Oldsmobile Club of America Eastern Ma. Gmo Chapter Rocket Power Newsletter!!
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
OLDSMOBILE CLUB OF AMERICA EASTERN MA. GMO CHAPTER Issue #24 Ma July 2007 ROCKET POWER NEWSLETTER!! GMO Bar-B-Que set for September 8 see our Oldsmobiles on the same show field as Packards, Hudsons, and Studebakers. The venue is also quite historic as it boasts one the country’s oldest The annual GMO Bar-B-Que (actually a cookout by private automobile collections housed in the massive most standards) will be held at the home of Rich & carriage house of the Anderson Estate. Karen Santucci - 84 Boyd St - Newton, MA 02458- 1502. The festivities will start at 5:00 and we will As co-sponsor of the event, the GMO Club showed up proceed to Pini’s Pizza at 7:00 to attend the cruise. All in force with around a dozen members in attendance GMO members are welcome so don’t forget to put this along with several other non-member Oldsmobiles on on your calendar. the field. Out of the 50 or so cars at the show, there were almost 20 Oldsmobiles. The rest of the field Eastern Mass GMO Co-Sponsors comprised an eclectic mix of 1920’s and 1930’s “Extinct” Autos Day Packards, some 1950’s Hudsons, a 1966 American By William Reilly Rambler, several AMC AMXs, several Studebakers, a 1990 Yugo and a 1981 DeLorean. I think Billy Joel sums it up quite nicely in one of his songs, “…sooner or later it comes down to fate…only the good die young.” With the demise of our beloved marque, we are left looking for venues to host shows as Oldsmobile dealerships in our area have closed their doors. Through a suggestion of one of our club members, we looked into the Larz Anderson Auto Museum in Brookline, MA. As luck would have it, the museum hosts an annual “extinct” auto day. Oldsmobiles could commingle with other out of production auto makes at an outdoor summer event. We had a beautiful sunny day with mild temperatures and a wonderful turn out with Ted Loranz in his ’67 442 W-30 and Dave Consoli in his newly acquired 1970 442 among the first to arrive. There was a fairly even mix of Oldsmobiles from the 1950’s right up through 1999. Ed Vigue’s 1955 Super 88 and potential new member Bob Bradford’s 1958 Super 88 wagon represented the 50’s era. We had the 60’s covered with Steve Sordino’s 1966 Dynamic 88, Chuck Scheil’s 1963 98, George and Ruth Last year’s event was cancelled due to rain, so I was Kalipolitas’ 1968 442, and George and Pat especially looking forward to this year’s show on June Gagnon’s 1966 Cutlass. Andrea & Nelson 23rd. As a club, we attend several shows where other Desjardins brought her wonderful 1971 Delta 88, and makes of cars are in attendance. But this one would be Rich and Karen Santucci arrived with the baked different, all cars in the show had a similar fate as goods in their 1971 442 W-30. The ‘80s were Oldsmobile in that their namesake is no longer in represented with Bill and Kerri Reilly’s 1985 Cutlass production. I thought it would be quite interesting to Supreme and Chris Leary’s 1987 442. And I have yet to meet the owner of that blue 1999 Alero with the LT- Oldsmobile dealership to sell Pontiacs and Cadillac’s. 1 V8 tucked neatly into its engine bay. I know there He eventually owned the Pontiac dealership, which were others in attendance and I apologize for not being meant during his teenage years and beyond, Chuck able to give you honorable mention. drove Pontiacs. BIG PONTIACS. Like most young men in the 1970’s Chuck wanted a muscle car perhaps To end day the people’s choice award for best a GTO? His dad would not allow Chuck to have a Oldsmobile was given to Ed Vigue and his 1955 Super muscle car. He always made sure Chuck drove a 88. This show was quite an experience and I hope that FULL sized GM car fearing that he may have an the GMO will make it a yearly tradition. accident in a muscle car. In the 1970’s it was widely believed the bigger the car the safer the car was. GMO is Featured Chapter in JWO Growing up driving the full size cars Chuck never developed a connection to the Muscle car craze. He developed a passion for the full size cars he grew up Pat Yancy, the OCA president, has named the GMO in with. the Chapter Showcase in the June edition of JWO. He had some very nice things to say about us including This led me to ask him if he grew up driving full size