General Meeting – February 2020

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Corvettes of Bakersfield, Inc.

General Meeting

2/11/2020 at Round Table Pizza (White Ln/Gosford Rd)

47 members in attendance. 

6:33 P.M.  Meeting called to order by President Larry Young.  Larry welcomed everyone  and thanked our sponsor, Three Way Chevrolet, for their support.

Flag Salute: Led by Dave Kielty.

Guests: Tony Castiglione from Streets of Bakersfield and Bob Hurston.

Birthdays and Anniversaries:  February birthdays and anniversaries were acknowledged by Larry Young.

Raffle Prizes:  Tonights raffle prizes were contributed by Diane Wallace, Donnie Hansen, Larry Young, Linda McNitt and Carl Lange.

Minutes:  Kathy Gallego motioned to approve the minutes from last month’s meeting.  Denise Hollister made a second.  Motion passed.

Larry Young/President:  Streets of Bakersfield will be held next month.  Sign up sheet for committee is being passed around.  The COB storage shed was recently cleaned out.  Thanks to those that helped.  We are going to extend the deadline for submitting logo ideas.  The 2020 Christmas Party will be held at the Crest Bar and Grill on 12/12/2020.  More information will follow as the date draws near.  Letter was sent out regarding nominations for board of directors.  The nominating committee is comprised of Bill Dean, Larry Young and Danny Ellison.  Nominations will be taken through the April general meeting.  Nominations will be announced at the May meeting and voting will occur at the June meeting.  Linda McNitt has again accepted the position of NCCC Governor.  The next quarterly meeting is the second weekend in May in Ventura.  Attendance is encouraged if you want to see what the NCCC is about.

Bill Dean/Vice President:   An email was sent out to members about the upcoming board election along with a description of each position.  He encouraged members to make nominations.  Thank you to Kathy Gallego for the new member roster she created.  If anyone has logo ideas, please submit the design directly to Bill.

Guest:  Tony Castiglione with Streets of Bakersfield – Cruising for Charity.  Going on 4th year with the event.  This year it will be a 4-day event, 3/18-3/21/2020.  He explained the parking for the event and the event schedule.

Kim Miller/Secretary:   Nothing to report.

Betsy Slauson/Membership:  There are currently 114 members.

Carl Lange/Treasurer report – There is $21,137.54 between the accounts.  The final 501(c)3 account will be set up after 2/17/2020 (the financial institution is going through a name change).

Virgil Miller/Website:  Under the About Us tab, a new historical article about the club and the logos that have been submitted have been posted.  Under the Events tab, information about the Streets of Bakersfield can be found.

Social Media/Adrian Medina:  Encouraged posting on the Corvettes of Bakersfield Facebook page and sharing on My Corvette page so outsiders can see activities too.

Sergeant At Arms/David Kielty:  Nothing new.

Public Relations/Liz Zaninovich:  Nothing to report.

Danny Ellison/EventsValentine’s Day Dinner will be on 2/14/2020 at the Chalet Basque.  Corvette Owners Breakfast will be on 2/19/2020 at The Links at Riverlakes.  Leap Year Day Poker Chip run is on 2/29/2020.  This will be a local run.  So far, there are 21 cars and 38 people signed up.  2020 Wine Run will be on 9/26/2020.  Tony Ennis advised that the first stop will be at Tobin James, followed by lunch at Still Water and the day will end at Castoro.

New Business:  Larry Young, as president, wants to be notified of impromptu runs.  Permission is not needed; he just wants to be notified since it is being done under the umbrella of Corvettes of Bakersfield.  The club has had several inquiries about a future Gamblers Classic.  If anyone is interested in pursuing this venture, please let Larry know.  The Riverside Resort in Laughlin wants us back, per Kathy Gallego.  Larry also shared information he received from another corvette club advising of an event they are having and inviting us to attend.   Visit Pacificcoastcorvetteclub.org for more information on their August event.

Next month’s raffle prize will be brought by Betsy Slauson.

Dale Frye recently visited the Pyrenees Café on Sumner St.  The food was great and suggested it might be an idea for a change for the Corvette Owners Breakfast.

Meeting Adjourned at 7:46 pm

Board Meeting – February 2020

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Corvettes of Bakersfield, Inc.

Board of Directors Meeting

02/04/2020 at Lorene’s on 23rd St.

