This photo is from the UPS United Way Car and Motorcycle Show - Album - opens to a new window

Next Meeting

Our next meeting will be on Monday October 25th at 6:30 PM at Topeka's Steakhouse & Saloon Address. 1776 N Parham Road, Richmond, VA 23229-4654. (804) 346-3000. We will eat in their banquet room before the meeting. The tip will be added to the check. If you need driving directions they are at this link: Driving Directions.

Councils in SEMA SAN Newsletter for September

Link is www.semasan.com/main/main.aspx?id=62800 and the article is below:

Driving the Drive
Southwestern Virginia Car Council Goes the Extra Mile

Providing a network for regional councils, the Virginia Association of Car Councils (VAACC) aids in communication amongst enthusiasts and car clubs throughout the state to encourage participation in the legislative process and provide information on state legislation that would impact the hobby. Regional councils include the Car Club Council of Hampton Roads, the Car Club Council of Central Virginia, the Virginia Peninsula Car Club Council, the Northern Virginia Car Club Council, and the Southwest Car Council.

Each year, the Southwestern Virginia Car Council goes above and beyond the legislative call of duty in an effort to give back to the motoring community. Bringing forth the concept of Star City Motor Madness nine years ago, the council has fostered the growth of this annual cruise and car show in Roanoke, Virginia, to benefit nonprofit organizations such as the Virginia Museum of Transportation.

The SAN was in attendance at this year's Star City Motor Madness, which drew enthusiasts eager to show off their rods and performance machines on the spectator-lined Williamson Road, meander down the show's Corvette Alley and chat with "My Classic Car" host Dennis Gage, who chose to feature this year's Motor Madness in an episode of his show.

Council President and Vice President of Strategic Planning for the Antique Automobile Club of America Tom Cox is a long-time friend of the hobby and the SAN. Many successes can be attributed to the hard work of the council as well as the entire group of councils in the VAACC. "We have lines of communication set up between our regions, area car club councils and the SAN. E-mail lists, phone banks and contact information for legislators get circulated among the groups and our voices get heard," explains Cox. It's comforting to know that the SAN has an organization that walks the walk (or, rather, drives the drive) on our side!

For more information on VAACC visit: www.vaacc.org.

Rent A Car - Might Get a Surprise Ticket

If you rent a car you could get stung with a surprise red light ticket. Here's a quote: "Since 2008, several of the nation's largest car-rental companies have shared rental and credit card information with a division of American Traffic Solutions, the nation's largest operator of speed-limit and red-light cameras.

As a result, many renters have opened up their credit card statements and been startled to find they've been charged by the company, ATS Processing Services, for a traffic infraction they never knew they'd committed, along with a $30 administrative fee."

Read the entire article at this link: Rent a car, risk a surprise ticket.

Just another reason to wonder about red light programs.

Nation Wide Car Shows Dot Com "Lifts" Info Off CCCCVA Site

I recently got an email from nationwidecarshows.com that my club was now listed on their website. When I checked I saw that nationwidecarshows.com had "lifted" information on 13 clubs right off the council website without permission. The info posted includes club contacts with emails and phone numbers. Some of the information posted is from last year. The Car Club Council of Central Virginia Inc gives permission to council members to use information on the site but not to others. The website is copyrighted and "lifting" text and pictures from the website is against national and international law. I have emailed the website owner about using nfo on this site and the response is below.

Feel free to use any info on our site, that is what it is there for. We are a National database of Clubs, Shows, Cruise Ins, Races and Race Tracks for the entire nation to use. We get submissions every day and do not track the IP addresses of where those submissions come from. We have been very encouraged by the National response we have gotten from clubs that want to be listed for the public to know about them. We have been in the SW for almost 7 yrs as DesertCruisers.com and have a huge following here.

You may check www.nationwidecarshows.com/index.php?page=clubs&stateid=VA&cityid=Richmond to see if your club's information has been posted. You will notice this website has little content but does have a lot of ads. If you'd like to contact the site owner his contact information is below:
Al Tracy
Sun Zip Enterprises
8762 W. Nicolet Ave.
Glendale, Arizona 85305
sunzip5496@gmail.com
623-204-9172

This photo is from the 11th Annual MDA Show - Album - opens to a new window

Car Hobbyist News

In 1990 the Clean Air Act was passed and just a few years later old cars and trucks were being crushed so that big stationary polluters could get credits and continue to pollute. For years we car hobbyists had to hear things like “only 10% of cars make 90% of the pollution” and “older vehicles produce almost all vehicle pollution” – I never found out where quotes like those came from – in fact I believe they were simply made up by someone and passed around until some people actually stated believing them. The power plants and the stationary polluters continued to pollute the air while we car hobbyists had to figure out how to keep our hobby from extinction which led to the formation of car councils.

