2005 ACTIVITIES
On Saturday, Dec. 3rd, 24 members of the NICC enjoyed the home and hospitality of Ralph, Sharon and Ralphie, Jr. in Westchester, IL. We had several members call and say that due to the snow storm, (or blizzard depending where you live) that happened to roll into the Chicagoland area, that they would not be there but were thinking of us. The weather was okay in Westchester, but many of our members live north and Mark Witczak said when he left his home near Fox Lake it was a blizzard, but he drove out of around Palatine. We appreciated those who called but we missed you being there nonetheless..
For food we had great pizza from a shop that the mayor of Westchester has and The Colonel's chicken. There were plenty of desserts and salads to pass, which we did. Now, if memory serves me right, the Weidenbach's have been in this home over a year, having moved from 2 houses down. The basement was unfinished, but you wouldn't know that now. Upon arrival and spending time upstairs enjoying the layout of the home, I went to the basement to see a completely finished basement with fireplace. That, though, is not the highlight; neither is Ralph's fine craftsmanship, although that was evident. The focus quickly became the 60" flat screen HDTV, where we were watching USC then Texas pound the opposition into the ground. It was something. The family room has got to be 40+ feet long but the TV was clearly visible from anywhere in the room. Ralph's not done though, as he is going to complete a bathroom so it is just that much more convenient.
Items discussed were should there be a January meeting (yes, third weekend) hosted by Jim & Jill Karg at Mr. Beef. More info. on that in January. February meeting and bowling activity. March meeting is open, but I think that is getting close to being finalized.
For those who couldn't be there, you missed a very nice time, made so by the Weidenbach's hospitality, their spacious home and the fellowship of the members.
I'll include more information here once the December newsletter is out (will be before Thanksgiving for sure), but here are some pictures from the November meeting at Jim & Judy Wersching's home
Prior to going to Jim's "Man's room" aka, his garage, we enjoyed seeing pics of Mark Witczak's Evening Orchid '65 Chevelle along with a video of the engine being broken-in by his brother-in-law.
Here we are in the garage helping Jim spend some money. Judy doesn't know it, but we're encouraging the empty nester to do something. You'll notice over the guys heads that the parts Jim frequently uses are in old cigar boxes and labeled very nicely. I am ashamed that I know where the shelf is where I throw certain items.
This is a picture of the ladies of the NICC enjoying the peace and quiet away from the guys. Such a contrast in behaviour and civility.
Mike Moeller in the green T-Shirt remains single, meaning all of us married guys try to help him spend his money on anything and everything !!! Jim Karg is sharing his years of experience as Jim Wersching stands behind Mike encouraging Jim. I was busy enjoying the rye bread and liverwurst spread during all of this.
The day started out fine, rained in the mid-afternoon, then cleared-up and 8 brave NICC members showed up for Mike Moeller's cruise. We met at Beef Villa, hung out and then drove to Mike's place. It was a good night for cool air and the cars performed well on Mike's road.
John Sonnefeldt had the 2006 SEMA Chevelle out with the new all aluminum Chevrolet small block. Runs nice and at speed the overdrive makes it a "sweet" ride. Lots of good stuff, now he is waiting for the Weld Wheels to get the rims right.
Wes, prowling around the front of his '66 with Mike on the phone making sure there are no fires in the are he needs to attend to. Well, none that were started by rubber. The skies remained dry and we enjoyed the time.
Here are some pics from the cruise on Saturday, August 6th. More in the September newsletter.
Some of the cars outside the William's house.
In the garage enjoying the conversation, weather and surroundings.
More garage enjoyment.
Check back soon for pictures and videos of what went on during the 2005 Hot Rod Power Tour.
If you subscribe to Hot Rod, the October, 2005 issue is out. Turn to p. 46 and look at
DAY 1: Milwaukee, Wi. If you look close at the picture you'll see the NICC cars in the picture. Definitely the hood of Primm's green Monte, Mike Hogan's '65, Scott Olisar's Grand Prix and I think Ralph is there standing. I am going to get a magnifying glass to see, but that's what these old eyes saw. Cool. Will be posting an article on Mike Hogan's long haul.
Actually, if you look closely they took the picture when we were all sitting in the group chatting prior to the rain coming. Cool.
See you can find Mike Moeller & John Sonnefeldt in the Long Haulers pic below:
IT WAS A GREAT WEEKEND
IN ROCKFORD
We had a perfect weekend for our first overnight trip. Starting in Elgin at MTX or Mitek, we had an explanation of all things audio and electrical for cars and home. Cindy, who herself is a gearhead who does her own work, is also the marketing manager for Mitek. Below are a few pictures of the Mitek visit.
