nutmeg motor newsletter - Connecticut Street Rod Association

NUTMEG MOTOR NEWSLETTER
CONNECTICUT STREET ROD ASSOCIATION
DECEMBER 2015
NUT MEG MOTOR NEWS
CONNECTICUT STREET ROD ASSOCIATION
P.O. BOX 1517
WALLINGFORD CT, 06942
203-697-9113
ESTABLISHED 1967
CSRA.ORG
If you would like to know what CSRA is about our regular meetings are held on the first Wednesday of
the month which are held at CSRA Clubhouse on 316 Woodhouse Avenue Wallingford CT. 7pm
BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2015
PRESIDENT:
VICE PRESIDENT:
TREASURER:
SECRETARY:
DIRECTOR:
DIRECTOR:
John Jarush
Tom Falconieri
Dennis Dagliere
Paul Benoit
Anthony Perrone
Greg Piesyna
860-284-0090
203-265-7226
203-239-3791
860-568-7404
203-634-4150
203-729-8847
NSRA
NSRA STATE REPRESENTATIVE:
NSRA SAFETY INSPECTOR:
NSRA STATE ADVISER:
Sally Benoit
Armand Couture
Tom Falconieri
860-568-7404
203-634-0008
203-265-7226
SWAP MEET CHAIRMAN
Bob Kesilewski 203-410-7744
NEWSLETTER STAFF
NUTMEG NEWS EDITOR: Junie Barretta
NUTMEG NEWS STAFF:
Donna Barretta – Dennis - Moe Dagliere - Diane D’Amato
STAND-BY’S:
Tom Falconieri - Laura Falconieri
BIRTHDAY REMINDERS: Junie Barretta
SEND YOUR E-MAIL, PICTURES OR ARTICLES to [email protected]
If you are not receiving your newsletter or have changed your address please call or e-mail
Dennis Dagliere 203-239-3791 or [email protected]
ALL MEETINGS ARE SMOKE FREE
IN CASE OF BAD WEATHER CALL 203-697-9113
Kristine Sabatucci
Barbara Borrelli
Steve VanBlarcom
Carol Deroul
Tom Falconieri
Shirley Dagostino
Ron SanGiovanni
Cherry Targonsky
4th
11th
24th
12th
16th
20th
22nd
22nd
2015 NUTMEG MOTOR NEWS
CSRA.ORG
Merry Christmas to all!
Prez Sez
2016 NEW BOARD OF DIRECTORS
John Jarush
Hi members and friends,
The cars are being put away for the winter,
so finish that fall clean-up, that way you have more time
to get your cars ready for next spring and cruise season
starting all over again. I can`t wait, how about you?
President John Jarush, V. President Anthony Perrone,
Treasurer Dennis Dagliere, Secretary Paul Benoit,
Director Tom Falconieri, Director Steve VanBlarcom
CLUB EVENTS
DATE
TIME
Dec 5th
Dec 6th
10:00
Dec 12TH
Jan 16
6pm
Feb 7th Hour before Game
Feb 21st Hour before Race
EVENT
&
Blood Drive
Air Museum
Christmas Party
Awards Banquet
Super Bowl
Daytona 500
PLACE
Clubhouse
Air Museum
Clubhouse
Zandries
Clubhouse
Clubhouse
The annual Blood Drive at the clubhouse is
December 5th, the next day is Pete`s CSRA day the New
England Air Museum. Next up is our Christmas party on
December 12. I`m sure all will be a great time. The
Christmas party will have lots of great food, games and
all kinds of fun. Don`t forget New Years day at the
clubhouse, and the Awards Banquet too. The Fall Swap
meet is behind us. What an awesome event, people
from all over the Northeast and surrounding states were
in attendance. Junie`s Kart track day is reaching
completion, contact him for more details.
