A really big thank you once again to the Carters for making all the arrangements for our return to the Ol' RailRoad Cafe" in historic downtown Rosenberg. We had more than 30 members and six Packards plus the Sartins brought their knock out 1956 Thunderbird. (their Packard is preparing for the trip to Salado). Our 65-year-old Clipper made the 120-mile round trip excursion without any problems. Our late friend Jim Hollingsworth always said any trip in an antique car that makes it there and back on its own is a great adventure. Special thanks go to the following families for also bringing their Packards to Rosenberg; the Carters, Supinas, Matthews, Darrows, Holzbands. It was great to see the Supinas with us today as well as our newest members John & Mary Ann Dalton.

Before we enjoyed the delicious hamburger buffet, we recited the Pledge of Allegiance and had a blessing. We also had birthday cake to celebrate George Washington's birthday. Following lunch, we made several announcements and covered a variety of issues. We got committee reports from publications and also announced the February birthdays. John Dalton won the 50/50. Ben announced we have 50 families on the roster, but still have several members who have not paid their $10 renewal fee for 2020. Please get that money to Tony if you wish to be included in the roster and email distribution. We announced there would be no regular meeting in March or April. We will have a work party sometime in March to help Rena with the packets for Salado participants and of course Salado will take the place of the regular April meeting. If you have an idea for May, contact Chris or me.

We also encouraged everyone with a nice-looking Packard to join us at Keels and Wheels. All Packards are welcome and they are giving special recognition to pre-war Packards. Deadline for applications is March 6. I was pleased to announce that the Holiday Inn Express as of last Wednesday is sold out with the exception of six rooms with king sized beds on the second floor. Get your room quickly if that would fit your needs. If not, there is another hotel next to the Holiday Inn, plus there is the Stagecoach Inn and numerous "bed and breakfast" places in Salado. (Belton and Temple are nearby and they have places to stay as well) Selling the hotel out is good news because that means they will give us those three meeting rooms we use free of charge. I was not pleased to have to tell that I was notified by the Stagecoach this past Wednesday that the facility we planned on using for the banquet would not be ready until the April 18. That is way past our weekend! I am working with the Visitor’s Bureau to find an alternative. It may be the large meeting room at the Salado Museum. However, that would probably mean we would have to set the room up like we did the Civic Center last spring and come up with table decorations. The Stagecoach said they would still like to cater the dinner at the agreed price and menu already discussed. That is a relief and will certainly help. The banquet will be my focus this week!

Again, thanks for the great turn out of people and cars for the February meeting.

On Sunday, January 18th, 30 members of LSP met in the Sartin's car barn for our January meeting. Thanks again to Rena and Jack for offering the facility and for setting it up for our meeting and covered dish lunch. The food and desserts were wonderful as usual.

For months we have been trying to find a time to help Janice Musgrove dispose of some of the huge array of parts in Dale's shop. Dale was the auto mechanics teacher at Lamar High in Rosenberg for many years and after retirement, he opened his own Packard garage in a metal building behind his home in Brookshire. He worked on many of our member's cars including three of ours. We actually bought our 1955 from him. We met at the Sartin's "Car Barn" and then after lunch and a short meeting, those of us who were interested traveled the short distance to the Musgroves. Our thanks and gratitude goes to Rich, Doug, Jack and Ben for spending several days cleaning and organizing the shop. Janice and Dale's son in law, Eddie, was also a big help. If there were some that I missed, we thank them as well.

I was happy to purchase a good core for our '55 Clipper's "treadle vac" unit in case it ever goes out. I also bought several shop manuals covering Packards from the '40's to '56, and some generic items like fuel filters and oil filters. I planned on buying a six volt battery cable that I found in a Packard box but I put it down to examine the treadle vac and then forgot about it. I also was tempted to buy two pieces of stainless for the '55 but was not positive they were the ones I wanted. I will have to return with pictures to make sure. Other members bought signs, carburetors, fuel pumps, a straight 8 head, etc., etc. There are still dozens of boxes stacked behind the '55 400 project car that Dale was never able to complete. One of our members, who could not make it, is interested in the 54 Patrician so I took pictures to send to him. It basically just needs some "TLC" to be a driver. John Lortz is going to attempt to return to the garage and with Eddie’s help get some of those boxes opened and organized. We will then see if anyone from the other clubs is interested in coming to "pick and shop." I did intend to measure Dale's two-post lift to see if it would fit in my son Chris' garage. Even though he has the tall ceilings, I could see right away that it was way too tall. If interested, Janice would entertain offers. Dale also has about 100 model cars and more literature inside in his study. One of the books which is available is the leather bound Beverly Kimes Packard book which is out of print.

