VETTE NEWS - Corvettes of Buffalo

VETTE NEWS
Volume 32, Issue 2
February - 2013
President’s Corner
Hi everyone,
I would like to thank all that were present for my
first meeting as President of Corvettes of Buffalo.
By the time you are reading this letter most of you
would have seen pictures of the 7th generation corvette.
About a dozen of us are going to make the trip to
Detroit to possibly touch and feel the new “STINGRAY’
as they are calling it. Along with stopping off at the
Lingenfelter collection for a private tour thanks to Ken
Kaczka., we are also scheduled to see the Henry Ford
Museum, have some good eats and go on the People
mover so we could see all of Detroit. All thanks to Bob
Parrish. Also looking forward to getting in some side
tours that have been set up by Ken Kaczkas
We have a full house for our Winter Sleigh ride at
Kelkenberg Farms. Frank & I will be cooking hot dogs
and hamburgers under the moon light!
The pizza party should be a tasty hit. Please make
sure you sign-up with Skip or Maureen Polowy,
Surprises are only good on birthdays and holidays.
We are still looking for four (4) charities to donate
$100.00 each too. The charity
should be local if possible and have a low overhead so
that most of the money goes to the needy! Please
submit your favorite charity in writing to a Board
Member or officer no later than the February meeting.
And in Closing I want to wish everyone to: HAVE A
GREAT VALENTINES DAY
What’s Ha ppening
_________________________________
COB Club Meeting
Feb 9th , 2013
Don’t forg et a bout the Pizza
Pa rty a t this meeting
Winter S leig h Ride
Kelkenberg Fa rms, Akron, N.Y.
Feb. 2nd 7:30pm - 11:00pm
S now Buster Auto S wap Meet
Ha mburg Fa irg rounds
Feb 3th 9 a m to 3pm
S a lva tore’s Dinner Dance
Ma rch 16th 5:30 pm
S ig n up a t Feb. meeting
Ca va lcade of Ca rs S how
Ha mburg Fa irg rounds
Ma rch 1st --- 3rd
Buffa lo Motora ma
Buffa lo Convention Center
Ma rch 22nd --- 24th
Drive S a fe
Mike Buccilli
OFFICAL PUBLICATION OF
www.corvettesofbuffalo.com
CORVETTES of BUFFALO
pg 1
Officers
President
Vice President
Secretary
Treasurer
Boa rd of Directors
Sue Brownlee
Frank Pastore
Jim Brett
Mike Erdey
Mel Skeide
Dan Wroblewski
Rich Zahner
Birthda y s
Mike Buccilli
716-648-2037
Lowell Rothenberger
716-675-9467
Skip Polowy
716-201-1889
Larry Ienco
716-570-7110
2nd
6th
7th
9th
19th
19th
20th
22nd
24th
716-693-4654
716-694-9024
716-684-9364
716-634-4975
716-876-1194
716-542-2041
716-688-8214
Anniversa ries
Committees
21st
Membership
Barbra Lipome
716-691-8845
Newsletter
Richard Kirkland
716-304-1818
Phone Comm.
Sue Brownlee
716-693-4654
Sunshine Comm.
Karen Rothenberger
716-675-9467
Or
Diane Skeide
716-876-1197
Webmaster
Jim Bonus
716-695-7643
Activities Dir.
Patti Parrish
716-834-0729 or 716-432-7280
Club Photographer
Dan Krakowski
719-675-5880
Rose & Peter Ricigliano
Note
Pa tti Pa rrish will now be the
new Activities Dir.
Cong ra tula tions
Pa tti
Home 716-831-0729
Cell 716-432-7280
Meeting every second Saturday of the month at
First Presbyterian Church
9675 Main St. Clarence, NY
Meeting starts 7:00 p.m.
Corvettes of Buffalo is open to all Corvette owners and
enthusiasts over the age of 21
Visit us at http://www.corvettesofbuffalo.com/
Send Articles To:
Rich Kirkland,
10318 Loretta Drive
Niagara Falls, New York 14304
E-Mail : mailto:[email protected]
Submissions must be in by 24th
CORVETTES of BUFFALO
John Biggie
Marilyn Wolfe
Carole Rotando
Paul Brozyna
Pat Mangan
Ray Zelinski
Skip Polowy
Debbie Schafer
Maureen Polowy
pg 2
February Pizza and Wings Party
After our February 9th monthly meeting at the Clarence Presbyterian Church, the club will be sponsoring our
annual Pizza & Wings Party. This year the pizza & wings party will be paid by the club. Skip and Maureen
Polowy are Co-chairing the event again this year and we need to get a headcount to order enough pizza & wings.
If you did not put your name on the sign up list at the January meeting, please contact Skip or Maureen to let
us know if you can join the party.
