President's Page December 2013 ~ Our 50th Year

What beautiful fall weather we’ve been having – although not quite a “hunter’s delight” with recent double –digit temperatures.  We’re only taking the water line out of the lake and raking leaves at the cottage now.  It seems the whole year has been most favourable for our events and tours. 

Looking back, my tally tells us that there were a total of 38 ACCP outings over the past year. This impressive list kicked off with the picture review for 50th Anniversary ACCP Yearbook, Tour to the Tackaberry collection in Athens, Sneak-a-Peak at  Champlain Trail Museum,  Antique & Classic Car/Truck Show in Petawawa, Birthday celebrations at the Juby residence in Castelford,  150th Celebration at Grace Church at Rankin, Strawberry Social, Farmersville Steam Fair, an afternoon of wining, dining and Simon at the Dunfield’s, Killaloe Car Show, 50th Anniversary Ice Cream Cruise Night at Hugli’s Ranch, Round Lake Centre Car display, Popkie Mill car show,  Fiesta Kids Day at the Museum, President’s Mystery Tour, Rankin Car Show, Renfrew Car Show, Renfrew County Plowing Match, Hockeytown Parade, Road-A-O at Lake Dore, Eganville Seniors’ Centre Car Show with Elvis, Griffith Car Show, Mount St. Patrick’s Parish Supper, Oktoberfest at Ladysmith and the upcoming Pembroke Santa Claus Parade and our Christmas Shine at Victoria Hall. Thanks to you all who have generously volunteered time and your homes and your creativity to make events, meetings and the Flying Quail memorable and fun! This club thrives on good team work.  

We have our Santa Claus Parade float arriving all the way from the North Pole and preparations  are wrapping up for our annual Christmas Shine.  Tickets can still be purchased from Wendy at TerMarsch Fuels or give Ron Roy a call to reserve yours.

Our Club has been fortunate in attracting new members over the past while. We welcome Jim and Donna Savage, Howard and Margaret Moore and Larry and Marg Smith adding a Thunderbird, Chevrolet Impalas and a Dodge Custom Royal to the roster.  We look forward to welcoming Dave and Randi Stahn in December who have an interesting Packard collection.  We welcome all of you to our ACCP family.

Our November nominations have determined the executive for the coming two years.  I thank Ron Roy for his countless hours to contact everyone from the membership list to canvas their interest in stepping up on the ACCP “running board”.  Thanks also to Lorne for his assistance. Their slate of nominees, each of which were acclaimed include: Wendy TerMarsch - Treasurer; Muriel Rolfe – Secretary; Ralph Lemke - Vice-President and yours truly has agreed to remain President.  I want to thank Dave for his past term as Secretary, Wendy for keeping the books and bank straight and to Bob and Mae for continuing to be our gatherers, collators and postmasters of the Flying Quail.

We are saddened with the passing this year of dear friends and devout members Don Page and Ernie Murdoch.  We cherish their memory and celebrate their wonderful contribution to the club.  A number of members have had health challenges and we wish them well with recovery and return to good health.

Please bring all trophies received over the past year to the December 7th meeting.  We will be awarding these for 2013 achievement at the Christmas Shine. Remember to bring your auction items, big or small we welcome them all.   Our December meeting is at the Kingburger starts socially at 5:30, Meeting at 7:00

From our family to yours, I take this opportunity to wish you a very Merry Christmas.  Drive safely, eat healthy and be happy.   

                                                                                                                                Delores  

President's Page - November 2013 ~ Our 50th Year

Youngest ACCP member Daisy Hewitt sizing up a Model A Ford

We are all still enjoying the bonus of beautiful weather and for some of us, the old cars, trucks and motorcycles have been able to dodge (excuse the pun) winter storage a bit longer.

Our Oktoberfest tour to Ladysmith was threatened with poor weather although there was still a nice array of vehicles in the parade. Thanks to all who toured over to join in for a total of 78 vehicles despite the rain that certainly did eventually come.

Our October meeting was fun at the Kingburger – a nice change from routine. This venue suited us well and we’re heading there again for the November meeting.

