February Board Meeting 2017

[grammylynn]

West Michigan Mustang Club Board Meeting Minutes February 13, 2017

The meeting was called to order at 7 pm by the President, Rick Bishop.

Present were Rick and Cindy Bishop, Dave and Heidi Mull, Dave and Cindy Dunn, Gary and Ginny Marble, Ron and Vicki Wilton, Dick and Sue Engel, Scott and Gail Broekema, Phil Gibson, Gene Gibson, Darrell Meyering, Joe DiLorenzo, Lori Stolte, Julie Miller and Lynn Trestrail.

Secretary Report: The minutes of the January meeting were read. There was one correction and that is that the gathering in March is for chili and not pizza. A motion was made, 2nd and passed to approve the minutes.

Membership Report: Lynn stated that there are 171 paid members. A few people have said they are paying but no money has arrived. An email was sent to members belonging to MCA to see when they joined MCA and to let Rick or me know but nobody has advised us of that. Sue Engel will be taking over membership. She and Dick will meet with Lynn soon to transition membership materials.

Treasury Report: Lori distributed the treasury report. All income and expenses were reviewed. There were no questions. A motion was made, 2nd and passed to approve the report.
MCA Report: Julie Miller reported on the MCA activities. The upcoming shows for 2017;
1. Gulf Coast Mustang Show – March 24-26, Pensacola, FL 2 cars from the Club are going
2. Hoofbeats in the Desert – May 12-14 Tucson, AZ
3. Hoofbeats at the Track – July 14-16 Dawsonville, GA (Atlanta Motorsports Park) possibly 3 cars going
4. Grand National Kansas City, Kansas August 25-27 Overland Park, KS 3 cars from Club are going
As of January 16, 207 cars were registered out of 450 max capacity

2018 MCA Shows
Augusta, GA May 25-27, 2018
Lincoln, NE July 13-15, 2018
Merrimac, NH Aug 31 – Sept 2, 2018
2019 MCA Shows
Minneapolis, MN June 28-30, 2019
Fredericksburg, VA Aug 30 – Sept 1, 2019

Julie reported that the MCA will cover liability insurance for our car show. This will be in addition to our own Club liability coverage.

Helpful hints from the MCA Representatives: as soon as they open a show for registration, make your reservations for the show and the hotel. This will help MCA officials with their planning and the host club members will be more prepared. Shows have a limit on how many cars can be in the show field. That is why early registration is important.

“When you own a Mustang, you not only drive an American icon, you become part of a family.”

Activities: Dave and Heidi Mull said that about 50 people attended the pizza night. We not only had pounds of food and dry goods donations but $30 in cash. Next year for pizza night the man who was the big Shelby guy might be invited.

The chili night is March 11. John Clor from Ford will be attending with his wife. So far nearly 70 people have signed up.
Ronda Houseman would like to host a picnic again this coming summer. The date is June 24 2017. More information will be forthcoming.
The Mulls will be on vacation in July and August and have many commitments with their camping club. They will not be available to lead / plan cruises during that time.

Mulls are working on the cruise for the Fall of 2018. The thought is to return to the Traverse City area. They would like to get the same hotel the Club stayed at a few years ago. More information on that as the time passes.

There was some discussion of moving the Christmas/ holiday celebration to October. We can still do our gift exchange and it was suggested that we ask members to bring a toy for our Toys for Tots donation. This will be discussed in more detail at future meetings.

Joe DiLorenzo is now going to manage clothing/ merchandise. He and the Dunn’s are going to transition stock tonight. He will order a shirt for the Club to present to John Clor next month.

Chris attended the MOCSEM meeting over the weekend. He was unable to attend the meeting but reported via Rick that Gale Haldeman will sign certificates that we can use for our car show. We can have the certificates go to the first 20-25 registrants (for example) for our Show. Phil will work on a certificate design.

August 5 has been selected for the date for the Club drive to Gale Halderman’s Museum. It is in Tip City near Dayton. This will be an optional overnight trip. Everyone going should make their own hotel/motel arrangements. More details to come soon.

John Clor said there is a new program being started by Ford. It is called “Pride in My Ride.” We will sign up as a Club. Ford will be giving away a car to one of the clubs. Hopefully more details to come on Chili night.

Phil is investigating other web hosting sites. He also said that he would like to see more owners and their cars so we can have an online ‘picture directory’ of members. That way we can match people’s faces with cars and hopefully get to know one another a little more easily.

There was also discussion in re-initiating postcard mailings and 2 Hoofbeats per year. The post cards would be a quick update on events. The Hoofbeats would be more detailed information. Prices for printing have been obtained and a decision will be made about this at a future meeting.

Phil will work on the show flyer. There was discussion about altering the car show classes. A small committee of members will discuss this in detail. Preliminary discussion was held at the meeting. We currently have 28 classes and everyone agreed that is too many classes. Some of the classes will be consolidated and several volunteered for that committee. They will need next week to determine the classes.

Right now, our Club has the lowest membership of any club in the Ohio, Michigan or Illinois area. It was noted that our Club is very active and we have winter activities as well as summer activities.

