Back to the Bricks®
April 2022 Newsletter
April 15th, 2022
The latest from the Chairman of the Board
Hello Car Enthusiasts,
 
I’m sure you are all looking forward to good weather, as am I. We know everyone is itching to get your precious classic ride out of storage and on the road. My wife and I just returned from Florida, so I know sunshine when I see it. It’s closer than you think, and I even saw several Robins today.
 
Michigan gives us plenty of surprises with the weather, so while you are waiting to ensure the good weather is here to stay, register for the Discovery Promo Tour a fun 5-day adventure throughout Michigan from June 3-8. We are excited to visit Alma, East Tawas, Petoskey and up and over the historic Mackinac bridge to visit Sault Ste. Marie for two days. For complete details visit our website. We know hotels are filling up.
 
If you can’t get away from home for 5 days, consider signing up for a great time at the 2nd Annual Dust ‘em Off™ Car Show on May 22 at Dort Financial Center. Last year was an incredible success, and we have more planned this year to make it even better. We have special Car Club parking. So, if you are a part of a car club gather and get 5 or more members to register and you will have signage and a designated spot for you and your club, so it doesn’t get any better than that. Our Food Truck Chairman Bob Ayre is working hard on having six great food trucks available for you to enjoy throughout the day. We are anticipating over 25 vendors for you to visit and discuss car products and services with. We’ve just ordered some great car related items we will be giving away. Over 50 gifts given away to the registered cruisers.
 
To be eligible for these great gifts and a free T-Shirt you must register on the website. It’s free to register and free to attend. Last year we closed the registration at 800 cars and the event is filling up quickly so don’t delay because you won’t want to miss it.
 
One of our brought to you by sponsors, Ashley Furniture will be giving away $5,000 in Gift Cards, a Couch, a Recliner and so much more! We can’t thank them and Dort Financial enough for helping to make this event bigger and better than last year.
 
Also featured at this event is a Swap Meet. This is your opportunity to offload some collected car parts and swap meet items. See the Swap Meet info below in this email.
 
Our Back to the Bricks® Events Committee has been meeting and they are planning a HUGE Summer of Fun. More details will be coming out soon, so stay tuned.
 
I look forward to seeing you at one or all of our amazing car experiences this year, so please introduce yourself or contact me with questions.

My best regards,

Al Jones
Chairman of the Board
Back to the Bricks®
aljones@backtothebricks.org
What's Going On?
Get Pre-Registered
before it FILLS up!
The 2nd Annual
Dust 'em Off Car Show

Swap Meet at Dust 'em Off

A Swap Meet will be featured at this event giving our car fans an opportunity to pick up spare parts and unique items.


Check out the Promo Tour and where it's going!!!
Discovery Promo Tour

June Jun 3-8th 2022

Important dates to know about!!!!
Back to the Bricks
Night at the Speedway
July 22nd 2022
Tune Up Week
August 8-14th 2022
FREE Concert
Friday August 19th 2022
Main Event
Saturday August 20th 2022
A more detailed Back to the Bricks(R) events calendar will be coming out on our website and social media pages soon!
Scholarship Applications Are In!
Our Scholarship committee is working hard on the applications, we've received so MANY this year. They have a BIG JOB on scoring and narrowing it down to the final 5 to receive these scholarships.

These scholarships will be awarded to local Genesee County Area High School Seniors who are pursuing post-secondary study/training at a college or technical school in auto-body repair/painting, automotive design, auto mechanics, electrical/manufacturing/mechanical engineering, robotics, sales and marketing, software development for automotive applications, welding, or a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) related program.

We hope to announce the Winners next Month!
What's new with our Executive Director
Hey everyone!

So as our Chairman said, the SUN has been making an appearance here and there, and before we know it, we will be splashing in our pools, and enjoying the warm days and beautiful evenings cruising in our cars and trucks.

Funny story... I was waiting for a "warmer" day to bring the Harley out. I had to change the battery because unfortunately it didn't survive the winter even on a charger. So this past Monday it warmed up enough (I thought) to take it for a spin. I met with our Chairman and Vice Chairman for a walk though a potential Tune Up site, and also went to a few sponsors to say hi. Before I knew it, Mother Nature decided that she didn't like it being warm. So the temperature dropped to below 50 degrees. Which when talking motorcycles and riding, that's below 40 and THAT'S TOO COLD! It was a chilly ride home, and a lesson learned. I must be patient and wait, but man was it fun.

I am always so amazed by our volunteer's that serve and their dedication to make Back to the Bricks® happen year after year. I wanted to highlight just a few of these amazing people, and will continue to do so each month. This month I wanted to highlight our Tune Up Chairman Tony Bauer and our Food Truck Chairman Bob Ayre. Both have been working tirelessly behind the scenes to gather information, host meetings, send emails and follow up all the while doing their normal things like, Tony working full time and in Bob's case work remotely from Florida. These fantastic individuals represent our organization well, and should be thanked.

