Corvette Chatter
Corvette
Memphis Inc.
www.corvettememphis.org
August 2008 newsletter
Doug
Turner, President, 755-2626
Tina
Caronna, Vice President, 381-4267
Deborah
Hochstein, Secretary
Susan
Allen, Treasurer, 901-521-9321
Ann
Hamblin, Membership Chair, 901-491-7232
Sherrye Willis, Officer at Large, 291-4125, sjwmphs@comcast.net
Sherrye Willis, Shirley Jones – Newsletter
Be Part of A Corvette
Brick Purchase
for the National Corvette Museum
Cathy Gardner,
ambassador to the National Corvette Museum, is
hoping Corvette Memphis members will contribute to a brick
purchase
at the NCM.
For $600, a medium
size brick engraved with the CM logo can be
purchased and displayed in the Corvette Plaza at the Museum. Two
hundred dollars has already been pledged by members toward
the
12x12 brick.
If you wish to be
part of this support for the Museum, talk with Cathy
or mail your check in any amount to Corvette Memphis, PO Box
38207,
Germantown, TN
38138.
.
August Meeting
Meeting was kept short and sweet. Since Tina was not present, Doug took over
announcements about club activities. We
were glad to see Ann back in her seat with the officers. Chuck gave us an update of plans for the
Cotton Festival Charity Car Show. Many
members pre-registered. Several
visitors were introduced. We adjourned
to Carabbas for dinner.
Shirley Jones
Blue Plate Cruise-In
There’s a weekly cruise-in every Thursday in Bartlett, the
Blue Plate Cruise-In sponsored by the Memphis Classic Chevy Club. According to Ginger Ford, newsletter editor
for MCCC, it starts at 6 p.m. at the NW corner of Stage Road and Kirby
Whitten. Five-dollar chances are
available on a 350 Chevy motor to be given away at their Fall Fun Run. They expect to meet through October.
Updates - Cotton Festival Charity Car Show
Sept. 13th
– 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Historic
Somerville Square, Highway 64
Show ‘n
Shine presented by Corvette Memphis
$20 entry
fee
annual
show for Corvette Memphis
Call Chuck
Wombough if you can contribute door prizes, 493-8749.
Volunteers
are needed for parking and registration.
Members can pre-register at the September meeting. There will be a hospitality area for CM members in a nearby park.
The Corvettes at Carlisle annual show is Aug.
22-24. Doug Turner had to withdraw from
going this year as business took precedent.
Gordon will be driving his mobile home to Pennsylvania this year.
Bill Heard Car Show has been cancelled.
Corvettes for St. Jude and Corvetteforum.com
will present their annual check to the hospital Oct. 13th. Please save the date for this annual caravan
to the hospital to present donated funds and let the St. Jude patients admire
your Corvettes. Craig Deckshot is the
contact person, 309-0898.
Barrett Jackson Auction in
Las Vegas, Oct. 16-18 at the Mandalay Bay Resort. Doug Turner is coordinating, 485-1304.
Corvette Expo in
Knoxville, Oct. 16-18.
A Fall Boo Fest,
bonfire, and wiener roast is planned for Oct. 25th to replace the
semi-annual progressive dinner.
Coordinator is Poppy Underwood, 416-1331.
The Carnival Cruise
Oct. 27-Nov. Room for more Corvette Memphis Members. The trip includes two days at sea (including Halloween) and
visits to Progresso, Yucatan, Mexico, and Cozumel, Mexico.
Contact Shirley Jones, 377-9448, nanacaleb@earthlink.net
The Christmas Party is Dec. 6th and chairs Sandra Hudson and Shirley Jones are coordinating the annual event. Again this year it will be at Germantown County Club with cocktails at 7 p.m. followed by a seated dinner and music by a band. Invitations this year will be sent via email, rather than snail mail.
July,
August Happenings
Monthly Wednesday
Dinner Cruise
Compared to the 100+ degree-days, the 80-degree night felt
quite comfortable for the monthly mystery cruise Aug. 7. Cruise leaders Sandra and Len Hudson moved
the day from Wednesday to Thursday and the meeting location from the Agricenter
to Sears Wolfchase to head to Fayette County. After a drive down Highway 70, about 20 cars stopped for dinner at
the Braden Station, a catfish and buffet restaurant in the heart of
Braden. Joining the Vette caravan to the
small town were Lakeland visitors Ken and Linda Vilag.
Pool
Party
The Pool Party at the Turners’ turned out to be a
great success (even though no one ever got in the pool). The weather was not the best for
swimming. However, the temperature was
just right. Gus’ chicken was the main
entrée. Members brought additional
dishes; so we had quite a variety.