Any member interested in going with family or friends to
the Air Museum Dec 5th please contact Pete Bozzo, he
needs a head count for lunch. Call 860-205-5949 by Dec 1st
On the Legislative side, the 4C`s meeting in
November was canceled because the restaurant where
the meetings are held was closed for renovations. We
haven`t heard of any negative bills that might be
forthcoming, but you never know. On another note, I
had the experience of the new DMV computer system
first hand. To say it a mess is an understatement. I was
there to register a 1971 Corvette for the school that
someone had so kindly donated. I get to the DMV in
New Britain at 9:30, got a number at 10:30. They
checked my paperwork and said I needed a power of
attorney, went and got that, came back and guest what,
I now need a second power of attorney for the first
person. I go get that, now the Insurance won`t go
through. Finally get that straighten out and at 5:10 pm, I
have a reg. and plates!
WE HEAR!!! Every year the baby crapper leaves their
duty in lot #2, now it seems they changed lots at our
swap meet they now go to lot 4 to do #2!!!
I can`t believe another year has passed, time
sure does fly by. Speaking of time, only a year before it
th
will be the 50 Anniversary of CSRA, that’s a milestone
and a big accomplishment for sure, with so many car
clubs and businesses not making a few years to make it
to Fifty is something to be proud of. To end this year,
from my family to yours, wishing you a Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year!
That’s it for this time,
See you at the meeting,
John
REMEMBER
Please bring a toy for Toys for Tots to the CSRA
Christmas Party
WE HEAR!!!
Lise and I found a big wet used depends in the sandlot, I
guess how long you wear it depends how wet it gets!!!
WE HEAR!!! By the look of this picture he is doing
outside what you should be doing inside an outhouse!!!
He must be confused!!!
WE HEAR!!! Pat Dagostino has been at the clubhouse so
much during the day while work is being done in the
ravine on the side of the clubhouse, making sure it’s done
right and feeding those guys it will be years before he’ll
ever have to do anymore club hours!!!
CSRA A GROUP DEDICATED TO THE EDUCATION AND PRESERVATION OF OUR AUTOMOTIVE HERITAGE
2015 NUTMEG MOTOR NEWS
CSRA.ORG
GET WELL
Get well to Bonnie Kesilewski who had knee surgery, and
was given medication she was allergic to with some bad
reaction our thoughts and prayers are with you and your
family
LOST & FOUND Small two-way radio and a
package of Insulin were found, at the last swap
meet.
Call and leave a message 203- 697- 91 1 3
GUESS WHO THIS IS
Sorry I couldn’t make this picture any clearer.
Here is what this CSRA member sent to me, a pretty
small blurry picture of himself as a kid that when I first
seen it I thought it was boy who caught a fish till I
enlarged it to find it was a dam frog he caught by the
leg, there’s only one guy in this club that has his own
odd way of doing and saying things can you guess who
he is?
CSRA A GROUP DEDICATED TO THE EDUCATION AND PRESERVATION OF OUR AUTOMOTIVE HERITAGE
2015 NUTMEG MOTOR NEWS
CSRA.ORG
JERRY VERONESI KNOWS
AS AN ADULT more than 20 square feet of skin on your
body about the same square footage as a blanket for a queen
sized bedding in your lifetime, you’ll shed over 40 percent
of skin.
PETE TREATS
THE MOST DANGEROUS animal in the world is the
common housefly. Because of their habits of visiting
animal waste, they transmit more diseases than any
other animal.
ASTRONAUTS CAN’T BELCH there is no gravity to
separate liquid from gas in their stomachs.
ANCIENT ROMANS, Chinese and German societies
often used urine as mouthwash.
THE MONA LISA HAS no eyebrows. In the
Renaissance era it was fashionable to shave them off.
PEOPLE IN NUDIST colonies play volleyball more than
any other sport.
TOURISTS VISITING ICELAND should know that
tipping at a restaurant is considered an insult.
ALBERT EINSTEIN was offered the presidency of
Israel in the 1952, but he declined.
CSRA A GROUP DEDICATED TO THE EDUCATION AND PRESERVATION OF OUR AUTOMOTIVE HERITAGE
2015 NUTMEG MOTOR NEWS
CSRA.ORG
BREAKFAST
7 DAYS A WEEK
LUNCH
CATERING FOR ALL OCCASIONS
Tom’s Place
“WHERE THE ELITE MEET TO EAT”
238-9029
55 MAIN STREET
SOUTH MERIDAN, CT.