Our Events Committee is a hoot! I truly look forward to our monthly meetings, they are so much fun. I am really a member of this family now. To some, I am the annoying sister, daughter, granddaughter and well... just the loud one in the room that they love to crack jokes about. I know they love me, just as much as I love them. We need more amazing people to join us, so if you are interested in volunteering PLEASE consider signing up. Here's our LINK to the Friends of Back to the Bricks®. Even if you can only help out for a few hours at one of our events, they each take hundreds of man hours. We can use you!

We have some all-new things coming this year, like a new registration process for all our events. We are working on solidifying these new programs to offer a better overall experience, the option for giveaways and better communication to be a focus. We know you all will be happy.
Finally, I wanted to give a shout out and BIG Congratulations to our Vice Chairman Ralph Messer and his wife Kerri on welcoming their FIRST Great Grandbaby Hudson. Babies are so sweet and we all are very happy for them. Now to get this baby at our shows so he can fall in love with all the cars and trucks!

That's all for this month, as always if you need anything, have something to share or talk about, feel free to contact me. I truly enjoy hearing from you!


Amber Taylor
Executive Director
Back to the Bricks®
Direct: 810-877-8383
Trucker Hats
100% combed ringspun cotton Tank Top
100% cotton (preshrunk jersey knit) Seamless 50/50 cotton/poly T-Shirt - Cool Gas Station Look
Al's Garage
Al’s Garage
Vol. #3, Issue #4
Oil Can Harry & Man Caves

Every now and then I catch myself drifting back to my formative years. Recently I got thinking about an early cartoon character by the name of ‘Oil Can Harry.’ What little I could remember about him was that he was a scheming villain that sported a thin black mustache who was always trying to take advantage of someone and in this case, he was the archrival of ‘Mighty Mouse.’ OCH was introduced to the viewing audiences in the summer of 1933 and appeared in many of the ‘Mighty Mouse’ cartoons for the next twenty years or so. You are wondering where I might be going with this, so let me explain.

OCH’s name got me thinking about oil cans, gas station memorabilia, license plates, signs and everything auto related. I can distinctly remember purchasing my very first piece of auto related memorabilia. It was in 1976 at the AACA swap meet which was held at the Saginaw County Fairgrounds. It was a Shell Oil license plate topper, and it was in an old wooden nail keg. The keg was filled with the Shell Oil toppers (all new old stock) and the asking price? $. 25 each! For me that was like pushing a snowball downhill. One led to another and another and from that point on, I was hooked. License plates, oil cans, quart cans, 2-gallon cans, five-gallon cans became part of the collection. Porcelain gas pump signs (when they were affordable) started to populate the garage wall. Throughout the past fifty plus years the collection included gas pumps, air meters and more. And what was the motivation for this madness? The motivation was the purchase of my first antique car which was a 1931 Pontiac two door sedan.  

I can not ever remember going into a fellow car collectors’ garage without seeing some form of collectable automotive related memorabilia proudly displayed on the wall of his or her garage. Car collecting and auto related memorabilia goes hand in hand. The bidding reflects that this is a hot market for auto related ‘stuff’ and collectors are willing to pay exorbitant prices for highly desirable pieces of road art. A case in point was a new old stock porcelain neon Ford dealership sign that hammered down at $400,000! You heard me right; $400,000! This took place at one of the major January car auctions. Go figure. Like most of us, we may start out small and move up in the scope of what each of us consider collectable. Makes me wonder if fifty years ago I had focused on buying road art instead of collector cars, that might have been a better road to travel. A funny thing is how hindsight is twenty-twenty. If someone asks how you got hooked on the automotive hobby, just reply, ‘Blame Oil Can Harry’ and let it go at that.

Don’t forget to sign up for the ‘Back to the Bricks’ spring Discovery Promo Tour. Having participated in all of the Promo Tours, my wife and I have had a great time on each and every one of them.


Keep on rollin’

Al Hatch
Founder of the Back to the Bricks®
Back to the Bricks® Community Car Calendar
Add your events!
It's time to share information about local, regional, or state-wide car shows, cruises, swap meets, and similar events in addition to our own for the convenience of our friends in the Classic Car Community. This service is FREE to non-profit organizations. Calendar will be updated monthly and shared to the website as a downloadable PDF.

Friends of Back to the Bricks® Program
WE NEED YOUR HELP!!!

Have you wanted to be involved more with the Back To The Bricks®? Ever wanted to volunteer at any or all of our events? Join our Volunteer program called, Friends of Back To The Bricks®.

Friends of Back To The Bricks® is a volunteer program designed to help grow our volunteer base, continue to educate our car community on history and heritage, and ensure the future of our amazing Car shows and events for the community.

If you are anyone you know loves to help, volunteer or be apart of something pretty unique, click this link and sign up today!