Sandra’s “Hostess Cupcake Cake” was devoured. As always we enjoyed the company of all who attended and missed
those who could not attend. There was a
lot of eating; a lot of laughter; just a lot of fun had by all. We want to thank Doug and P.T. for being
such great hosts.
Shirley Jones
Comedy Club
Thirty-five members and guests chuckled through the Lisa
Landry show at Comedy,TN July 12. Most attending met early for dinner at the
club and followed the entertainment with dessert at the Kaferle’s house, where
homemade white chocolate bread pudding and assorted homemade desserts were
served and enjoyed.
Regular Monthly meetings, events
1st Wednesday Mystery Dinner Cruise, leave 6:30 p.m. Agricenter parking lot.
September
date will be the 1st Thursday.
2nd Tuesday Monthly Corvette
Memphis meeting, 7 p.m., Bill Heard Chevrolet, 4605 Bailey Station,
Collierville.
3rd
Thursday Cordova Sonic Cruise-in.
3rd Saturday East End Cruise-in
for St. Jude, 7956 Winchester Rd.
Who’s Who in Corvette Memphis
Jim & Sherrye Willis are
Memphis natives who live in Lakeland after being in Birmingham, AL 21
years. They have two sons, a lawyer in
Atlanta and a restaurant manager here.
They have been members of Corvette Memphis two years and are lifetime
members of the National Corvette Museum.
Jim first became interested in Corvettes in the mid-60s because several
friends had Vettes and he loved the lines and performance of them. Their first was a ’73 L-82 orange coupe with
medium saddle interior. “We’ve also
owned a ’94 triple black and an ’01 triple black. We currently have an ’07 triple black and a ’65 rally red BB
convertible.”
Commenting on Corvette travels, Jim said, “We subscribe to
the philosophy that Corvettes were made to drive. Our first long trip was in
celebration of the 1976 Bicentennial with visits all the way to Boston, driving
about 3000 miles.” A second 3000-mile
trip was as a long-hauler in the Hot Rod Power Tour from Milwaukee to
Kissimmee, FL in the ’65 convertible.
Jim has also done the NCM’s Performance Legends tour, the NCM’s C5-R
Performance tour and a Corvetteforum night shuttle launch cruise in the ’01,
driving 1200 miles, 1900 miles, and 1300 miles respectively.
“We bought our first Corvette from a college friend during a
Sunday visit to his home in Brownville, TN in 1975, asking not only for a good
price on the car, but for on-the-spot financing from Brownsville Bank where the
friend worked.”
Jim believes his most interesting Vette story is driving the
’73 for 25 years and 240,000 miles before suggesting the original owner buy it
back! “I told my friend, who had become
chairman and principal owner of INSOUTH Bank, the holding company for
Brownsville Bank, that I was starting to have problems with the car and wanted
my money back. He was amazed I still
had the car and said he would take it back in running condition.” Jim sold the ’73 in Birmingham to begin his
succession of other Corvettes.
Keith & Martha Ferguson live in
Olive Branch and have been Club members three years. Keith is a native of Colorado Springs and moved to Memphis when
he was four-years-old. He is director of inventory and supply with TBC Corp. Martha, a Memphis native, is executive unit
leader with Avon in sales and recruiting.
They have two children, Angela who has a new job at St. Jude in
research, and Adam, married, who works at Highland Systems.
Keith says his best friend in high school had a ’62
Vette. “Even before then, I liked the
’63 split window coupe. My long legs
and tall frame didn’t fit inside the early models but I loved them anyway. Finally when the C5s came out, I was able to
fit inside and got serious looking for THE CAR,” he said.
They own a 2005 Lemans blue. “I bought an automatic so Martha could drive it too. I was considering a 2004 at year end, but
went to Chuck Hutton and met Karl Johanson and I selected one that was already
on order but not spoken for. We
purchased it as a pleasure car, not a daily driver. It has 18,000 miles on it right now.”
The furthest he’s driven his car ?--- 120 miles to
Cleveland, MS on a mystery dinner cruise with the Club.
Their most interesting story? “I took it to Memphis Motor Sports Park and ran the autocross on
the road course. I discovered the car
would perform more than I was capable of doing and that made me want to take
the high speed-driving course later. I
took it to the drag strip and ran a 13.1 in the quarter mile and that’s what
Motor Trend said the car did in their testing.”
(These are
the final Corvette Memphis bios unless someone else remembers to submit a form
to Sherrye
Willis)
Check
the website frequently for updates on events, pictures of members, meeting
minutes,
and
links to other sites.
www.corvettememphis.org
From the National Corvette Museum
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