At the short business meeting, I encouraged everyone to attend the Salado meet. Even if you are not bringing a Packard, we can use the help and support. Jan Carter, who just had a successful hip replacement the week before, passed out the Salado registration form for anyone who has not copied it from the http://texaspackardmeet.org/ . There is also a schedule of events for the meet on this site.

In the absence of Tony, who could not make it, Ben collected dues which he will forward to Tony. Speaking of members, I was contacted by a Robert Whistle who has a '54 Clipper. He is interested in our club so I forwarded his letter to Ben. We also announced that the planned activity for February did not materialize because the curator of the museum we were to visit was going to be out of town. Therefore, we need someone to step up and volunteer to set something up or give us an idea to pursue. It is typically the Sunday of the 3rd weekend but a host couple can move that weekend or day according to their own schedule. Please avoid the 15th as we have a number of members who may like to attend the AACA Valentine party that day. Last year we did not have a March meeting so we could help our meet registrar, Rena Sartin get envelopes stuffed, etc. I suggest we do the same this year. Please send your meet registration to Rena and your $10 dues to Tony.

On Dec. 1, 2019, thirty-eight members of LSP gathered at the South Shore Harbor Resort and Hotel for their Sunday Brunch buffet. This was the first part of our Holiday Party. The restaurant staff - Enrique and Karen took great care of us.

Following lunch we caravanned the short distance to our home in the Meadows. Knowing that we were gathering at our house on Dec. 1, Carol put it into overdrive and got the tree, the snow village, the Santa collection and a lot more in place before Thanksgiving. Great job! Each family present also had a small remembrance under the tree.

February is open for someone to arrange an activity/meeting. Please let us know if you have an idea. Chris Baccaro, Robert Quinn and myself drove antique cars. We would like for everyone to make their reservation at the Holiday Inn Express for the Salado Meet. We need to fill 'em up to get free meeting and hospitality rooms. Call direct at 254-947-4004 and tell them you wish to reserve a room in the Packard block for the Texas Packard Meet. Be sure to send your registration form to Rena Sartin.

Ben & Janice Carter were the lucky winners of the 50/50 and took home $48. This was their first time to ever win!

Carol and I want to send out a BIG THANK YOU to all the ladies who graciously added to the sweets served at our house. It is the season to be thankful for our many blessings. I have so many; it would be difficult to list them. First and foremost, would be my family. Among the others I would have to include our Packard family. We joined LSP in the '70's. While we have lost members for various reasons, including mortality, we have gained new friends along the way. Some of us have grown old together and our children and grandchildren are active members of the club. We are very fortunate to have such a close knit circle of friends.

On Saturday, November 9 more than 30 Lone Star Packard members and friends met at the Pizza Shack in Willis, Texas. Shirley and Tony arranged for us to meet for lunch and then have a tour of Bob and Gayle Bucher's beautiful home and extensive auto collection. Their home is not a little log cabin; the image of a small structure like those Abraham Lincoln or Daniel Boone called home might come to mind. This luxury log home is a very large structure built from logs and stone. Each stone fits perfectly together, because they were delicately laid out before being added to the building. The Bucher’s built the home themselves while they lived on site in their motor home. Gayle gave a wonderful tour and provided refreshments. This massive home is truly something to see, and her décor and fall decorations are amazing. If you missed this LSP event, it was not the one to miss! You really missed a treat!

The Bucher’s' collection includes: Hupmobile, Cord, Auburn, a lot of really nice Studebakers, and five Packards. I especially loved the '55 Studebaker Speedster. We are happy to announce the hosts joined LSP. If you missed the tour, perhaps there will be an opportunity in the future.

