Cadillac & LaSalle Club Northwest Ohio Region News September 2014 Volume 7, Number 9 NORTHWEST OHIO REGION In this issue… Officers, Board Members.......................................2 A tribute to Detroit cannot deny history................2 President’s message ................................................3 Tribute to Detroit, GM overdue ....................... 4–6 Less familiar but plentiful faces of Cadillac ...........7 Activities Report and Trivia—by George!..............8 To Show or To Go.................................................9 CLC/NWO monthly meeting Minutes and treasurer’s report ............................. 10 Saturday, September 13 e Editor’s Inbox ............................................... 11 Taylor Classic Cadillac Show Inbox continues—with help from the USPS ........12 9:30 to 3:30 irteenth Annual Taylor Cadillac Show flyer.....13 6100 West Central Avenue CLCMRC Fall Festival flyer................................ 14 Toledo Partial list of shows from K-100.com ................... 15 Registration form on page thirteen Classified and NFS!............................................. 16 CLC/NWO Region A tribute to Detroit cannot deny history 2014 Officers and Board Members by Elden Smith President/Director N THE 1950 CENSUS, Detroit hit its peak Bill Shepherd population of 1,849,568. It was the fifth 2623 Drummond Road Toledo OH 43606 largest city in the USA. New York, Chicago, 419-534-3055 I Philadelphia, and Los Angeles were larger. [email protected] V.P./Activities Director Among the numerous US cities that shrank since 1950, George Louthan Detroit’s decline was 61.4%—second to St. Louis that 1321 East Beverly Hills Drive shrank at the rate of 62.7%. Detroit’s most dramatic Toledo OH 43614 downturn occurred between 2000 and 2010 with a 25% 419-754-4454 decline during that decade. e current city population [email protected] is 713,777. In 2013, Detroit filed the largest municipal Secretary Philip Vrzal bankruptcy case in US history. 3401 Swan Ridge Lane e population of 285,000 in 1900 made Detroit the Maumee OH 43537 419-867-2110 thirteenth largest US city. e auto industry along with [email protected] associated parts makers dominated the manufacturing Treasurer scene. One million new residents came to Andrew Shepherd Detroit in just twenty years to fill jobs 5980 Bucher Road created by carmakers. Ford’s River Whitehouse OH 43571 Rouge plant opened in 1927. By itself it 419-349-5692 [email protected] employed 90,000 workers! Membership Chair New workers arrived from many Steve Kasprzak places. Canada was important, but 2510 Randall large portions were ethnic Italians, Oregon OH 43616 419-693-8098 Hungarians, and Poles. A significant News Editor attraction for many immigrants was Elden Smith that assembly line technology required 4541 Gilhouse Road little training or education to get a job as an Toledo OH 43623 autoworker. In 1981, General Motors opened its 419-754-3923 Hamtramck assembly plant in the ethnic neighborhood [email protected] known as Poletown. is plant is home to many Members at Large Robert W. Stahl Cadillacs that our members own and drive. 8991 East Mulberry Road Cover: Statue of Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac Blissfield MI 49228 at Hart Plaza. 517-486-4818 [email protected] Tom Tapp 2550 Eastmoreland Oregon OH 43616 419-346-3573 [email protected] Visit the CLC/NWOhio Facebook page at www.facebook.com/CLCNWO CLC/NWOHIO REGION NEWS 2 SEPTEMBER 2014 CLC/NWOHIO REGION NEWS 3 SEPTEMBER 2014 President’s Message by William Shepherd ID YOU SURVIVE THE WATER SCARE the better part of a day’s time. in northwest Ohio/southeast Michigan? Mother Nature might deliver at Saturday morning saw people loads of rain, or loads of sun- D burning rays. e surrounding scrambling from store to store, seeking that community might have lots commodity essential for life. Anxieties increased, of dirt, noise, or stench from and tempers flared. Lines formed, and the lucky local industry, traffic, or individuals got that golden elixir. And then to construction activities. Apart learn later that it might all have been a “false from any awards received, positive,” as Toledo’s mayor put it. We made we might get a free lunch— typically not particularly national news, and not in a positive way. healthy nor award winning cuisine either—plus a bunch While Northwest Ohio has never been known for of compliments for our car or truck. aeronautics or space exploration, we are now certainly I personally will greatly limit the number of shows I known for algae. Maybe Toledo’s favorite hometown attend in one car season. Top on my list to attend would teams should be known as e University of Toledo be shows sponsored by marque car clubs to which I Algae. We can only