15-9:30 am for those in Kernersville that would like to drive with us. Those of you in Winston-Salem/Clemmons could just meet us there at 10:00 am. After we leave Scott s, we will then go to Billy Bob s Silver Diner, 1650 Hanes Mall Blvd, for our lunch, a great Classic eatery. On Thursday, Friday, Saturday, July 26, 27, 28, the GAA Classic Car Auction, 301 Norwalk St., Greensboro will be having their next auction. They will now be selling cars starting at 1:00 pm on Thursday and then again on Friday & Saturday beginning at 10:00 am. If you have never attended one of these, it is great fun! And such awesome cars! Certainly not obligated to buy anything, just fun to look and watch! Admission is $15 but if you come to our next meeting, I will have ten (10) Complimentary Tickets to give away, one per membership. Saturday, August 4 th, is the General Greene AACA Chapter s Annual Car Show held at the Piedmont Triad Farmers' Market in Colfax, so close to us, so we encourage y all to attend. There is no admission for spectators even if you don t register a show car, just come and have fun! For those that have never attended an AACA Show this is a great opportunity for you to do so right in our back yard! Details are on the flyer later in this newsletter. Note: Pre-registration is required! Then on Saturday, August 11 th, our OSC Downtown Kernersville Cruise-In will be coming up again! Same details as above. A special event for us is scheduled for Friday, August 17 th, 2 to 4 pm! Our OSC member Robert Melton contacted me about this. Salemtowne Retirement Community, 190 Moravian Way, Winston-Salem, will be hosting a Cruise-In and would like our club to attend. Beach music or maybe even Elvis might show up! These visits to Retirement Communities are always so special for their residents so please... if you can, hoping you can attend this one. And then PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR THIS ONE! Saturday, August 18 th is the much anticipated NW Piedmont Purple Heart Foundation Dinner at the Richard Childress Racing Complex in Welcome, NC. The Purple Heart Foundation has requested VOLUNTEERS FROM OUR OSC to help at this awesome event. Help is needed in parking, registration, table escorting of veterans, filling drinks, etc., and whatever else is needed, nothing difficult. This is truly an awesome experience to be in the presence of these Purple Heart Veterans, one you won t soon forget. Please help if you can. A Little Chuckle for You If my body was a car, I would be trading it in for a newer model. I ve got bumps, dents, scratches and my headlights are out of focus. My gearbox is seizing up and it takes me hours to reach maximum speed. I overheat for no reason and every time I sneeze, cough or laugh, either my radiator leaks or my exhaust backfires! (Can anyone relate? Smile!) 4

5 Doo-Wop, Rock and Roll, Hot Rods, and automotive-inspired juvenile delinquency of the Fifties Hemmings Classic Car, Jim Van Orden on Jun 24th, 2018 Chuck Berry s Maybellene got my blood boiling and ready to drag race someone. Photo courtesy Jalopy Journal. Great Googamooga, Shoogamooga Hey there, all you Mommy-Os and Daddy-Os, welcome aboard the Big Rocket Ship Show. It s your engineer, Jocko, your Ace from Outer Space, way up here in the stratosphere we gonna holler loud and clear. - Jocko Henderson It was around midnight and Dad cringed as he watched me pull into the driveway, blue smoke billowing from my 51 Mercury s dual tailpipes and radio turned up to 50,000 decibels. Turn down that radio You ll wake the neighbors and the dead! he ordered. I knew he hated what he heard, a mix of doo-wop rock-and-roll which he likened to the screaming meemies (nervous hysteria) and a black disc jockey who yelled in strange-sounding, almost-incoherent sentences that I savored. Eee-tiddly-ock. This is the jock. And I m back on the scene with the record machine, saying ooh-pop-adoo, how do you do? That s Jocko, Dad, and he s cool, I countered, much to my father s consternation. He didn t like my other favorite DJ, Murray the K (Kaufman), who broadcast his Swingin Soiree on New York City s WINS/1010, either. In fact, anything to do with doo-wop resulted in scowls, head shaking, and well-reasoned lectures on low moral standards ( Yakety-Yak, The Coasters). Maybe that s why I liked Doo-Wop so much. Or maybe it was because the simple, rhythm-and-blues music, which stressed vocal harmony high-pitched tenors and deep basses over instrumentation, touched my soul. It also contributed to my delinquency behind the wheel. 5

