AZ-D Annual Holiday Party (12/15/07)
(Ok so I'm a little behind - Ed) The Annual Holiday party was held at the Federico's wonderful home in Stanfield, AZ, aka "The Clubhouse". Richard & Kathy served a wonderful lunch and hosted the group for the afternoon. Highlights of the meeting were of course the AZ-D steal-it-twice gift exchange, passing of the torch of Key Member from John Spangler to Laura Halladay, awards to Gary & Pat Adams for their dedicated trash pickup community service, Chris Mack for long distances travelled to hang out with the club. Tom Spearman made a first official display of the Time Machine for everyone to see. Another successful party and a great way to see off 2007.
Casa Grande Car Show & Crafts Fair (1/19)
By Gary Adams
While at the AZ-D Holiday party, Bob Patz promoted the Casa Grande event as a car show that wives would like as there is a crafts fair at the same time. Pat (my wife) heard this and said let’s go. We signed up for the event in advance and then arranged to meet Bob and his wife Deni for breakfast. Bob had already arranged a spot for us with the event coordinator right where the car show and crafts fair join. We got there right around 8:00, found our assigned spot and Bob & Deni showed up moments later. Turns out we were right outside the Bakery and & Café. Had great breakfast. We then proceeded to line up the two cars, picked up our car show registrations (+ goodie bag), get out the Delorean club information, our chairs and get comfortable while other car show participants arrived and set up. The car show had approximately 200 participants with all types of vehicles ranging from antiques to rods, classics to trick trucks, motorcycles to custom kid’s bikes and in special interest, 2 Deloreans. If you are a car person, there was something for everyone. BUT!
It turns out the Crafts Fair, going on at the same time, is even bigger than the car show. Bob and I were busy talking to people interested in our cars and the club so the ladies decided to take their leave and check out the crafts fair. We did not see them again for a couple of hours. When they returned, it was really to check if we were OK, behaving and to rest. Of course, they showed us the “bargains” purchased so far, but there was more shopping and dealing to done. The good news was both couples were in Deloreans, so nothing of any size could be transported home. They did find some great jewelry buys and more importantly, they had a good time.
Dan Fox dropped by for a while checking out how much the show had grown. The car show wrapped up in the afternoon around 3:00 with the announcement of the category winners. Neither Bob nor I won the special interest category which included a wild variety of vehicles from a motorized stage coach to low riders. But we did have a great day talking with people from all over the country (a lot of winter visitors) about Deloreans and other gull wing cars.
Bob was right, this is an event for couples and Pat and I will try to make it an annual one.
Raising the Lift! (Jan 08)
by Daniel Fox
The newest tool available for AZ-D tech events is the brand new automotive lift that is in the garage of club members Johnny and Sherine Sawyer. The lift did not just magically appear in the garage overnight though! It really was a joint effort among AZ-D members to help Johnny to deliver the lift and assemble it.
Daniel and Johnny picked up the lift on a Friday from the trucking terminal using Daniel’s trailer. The left was in pieces and needed complete assembly. The crate that the pieces came in weighed over 2000 pounds! Randal met Johnny and Daniel at Johnny’s house and the three proceeded to unload the parts from the trailer into the garage.
The next get-together of lift-happy AZ-D members was that Sunday. We all convened at Johnny’s to put together the lift. In attendance were: Sean, Doug, Daniel, Randal, Christian, Dan, and of course Johnny! By that afternoon, we had completed the assembly and had a properly working lift! Johnny’s DeLorean was used for the maiden raising of the lift and everything went fine. It is very, very generous of Johnny to offer his lift and garage to AZ-D for tech events. It really makes us able to take care of our cars more easily and safely. Thanks Johnny!
Otis Spunkmeyer Event (2/6)
World-renowned cookie and baked treat manufacturer Otis Spunkmeyer contacted AZ-D about having a DeLorean for their national sales event in Glendale. They said they were having a "Back to the Future" themed event and they'd be willing to pay us for a car. After some negotiation we were able to offer them Tom Spearman's Time Machine, much to their amazement and delight. As Tom is a late sleeper, he arranged for Steve Mayo to pilot the Time Machine from Coolidge to Glendale, with John Spangler as the backup crew and contact. Otis had a camera crew film some driving scenes and the CEO even dressed up as Doc Brown! A copy of the DVD they made is forthcoming.
Later that evening Otis had a big party at the resort and invited Tom, John, Daniel and Steve to enjoy the festivities. Everyone had a great evening, and Tom was generous enough to donate all the proceeds of the evening back to the club!!
Rob Grady Event (3/1)
Our new Technical Directors Sean Hagan and Johnny Sawyer coordinated an amazing event with Rob at Johnny's "West Wing" super-garage. Johnny posted some stats on the Yahoo Group:
- This was the first club event at the new garage (The West Wing).
- We tied the record at 14 cars which includes the GM Proving Grounds and a past Rob Grady event at Randal's.
- Two California members made the trip WITH THEIR CARS!
- The lift was used for the first time for an event (other than my car).
- We had two new members join in the festivities.
- I only heard Rob swear once.
- The furthest-traveled member arrived from Long Island, (Rob).
- Cory arrived from Tennessee.
- 4 Door adjustments were performed
- 5 inspections were performed.
- The Time Machine made it's first visit to The West Wing.
- 48 Mountain Dews were consumed.
- 26 people showed up
Everyone who wanted work done, got work done, and it was the first time in recent history that Rob came to AZ and it didn't rain!
Wheels of Britain Car Show (3/2)
By Bob Patz
The "Wheels of Britain" car show held Sunday March 2, 2008, was a fun event for all. Seven Arizona DeLorean club members were registered for the event, five showed up. Our long distance participant once again was Chris Mack. Thanks Chris for your long distance dedication to the club. This was Chris's third trip to Arizona within a year. Also in attendance were Daniel Fox, Gary Adams, Jason McGee, and Bob Patz. We met Joe, who entered his 1981 DeLorean in the show. Joe an original owner, purchased his DeLorean in Illinois. Joe plans to place membership in the AZ-D and also brought his mechanic David. At the awards presentation Bob Patz took third place, Gary Adams took second place and Jason McGee first place. Congratulations guys! For thoses who never enter car shows, come out and enjoy the excellent selection of British cars, visit with the the guys and help educate the public about the DeLorean and the AZ-D.
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