Call to order:  6:01 PM by President Larry Young

Present:     Larry Young, Bill Dean, Dave Kielty, Virgil & Kim Miller, Danny Ellison, Liz Zaninovich, Betsy Slauson, and Carl Lange.

Absent:       Adrian Medina.

Guests:       Linda McNitt and Chris Espitia.

Minutes:     Dave moved to approve minutes from the last BOD meeting. Carl seconded the motion. Motion passed.

NCCC Governor:  Linda McNitt has decided that she would like to continue as the club’s NCCC Governor.  Larry accepted her offer.

Monthly Meetings:    Larry advised that Three-Way Chevrolet is having employee training for the next couple months (maybe three) and the meeting room won’t be available.  Those signed up for refreshments won’t need to bring them.  If you are signed up to bring raffle prizes, please plan on bringing them.  We will meet at Round Table Pizza at Gosford Rd/White Ln.

Club Logo:    Bill has received eight proposed designs and will stop taking submissions next month.  Vote will be in March.  Virgil will post them on the website and give the link to Adrian to post on Facebook.

Street of Bakersfield:  Carl advised we have nine tickets that need to be sold for $50 each.  We also need a chalk team of five people for 3/20 and 3/21/2020.  Danny will make a sign-up sheet  to pass around at the general meeting.  Two COB members are needed for the Saturday Cruise, 3/21, after the show.  This will be put out to the general membership on Tuesday also.

Gambler’s Classic 2021:  Are we going to pursue this?  This will be put on the agenda for the General Membership meeting.

Impromptu Events – If the events are going under the Corvettes of Bakersfield  name, the president needs to be “in the know”.

Nominations:  Bill sent out a letter and job descriptions to the membership.

Larry is having surgery 3/11/2020 and will be out of commission for a couple weeks.

New Business:  Linda McNitt presented meeting results from the last NCCC meeting.  NCCC only want a calendar of events from clubs.  To and from meetings (Board and General) and events are covered as long as they are on the calendar.  The next NCCC quarterly meeting is in Ventura the second weekend in May.  Linda suggested that if we put a run together for the Ventura area that weekend, the NCCC meeting could be an option for attendance for anyone going on the run.

