The New Year Edition:

January Meeting Announcement Chevy Songbook - The Animals 68 Years of Corvettes Nomad Notions Gasser Goins Motorama Moods www.memphisclassicchevys.com Monday, January 18, 2021

The Purpose of the MCCC shall be to promote, foster, and encourage all activities toward the collection, restoration, preservation, and appreciation of all Chevrolets produced from 1955-1972, and to better facilitate the exchange of information and ideas regarding these automobiles.

MEETING & CRUISE-IN • MCCC meetings are held on the third Monday of each month. There is no meeting in December. Meetings are held at The Brunswick Kitchen, 5197 Brunswick Rd, Arlington, TN 38002. Next Meeting: An in in-person MCCC meeting is planned for January 18th. The meeting will be held in the gym at Ellendale Baptist Church, 3861 Broadway Rd, Bartlett, TN 38135. Due to the ongoing pandemic, we ask that you please observe social distancing and wear a mask. Iced beverages will be available, but the meeting will not be catered nor will food be served. If you would like to eat, you will need to bring in a take-out meal.

• MCCC Cruise-in every Thursday (weather permitting), at Ty's Smokehouse, 7174 Stage Rd #101, Bartlett, TN 38133. The Cruise-ins are currently on hiatus due to the cold weather, but they will return as soon as the sun warms up, and pandemic restrictions are eased. And just so you know, a cruise-in has also spontaneously reappeared at the corner of Stage & Kirby Whitten Rd. in Bartlett. This is the old cruise-in site, and the business climate there is not currently opposed to the Thursday night gatherings. So now you have a circuit of Thursday night car activities within shouting distance of each other.

CLUB NEWS

2021 has arrived, and despite the Coronavirus Pandemic still being in full swing, engaging with our classic cars is always good therapy to riding out the pandemic. Cancelled events and compliance with mandated health department restrictions may alter the landscape of automotive fun for the foreseeable future, but we will strive to keep a slate of safe activities on the schedule, and inform you of any changes to activities within our reach during the coming months.

• Some newly recurring activities are emerging during the pandemic. Cruise-ins allow for engagement with classic cars while maintaining proper social distance in a safer outdoor setting. The Butcher Shop Restaurant at 107 S Germantown Pkwy in Cordova is now hosting a Cars-n-Coffee event on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of each month. On the Edge Cars & Coffee events are held on the 2nd

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Saturday at 627 Monroe avenue in Memphis. The Germantown Performing Arts Center at 1801 Exeter Rd in Germantown is the scene for the GPAC Cars and Coffee event on the 4th Saturday of the month. These events are already happening, and are being well attended despite the cold temperatures. Follow any updates to the schedule on the Cars and Coffee Memphis Facebook page. Evening cruise-ins at the Collierville Town Square, jointly hosted by the Memphis Street Rods and Collierville Classic Cars, were held on Wednesday evenings last year. Check out their schedule for the Collierville Cruise Night on Facebook for future events.

• Hats off to Lin Neal for organizing a Cruise-in version of the Memphis Rodders Reunion on November 19th of last year. Despite making the event free to attend during the pandemic, and relying exclusively on donations to support the Shriner’s Burn Transportation Fund, $8,000 was donated to the worthy cause on December 9th, 2020. Support from Larry Nolan and donations by the MCCC and The Memphis Street Rods were an integral part of making this a successful event during these difficult times.

The Tri-Five Nationals are scheduled to return in 2021. Let’s keep our fingers crossed! 3 www.memphisclassicchevys.com Monday, January 18, 2021

Gasser Goins:

Admit it… You’ve always wanted one of those straight axle, high steppin’ big block powered Tri-Fives that looks like it just escaped from the local drag strip. Now there are several ways to go about achieving this race-bred alteration, and this isn’t exactly a budget-based modification, but the muscle car merchants at Nickey Performance (once known as ’s infamous Nickey Chevrolet dealership in the swingin’ 60’s) have a pretty slick solution to getting that nose in the air.

Head on over to the Nickey Ebay Store for the low-down on their Tri-Five front frame stub with all the needed bits to turn your Tri-Five into a barely street-able monster. And don’t forget the Fenderwell Exit Headers while you’re transforming your car into a drag strip refugee.

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Chevy Songbook:

It’s a new year and we’ve got another Chevy Song of The Month to kick things off with. So let’s pull another tune with a Chevy vibe out of the archives for you to enjoy. This time, it’s a much covered 60’s era tune called ‘Hey Gyp (Dig the Slowness)’. Originally written and recorded by Scottish folksy flower-child , the song has been covered by many other musicians, most notably the British Invasion stalwarts known as The Animals. While it’s been long established that you can’t buy love, ‘Hey Gyp’ is a blatant attempt to acquire affection with gifts that go from a new Chevrolet, to a Ford Mustang, to a Cadillac, before finally resorting to real estate in order to influence the singer’s intended romantic interest. Eric Burdon’s raspy delivery makes it a fun listen, but among the many other renditions are versions by The Soul Survivors, Santa Esmeralda, & more recently, The Raconteurs.

Click on the highlighted links for some Hey Gyp listening time from Donovan, Eric Burdon and the Animals, The Soul Survivors, Santa Esmeralda and the Raconteurs. Also note that Donovan based this song on the 1930 blues composition ‘Can I Do It for You’ by Memphis Minnie. Kind of weird how this musical journey ties Memphis to England, then back to Philadelphia and beyond!