Also, two comments from NICC members. Scott Olisar and his son Eddie had a great time and sent the following email:
"HI GEORGE, EDDIE AND I HAD A GREAT DAY TODAY [SAT] , HE SAW ALOT OF THINGS THAT THE AVERAGE PERSON WOULD NEVER SEE, EXCEPT ON TV OR MAGS. THANK JOHN NEXT TIME YOU TALK TO HIM".NICC member John Husak sent the following email as he happened to be driving through Marengo when the NICC did!!!!
"George, As I
was going through downtown Marengo, on the way home from my son's soccer game,
what did I see but a few real nice Chevelles, El Caminos and a sweet Monte Carlo
bringing up the rear, cruising past me headed west. Then I realized that I
recognized the cars and knew it was the NICC road trip to Rockford. Hope
you had fun, sorry I missed the event. A few more things need to be done
on my wagon and I was swamped with family engagements. You guys looked
great!!!!!!"
Steve Husak, #411
This is Wes Frisch, Jim Karg, Cindy and Joe Wirth in the home theatre display area of MTX. Cindy's talk was very good, she knows what she speaks of and is a hands-on owner of several cars. She's worked with John Sonnefeldt on several projects, including John's current project, the 2005 SEMA Chevelle for Detroit Locker.
In the Mitek showroom, Joel Primm is explaining to Josh Primm that if Josh buys this, Joel can wear this on his belt and enhance his listening pleasure.
Some of the 12 NICC vehicles preparing to leave the offices of Mitek for the Hopperstad Customs to view his work and the in-progress restoration of the 1955 GM Biscayne concept car.
This is the front of Hopperstad Custom Hot Rod Shop. We are looking at one of the projects recently completed.
This is it. One more concept car GM thought they had paid a Detroit area junkyard to dispose of, but it wasn't. The frame was destroyed, but the all fiberglass car was cut in half and kept in the yard. This, along with 3 other concepts were recently purchased. All figerglass, it has the look of a Hudson in front and the rear looks like a Corvair, but overall, it is the concept car for the 1958 Impala. Very cool to touch history and when it is done an in the magazines, say "we saw it".
Corvair??? Nope, the 1955 Biscayne concept car.
Andy Marchiando looking at the pictures that are being used to recreate the Biscayne. Kerry Hopperstad is doing this using only his genius and expertise.
Sorry this is blurry, but here is Andy talking with Kerry at the flat table where the frame for the Biscayne is being created from pictures. Cool stuff. Kerry looks very much like John Force and is just as friendly and nice.
This is the only remaining hubcap from the Concept Biscayne. It is made of solid brass and is chrome plated. It must weigh 20 pounds !! Kerry was having fun handing it to people and watching their arm sag as they assumed a hubcap weighed what they do regularly. This will be CNC reproduced at a cost of a crate engine. Concept car restoration is expensive, boys!!!
This is a picture of the Biscayne and what it will look like when completed. It is this type of information that Kerry is using to reproduce the 115" frame.
This is the 2005 SEMA Detroit Locker car being done in John's garage by John !!! This will be running on the 2005 Power Cruise in a few weeks. The paint and body work is absolutely stunning.
This is a 2005 Corvette LS-2 engine, one of the first released to someone outside of GM and the first to be installed in a Chevelle. John is basically the engineer and assembler. He is running into many little issues but is confident it'll be ready.
This is a sample of the paint work. The artist rendering was included in Hot Rod and other magazines, but boys, it is cool to be near a car that will soon be featured in national publications and on the floor of SEMA. The quality is outstanding.
This is NICC member Floyd "Junior" Drinkwine with his '65 El Camino at Boone County Fairgrounds showing his car.
This is an original, 21 mile, 1988 Monte Carlo. Owned by Bill Delay of Monticello, IA it is absolutely pefect. It is unusual as it has a silver cloth interior, not maroon, as most do. Bill mentioned he has a '57 Chevy with 10,000 miles, a 1978 20th Anniversary Trans Am with 242 miles this Monte and several other low mile cars. He is a farmer. He reminded me very much of our own NICC member Gary Place. Farmer's must do ok somewhere along the way, eh?
