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| Report on May 20, 2012 Meeting of Lone Star Packards from Tommy Baccaro, Region Director Today you can sum up the meeting, at least getting there in a
Packard, in about three words "IT WAS HOT". Our trusty 1948 "Sedan for
Seven" made the 128 mile round trip with only a few hiccups. I think
the hot weather has an adverse effect on the corn oil we are forced to
burn, but luckily the electric pump worked miracles and we got home
without problems. As announced in emails leading up to today's meeting we had a special treat as Dee and Steve drove their beautiful, just acquired, 1942 160 lwb sedan (Oveta) all the way from Kingwood. It is a really nice blue and silver and it is a 148" wheelbase making it the longest car in the club! We surrender as we have held the title of longest car in the club for many years, but ours is only 141" wb.! It is hard to imagine a car longer than that! In addition Dick Bautch brought his 1935 Super 8. Doug and Maureen brought the air conditioned '56 Clipper. In addition to those four Bernie had his model A and his 1940 120 in the garage. Really great show of American highway pioneers! At the meeting the majority of the members voted to have the fall tour in the "Golden Triangle" area and the date was set as November 9th. Jerry Ehrman has agreed to be the point man and will start looking around for a suitable hotel/motel. We are hoping there will be at least 10 rooms and I will get with Jerry about details. Steve Wanderman knows the area well and we will probably meet along I-10 East somewhere and have Steve lead us on the back roads. I think we met in the parking lot of San Jacinto mall last time. If there is a particular site we missed the last time or we did not get time to cover properly, please send Jerry or me a note. The alternate date was the 16th just in case everything is booked or Jerry is not available on the 9th. More to come. John Lawrence, member of the Heart of Texas Club, and I have been working on the Salado classes as directed at the Friday night Director's meeting in Salado. Several copies of the proposal we sent to the other clubs was distributed. John and I have spent a lot of time so hopefully it is acceptable to all concerned. As promised last month, I did secure a copy of the remaining projects available for sponsorship in the "Packard Proving Grounds Project" I asked Rich to put together a committee to study the many possibilities and come back with a report in the next month or two. The months of June and July are available for a hosting couple. If no one volunteers, I will find a suitable, centrally located restaurant and schedule it to avoid "Father's Day". The members seemed to like the Spaghetti Western we went to in the Heights last fall so that may be where we go unless I hear from someone. We had about 25 members in attendance and I want to again thank Bernie and Ann for being wonderful hosts. They not only had a place for all the covered dishes and provided all the drinks but they had ample seating both inside and under the tents and umbrellas outside. A nice breeze was keeping us cool as well as several well-placed fans. In addition, it is always a treat to get to look at Bernie's wood carvings - he is truly an artist! | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Report on April 15, 2012 Meeting of Lone Star Packards from Tommy Baccaro, Region Director Today we had a great meeting starting with lunch at Sudies Seafood
House and then a short trip to our house for Carol's peach cobbler. I
think the threatening weather as well as the date being close to the recent Salado meet kept
our numbers down to twenty three but we had a great time and a very
productive meeting. We gave a report on some of our members who have
been under the weather and asked that they be remembered in prayers and
thoughts. We discussed three options for next November's fall tour. Two of them involve another mini tour. One would be a coastal tour which the Baccaro's would work out and it would include a trip to the Butler Longhorn Museum in Lake Charles, maybe one of two car collections in the area, lunch at the Top Water Grill in San Leon with the cars parked for a photo op next to the water and a visit to a local rum distillery. The other would go north as last year and maybe visit the Bill Thomas ranch and collection, see another car collection, and maybe even visit a llama ranch. Robby would check on that tour. The third proposal would involve a two or three day traditional tour going east to the Beaumont, Port Arthur, Orange area. This would be a repeat in the area of a very successful tour we had five or six years ago that was enjoyed by a lot of people. I suggested we all put the proposals in our pipes and smoke them and we would discuss it again at the next meeting. The next meeting will be held in Katy on May 20th at Bernie and Ann's house. The August meeting will be held at the Darrow's new home in the Champion's Forest area on August 19th. Chris made a proposal that we provide some incentives for people to bring their Packards to meetings. After some discussion it was decided to tie it to our monthly 50/50 drawing. If you drive a Packard to a meeting, you will receive one extra ticket for each ticket you buy. If you buy six tickets you will get twelve. We discussed making more contributions to the Packard Proving Grounds in an attempt to help them complete that historic work. I volunteered to find out what sponsorships were available and make a report at the next meeting. Due to the threatening weather, only the Baccaro's drove Packards to Sudies because we were so close. We had both the '47 and the '40 out today. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Report on the 35th Annual Texas Packard Meet, March 30 - April 1 from Tommy Baccaro, Region Director. The
35th Annual Texas Packard Meet was a resounding success. There were 108
Registrants with a total attendance of 214. 55 cars were judged.