Jan announced the November birthdays and passed out an invitation to the Christmas party which will be held in League City on December 1. We will meet at 1 pm in the restaurant area of the South Shore Harbor Hotel and Resort for the Holiday buffet. Price will be $24 per person and the club will pay the tax and gratuity. Following lunch, we will caravan the short distance to the Baccaro home for more fun. Our January activity will be a club effort to help Janice Musgrove liquidate some of her late husband's extensive collection of cars and parts. We will meet at the Sartin's for a covered dish lunch and then those who are interested will move to Dale's shop in nearby Brookshire. February and March are open so if you are willing to organize a meeting, please let us know.

April, of course, is the 43rd Annual Texas Packard Meet. Our meet was listed in the last Cormorant News Bulletin so out of state applications will soon be coming to Rena. If you do not have your room you should consider calling them now. Registration and hotel details can be found at the www.texaspackardmeet.org site. 

After some discussion, the officers agreed to serve another term and they were elected by acclamation. Ben gave a report on the up-coming LSP display at the Courtlandt Place Christmas Home Tour. If interested in showing your car, give Ben a call. New member John Dalton brought the most beautiful 1937 Packard Six you could ever hope to see. I doubt if there is a better one in all of PAC. John Lortz brought the red '53 convertible and the Baccaros brought the '55 Clipper. We want to give a huge thank you to Shirley and Tony Darrow for setting up our November Fall Tour and meeting. Have a great Thanksgiving. See you December 1st.

Sunday, October 13, members and guests were privileged to visit the Tony Gullo Auto Museum in Magnolia. Our club visited this museum about six years ago. However, this was the first time many members and guests had the opportunity to lay eyes on this extensive and extraordinary collection of over 250 classic cars in a facility complete with a mock gas station, 1950s diner, soda shop, Christmas village, and cars outfitted with car hops and window trays, and a drive in movie. A range of vehicles from the dawn of the automobile industry including a Yugo convertible to present day super cars greeted us. As this is a private museum and not open to the public we felt honored to visit. Ben contacted Mr. Gullo and he graciously extended an invitation for us to come for a tour. Mr. Gullo asks for a donation for admission which he uses to help fund his large Christmas for Kids Charity held annually for deserving kids and their families in the Magnolia area. Our club paid for members. Since our last visit, many cars have been added. This is the greatest single private collection in East Texas. I have visited the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn and the Hickory Corners Museum and this collection ranks right up there with them. Mr. Gullo features a wide variety of autos including at least ten beautiful Packards. He knows about each car and was a terrific tour guide. Even though I was a Gene Autry fan, I loved seeing the two autos belonging to Roy Rogers. One was a half-ton late 30's "Woodie” that Ford built especially for him, as there was never a half-ton station wagon built by Ford. Rogers used it to move his "Sons of the Pioneers" around. There are lots of pictures of it with the group singing around the open tail gate. The other car is a 1946 Cadillac sedan which Rogers had customized to include a hatch back which opened up as a chuck wagon with Woodie side treatment similar to Chrysler town and country and longhorns coming out of the side of the hood with six guns as door handles. There was also a roof rack holding everything from saddles to guitars. .

Even though they are not Packards, I am going to suggest to our friend Bob Fuller that he ask Mr. Gullo if one or both of these Roy Roger's cars could be celebrity cars at the 2020 Keels and Wheels Show. (By the way, Gene Autry had a Packard convertible). In addition to the cars, trucks, and motorcycles, there were also many period signs and memorabilia adorned to the walls of this facility. The Gullo Museum Tour will serve as one of our charitable events along with the annual Keels and Wheels which benefits the Home for Children in La Porte.

Prior to the tour, we met at the Rancho Grande Mexican Restaurant just a short distance from the museum. J.C. And Sherry live nearby and they recommended the place. It was a winner! Even though we had more than 30 in our private room, all the food came out together and it was good!

Tony got his share of teasing because he sold tickets and won $50 in the 50/50. It reminded me of the time we won when our grandchild picked the winning ticket. We had numerous guests as the members were encouraged to invite friends and each was introduced. Maybe we can pick up some new members as we have several active members that we picked up after they attended as guests. Some have even bought Packards such as the Carlsons, Andersons and longtime members, the Trokeys. We discussed upcoming activities, the Texas Packard Meet, and we had our usual round table of up-dates on Packard acquisitions, restorations etc.