Adjourn:     7:10 PM

National Corvette Museum

New Corvette Delivery
By Larry and Penny Young

It was the summer of 2013 while Penny and I were in Sequim, WA visiting her family. Shopping in a funky old fashion grocery store, I got a call from my lawyer’s office saying the case had been settled, and you can pick up your check tomorrow. WOW, that is not going to happen tomorrow, but as soon as we get back to Bakersfield, I’m on my way to his office.
Long story short, I had a medical procedure that failed. My Dr. suggested we sue the manufacture of the device as many cases had already been settled because of this failed device. We were successful.
Having had many fun cars in my life, mostly Sunbeams and particularly our Sunbeam Tiger that we bought new in 1965, I had thoughts of a new fun car running through my mind in wild anticipation as what I could get with my new found settlement. The new Jaguars XKF’s were just coming out. The new mid engine Porsches were on the market and all the car magazines’ talking heads just couldn’t say enough about them. Just couldn’t get excited enough to take the foreign car plunge again.
In August, I went to Monterey for the Reunion at Laguna Seca Raceway. It just
happened to be the 60th anniversary of the Corvette and introduction of the C7. Chevrolet had brought a ton of engineer and marketing folks to the track and Ron Fellows had at least four C7’s on the track during breaks between races and lunch break. They were flat hauling running lap after lap at more than race speeds. I currently had my C4 coupe with the Doug Nash 4 + 3 four-speed at the track. We got to do a couple laps with at least 300 other Corvettes but nothing like the C7’s. Oh, I was getting hooked.
Spent the next few months wondering what I should do with this new money that was burning a hole in my checking account. Guess what, a friend called me and asked if my C4 was for sale. Of course it was. We did a deal, I got a bunch of 100 dollar bills and had that situation solved. We went to the Los Angeles Auto show about the end of the year. Chevrolet had eight new C7’s in the Corvette coral and they were letting folks crawl over them. The one that really stood out was a Stingray Coupe in Lime Rock green with light brown leather interior. Oh my god!
Came home with all the literature they would let me have. Went out to Three- Way Chevrolet here in Bakersfield and couldn’t find a sales person who knew much about their new C7 rides. Another couple months pass and then I got serious about the new ar. Found Mike Thomas, the sales manager and with his guidance I ordered our new car and chose the Corvette Museum Package for an additional $990. Of course it was Lime Rock Metallic green with black 19 and 20 inch wheels. A few weeks later I got a call from a sales associate at the dealership saying the car was going to be assembled in a few days. Did I have any changes I wanted to make in my original order. No, no changes. Talked to my wife after the call and we decided to go with the paddle shift 6 speed auto transmission in lieu of the 7 speed manual. This was a very good decision. Two days later, I get a call from the Museum asking if I wanted to pick up my car on
June 9, 2014? Yep, that works for me. On Saturday morning June 7th we are on a plane to Bowling Green, KY. Really not that easy as we had to fly to Nashville, rent a car for a one way trip to Bowling Green during the Country Music awards weekend. It worked out OK with help from the Museum folks. They did a great job.
Sunday, the 8th of June we cruse up to the Museum just to get a handle on location as we have a 7:30 am appointment to get started on the delivery process.
Well, guess what? Right there front row with our names on a large poster surrounded by a velvet rope was our new Corvette. It was in concour show condition with I’ll bet with at least 10 museum attendees surrounding the car at all times. It was fun to stand back and ask folks what they thought about the car not knowing we were the owners. Made us feel we made all the right decisions regarding color and accessories.
Monday morning at precise 7:30 am we were ready to begin our new adventure. Our guide, who was really a great guy send us to the office to prove we were the right folks and that I had a drivers license, insurance and that the car had been paid for. Passed that test. Next, we were loaded in a Chevy van and taken to the Assembly Plant a few blocks away. Introductions were made with the plant personal and the tour begins. We were given the deluxe tour getting to see everything but the paint shop and the engine assembly room. All 2014 Corvettes came with the same engine the LT1 6.2L V8. When the Z06 was introduced in 2015, the engine assembly room was opened for the tour as all those engines were built at the plant. The tour takes over 3 hours. We got to talk to the folks putting the car together, adding all the fluids and the person who gets to drive it car off the line first. It was lady, probably in her late 50’s, got to push the start button first and drive over the rumple strips as fast as she could go in 50 feet. That sets the suspension. She then turns the car over the guy that puts it in the rain storm for 5 minutes, checking for leaks. The car then goes into outside storage covered in plastic for 10 days before it heads to a dealer or the Museum for delivery. This wait is to insure no manufacturing problems or potential recall items show up. All Corvettes are sold before they are assembled.
The Bowling Green plant produces a 170 cars a day, 850 a week with annual capacity of 41,000 cars. This is maximum production. This is twice that of Porsche 911.
Upon returning to the museum, we were given a personal tour of the sink hole that gobbled up a bunch of priceless Corvettes. All the cars were out of the hole sitting around the perimeter. A couple of the cars were unrecognizable as to what they were. Only the tires and wheels survived.
Now it was our turn. After an extensive review of all the cars’ many functions, it was driven by our guide to the front of the Museum. Yes, I was in the passenger seat and many of the employees clapping as we drove past. A very cool feeling. Some pictures were taken and we were given the key fob and a full tank of gasoline and sent on our way.
It now was 4:00 pm and we were tired. Back to our motel. Where do you park a car that you have had only 15 minutes in a town were almost anything could happen. Right in front of your room with the curtains wide open.
Early the next morning we were on our way home. Headed to I-80 west going through Saint Louis, MO. We had decided to stay there that night and do a little site seeing. Well, that didn’t happen. It was pouring down rain. They told us if there was a hail storm, get under an overpass and wait it out. Fortunately, that didn’t happen. Our first night out was at a Flying J truck stop with a Motel 6. Again, we were beat up and ready for a little rest. Checking in, there was a character standing in front of the motel smoking an unfiltered Pall Mall. He put the cig out, and walked over to our new Corvette which really didn’t look that new anymore. He strolled around the car and walk back to me. He said “I have had 25 Corvettes and this is the best of all”. We chatted for awhile and I’m sure he was correct about the number of Corvettes he had owned.
The rest of the trip home was uneventful. Cruised through Salt Lake, out to Ely and Tonopah, NV for a couple high speed runs before going to Bishop, CA for our final night out. Of course, coming home we had to do State Route 178 coming down the Kern River canyon. Yes, that Z51 package does let you do corners just as well as bursts’ of speed.
Today, we have driven the Lime Rock Green Corvette with black wheels a little over 12,000 miles. Every mile is a pleasure in America’s only true sports car.