Speaking of which, the November meeting is exciting for our club as the nominations committee, headed up by Ron Roy will present the outcome of their hard work in the slate of nominees for the 2014-15 executive. As other clubs and institutions, we face challenges to find new volunteers to step up onto the 'running board' for the new term. ACCP, apparently like other such clubs, faces changing demographics of its membership. As we collectively move through life, there are always new challenges that might take a bit more of our leisure time.

And, clearly, taking on a position in the club’s management does require dedication of one’s time and energy.

As I close in on the end of my two-year term (Yikes has it been that long?!) I have enjoyed working with all of you on the executive and in the general membership. You all make a great team in which to work. It’s the building on input from all of you, which makes our club successful and active. Looking forward, we may want to consider some changes that could streamline our calendar. For instance, would something less than 12 monthly meetings suit us better? Just a thought.

November 27th is the Christmas Parade in Pembroke. The theme this year is Christmas at the North Pole. A number of volunteers have come forward from the last meeting who will work with Neil & Lori Videto in creating our 2013 – 50th Anniversary entry.

Lorne has had tickets printed for our Christmas Banquet. This will take place on Saturday December 8th at Victoria Hall. These will be available to purchase at the November meeting. Remember that there’s the opportunity to invite family and friends; all are welcome. We will have a full-course meal of Prime Rib Beef Roast, Herbed Lemon Chicken and all the fixings. The $25.00 per person ticket covers a full evening of entertainment with door prizes and handing out of some of the traditional year-end trophies: “Crank of the Year”; “President’s Participation Trophy” and “Rodeo Champ”.

To reiterate: Our November meeting will be at the Kingburger Restaurant at 1294 Pembroke St. W. with socializing at 5:30, dinner at 6:00 and business at 7:00 o’clock. I look forward to seeing you then.

Delores

President's Page October 2013 ~ Our 50th Year

To all members and friends of the ACCP:

We are now well into the Harvest Season with farmers taking off their crops and gardeners reaping their bounty, storing and canning in preparation for the months ahead. It’s perhaps a bit early, but our thoughts are already on storing our autos, boats and other toys for the winter. I know of some of us who have acquired an extra toy here or there, which means the garage or barn needs to be rearranged or expanded.

This past month has been fun but a bit of a challenge, at times, to determine which event or tour to engage in. With Pembroke’s Hockeytown Centennial Parade, The Renfrew Car Show and the Renfrew County Plowing Match all taking place on the same day, September 14th, it certainly reminds us we are all busy in a most busy season. I thank all the members who have volunteered their time so freely in bringing their vehicles and families to help make each event a success. Over the club’s fifty years, one thing is clear; tours and other such events only come together well with a lot of ‘behind the scenes’ preparation.

We welcome Myrna and Lorne back from the East. They’re a big part of our ACCP family and their absence in summer is certainly noticed. We offer condolences on the passing of Myrna’s sister. On a happier note, the question is: “when is Maiden Lane the Lobster Fest” ?

By this meeting, we’ll be just getting over the fine fare at the Mount St. Patrick’s Parish Supper and there’s already good vibes about Oktoberfest in Ladysmith. Dave has suggested an interesting route and meal venue for a fall colour tour if the weather holds out, and then there’s the Christmas Shine on Saturday, December 7th. For this, there will be tickets printed and available by the November meeting. Plan ahead to invite family and friends to join us for a fun-filled evening. Guaranteed, it will be an entertaining Christmas party. We’re confident that Santa has had ample time to work on his beard for this year.

Our October 2 meeting venue has been changed to the Kingburger Restaurant, 1294 Pembroke St. W. in the dining room there. Myles and staff are looking forward to us joining them at 5:30 o’clock for a socializing, dinner at 6:00 and for any who wish to attend only the meeting, it will start at the usual time of 7:00. I look forward to seeing you all then.                                                    Delores

President's Page - September 2013 ~ Our 50th Year

Nathan and Andrea’s family photo alongside the Model A  -  Photo by: Karen Kavanaugh Photography

To all members and friends:

Here we are approaching September and staring into autumn, wondering where did the summer go? Looking back with fond memories on our tours, meetings and personal outings, clearly it has been another busy summer. Some of you are still on vacation, some are preparing for 'fiddle park' and others for the Barrie Flea Market. It seems that the fall brings with it a more relaxing atmosphere, a sort of getting back into a routine that makes sense. Nonetheless, with the rich fall colours and abundance of vegetables and fruit, it’s truly a special season – a time to reflect and realize how thankful we can be.

