THE BIRDSHEET Volume 42, Number 9 September 2011 IN THIS ISSUE OF THE BIRDSHEET PRESIDENT S MESSAGE MEETING MINUTES PHOTO ALBUM CAR ATTENDANCE 2011 EVENT SCHEDULE NON-CLUB EVENTS
Dave Kibler shared an interesting article from Neil Maken. Neil is warning car clubs to make sure their books are in order as the IRS is looking in to the non-profit tax exempt club finances. The Thunderbirds of Sonoma has this status of nonprofit tax exempt. We keep our tax exempt status with the state by registering annually. The Federal Government requires registration every two years and with a fee of course. Hi All: I understand I missed a fun time and a real hit. Darn it. I was up in the hills of California Hot Springs enjoying the company of my Uncle and 4 cousins and two of their friends. Beautiful weather, good company, and a lot of food. I hope you all didn't miss me too much. As you probably already know I will not be attending the October 1st meeting as I will be cruising through the Panama Canal. Again, I will be thinking of you all. I will be attending the Cloverdale show and hope to see some of you there. We fall in to the small club status as our club has annual receipts less than $25,000 a year. In fact we are small potatoes as compared to the big clubs. We keep good records of our club s finances. We would be in good shape if we needed to show proof of our financial status. We also make sizeable charitable donations annually which helps keep our status in a positive light. Four drawings of the proposed Thunderbird Until we meet again, Happy Trails to you, Pat Arieta, President BIRTHDAYS IN OCTOBER Jim Arieta - 19th ANNIVERSARIES IN OCTOBER Mike and Maryanne - 10th THUNDERBIRDS OF SONOMA WEBSITE www.thunderbirdsofsonoma.org
for 55 and 56 Birds. Dave mentioned he has a four-wheel open car trailer for sale for $1,600. It has surge brakes. Dee Dee and Dennis are now with Coldwell Banker across from Kaiser Hospital on Bicentennial in Santa Rosa. Hello Everyone, It was a beautiful California summer day when the birds flocked to the cute town of Sebastopol, home of the Gravenstein Apple Fair and Catherine Grace who co-hosted the meeting with Jutta Einstoss. The ladies had quite a spread for us including home baked chocolate chip cookies and home made butterscotch and chocolate sauces for the ice cream! We built our own sandwiches and had a delightful day on the patio. No one went away hungry! We had a good turnout with members Dave and Jan Kibler, Herman and Joan Schulze, Herb Burbank, Tim and Dianne Roden, Wes Crandall and Louise Johnson, Rod and Susan Ferreira, Dee Dee and Dennis Byrne, Jutta Einstoss, Keith Zimmerman and Jamie Thigpen, and Catherine Grace in attendance. Vice President Jamie Thigpen called the meeting to order and thanked Catherine and Jutta for hosting the meeting. He gave us the upcoming events and reminded us that nominations will be coming up for our 2012 officers. Keith Zimmerman will be the new Region 3 Director of CTCI as he ran unopposed for the position. He wonders if that is good or bad! Herman reminded the members that Interstate Battery on Industrial Drive in Santa Rosa, and Smothers Auto Parts, also of Santa Rosa accord a 10% discount to Thunderbirds of Sonoma members. Jan Kibler gave the Treasurer s Report. Jamie adjourned the meeting to the raffle. The winners were Rod, Herb, Dennis, Dee Dee, Dianne and coming from behind into the winners circle again was, yes, LOUISE! Lucky Louise strikes again! We made $26 for the club with the raffle. Respectfully submitted by: Keith Zimmerman,, Secretary Our thoughts and prayers are with Ann and Harry Costa. Ann recently had surgery and we wish her a speedy recovery. At the September meeting the attending members signed a Get Well card. Thank you to Catherine for mailing that card to Ann. We are all thinking of you Ann. Dee Dee mentioned that Ann Costa is home from the hospital after surgery. She will check with Harry and Ann to see how Ann is doing, and Dee Dee offered to host the October meeting in case Harry and Ann aren t up to hosting. Dave Kibler showed us some LED bulbs that he felt weren t good. He recommended the LED taillights from Concours Parts or Casco
September Photos A big THANK YOU goes to Catherine and Jutta for co-hosting today s meeting. We all have a wonderful time. Jan and Dave were able to attend the meeting. They have been busy doing a lot of traveling with another trip coming up. As Herb bites in to a pickle he has a secret that he is hiding. Find out else where in this newsletter what that secret is. Dee Dee and Dennis are all smiles. Check out Dee Dee s new glasses. Are these two shady characters? Or is it the covering over the patio? Wes found a nice quiet area in the corner. Was he a bad boy?
September Photos Continued Keith and Jamie just returned from attending the regional in Omaha. They had a great time and shared their stories with us. It was nice to see Susan and Rod. They missed the last few meetings with family commitments. Herman and Joan found time to relax after doing a super job remodeling their home. Catherine shows why the meeting was so well organized. She had a check list. That is what we call, Taking care of business. Great job. Here is Jamie flexing his Vice-Presidential muscles. He did a great job conducting the meeting in Pat s absence. Dessert anyone? We had plenty of food and dessert to enjoy. I think I will go out on a limb and say, no one went home hungry.
