2023 Solid Axle Corvette Club National Convention
Bloomington-Normal, Illinois
May 31-June 3, 2023
*Photos and Captions by Diane Preston
The
2023 Solid Axle Corvette Club Annual National Convention was held at the in
Normal, Illinois on May 31-June
3. It was hosted by the Great Rivers Chapter and chaired by SACC Secretary, Mary
Rae Brockhouse.
As always the registration desk is right there in the lobby.
Manning the desk was Gerri Hollada, Leslie Barnes, and helped by Marie Chance.
Participants began arriving
on Tuesday, May 30 from all over the country. Wednesday, May 31 began the
planned activities.
First
was the Annual Board meeting attended by the national officers and regional
representatives in the morning. Items of discussion can be found in the minutes.
L to R: Lucy Badenhoop, Club Treasurer; Mary Rae Brockhouse, Club Secretary; Don Brittin, Club Vice-President; Jack Hollada (Holiday), Club President; Tom Barnes, Eastern Regional Representative, and Michelle Paillou , Central Regional Representative.
Wednesday afternoon the board
met with the chapter representatives to discuss club issues, including
retention, dues collection, IRS reporting and recruiting new members. Bill
Huffman, president of the Michigan Chapter, did a special presentation of a
recruitment flyer he had developed for his chapter
That
evening the welcome party was held at the hotel and everyone enjoyed a delicious
Italian buffet arranged by Gerri Hollada.
Ya know what.... sometime you just are not ready for someone to take your pic.
President
Doc Hollada presented the Noland Adams Award to Past President Larry D. Spilman.
Actually, this was a bit complicated. Larry could not attend, and so Doc
called Larry on his cell phone, told him he had won the award, then placed the
microphone to the cell phone so all could hear Larry's response. Larry was
very appreciative and thanked everybody.
An
auction was held for an event poster, framed letter from Noland Adams to Max
Brockhouse and some very special commemorative coins.
Our
special guests Wednesday evening were the owners of the Bloomington Gold Event,
Guy and Jocelyn Larsen, who joined
us at our Welcome Reception. We appreciate them inviting us to be special guests
at the 2023 Bloomington Gold. They were gracious hosts all weekend and we had
full access to all events and venues.
(L to R): Guy Larsen, Jocelyn Larsen, Jack Hollada, Mary Rae Brockhouse.
The
official Annual SACC Business Meeting was held immediately after dinner
Wednesday evening.
The white bags were the goodie bags that Guy and Jocelyn
Larsen brought for us.
Thursday
morning a tour of the David Davis Mansion was scheduled for those wanting to go.
The mansion, known as Clover Lawn was completed in 1872. It was the home of
David Davis, the friend, mentor and campaign manager for Abraham Lincoln.
Lincoln appointed Davis as United States Supreme Court Justice in 1862. The
mansion and garden remained in the Davis Family for three succeeding
generations. In 1960, the house was donated to the State of Illinois; today, it
is operated as a state historic site and has been declared a National Historic
Landmark. The SACC Ladies enjoyed a luncheon after the tour.
The
alternative activity for the morning was a Tech Session featuring Ken Yeager
(Mid-America Corvette Mike Yeager’s older brother). He conducted a lively open
discussion on C-1 technical issues that tend to plague all early Corvette
owners. Water leaks, electrical issues and gasoline seemed to be on everybody’s
mind.
Thursday
afternoon a group of us drove north along historic Route US-66 to Pontiac,
Illinois to visit the Route 66 Museum. It conjured up memories of the days when
we were kids travelling cross country. The same building had a wonderful
Veterans’ museum with an unbelievable number of uniforms belonging to Veterans
from the area. We found a great place for lunch just around the corner next to
the Pontiac/Oakland Car Museum. This museum housed an astounding collection of
memorabilia, a research library and some very nice vehicles. Everything we did
was well worth the 30-mile trip.
SACC
VP Don Brittin led the way on this road trip and tour.
Thursday
evening, we attended the Welcome Reception for Bloomington Gold with hors
d’oeuvres and drinks. It was held among the 2023 Gold Collection featuring a
fantastic assemblage of Z06 Corvettes, including the first one. The new 2023 Z06
was also on display with Corvette Chief Engineer Josh Holder near it answering
questions.