You can contact Skip by e mail, [email protected] or call Maureen at 716-201-1889
We hope to see you at the FREE - Pizza party!
S wea ring in the 2013 Corvettes of Buffa lo Officers
2
CORVETTES of BUFFALO
pg 3
0
1
4
For S a le
1980 White Corvette Coupe, 350, auto,
Burgundy interior, new tires, mirrored T-tops,
Ps, Pb, AC, only 33,000 miles, excellent
condition
Call Mark 716-578-5525
COB S outh news in Ja nua ry
Mel and Diane Skeide met John Meyerhoff and Mary Carol at Kissimmee to take in the NCRS SE Regional on
Jan 25 and 26 as well as the Classic Corvettes of Orlando show on Sunday, Jan 27. We all had a great time
cruising the NCRS show and its record number of vendors! On Sun, Mary Carol's beautiful 67 Tri-Power 427
Coupe took 2nd place in a very competitive field of Mid-year Corvettes! Mel and Diane joined right in with the
15 other Corvette people from Highlands County which is where Sebring and Lake Placid are!
After the show, Mel and Diane followed John and Mary Carol to Lake Placid and spent three days with John
and MC. John treated them to his special Western Omelette and toured the Sebring Race track, the Lake Placid
Murals, the original Conference Center established by Melvin Dewey of Lake Placid, NY. Dewey was the
originator of the Dewey Decimal system and his influence in Lake Placid, FL which was formerly known as
Stearns, Fl caused the name change to Lake Placid and the two largest lakes in the area to be renamed Lake
June in the Winter and Lake Placid.
On Wed., we travelled down to Punta Gorda, Fl where we met Reas and Nancy Graber at Fisherman's Village
for lunch at Harpoon Harrys on the water at Charlotte Harbor.
John Mey erhoff
CORVETTES of BUFFALO
pg 4
COB Annual Dinner Dance Reminder!!
This is just one of those nagging, annoying reminders to sign-up for the “…Best darn time of your life…” at the
Corvettes of Buffalo (Gala) Annual Dinner Dance at Salvatore’s Italian Gardens on March 16, 2013 from 5:30 to
11:00 pm (take a nap!)…We’ll be eating and drinking and dancing the night away. So, look for the sign-up sheet
or call/e-mail Mike & Cindy Erdey or Jim & Nicolet Brett and get your name on the list.
You’ll be Oh so glad you did!!
The COB Dinner Dance Committee
CORVETTES of BUFFALO
pg 5
NCCC Corner
In just about a week my computer will be fired up and ready to register for the convention in Bowling Green.
Information about convention seems to be slower than in past years but finally there are some threads to pass
onto you. The convention schedule on the NCCC website was updated to include where the bus tours were
actually going, what the themes are for the evening parties and that there will be drags, high and low speed
autocross events. Due to the closing of some racing facilities in the area, it looked as if they were going to have to
eliminate the high speed event. According to the schedule all systems are up and running. There was no
mention of the valve cover racing or table top decorating competition but after all we have five months until the
event.
Since the dates and times are on the NCCC website I will not include them in this article, however it looks as if
the prices for the tours are more costly when compared to past tours. We can discuss this when we have the trip
planning meetings.
According to the NCCC website our membership cards were sent out and every one should receive theirs within a
week. I got mine in the mail two days ago, so if you do not receive yours by the time the newsletter is published
give me a call and I will find out what happened.
A little off the subject of NCCC. If you did not watch TV on the either the Speed or Velocity Channels over the
past two weeks you missed a lot of premier automobiles. About 70 hours of auctions between Barrett Jackson
and Mechum. Mechum had over 3000 cars go under the hammer, 400 of which were Corvettes. Barrett Jackson
had close to 1800 and once again there was not a shortage Corvettes. The next is a Barrett Jackson auction on
April 4-6 in West Palm Beach, Florida. The auction is broadcast live on the speed Channel but there are several
COB members that are going down to thaw out. We will be meeting up with some of our Florida COB
transplants, so if you are thinking of going south about that time, give me a call. Remember, you can’t have too
many Corvettes!
Jim Brett
NCCC Governor
If you are planning to go to Bowling Green you should register as soon as you can.
Registration starts on Friday Febuary 1st at 12:01. Early registration will get you into the
main hotel. You do not have to sign up for everything and you can cancel later if you have to.
CORVETTES of BUFFALO
pg 6
Corvettes of Buffa lo Trip to Detroit
On Thursday January 24th we departed from Buffalo on our journey to visit Detroit Michigan with our primary
objective to see the new C7 Corvette close up and personal. The weather wasn’t the greatest with lake effect in the
north town areas but once we were in Canada it was clear cruising. In the lead was our Caravan Captain Bob
Parrish and he was riding with Harry Kwiek, while Mike and Lee Buccilli followed with Rocco Buccilli and Rich
Kirkland in their back seat. Ken Kaczka and his son Chris were next, followed by Pete and Rose Ricigliano.