CSRA A GROUP DEDICATED TO THE EDUCATION AND PRESERVATION OF OUR AUTOMOTIVE HERITAGE
2015 NUTMEG MOTOR NEWS
CSRA.ORG
9/1/15 – FOR SALE – 1930 Desoto Roadster it’s a driver.
STUFF FOR SALE
If you have stuff to sell you can e-mail me at [email protected]
and please write in the subject box “Stuff for Sale”
12/1/15 - WANTED - Looking for a Mullins Red Cap
Trailer. Any help or leads appreciated.
Tom Gormley
203-405-1893
11/1/15 - FOR SALE -1952 Plymouth Suburban wagon,
218 Flathead with 3 on the tree, 3.90 gear, Front disc
brakes, dual master, new brake lines and fuel lines, cleaned
and sealed original fuel tank. Rebuilt carb. Many extra parts
runs great. Also have title. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10k OBO
11/1/15 - FOR SALE - 1955 270 Hemi with a 8-3/4” rear
end prices to be discussed if wanted with the car.
11/1/15 - FOR SALE -1972 slant 6 with 904 trans with
torque converter, 3 speed manual and aluminum bell
housing for 727. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . All for $450
Call
203-213-9340
Call Chris
1-704-5285536 or cell 1-704-402-9410
9/1/15 – FOR SALE –1965 Plymouth Barracuda, 273 V8
with automatic trans, a very nicely kept car that runs and
drives like new. 75,000 miles on speedom. Engine and all
mechanicals have been done. . . . . . . . . . . . .Asking $14,000
Call Steve
203-641-3451
7/1/15 – FOR SALE – Steering column, brushed
aluminum 34 inch. No wiring, ¾ spline new in box
never used. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $100 or B/O
Call Paul
860-622-8843
6/1/15 – FOR SALE – 1989 mustang 5.0 GT only 24k original
miles, Power Dyne super charged 5spd trans, car has never seen
rain like new inside and out adult owned and driven, Black OS
Grey IS call for more details
Call Tom
860-635-1250 or 860-978-3334
9/1/15 – FOR SALE – A complete 6-71
GMC blower setup for a small block Chevy. Complete with
manifold, blower, carbs, pulleys, fuel line and belts. Recent
blower bearings and gaskets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1,500
Please call Gerry at
860-966-1467
6/1/15 – FOR SALE – 1934 Ford 2 Dr sedan all steel
Champagne and Brown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $25,000
1967 Chevelle SS, Auto 396 Black Cherry w/ Silver Ghost
flames/bench seat/Auto on Column . . . . . . . . . . . . .$26,000
Call Leave Message
203-469-7816
6/1/15 – FOR SALE – Mullins trailer fiberglass repop
w/rider Aluminum wheels, torsion suspension, extended
tongue to hold spare tire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1,350
Call Bob
Call
860-347-2600
860-989-2789
JERRY VERONESI KNOWS
15 MILLION blood cells are produced and destroyed in the
human body every second.
EVERY MINUTE 30-40,000 dead skin cells fall from your
body.
CSRA A GROUP DEDICATED TO THE EDUCATION AND PRESERVATION OF OUR AUTOMOTIVE HERITAGE
2015 NUTMEG MOTOR NEWS
CSRA.ORG
THANK YOU NOTES
Your contribution has provided the hospital in Springfield
the opportunity to purchase a much needed orthotics
Dear Connecticut Street Rod Association,
scanner.
thank you for the award, it inspires me to try
Shrinners Children’s Hospital and the Sphinx Motor Pool
my hardest and to continue to do well in
relies on the generosity of donors such as yourself and is
school as well as in the workplace. To be
grateful for your support. Thank you once again.
recognized
by
Connecticut
Street
Rod
Sincerely Peter Novicelli President
Association is an honor. Thank you for
establishing this award. I hope that one day
that I can help others as you have helped me.