hope that some changes are made in belong—nothing like hanging out with people who how the government administers the water department, cherish the same car make, and even the same year and in the water plant’s routine procedures, and how model as I do. Next would be car shows that sponsor a the surrounding communities that are the majority worthy cause that I also support or at least view favorably. customers of the water plant output are treated. If you Lastly would be car shows sponsored by organizations have well water, this was only high drama for you, not or businesses where I, a family member, or a close friend a “life-threatening” experience. Otherwise you better are employees/members. I also like events where the stock up on bottled water (courtesy of a neighbor who destination is something of interest to me. I’m not real was down in Columbus that Saturday, my son now has keen on general public cruise-ins or events sponsored 25 cases of bottled water in his garage), and tell the city by government organizations or most businesses. If I fathers to go buy some copper sulfate to treat the algae. want the car to be seen, it will garner more spectators So what does all that have to do with old cars? just driving it around the community, rather than Old cars are to many events as water is to the human tucked away in an out of the way parking lot. So I will body. A good number of summertime events will feature: sometimes get behind the wheel, or more often I will let (1) food, and (2) an old car show. Many event organizers our current club treasurer be my chauffer. Simply riding must feel that old car owners have egos that need to be around with family members can often be more enjoyable stroked and that their event is just the medicine we seek. than the hours spent at most shows. e fact is participating in an old car or truck show is a I’ll see you on the Cadillac road. lot of work, both in the preparation and in the execution. e vehicle must be proven to be road worthy, with time spent on warm up driving sessions. e fluids must be checked and confirmed to be not leaking. e car or truck must be gassed up in preparation for the show. e vehicle must be washed, vacuumed, and polished. NORTHWEST OHIO REGION Once the vehicle is at the event, the crowd must be CLC/NWO monthly meeting checked out for potential damage to the vehicle; kids on Saturday, September 13 bicycles, families with strollers, yahoos driving through Taylor Classic Cadillac Show 9:30 to 3:30 the show field, and the general public not versed in 6100 West Central Avenue car show etiquette all present problems. We, and any Toledo accompanying family members or friends, must invest Registration form on page thirteen CLC/NWOHIO REGION NEWS 2 SEPTEMBER 2014 CLC/NWOHIO REGION NEWS 3 SEPTEMBER 2014 Tribute to Detroit, GM overdue by Elden Smith A little history NTOINE LAUMET DE LA MOTHE, SIEUR Here is a little history for all who DE CADILLAC swore they hated history. May this be and his party landed at a painless but informative for you. May site chosen because a narrow riverbank it also serve to remind you of long- A strait seemed ideal for protecting French fur forgotten memories. Cadillac, Detroit, Fleetwood, Fisher Body, and some of traders. is was in July 1701. ey called the structures associated with them river d’Etroit, a French word meaning “strait.” are interwoven in this account. Cadillac and his workers built Fort Pontchartrain on the site, As a child before television dominated named after the Comte de Pontchartrain. Soon a riverfront village living rooms, radio entertained my family and many other families. developed nearby. Cadillac named the settlement “ville d’etroit,” or Powerful AM stations in the 1940s city of the strait. Eventually, the name changed to Detroit. formed what was (and is) the Clear Channel service. One such station In recent times, Detroit has withstood some of the worst insults and ridicule announced its presence with the that could be heaped on a city. Sadly, some of these have been accurate and words, “WJR Detroit, from the Golden deserved. In 2012, the FBI identified Detroit as America’s most dangerous Tower of the Fisher Building” and “The city. In fourteen years, the Motor City lost 25% of its population. e Great Voice of the Great Lakes.” On December 16, 1928, WJR moved from three-county metropolitan area currently numbers 5.2 million people. Each the Detroit Free Press offices to its morning, I watch Toledo news on TV, and I reflect that greater Toledo is current location in the Fisher Building. not far behind with violent crimes occurring almost daily. This was my earliest awareness of the For most North Americans, cars and trucks produced under the influence Fisher Building and of Detroit.