Have you won an AACA award for your vehicle?  First Junior badge, Senior badge, HPOF, DPC, Original, Preservation, SGCV, Certified Race Car, Annual Grand National or Senior Grand National badges are given out as won.  However, there is a next step, a very important next step.  These badges MUST be put on the cars.  It has become a growing problem that our judges cannot find these badges on a car.  This leads to all sorts of problems and of course it is a requirement that the badges are "permanently" mounted on the vehicle.

Your cars not only qualify for the awards you are seeking at a meet but there are a team of folks in yellow shirts that are looking for nominations for national awards.  The award level or status of your vehicle is very important to the nomination category.  Our judges rely on seeing these badges on your vehicle in order to know for what award you qualify.  In addition, it avoids mistakes on the field as well as vehicles can be put in wrong categories from time to time.

So, help us help you!  Please make sure you affix your hard earned badges to your cars.  The judges will appreciate it and the public as well!

The AACA is always thinking about the future of our hobby, in particular, ways to get youth involved.  Wheels, a quarterly publication of the AACA, is a magazine filled with articles that are educational, historical, and relevant to our junior members (youth up to age 12 years of age).  From stories behind automotive legends like Preston Tucker to explanations of a car's inner workings, Wheels has something for everyone!

Did you know that the AACA had junior memberships?  Junior memberships are available to any child up to 12 years of age and ownership of an automobile, or parental membership, is not a requirement of membership. Junior member dues are $10.00 per Junior Membership and are billed annually for the club's fiscal year beginning January 1.

If you know a child that would greatly benefit from becoming a member of the AACA, please share this information with them.  The bright future of our hobby and our club depends on youth involvement!  Click here for more information on Wheels and Junior Membership.

Join the Central Division for this inaugural meet that will celebrate all things automotive!  Auctions America will be conducting their Spring Sale and you'll be their guest for free.  This meet promises to be filled with automotive excitement so register today! The Deadline to register for the Central Spring Meet is April 26.  Click here for the Central Spring Meet brochure. 

June 14-16, 2013 � Hershey, Pennsylvania

Cathy's parents, avid old car hobbyists and members of several antique car clubs, drove the car the car frequently on many old tours for 20 years. Since Bill Sturgeon's death in 1969, the Buick sat unused in my mother-in-law's garage for 41 years. Gene, and her second husband Carl Dawes, decided Cathy and I should have the Buick and had it shipped from Orchard Lake to our house in Traverse City, MI.

When we received it in 2010, we proceeded to bring it to life again. With the help of members of Northwest AACA, we freed the seized engine, boiled the gas tank, cleaned out the carburetor and air filter. Three different distributors were combined to make one functioning distributor. A cooling pipe from the radiator to the block had pinhole leaks. A local blacksmith was able to fashion a new pipe. We purchased replacement parts such as tires and tubes, distributor cap, ignition wires, battery, fan belt, and light bulbs. After all parts were fitted we held our breath as we fired up the Buick. It ran! After a few minor adjustments, the Buick has been performing wonderfully since.

My wife and I often drive our Buick to local car meets. Many experienced car enthusiasts have told us not to restore our antique beauty saying "it's only original once." We hadn't realized what a gem we had!

In September 2012, we took our Buick to the Old Car Festival at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, MI. It was the first time this car was eligible to enter the show. Prior to the 1980's, cars newer than 1925 could not be entered in the Old Car Festival.

Each year curators from Henry Ford Museum judge only the unrestored cars. The Curators' Award is given to encourage owners of such cars to keep them in their original condition. With us at the 2012 Old Car Festival was my wife's mother, Gene Dawes, the original owner. One highlight of the show for the car owners is driving one's car to a "review stand" where bleachers filled with interested bystanders listen to announcers talk about the car's features. While waiting in line for the reviewing stand we were told our Buick had won the 2012 Curators' Award! The cup and ribbon given for the best unrestored car could not have been better timed since my then 94 year old mother-in-law was riding in the car with us at that moment! What a great surprise and delight for us and for her! I know Cathy's dad, Bill Sturgeon, would have been very proud of this award too.

In order to raise money for the Library, we are auctioning off 60 books, including antique titles, how-to guides, marque-specific histories, biographies, racing books and some hard-to-find foreign titles.  Most of these books represent the cream of the crop and are very hard to come by, making this an eBay auction definitely worth watching!  

When is it?

Bidding Starts: Sunday, March 17th at 9:30 PM (EST)

Bidding Ends:  Sunday, March 24th at 9:30 PM (EST)

Click here to view our listings:  Don't forget, we also have reproduction photographs of more than 2,000 different vehicles!

Examples of items up for auction:

1. A three-volume automotive index for the Saturday Evening Post,    

    covering 1905 through 1934

2. The World on Wheels by H.O. Duncan (circa 1925)

3. Motor Vehicles and Motors by W. Worby Beaumont (1900)

4. The John Cobb Story by S.C.H. Davis

5. The Enzo Ferrari Memoirs by Enzo Ferrari

6. Around the World with Motorcycle and Camera by Eitel & Rolf Lange

7. The Hurst Heritage by Robert C. Lichty and Terry V. Boyce

8. The Inside Story...Allard by Tom Lush

9. Grand Prix yearbooks from 1959-1967 by Louis T. Stanley

10. Monza 1960, 1961 and 1963

11. Dan Post's Original Blue Book of Custom Restyling

12. The Glidden Automobile Tours: 1904-1913

13. More than 20 Glidden Tour pins and plaques!

14. and much more!

More info available on our website. Visit AACA Library or

contact our head librarian, Chris Ritter, critter@aaca.org or 717-534-2082.