6 Blame it on Sh-Boom Sh Boom, Sh Boom e-yad-da-da-da-da-da-da! blared from the 1954 Chrysler New Yorker convertible s radio as we sped, top down, over New Jersey s Raritan River bridge seagulls flying above and wind blowing the full head of hair I once had on the way to Point Pleasant Beach. My buddy and I, sitting in the back, were guests of a couple from our church. The young man at the wheel was driving his daddy s supercar with Hemi V-8 and leather seats. It was cool and I was a very excited 10-year-old listening to my first doo-wop song. New that year, the song sung by the Crew-Cuts was one of the first doo-wop/rock-and-roll hits to reach the top of not just the rhythm-and-blues charts but the pop charts. I couldn t stop singing it and even today my senior brain associates it with cars and hot rods. After that, I had many doo-wop favorites the Platters Only You and Great Pretender, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers Why Do Fools Fall in Love?, and the Monotone s Book of Love, among others. It may have been the Book of Love that pushed me to buy my first car, a 51 Mercury, in Jocks seemed to attract all the girls and so did guys driving sexy cars. Not being a jock, the solution was obvious. I needed a car like the one James Dean drove in the 1955 movie Rebel Without a Cause. The first girl I dated after buying the Merc, a cute 16-year-old with a ponytail, wasn t thrilled with my car. What smells? she asked, holding her nose. Is it you or the car? It probably was a little of both. The car reeked of burned oil from bad rings, gasoline from a leaky carb, and carbon monoxide from holy mufflers. My old sneakers in the back, which had the olfactory patina of fetid swamp water, added to the mix. Turning on the radio, it was Dion and the Belmonts singing Teenager In Love that saved my love life. Forgetting the foul odors, she liked the song and other doo-wop hits by Italian-American groups and there were many to choose from such as the Four Seasons, Del Satins, Chimes, Elegants, Mystics, and others that dominated the airwaves. The doo-wop hit Book of Love may have encouraged me to buy my first car, a 51 Mercury dressed up to look like James Dean s ride in the movie Rebel Without a Cause. Would it attract girls? Photo by the author. At the (car)hop with Frankie Valli She wasn t impressed with my radio story, however. Her eyeballs rolled when I related how hard it was to locate and install the vacuum-tube beast sitting prominently in the center of the dashboard. It took an hour s search in a junkyard to find it in a derelict Mercury, I explained. Looking for sympathy, I told her it cost $10 and several bloody knuckles, as well as a stiff neck from being upside down under the dash, to install it ( I Sold My Heart to the Junkman, The Silhouettes). 6

7 Proudly, I bragged about creating stereophonic sound by connecting it to a rear-mounted speaker purloined from a 50s-era Cadillac. But all she did was complain about static created by the engine, as well as speaker vibrations that made the metal dash buzz annoyingly. I liked how loud the rear speaker was but she hated that it hissed and cut out when doo-wop tenors screeched high notes ( Devil or Angel, The Clovers). When it came to high notes, everyone at the Adventure Car Hop on Rt. 22 in Union, New Jersey, favored the high-pitched, shrill voice of Frankie Valli, lead singer of the doo-woppers known as the Four Seasons. Hot rods with radios even louder than engines blasted Sherry, Big Girls Don t Cry, Walk Like a Man, and Candy Girl from open windows. Valli, who grew up in Newark, which was only a few miles from my home, was my favorite. His powerful falsetto aroused aggressive primal behaviors and stoked desires to either make out or drag race someone. Make out feelings were encouraged by doo-wop groups such as the Crests ( 16 Candles ), Diamonds ( Little Darlin ), Skyliners ( Since I Don t Have You ), Del Vikings ( Come Go With Me ), Impalas ( I Ran All The Way Home ), and many others. Doo-wop singers who incited me to drag race sang about fast cars (and sometimes fast girls). Even today, my blood boils when I hear Chuck Berry sing Maybellene or Charley Ryan do Hotrod Lincoln or the Beach Boys scream Little Deuce Coupe or the Delta Cats belt out Rocket 88. Doo-Wopping and Trouble I was The Great Pretender the night I drove three buddies in my 55 Buick from New Jersey, where the drinking age was 21, into New York City, where one could drink at 18. It was the first time I drove into the city, and I felt like a big man. We crossed the George Washington Bridge and found a bar on a seedy Hudson River dock ( Buick 59, The Medallions). Starting back after midnight, I stopped at the bridge tollbooth and searched for a quarter. Drilling through pockets, no one could find more than 15 cents. We were broke, having spent all our money on beer. The attendant told me to turn around and get more money. Doing as ordered, I drove around the docks until we spotted a wino. I stopped and asked him, timidly, Buddy, can you spare a dime? We spent all our money and can t pay the toll. He laughed and said, You re driving a big Buick and you can t pay the toll? I don t know whether to believe you, but here s a dime. He flipped me the coin, I thanked him and off we drove to New Jersey. Good thing I didn t run out of gas. Seems to me There s A Moon Out Tonight played loudly on my 56 Plymouth s radio the night three girls and two boys accompanied me to Garbage Beach, as we called it, a deserted stretch of moonlit sand ( Little Star, The Elegants) along the New Jersey coastline. You had to be careful where you spread your blanket at night because sand was littered with broken glass, tin cans, and other sharp items. Hours of submarine race watching later, our high-speed race home was interrupted by a bubble-top in the tiny shore town of Mantoloking. 7