General Meeting – January 2020

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Corvettes of Bakersfield, Inc.

General Meeting

1/14/2020 at Three Way Chevrolet

45 members in attendance. 

6:35 P.M.  Meeting called to order by President Larry Young.  Larry welcomed everyone to 2020 and thanked our sponsor, Three Way Chevrolet, for the meeting room and the monthly financial contribution to the club.

Flag Salute: Led by Dave Kielty.

Guests: Dave and Tommie Mongold, who have a Charcoal 2017 Z51.

Birthdays and Anniversaries:  January birthdays and anniversaries were acknowledged by Larry Young.

Refreshments and Raffle Prizes:  Tonights refreshments were brought by Chris and Liz Espitia, while the raffles prizes were donated by Adrian and Chris Medina.

Minutes:  Kathy Gallego motioned to approve the minutes from last month’s meeting.  Melany Mitchell made a second.  Motion passed.

Larry Young/President:  Larry presented Ken Wiggins a certificate for a ceramic coating.  Ken was the winner of the drawing at the 2019 Christmas Party.

There will be a storage shed clean up on 1/25/2020.  All who want or are willing to help with the process, please show up at Payless Mini Storage, 10202 Rosedale Highway at 10:00 am to clean out the storage unit.

Bill Dean/Vice President:   Readdressed the logo issue and showed some samples of logos that have been submitted.  Bill wants to let the issue ride for another month after which the Board of Directors will look at the submissions and bring them back to the members to vote on.

Kim Miller/Secretary:   Nothing to report.

Betsy Slauson/Membership:  Ken and Terry Wiggins are our most recent new members.

Treasurer report – Carl Lange was not here.  Larry Young reported that the club has $25,349.99.  The board approved for Carl to open another checking account for 501(c)3 moneys only

Virgil Miller/Website:  The website is running smoothly.  A non-member asked to have a post made for a corvette for sale.

Social Media/Adrian Medina:  Would like to have members post on the FaceBook page, My Corvette.

Sergeant At Arms/David Kielty:  Streets of Bakersfield will be held March 18-22, 2020.  They have some new events planned over the five days.  Schedule of events will be posted on their website.

Public Relations/Liz Zaninovich:  Chris Espitia is looking into a beer run at the Firestone Walker Brewing Company in San Luis Obispo.

Danny Ellison/EventsBreakfast at Riverlakes next Wednesday.  Bill Dean is looking to play golf after breakfast.  Anyone interested in joining in, contact Bill.  From Ed Combs, the 2020 Hagerty Car Show in Fontana is on 2/8/2020.  Leap Year Day Poker Chip Run is on 2/29/2020.  This will be a local run and the sign-up sheet is being passed around.  Valentine’s Day Dinner will be on 2/14/2020 at the Chalet Basque.  Sign-up sheet is going around.

New Business:  Larry Young advised the 2020 Corvette Buyers Guide is an interesting read and suggested it to those that are interested.  Linda McNitt resigned as NCCC Governor.  Greg Brott advised what the responsibilities for the position are and said he will assist whoever takes over.  Kathy Gallego and others requested the members be allowed to consider WSCC (Western States Corvette Council) before we renew our NCCC membership.

Cathy Telese has been checking into available locations and dates for the 2020 Christmas Party.  She said 12/12/and 12/19/2020 are open dates at the Chateau Basque, The Crest and Woolgrowers.  Much more discussion followed regarding parking, seating, menus, etc.  Vote was taken and the Crest won by majority vote.  Cathy will set up for Saturday 12/12/2020 at The Crest.

The 2020 sign-up sheet for Raffle and Refreshments has been filled up.  Thank you!

Cher Silliman would like to have something sent to Jack Atkinson acknowledging his recently diagnosed illness.  Suggestion was made for everyone, individually, to send him a card.  Address is 21708 Quail Springs Rd, Tehachapi, CA  93561 or yojack1@aol.com

Meeting Adjourned at 8:05 pm