Corvette Club Newsletter June 2012 - North Jersey …northjerseycorvetteclub.com/.../05/Corvette-Club-Newsletter-June-20… · giants in GM and Chevy history who ... June 30 th: Andy

ExhaustNotes

June 2012

Club Officers

President: John Brinkman

email: [email protected]

1st Vice President: Ralph Barbary

email: [email protected]

2nd Vice President: Jason Perlman

email: [email protected]

Treasurer: Andy Soltis

Secretary: Linda Siegfried

email: [email protected]

Presidential Rumblings

It has been a very good spring for the club. We had a nice turnout of club members for our two Fun Runs and club ride to the Class Glass Car Show. Plus, we have many more events on the club calendar so please check out the events section of this newsletter and club website for more info.

www.northjerseycorvetteclub.comThe newsletter this month features photos taken at the Class Glass Car Show and our May Fun Run. The featured member’s car for June belongs to Anthony and Debbie Vitale.

Finally, I have included a profile of one of the real giants in GM and Chevy history who

is a member of the

Corvette Hall of Fame.

Enjoy

BirthdaysJune

June 1 st: Debra Vitale

June 7 th: John Litowski

June 12 th: Olga Constandelis

June 13 th: Maria Brinkman

June 13 th: Frank Ricciardi

June 17 th: Robert Barbalinardo

June 19 th: Steve Ort

June 30 th: Andy Soltis

Web site -northjerseycorvetteclub.com

Meetings: Business: 2nd Wednesday

of the monthSocial: 4th Wednesday of

the month

2012 Cruise Nights

Monday: Arby's Restaurant Rt 46 West, Rockaway NJ, Corner of 46 & Franklin Rd.

Tuesday: Jim Johnston’s Steakhouse, Eisenhower Pkwy, Roseland

Wednesday: Wendy’s on RT 46 in Denville, NJ

Thursday : Tri-County Cruisers at Kohl’s Shopping Center, Route 23, Wayne;

Irving's Delicatessen in Livingston

Friday: Boonton

Saturday: Whiskey Cafe, 1050 Wall Street West Lyndhurst

Event Calendar

May 31st – June 3rd: Drag Racing at Englishtown

June 3rd: Waldwick Annual Car Show

June 8th – June 10th: Cruise to Old Orchard Beach

June 9th: Smithville Corvette Show in Historic Smithville

June 10th: Brunch at Perona Farms (club event)

June 22-24th: GM Nationals at Carlisle Fairgrounds, Carlisle, Pa

June 24th: Tri-County Cruisers 21st Annual Car Show, Wayne Municipal Building, Wayne

June 27th: Cruise to Bear Mountain (club event)

July 4th: Livingston Car Show, Livingston High School, Livingston

July 8th: Fun Run to Moroso Performance (club event )

July 8th: River Edge Car Show in River Edge, NJ

July 22nd: Summer Fun Run (club event)

August 4th: Corvettes at Englishtown

August 5 th: Two Kids Car Show in Whippany

August 24 th – August 26th : Corvettes at Carlisle

September 7th : Ridgewood Car Show

September 8th : Run to Culinary Institute in Poughkeepsie, NY (club event)

September 16th: NJCC Car Show (club event)

September 23rd: Corvettes on the Boardwalk –Ocean City, NJ

October 6th: Fun Run to Peddler’s Village Corvette Show (club event)

October 12th – October 14th: Fun Run Corvette Weekend in Ocean City, MD (club event)

October 14th: Class Glass Corvette Show (Garden State Plaza)

November 11th: Season Ending Fun Run (club event)

Member’s Ride SectionAnthony and Debbie Vitale

2007 Black Convertible

12-hour, next Jerry Earl's SR-2, and lastly a factory-prepared car for Dr. Dick Thompson, the flying dentist.

Embarrassed at Sebring in '57 when the beautiful SS Corvette proved vastly unready, he

would later allow GM styling boss Bill Mitchell to wrap a swoopy body around an SS test

"mule", call it a Sting Ray, and turn it into what-in retrospect-is the most important racing

Corvette of them all. With Dick Thompson doing most of the driving, the Mitchell Sting Ray

kept the high performance flame alive at Chevy in '59 and '60 and set the stage for the

production Sting Ray era.

A mischievous Cole was the architect of Chevy's back-door stock car racing escapades of

the late '50s. The 348 and the 409, first big-block engines, were designed during Cole's

tenure at Chevy. He coached the small-car Chevy program into existence as well as the

vehicle of which he was most proud and for which he may be best remembered -the

Corvair. Low, light, rear-engine, air-cooled, the Corvair was in keeping with much of the

Cole's philosophy about cars. Like the Corvette, the Corvair "kicked the hell out of the status quo."

Cole left Chevy to become GM group vice-president in 1961. Promoted to Executive VP in

'65 and to the presidency in '67, Cole found himself at the helm of GM. high performance

took on an altogether different meaning. It meant tuning engines for fuel economy, not

power. It meant stouter bumpers, catalytic converters and the like. Under Cole's leadership,

GM became the world leader in safety research. His 1972 declaration that all GM cars would

be equipped with catalytic converters in 1975 spelled-at long last-the end of lead in

gasoline. On his retirement in 1974, Ed Cole could look back on a career of kicking the hell

out of the status quo, and the world-Corvette included-is far better off. Ed Cole died in a light plane crash in May, 1977.

Class Glass Car Show

May Fun RunChester Car Show