The Rotunda Times Wins Golden Quill Award! See Page 4. Volume 4 No. 6 The Official Monthly Publication of the Ford & Mercury Restorer’s Club of America June 2008 Feature Vehicle: Club Scores at Barn Show My Mark of Ecstasy created by Paul Conforto Awards Ceremony at Barn Show. lthough underrepresented this year due to a conflicting car Ashow (page 8), four FMRCOA Members, received awards for y buddy Tony Palmeri and I built this car from scratch in their cars at the 21st Wilson Barn Car Show in Livonia on June “Mnine months,” remarked Club Member Paul Conforto as 8th. Congratulations go to Members Greg Covey, Pete Morris, Pat we chatted at the Relay For Life last month. This month’s Feature Kaluzney, and Jeff Chapp! Vehicle is truly a home made “classic” named The Mark of Ecstasy! Continued on page 8. Paul started working on the car in September of 1976 and it was completed in June of 1977 with over 3,000 hours of effort. He Club to Donate to Disabled Veterans worked on it every night and on weekends. The exterior of the car was based upon photographs of vintage ‘30’s era automobiles such as the Deusenberg and Lincoln. However, the body sits on a ’55 Cadillac Fleetwood 60 Series chassis. The radiator and engine were moved back 18 inches to enable the sleek exterior look. In 1980 Paul replaced the ’55 Cadillac powertrain with a ’79 one including a 424 cubic inch Cadillac engine. Paul and Tony made cardboard patterns for fabricated parts and laid “Gunny” Lawton and Gary Busch of the Disabled American Veterans Michigan Chapter 114. ike Fontana is leading the Club’s raffle of a pedal car this Msummer to benefit disabled veterans. At our June Club Meeting, Commander “Gunny” Lawton and Treasurer Gary Busch of Michigan Chapter 114 of the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) discussed their organization and what it does. Paul with his “baby” in 1980. With more than 1.4 million members, Disabled American Veterans is Continued on page 4. Continued on page 8. The Rotunda Times The Rotunda Times Published by: FMRCOA Ford and Mercury Restorers Club of America FORD AND MERCURY RESTORERS P.O. Box 2938 Dearborn, Michigan 48123 CLUB of AMERICA www.fmrcoa.org P.O. Box 2938 • Dearborn, MI 48123 2008 OFFICERS Newsletter Staff President Art Cervi 248.553.8897 [email protected] Editor Vice President Bob Guetschow 248.328.9113 Steve Rohde 734.717.5444 [email protected] 2955 Bateson Ct., Ann Arbor, MI. 48105 [email protected] Secretary Phil Lyon 734.578.6223 Display Ad Editor [email protected] Phil Lyon 734.578.6223 [email protected] Treasurer Steve Rohde 734.717.5444 2002 Hopkins Drive, Wixom, Mi. 48393 [email protected] Director Brian Saylor 248.486.8851 Staff Contributors [email protected] Bill Gipperich 586.826.8813 [email protected] Director Mike Fontana 248.926.0160 Louis Ironside 810.798.8803 [email protected] [email protected] (The Roving Reporter) Director Doug Osborn 248.597.0940 Brian Kuta 734.753.3788 [email protected] [email protected] Phil Lyon 734.578.6223 [email protected] Bill Timoszyk 734.421.2076 [email protected] The Ford & Mercury Restorers Club is a hobby organization whose Terry Worful 313.271.2017 [email protected] purpose is to foster and promote the acquisition, preservation and use of all Ford vehicles, 25 years of age and older. Membership Roster Editor Terry Worful 313.271.2017 [email protected] Club Historian David Cheklich 248.391.3934 [email protected] WEBMASTER Editor’s Message Gil Brueckner 910.602.1721 [email protected] hanks this month go to Paul Conforto for providing the Feature The Ford and Mercury Restorers Club of America, Inc. TVehicle material; and to our team of Staff Contributors for newsletter, “The Rotunda Times”, its contents, Club logo, providing articles for this newsletter! articles, and artwork are the property of the Ford and Please contact me if you’d like to see your vehicle highlighted in Mercury Restorers Club of America. No changes, additions, the Rotunda Times as a Feature Vehicle. In particular, I’d like to deletions or reproductions are permissible without the encourage new Members to participate here. written approval of the Ford and Mercury Restorers Club of As car show “season” is in full swing, I’d appreciate receiving (email America, Inc and its duly authorized representatives. or US mail) pictures that you take at various events for the Times. And now that we’ve won an OCW Golden Quill Award, we’d like The FMRCOA Membership Advantage!!!!!! to keep the Times growing -- so please let me know what you’d our Board officers and Editors take extra effort to like to see and do keep materials/leads coming! Just give