President's Message

 

Runabouts to Rockets
Volume 42 #9-10
September-October 2023

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On behalf of the NAOC, I would like to give a special thanks to Jan and Mark Santos for hosting a great NAOC National Meet in La Crosse, Wisconsin!   Many of our long-term members have told me that they believe this was one of the best meets that the NAOC has ever put on, and I have to agree with them. Jan and Mark spent the last four years planning this event, and if you were there, you can see could see the results. They got the entire community involved, including the River Fest Committee and local news media.   Their relationship with the River Fest Committee allowed us to move our cars to Riverside Park along the Mississippi River to kick off their annual 4th of July celebration.  The River Fest Committee also used a 1941 Oldsmobile 98 Convertible on their event shirts and entry pins.  It was a great opportunity to show off our cars and share Oldsmobile stories with the public.  The River Fest Committee told Jan that our cars contributed to their success and they wish that we could return next year.

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Our meet also received public attention from the local news media.  I was asked by Jan and Mark to cover an interview at ABC WXOW Channel 19 on Tuesday morning, and asked again to meet with a reporter during our show on Saturday at Riverside Park. The interview on Saturday consisted of only four questions and one of those was what do I do consider the “Holy Grail” of Oldsmobile.   I told the reporter that I believe the 1953 Fiesta was the Holy Grail since they only produced 458 of them and that we were fortunate to have three of them at our meet this year.  After my interview, the reporter told me he was going to check out the Fiestas, so I suggested that he talk to Leo Stutzman because he was standing next to his car at the time. Leo and the reporting team did an outstanding job covering the history of Leo and Karen’s Fiesta.  We uploaded both interviews on our NAOC website under the National Meet information.  The interview with Leo is well worth your time to watch.

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Special thanks also to everyone that attended this year’s meet and to everyone that volunteered to help during the meet.  We were fortunate to have several individuals take a lot of photos, and Jim Schultz has agreed to write stories for this issue and the next to share with the members that were not able to attend.  On a personal note, I really enjoyed the opportunity to drive my 1930 Deluxe Sport Coupe with my wife, Mary Jo, and Jan and Mark’s grandchildren in the rumble seat on the tours.

Our 2024 meet will be hosted by David Lightfoot, his daughter-in-law Nicole, and daughter Casey in Bowling Green Kentucky. The dates for the meet are June 26-29, 2024 so mark your calendars for those dates. More details information will be included in future issues of Runabouts to Rockets.

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This success of this year’s meet has also inspired several other members to step up to host future meets.  We are working on locations for the 2025, 2026 and 2027 meets.

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I will once again be recruiting new members at Hershey this year.  If you are able to attend Hershey this year, please stop by my spaces at GCE 11-12.

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Thank you for being a member of the NAOC.

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—Greg Minges, President