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VOLUME 36 • NUMBER 11 NOVEMBER, 2007

INSIDE...• Club Activities• Fall Foliage Tour recap• A Family Story• Get Involved in TCRG

...is now behind us!...is now behind us!

This great V-8 summer

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The Rumble Sheet is the offi cial publication of the Twin Cities Regional Group # 46 (TCRG) of the Early Ford V-8 Club of America and is sent to all current members and advertisers. TCRG is chartered by the Early Ford V-8 Club of America, and is a non-profi t corporation in the state of Minnesota, dedicated to the preservation of Ford motor vehicles and related historical materials from the era of fl athead V-8 engines, including all Fords, Mercurys and Lincolns so equipped from 1932 through 1953. Club AddressPO Box 20236, Minneapolis, MN 55420.

Twin Cit ies Regional Group 2007 Board of DirectorsTwin Cit ies Regional Group 2007 Board of DirectorsPresident Duane Shuck 952-888-7191Vice President Michael Wyman 651-644-5684Secretary Bill Blood 612-722-4172Treasurer Ron Christensen 952-472-2672Editor/Webmaster Mark Crichton 612-801-3620Activities Director Gary Rosenberger 651-451-2937Membership Tim Anderson 763-493-4655Past President Gary Rosenberger 651-451-2937Sunshine Lady Jean Shuck 952-888-7191Archives Jerry Felton 952-873-6754Art Director Ron Long 651-714-2740

T W I N C I T I E S R E G I O N A L G R O U P I N F O R M A T I O NMeetingsMembership meetings of the TCRG are held at 7:30 on the fi rst Wednesday of almost every month at a site announced in the Rumble Sheet. Change in time or location will also be announced in the Rumble Sheet.MembershipMembership dues for the TCRG are $15.00 per calendar year. Membership in the Early Ford V8 Club of America (the national club) is a membership requirement of the Twin Cities Regional Group.requirement of the Twin Cities Regional Group.Submitting materialSubmitting materialPlease send all materials for publication to Mark Please send all materials for publication to Mark Crichton, 19072 Magenta Bay, Eden Prairie, MN Crichton, 19072 Magenta Bay, Eden Prairie, MN 55347; e-mail to mark.m.crichton@pmusa.com. 55347; e-mail to mark.m.crichton@pmusa.com. Rumble Sheet material deadline is the 15th of the Rumble Sheet material deadline is the 15th of the month. E-mail body content (not attachment) is month. E-mail body content (not attachment) is preferred.preferred.AdvertisingAdvertisingClassifi ed ads are free to TCRG members, and Classifi ed ads are free to TCRG members, and will run for three consecutive months. Display ads will run for three consecutive months. Display ads (business card size) will run for 12 issues at a cost of (business card size) will run for 12 issues at a cost of $30. Check under ad for last scheduled appearance. $30. Check under ad for last scheduled appearance. WebsiteWebsiteTCRG can be visited online at www.tcrgv8club.orgTCRG can be visited online at www.tcrgv8club.org(10/06)

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• 1932 Ford 3/W Coupe, steel, stock body, chrome under, 383-auto, wire wheels• 1933 Ford Deluxe Cabriolet, steel, restored, maroon/black fenders super nice• 1934 Ford Deluxe Tudor, steel, body off, Dearborn blue, WWSW rings, Wow!• 1936 Ford Deluxe Roadster, steel, red, dual carbs & exhaust, pines trim• 1936 Ford Deluxe 3/W Coupe, steel, tan, restored, WWSW, chrome caps, neat!• 1939 Ford Standard Coupe, steel, body-off restoration, grey, chrome caps• 1939 Ford Deluxe Coupe, steel, restored, red, skirts, built 59A, drives 100%• 1939 Ford Deluxe Convertible, steel, restored, lite yellow, dressed fl athead• 1939 Ford Deluxe Convertible, steel, red, duals, WWSW, great driver!• 1939 Ford Deluxe Convertible, steel, green, restored, skirts, WWSW, super!• 1940 Ford Deluxe Convertible, steel, restored, maroon, WWSW, R&H, nice!• 1940 Ford Deluxe Convertible, steel, maroon, one of the best in the world•1940 Ford Deluxe Coupe, steel, black, dressed fl athead, Columbia rear, wow!• 1940 Ford Deluxe Opera coupe, steel, grill guard, wing tips, R&H, WWSW, fogs• 1940 Ford Deluxe Sedan Delivery, steel, green, dual spots, new chrome, nice!• 1940 Mercury Coupe, steel black, AZ car, never rusty, dressed fl athead

