2022 Solid Axle Corvette Club National Convention
Carson City, NV
July 30-August 1, 2022
Before anything else happens, there is a Board Meeting. (L to R) Bill Stalder, Western Regional Representative, Don Brittin, Central Regional Representative, Lucy Badenhoop, Club Treasurer, Mary Rae Brockhouse, Club Secretary, Larry Spilman, Club President. The empty chair belonged to me, Jack.
And while the Board meeting was going on, and later while the Chapters meeting
went on,
The cars were arriving!
Then later that evening it was time for the welcome reception. Of course it was a meet and greet!
(L to R) Club President Larry Spilman, Ernie Bornstein, Melissa Bornstein.
The banquet/meeting room there at the Gold Dust was more
than adequate for the
needs of the club. And the hotel treated us like we were royalty.
To
give you an idea of the size of the room for the welcome reception I had to
step way back to get it in. The welcome reception was a casual affair,
well
enjoyed by everyone. As always I got to meet new friends and learn new
things!
They served very nice hors d'oeuvres, also!
And SACC Treasurer Lucy Badenhoop set up a car wash station right there on the
property. It was Lucy who set up the entire convention.
And Lucy made sure that we had adequate security in a secure parking lot.
The area was brightly lit, plus a security person was on duty from 8pm to 8am.
And I caught up with our Security man! He is Wayne, and he is retired from military and CIA.
I could tell that he took the task seriously. Seriously.
Those attending could opt for the train ride from Carson City to Virginia City, NV.
It was the real-deal steam locomotive, plus we had
running commentary by the conductor,
giving us historical perspective as to what we were seeing as we went along.
And have you ever seen a more happy group of tourists?
And here are the happy tourists on board, heading to historic Virginia City.
This car is a 1914 Pullman.
Our Flight Attendant was Mandy!
Here's the strip in Virginia City. Lots of shops and restaurants.
We didn't miss out on the ice cream, either.
At
the same time as the tourists were going up in elevation to visit Virginia City
by steam train,
the Technical Sessions were going on.
Here you see Presenter Joe Calcagno preparing his hands-on equipment. It was everything you needed to know about steering.
Assisting Joe in getting set up is Gerry Boren.
The assembly is almost connected back together after it's
arrival to the hotel
in the bed of a pick-up.
It had been securely tied down in the bed of that truck.
A volunteer work gang helped bring
it in to the session room.
Jim Lockwood presented a session about fuel injection units.
It was hands on with examples!
August 1, Getting ready for the Road Tour
Steve Ciaccio has owned this car for almost 50 years. He does
"Cars and Coffee" weekly back home. It was originally a New Jersey car
but now resides out west. It's pedigree will soon be enhanced when
the car enters the Las Vegas Concours d' Elegance.
There are times when it is time to "boogie". Butch Herman's 1960
Arizona car knows all about that.
In fact, this 1960 travels 6 to 7 thousand miles every
year, going to shows,
cruise-ins, other events.
Butch acquired the car in New York, then now the car's home is out west.
Fred Shearer's 1962 is a stunning yellow car. Daytona Yellow to be exact.
He has owned the car about 30 years now. Obviously
it has a modified hood, and it also
has flared fenders.
No newcomer, Fred brought his car the last time that the
convention was held in the
Western Region and at that convention the '62's were the honored and recognized
cars.
Don Eckhart from Texas made use of the washing station that was offered by the
convention.
The car was driven to the convention.
Here is the driver's meeting prior to the Road Tour.
Remember the movie "16 Candles"?
This photo is captioned "16 Headights".
This was the first stop on the road tour. It is the
beautiful town of Genoa, Nevada.
Genoa was the first settlement in the state of Nevada, a Mormon settlement.
We toured the museum, saw the sights, and did some shopping.
Of course yours truly headed to the little diner nearby for a coffee break.
In the little dining table area I spied this old Hotpoint stove. It has to
be older than
the cars parked outside!
Enjoying
the road tour is Jack and Candace, they acquired this car less than a year ago
and
recently joined the club. Welcome!!
Now
further on in the trip and sadly, a deer jumped in front of Jack and Candace's
car
and modified their windshield, then the deer went flying over the back.
Jack and Candace were not injured.
In an extreme coincidence, Jack told me that he
previously had lined up an appointment
for a windshield replacement!
This should give you an idea of the beautiful vistas that we had on this road tour.
Lunch time. The road tour was set up by Marty Meckler and he made sure
that this pavilion would be available when we arrived.
Everything went as planned!
We were at 7000 feet elevation.
SACC Treasurer Lucy Badenhoop was the spark plug on this wonderful convention,
and
(On the Right) you see her getting the lunch boxes ready for distribution.
This poster listed our sponsors.
Then came time for the banquet and General Membership Meeting.
Driving the farthest was Denise Iverson and Don Eckhart from Texas.
Presenting the award is SACC President Larry Spilman.
Also winning the award for furthest driven in any car is Leslie and Tom Barnes
from
New Jersey.
New Jersey to Carson City, Nevada is a long, long way.
And the mood was festive at the banquet.
The food was great, it was friends chatting with friends, all good.
Joe Calcagno from California is this year's recipient of the Noland Adams Award.
The Noland Adams award is the highest award made by the
club. It goes to a person who
has helped the Corvette Universe in every way.
And Joe has!
So that's a wrap-up of this year's convention. SACC
treasurer Lucy Badenhoop was the one who set up everything, and everything was
good. And the CEO of
Gold Dust West spoke to us and even invited us back!
Next year the convention will be in the Central Region. More news to come..
-Jack Hollada, (Holiday),
SACC VP