30^th Annual AMCRC National Convention Coverage

By Brad Busque
For Select Pictures from the event click here.

On Thursday, July 25^th, Ramblers from as far away as Missouri, and members as far away as Paris, France started to arrive in the Sturbridge MA area to attend the 30^th annual AMCRC National Convention hosted by the 4 Season Rambler Club. Thursday afternoon found most of the members leaving the Sturbridge Host Hotel at 12:30, then traveling though the beautiful Common of Brookfield then on to Route 9. The cruise found its way into West Brookfield and Ware stopping about 1:00 in Ware at Snow's Ice Cream. Those who wished to continued to the Hardwick Winery. At the winery the staff greeted club members and opened the doors to their winery allowing the AMCs, Ramblers and Nashes to drive into the building on a red carpet. Great photo opportunities inside & out. Once inside we enjoyed cheese, crackers, & fruit while sampling wines. Those who do not go to the winery stayed at Snow's, where the winery group picked them up on the way back. The cruise then traveled back to route 9, heading toward Quabbin Park and Reservoir. We had great photo ops at Enfield Look Out and Visitor's Center. From there we ended the cruise at Steamy Tenders.  Once back at the host hotel we enjoyed a screening of the movie Cars in the hotels dinning room.

Friday was "club day" with members from each chapter parking together.  The 4 Season Ramblers provided a DJ and music for the event. The Marlin chapter took the opportunity to hold a Marlin show, and awarded trophies at the end of the day. The AMCRC meeting convened at 5:00 sharp. The meeting started off with a brief introduction of our past President, Frank Wrenick, Potomac President Harley Smith and out newest chapter President from France, Jean Luis Hewitt.  We were then treated to a short history of AMCRC, a health status of the club (we're doing good) and health status of our chapters.  We then had an explanation of how money is awarded to chapters based on chapter size & AMCRC member ratio. The members attending were treated to a preview of the NEW AMCRC National trophies, which have been a year in with works by AMCRC member Tony Cucchi.  The new trophies were a big hit, to say the least.  Full coverage of the meeting will be in the August Rambler Reader.

After the meeting we were off to our Ice Cream Social at Colonel Custard frozen dessert who provided a ice cream sundae buffet. After hanging with the colonel for a while and having our fill bottomless sundaes it was time to head back to the Host Hotel to turn in for the night, or better yet hang with friends for a while in the parking lot of the hotel.

Saturday turned out to be a perfect show day. Low Humidity, with lots of sunshine. There were truly some great cars found on the show field, with over 160 Rambler family cars registered for the show.  We had a great variety with 5 Mets, lots of  Nashes, Ramblers, Marlins, Javelins, Amxs, AMCs, Ambassadors, convertibles (the single largest group) and Eagles. We had two all day DJs who provided oldies music, trivia, prizes and classic AMC radio ads for all to enjoy.  There where games and activites for the young set, I think everyone had a great time.

That evening found us in the Host Banquet room for a Social Hour followed by our meal. After dinner the entertainment was kicked off by a version of Family Feud that pitted AMCRC chapters against each other, competing for car related prizes. Next up were the awards, hosted by Brian Yacino, and presented by Cindy Patterson and children of the 4 Season Rambler Club. Brain was very entertaining, has a good wit, and great personality, making the awards presentations very enjoyable. In between awards we had an auction hosted by auctioneer extordinair, our very own Jay Henry.  Up for grabs this year was a beautiful Rambler quilt donated and hand made by Jay's wife Kathy, the last remaining complete set (10 cars) of 1/75th Weidia Nash and Ramblers, a beautiful Rambler picture book donated/created by Rebecca Malarky and framed Eagle patches donated by the Lynch family.  All in all a great national convention.