October 23-26, 2017
Westgate River Ranch, Florida

 

Things kicked off with a board meeting.  

Important problems were solved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then that evening it got a bit more casual.  Debi Stalder got right in to the swing
of things at the opening reception/welcome dinner.  Note the cowboy boot glass.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some of the participants enjoying a down home meal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next day we started off with a nice casual breakfast buffet (included), then boarded the bus (pictured beyond the handicapped sign).  Then at 8am we headed out to the Kennedy Space Center.

 

This picture should start to show you how nice our venue was.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here we are heading into the Space Center.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They were in a hurry to run in and see the sights, so they just about ran off without me..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know, I know, it is the Sunshine State.  Yes, it was cloudy that day, but the temperature was just about perfect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are many options on what to see at any given time.  We opted to board the bus that goes out to the pads.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Rockets are a bit dangerous.  So they launch from a pad that is miles away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On this part of the tour there wasn't any getting about and exploring on your own.

This is the Vehicle Assembly Building.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And we like to keep our Vette in a garage.  Wow, so these are the Space Shuttle Garages...same idea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a mobile rocket launcher.  A trip to Mars will start here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry about the reflection from the glass.   This is pad 39B.  It is being re-done for
general launch use.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another view of the Vehicle Assembly Building.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now we are inside and learning from a presentation that included the Apollo launch
control modules.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a better view of the presentation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are performance exhausts..... and then there are performance exhausts.  This is the Saturn V rocket.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this is the moon lander.  It is the real thing because they cancelled the last three missions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And it was up close and personal with the Space Shuttle Atlantis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part of the Space Shuttle cockpit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Would you look at this typical tourist..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the real deal astro-van.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And when we left our bus driver took us to the Dixie Crossroads Seafood Restaurant in
Titusville.  It is very famous and very popular and for good reason.  IT was really good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now fast forward to Wednesday, October 25.  After another nice buffet breakfast (included), 
I caught up with Monte Hagerman and his nice black '61.  He has owned this car since
1968.  It has a non-original motor that was there when he became the owner.

 

 

He fabricated those side pipes himself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's an under the hood view.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He relocated the battery in the trunk, made it so you could slide it out on those tracks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here you can see a nice '62 with owners Wally and Darlene Abela.

They have owned the car for about 3 years.  He finished its' restoration when the 
owner then gave up.  The car is a Texas car.

 

They drive and enjoy the car.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here's a peek under the hood.  It is a Chevy 383.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With nice interior.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


The resort had all kinds of activities.  Here is the marina.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The entryway to the marina.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here is their swamp buggy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this is part of the driver's meeting for the road tour to Bok Tower in Lake Wales.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Getting ready for the road tour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here is the tower itself.  It is in a beautiful garden setting.

At the top is the carillon bells.  We hit it just right as they were having a visiting
carillon player performing that day.  And he was no amateur!  Played beautiful music.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And they even had closed circuit flat-screen TV allowing you to watch him play.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here you can see some of the captivated audience members.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This should give you an idea of the beauty and serenity that was there to enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Out there in the parking area I caught up with Tyler Townsley.  This car was pieces in boxes in 2003 when he got it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then we went to Manny's Restaurant in Lake Wales.  Manny specializes in steaks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You might not know this, but Debi Stalder has a music background and she helped
the Blues Brothers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a private dining room.  It was super noisy...until they started bring out the steaks.
It got real quiet then.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


And it was happy birthday Russ Sobczak..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Now fast forward to Thursday.  This is a custom car for the GM Motorama.  John Baldwin is the owner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's another view.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The tech sessions were really good.  Presenting were Rich Mozzetta on C1 electrical,
Bill Tower on C1 race heritage, John Baldwin on the concept car, and Ken Kayser
on Corvette history.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SACC VP Brad Bean brought plenty of merchandise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And Guest speaker at the banquet was Ken Kayser, Corvette Historian.  His talk was 
at odds with some of the history we have learned, but he also presented the written 
evidence.  Forget May 30 being the build date for the first Corvette.  When was it?

Obviously you missed out on an informative session.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

Your club officers were all there.  (L to R)  Ken Amrick, Editor, On Solid Ground, Bill
Stalder, Western Regional Representative, Ron Dill, Eastern Regional Representative, 
Bruce Fuhrman, Secretary, Brad Bean, SACC Vice President, Lucy Badenhoop, Treasurer/Membership, 
Max Brockhouse, President, and Jack Hollada, Central Region Representative and website editor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a general membership meeting where elections took place.  re-elected were Jack Hollada, Brad Bean, and Lucy Badenhoop.

Well, that was a general run-down of the convention.  There was more going on, but it is hard to be in two places at the same time.  And I have said it before, if you missed
it, you missed it.

-Jack Hollada (Holiday), DC, SACC Central Representative