GEAR GRINDER S GAZETTE www.shenandoahvalley-aths.org November - December, 2018 The Shenandoah Valley Chapter of ATHS met on September 22, 2018, at the Shifflett camp during the 14th Annual Tri-State Show. After a wonderful meal shared by everyone, we had a brief meeting. President Scott Shifflett thanked the chapter for helping to put on a great show. The official count was 240 vehicles which is down a little bit from previous years. He mentioned that newsletter editor, Jeff Godlove, will have an article (which he printed in the last issue of Gear Grinder's Gazette) in an upcoming issue of Wheels of Time. The 2021 National Show is still on target to be held at the Rockingham County Fairgrounds and we will be building a set of docks for the unloading and loading of the trucks. Ideally we want to build a total of 4 docks...2 high and 2 low. Glenn Martin reported that the treasury is in good shape. Glenn Martin will be added as a Member-at-Large to the National ATHS Board. He and Jim Moore will be attending a board meeting in a couple of weeks. John Vanatta spoke about Moe Stone (a member of one of the other chapters that puts on Tri-State and had passed away the week before our show), he had a brain aneurysm and 2 strokes before passing. RIP. Member Brian Hanson (who missed last year because of health issues) was hoping to come to the show this year but ended up back in the hospital. Get well soon. Several awards were given out this year. The 50 year driving awards were presented to Bob Clements, Joe Good, Joe Moore and Jim Hartman. The 50 year in the trucking business awards were presented to Highway Motors, Truck Enterprises; and 75 year trucking business awards went to Hartman Motors, Goods Inc., and HMX (Harrisonburg Motor Express). Scott once again thanked everyone for a great show and the meeting was adjourned. Michele Van Pelt Secretary
GEAR GRINDERS GAZETTE This is the official bi-monthly publication of the Shenandoah Valley Chapter of the American Truck Historical Society. 2018 Executive Board President: Scott Shifflett 2740 Old Furnace Road Harrisonburg, Va. 22802 (540) 478-4389 Greasemonkeyb61@gmail.com Vice-President: Don Callender 150 Walk Up Lane Harrisonburg, VA 22801 (540) 434-1466 Secretary: Michele Van Pelt 4692 Scholars Rd. Mt. Crawford, VA 22841 (540) 434-7359 Mdvanpelt@aol.com Treasurer: Glenn Martin 107 Hickory Lane Bridgewater, Va. 22812 (540) 292-1058 oldtrux4me@gmail.com Editor: Jeff Godlove 3023 Oranda Road Strasburg, Va. 22657 (540) 325-9092 jgodlove@shentel.net ******************** The Shenandoah Valley Chapter of the American Truck Historical Society usually meets the fourth Monday of the odd-numbered months, except during May when it meets on the third Monday and July when a picnic is scheduled. Time and location of meetings are announced in the Gear Grinders Gazette. ********************* The opinions expressed by the authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this Chapter or ATHS. Permission is granted to other ATHS organizations to reproduce materials contained herein (except copyrighted materials) if printed credit is given to the Gear Grinders Gazette. Next Meeting Our next meeting will be held on November 26 th, 2018, 7pm at the Wood Grill, 1711 Reservoir Road, Harrisonburg, Va. meal is prior to the meeting. Coming Events. November 11 th, 2018 Tri-State Meeting 2pm at the Stonewall Ruritan Building Winchester, Va. Info: 540-478-4389 (Scott Shifflett) or 301-845-4709 (Jim Alexander) May 5 th, 2019 ATHS Mason Dixon Chapter 26 th Annual Antique Truck Show held at Gladhill Tractor, Frederick, Md. Info: 301-401-0424 May 18 th, 2019 ATHS Shenandoah Valley Chapter 29 th Annual Antique Truck & Tractor Show held at the Bridgewater Lawn Party Grounds. Info: 540-478-4389 May 31 st June 2 nd 2019 ATHS National Truck Show & Convention held at the Grand Sierra Resort, Reno, Nevada. www.aths.org September 26 th 28 th, 2019 Tri State Antique Truck Show. Stonewall Ruritan / Frederick County Fairgrounds. Winchester, Va. www.tri-stateantiquetruckshow.com Page 2
