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Thanks again to the Carter's for organizing another very successful meeting. Despite the bad weather, we had a large turn out and everyone enjoyed great food and a fun and informative meeting hosted by John and Dena Doefler. Before visiting John and Dena's personal collection, we toured "Restoration Techniques" which is a full service restoration shop right across the street. In the shop in various stages we saw a Mustang, several Corvettes, a '38 Plymouth, a Crosley convertible, an early Ford V8 pickup as well as John and Dena's 1940 Packard in the paint shop. Following the tour we crossed the street for our meeting in John's workshop. The workshop houses his recently acquired '37 Packard Six, a '53 Rocket 98 convertible, a Studebaker St Regis coupe, and last but not least an Essex sedan. What a great collection!

At the business meeting we discussed using our cars for commercial purposes and the risks we take. We discussed the public service commitment we made to the Texas City Hospice luncheon on May 5th(we still need 3 more Packards from the 50's and if you told me you would take yours and we haven't discussed it lately, please call me asap as I need to confirm with them Monday, 4/19) We talked about the May meeting (a covered dish event in Katy), and talked about the proposed fall tour in October. There was also a discussion about how to get the Saturday night meeting in Salado a little more organized so it flows better. I pointed out that that program is really the responsibility of the North Texas chapter but I would mention it to my counter part in that club. Our club takes care of pre and post event publicity, Heart of Texas takes care of registration, Arklatex handles awards, and North Texas does the Saturday night program. Again we discussed the rates charged by the Stagecoach Inn. I have brought this up before at the Sunday morning business meeting and it seems the other regions think there is nothing that can be done. I suggested leaving your Packard on site at the Stagecoach but staying down the road at the new Holiday Inn Express or the new Best Western if you do not want to pay the Stagecoach rates. Actually, discussions about topics like the format of the program or the rates charged by the hotel are more appropriate for the Sunday morning business meeting of the Texas Packard Association rather than the monthly meeting of our region. Unfortunately, because of the longer distance we have to travel, most of the LSP members do not attend the Sunday morning meeting where the next year's event is planned. Perhaps next year we can ask for volunteers to attend the meeting to raise some of our points if they are still concerns.

See you in Katy if not before. Happy Packarding, Tommy

Mary Ann Porinchek, Mike and Deb Yost came down from the National Packard Museum in Warren, Ohio to give a presentation on the expansion of the museum, and to generally make everyone aware of the efforts to preserve the early years of the Packard Company.
The GRAND RE-OPENING will be at the end of July. There will be a concert by the Packard Band, which is still giving FREE monthly concerts under the endowment created by W.D. Packard.
Why not plan your vacation to attend!

Bob and Gail brought their Goddess of Speed for all to enjoy. It received a Special Exhibit Award for its uniqueness.

THe 2010 Texas Packard meet is now a fond memory in the rear view mirror of a lot of Super 8's, V8's and 12s from the Houston area as well as their LSP drivers. Our unofficial estimate of the LSP group including grand children etc. is forty eight. Thirty seven of them joined us Saturday night at the Oxbo Restaurant and eleven of our members won awards for their Packards at the Saturday night program! I think we probably had the biggest turn out of all four regions despite the fact that we have to drive the longest distance. Since we live more south than most of you, we should probably get the long distance award for our club! Our '55 logged 520 miles round trip but that included side trips to Wahlburg and Belton. While the majority of those were from Texas, there were approximately 200 participants at this year's event with people coming from all over the country. There were people from South Carolina, Ohio, Florida, California, Louisiana, Missouri, Kansas and others I have probably forgotten. Pat and Lila Aldridge won the long distance award for driving their '55 Clipper all the way from Dayton, Ohio! Another couple had their '47 Custom Super 8 ( a former white house staff car) shipped to Salado and then they were going to drive it home. I am waiting for a final count from Beverly Clark but I think it is safe to say there were well over sixty Packards on display. Surprisingly, I think about half of those were pre-war classics! To my knowledge, none of our Packards needed assistance in getting to the meet and back on their own! This was our first long distance trip in our 1940 so we were very proud of its performance. Of course we have come to expect it from the '55!

Several of us went through our garages to find items we could part with at the swap meet. I had the best year ever at the swap meet. I know Ben was in the black and I think some of the others did ok as well. I begin looking forward to the next Salado as soon as I pull out of the parking lot on Sunday morning. I know many of you do as well. Ben will be getting information to you soon about the April meeting and Robby and Steve will start planning our 2010 fall tour. I spoke to several heart of Texas members and they would like for us to come towards them so they could participate in much the same way Arklatex did with our 2009 event. See you soon.

What a great day we had helping the Boy Scouts on Galveston island celebrate their 100 birthday. We had a great turn out of cars and members despite the cool weather. The scouts and their parents really enjoyed the cars and frequently we were told how much they appreciated us. I had promised ten Packards and we had eleven. The Packards ranged in age from a 1920 Twin Six to a 1957 Clipper Town Sedan. Plus, we had the added bonus of a pre-teen Metz and an Autocar so the kids could see what cars looked like when the scouts first came to Galveston! Many of our members travelled a long way from places like Katy, Kingwood, Montgomery, and Fort Bend County. Others made a special effort to bring more than one car. ( In Tom and Evelyn's case it meant making two trips from Friendswood to Galveston to get the cars in place and two more to bring them home.)

Wow! What a great meeting we had today. We had 45 members in attendance at Sudie's Catfish House and I think everyone got plenty of delicious food. The service was great for the number we had and well worth the added gratuity. Following the luncheon, all but four motored the short distance to our home in the nearby Meadows subdivision. Special thanks goes to Richard and Irina Mitchell who came all the way from Montgomery and Jerry Erhman who came all the way from Orange. ( my apologies to you, Richard and Irina, as I should have introduced you at the restaurant since you were unable to come to the house) A thank you goes to those who brought a Studebaker/Packard product to the meet. Mike R. brought his stunning new '55 400 which we all enjoyed seeing, the Jordans brought their really nice '63 Avanti, the Darrow's brought the sharp '57 Clipper, and we brought the '48 limo which has been a fixture at LSP meetings since the late 70's. We also enjoyed getting to see the Honsberg's great '63 Cadillac. The Baccaro household would like to give a big THANK YOU to Janis and Ben Carter for the beautiful hostess gift.

At the business meeting, we got commitments for fourteen cars to be displayed at the 100th anniversary scout show in Galveston on the 20th of next month. I will talk to the lady in charge this week and send out an e-mail to all who are going with the specifics. In addition, we have been asked to display five Packards from the 50's at the Texas City Hospice Association annual donor appreciation luncheon on Wednesday, May 5th from 11 to 1. (Dale volunteered to bring the 51 hearse but we thought that might not be appropriate for a hospice activity) We were able to get five commitments from the club members who own cars from the 50's. These two activities will take care of our commitment for public service activities during the year. However, I am fairly certain we will have the Christmas party at Brookwood again in December. We also agreed to set up a special dinner for our club members on the Saturday of Salado weekend. If you wish to attend dinner with our club, be sure not to register for the banquet at the Stage Coach Inn Restaurant for Saturday night.

For the new members or others that do not have a running Packard, you need to make an effort to attend the Salado meet. If nothing else, drive up on Saturday to look at all the cars and check out the swap meet. This is sponsored by the four Texas Packard regions and people come from all over the country to attend. This will be the 33rd annual Texas Packard Meet and you can count on a lot of pretty cars that you don't get a chance to see anywhere else. The Stage Coach Inn is probably full but there is a new Best Western and a new Holiday Inn Express just up the road. There is also a Super 8 Motel across the freeway.