50th Anniversary Meet Seminars
Monday July 18 at the Gateway Holiday Inn
(Schedule and times as of June 10 ,2011)

8 - 9 a.m
Surfin’ VCCA Website Navigation: 4 Website Areas, National (vcca.org) Public & Member Only, Chat Forum (vcca.org/forum) Public & Member OnlyJim Martoza

In this seminar, we will explore ALL of them. It does not matter if you have never visited these areas before or if you are an experienced web geek. Internet Technology is unlimited and powerful, but if you don’t know where to find it or do not know how to use it, you can be easily lost or frustrated. If you have been intimidated looking at the VCCA website, come to this seminar. We will help show you how and where to get all information you are looking for… and a lot more! Bring all your questions. We will address all levels of understanding. We may not have all the answers, but we could Google them!

9 - 10 a.m.
A Correct Tool Kit For Your Chevrolet
Ray Lemasters

I will talk about and illustrate correct tool kits and tool pouches for Chevrolets from 1916 to 1966. Most years are well documented but I will also touch on those few years where information is scarce or non-existent. The primary focus will be on hand tools but I can discuss a little about grease guns, oil cans, and tire pumps if the questions come up.

10 - 11 a.m
Appraisals
Joe Smith

There will be two Power-Point presentations. One on the appraisal of the LeMay automobile collection, which exceeds 3,000 cars. The other on 2011 value trends of cars featuring some key auction results from the January 2011 auctions in Arizona.

1 - 2 p.m.
How To Get More From VCCA For 1955 To 2012 Chevrolet Owners
Joe Smith, Jim Karras, Jim Koontz

Topics will include: V8 era tours, Non-Geographic Regions, How to submit a motion to the National Board, How to submit articles to the G&D, How to recruit members with 1955 and newer Chevrolet’s

2 - 3 p.m.
Peking to Paris 2007 Motor Challenge: Across 2 Continents in a ’30 Coupe
Dan Rensing

Dan Rensing recounts his adventures in driving a 1930 Chevrolet Coupe from Beijing, China to Paris, France in the 2007 Peking to Paris Motor Challenge. A road race crossing two continents in 35 days. The 2007 Motor Challenge followed the same route taken by 5 madmen 100 years earlier in the world’s first ever transcontinental motor marathon. From the Great wall of china, across the infamous Gobi Desert, through Siberia, Russia, the Baltics, Poland, Germany, and finally into France. What a drive!

Wednesday July 20 at the Gateway Holiday Inn
6 - 7 p.m.
Story Boards in Lobby
UM-Flint Students

Story boards set up in the Gateway Holiday Inn lobby. VCCA members are invited by the students to view the boards, mingle and ask questions and discuss the “boards.”

7 - 8 p.m.
Before The Bowtie: Laying the Foundation For Chevrolet In Flint
Kevin M. Kirbitz

The story of how the Chevrolet Motor Company was formed in 1911, and the roles played by General motors founder W.C. Durant and race car driver Louis Chevrolet, is generally well known. Before the Bowtie examines the fifty-odd years before these two men joined forces and the complex, surprising, and oftentimes obscure interactions that took place among America’s automotive pioneers and two of Michigan’s governors. Carriage makers from Flint (Durant, Dort, Whiting, Patterson, Hardy and Nash), machinists from Detroit (Buick, Mason, Olds, Leland, and Ford), and manufacturers drawn from elsewhere in the country (Little and Chrysler), whether by design or by chance, knowingly or unknowingly, collectively applied their experiences in lumber, brass, and cast iron to lay the foundation for Chevrolet, in Flint, Before the Bowtie.

8 - 9 p.m.
Behind The Bowtie
Students of University of Michigan-Flint’s History Department

Behind the Bowtie is an exhibition and presentation created and produced by students from the History Department at the University of Michigan-Flint. Since 1913, Flint’s workforce has produced products with Chevrolet’s trademark bowtie. As Chevrolet’s first and, for many years, main manufacturing facility, Flint’s workers behind the famous blue bowtie helped create and build the best-selling car in America for decades. This exhibit and presentation tells part of the story of that workforce. The exhibit includes a pictorial history of how Flint’s Chevrolet neighborhoods developed, accounts of working for Chevrolet, and stories about the ways in which Chevrolet workers built community inside and outside the factory.

Friday July 22 at the Gateway Holiday Inn


8 - 9 a.m.
1960 – 1970 Chevrolet: Numbers, Codes, Fleet & Special Order Vehicles and Factory Paperwork
Warren Leunig

A variety of topics will be covered in this presentation including a review of VIN number and cowl tag decoding, a look at cars the regular customer could not order and the different types of paperwork that were used from the time your car was ordered to when it was delivered at the dealership. I will explain some of the research I have been doing and what is planned for the future. I will also take questions about my seminar topics and the research I do.

9 - 10 a.m.
The Longest Auto Race, History and Centennial
Luke Rizzuto

In 1908 the impossible happened. Six teams from four countries gathered in mid-winter and left Time Square to race to Paris. No roads, gas stations or shops. 167 days later only three teams finished. I will tell you in detail what this event took to finish and what the 2008 exact reenactment brought. In 2013 I’m planning the Paris leg reenactment through Siberia, which was the original route. If you like automotive history this is a must see. I will have original photos and reenactment photos to show.

10 - 11 a.m.
Untold Stories Behind The Photos
Flint Chevrolet Employees and Historians

This seminar will offer a Q&A opportunity for learning about selected photos from the “Chevrolet Photo Album” published by the Scharchburg Archives at Kettering University Flint, MI. The audience may identify a particular photo from the book and it will be projected to a large screen. A panel consisting of former Chevrolet Flint employees and local historians will describe the scene and answer questions from the floor. The photo album will be sold in the Chevy Store for $20. All proceeds benefit the archives.

12 - 1 p.m.
Untold Stories Behind The Photos
Flint Chevrolet Employees and Historians
Repeat – if sufficient interest.

1 - 2 p.m.
The History Of Chevrolet In Australia
Carl Kelsen

My presentation will commence with a brief explanation of the close and valued relationship that Australia enjoys with the USA and how this friendship has existed for the last 100 years. I will then move on to explaining how similar our respective countries are before moving on to the introduction of Chevrolet to Australia. I will cover some of the Chevrolet designs that are unique to Australia, then cover in some detail Australian assembled CKD Chevrolets from1949 through to 1968. My presentation will include some early 1960s GM-Holden promotional material and also cover some of the limited production models that GM-Holden offered in the 1970s.