• 1947 Ford Super Deluxe Convertible, steel, body-off, Columbia, still under construction, • 1948 Ford Super Deluxe Coupe, killer black, dressed fl athead, body-off neat!• 1950 Ford Coupe, steel, maroon mild custom, tuck & roll, outstanding!• 1953 Mercury Convertible, yellow & black, every accessory, super nice!• 1953 Mercury 2D Hardtop, steel, red/black, killer correct interior• 1957 Ford Ranchero, red supercharged “F”, one of two ever built by Ford• 1957 Ford Ranchero, body-off restoration, red/white, overdrive, super carSee all of BJ’s cars at: www.jmacsautos

Wanted• Storage space to store Meet shirts, wine glasses, mugs, vases, knobs, pins, shop rags and all related Meet items. Contact the Gillies, 651-633-1564•1952 to 54 Ford passenger car rear axle assembly or center section with the ring and pinion gears. Preferably without the 3.31 ratio, all others are okay. Also, looking for a ‘52 - ‘53 steering sector gear box. Robert Hestness 612-724-9268 (5/07)• Good used radiator for a ‘39 Ford pickup, also two good 6.50 6 or 8-ply tires and inner tubes, Keith Hillstrom, 651-628-9148 (2/07)• Ford hand tools to make up a tool kit. Monkey wrench, Box wrench, screwdriver, small open-end wrenches. Harvey Oberg, 651-739-9754• 1932 thru 1940 Ford Roadster, Cabriolet, 3 and 5 window Coupes. Steel only. Prefer restored, well-maintained. Slight modifi cations OK. “Don’t need to talk to my wife or banker to do a deal”. Call me. BJ 952-941-2918 “Here’s your opportunity to lay old BJ away”.

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For SaleClassifi ed ads are free to TCRG members, and will run for three consecutive months• Plenty of Great River Merchandise available and ON SALE, including shirts, hats, knobs, and pins. Call the Gillies to place your order!• 2001 Merc Sable LS, 70,000 miles, well maintained, Black with grey leather, larger 24 valve engine, runs and drives perfect, $6900. Mark Crichton, 612-801-3620 (12/07)• 1936 LB engine, crack free and turns $450.00. 33-34 engine $400.00. Several ‘37 21 stud engines, bare blocks to complete runners. ‘50 Merc block. ‘49 to ‘50 Ford rear window. Norm, 218-724-3683, cell 303-818-7528 (9/07)• 1951 Ford F3 Pickup All steel, body off restoration completely original. Green body with varnished wood bed. 6 Cyl fl athead, 6 volt electrical. Excellent condition always Garaged Bill Fredrick 763-560-8198 or 612-716-6656• 1948 Mercury Coupe with Chevelle clip, 12 bolt rear end, all parts epoxy primed, 350 eng / 350 trans, MN title and plates, all the hard work done, must sell due to health, $5,500 or best offer, Dick Tempel, 651-776-2197 (3-07)• 2 tables, formerly loaned to the Club. Recently replaced by light weight tables. One is 29 high, 30 wide, and 6’ long the other is 18 high, 30 wide, and 6’ long. Would make great work tables. Heavy enough to be tornado proof. Make offer, funds donated to the Early Ford V-8 Foundation. Sorry, no delivery. Bruce Nelson 651-482-8940 (7-07)• 1932 Deluxe coupe & sport coupe bodies. Parts: Chassis, frames, front and rear ends, cross members, fenders, frame horn covers, Running boards, grilles, hoods, deck lids, dashes, gas tanks, window garnish moldings, spare tire carriers, wheels, headlights and bars, radios, fl atheads and engine parts, transmissions,

(10/06)The following ads are from Gary Nielsen of GEM Classic Auto, Contact Gary at (320) 235-3935 or (320) 894-8685, or via e-mail at: garybob@charter.net.• Ford 8N tractor with small back blade. Mechanically sound-tires good-12 volt conversion $2500. Gary Nielsen, GEM Classic Auto• 1977 GMC 1 ton van. Great swap meet vehicle-runs well. $450 obo. Gary Nielsen, GEM Classic Auto• 1923 Fordson tractor on steel. Complete, with add on brake. Engine free. $1500. Gary Nielsen, GEM Classic Auto• 1946 Ford Conoco gas truck. Body is good. Engine soaking but stuck (6 cylinder) $2300 OBO. Gary Nielsen, GEM Classic Auto• 1949 Ford F-5 V-8 (stuck). Great body and tires with hoist, no box. $1800. Gary Nielsen, GEM Classic Auto

etc. 40 year collection. E-Mail your needs to: brucethedeuce@usfamily.net or call Bruce Kolby 651 341 0361. (9/06)

