Magazine

Runabouts to Rockets

President's Message

Runabouts to Rockets
Volume 40 #1-2
January/February, 2021

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A new year is upon us so Happy New Year; it most certainly should be better than the last in multitudinous ways. For one thing the COVID vaccines are here and hopefully will begin to change the approaches to all things we love to do and more importantly will protect the American population from illness and death. I have noticed, too, during this time that apparently I read lips more than I thought. With masks and my deteriorating hearing I have a very hard time (harder than before) understanding what people are saying. Makes me feel like an idiot to have to ask people to keep repeating their comments and questions. I am also much better at recognizing people from their eyes than I would have thought although I encountered my wife the other day in her ICU nursing job wearing all her protective equipment and I actually talked to her for a few minutes before I recognized her. As you might imagine that did not play out well. I learned that unconditional love only occurs with your dog.

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Recently I have been getting phone and email requests from many members and even non-members about information and parts availability for their vintage Olds, which reminds me to express my appreciation to all the NAOC members who serve as Advisors. I am always interested in discussing Oldsmobiles and the old car hobby although I am less likely to be a parts source. Investigating whether an eight cylinder engine will fit into an original six cylinder car without major modifications or moving the core support or radiator is challenging and fun for many of us who are Advisors. I would like to emphasize that the principal role of the Advisor is to help with technical issues; the Advisory role is not to serve primarily as a parts locator. While I understand the wish for obtaining seemingly impossible to retrieve parts, it becomes frustrating to the caller or emailer to be rebuffed by an Advisor. Sometimes, also, the Advisor may feel responsible or feel guilty for not “coming through”. In general all the Advisors remain devoted to answering questions about antique Oldsmobiles; please keep this in mind when contacting any NAOC advisor.

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One of my boyhood and college heroes passed away recently, General Chuck Yeager. I had the opportunity to meet him once when he came to Travis Air Force Base for his annual exam. He came around the corner by my office as I was coming from the other direction. I said to him that he looked familiar and he beamed. I then said that I had seen him on TV selling AC Delco spark plugs (“anything that can fire 30 times a second I want on my side”) (true story). He glared at me and walked away. I guess he was short on humor that day. First person to break the sound barrier! There were giants in those days. We should all wish to live to be 97 and be vital until the end.

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In this issue you will find information from Greg Minges about the upcoming (we certainly hope) national meet in Spokane/Post Falls. For quite unforeseen circumstances Larry Reid has been forced to turn the logistics of the meet over to myself and Greg. If the meet is an unmitigated disaster you can blame it all on me and if it is a resounding success you can give all the credit to Greg. Why should it be any different from every work situation I have encountered in my life? From Greg’s information it is now possible to make hotel reservations. For those who were at Larry’s prior meet you remember what a stellar location Post Falls, Idaho was/is! Of course the sooner we can get registrations in for the meet and hotel the better for all. The surrounding area is spectacularly beautiful with Lake Coeur d'alene, which to me is like a mini Lake Tahoe. Since we have now gone to bimonthly issues of the R to R the most updated information may be found on the website. Clearly if anyone runs into problems with any of these Meet issues you can call or email one of us (was going to suggest Greg! Ha!) We’ll try to not change our phone numbers or email addresses. Hope to see you there!!!

—Rick Winn (#914)
Slaton, Texas​