The
amazing thing was that there were so many open touring cars from the
20's. I think there were 5 all together with Tom and Evelyn's 1920
being the oldest. Though we were down about 4 couples from our
group
this year, we were still represented well with awards! Tom and Evelyn's
car won it's class and won the Oldest Car award. The Darrow's were
recognized for their 57 Clipper, the Carlson's for their 56 Clipper,
our family for our 55 Clipper as well as the Deluxe Super 8 lwb and the
Matthews' won their class with their 48 convertible . To
me the most interesting footnote involved the 55/56 jr.
models. There
were six of them which included the Carlson sedan and our sedan while
the others in the class were 2 door hard tops. It is rare that two
sedans would beat out four hard tops for first and second place! As usual Gordon Logan provided us with a great "early bird tour. LSP had the distinction of having the oldest car on the tour, the Timmin's 1920, and the newest on the tour being the Darrow's 1957! We wound around the back roads heading towards a restoration shop in Taylor which was a great facility. On the way we saw lots of Bluebonnets and other wild flowers, farm animals, brooks and creeks, a water fall, an iron bridge, and plenty of rolling hills. We have become accustomed to the Stewarts from Longview driving their 1925 senior touring car to our meet and to various nationals around the country. David wears a pin that says "trailers are for horses" This year we got to meet Wayne and Marilyn Funk from Washington, Michigan. They towed their '24 open senior from near Detroit to St Louis. In St. Louis they left the trailer with relatives and set out for Salado in the Packard. They left on Sunday and arrived on Thursday without incident and they also took it on the tour! Makes me ashamed of myself for dreading a 200 mile drive from League City to Salado! The Funks said they had a blast and would be back. Scanning the roster I see Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arizona, Iowa, Washington, Michigan, Kansas, and Colorado in addition to the many participants from Texas. There is no question the Salado meet has come a long way from that first meet thirty five years ago when we had about thirty people and fourteen cars!. I start looking forward to the next meet as soon as we head the Cormorant south on Sunday morning! | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Report on February 19, 2012 Meeting of Lone Star Packards from Tommy Baccaro, Region Director Many
thanks to Mike and Caroline Calistrat for hosting today's Lone star
Packards meeting. We had 35 members and guests meet for lunch at the
Baytown Seafood Restaurant after a great lunch we drove the short
distance to the Calistrats' for desserts and our meeting. Caroline had
delicious cake and brownies and it was hard to not go back for seconds.
The highlight of the visit was an opportunity to see Mike and Caroline's
new 1963 Mercury Monterrey Breezeway Coupe as well as renew our
acquaintance with the '39 Packard 12 and the '47 Lincoln 12. Also, Mike
has redecorated his garage and it resembles a new car showroom - really
nice. At the meeting we set the date for the April meeting for the 15th and it will be hosted by the Baccaro's in the League City area. More information will be coming. Because Salado is held at the end of March, we will not have a regular meeting that month. Speaking of Salado, I need to know how many people plan on going to our dinner at the steakhouse in Belton on Saturday night prior to the awards program back at the hotel. You can tell me now or wait until I start sending out reminders in a week or two.