Dave Consoli’s purchase of the Doug Stavros 1970 Pontiacs what brought your interest back to the full W-30. The GMO scores again! size Oldsmobiles? Chuck was eager to point out that at age 6 or 7 he was drawn to the styling of Oldsmobiles. Ransom Notes He notes that Oldsmobiles always had nice molding & trim packages even through to the 1990’s models. Ransom notes is a GMO member profile in honor of “Pontiacs always looked unfinished to me,” Chuck Ransom Eli Olds who founded the Olds Motor Vehicle said. Company on August 21, 1897. Ransom Notes is authored By GMO member David Consoli. The first Oldsmobile Chuck ever owned was a 1964 Starfire he bought in 1999. The car was located in Ohio. Chuck was fortunately traveling to Cleveland on business at the time. He loved the car so much he bought it on the spot. Chuck admits that he really didn’t fix much on the 64 Starfire. A 20-year-old body man named Dan Evans had restored the car. Dan restored the car for his father. The only item needing upgrading was the leather seats and Chuck replaced the leather. He sold the car to GMO member Mark Baravella simply because Mark loved the car so much. (I judged this car at the 2006 Endicott show and found the car to be flawless). Someone once told me if you look into a persons eyes In 2003 Chuck bought a white 1964 Starfire you can see their soul. Upon arriving at Larz Auto convertible on eBay, which was a huge disappointment Museum to interview Chuck Schiel I was greeted with when it arrived. It was described as a #2 car but the a warm welcome and Chuck’s infectious smile, but vehicle was nowhere near Schiel standards. He ended when you look into the man’s eyes you can see the up restoring most of the car versus giving up on it. His passion he has, not only for Oldsmobile’s, but the time quote was “my love for the car transcended my period of the early 1960’s and the models he has come common sense” I assured him we have all done that at to treasure. You see, unlike many of us who are some point with our cars. attracted to the muscle cars of the era, Chuck has a passion for the full size version of Oldsmobile’s glory Chuck’s latest treasure is his 1963 Olds 98 Custom days. His history with Oldsmobile’s from that era is Sports Coupe. Viewing this car is like viewing the quite unique. dessert menu at the Cheesecake Factory - simply mouthwatering. Extreme Restorations painted the Chuck’s dad was an Oldsmobile salesman in Pittsburgh exterior Antique Rose Mist with a Provincial White PA. Chuck remembers tagging along to the dealership top. The interior is rose cloth & leather. The color on weekends with his dad in the early 1960’s he was combo truly fits the style and scale of the car. To move just 5 years old. In 1964 Chuck’s dad left the a car of this size you need a capable power plant. No problem, this baby is powered by a 394 cubic inch V8 was familiar with every politician, crook, lawyer, cop, rated @ 345 hp. The hydra-matic transmission surely judge, loan-shark, and pawnbroker in the area. makes this ride just as pleasant and smooth as Chuck’s personality. Dr. Sullivan’s black & white 1953 Oldsmobile looked like a police car, similar to the one Broderick Crawford drove in the TV show " Highway Patrol". This Oldsmobile was the first air conditioned car for the Doctor and was very rare for its time. There were two air scoops on each rear quarter panel about the size of your fist, which led fresh air to the Frigidaire equipment on the deck of the trunk. The air vents were inside the roof, like an airliner. The four air vents, two front and two rear, were connected to the trunk with two clear plastic tubes in the back deck and he would freeze us almost to death on summer car trips to Cape Cod. The Sullivan family lived in a quiet Arlington neighborhood across the street from a family with a delinquent son Paul. Paul’s father was a movie The other outstanding feature of Chuck’s cars are the projection operator for a movie theatre and his mother quality & level of detail to which he has restored them. played piano for the Eastern Star. Paul must have I, for one, wish that my collection was of such quality. spotted the hide-a-key under the hood of the When asked about why his cars are kept up to these Oldsmobile and took the opportunity to go joyriding in high standards he modestly downplayed my the Olds one night.