At our August meeting we were few in number, with the approach of a storm and possible tornado. It wasn’t conducive or encouraging for us to attempt to camp out at the Waterfront. We can be thankful to Chris at Joeys Restaurant for allowing us on short notice to use his place to conduct our meeting. Sitting high and dry, we soon noticed the down-pour of rain.

Apologies to those who had driven to the waterfront, and who may have missed our exodus to Joey’s. With the help of others, I made an executive decision to ensure the safety and comfort of all.

Our most recent new members, Larry & Margaret Smith have placed their handsome 1959 Dodge Custom Royal on the front cover, along with a nice write-up on the history of that unique year. Welcome Larry and Margaret, it’s great to have you join the ACCP family. There are a number of 'Dodge' aficionados who will be happy to have the extra support.

This month, some had the opportunity to tour to Round Lake Centre for the 'Party in the Park followed by the Popkie Mill Car Show. This past week, we were entertained by Wendy and Phil, in a Fiftieth Anniversary Ice Cream Cone Cruise Night, visiting some of our heritage at the little garage at the former Stresman’s Store where initial meetings were held and to the former Roy Wegner’s Plumbing Shop on Bruham Avenue where we gathered for so many years. Thanks to Wendy and Phil for reviving this tradition and making it a special evening.

The President’s Mystery tour will have taken place by the time you read this… so you will know that the tour combines two provinces, a cache of great original old cars and a wonderful meal at an Ottawa Valley heritage landmark.

To all members and friends, our next meeting will be held back at the Champlain Trail Museum, Wednesday, September 4th, at 7pm. Maybe it will make sense to bring along your lawn chairs so that if the weather is nice, we could meet on the lawn (or in the church). Remember, to bring your auction items.

As Roy Rogers would sing: “Happy Trails to you, until, we meet again” Delores

Antique Car Club of Pembroke Celebrates Fifty Years

by: Dave Lemkay - ACCP Secretary
and as published in the Flying Quail, newsletter of the Antique Car Club of Pembroke
and the Quill and Quail, newsletter of the Model A Owners of Canada Inc.

Established in 1963 as the Model ‘A’ Ford Club of Pembroke (MAFCP), this club endures the test of time. Today, in 2013, a thriving Antique Car Club of Pembroke (ACCP) continues to be active with touring throughout the upper Ottawa Valley. Back in 1963, according to Don Stresman, one of the original members, an ad was placed in the Pembroke Observer calling out for owners of Model ‘A’ Ford cars to get together to form a club. This resulted in a series of meetings that, early on, saw the MAFCP become a vibrant group. As one might imagine, fifty years ago, there were all kinds of Model ‘A’s and, of course, many other makes of cars that were what we call today “barn finds”. Without sounding hokey, it's a fact that up in “the Valley” in the 1960s, before the onslaught of ATVs, there were a lot of these 1930s vehicles still in use – certainly on farms, at hunt camps or in bush lots.

In the beginning, the MAFCP was well organized largely through the leadership of an avid Model ‘A’ enthusiast Len Etmanski who took charge as president for the first three years. A club room was set up in the basement of Roy Wegner's plumbing shop, and with monthly meetings, tours, family picnics and a fall Road-A-O, where members performed skilled and often stunt-driving feats, the club was active. Once the “driving months” had passed, winter activities were the order of the day with horse-drawn sleigh rides, skating, snowmobiling and tubing parties, and these always culminated with a meal at a local rink or at members' homes. It's fair to say that touring and family events are the hallmark of the Pembroke club, continuing in this anniversary year, with “tours to everywhere”, the annual September Road-A-O and another tradition, the Christmas Shine, a year-end dinner and dance and well-deserved, sometimes hilarious, awards ceremony. The club newsletter; “The Flying Quail” has been mailed monthly to members and sister clubs since the late 1960s with costs partially supported from proceeds of a lively auction sale of unwanted treasures at the end of the monthly meetings.