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Report on January 17, 2012 Meeting of Lone Star Packards from Tommy Baccaro, Region Director Thirty four members of the Lone Star Region met today at the Trokey's home in Katy Lake Estates. It was a covered dish affair and the food was fit for a king! John and Vivian Lortz won the 50/50 drawing. During the business meeting it was decided we would not meet in March because the normal meeting date would be too close to our departure for the 35th Annual Texas Packard Meet just a couple of weeks later. It was also decided that I would again try to arrange for us to meet at the Oxbow Restaurant in Belton for our Saturday night get together during our Salado weekend. I am sure there will be a caravan to Salado for those interested. Rich also reported of our 40 members we still have about 10 who have not renewed. Please send in your dues to Rich asap so we can get our roster compiled. Our next meeting will be hosted by the Calistrats at their home in Quail Valley on February 19th. We will have the opportunity to not only see what Mike has done to his garage but also his latest acquisition, a 1963 Mercury. Mike got it from Ebay and he said when it arrived it exceeded his expectations! More details to follow on the meeting. The Baccaro's signed up to host the meeting in April and more information will follow. Dale and Janis signed up to arrange the meeting in October and we will probably have another one day mini tour in November. The sign up sheet will again be available at the next meeting if you would like to host. May through August are available at this time. The national meet is in September this year and we often do not have a formal meeting during the national meet month. We timed our business meeting perfectly for half time so we were able to watch the Texans almost pull off what would have been the biggest upset in the league. Just think how good they will be next year with all those starters back from season injuries. Doug and Maureen drove their beautiful ' 56 Clipper they recently purchased from the Carters. Doug is wanting to add a/c before the Salado meet. Speaking of Doug, he continues to develop the LSP website. We have about two dozen pictures of member's cars on the LSP web site. If your car(s) are not shown please send him your favorite picture so he can add it to the members' cars section. Also, he is posting the resource list we put together a few months back for your reference when you need parts or service on your Packard. As you have good experiences with other people, please send the information to Doug so he can add it to the list. Mike Grimes asked me to remind you that any materials you want included in the next Owner's Manual need to get to him by February 1, 2012.
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| Report on December 18, 2011 Christmas Party and Meeting of Lone Star Packards from Tommy Baccaro, Region Director
The Lone
Star Packards Christmas party was a big success. Forty of us gathered
at Zio's Kitchen on Bay Area Blvd where the food was great and the
two waiters got it out while hot and we all got our food at the same
time. Following lunch we followed Tom in the 1920 Packard to their home in Friendswood. John and Vivian brought the red 1953 convertible, David and Jeanne brought the 1950 Coupe, Ron and Juanita brought the 1956 400, and we had our trusty 1955 Clipper. As usual, we had a great time kicking tires and looking at the wonderful collection Tom and Evelyn have assembled. The Timmin's were excellent hosts, to the extent that Evelyn sent each of us home with a special gift from her oven. Ours has already been consumed and it was really good! That goes above and beyond being a hostess and we do appreciate the gesture. At the business meeting I announced that Ben has resigned as our Director with a year remaining on his term. Most of you know he has had some serious health problems the last couple of months and he has had complications. Please remember Ben and Janice in your prayers. During the Fall Mini Tour, I polled the officers and also sent an e mail to the Officers and Directors who were not present to ask what we should do. It was agreed that Rich and I would both move up from our current positions and he and Karen would continue the treasury duties. Therefore for the remainder of this term I will again be Director and Rich will be the Assistant Director. Hopefully Rich will move up to Director a year from now and I can just be a member for a while. All other officers remain the same. We also outlined activities for the next couple of months. The January meeting will be a covered dish luncheon at the Trokey's on January 15th. The February meeting previously announced for our house will be at the Calistrat's on the 19th. They will select a suitable restaurant for us to meet and then we will go to their house following lunch. March of course will be our Salado event the last weekend of the month so our next open date is April. Robby is working on a LSP visit to the Bill Thomas Ranch in the Montgomery area and that will be a real treat if we