Back to the Bricks®
May 2022 Newsletter
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The latest from the Chairman of the Board |
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Hello Car Enthusiasts,
Enthusiasm is growing as we are all so happy to be cruising again. The weather is finally getting more predictable and warmer, and I am predicting that we will have fabulous weather for the upcoming Dust ‘em Off™ Car Show this Sunday, May 22. We hope to see you there!
Our amazing team of dedicated volunteers have been working tirelessly to prepare for this show. You will not be disappointed because we have something for everyone. Door prizes, over 800 classic cars & trucks, food wagons, a swap meet, over 30 vendors, great music from Scott Kuhl, our rocking DJ, and two 50/50 drawings throughout the event so you can win some cold hard cash.
Most important, you will get to connect with your cruising friends again, and hopefully meet some new ones. Our Back to the Bricks® team is very excited and we are planning some great changes in procedures that will enhance your cruising experience with us. Our team is always striving to deliver new or enhanced unique times of enjoyment for you and your family. Our goal is to always be the best we can be, so get prepared to have a great car season with us.
We value the trust you put in us, by attending and supporting all our events. We will never take it for granted. So, buckle up for a great year, and I will see you Sunday at Dust ‘em Off™ or perhaps down the road.
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My best regards,
Al Jones
Chairman of the Board
Back to the Bricks®
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2nd Annual Dust 'em Off Car Show Brought to you by Dort Financial Credit Union and Partnered with Ashley Furniture Outlet |
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Car Show is open to the General Public from 10am - 4pm
3501 Lapeer Rd, Flint MI
This is a totally FREE Event, so park at Ashley Furniture off Lapeer Rd, and take the FREE MTA Trolley over to the event center, or walk on the side of Ashley Furniture, and through the back gate to the event center.
ALSO - Visit the staff inside Ashley Furniture for MORE specials, food and opportunities to win and SAVE big.
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The 2nd Annual
Dust 'em Off Car Show
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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.
Open from 10am - 4pm
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A Message From Our Vice Chairman of the Board |
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Well, many of you may know I serve as Vice Chairman of the Board. It’s a pleasure working with the Chairman Al Jones and Executive Director Amber Taylor on a weekly basis structuring events, working on plans, and coming up with MORE we can do for you. But I also enjoy working behind the scenes with our Executive Director on creating forms, registrations, collection payments/donations, and creating website pages and links. It's fun watching all the registrations come in.
We are truly getting ready for another record breaking show this Sunday. We have nearly 900 cars registered for our Dust ‘em Off show which will be held at Dort Financial Event Center. As our various shows continue to grow, they are getting more difficult to manage using the old systems. Our sponsors and partners ask for real time numbers of actual cars that come to our shows and gathering this information isn't always the easiest task. To help us manage our shows we are going to try an ALL-NEW system at Dust ‘em Off and hopefully continue to improve it and roll it out to all our events.
All of you that registered for Dust ‘em Off received an email with a QR code. You will not need the code for this show, but you can use it if you like to. Just show the email I sent you to the gate personnel and they will guide you to the proper row where you will receive a preprinted dash card.
The Back to the Bricks® Organization is working towards becoming a more paperless organization with this new system. You may already be experiencing this type of shift at movies, concerts and other venues requiring a QR code to enter.
When you arrive to any of our events you will need to show your QR code on your phone. If you can’t do that you can print it from your email and bring a printed copy to the show. Using this information from your QR code we will be able to enter you into any give away contest we have offering great prizes. Being scanned in allows us to know who is present that day. We will also send you a text when you win a prize.
To make this work we need your help. Please ensure you use a valid email address, and you check it regularly. Also please use a mobile phone number we can use to text you when you have won a prize.
As our events continue to grow this new system will help us keep the cars moving as quickly as possible. We understand change isn't always easy, so we are here to assist or answer any questions you might have.
Thank you for your co-operation.
Ralph Messer
Vice Chairman of the Board
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701 University Ave, Flint, MI 48503
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Registration is OPEN for the 1st Road Rally of the year |
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This year's first Road Rally kicks off in the early am at Shea Automotive off Corunna and Linden Rd. This one day adventure, normally no more than 100 miles, will take you through some of Michigan's most beautiful hidden cities. We avoid all expressways and keep it under 55 so everyone can enjoy the tour. There's a visual scavenger hunt, with a prize to win. You will arrive back at the finish line for a finisher plaque and opportunity to turn your scavenger hunt in. Something for everyone and every vehicle.