8 Quick, give me your Sen-Sen! I yelled, and a friend passed me a container filled with little white pellets designed to improve one s breath. I poured all the pellets about 25 of them down my throat and prayed they would mask my alcohol-saturated vocal emanations. You were driving mighty fast, boy! an officer yelled while shining a flashlight in my face. You been drinking? What makes you think that, sir? I responded, my Sen-Sen breath smelling like I had swallowed a bottle of mouthwash. Just then, I noticed a few pellets were stuck in my mouth. As I spoke, they suddenly jettisoned at high velocity directly on his shirt. This distracted him as they rolled down his chest. Guess I was lucky because he didn t give me a ticket. This is a warning, boy, don t come back and speed, he said, wiping away spit and pellets. I gratefully apologized and quickly drove away. Doo-wop music and drag racing got me into serious trouble as the summer wore on. I was proud my Plymouth had a powerful V-8 engine. The car looked fast ( Speedoo, The Cadillacs) and my car and I were often challenged at the Adventure Car Hop. A kid driving a 1959 Volvo the model that resembled a 42 Ford wanted to race. Blatting wonderful V-8 pulses through dual mufflers, the high-finned Plymouth dwarfed the diminutive Volvo. I was confident my American muscle could beat the Swedish car. We lined up our cars at a highway turnaround while companions shouted encouragement. A horn blasted, and off we shot into the darkness. I was winning. But a flashing red light somewhere in the rearview mirror s distant view gave me pause. As I slowed, the Volvo streaked ahead with a police car in hot pursuit. Relieved that my opponent, not I, was being chased, I quickly pulled through another turnaround and headed in the opposite direction. He s coming after you! someone yelled ( You Can t Catch Me, Chuck Berry). Not wanting to be caught and thinking I was clever, I pulled into a parking lot and hid between trucks. Before I could breathe a sigh of relief, however, the police car was directly behind me. Out of the car and hands on the roof! an officer bellowed. They didn t have breathalyzer tests in those days. But the officer knew I had been drinking even Sen-Sen couldn t mask the odor. I received a speeding ticket and eventually went to court with Dad. He never criticized or scolded me, and was quiet as we drove to the courthouse. What should I tell the judge? I asked. Tell the truth, he answered. The hearing ended with the judge admonishing me for speeding. My fine: $15 and a two-month suspended license. Looking back, I was lucky to avoid a more serious fine and possibly an accident. Perhaps my Earth Angel (The Penguins) was looking after me. EDITOR S NOTE: THOUGHT MAYBE SOME OF YOU COULD RELATE TO THIS, FUN READ! For those of you that didn t experience the 50s & 60s, it was a great time to be growing up, cars, and music! 8

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10 Annual OSC Potluck/Auction June 16,

11 Big Bikes for Purple Hearts June 23,

12 OSC at the Eden Drive-In June 30,

13 Kernersville 4th of July Parade July 4,

14 OSC 4th of July Picnic July 4,

15 Pine Knolls 4th of July Parade July 4, 2018 Photos courtesy of Pine Knolls residents Facebook posts. 15

16 Classifieds For Sale: 1964 Chrysler 300 Convertible A friend of our member Duke Marley has his car for sale, good condition. No Rust, A/C, $21,000 Negotiable. Contact Duke Marley at dsmarley@gmail.com... OR Feel free to forward it on to anyone that might be interested. And Now a Word from Our Sponsors Your ad can be seen here too! Your ad will appear in our newsletter and will be included on our web site too! Contact any member of the Old Salem Chapter for Details. 16