can arrange it! Several of us toured his collection with another group and we would really like for everyone to see his collection, his shop, and his home. The Baccaro's would still like to host soon but we will wait to see if and when the Thomas tour will be scheduled. We will also pass around a sheet of paper at the January meeting for you to sign up if you would like host a meeting; you can have it all at your house or arrange for a restaurant. We have several cars for sale in the club. Gene has his 1956 Patrician, Ben has the 1956 Super Clipper, and John Lortz is selling a 1955 400 for a friend. If you do Facebook, Anthony has started a Lone Star Packard group. Feel free to join as it could be a neat way for us to keep advised of each others projects, get advice, or find parts. It currently has 11 members but several of them are Baccaro's. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Report on November 12, 2011 Fall Tour of Lone Star Packards from Ben Carter, Region Director
The Fall Tour was very much a success. With a large number of last minute reservations we ended up with over 50 participants including several guests from the AACA and the CCCA. Several Packards made the trip including the Baccaro’s ‘48 Limo, the Bartlett’s ‘29 Super 8 roadster, the Grimes’ 36 Coupe and the Lortz’s ‘53 convertible. We met at the Tony Gullo Museum just outside Magnolia at 9 am. After a short talk by Tony Gullo Sr. about his collection the group was treated to 50 thousand square feet of beautiful cars. The building was fascinating and included a drive in theater, a full functioning 50’s gas station, and a full functioning soda shop. There were so many rooms with cars it was easy to get lost and not see everything. There were more than 200 cars, most of them carefully restored. There were even three Packards, a 1950 Custom convertible, a 1955 Caribbean, and a 1940 120 Coupe. About 11:30 we drove to Montgomery to the home of LSP members Richard and Irina Mitchell. What a beautiful surprise awaited our tour group! All of the Mitchell’s collection of magnificent Packards, Stutz and LaSalles were parked outside and the newest building (it’s hard to call the three buildings garages) was set up beautifully for a BBQ lunch including fresh flowers on each table. It is impossible to describe Richard and Irina’s collection in this short write up. You had to be there to see for yourself. After a delicious lunch Richard was kind enough to answer questions from our members and guests. The final question asked was for Richard to start up his beautiful super charged Stutz, which he did. What a sound!! The Mitchell’s were the perfect hosts and everyone had a great time. Our final tour stop was a car-a-van to LSP members Harold and Marisol Honsberg’s beautiful home on Lake Conroe. Harold had driven their magnificent 1933 Convertible Coupe so we followed him and Marisol to their home for dessert. Richard and Irina joined the tour group in his Stutz Bearcat. People all along the way to Lake Conroe waved. It must have been quite a site to see these beautiful Packards and the Stutz going down Highway 105. Arriving at the Honsberg’s members of our group who had not been there before could see how Harold gets five cars into a two car garage. Marisol had prepared some great desserts which evidently everyone enjoyed because there was none left. Most everyone sat outside on the deck to see their great view of the lake which is so low that there is a wide beach behind the house. Everything worked out well including the weather which was perfect. With great hosts like Tony Gullo, Richard and Irina Mitchell and Harold and Marisol Honsberg it’s hard to go wrong.
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| Report on October 15, 2011 Meeting of Lone Star Packards from Ben Carter, Region Director The October meeting was held at Spring Creek BBQ in Katy. We had 30 in attendance with 2 Packards. David and Jeanne McDonald brought their 1950 and Dick Bautch brought his 1935. There would have been at least one more but Ron Jordan took his 1956 400 for an oil change and the transmission locked up so he had to be towed. John Lortz is going to look at it to see if he can fix it. We were pleased to have some of our regulars there. Tommy has been suffering from Bronchitis, I have been fighting Cellulitis and Dale has been taking treatments for his feet. Bill and Sharon had planned to attend but Sharon's mother passed away this week. Please remember Bill and Sharon in your prayers. After some good BBQ we started the meeting with the drawing for the 50/50 of $30.00 which was won by Tommy. Dale gave the invocation and we discussed the Fall tour which is less than one month away on Nov. 12. Please remember to sign up for this one day mini-tour. Clyde Coombs, who had served on a PT boat in WWII was our guest speaker. He was on one of 36 PT boats that were in the Normandy invasion. He did a very good job of explaining how the PT boats worked and how great the Packard 1500 HP engines performed. He brought many photos and a model of a PT boat. Everyone really enjoyed his great presentation.