Gratefully Will Powlik
Dear Connecticut Street Rod Association, thank
you for your donation check you gave me to buy
tools for the Wilcox Automotive program. With
that check I was able to purchase a parts organizer
tray, shielded test leads, a soldering iron, needle
nose pliers, and wire strippers. Thank you very
much!
Sincerely Hector Cardona III
Dear Connecticut Street Rod Association, on behalf of the
Town of Wallingford I would like to thank you for the very
generous donation of $750 to the Wallingford Fuel Bank.
This donation assist needy families and individuals with
fuel expenses incurred during the upcoming winter season.
I enjoyed seeing everyone of the annual Street Rod Picnic
on September 6th. It was a great time and the food as always
was delicious. Thank you again for the donation and your
continued support of our community. It is very much
appreciated.
Sincerely Bill Dickinson Jr. Mayor
Dear CSRA,
I am writing to thank you all so much for the generous
gift to our Automotive Department last May. Because
of your generosity, our shop takes a lot of time during
Wilcox’s annual award night. Your gift played a huge
role in this for us once again this year! With the
generous gift, we were able to extend our awards
program to include awards to a number of high
performing students at all grade levels 9 through 12.
Our kids really appreciate all you do for us, as do I.
Thank you! James Despres
Dear Donor, On behalf of
the Sphinx Shrinners Motor “Patrol, we would like to thank
you for your donation to our Annual BBQ Dinner. Because
of your generous donation to our raffle in 2014 and 2015 we
have raised more than $11,000.00 for the Shrinners
Children’s Hospital.
Dear Tom, on behalf of the Muscular Dystrophy
Association I would like to extend my sincerest appreciation
and gratitude for your contribution to our 19th annual and
final “Party for a Cure on Sunday September 6, 2015.
Zandri’s Stillwood Inn was able to contribute 100% of the
proceeds to MDA, raising $27,971.00 for the cause.
Sincerely Jim Zandri
Holiday for Giving, Thank you so much for your generous
donation! Thank you for being part of the “Holiday Magic”
and for keeping the spirit of giving alive and well in our
community.
Karen
Dear Connecticut Street Rod Assoc. Inc.
Autism speaks gratefully acknowledges your generous gif t
To our friends at Connecticut Street Rod Assoc. Inc.
Thank you for sponsoring Dream Ride 2015! We are proud
to announce that this year while celebrating the event’s 15th
Anniversary we raised a record breaking $1.3 million for
Special Olympics!
We hope we can count on you again in 2016. Save the date
August 26-28 2016 in Farmington, CT for The Dream Ride
Experience!
Dear Mr. John Jarush:
On behalf of the Korean, Vietnam & Saudi Wars Chapter
#1 is an organization of veterans who have come together to
assist and aid other veterans. Our chapter is all about
helping veterans in need. Your generous donation of $500
will help us continue our mission of helping veterans who
need assistance. Thank you for your generosity, God bless
you and God bless America!!
Sincerely, Phil LaBrecque Treasarer
CSRA Members, thank you for your donation to
Silver City Quarter midgets in memory of Glen
Reilly.
It means so much to me and the family. The car
show was great.
I appreciate all you do in keeping Glen’s Memory
alive.
Cheryl Reilly
CSRA A GROUP DEDICATED TO THE EDUCATION AND PRESERVATION OF OUR AUTOMOTIVE HERITAGE
2015 NUTMEG MOTOR NEWS
CSRA.ORG
A thank you from Champlain Valley Street Rodders
Dear Sally, the address that I have used for thank
you letters in the past has been lost somehow in my
computer! Please pass this on to the members of
CSRA at your next or most convenient meeting!
The members of the Champlain Valley Street
Rodders thank the Connecticut Street Rod
Association very much for their donation given to
the club for operation of the Repair Shop that we
offered (for the twenty first time) at the
Northeast Street Rod Nationals Sept 18-19-20
2015.