Years later all that changed. The EPA and state environmental agencies discovered that making vehicles cleaner and getting older vehicles off the road wasn’t making a big dent in air pollution. In the Shenandoah Valley there was lots of haze, ozone and pollution – way more than what was produced by the vehicles and stationary polluters in the valley and it was on the rise. The environmental agencies figured out that stationary polluters in other states were producing so much air pollution that it was drifting into the valley. The power plants and other stationary polluters were cracked down upon and the air quality actually improved.

Air quality would have improved years earlier if the environmental agencies (our governments at the federal and state levels) had figured out that a few old cars and trucks on the roads were not causing massive air pollution; the big stationary polluters were at fault.

Now the shoe is on the proverbial other foot. Electricity producers such as rural electric cooperatives are mounting a campaign and asking for our help. In the May issue of Cooperative Living – a magazine sent to rural electricity customers – electricity producers attached postcards to be sent to members of Congress. Congress has been discussing cap and trade, greenhouse gases and climate change. Any new laws would mean higher electricity prices, something neither we nor the electricity producers want. The postcards ask members of Congress not to make changes that would increase the cost of electricity.

So here we have stationary polluters that produce electricity that want us to help them fight legislation that would mean higher electricity bills and more regulation for the producers. My question is “where were they when we needed some help?” I think it’s pretty bold to stick it to us in an effort to keep their costs and regulations down and then when they could be in trouble they want our help – you guessed it – to keep their costs and regulations down. We don’t have much choice either. We don’t want our electricity bills to increase.

Car hobbyists are nice people, too nice. We help out local charities and do a lot of good for the communities and when someone can stick it to us they usually do. This is why car councils formed in the 90s. We had to join together to keep those who have power from sticking it to us over and over. If those stationary polluters could somehow dump all the blame for the perceived climate change I’m betting they would dump it quickly on us and our old vehicles.

The Obama administration via Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood is proposing a seat belt rule for commercial buses. A couple of years ago a Texas bus crash left 17 dead and apparently researchers have determined that the use of seat belts in that crash could have saved some lives. If you’re wondering about seat belts on school buses wonder no more. The federal government’s new proposed rule would be for commercial buses only and not school buses. May be the government doesn’t care about the children. The reason I’ve always heard for not putting seat belts on school buses is that elementary children wouldn’t be able to ride three to a seat.

Our governor says that soon he will have a plan to put before the General Assembly to privatize liquor sales so that a few million will be raised for road construction. This is like selling the goose that lays the golden eggs for a couple of dollars. My guess is the real reason for this is to sell liquor licenses to those who want them. Last year profits and taxes from liquor sales produced $231 million on gross sales of $675 million. The governor hopes to get $300 to $500 million from the sale. The state estimates it will cost $7.8 billion over the next six years to fix the roads. If the governor gets $500 million that would be 6.4% of what is needed to fix up our roads.

This photo is from the Varina Car Show - Album - opens to a new window

Brown Technology Powers Truck

Kettering University has equipped a Chevrolet Silverado 2500 heavy duty pickup truck to run on "brown technology". This truck runs on human waste. A second fuel tank has been installed on the truck and it contains the biomethane produced from human waste. The truck needs another set of injectors and some other modifications but it will run on both gasoline and the biomethane. The cost of running on biomethane is about $1.80 per gallon and it gets less MPG than on gasoline.

You can see a video at this link Biogas Truck

This photo is from the Victory Junction Gang Camp Show - Album - opens to a new window

CarClubCouncil - dot - Org Domain Name Available

The owner of carclubcouncil.org contacted me recently and offered the domain name as she was not using it. I had her transfer the name to me and paid for a year of the domain name. If you click on carclubcouncil.org you will see it goes to this website as I have put in a forwarder to it. If any car council is interested in the domain name I will sell it to you for what I paid for the year's domain name fee. I'd like it to go to a good home. Contact me at fred@iloveoldcars.com if you or your organization is interested.

This photo is from the Chesterfield Observer which ran this front page photo of the Chester Cruise-In sponsored by the Southern Knights Cruisers.

Antique Vehicle Registration Law Enforcement

If you see a vehicle that is in violation of the antique vehicle registration you may send photos of the vehicle to fredfann@hotmail.com. Photos should include the vehicle license plate and the violation. Also include the locality where the vehicle was spotted. All violations will be forwarded to the State Police for investigation. Violations include:
1. Vehicles registered as antiques used in a business or for business purposes
2. Vehicles (especially trucks) registered as antiques carrying cargo
3. Vehicles registered as antiques with oblivious safety violations
Violations do not include cosmetic defects such as primer spots, surface rust and poor quality paint.

Antique Plate Info Flyer Online

The council delegates have approved the flyer with information on antique plates and a link to it is online here: flyer opens to a new window. Council members and antique owners may print the flyer for their own reference or distribute it to those who own or are considering registering a vehicle as an antique. It will remain on the site for an undetermined time. Council delegates will review the effectiveness of the flyer at a later date.

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