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September 18, 2011 Meeting of Lone Star Packards at Spaghetti Warehouse
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August 21, 2011 Meeting of Lone Star Packards at La Mia Cafe
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| Report on June 18, 2011 Meeting of Lone Star Packards from Ben Carter, Region Director
The
weather was much hotter than the May meeting but about 30 members of Lone Star Packards
made the drive to Bellville for the June meeting hosted by Jay and Mary
Matthews. Only 2 Packards made the trip. Mike Grimes drove his 56
Caribbean convertible all the way from The Woodlands and Jay and Mary drove
their 1948 yellow Custom convertible all the way from just outside Bellville. After
some good Asian food at the Golden Pagoda in downtown Bellville, the group
traveled about 5 miles to the beautiful home of Jay and Mary Matthews who were
kind enough to host our June meeting and provide refreshments for
everyone. John
Lortz won the 50/50 drawing. After an invocation by Dale, Mike indicated
he is always looking for articles for the Owners Manual and Doug asked again
for members’ car photos for the web site. Robby reported that he is still
working on a date for the Christmas meeting trying not to conflict with the
Gulf Coast AACA since several of our members belong to both clubs. A
notice will be sent with details when they are final. Rich
reported on the club treasury. Mike Rigsby reported that the national
meet scheduled for July 11-16 has only two members from LSP attending.
Those attending are Mike Rigsby and Mike Grimes. Hopefully we will have
better representation next year when the meet is in Williamsburg, Va. in
September. After the meeting we were invited to view the Matthew's car
collection. They have a rare Viele, an early Chevrolet, a brass era Rio,
a 50's Oldsmobile and the Packard, all very nice. There
will be no meeting in July and the August meeting is not yet set. More
information will be sent in July. If you are a member of AACA don't
forget the July 4 gathering at George Bush Park off Westheimer. See
you in August
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Report on May 15, 2011 Meeting of Lone Star Packards from Ben Carter, Region Director The weather was great and we had the best turn out of the year with approximately 50 members and guests. There were 4 Packards in attendance including the McDonalds' 49 Coupe, the Lortz' 53 Convertible, the Darrows' 57 Clipper and my 56 Clipper. They looked great outside Boudreaux Cajun restaurant and attracted a lot of attention from other customers. After some great Cajun food we held our monthly meeting beginning with the 50/50 drawing won by Jay Matthews which will help pay for gas back to Bellville. Following the invocation by Dale we held our Sunshine and Showers which is time to find out anything good that has happened in members lives or anything not so good. On the good side we found out that member Dan Becker has been elected to the City Council of League City. We also welcomed back the Darrows from their 4 month cruise. It was also good to see the McDonalds who have not been able to come for a while and it was great to see Bernie out and about. On the not so good we learned that Mike Calistrat fell yesterday and had to go to the emergency room. He is also supposed to have carpal tunnel surgery tomorrow. We will be checking on him. Mike Rigsby brought us up to date on the national PAC. Treasurer Rich gave a financial report, Membership Director Bill reported that we have 42 paid memberships and Robby reported that he is working on the June meeting and avoiding having a meeting on Father's Day. Watch for more news on this. Next Asst. Director Tommy gave a recap of this year's Salado Meet. You can read about it in the next Owners Manual. Finally Doug reported on the progress of the web site, which is coming along great. If you would like to sell something you can put it on the club site. Following the meeting most members and guests drove the short distance to Gene Glover's beautiful facility where we were able to see his collection of beautifully restored cars including 2 magnificent Packard sedans It was very gracious of Gene to allow us to visit his spotless office/garage. If you couldn't make it you missed a good Packard outing.
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