(L to R): Diane Preston, Mary Rae Brockhouse, and Gerri Hollada seem to be having a good time.
This
reception was part of the Gold Member package of benefits.
Enjoying
the special cake was Jane and Dennis Fontana from the Central Great Lakes
Chapter.
The
theme for this year's Special Collection was the Z06 in Corvette history.
Kathy Ilowiecki is shooting a picture of this stunning '63.
Friday and Saturday parking
set aside during the main events for our Solid Axle cars was as good as it could
get. We were parked inside the Bloomington Gold perimeter fence near the main
gate where all Corvette parking attendees entered. We were close to all activity
areas, on grass with shade trees and with security at all times.
There
were Gold School Seminars repeated both days. Chief Corvette Engineer, Josh
Holder, held two separate tech sessions both Friday and Saturday to introduce
and answer questions about both the new Z06 and E-Ray separately. Unfortunately,
the E-Ray itself was a no show due to technical difficulties.
John Kraman of Mecum Auctions
told about what goes on within the auction and what it takes to make their
auction happen. He also talked about the current market for collector cars. In
another, a panel of experts discussed and answered questions about the purpose
of NCRS and Bloomington Judging.
Bob Jones, Caretaker of the Z06 Registry and Marty Fowler, Bloomington Gold
Judge presented info about the history of the Z06 and the current Gold
Collection.
Friday
evening, we joined all Gold Members for a buffet dinner at Medici’s, a local
downtown Italian restaurant. The food was excellent and the lively conversation
indicated everyone had a good time. There were great door prizes furnished by
Bloomington Gold sponsors. SACC members won most of them.
Here
is Michigan Chapter President Bill Huffman receiving his door prize from Jocelyn
Larsen,
plus a table full of happy diners.
Two
more of our members won door prizes. On the left you see Jocelyn handing
Leslie Barnes
her door prize which was a $200.00 spending spree at the Bloomington Gold Store.
Also Kathy Iloweicki won a door prize!
Saturday was a repeat of
Friday’s tech sessions, swap meet, judging in the Arena, and automotive vendors
in the Horton Field House. Some of our members assisted Jack Hollada in staffing
our SACC membership booth in the vendor area both days. We thank Michelle
Palliou for allowing her 1958 to be recruited at the last minute to display in
our booth, when Don Brittin’s 1960 broke down on the way the Convention.
Here
is our vendor booth as looking from the East side of the building. (L to
R) D) VP Don Brittin and Eastern Regional Representative Tom Barnes.
On the
right is Central Regional Representative Michelle Paillou seated at the vendor
booth's business table situated to the rear of her car. With Michelle is
Marie Chance.
The owners of Bloomington really liked that we had a stunning C-1 there at the vendor booth. Plus it brought in potential new members.
And talk about convenient... another perk of going Gold Member was this lounge that was situated right across from our vendor booth. During the day they had breakfast, snacks, lunch, then more snacks.
(L to R) Laura Lael, Gerri Hollada, Mary Rae Brockhouse. They worked hard at this convention and needed a break.
Random Convention Pictures
Jerry Bent Rex Barnes
Bob Burnett
Karen and Russ Borchardt
Bob Cook, Mid-Atlantic Chapter President Michelle Paillou, Central Regional Representative
Tom Barnes, Eastern Regional Rpresentative Jack Hollada, SACC President
Some of the cars in our secure parking area that had night patrol.
Strictly Bloomington Gold
The
judging was conducted in the arena just a fairly short walk from where the
vendors were located.
The ultimate moment was the
presentation of the awards to each of the owners whose cars had been on display
for us all weekend. Our SACC members Kathy and Greg Rohde earned a Gold Award
for their beautiful Silver 1962. The Bloomington Gold judging is famous for its
fairness and the way the judges compare each car to the benchmark. Among the
cars were several that received Benchmark Awards for being survivors and their
originality.
The
final event was truly what Corvettes were meant for... a road cruise!!! Vettes
of every generation lined up late Saturday afternoon for a 35-mile cruise around
Lake Bloomington. We returned along old Route 66 to Uptown Normal for a rousing
block party hosted by the Town of Normal.
At the
conclusio of the road tour we
returned along old Route 66 to Uptown Normal for a rousing block party hosted by
the Town of Normal.