Some time back in 1997 a few of us met up at Tampa Volvo.
Twenty years ago.
Most of us were surprised to find a Jaguar at the Meet.
A real one.
AACCC Website and Celebration Of Cars Photos
Artwork by Chris G Smith
Well, here we are and it’s the end of January already! And the meet is now only 4 weeks away!
The Celebration of Cars organizers are working with us to make this a very enjoyable meet and they want to place all our cars together. They also want to prepare the placards ahead of time and to do that would like the following information;
Your Name, City of Residence, Volvo Model and Year.
So if you haven’t already, please take a moment to RSVP with the above info to me at FLVCOA@gmail.com ASAP. But definitely before Feb 15th!
Then fill in the form attached and send it with your check to AACCC.
You can always just show up at the gate but that won’t guarantee parking with other Volvo’s and will cost an extra $2 for the privilege ! Whether you register early or not, please contact me prior to February 15th to let me know you will be attending.
Also, please note that the organizers require that each car is equipped with a fire extinguisher (which is a good idea anyway and a great excuse to get one if you don’t already have one).
FLVCOA or VSA Membership NOT required. All Volvo enthusiasts welcome.
We have been invited by the Cape Canaveral Region Antique Auto Club to join them for their Celebration of Cars at Wickham Park in Melbourne, Florida on Saturday March 4th. So we are making this our 2017 Spring Meet
Members of the Central Florida Volvo Sports America chapter will also be there and Florida Volvo Community members are also invited.
The Celebration of Cars is an auto show for antique to modern cars that is hosted by the Cape Canaveral region AACA. All types, makes, and years of vehicles are welcome. (That means ALL our Volvo’s are welcome!) This year’s highlighted class will be “American Muscle Cars”. Participant judging for Top 25 Awards. Additional awards for highlighted class and student vehicles. Dash plaques for the first 150 entries.
Door prizes galore. Kids’ Corner with games, face painting and prizes. Food and drinks available on site. DJ John with his car tunes will be playing 50s through 70s music.
Registration opens at 9 AM. Show ends at 3 PM. Pre-registration $18 before February 18, $20 day of show. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to local charities.
A flyer detailing the event is below. The flyer also contains the registration which is to be sent to the AACA organizer. (Please note – a fire extinguisher for your car is required. If you don’t have one, now is a good excuse to get one).
They are going to try to group us all together; so we need to know in advance how many Volvos are planning to attend. You don’t have to be a member to attend but please RSVP to FLVCOA@gmail.com by February 15.
Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing & Leeward Air Ranch, Ocala, FL.
Fall weather of sunny skies, a good breeze and moderately cool temperatures for Florida (in the 80’s) greeted the attendees at the FL VCOA & CFL VSA Fall Volvo meet hosted by Chuck and Gloria Ufkes at their home & hangar in the Leeward Air Ranch community. It is a unique community in which airplanes have the right of way and the garages house airplanes instead of automobiles.
Photo by Robert Scherman
Nineteen Volvo enthusiasts started the day at 9 a.m. with a two hour tour of the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing, which is also home to the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame and the site of the NHRA Southeast Division Hall of Fame Monument. The site features three buildings; the mechanic work shop, the drag racing museum and a third building chock full of antique automobiles and memorabilia.
Photo by Robert Scherman
Two hours is simply not enough time to fully view everything contained in the collection and I believe that another longer visit is in the future. Don “Big Daddy” Garlits is to be commended for the amount of drag racing history he has managed to accumulate as well as so many beautiful early American round fender automobiles. When you add in the engines, tools and other memorabilia, it is just too overwhelming to comprehend in one tour.
Photo by Robert Scherman
After the tour we invaded the local Cracker Barrel restaurant for a quick lunch before heading off to the Leeward Air Ranch. Getting there was a little confusing even for folks with GPS, but everyone finally arrived after taking a circuit of community to see the airplanes in the hangars.
The event attracted 31 Volvos and 65 enthusiasts from around the state with four attendees visiting the US from Sweden. The event featured door prizes, a cash raffle and awards.
Photo by Robert Scherman
The awards were a red hot affair with three of the four awards being won by red cars of various shades. The award for Best FWD/AWD Volvo was won by Dave & Angela Taylor of Venice in their red 2013 C30R.
Best RWD Volvo was won by Jim Duffey of Oldsmar in his deeper red 1965 1800.
Oldest Volvo was won by Charlie Pardee with his original Volvo red 1963 544.
The Longest Distanced Traveled In a Volvo award went to Jose Laboy of Cooper City driving his wife Susan’s 2012 S60 T5, the only non-red Volvo to win an award.
We had a great group of sponsors for the door prize drawing. We’d like to thank Robert Cardwell of the Florida Volvo Community, FCP Euro, VP Auto Parts, Rock Auto, Robert Scherman of the Swedish Volvo 140 Club (who was in attendance with his wife, Anna, and daughter Sofie, all the way from Sweden), Auto Clinic of Naples, Inc., VSA’s John Martin and VCOA member Chris Short. We had enough prizes so that every attendee went home with something and some folks took home more than one item. Lucky Louis Bouchelle was the winner of the cash raffle.
Photo by Robert Scherman
We’d like that thank Chuck and Gloria Ufkes for being our hosts at the Leeward Air Ranch, club members Chris Short (Registrar/Vote Tabulator), Dave Montgomery (VCOA Event Coordinator), Gay Montgomery (Cash Raffle Ticket Sales), Chris Smith (Event Artist), Tricia Rose (Museum Tour Coordinator), Clive Dowdell (Event PR-Web Services), John Martin (VSA Event Coordinator) and Robert Cardwell of FVC (Internet PR-Forums Postings).
It takes a team effort to plan and execute great events and our Florida enthusiasts from the various clubs and forums make it look easy. Great job all and we look forward to seeing everyone again at future events in the Sunshine State.
Submitted by: Tricia Rose. SW FL VCOA Chapter Coordinator
Invitation from the Florida Volvo Community (FVC) …
“September 10th will kick off the first of many monthly Volvo Appreciation days to come.
Saturday, September 10 at 8:30 AM – 11 AM
Coffee and Doughnuts will be provided, join us in a morning of Volvo fellowship and friendship as we take a drive and arrive at Volvo of Tampa for their first monthly Volvo appreciation day!
Volvo’s from all over Florida will be there, will you?”
Link for the Event on our FB – Facebook Event Link
Several members of VCOA/VSA are touring the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing the morning of Saturday, October 29, 2016 from 9 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.prior to the meet at the Leeward Air Ranch.
Don Garlits Museum is about 20 minutes away from Leeward Air Ranch.
After the tour, we head over to Leewards or grab some lunch.
Option 1: A group tour of the museum with a minimum of 10 people without a tour guide.
Cost: Adults @ $12.00 per person, Senior Citizens @ $10.00 per person and children @ $3.00 per child
Option 2: A group tour of the museum with a minimum of 10 people with “Big Daddy” Don Garlits as our personal tour guide with access to special areas and having Don fire up some of the engines.
Flat rate of $400.00 divided equally among the participants. We’d have to have 34 people in order for the price per person to be nearly equal to the adult entry fee of $12.00 per person for a group tour without a guide.
Please respond by August 31, 2016 to Tricia Rose at volvoacn@gmail.com or call(239)593-1185 (M-F 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.) with your option selection.
Artwork by Chris G. Smith
October 29th. 2016 – Noon – 3:00pm at 9007 S.E. 70th Terrace, Ocala, FL
Call 352.347.0456 or 904.742.8226 for more info.
All Volvo enthusiasts are welcome.
Please remember to give way to airplanes when in Leeward Air Ranch.