This is the Primm's 1971 Monte Carlo at the car show. We also brought the 1981 Z-28 so both boys could drive. As you can see, the weatherman's forecast at 12am Sunday morning for thunderstorms all day was absolutely wrong!!! Hey, you should've been at the swap meet. I found a Goodyear Bias Ply 3/8" whitewall for my Monte SS to match the other four. Now I have a complete set, including a spare. Also found two Vette trim rings to replace two on this Monte that were scratched bad; 4 rings, $35. Such a deal. Cleaned them up and placed them on the car for the ride home.
Finally, thanks to John Sonnefeldt for the OUTSTANDING work he did on this. Saturday was perfect and he ordered great weather for Sunday. Altogether, we had 31 NICC members over the 2 days. Thanks for coming, and if you missed it, well, you missed something good. A caravan of 14 vehicles is an awesome sight.
Hey, let's do it again on the Hot Rod Power Cruise !!!!
It was an absolutely PERFECT DAY for the NICC's first Spring meeting / cruise. About 27 members attended the meeting throughout the evening. Started around 7:00pm and Tom, Karen, Kyle and Emma had the house and garage ready. We talked for about an hour and then started the meeting. The Calendar of Events was covered first and then the elections.
After some discussion, it was decided to go back to the officer structure we had before and the result of the elections are as follows:
President - George Primm
Vice President - Ralph Weidenbach
Treasurer - Jim Karg
Board Member - Wes Frisch
Board Member - Dana White
John Sonnefeldt spoke about the Hot Rod Power Tour and the Overnight stay in Rockford May 21 & 22nd. For the Power Tour, it WILL NOT BE THIS CLOSE AGAIN FOR YEARS. They start in Milwaukee, go to Springfield, IL. via Rockford and down I-39 to I-55. From Springfield we'll go to Indianapolis, IN. straight through on the Interstate and then to Nashville.
Helpful hint; register as a Long-Hauler: You'll get preferred parking each night and you'll get the special good-bag. They know when you start but they don't know when you get out, so DO IT. I am guessing we'll have 10 NICC cars going minimum. We can run together if we like, but the fun part is we'll have some time. The great thing is the run from Milwaukee to Springfield is on Saturday with Sunday's trip to Indy.
Oh yes, if you've seen Car Craft and other magazines you know that fellow NICC member John is having his car "overhauled" for the 2005 Hot Rod Power Cruise. If you wanna see that "Before" pics and the artists drawing of the "After", go to the Tech section of this website.
Emma completing a special message to all the Chevrolet owners
attending the meeting.
The "overhaulin' gang ready for a fun Spring and Summer of
NICC activities. From the left, that's Tom Wilkin, Joe Wirth and Andy Marchiando.
On Saturday, March 19th at 10am, around 19 members of the NICC attended a VERY informative meeting regarding painting and paint care; from PPG, 3M and a rep for alot of Auto products such as airbrushing equipment and SEM paint. Many people bought the SEM chassis paint (in flat, semi-gloss and gloss). That is the paint that you can use on frames without primer. If Eastwood doesn't use this manufacturer, it is very similar. 3.5 mills of paint seals the metal and voila, you are set to go.
All who attended received a doorprize, ranging from PPG custom car T-shirts, Aqua-Pel windshield treatment (what airlines use, makes Rain-X look like kids-stuff) to car care products and 3M chrome bar stools! Also, the owner, John Young, gave a special price sheet to those in attendance so they could buy their items at up to 30% off. Then at 11:30am there were 8 pizzas delivered for lunch. Oh yes, there was a truck bed storage unit filled with ice, various pop and water. It was a very good time.
For those who missed it, sorry you did. It was a PERFECT way to start the 2005 cruising season. Don't miss the next one. There will be more detail in the April newsletter, and then on this website. Stay tuned !!
This is the PPG paint rep talking with George Koscianiuk (in the green coat who does custom airbrushing for all types of things) and John Marciniak (in the red coat). He was there getting some info. The table on the right has the items that alot of members were interested in; small high-tech paint guns, SEM paint products and other items.
This is Larry Soest, President of Central United States Marketing, Inc. a manufacturer's representative, specializing in Refinishing supplies, tools & equipment. Larry reps many things, one of them is SEM paint. He is talking about the chassis paint that comes in flat, semi-gloss and gloss. That is good stuff as there isn't alot of prep to do. Just 3.5 mils will protect your chassis or underbody.
