Back to the Bricks
December 2020 Newsletter
December 18, 2020
The latest from the Chairman of the Board
Dear Friends,

The Holiday Season is just around the corner, and like everything else this year, the weather has been very different with no snow up until now. The nice thing is, I have seen a few classic cars running the roads in December. It’s always so wonderful to see people out enjoying their cars. 

The Promo Tour Chairs, Pete Cimbala and Rhonda Rau, had a Zoom meeting on December 10th discussing the 2021 Promo Tour and a date to start the online registration. Pete informed us all that the promo Tour Captains have reported, and all of the towns and stops from the 2020 Tour are in for 2021. This is GREAT NEWS! Pete will write an article in the January Newsletter letting us all know the latest on the Tour, when registration will open and this year's confirmed dates.

Back To The Bricks® is in the early stages of planning two new exciting Spring events. When we get sponsors and locations nailed down our Executive Director will make the announcement, we expect this to be in mid-January. We are eager and thrilled to get started on this coming year. It feels like we’ve been idling for a year now, and as we know that is not good for our engines to idle. I have seen the events calendar for 2021. My suggestion to you, is to get rested up this Winter, fill your gas tank to the top and get ready for a very jam-packed and exciting Back To The Bricks® 2021 season. 
I would like to wish all of our Board of Directors, Dedicated Committee Members, Faithful Sponsors, Back To The Bricks® family and Collector Car friends...
         
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Steve Hobson
Chairman of the Board
Back to the Bricks®
stevehobson@backtothebricks.org
Save the DATE!!!!

The Back to the Bricks® team has some exciting news!!! We aren't going to give all the details just yet, but get ready for an ALL NEW EVENT coming this year!!!

More details to come... But we want you to get excited!
What's new with our Executive Director
Hey everyone!

I hope that everyone is ready for Christmas, that you've checked your list, and checked it twice! I know my Peyton is ready. She LOVES the holiday's and I am hopeful that other kids are staying as positive as she is despite all that is going on.

I am super excited for 2021, our committees are meeting and there is so much we are working on. Although we can't share too much right now, we are in search of more volunteers. If you are interested in joining our Friends of Back to the Bricks®, click here to sign up! It's a great way to get involved with our organization and possibly be on a committee in the future!

Don't forget our Back to the Bricks® Merchandise site, we have ALL NEW items. See the RED link below and happy Shopping!

Well that's all for now! Thanks again for all your support during my first year. Merry Christmas to you all and Happy New Year!

Amber Taylor
Executive Director
Back to the Bricks®
Direct: 810-877-8383
ambertaylor@backtothebricks.org
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WINNER'S Circle

This month's Newsletter WINNER is:
Doug Haase of Plainwell Michigan

Congratulations on winning!
This month's special prize is a Back to the Bricks Hat, and Collectors Shirt!

You will receive an email with more details!

Al's Garage
Al’s Garage
Vol. #1, Issue #10

It is late Sunday afternoon; it is gray, gloomy and cold outside but thankfully it is not snowing. Now that the football game is over (and yes, the Lions won) I got out of my easy chair and fired up the computer.

The Christmas season is upon us and obviously this has been one strange year for all of us and we will be happy to see the year 2020 in our taillights. But on a more positive note, like a lot of us car enthusiasts, I have been spending a great deal of time in the garage. Trying to stay away from the buffing wheel as much as I can, my son asks if I could polish a couple of small stainless-steel parts for his ’47 Ford Super Deluxe Coupe. Sure, why not? I was just about finished with the rear taillight trim ring when it got caught in the buffing wheel. I thought I had a good gripe on the part which I was holding with a heavy pair of leather gloves but before I knew it, the part exited my hands and where it went, I have no idea! I had opened the garage door and moved the buffing wheel outside and the part is now lost to nature. You would think being very shiny it could easily be spotted lying in the yard, but my search of the surrounding area proved to be fruitless. The moral of the story is the buffing wheel got me again.

Enough on that topic. My mind has switch to general house keeping in the garage with cleaning the shelves and organizing them. Getting rid of pieces of scrap metal, wood, dried up paint cans, etc. One task that I completed was converting all my garage lights to LED lighting. My old cold weather fluorescent lights were twenty-one years old and the fluorescent lamps were starting to fail. With a little research on-line, I found eight -foot LED light fixtures that had 11,000 lumen output (remember the higher the lumen output the brighter the light) for a reasonable price. Replacing sixteen old fluorescent light fixtures with the new LED fixture took me a little over a day. The biggest factor was moving the cars out of the way to remove the old fixtures and installing the new ones was not difficult except for the climb up and down the ladder. In the end, I now have a well-lit garage that is a pleasure to work in. If you are looking to brighten up your garage, consider LED lighting; you will not be sorry!

As the year ends and the Holiday season is here, like most of you if not all of you, I am looking forward to 2021. The ‘Back to the Bricks’ team has a great calendar for 2021 and I for one can not wait. Getting the ’64 Pontiac GTO ready for the summer is on the top of my ‘to do’ list. For the most part, the GTO is an original unrestored car. Having 94,000 miles on the odometer, is time to rebuild the front-end suspension. The parts arrived a couple of days ago and all I must do is get the car up on the hoist and go to work.   In closing, may each of you, your families and friends have a great Christmas season. Stay safe, COVID-19 free and warm.

Keep on rollin’

Al Hatch