Early on the MAFCP applied for and received charter status to the Model ‘A’ Ford Club of America and anyone perusing old copies of The Restorer will find Pembroke Chapter news in just about every issue from the 60s through to the 80s. Tours have been made over the years to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn and to Hershey in the USA, to Ford in Oakville and General Motors in Oshawa and to Muskoka, Lake Nippissing and the Thousand Islands for boat cruises. A number of members participated in the cross-Canada tours of the past, but mainly its monthly tours, in and around the Valley, that keeps the club occupied. Some ACCP members are regular vendors at Barrie and Sterling. Parades of any sort are always populated with ACCP cars and trucks. In fact Valley parades for years featured “Ike and Mike from the Wilno Hills” (AKA Don Stresman and the late Len Etmanski) who performed in a smoking, squirting, rag-tag 1928 Model ‘A’ Phaeton. The club also has a band of musicians aptly named the “Antique Car Tunes” tharoutinely performs at senior citizen homes across Renfrew County, playing familiar old-time music, often accompanied with old cars on display – another nice signature of the club.

While the membership was initially attracted by their interest in Model ‘A’s, there were some who also collected other marques. Over the years, the roster has included cars such as: Nash, Whippet, Maxwell, Hudson, Chevrolet, Packard, Mercury, Karmann-Ghia, Chrysler, Cadillac, LaSalle, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Buick, Austin, Jaguar, Morgan Mog, Willys Jeep, Terraplane, Plymouth, Dodge, Studebaker, other Fords such as Mustang’s, Fairlane’s & Thunderbird’s and Comet, International, Mercedes Benz and even a Messerschmidt! In this vein, the club was re-named the “Antique Car Club of Pembroke” in 1976 to accommodate this diversity.

Other things changed too. The club has evolved from the men-only meetings, of the early days, to a membership based on about forty couples today. It's interesting to note that in the fiftieth year, the club has its first female president, in long-standing member, Delores Lemkay and the Treasurer is Wendy TerMarsch, daughter of the late Calvin TerMarsch, a Model ‘A’ collector of note who had been ACCP treasurer for many years. The TerMarsch 1931 Ford Model AA Shell fuel truck is a fine mascot for the Pembroke club.

Recently the by-laws were changed to recognize, as honourary members, those who have been in the club over ten years upon reaching the age of 80. There are four or five couples in this new category, which also signals that the club might share the same demographic as other institutions, recognizing the need to attract new, younger members to keep the club vibrant. That said, it's ironic that, as the club has grown and members come and go, one common thread remains.

Of the fifty or more vintage vehicles owned by ACCP members, there are still about a dozen Model ‘A’ Ford cars and two AA trucks in the club – four being brought back to the area just in the last couple of years. In this vein, the Antique Car Club of Pembroke continues to honour its Ford Model ‘A’ heritage.

President's Page August 2013 ~ our 50th year

Andrea and Nathan Dougherty at their wedding at The Sands on Golden Lake, July 20, 2013


To all members and friends, we’re now half-way into the summer touring season, it reminds us of how fast the year is slipping by. Some members are caught up vacationing and others are busy stay-cationing it seems. With daughter number one, Andrea being married this past weekend, Dave and I are having some difficulty adjusting to routine being only partly busy, it seems. We’re delighted that the erratic, stormy weather spared us on Saturday with great lakeside weather at Golden Lake for the ceremony on the beach at The Sands and Sunday for the after-wedding at our cottage. It seems that the Lemkay ~ Dougherty ancestors made sure that we were blessed all weekend. Gail Gavan and her band friends kept the dance floor packed starting with the bride stepping high in gum rubbers and wedding gown, followed by all the wedding party.