On Saturday, February 26, 22 members arrived at High Speed Welding in Westmont, IL. We started the meeting around 10:20am and it went to 10:45am. After the meeting we had Dennis Spal, owner of High Speed Welding talk about what services his shop offers. Dennis’ shop does about everything a Chevelle owner could need; install sheetmetal, set-up rear ends, install roll cages, custom suspension, handmade exhaust, wiring of any type, custom engine install. Oh yes, they also can weld; anything including aluminum. Dennis had his staff there to answer questions and they were. Several members were wondering where they could get some work done and I think 2 members know where to go. Dennis had coffee cake and coffee there for us to enjoy.
The meeting covered The topics covered are highlighted below:
For the meeting portion, we discussed the following:
March 19th meeting (see front page).
Chevy/Vette Fest 12th & 13th – NICC will be showing with the Gearheads.
April meeting / officer elections
May 21 & 22nd – Cruise and overnight stay in Rockford. John Sonnefeldt has done an outstanding job getting this organized. He presented some of the things we’ll be doing: all this is tentative as of now, but gives you an idea. Saturday we can start in Elgin at MTX wiring, where custom stereo work is done. Then onto Rockford for a trip to a car museum that includes some nice cars, then to a chassis shop that does professional work and is now restoring a thought destroyed GM show car (they cut it into pieces, but they were found and are being put together). They we can go to any number of restaurants for dinner and get ready to attend the “Little Hershey” car show and swap meet. John has talked to the promoter and we can park as a club.
Hot Rod Power Tour, which starts in Milwaukee and goes to Kissimee, FL. It makes stops in Springfield, IL, Indianapolis, IN, and Nashville, TN. That is perfect timing as Chevell-A-Bration is taking place in Nashville. I would guess there will be at least 15 NICC cars making some of that trip.
National Monte Carlo Owners Association Convention in Decatur, IL. We have several First Generation Monte Carlos and it is worth the 3 hour drive. While it isn’t like a National Chevelle Convention, it is nice to see the cars.
Cruises. If you would like to host a cruise, let George Primm know now. Mike Moeller has spoken for September. We have June, July and August open. I like to get all members a chance, but I like to spread them around geographically. So if you contact me early, that will be good.
As a note, here is a true story. Vince Gallagher was telling me about the ’66 Nova he bought in AZ while there with fellow NICC members Mike Hogan and John Shipkowski. It has a 6-cylinder but Vince has a 350 in mind with an AT. Not more than 15 minutes later, Bill Castle asks if he could put a “want” ad in the newsletter and the webpage. When he told me he was looking for a 6-cylinder I directed him to Vince and said “he’s got one, go talk to him”. By attending the meeting, both Vince and Bill accomplished what they had wanted and it was “all in the family”. Bill drove home knowing all he had to do for his 6-cylinder engine was help Vince pull it out. ‘Nuff said. Like I have said before, if you attend a meeting, you never know what MIGHT happen. See you March 19th.
It was a NASTY Saturday on January 22nd. It started snowing on Friday with predictions of up to 18” of snow. In the Naperville area we probably got 10-12”. Up north the weather and roads were worse. Frankly, there were some calls made that Saturday on the reasonableness of having a meeting. Members had called and said that they wanted to, but couldn’t take the chance. Wes and I discussed it and we had the meeting. 7 members showed up; Randy, Andy & Lisa Marchiando, Wes & Barb Frisch, Marty Leibrock and myself. Then we had Brian Hawley of CPU Muslce Car Parts come and talk to us. While the normal 20 – 25 people weren’t there for the January meeting, the small group allowed all of us to ask all the questions we ever wanted to of an aftermarket parts guru. Learned a lot and for those of you who couldn’t make it, I’ll recap it for you.
Brian has been in the business for around 20 years. When you call and talk with Brian or his staff, he’ll listen to what you are trying to do and suggest the best for what you are trying to do. He’ll sell you the “right stuff”, not the general “fit all” product. If you go to his website, www.cpucarparts.com you’ll see A LOT of parts for sale. There is not a catalog for sale because prices and pieces come out everyday. Now for a summary of the meeting:
Editors Note: Over the years working with Dave and Andy Marchiando on several auto projects, Dave has speculated that the parts we order from GM are somewhat not “first quality”. That is, he has gotten GM fenders and has had to enlarge mounting holes, etc. I have heard that comment from several people who have been working on their cars with GM “NOS” parts.
So, that is what you missed, that along with the activities for 2005 that are discussed in this newsletter. While we missed ya’ll at the meeting, I was so tempted to pack it in and call off the meeting due to the nasty weather and I am glad we had the meeting. Just remember, we’re “one day closer to Spring”.