Thunderbirds in Attendance Tim and Dianne Herman and Joan Rod and Susan Dennis and Dee Dee Dave and Jan Catherine Grace Jutta Einstoss Tech Tips 1 - Did you know that all 55-56-57 Thunderbirds came with telescopic steering columns? 2 - Did you know that all 1955 Thunderbirds that were delivered with hardtops, the hardtop color was identical to the body color? 3 - Did you know that other names Ford considered for the Thunderbird were Apache, Beverly, Country Club, Debonnaire, Eagle, Falcon, Hawaiian, Playboy, Tri-sport and Tropicale to name a few. 4 - Did you know that the early 1956 T-Birds have metal plates welded to the frame to add strength to accommodate the Continental Kit. 5 - Did you know that it was Whiz Kid Robert McNamara that killed the two seater T-Bird for 1958 and went for the four seater? 6 - Did you know that the 1957 Thunderbird went way beyond the normal production run? The last 57 Thunderbird was produced on December 13, 1957. There were 21,380 1957 Thunderbirds produced.
Election of Officers is coming up! Now is the time to start thinking of what office you would like to run for. After three years as your newsletter editor, I am ready to take a break. So please consider this office or another office. Your Newsletter Editor, Tim Roden 2011 Club Event Schedule If you visit our club s website you should recognize the two pictures left. The top left picture is Dave Kibler at the wheel of his 55 T-Bird and his father is in the passenger seat. The lower left photo shows the father son duo, but Jan is also on the picture. These two pictures were taken in the 1960 s or 1970 s. The picture above is yours truly in 1971, sitting in my parents 57 T-Bird. I sold my 1956 T-Bird the year before to buy the house in the background. I managed to put a few miles on this E-Bird. Month October 1st November 12th December 10th Host Dee Dee and Dennis Jamie and Keith Christmas Party Pat and Jim The Christmas Party will be at 1:00pm at Giorgio s in Healdsburg. 2011 NON-CLUB EVENTS Larkfield Shopping Center Car Show - Every Friday from 4:30-7:00 (Ends the last week of Oct.) No other automotive events are pending. Note: The www.garagecity.com website is so longer available.
Herb shares a secret! Don t ever count Herb out for coming up with a few surprises. As many of you know a club historian was appointed back in 1972, when the club was only two years old. The club historian took pictures at every meeting and had the film developed and then put those pictures in a photo album. The club paid for the film and the developing process. Over the years seven photo albums were assembled. These albums were periodically brought to the meetings for all to enjoy. Marge Chance was our club historian as far back as I can remember. Marge passed away in 2003 and Marge had possession of the photo albums. Several of us assumed that Marge s long time companion Barrett Lewis was able to save the albums. Then around 2008 Barrett passed away. We wanted to give the family respect and not go immediately knocking on their door for the photo albums. After waiting two years Herman and I went to Barrett s son s home. We made contact and expressed our concern of wanting the photo albums returned to the club. Barrett s son indicated he had not seen the albums and would let us know if he finds them. We were getting ready to make a return trip as we have not heard from him in the last couple of years. Not long ago Herb was busy working on the ranch and came back to the house. On his door step was all of the photo albums. There was not any indication of who delivered them to Herb. We are fortunate to get these photo albums back in the club s possession. We think it was Barrett s son who dropped off the photo albums, but it also could have been someone from Marge s family. At the next meeting I would like to make a motion that we scan these photo albums and keep a digital record of them. I would like to offer my services and anyone who would like to work on this project together or a team would be great. All you need is a computer and a scanner. This would be with the club s approval of course. It has been more than 10 years since we have been able to view these photo albums. Herb plans on bringing them to the November meeting. Your Newsletter Editor, Tim Roden
Thunderbirds of Sonoma SATURDAY, October 1st at 12:00 noon China Delight 941 Golf Course Drive Rohnert Park, CA. 94928-1891 (707) 584-3838 Hosted by Dee Dee and Dennis Byrne Please RSVP by September 29th. 707-953-4402 $15.00 per person You can also RSVP by email at: deannabyrne@me.com Don t forget Raffle Prizes
THUNDERBIRDS OF SONOMA OFFICERS 2011 PRESIDENT...Pat Arieta.......415-892-2761 VICE-PRESIDENT Jamie Thigpen....... 707-864-2080 SECRETARY..Keith Zimmerman......707-864-2080 TREASURER..Jan Kibler....707-539-9414 NEWSLETTER...Tim Roden...707-838-8665 NEWSLETTER PRINTING and MAILING.. Dave and Jan Kibler CTCI REP....Keith Zimmerman...707-864-2080 ACTIVITIES....Jim Arieta.....415-892-2761 ACCC REP.Jim Arieta......415-892-2761 WEBMASTER....Herman Schulze.....707-576-7386 BBQ ER...Wes Crandall...707-546-4099 The THUNDERBIRDS OF SONOMA club, Chapter 33 of the Classic Thunderbird Club International, is a California non-profit corporation. The TOS club was founded in 1970 to foster the preservation, maintenance and enjoyment of 55-56-57 Thunderbirds. Membership is open to individuals interested in mutual enjoyment of these vehicles. Prospective members are encouraged to attend our monthly meetings and activities. For information, contact any member or club officer. THE BIRDSHEET Tim Roden, Editor Windsor, CA 95492