Maureen and I were in the last vehicle as we crossed into Canada.
Upon arrival into the Detroit area, Ken Kaczka invited us to stop and tour a Corvette restoration shop named
“Master Works” owned and operated by Werner Meier in Madison Heights. Werner is a retired long term GM
Engineer that knows all the Corvette engineers and designers personally. Pete and Rose joined Ken and Chris for
the tour and said it was well worth the minor detour before going to the hotel. Werner Meier has about 40
corvettes currently in various stages restoration for customers. His specialty is C1 and C2 but they do work on all
corvettes too.
We arrived at our Hotel in Farmington Hills, Michigan with plenty of time to unpack before a ride to downtown
Detroit for Dinner in Greektown at Fishbone’s Restaurant. We were greeted by Bob Parrish’s brother and his wife
that joined us for dinner while acting as tour guides explaining all about the Detroit area. The food and
conversation was great then we visited one of three Casino’s in the downtown area. But no big winners or losers on
this trip!
Back at the hotel we met up with Ken Kaczka and Werner Meier who shared several stories about corvettes he
owns and has restored over many years as an enthusiast. Ken shared with us that Werner Meier was elected to the
National Corvette Museum Hall of Fame and will be honored later this year at the Hall. He has several classic
restored corvettes on display across the country and invited us the see some at the Ken Lingenfelter Collection on
Friday morning.
Friday morning we toured the Ken Lingenfelter collection of approximately 140 cars. It was unbelievable! Not
only a room full of beautiful corvettes but he showed us several exotic cars such as his Bugatti Veyron,
Lamborghini Revention, Bentley’s, Ferrari Enzo, Maserati, Alpha Romeo, Porsche’s, and many other rare cars.
Werner Meier had at least four corvettes included in the Lingenfelter collection and they were all gorgeous!
Another full room had his muscle car collection with just too many cool cars to describe.
Then we went to the Cobo Hall to see the new C7 Corvette. The pictures really do not show all the styling and
beauty that the Seventh Generation Corvette offers. This generation of Stingray really looks like it will capture the
hearts and passion of all current Corvette lovers and for future owners. With an estimated 450 HP and 450 lb.-ft.
of torque from the standard C7, I can only imagine what it will feel like to drive the new Corvette.
Aside from the new C7 Corvettes on display, it was a big International Auto Show with beautiful cars, trucks and
plenty of eye candy to go around. I enjoy looking at the concept cars of the future and asking questions to the
Sales Reps. that seem to know it all.
Saturday morning we toured the Henry Ford Museum and the Ford F-150 Assembly Plant in Dearborn. It was a
full day of walking and looking at cool stuff from the past and present.
While we toured the Henry Ford Museum, Ken Kaczka and his son Chris went to visit the Gilmore Car Museum in
Hickory Corners, Michigan. Ken told us it is a cool Historic Campus of collectable cars and memorabilia.
Unfortunately only a portion of the collection was open during the winter season. This could be a future
destination to visit for club members.
We all had a great long weekend trip and enjoyed a break from being a couch potato with winter cabin fever. It’s
only 8 more weeks until spring, but who’s counting…..
S kip Polowy
CORVETTES of BUFFALO
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7
Detroit Photos
CORVETTES of BUFFALO
pg
8
72 Corvette Restora tion
In last month’s article Steve ( the painter ) finished putting the paint on my Vette, just before the Christmas
Holiday. We let the paint dry and harden for a week before we wet sanded all the orange peel and imperfections out
of the paint with 1000 grit paper. Steve then buffed the car with rubbing compound that brought out the finish to a
high glass finish. He finished the job with a hand glaze that eliminated all the pad swirls marks, and brought out
the real shine and beauty of the Electron Blue paint. With the paint on the car I will start to put the door trim,
glass, handles, lights, and the license plates and get it ready to go it home. The question was how do I get it home in
early January? The choices were to have it flat bed or drive it home. As it turned out the weather and roads were
perfect for driving my Vette home. Tom Breen dropped me off at the shop and followed me home so if there was a
problem I had a back up. You don't see many Corvettes on the road this time of the year so it was fun driving in 60
degree weather, and it got a lot of attention with the new paint job. The next set of pictures were taken when I got
the car home. Now the fun part is putting all the parts on for the last time and seeing progress. It takes a lot of time
and care to make sure that the paint doesn't get chipped when you are installing the bumpers are or gluing the
weather stripping. At this time the front end is finished and most of the weather stripping is on most of the car.
Pete Ricig lia no
CORVETTES of BUFFALO
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