2018 - What a Year!! This being the last Gear Grinder newsletter of 2018 for the American Truck Historical Society Shenandoah Valley Chapter I am writing this with a ton of memories of this year. Many of our chapter members have spent much of this year together planning, helping and attending many shows this year ranging from the local ATHS Chapter Shows, The Shell Rotella Show, making the trip to Lexington, Kentucky for the ATHS National Truck Show and Convention and the Tri-State Antique Truck Show. The time spent together is what the American Truck Historical Society is just that, a society of friends with the same interest, TRUCKS and the trucking industry. Yes, at times there is a lot of work but the rewards of hard work produces great results. The year started out with our chapter meeting in January as we met to enjoy a wonderful meal, friends and recap the previous year and plan this year. Also in January members of the supporting chapter of the Tri-State Antique Show met at the Stonewall Ruritan Building in Winchester, Va. to elect officers and make plans for the 2018 show. In March our chapter held their bi-monthly meeting to finalize plans for our local chapter show held at the Bridgewater Lawn Party Grounds in Bridgewater, Va. and organize our convoy to the National Convention & Show in Lexington, Va. In May on a wet Saturday our annual ATHS Shenandoah Valley Chapter show was held with 64 trucks coming out. Rain didn t dampen the spirits of the attendees. A short meeting was held at the show. Nine days later the convoy began with everyone met at 7am at exit 240 on I-81 to begin the trip to Lexington, Ky. arriving at 5:15. The 20 plus members that made the trip helped in various duties at the show, enjoyed the many vehicles on display, some participated in the bus tours, and hanging out at the campsites at the end of the day relaxing. Six days later the day long return trip home was made where like we all met everyone left exit 240 on I-81 to the homes. Even though there were several rain showers during the week the trip wasn t a washout by any means. June 14 th thru 16 th the Shell Rotella Truck Show was held at White Truck Stop in Raphine Va. where the trucks for the 2019 calendar was chosen. This was quite an event with plenty of exceptional trucks both old and new and everything in between to admire. There was plenty of great food and entertainment as well. White s Truck Stop is a first class operation and a beautiful setting for a truck show. The hospitality that Bobby Berkstresser and his staff provide is second to none. July settled down with just the bi-monthly meeting being held with everyone enjoying a wonderful meal and talking about their experiences in Kentucky. Also planning for Tri-State was talked about and our chapters part to help make the show another success. The third week of September members started moving in at the Frederick County Fair / Stonewall Ruritan Grounds for the 14 th annual Tri State Antique Truck Show. Again, drenching rain in the days up to the show dates. As members moved in with their trucks and campers and get the grounds set up the rain Page 3
ended and provided dry days with temperatures in the mid 70 s. With the truck count down some again a wonderful show was held. At the shows end a wonderful meal was had by everyone at the Shifflett Camp with all of the covered dishes brought and the main courses prepared by Scott and his helpers. 2018 has been a very busy year with many members traveling many more miles to shows other than the ones I ve mentioned like the ATCA show in Macungie, the All Truck Nationals in Carlisle, Pa., the Mason Dixon ATHS Chapter show, the Baltimore Washington ATHS Chapter show or the Susquehanna, Pa. ATHS Chapter show. Some of you may feel just plum wore out. Some glad to see the truck show season come to an end. Some are sad to see the end of the year. The bottom line for the most part, I feel everyone has had a good year. We ve used old trucks for a good reason to get together and go places, eat good food and spend quality time together like a family should. To me that is what the American Truck Historical Society is all about. Not just trucks alone. TRI - STATE ANTIQUE TRUCK SHOW 2018 The week of September 16 th members from the ATHS chapters (Shenandoah Valley, Mason Dixon, Baltimore-Washington and the Susquehanna) started moving in at the Stonewall Ruritan / Frederick County, Va. Fairgrounds making the preparations for the 14 th annual show to begin on September 20 th and ending on the 22 nd. The days leading up to the show like most of the days this summer in the Shenandoah Valley was wet. The rain ended on Wednesday to provide perfect weather with daytime highs in the low to mid 70 s and sunny. The truck count of 240 at the end of the show was down slightly from the last couple of years but still provided an excellent show. Friday evening a wonderful meal prepared by the Stonewall Ruritan Club members was enjoyed by everyone. People that bought meal tickets dug a little deeper and donated an additional $477.00 to help the Stonewall Ruritians after several of their fund raising events was rained out this year. Saturday the presentations of ATHS Golden Achievement awards were presented by Jim Moore (ATHS Regional VP for Virginia/West Virginia) to Highway Motors Inc., Goods Inc., Joseph Good of Goods Inc, Harrisonburg Motor Express, Joseph Moore of Harrisonburg Motor Express, Truck Enterprises Inc., Jim Hartman of Truck Enterprises and Bob Clemments for their involvement in the trucking industry for more that 50 years. Congratulations to these individuals and businesses. On Saturday evening our Shenandoah Valley Chapter held our annual show ending meal at the camp. The main course and apple crisp was cooked in dutch ovens and all of the covered dishes and desserts brought by everyone left us all feeling stuffed and ready to relax by the campfire after a short meeting was held that recaped the highlights of the show. Most importantly Chapter President Scott Shifflett cannot express enough his gratitude to the members of the Shenandoah Valley Chapter for their dedication, determination and all the work they do to support the show and help make it such a success. This year we had two of our ATHS junior members, Colin Roberts and Sydnee Ponn take a shift working the spectator gate. It is wonderful to see our younger members get involved. November 11 th at 2pm the members will meet at the Stonewall Ruritan building to recap the show, discuss where to donate the proceeds and elect officers and start preparations for next years show. If anyone would like to help with the show, have suggestions to make the show better, or volunteer to be an officer make plans to attend. Everyone is welcome to attend. I will have an update of the meeting in the next newsletter. Page 4
Now that this year s show is behind us we all have time to reflect on ways to make next years 15 th annual show bigger and better. With this show being not just a truck show but and excellent fundraiser for local charities, we as members need to come up with ideas to help make larger donations or be able to donate to more charities. I feel that one way is to get more local business or individuals involved to help with the support items needed to make the show possible. The proceeds are divided to the local areas of the four supporting ATHS chapters I feel that it would be nice to see some of the local businesses in the chapters areas possibly make donations towards the show. The more of the expenses that we can cover with the support of sponsors, the more donations can be made to the much deserved charities that we support. With the support given by sponsors of the show we also need to also give recognition to the charities of those involved that helped make the donation possible. There s a large expense to cover to just put the show together such as fliers, postage, envelopes, advertising, insurance, rental of the grounds, dumpster rental, porta johns, etc. Just think what we can accomplish if the cost of more of these items could covered by sponsors willing to help. Together we all can make a difference. Message from the Editor While at the Tri-State show it was brought to my attention that the article that I wrote in the last edition of the Gear Grinder Gazette about ATHS membership and how we can help make ATHS grow was so well liked. John Vannetta congratulated me on the article and said that Stormy the Wheels of Time editor had expressed interest in printing it and that she had sent me an email and forwarded my article to the Executive Director, the Board of Directors and many more. I looked at John puzzled. John said I guess you haven t seen the email. I m bad about not checking my emails regularly. So when I checked it I was overwhelmed by the response from the Executive Director Laurence Gration, the many board members and others. The article will be in the next issue of Wheels of Time. I m honored to have it printed in the magazine and hope that my experience in ATHS will inspire others to join the society and be involved. Thank you to everyone that sent me the emails and complements. Jeff Godlove New email address for Brian & Kayann Hanson. Due to changing of their internet carrier Brian & Kayann have a new email address. For those that would like to keep in contact send your emails to sibetribe@comcast.net. They do love to hear from everyone and it uplifting for Brian. Gear Grinder Sales Lot For Sale: 1959 Mack B67LT Single Axle Tractor. Duplex Transmission (Direct in 10 th ) $6500.00 Contact: Allen Bond 304-261-4080 Page 5