Thanks again! Art Stultz
My name is Ashley Gudrian
And I am going to my sophomore year of Automotive
Technology at H.C. Wilcox Tech. I would like to thank
you for giving me your donation check to help pay for
tools, it is greatly appreciated. With this money I was
able to buy some of my shop tools for next year, such
as, a screw driver set, a pair of piers, pressure gauge.
I honestly can’t thank you enough for selecting me for
this.
GEORGE BARRIS
We lost George Barris, a well known legendary celebrity in
the custom car business. May you RIP George!
THE ANSWER TO WHO IS IT
OMG I bet everyone guessed it was Bobby Pollock, he
has his own way of talking an unusual way of doing
things for example when he cuts and paste pictures,
he cuts pictures by hand and pastes them with paste
not by a computer.
Because of the good turnout we had with the baby pictures I
am looking for another idea, if you think you have an idea send
me an e-mail to: [email protected]
CSRA A GROUP DEDICATED TO THE EDUCATION AND PRESERVATION OF OUR AUTOMOTIVE HERITAGE
2015 NUTMEG MOTOR NEWS
CSRA.ORG
2015 FALL SWAP MEET
It’s amazing how a swap meet can change from one swap
meet to another swap meet. In years past vendors were lined
up and ready to go, spectators gate came in fast first thing in
the morning, the church crowd would come at eleven and
then we would get the late comers, then it changed the
church people stop coming and the late comers still came.
Now it seems everyone is coming earlier and we’re now
parking vendors and spectators as fast as we can.
I wonder what next spring will bring.
And we still have vendors who bring what a swap meet was
meant for!
John came to see what the problem was with all the water
What the front gate looked like on Saturday
Both these pictures show what we deal with every swap meet
Gives you just an idea just how big our swap is and there is
still other parking lots that are missing in this picture.
Thanks John Sabatucci for your drone aerial shot
Jerry Augustine’s new ride
CSRA A GROUP DEDICATED TO THE EDUCATION AND PRESERVATION OF OUR AUTOMOTIVE HERITAGE
2015 NUTMEG MOTOR NEWS
CSRA.ORG
VETERANS DAY
HERE IS NINE IMPORTANT FACTS
It was a Great Week as Jerry Augustine and other
TO REMEMBER AS WE GROW OLDER
fellow vets celebrate Veterans Day at the Snow
#9 Death is the number 1 killer in the world.
School, State Veterans Cemetery, American Legion,
#8 Life is sexually transmitted.
Middlesex Convalescent Center.
#7 Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which
one can die.
#6 Old Men have 2 motivations: hunger and hanky panky,
and they can't tell them apart. If you see a gleam in his eyes,
make him a sandwich.
#5 Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day. Teach
a person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for
weeks, months, maybe years.
#4 Health nuts are going to feel really stupid someday, lying
in the hospital, dying of nothing.
#3 All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no
attention to criticism.
#2 In the 60's, people took acid to make the world weird.
Now the world is weird, and people take Prozac to make it
normal.
#1 Life is like a jar of jalapeno peppers. What you do today
might burn your butt tomorrow. - - - - - - - - - - - "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius
has its limits."
FOR SENIORS
God looked down... and saw that most seniors never get
enough exercise. In His infinite wisdom God decreed that
seniors become forgetful so they would have to search for
their glasses, keys, and other things thus doing more
walking. And God looked down and saw that it was good.
Then God saw there was another need. In His wisdom He
made seniors lose coordination so they would drop things
requiring them to bend, reach & stretch. And God looked
down and saw that it was good. Then God considered the
function of bladders and decided seniors would have
additional-calls of nature requiring more trips to the
bathroom, thus providing more exercise. God looked down
and saw that it was good.. So if you find as you age, you are
getting up and down more, remember it's God's will. It is all
in your best interest even though you mutter under your
breath.
I don’t think I’ll have as much problems getting it out as I
did getting it in!!!