If you read the March/April issue of Antique Automobile, you may have noticed the AACA Library's column detailing John DeLorean's attempt to make it on his own with the DMC-12 sports car.  Amidst economic woe and scandal, the DeLorean Motor Company folded in 1982, taking with it the DMC-12...or so it seemed.  In 1985, a time-traveling epic took the world by storm, and the film's signature DMC-12 time machine revitalized the car's image in American popular culture.  Still, the question remains; out of all the possibilities why was the DeLorean chosen to be the time machine in Back to the Future (BTTF)?

In Hollywood, drafting scripts is the equivalent of creating a prototype.  An initial concept is presented and is subject to numerous revisions before the final product is released.  For example, the finished version of BTTF had Doc Brown harness the power of lightning to transport Marty from 1955 to 1985.  However, earlier drafts called for a nuclear detonation instead.  Although the Cold War tie-in was scrapped due to budgeting concerns Steven Spielberg, one of BTTF's producers, would later implement elements of this idea into Indiana Jones IV. 

Before its onscreen appearance, the time machine went through several revisions.  In fact, the original contraption was more akin to a giant refrigerator.  Later, it was decided a car made for a far more interesting plot device, as it could be driven between different locations.

As for why the DMC-12 was selected over any other car, it all boiled down to the ultra-modern gullwing doors.  In an interview with Empire Magazine, Director Robert Zemeckis remarked: We decided to use a DeLorean automobile because of this joke we had in the movie.  When the time-machine arrives in the past, the people in the farmhouse think it's an alien spaceship.

While gullwing doors were nothing new in 1955 (the Mercedes-Benz 300SL debuted in 1952), they were far from the norm.  Likewise, the sharp angles of the DMC-12 were a radical departure from the curves and fins of the 50s, making for a convincingly hilarious scene.  

When making the time machine, the DMC-12 needed to be modified but look believable.  Ron Cobb, one of the designers behind the time traveling version of the car, wanted it to have a more "homemade" appearance.  Apparently, Cobb's connection with the car also extends beyond the film.  In an interview Cobb claimed, "[DeLorean] wrote me a letter saying I could join his design team anytime I wanted to.  That was before he was arrested for cocaine."

Onscreen, the finished product mesmerized audiences worldwide and became one of the most beloved automotive "actors" of all time.  To learn more about the original DMC-12 and its creator, be sure to check out the Library, which has a nice collection of DeLorean sales literature.  Their periodical collection even features a wealth of period magazine articles on the car, including the one used in Back to the Future!  

http://aacalibrary.tumblr.com/

More info available on our website. Visit AACA Library or

contact our head librarian, Chris Ritter, critter@aaca.org or 717-534-2082.

The AACA Museum is proud to announce the exhibit, "Welcome Invasion: British Motorcycles in America, 1940-1980."  The exhibit will open Friday, March 15th and run through Thursday, October 17th, 2013.

North American motorcyclists, many having learned to ride on Harley-Davidsons and Indians, eagerly took to and purchased the comparatively light-weight, fine-handling and powerful English brands. Racers in particular valued the compact size, technical innovations, and excellent power output of now-classic competition motorcycles by AJS, Triumph, BSA, Matchless, Norton, and Royal Enfield. The British marques were accepted as "real" motorcycles by American riders, and even today are respected by even the most ardent proponents of American motorcycles.

The exhibit, informally called "British Invasion," will present the British motorcycle as both aesthetic object (art) and as material culture (possessing meaning and a story). British Invasion will also interpret British motorcycles through an investigation of: 1) Technical innovations (such as Edward Turner's parallel twin design); 2) The positive response by American buyers (why they were popular); and, 3) The eventual implosion of the British motorcycle industry in the 1970s. To assist in placing the British motorcycle within its context, period dealer signs, movie and popular music posters, and quotes by motorcycle commentators will be displayed. Additionally, visitors can examine "The Literature Table", holding examples of some of the primary literary texts addressing motorcycle studies.

A selection of the show-winning motorcycles on display in the British Invasion are: 1948 Triumph Speed Twin with sidecar; 1956 Ariel Square Four; a hand-built 1970 Cheyney-BSA off-road racer; a very rare 1955 T100R factory racer; a bevy of pristine 1960s Triumph twins; and the signature British performance bikes of the 1970s, to include a 1971 BSA B50MX, 1974 Norton Commando, 1974 Triumph Trident, and a custom 1974 Triumph/BSA Hurricane street-drag creation. Supporting the exhibit will be period motorcycle gear and collectables.

Please join the AACA Museum in enjoying an exhibit of some of the most beautiful motorcycles in America, in one of America's premier motor museums!  

 

More than 20 Porsche road and race cars are expected as part of this fabulous exhibit including a 356, RSK, 901 Prototype, 904, Martini 917, Rothman's 956, 1980 Parnelli Indy and many more. This exhibit will also feature the art and design of Porsche non-car products. 

Mark your calendar! As a special program in conjunction with this exhibit the AACA Museum is proud to feature an evening with Karl Ludvigsen, the famed Porsche author, on Friday evening, April 19th.  Karl is a world renowned automotive author who recently won the coveted Dean Batchelor Award, the highest honor in automotive journalism for his book "Porsche: Origin of the Species."  This will be a special ticketed event with more details and tickets available in early 2013.  This is also the kick off to the Central Pennsylvania Porsche Swap Meet being held in Hershey April 20 & 21.  So, come and enjoy an evening with Karl and stay for some more great Porsche cars all weekend.  For more information or to purchase tickets, click here. 

 For a full listing of exhibits and events at the AACA Museum visit www.AACAMuseum.org. 

Source: Automotive Milestones, Trivia of a Most Unique Machine, Edited by Clark Cassell and Charles Merritt, Braddock Publications.