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Important dates to know about!!!! |
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Back to the Bricks
Night at the Speedway
July 22nd 2022
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FREE Concert
Friday August 19th 2022
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A more detailed Back to the Bricks(R) events calendar will be coming out on our website and social media pages soon!
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Al’s Garage
Vol. #3, Issue #5
Exercising Patience
I don’t know about most of you, but for me patience is not one of my many virtues. Just ask my wife! I am on the same level as a four-year-old kid whose parents promised to take him to the ice cream shop, and he is wondering why the heck have we not left yet. Once our minds are made up on something we want it done right then and there.
Here's a great a case in point to having lack of patience.
A good friend of mind, ‘Woody’ (once again I am protecting the innocent with a fictitious name) had promised his wife that he would put new shock absorbers on her car. As a good friend does, I suggested he bring the car over to my garage and we could put it on the lift, raise it up in the air and change the shocks. Sound reasoning prevailed that standing underneath the car sure beats laying on your back. And of course, I added ‘this should not take more than a half-hour’ or so we thought…
We started with the rear shocks first. With air impact tool in hand, we commenced with the task at hand. First was the bottom nut which came off as though it was just put on the day before. With confidence building we moved to the top two bolts thinking this was going to be a ‘piece of cake’. Air impact wrench in hand, and socket extension with the proper size socket, we attacked the upper two bolts fully thinking these would submit to our intentions. Well, let me tell you this. There were nuts on the top side of the shock mount with about a half-inch clearance, which was just enough to get a wrench on them. Well to cut the story a little short, after two hours of battling those stubborn bolts and nuts, our language degenerated to long shoreman talk. With frustration we said, ‘to the *%#@ with that’, the front shocks are still awaiting the challenge of removing them. The next day at our Friday morning coffee with fellow car enthusiasts, we presented our dilemma to the group. Always up for a challenge, the Wizard of Oz ‘Fast Eddy’ volunteered his expertise and after coffee it was off to ‘Al’s Garage’.
Fast Eddy looked over the rear shocks, asked for a half-inch wrench and the air impact wrench and commenced to removing the rear shocks in about five minutes! Woody and I looked at each other with amazement, in as much as Fast Eddy employed the same procedures as we did. I said he had smaller hands then we did and talked about feeling useless was an understatement. Fast Eddy moved to the front shocks and had them off in about ten minutes.
As my wife has said for many years, if something is not going well put it aside and come back tomorrow which in most cases the problem is resolved quickly. In this case it was ‘Fast Eddy’ who came to the rescue with the patience that alluded ‘Woody’ and me. Once the new shocks were installed all was well in ‘Woody’s’ house and it was off to the ice cream store.
Keep on rollin’
Al Hatch
Founder of the Back to the Bricks®
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From Soup to Nuts
Based on a TRUE Story of what you can find on the road and turn into a car....
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One day a young boy came home with 2 metal kitchen chairs he had just found along the roadside and wanted to know if his dad could build him a T-Bucket. He really wanted to use the chairs and asked his dad if it was possible? The funny part… I am sure any Dad would say, “Sure Son,” but how many Dads really can do it? Well, this short story will prove it can be done.
Dad, or Don we will say, took on this project his son asked him to start with a vengeance. He started with some tubing, had his son sit in the chair, then gave him a steering wheel so he could take some measurements. He then took those measurements and drew a sketch of a T-Bucket. After building the frame out of 1” tubing, he built the interior out of 20 gage metal, and the exterior out of 18 gage metal. The body parts were all hand formed. He found the taillights from a 1952 Buick. The back tailgate was a baby bed metal frame. He knew that the color had to be the 1968 Chevelle blue.
The drivetrain is a 350 chevy with a 350 transmission and a Nova rear end. The windshield came from a 1915 Patterson. Turn signal lamps were from a Model T oil lite lamps that he converted to 12 volts. The steering wheel and column were from a 1923 Model T. The steering box is from a 1966 Mustang. The front end is a 1934 straight axle, a wish bone rear axle, disk brakes all around, the dash is wood with real leather. He went with big tires and aluminum wheels.
Over 60 years ago he finished this labor of love, and he and his son have a great time with it. This goes to show, that a dream can become a reality, But also a man’s, Don Dumler’s incredible skill in building a car like this. The car made up of everything, but the kitchen sink, is classified as a 1933 Ford Coupe.
Don Dumler over the years has built an incredible number of vehicles or had his hand in helping to build them. He is a long time Volunteer and Committee Member for Back to the Bricks® and in recent years and this Sunday at Dust ‘em Off is the Swap Meet Coordinator.
**Parts of this story were fabricated to enhance the story line
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Friends of Back to the Bricks® Program
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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!
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