Our November 9th meeting will be a tour to a private collection in Willis, Texas. Willis is located on old SHW 75 between Huntsville and Conroe. The owners are friends of the Darrows and they have multiple makes including five Packards in the collection. Tony told me they would also like to join LSP! More information will be coming as we get closer to the event.

On December 1st, we will have our Christmas/Holiday luncheon at the South Shore Harbour Hotel and Resort in League City. Following lunch, we will travel approximately 5 miles to our house for more fun and fellowship.

Assistant Director, John Lortz and I are working on tentative plans to organize a shop visit and sale to Dale and Janice Musgrove's garage in the Brookshire area. John and I promised Janice to do this last year but for various reasons, some of them health related, we never got around to getting the event organized. We will try to go out ahead of time to check it out. Parts and cars are available. I doubt if many parts go back more than the late 40's but I do remember that Dale worked on Jim Rice's '35 120 that Dick Bautch now owns, so who knows what else might be in there. More information will follow as we get closer including an exact date after we consult with Janice.

Again, this was a really great meeting despite the heavy traffic for some, caused by the Renaissance Festival. (Tony braved it and brought his dependable '57 Clipper.) Thanks to the Carter's for making all the arrangements and also for the cake they brought. Thank you goes out to the Trokeys for accompanying the Carters on the recon trip. A big THANK YOU goes to Mr. Gullo for his hospitality and for all the good work he does for his community!

On Sunday, September 15 Lone Star Packards met at Big Horn BBQ on Smith Ranch Rd off SH 288. Despite the heat, we had 25 members. Two brave souls brought their Packards. Many thanks to Bill Anderson who drove his cool '41 coupe and to Tony Darrow who arrived in style in his '57 sedan.

The meeting room is very nice at Big Horn and the food is great and restaurant wonderfully decorated for fall. There were televisions across the wall including several tuned to the Texans game. We are so spread out that Big Horn is also centrally located. We not only have folks coming from the coast and as far away as Orange but also from Kingwood and Katy. We may use Big Horn again.

Since we come from the opposite direction, I did not realize there were a lot of construction obstacles on 288 coming from the north. I apologize for not providing you with an alternate route. We had our monthly 50/50 drawing. “Lucky” John Eanes won for the second month in a row. (Did you hear that Caroline Calistrat? somebody is challenging you for the most wins in the 50/50 drawing. We need to see you and Mike soon.) Jan read the monthly birthdays and she was included. We welcomed new member Robert Taylor to his first LSP meeting. Read his information on the Courtlandt Place Christmas home tour in the September issue of the Owner's Manual (link: Owner's Manual - September 2019 ). We said goodbye to the Chuck and Denise Fleming from Baytown who are moving to Kansas. I told them our friend Steve Christy is in the area so they should get active in that Packard region. Our next meeting will be Sunday, October 13 in Magnolia. Ben explained that we will meet at an area restaurant for lunch and then go to The Tony Gullo Museum. The club will pay the $10/person donation which Mr. Gullo gives to charity.

Tony and Shirley are handling the November 9 meeting. This will serve as our fall tour. We will meet somewhere on the north side and caravan to Willis, Texas to see a private collection that includes five Packards. Details are being worked out.

Chris reminded us that we will have the Christmas Holiday Brunch at the South Shore Harbor Resort and Hotel in League City. Following the brunch, we will drive the short distance to our house for fun and fellowship.

Registration forms for the Texas Packard meet were distributed. For those who could not make it, please go to http://www.texaspackardmeet.org to get a copy. The weather in southeast Texas at mid-day during the summer months is just not conducive to driving non air conditioned sixty plus years old cars! Your director threw out the possibility of having some breakfast meetings next summer. Think about it. How about “Cars and Coffee”?

See you in Magnolia if not before.