CSRA A GROUP DEDICATED TO THE EDUCATION AND PRESERVATION OF OUR AUTOMOTIVE HERITAGE
2015 NUTMEG MOTOR NEWS
CSRA.ORG
GOODBYE, CONNECTICUT:
IT’S JUST TOO EXPENSIVE HERE
By Alan and Gerald Zordan |
Posted: Saturday, November 14, 2015
With the Litchfield hills and Connecticut in our rearview mirror as we move our 101-year-old
manufacturing company to South Carolina, we are
nostalgic, excited, and disappointed.
We love Torrington and Connecticut but not all the
things the General Assembly and the governor have
done to induce us to leave family and friends behind.
After more than a century of manufacturing in
Connecticut, we are not looking for handouts.
We have paid our fair share, but enough is enough.
Connecticut’s high cost of doing business and its antiemployer attitude have finally driven us out. We are
not moving for any government incentives.
Consider these facts:
• We sold our 50,000-square-foot building for enough
money to buy a 100,000-square-foot building — and
still had enough money left to pay for the transport of
100 trailer loads of machinery and equipment to our
new site.
• The property taxes on our big new facility in South
Carolina are much less than those on our smaller
former building in Connecticut.
• Our utility costs in South Carolina, especially for
electricity, will be about a third of what we paid here,
though our spaces will more than double.
• We are taking a third of our employees with us and
paying them the same wages. With South Carolina’s
lower cost of living, it is as if they are getting a big
raise. And we pay our new employees in South
Carolina competitive local wages.
These savings could no longer be ignored.
At the same time, the constant hostility of the General
Assembly, the governor, and state agencies,
particularly the state Labor Department, settled the
matter against staying in Connecticut.
Year after year employers like us have to fight off
efforts to:
— Expand state requirements for paid sick leave.
— Increase the highest minimum wage in the nation to
$15 per hour and more.
— Require paid family and medical leave.
— Impose unworkable restrictions on workforce
scheduling.
— Restrict our ability to talk to our employees about
union organizing efforts.
— And, of course, make us pay for every new
“investment” policymakers think is a good idea.
We have always believed that to attract the best
employees, we need to be among the best employers.
We have never paid minimum wage and we have
always offered our employees excellent benefits,
including health insurance plans, paid vacation time,
disability insurance, a 401(k) plan with employer
matching contributions, profit sharing, and other time
off based on individual needs.
Some people in authority in Connecticut refuse to
understand that a mandated $15 minimum wage would
mean that companies like ours would have to raise pay
across the board. It would mean that rather than
investing in our company and being able to create
more jobs, we would have to raise pay for all
employees, including those who are already being paid
a good wage. These cost increases would cause us to
raise the price of our product and become less
competitive with companies outside Connecticut.
To make it worse, staying in Connecticut would
require us to speculate on how much more our taxes
and costs will go up as state government fails to pass a
balanced budget.
Under the current administration state government has
imposed nearly $4 billion in tax increases and still runs
a deficit.
We can’t afford to wait for the governor and the
legislature to see they have a spending problem and to
address it. We can’t wait for state government to make
any more “investments” by giving our money to a few
favored companies.
Perhaps the final straw for us was our mind-boggling
treatment by the Labor Department, which actually
awarded unemployment compensation to an employee
who was fired for threatening a supervisor with
physical harm.
No one is surprised that the only state agency we heard
from when the word got out that we were thinking of
leaving was the Labor Department, which insisted that
we allow it into our company to conduct a seminar for
our employees to tell them how to get all the benefits
they were entitled to.
So, farewell to home, family, and friends. We have
been forced to move to a place where we are
welcomed and wanted.
Regrettably, it is no longer Connecticut.
Alan and Gerald Zordan own Borgeson Universal Co.
in Torrington, which produces steering components
and has operated in Torrington since 1914.
FROM BOBBY KESILEWSKI
I’m sorry I didn’t have enough time to write
something to the members about all who
help make this swap meet I will give a full
report next month.
