Day at the Hangar

Day at the Hangar
or
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
(well, no trains)

Sunday, August 24th, could not have been a nicer day for Ken & Polly's 13th Annual "Day at the Hangar." Ken and Polly Kresmery are relatively new members to CTCC, and they were kind enough to invite our club members to this wonderful annual event.

Sixteen CTCC club members and several of their guests were in attendance... Lloyd and Joan Schellin, Bill and Liz Werth, Don and Kathy Roerkohl, Ken and Polly, Gary Smithe, Bob Wenderski, Dan Andersen, Gordon Gluff, Rudy and Janet Budach, and Bob and Helen Hoge. Liz's brother and his wife, the Cooks, and Steve Martin, from Valley Community Bank, and his two sons were also in attendance.

When we arrived, we were informed by Ken that the keys were in all the vehicles, and we should feel free to take any of his collectible cars for a ride around the airport property. Cars with keys in the ignition, among others, were a red Jaguar XKE, a blue '57 T-Bird, a 1979 Rolls Royce, a 1930 Model A Ford, and a 1955 blue Thunderbird belonging to Bill and Liz. Bill left his keys in his car, and imagine his surprise - while enjoying his lunch, as he saw his 'Bird flying down the road! Bill and Liz were very gracious allowing attendees to drive their 'Bird the rest of the day.

Willing attendees were also able to enjoy a wonderful ten-minute airplane ride. A pilot friend of the Kresmery's flew passengers over the greater Belvidere area in a 1973 Cessna.

The food was excellent... roast corn on the cob fresh off the grill, Italian sausage sandwiches, and a wide variety of salads, side dishes, and desserts. We certainly thank our host and hostess for a very enjoyable day. View pictures from the event at the CTCC Photos Page.

-- Bob Hoge

FOOTNOTE: Ken advises that 75 people enjoyed the Cessna flights, while more than 200 attendees consumed some 350 ears of corn!

CTCI Convention

Birds and Roses
CTCI INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION
(the female point-of-view)

The members of the Rose City Thunderbirds hosted a magnificent week long convention in Portland, Oregon this year. Bill and I flew out and attended the entire convention from start to finish. We were joined by Bert Eisenhour and his son, Bert III, who flew in on Wednesday.

Our hotel room on the 4th floor overlooked the Concours d'Elegance parking lot, so we spent much of our down time admiring the cream of the crop as they arrived and were polished up for the judging on Friday.

The Convention's Hospitality Committee outdid themselves everyday feeding hundreds of Thunderbird enthusiasts delicious breakfasts and lunches in the Hospitality Suite. The 'goodie bags' we received were filled with treats for both humans and cars. The predictable raffles exceeded our expectations and, while we bought many tickets, we did not win a thing.

Some of the non-auto highlights of the week included a walking tour of Fort Vancouver Officers Row, a Columbia River Gorge bus tour, a City of Portland bus tour, a bus tour to the Rice Northwest Rock Museum and a driving tour to the Evergreen Flight Museum which is built around the Spruce Goose. We took advantage of all of the offerings. There were also ample opportunities for social interaction with a circus themed welcome party, a Willamette River Dinner Cruise, a wine and beer tasting and, for the ladies, a Dessert Tea Fashion Show. Again, we availed ourselves of everything... well, Bill passed on the Dessert Tea.

While it may appear that our time was completely taken up by the above, there were auto-related events. Monday found Bill at the Tech Session and the "Ask the Experts" session that followed. The Friday evening event was a highlight - the attendees journeyed by car and bus to the nearby Portland International Raceway for a BBQ and drag racing. Quite a few Thunderbird owners tested their cars on the track.

CTCI meetings were scattered throughout the week. These included the General Membership Meeting and the CTCI Board Meeting. Your reporter was persuaded to throw her hat into the ring and run for CTCI Region 2 Director. Apparently, I am running unopposed in this race.
The Awards Banquet on the final night of the Convention was well attended and efficiently run. Bert was honored for having attended every CTCI International Convention and also wished a happy 85th birthday by the entire assemblage. Bert and Bird-News received a Gold Award in the Touring Division of the Newsletter Contest.

Bill and I met many friendly and interesting people during the week. We are happy we attended and encourage you to consider attending a Regional Convention in 2009 or the 2010 International Convention.

-- Liz Werth

Annual Picnic 2008

CLASSIC THUNDERBIRD CLUB of CHICAGOLAND ~ ANNUAL PICNIC

The weather couldn't have been more perfect for the Annual Club Picnic. No humidity, sunny and in the 70's with gentle breezes. Twenty-four 'Birds total: (3-'55, 7-'56, 10-'57, 2-'02, 1-'03 and 1-'05) in a rainbow of colors parked/perched at Pratt's Forest Preserve in Wayne, IL. Well worth the drive from any direction!

The first order of business was "hoods up" in the parking lot, admiring the marvels of our flock— with that done, we moved on to the pavilion which provided shade and tables. Thanks to Liz Werth who went to the Forest Preserve Offices in Wheaton to secure our spot on January 2nd!

We all brought dishes to share — a variety of salads, fresh tomatoes, baked beans and a variety of fruits and salads — even-sausages. All selections were plentiful and delicious. Provided by the Club, was finger licking good, fried chicken, picked up and delivered by Ken and Gordon. The desserts were great too - with brownies, lemon bars, cupcakes, cookies and two famous coconut cakes made by Paul and Urszula — so delicious.

It was a wonderful afternoon, full of camaraderie and laughs as we took to playing games - bag toss, bocce ball and even baseball (the sitting down kind).