Many thanks to Paula and Lenny for arranging the August 17th monthly meeting, held at The Lake Houston Club Room in the Del Webb Sweet Grass Community where they live. I must say it was first class! The air conditioning worked perfectly, which we really deserved after the A/C failure at our last meeting (held at the Potato Patch Restaurant). The club furnished BBQ from Rudy's and each member brought something to go along with the main course. It was all delicious!
We had the pleasure of enjoying an educational and sometimes humorous program presented by a DPS trooper that Lenny and Paula arranged. The topic was new traffic laws which will go into effect in Texas September 1. We got so caught up in the program it went longer than expected, as we had to be out of the room by 2 pm and it left only about 15 minutes or less for our meeting.
Although I tried to cover everything, I did not do justice to some topics and totally skipped others.
First, I want to apologize for not recognizing Ann Stebenne. It was great to see Ann and we want her to attend whenever she can. Ann also brought along a picture and the sheet music to the popular 1920's song depicting a love story titled the Packard and the Ford. We used it as the second drawing in our 50/50. The Andersons won the cash drawing and the Eanes won the drawing for the Packard memorabilia donated by Ann.
Only one Packard made it to the meeting - Lenny drove his 1941 Packard Touring Sedan.
In addition, Tony gave us an update on the club’s financials and we are solvent.
Ben gave us an update on membership. We have 88 families and around 100 people.
We also have new members – Johnny and Terry Scott, and John and Mary Ann Dalton. Their membership applications have been received and dues paid. A new roster will be published with their information.
Stay cool and we will see you next month.

On Sunday, June 23rd we met in the private room at the Potatoe Patch on FM 1960. Over the years we have met there at least 4 times and maybe more with no problems. The temp was 95 with intermittent rain that made it steamy. We had a great turnout of 39 members and guests.

Unfortunately, this visit to the restaurant was one for the books! The meeting room was not ready and we had to wait around while they cleaned up confetti etc. from a party last night, serving staff was limited and the room air conditioning was not functioning.

Now, after the "not so good": we had not had an official meeting in a couple of months and it was good to see everyone who attended today. On a very happy note, Gianna, our 5 year old granddaughter, drew the lucky ticket for the 50/50 and it happened to be Carol's!! What a surprise! We acknowledged all the June and July birthdays and Jan passed the most up to date roster around for people to proof and add any corrections. Many corrections were noted and an updated Membership Roster will be distributed soon. Rich, our Treasurer, reported that we continue to be very solvent and have enough to underwrite special events and make donations to our various projects. We announced that after 18 years serving as the treasurers for our club, Rich and Karen will be stepping down. We gave them a round of applause which was well deserved! We also announced that Shirley and Tony Darrow will take over those responsibilities. Our funds will be in another set of good hands and we appreciate them stepping up! Leon Ahlers will now become our Pre-War Technical Director. Leon has a 1941 4 door 120 convertible plus he has restored several pre-war Fords. He said with his knowledge plus You Tube he should be able to help you with your questions.

We had up-dates from some of our members regarding Packards in progress:

I shared that I finally found a factory a/c mount for our '55 so that we can add air for this time of year! I just need to start gathering all the components! Remember the '40 and '54 Packards I shared with you a couple of weeks ago that are for sale? John Lortz and his son John have gone in as partners on the '54 and it will soon be here. It is a real barn find and has less than 30,000 miles on the odometer! The lady still has the 1940 4 door 110 that was also her father's. It will need total restoration but is all there and can likely be had for $1500 or less. If interested, call John Lortz as he has seen it and has the contact information. Speaking of 1940 110's, Tom Drisdale gave a report on the progress of his coupe. The body work end is in sight. He will soon be moving it to a shop close to his home for the mechanical work to be done.

There will be no meeting in July as we traditionally do not schedule a meeting for the month of the national club meet. Our members Jerry Erhman and Mike Grimes will be attending.

We are working on a possible tour of a collection for the August meeting but if it does not happen we will come up with something else. (IT WILL BE A COOL SOMETHING ELSE!!) September is open and Ben and Janice are working on another trip to the Gullo Museum in October. We have some ideas for a fall tour in early November. One of them is a visit to the George Bush Library and graves of George and Barbara Bush in College Station. Tony also mentioned they have a friend in Willis that has a large collection, including a couple of Packards, who would welcome a visit. We might fit that in somewhere.