The meeting was adjourned at 845 pm.
Respectfully submitted,

Lynn Trestrail
Secretary.

[JD]

Hello and before I put in my two cents . I can't come to meeting at 7 pm I work nights . So I was reading that membership is low ok maybe we need to try to get more younger and mid aged people to come . How ? maybe start doing things that would appeal to that age group. Not all people who buy Mustang are looking to keep it like a show room car they like to modify them , race them , or just have fun modding them . I sometime get the feeling that it is looked down on by club members ( not all but our club has a click ) so if we had a sub group at car shows for highly modify cars . next maybe more road trips but local . a lot of people can't drive out of state or for 2 or 3 hours the 2 picnics last summer was fun and easy to do or more show and shine or set up a dino day young people love to see how all the work they have done on the car is paying off in horse power . and last is the two big car show of the summer . our show was fun but at the same time it was a little boring ( not much to do ) needs more activies . last one sorry for the long letter . Metro cruise we are down at the end of 28th st and nothing is going on we look at the same cars and sit around have a free lunch and wow thats it . maybe we should have a parking lot in the thick of it with more people traffic . do the math more people see how cool we are they may want to join our club . well thats my 2 cents

[thunderfoot1992]

In the past we would go to US131 down in Martin 2-3 times a year and head up to Stanton in early October to run the strips. The last time we did we had only 3 cars show up for Martin and 4 going to Stanton. That was 2 years ago. If someone is interested in leading groups to the tracks again that would be great. We would go to the test and tunes on Friday nights. We did a dyno run to Steve Morris Engines in Muskegon a few years back and had a good turnout out. As far as renting a dyno I looked into it and it very expensive with the rental and associated insurance. I agree with you on more local road trips. We used to make ice cream runs a couple of time each summer. All very good ideas and I will bring them up at the next board meeting next Monday. We are in the midst of planning summer activities and we are always looking for good or different events for the club to do.

[Phil Gibson]

JD, I'm with you on doing more local, shorter trips. We have done more in the past, but the hard part is having someone to organize it. While we don't need it to be one person organizing all of the events, if someone would be willing to put together one or two short road trips, that would be GREAT! I have thought about doing one myself, but I inevitably end up being too busy to plan it.

If you have ideas or suggestions for short road trips, please let us know. If you would like to organize an event, even better =)

I would love to see us do some more 131 dragway events or take a trip back out to Morris Engines or another shop that would be up for us doing a quick run on their dyno.

What sort of activities would you like to see at the car show?

[JD]

more games with prize , maybe a dunk tank ( Denise said she would volunteer ) 3 balls for a buck and hit 3 times and win a can of something. A picnic at fallsburg park or any park ( potluck ). Maybe a bonfire in the evening someplace. have a photographer show up at our big car show and do 8x10's of your car . how about car of the month send a photo in to someone and they pick the car of the month with a write up on facebook . or pal dinner night with dress up of the 1950 . I would like to do the Morris Engines thing .

[mustangjack]

I agree with JD. I have been feeling the same way the last few years. I like shorter events that last a few hours, instead of all day. I will try to put something together for a short ice cream cruise this summer.

I also know the Chef/Manager at Pietro's, and he offered their lot for the Metro Cruise last year, but no one seemed interested. Maybe if a group would like to do that, I can arrange it this year.

Also, we used to do a Garage Hop every year where we visited member garages and talked about their projects. This was always a good time, and everyone got to know each other better.

[Phil Gibson]

Mar 27, 2017 16:59:28 GMT -5 mustangjack said:

I agree with JD. I have been feeling the same way the last few years. I like shorter events that last a few hours, instead of all day. I will try to put something together for a short ice cream cruise this summer.

I also know the Chef/Manager at Pietro's, and he offered their lot for the Metro Cruise last year, but no one seemed interested. Maybe if a group would like to do that, I can arrange it this year.

Also, we used to do a Garage Hop every year where we visited member garages and talked about their projects. This was always a good time, and everyone got to know each other better.

If you put together an ice cream cruise, I will do my best to be there. That's what I've been wanting to do for a while. A garage hop would be fun as well.

We can discus the Pietro's idea as another Metro Cruise spot at the board meeting. I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a second location for people to go to and check things out.

[Phil Gibson]

Mar 27, 2017 16:59:28 GMT -5 mustangjack said:

I agree with JD. I have been feeling the same way the last few years. I like shorter events that last a few hours, instead of all day. I will try to put something together for a short ice cream cruise this summer.

I also know the Chef/Manager at Pietro's, and he offered their lot for the Metro Cruise last year, but no one seemed interested. Maybe if a group would like to do that, I can arrange it this year.

Also, we used to do a Garage Hop every year where we visited member garages and talked about their projects. This was always a good time, and everyone got to know each other better.

We discussed things at the board meeting last night and people love the idea of a short ice cream trip sometime. If you let me know the details when you work it out, I will make sure we get an event made.

As for Pietro's for the Metro Cruise, people also liked the idea of a second cruise location to head to. See what the manager says and let us know the details. Thanks a lot!

[mustangjack]

I messaged him the other day, and he is willing to accommodate us for Metro Cruise. I will get with him and try to lock down some details.