Plenty of sodas and water bottles to go around too. Thanks to Irene and Len for shopping for these items and providing the ice for the afternoon. It takes a huge amount of organizing, phone calls and notices to make this all happen. Thanks to Bert and Jane for doing that.

This was a fun afternoon -- just an informal old-fashioned picnic -- perfect in every respect. Thank you to everyone who made this event so special. View pictures from the event on the CTCC Photos Page.

Those members who attended the Picnic were: Rudy & Janet Budach, Bob & Marcy Burhop, Steve Davajon, Bert & Jane Eisenhour, Pete & Lisa Ekstrom, Ed & Marlene Ficenec & Mickey, Gordon Gluff, Joel Greenberg & Annie Luginbill, Brad & Jan Hanson & Paige, Art & Gail Hascek, Laura Hascek & Mike Cielenski, Bob & Helen Hoge, Larry Johnson & Sue L 'Hommedieu, Len and Mary Keil, Larry & Karen Kelly, Joe and Sandra Kraatz, Pete & Marylu Kramer, Paul & Urszla Mounts, Perry & Cindy O'Kano, Jerry & Pat Peterson, Dave & Marian Pogorski, Ken & Kathy Smizinski, Len & Irene Vinyard, Bill & Liz Werth, Jim Wilson, Tom & Alice Wolfe, Joe & Madeline Zambon.

-- Marylu Kramer

2008 Holiday Party

Classic Thunderbird Club
of Chicagoland

Holiday Party

Saturday, December 6, 2008
Cocktails at 6:30 p.m.
Dinner at 7:30 p.m.

Chandler's
at the Schaumburg Golf Club
401 N. Roselle Road
Schaumburg, IL 60194
847-490-7074

Menu

Breast of Chicken Marsala $19.50
Boneless chicken breast sauteed with mushroom and Marsala wine

-- OR --

Roast Sirloin of Beef $22.00
Tender slices of sirloin topped with mushroom bordelaise sauce.

Both entrees served with soup, salad, potato, vegetables, dessert, coffee and hot tea.

CASH BAR

Please send checks by November 25 to:

Ken Smizinski
157 Oaksbury Lane
Palatine, IL 60067
847-397-3747

This special CTCC price is good for member and spouse or one guest.

2008 CTCI NEWSLETTER CONTEST

Concours Newsletter Category is for newsletters with a professional publication style/format, or that includes an emphasis on technical content. These include newsletters that have a high quality computer generated articles with color graphics and pictures as well as black and white graphics and pictures. The newsletters in this category will be judged on both technical articles and social functions. They can be in either individual page, magazine or booklet formats.

Photo- Gold Award, Touring Catagory awarded to Bert Eisenhour for the Bird-News.

Touring Newsletter Category is for newsletters that are written in a letter style format. or that have a more social focus, with little or no technical content. These include newsletters that are typed or created using a traditional "cut and paste" process, and they can be multi-letter format. The newsletters in this category will be judged on social function articles. Tehcnical content will not be emphasized. Limited color photos/ graphics can be included but will be judged as black and white.

Scoring will be done by people connected with the field of journalism for overall presentation, creativity and quality in each category.

The Editor's Notebook - September 2008

the editor's NOTEbook
BERT EISENHOUR

With this issue, the reality of a fleeting summer sets in; the CTCC calendar is now showing only four events for 2008! An updated schedule for the Annual Fall Tour is presented on page 10. Since this is the last planned driving event for the year, check out the information and make your RESERVATIONS as soon as possible.

A rather hectic month has seen CTCC members attend the Annual Picnic (story by Marylu Kramer on page 8) as well as the Day at the Hangar (story and photos scheduled for the October issue of B-N). Thanks to members Ken and Polly Kresmery for inviting CTCC members to join them for this very special event!

Photo: Bert Eisenhour and Jeff Mahl

The cover photo this month features a group of dedicated T-Bird "racers" awaiting the starter's flag for their thrill of victory race in 1956! It is another of the photos in the Thunderbird Anthology CD.

If you are interested in the progress of the 48 in 08 T-Bird group, check out thir site which provides daily reports and pictures" http://www.home.earthlink.net/~48in08 We paid a brief visit when they were enjoying a lunch-stop at Rockford College on August 22nd. Rudy and Jandet Budach traveled on to the Madison area with the group. Janet's account of the Dells Event will be featured in the October issue of B-N.

The Geneva Concours (August 22-24) was a fantastic succss, the Guest of Honor being Jeff Mahl, the Great Grandson of the winning driver of the 1908 Great Race, George Schuster. To commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Race, we include a picture (back cover) of Jeff and myself at the fabulous Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove. The estate contains a private golf course and a magnificent collection of automobiles! Jeff was my T-Bird passenger for the "tour" to visit the Rich Farms car museum.

Due to limited space in this issue, Part 2 of the "The True Sory..." will appear in the October issue.

The CTCC Annual Meeting and Election of Officers will take place at Russell's BBQ on September 11th. See "Upcoming Events" (page 1) for directions and futher information.

The Thunderbird Anthology- Cont.- Sept. 2008

This month, we again feature one of the many photos included in The Thunderbird Anthology CD. This is a very interesting (1956) photo, one that brings to mind the haunting disneyland/ Disney World song, It's a Small, Small World...

An appropriate caption might be: Boys and girls, start your engines!

One can only wonder if any of the youngsters went on to race Go-Karts, Then graduation to NASCAR, NHRA, Formula 1 or some other form of motorsports?

Also, what is today's value of the five small T-birds?

Editor