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2021 MCCC ELECTED OFFICERS (Note: Officer’s Meeting is the 1st Monday of Each Month)

Jack Mabry, President 901-351-0808 [email protected]

Danny Ford, Vice President 901-337-1957 [email protected]

Cindy Hubbard, Secretary 901-438-5368 [email protected]

Louis Kimery, Communications Director 901-488-0856 [email protected]

Buddy Bonner, Technical Director 901-786-8743 [email protected]

Teri Hodnett, Membership Director 901-304-9320 [email protected]

Cookie Bonner, Treasurer 901-619-6983 [email protected]

Denis Elliot, Events Coordinator 901-487-3024 [email protected]

Ajay Cohen, Web Master 901-626-5160 [email protected]

! The Memphis Classic Chevys Facebook page currently has 1,107 followers. That’s right, we’ve got over 1,100 rabid Chevy enthusiasts Following the MCCC on Facebook. This is a public Facebook group so any MCCC member or other verifiable automotive enthusiast can request to join the group here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/memphisclassicchevys/

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In case you need to see some of those straight axle gassers in action, maybe stick this one on your summer calendar. Let’s hope the virus lets up enough for these summer events to materialize this year.

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UPCOMING EVENTS

(Note: All events are tentative due to possible pandemic restrictions) • Super Chevy Show - Memphis International Raceway - April 10-12, 2021. • 51st Annual Street Rod Nationals - Kentucky Exposition Center, Louisville KY - August 5-8. • The Danchuk Tri-Five Nationals - Beech Bend International Raceway, Bowling Green KY - August 12-14, 2021. • Goodguys 15th Nashville Nationals - Nissan Stadium, Nashville TN - May 28-30, 2021. • Holley National Hot Rod Reunion - Beech Bend Raceway, Bowling Green KY - June 17-19. • Glory Days Vintage Drag Race - Byron Dragway, Byron IL- July 16-18, 2021.

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Type to enter a caption. www.memphisclassicchevys.com Monday, January 18, 2021

Swap Meet:

PS: I’m still waiting… I’m just sitting here waiting for my inbox to ring. I’m holding space in this newsletter for your Buy-Sell-Trade items, and wondering where you are. Please considering sharing what you want to get rid of and also what you want to find. It could benefit another Chevy enthusiast. Please send photos and text of what you’ve got for buy-sell or trade to your faithful newsletter editor.

Nomad Notions

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Something to consider… Is it time to give the Nomad a long deserved revival? With the new car buying public’s inexplicable obsession with SUV’s, and the dearth of actual station wagons available, it seems like an ideal compromise would be to offer up a sporty two-door wagon with some utility value but retains the “I can actually see around this thing at a stop-light” profile of an actual car.

These days, new cars are being transformed into some heretofore previously unseen contraptions on a routine basis. From electrification to autonomous driving, nothing feels like it did just a few years ago, and more changes are on the way. But, everything looks like a different sized version of the same vehicle. Time to get creative!

This isn’t really a new idea by yours truly. Concept Nomads have been shown off and on for almost 20 years now, with the last one having been based on the Pontiac Solstice, and Saturn Sky platform from the mid-2000’s. I was ready to sign on the dotted line for that one, but it never happened. I’m still asking myself why not?

Naturally, a certain amount of retro styling would be in order. like the two-door layout, and the ribbed tailgate of the originals. Yes, there were other Nomads throughout the decades since they were first introduced, but they were obscure at best, and always ventured off in another direction from the path set forth by the original production sport wagons.

Maybe it could be an LT1 powered monster? More likely it would make a pretty big splash as an electric vehicle. Whatever powers it, it would be a welcome change from the continued variations of SUV’s that are being offered by GM. Next up, let’s bring back the El Camino! 10 www.memphisclassicchevys.com Monday, January 18, 2021

Happy 68th Birthday to the Corvette:

That’s right Chevy fans, the Corvette is 68 years old. It was introduced to the public as a concept show car on January 17th, 1953 at a Motorama show held at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in . Production followed on June 30th later that same year. Can you think of any other model of car that has had a longer run than the Corvette? It seems the Suburban has been around longer, but the Vette now holds the continuous production record for passenger cars, and Chevy has built over 1.5 million of them. From the original six-in-a-row “Blue Flame” Vette, to the Fuel Injected V8 cars of the C2 generation, the advent of the big-block cars, and the current C8 generation of mid-engined cars, the Corvette is America’s sports car, now arguably better than ever, although the oldies really catch my eye whenever they’re around.

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Motorama Movie:

Speaking of the 1953 GM Motorama, check out this film, Motorama Moods, to get an eyeful of the pomp and circumstance surrounding new car introductions in the mid 20th century.

Also take note of the throngs of non-socially distanced folks admiring the then new Vette in all it’s fiberglass splendor. 12 www.memphisclassicchevys.com Monday, January 18, 2021

USA-1 Camaro:

Behold Bruce Larson’s restored 1968 Camaro funny car. It’s got a nitro fueled Chevy rat motor under that virtually stock appearing 1968 body shell. There was a time when Chevy power was a real threat in nitro drag racing during the developmental years of funny car racing. So consider this a preview of future Bowtie Buzz content, as we’ll soon take a trip down memory lane and examine the heroes of Chevy nitro powered drag racing during the golden years of 1967-1972.

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Classic Chevys are hot stuff. See you in February with another Bowtie Buzz.

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