Good afternoon Members,
 
Firstly, my humblest apologies for the lack of comms from me of late – a combination of factors attributing to this – namely ridiculous workload, the time of the year and the simple fact that, basically since lockdown in August and being for the most part stuck at my dining table office, I’ll admit I have become seriously disillusioned with things outside of our control  – I guess you say I “lost my mojo” …. (there’s other names for it – but best we not venture down that track aye). But it’s okay, several self-administered stiff upper-cuts latter I am back to a level not too far off pre-lockdown.
 
Well, as you have probably gathered, owing to the difficulties of on-going Covid restrictions and corresponding lack of planning ability and venue selection – it is with a heavy heart that I announce that there will be NO end of year Club family Christmas event this year ☹. And this saddens me – its certainly the only time in my 13 years with the Club that our annual Christmas has had to be cancelled completely that I can recall – its possibly the first time in the Clubs 25 year history (yes, 25 years we have been going!) but of course, these are unlike any times we have experienced in 25 years either, so please understand that on this occasion, we really didn’t have too much choice.
 
The results of the Vax poll we ran last month were not unexpected. The vast majority of those members who took part in the poll have a preference for double-vaxed attendance at our events – whilst a small number, myself included, didn’t mind one way or the other. As I mentioned at the time – this is NOT of our doing – we have had our hand forced by powers much greater than us – regulation from Government. Our only real course of action for the time being is to insist that all members wishing to attend our events – regardless of where we are going – that they be double vaxed. We are going through the process now in time for 2022 to have a QR Code of our own for you all to scan at our meeting points and also the likelihood of a passport scanner as well. I for one am not comfortable with any of that – and I am certainly unhappy at the prospect of having to potentially decline some unvaxed members their right to attend our club runs. Its discriminatory and just wrong on many many levels, in my opinion. Now, I appreciate that we all have differing views on this – mine are not necessarily those of the Clubs, okay? And if you are wondering – no, I am not double-vaxed myself yet so that puts me in a tricky situation, as it happens.
 
Hopefully as things transgress over the coming months, the requirement for vax passes to do anything will become unnecessary and we can just get on with our lives much as we did before. That appears to be a developing trend overseas I believe? Who knows. I for one have my fingers crossed.
 
Nevertheless… on a much more positive note – the committee met for the last time for this year last Sunday (and for the first time in person in ages!) and with restrictions slowly easing as we head into 2022 we have put in place tentative and semi-confirmed plans for Club events beginning again as soon as January, right the way through to May 2022! And one of those – no not Kumeu – is going to be the biggy – the ‘replacement’ so to speak of our cancelled Christmas. I’m excited! We’re calling it the ‘Kick Start the Car Club’ event and we have a slot late February penciled in for that. And we sincerely trust that it will in some way make up for the lack of club activities these past four months – details to follow once we get confirmation of venue availability. And we have some wonderful shed-raids scheduled for the first and second quarters of 2022 as well, including another visit to members Dave & Catherine Parkers wonderful property and car collection – for any new members reading this, this is a must see!
 
But we are just going to ease back into it, see how the restrictions under the traffic light circus affect what we can and cannot freely do. As a little teaser so you can pencil some/all of these dates into your calendars, please see below:

Please regularly check the Club Website https://www.americanclassiccars.org.nz/ for event updates too – as well as visiting the Cork Board, which is being updated regularly by Russell. Of particular interest on the Cork Board is a series of Video’s that we are fortunate enough to be able to share with you all, from a Canadian classic car enthusiast, a chap by the name of David Langford (had to have ‘Ford’ in his name didn’t he, lol) who approached us a while ago now – wanting to share his classic car experiences from his neck of the woods with like-minded individuals like us. What a cool guy! And his video’s are frankly excellent! There's plenty been uploaded already so please do take the opportunity to view them and even comment on them in the comments blog – I am sure he would welcome the feedback as he visits our site often. If anyone wishes to contact David directly as a result of what you may have seen on these clips – let me know and I’ll pass your contact details onto him – sort of an electronic pen-pal situation. Cool.
 
Lastly – a HUGE thanks to all of you for hanging in there over what has been a truly difficult year for many. Yes, we have sadly lost several members (no, not ‘lost’ that way… don’t be so morbid, lol)  as a result of changes in their personal circumstances – hopefully we’ll see the majority of those re-join when things improve. But we have also gained new members through all of this and also have had members return – welcome back Steve Plester for instance. Regardless, I for one are very humbled by your continued support of the ACCCA and we look forward to seeing you at an event sometime soon. On behalf of the committee, I wish each and every one of you a safe, happy and wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Norm… I mean Year… 😊
 
Rob.
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David tells us story from his youth, surely familiar to many of us:-
Christmas is just around the corner and preparations are being made.  'Tis the most wonderful season of all.

Here's a story to share.   When I was 16, myself and two friends bought a 1937 Dodge coupe from a junk yard.    This would be about 1962.   It cost a whopping $25 in total and looked terrible.  The flat head 6 cyl. engine actually ran.   The Dodge was painted a dull reddish primer colour and had a big hole in the floor so we could see the roadway below as we drove.    Seats were gone, so we used wooden soft drink cases to sit on.   There was no rear window and the side windows would not roll up.    You might say this was something very close to a rat rod, but not quite as good.      

We lived in a very nice neighbourhood and my mother would not allow the car to be parked anywhere within blocks of our house.    My dad could understand our youthful enterprise, but my mother was quite embarrassed.    We were 16 and this was quite an adventure.   Partners in motoring were the mayor's son and police chief's son.    Their mothers were embarrassed as well.

As you know car shows were few and far between over the past couple of years due to COVID restrictions.   So....here's a look at a car show from 2019.    This is the Amherstburg Gone Car Crazy show.   It's pretty typical of our car shows.   Video runs about 28 min., but it's would be impossible to see the show on foot in that amount of time.    Car people are the best people as you'll see by all the smiles and waves.    Hope you enjoy.