CSRA A GROUP DEDICATED TO THE EDUCATION AND PRESERVATION OF OUR AUTOMOTIVE HERITAGE
JUMBO-SIZED,
STREET-LEGAL
2015 NUTMEG MOTOR NEWS
CSRA.ORG
PEDAL CAR
In retirement, some take up golf, or woodworking, or even
the restoration of classic cars. Pennsylvania’s Dan
Hryhorcoff wanted a different kind of project to occupy his
leisure time, so the semi-retired engineer and machine shop
owner opted to replicate a vintage Murray General pedal
car, in larger-than-life fiberglass form, with the help of
friend and “car guy” Jim Gibbs.
Dan had previous experience working with fiberglass (he
built a working submarine, with a fiberglass nose and tail,
circa 2000), so he opted to return to this medium for his
latest project, his first attempt at building an automobile. He
quickly realized that he lacked the creative skill necessary
to design a unique car body on his own, saying, “Instead of
taking a chance at creating a visual monster, I decided to
copy something.” Copying an existing full-size automobile
would hardly be breaking new ground, so Dan instead opted
to replicate a popular child’s pedal car, in a more adult size.
To create the body mold, Dan first created a full-size
replica of the car in Styrofoam, using a home built
pantograph to scale up the real pedal car 4.5 times. As Dan
traced the toy, a die grinder with a router bit carved the
Styrofoam blocks into approximately the right shape. To
complete the “positive” used to create the body molds, he
then coated the Styrofoam with spackling compound,
which was sanded and carved to create an even higher
level of detail. Once these “positives” were finished, a
negative mold was created (also from fiberglass) to form
the body panels. Steel body supports were welded to the
Ranger’s frame, and the fiberglass body panels were
attached to this skeleton.
The car’s dual controls allow for center or left operation.
To maintain authenticity, the car needed an oversize,
center-mounted steering wheel and center-mounted
controls. The Pennsylvania Department of Motor Vehicles
doesn’t allow such outside-the-box thinking, so Dan was
forced to install a more conventional (read, smaller)
steering wheel on the left side, along with a second set of
pedals. When not in use, either of the steering wheels can
be removed and mounted underneath the hood section,
which tilts forward for easy access to the engine
compartment. As required by law, the car has full
instrumentation and lighting, too.
When not in use, the second steering wheel mounts above
the radiator.
While the 1:1 Murray Sad Face provides seating for one,
Dan’s version seats four adults in relative comfort, though
he admits his longest road trip to date has only been about
The Ranger’s rear track helped to set the scale (4.5:1) for
20 miles. Getting in and out isn’t as problematic as it
the project, but extensive fabrication was necessary to
seems, since Dan also built disappearing, electric-powered
shorten the wheelbase and create the desired ride height,
steps for driver and passenger using a pair of Ford Taurus
which is aided by the 24-inch wheels (re-engineered to fit
window actuators. On the road, Dan says his creation
the Ranger’s hubs, then fitted with red fiberglass covers)
drives much like a compact pickup, albeit one with a
sourced from Coker Tire. Coker also supplied the 24 x
significantly increased ride height, and never fails to
5.00 tires, which were the narrowest Dan could use
produce smiles from onlookers. Don’t ask him to build
according to the Pennsylvania vehicle code (and yes, it is
another, though: Once the body sections were molded and
registered and plated in the state of Pennsylvania).
finished, Dan opted to destroy the molds.
Powering the plus-size Sad Face is a stock 3.0-liter Ford
Dan Hryhorcoff’s plus-size Murray General will be on
V-6, producing 147-hosepower and shifting through a
display in the Cars & Camp; Christmas exhibit at the
four-speed automatic. rational steering wheel, to the left of
AACA Museum in Hershey, Pennsylvania, through
the instrument cluster.
January 3, 2016.
CSRA A GROUP DEDICATED TO THE EDUCATION AND PRESERVATION OF OUR AUTOMOTIVE HERITAGE
Underneath the “Sad Face” car body is a rear-drive 1997
Ford Ranger pickup that served as a donor vehicle for the
project.
The water is just fine
2013 NUTMEG MOTOR NEWS
CSRA.ORG
C.S.R.A. A GROUP DEDICATED TO THE EDUCATION AND PRESERVATION OF OUR AUTOMOTIVE HERITAGE