Jan and I have talked about the Christmas party which should be on our side of town this year. In 1998, we hosted the National Packard Club Meet at the South Shore Harbor Hotel and Resort. They have a regular Sunday buffet. I would like to pick a date in December that will not interfere with the AACA Christmas lunch. I left a message for the manager of the restaurant to call me to reserve 35 or so spaces for us and then after lunch come to our home which is close to the hotel. New member Robert Taylor has invited us to participate in the Yuletide Historic Home Tour on Courtlandt Place.

We will have more to follow on all these activities.

The 24th Annual Keels and Wheels celebration was last weekend. Despite the down pour on Friday night, we had great weather on Saturday and Sunday. There were 11 Packards this year and seven of them were from our club. A big thank you goes to those who displayed their Packard for this very worthy activity. We also had members displaying cars other than Packards. Jay and Mary Matthews showed a 1917 Chevrolet, Richard & Irina Mitchell showed their ’30 Packard, a ’31 LaSalle, ’31 Rolls Royce, and five Stutz, Jeff Pate with a highly customized Chevrolet his Classic Cars of Houston restored.

Over the years, Keels and Wheels have contributed more than a million dollars to charity. Much of that has gone to the former Boy's Harbor now known as Today’s Harbor for Children. As you know, K&W is one of our community service events each year.

Awards:
Dan Grilli won Best in Class with his ’48 Super 8. Our ‘55 Clipper won the silver award, 2nd place in the class. My '47 won a ribbon awarded by the youth judges from Hagerty. It was fun explaining to them the difference between a straight 8 and a v8. I appreciate Hagerty establishing this program to foster interest in classic cars by the younger generation. Our friend Angelica Brothers, who spoke at one of our meetings, was the sponsor of this group. Richard Mitchell won 1st place for one of his Stutz. Jay Matthews won the Tom Timmins Memorial Award presented by Evelyn for all the work he has done on his 1917 Chevrolet.

The 42nd Annual Texas Packard meet was a great success by every measure. I hesitate to mention names of those who helped for fear of leaving someone out but I am going to try anyway. We could not have pulled this off without the help of LSP members: Rena and Jack, Ben and Janice, Tony and Shirley, Rich and Karen, Bill and Judy, Doug and Maureen, Larry and Lily, Janice Musgrove, and JC and Sherry. In addition Assistant Director John was always offering to help as needed as well as new member Tom Drisdale. The Katy bunch did much of their work on Tuesday night work sessions making car tags, stuffing envelopes etc. It was our wish to begin the rebuilding of our meet after the expansion of Interstate 35 forced a move out of Salado. We had 75 master registrations which exceeded last year's total and 45 cars scheduled for the show. Unfortunately, while we had really cold weather to deal with a year ago, the rain in Salado had a very negative impact on how many of those cars actually showed up. Some got there but never got out of their box trailer. While many cars stayed home, the owners did not.

I am guessing the 75 registrations probably resulted in over 125 people. Lone Star Packard had 34 folks present counting the Myers who hold dual membership with Ark-La-Tex. I appreciate the support from LSP!
The numbers indicate the move back to Salado was the right decision. We had people from all over Texas plus six other states.
In order to make things work, we had to think out of the box. We had the show and the dinner off site at the Salado Civic Center operated by the school district. The school people were wonderful to work with; however, Saturday morning we had that really big down pour! We did not stay long before heading back to the hotel. Actually, the rain started just as the parade left the hotel and got worse the closer we got to the show field.
It also affected the number of people who were in front of the shops watching us parade down Main Street.
No decision yet but I think the consensus was that we have the people's choice show on the hotel grounds next year.
The Thursday night ice cream social and Packard bingo was a success and it likely will now become a regular event.

The Friday night mixer at the Barrow Craft Brewery was very popular. On Friday nights they have food trucks and an outdoor concert and craft beer as well as on site produced root beer. The brewery owns the land up to the edge of Salado Creek and we were allowed to park the Packards next to the creek.
It made for beautiful pictures and since this is a big deal every Friday night in Salado, a lot of people enjoyed looking at our cars. I am thinking maybe we should move the parade from Saturday morning to Friday evening for the trip from the hotel to the Barrow Brewery. There should be a lot more people on Main Street at that time to view the Packard parade.
We have time to think about next year’s schedule.

It took all 4 Texas Packard Clubs to make the return to Salado successful. Thank you all!