On a sad note, long-time and one of our honourary members, Ernest Murdoch passed away in Renfrew in June. Ernie was an avid vintage vehicle collector, known best for the brass Model T truck, Jags and latterly the Mini.

It was great see 34 members out at our July meeting and nice to see former member Richard Clayton there as well. On-that-note, we welcome two new members this month Larry & Margaret Smith. It’s always a pleasure having new faces and more variety with antique vehicles join in with our ACCP family.

This month, we 'tip our hats' to member Don Stresman, a charter member and who is our longest standing member of the club going back to the 1963 establishment of the Model A Ford Club of Pembroke, forerunner of ACCP. Timely too is the fact that Don is celebrating his 80th birthday this month. Happy Birthday Don from all of us!

Our thanks to Shannon & Tom Dunfield for sponsoring this month’s cover page. We also thank them for opening their home to members and guests this July 27th weekend to celebrate the club’s 50th anniversary to enjoy a gourmet BBQ relaxing to the 60s genre music performed by Simon Clarke.

The Quill & Quail newsletter of the Model A Owners of Canada published an ACCP 50th anniversary story and a cover picture of Dan & Pam Hewitt with their roadster that was submitted by Dave. With MAOC permission, we include that article in this month’s Flying Quail. Enjoy.

Take note that our August 7th meeting will be held on the lawn at the Pembroke Marina off of Lake Street. Please bring your lawn chair and auction items. As you know, the auction proceeds help us cover costs associated in printing and distributing the Flying Quail. It goes without saying that the auction sale always evokes many chuckles and keeps the dust off some of our respective treasures.

August 7th Meeting at 7pm, at the waterfront. Rain Date is the same, but at the Farmer’s Market pavilion. Delores

President's Page July 2013 ~ Our 50th Year

To all ACCP members and friends:


Upon your reading this, Summer will have officially arrived, hopefully with corresponding weather. However, judging by the lush foliage of our forests and the robust farm crops all around us, clearly our weather is in contrast to last year. The corn should be as high as an elephant’s eye.

Our June meeting brought out the old cars and a new addition in Lapierre’s 1935 Buick. It graces the cover this month - what a handsome car! Dean, Anita & Lucas have moved on up from Model As, as you will read elsewhere in these pages. We’re most pleased that you’re touring with us once again.

On a very sad note, we have lost our good friend Don Page. We all were saddened to hear that Don succumbed to a heart attack on June 13th while preparing for the special Champlain 400 celebrations that weekend. To celebrate Don’s life and all that he has shared with us, and in the spirit of his gentlemanly, giving way, we were able to take up the gracious invitation by Sue and their family to join them and others at Bristol Landing on June 21 to reminisce and honour a member who has shared with us his sense of community, his unflagging good humour, and who has entertained us with his wonderful musical talent. This celebration has allowed us to recognize and express our respect for our good friend. In keeping with his nature and the strength of the Page family, Sue has offered Don’s “last journal entry – June 13” and photo that graces a page elsewhere in this issue. Our heartfelt condolences go out to Sue, Heather, Jennifer, Steven & Christopher.

Some of our members have recently returned from their Merrickville excursion and others attended the Antique Class Car & Truck Show in Petawawa. Odi’s Kingburger in Renfrew held its initial Saturday evening car show, Renfrew’s version of the Harvey’s nights.

It’s a challenge to write these columns in advance of events, so I will spell out the “upcoming” special anniversary service at Grace church on Green Lake Road in Rankin. A number of congregations, (mainly Lutheran) are marking their sesquicentennials around this period. This reflects upon a time during the 1850s when there was a major influx to the upper Ottawa Valley of the forebears of many of us who are of German descent. I am reminded of this church’s centennial celebration in 1963 (when I was very young) and also Centennial Year in 1967, when horse-drawn wagons and buggies were used to transport folks, all dressed up in 1860s attire. Those conveyances were still prevalent on most of the neighbouring farms at that time. So our participation with our 1930s through to 1970s vintage vehicles this year advances the technology while it follows in that rich tradition.

See you all and your auto's July 3rd at the dock on the waterfront at the Marina. Delores