me a Ybring you FREE Classifieds and Schedule of Events call (734.717.5444), email me, or put something in the mailbox. found within your monthly newsletter. Take advantage Typically, it really doesn’t take more than a 10-15 minute conversation of these benefits your membership provides. Post your to get great “stuff” for an article. schedule where you can refer to it easily. Submit your Consider the 15th of the month as a deadline for getting ads at a meeting or mail to Phil Lyon, our ad editor. For announcements or other materials to me for that month’s more information on becoming a member go to http:// newsletter. www.fmrcoa.org/ or write to: Finally, don’t forget to visit our website www.fmrcoa.org where you FMRCOA Membership Secretary can read these newsletters in color and see more event pictures, and P.O. Box 2938 now videos. Dearborn MI 48123 Thanks for your support! Dues are $25 before & $30.00 after DEC 31 Steve Rohde, Editor Page The Rotunda Times June 2008 nother month has gone by and we get even closer to our “big Greg Steinmayer Jim Jackson Aday”! We are doing our best to make it as good as ever; but 19001 Snow 7779 Hampton Ct. remember, it all takes manpower and that’s where you come in. Dearborn, MI 48124 Ypsilanti, MI 48197 We’re all in this together to make it succeed. As you know, we are 313-271-3901 734-481-9287 trying to do the car show in a different way this year. No registration [email protected] [email protected] fee, just general admission. All other things remain the same…. 1969 Lincoln Continental 1968 Ford Mustang GT Coupe registration, door prizes, the raffle, and of course the trophies. the show is sponsored by our friends at Varsity Ford and Varsity Lincoln Ken Martin Mercury. Thanks Lou Stanford, you’ve been with us a long time we 19001 Snow do appreciate it! Dearborn, MI 48124 313-271-3901 Thanks too to all of you who attended our last meeting. We almost [email protected] needed a wall stretcher….it was great! Also, it was decided that we will now start our meetings at 7:30 p.m. in the summer. Make sure you make note of this. Congratulations to our Treasurer/Editor Steve Rohde. We are the recipient of Old Cars’ (Iola, Wisconsin) Golden Quill Award for his and the Editorial Staff’s outstanding work on our monthly newsletter, The Rotunda Times. Way to go Steve! Art Cervi, Mini Swap Meet President WELCOME NEW AND RETURNING MEMBERS Doug Hallee (Sheri) Ronald Nickerson (Sara) 123 Norridgewock 1720 E. Lincoln Fairfield, ME 04937 Royal Oak, MI 48067 207-453-7536 248-541-7329 [email protected] 1965 Mercury Comet 1950 Ford 4dr Custom 1968 Ford Torino CT Convertible 1974 Mercury Comet Art Cairo (Mary Jo) 1977 Mercury Comet 1907 Greenleaf Dr. Royal Oak, MI 48067 Don Nicholson (Gayle) 248-398-9709 35752 Farragut St. [email protected] Westland, MI 48186 1950 Mercury Monterey 734-658-5296 Club Members buy and sell “goodies” at the June Club 1964 ½ Ford Mustang GT [email protected] Meeting. 1966 Ford Mustang Coupe 1968 Triumph Spitfire 1972 Ford F100 w/351 Windsor Page The Rotunda Times FEATURE VEHICLE cont. from page 1 Other cars that Paul, who joined our Club in 2005, owns include a ‘50 Ford Custom 2 dr, a ’49 Ford pickup, an ‘84 chopped Ranger, them out on large sheets of 16-gauge steel. These included the hood, and a 1978 Seville with 7000 miles. Recently he bought 1985 bumpers, running boards, radiator, and doors. One of the hardest Le Baron convertible, and he drives an ‘87 Mercedes Benz 560 parts to fabricate was the windshield frame that was made from convertible! angle iron. Other parts were adapted from different vintage vehicles as shown in the figure. Paul travelled to many junkyards and swap “I really enjoy our Club,” Paul commented. “In fact, I’d really like meets – including Hersey – to get these parts. to invite the guys to my farm in Croswell!” Sounds like a good car cruise! On the dash of Paul’s car is a quotation: “To build a car by hand is artistry. to own one is ecstasy.” Diagram showing the part’s in Ecstasy from the September Under Ecstasy’s hood (l), and what a beautiful dash (r)! 1, 1980 TechCenterNews. A number of modern amenities are included in Paul’s car. These include a ’65 Chevrolet tilt steering wheel and power brakes, Mustang The Rotunda Times Wins a seats, and a ‘59 AM/FM car radio. The car also has nine horns ranging 2007 Golden Quill Award from a siren to a Model A horn. These horns are typically exercised when Ecstasy carries wedding and anniversary parties in style! he Editorial Staff of the Rotunda Times is Tpleased to announce that our newsletter has been awarded a Golden Quill Award from Old Cars Weekly.