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TCRG ActivitiesWednesday, November 7, 7:30 PM Wednesday, November 7, 7:30 PM MEMBERSHIP MEETING. The meeting will be held at Environments, Inc., 13600

County Road 62, Minnetonka. From I-494, exit at Hwy 62 Crosstown and go west less than a half mile. First driveway on the right after Baker Road. See Gary’s write-up below. Wednesday, November 14, 7:30 PMBOARD MEETING- Bill Blood’s home, 3519 24th Avenue South, Mpls., MN 55406. Call Bill if you need directions, 612-722-4172Thursday, November 15, 9:00 AMGEEZER BREAKFAST, Curran’s, 42nd and Nicollet Avenue South, Mpls, MN. Thanks to Bill Blood for setting it up. Wednesday, December 5th, 7:30 PMMEMBERSHIP MEETING- Environments, Inc. Annual Holiday celebration. Friday-Sunday, January 25 to 27, 200845th ANNUAL WORLD OF WHEELS, River Center, St Paul. We will most likely be participating in security duty similar to other years. Bruce Nelson will provide an update at the December meeting. The Club display is being considered again for 2008. Contact Tom Halfpenney if you are interested.

Activities UpdateActivities Update Wednesday, November 7th, 2007 7:30 pm Membership Meeting - Our meeting for October will be held at Environments Inc. 13600 County Road 62, Minnetonka.We will have a regular monthly meeting, then we will have a short discussion about bumper jacks. I just received one I purchased off E-Bay and I don’t have a clue what it fi ts. If you to have a odd bumper jack bring it along so we can stump the experts. Then the doors will be locked and no one will be allowed to leave

TCRG Chatterbox• GRR Merchandise: Enclosed in this Rumble Sheet is an order form for GRR Merchandise. With the Holidays coming up, what a great gift idea...Hmmmm. I understand Bruce would be willing to deliver on Christmas eve dressed in “you know who” just to get the stuff out of his garage. (Sorry, maybe not, got carried away...but could you imagine? ...maybe not...) • Dues Time Already?: It’s that time of year again! Dues are due by the end of the year. ...and GREAT news, it’s still a super-cheap $15 for the entire year. That’s just 4¢ a day! Look for your dues and banquet registration form in the December Rumble Sheet! • Cover Photo: Jill Minor said this is the best picture Pat ever took. I don’t know about that, but I think it is pretty cool. Pat took this waiting to get on to the Concourse at the Great River Rendezvous. • Rumble Sheet Articles: It’s that time of the year when club activities dwindle down for the season and I become nervous about fi lling the pages of the newsletter. Please consider writing an article, perhaps a winter project, history lesson, story, or an update on your “car in pieces”. Pictures are great too! Thanks, ED

until we have some nominations for new board members. If that does not work we will pass out one playing card per person and who ever gets the Ace of Spades is our new nominee for president and the King of Spades will be the next open position and so on. The nominees will be voted on when the next Rumblesheet comes out. I sure hope we have a huge turn out so we have a lot of good people to pick from. Love you all, Gary Rosenberger P.S. Remember to bring those bumper jacks.

New MembersTCRG welcomes:

Tom Murphy2080 Jefferson Avenue

St. Paul, MN 55105-1301

Welcome to the club Tom! (2/07)

The November general meeting will be a very important one. We win be takingnomination for offi cers for 2008. Several persons have indicated an interest in runningfor an offi ce. Two positions that remain without a nomination arc President andActivities director, Both arc important positions that require some work and regularattendance at meetings. Neither task is diffi cult. Give these positions some thoughteither for yourself or for someone else that you would like to see in either position, Gary Rosenberger developed another great tour color lour last Saturday into parts ofwestern Wisconsin. The roads were similar to those on the Great River rendezvous. tourswe had earlier this summer. We had a great time, with the cars traveling a couplehundred miles, with stops for lunch and dinner. Thanks, Gary, for another terrifi c tour. The touring season just about over for the year and the cars have been, or will soon be,tucked away for the winter. It is sad to see them immobile, but it gives us a chance to goaway for the winter, think about things other than the cars or work on projects for nextspring. It has been a great year for all of us. Next up will be the Annual banquet. Keepan eye on the Rumble Sheet for more details.See you at the meeting-Duane Shuck

From the Prez

My Old Tin CanMy Old Tin Can

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November 2 Jean ShuckNovember 10 Tom MurrayNovember 13 Jerry FeltonNovember 13 Kate PautzNovember 14 Shelia HorkeyNovember 14 Chick MyersNovember 23 Duane AdamsNovember 24 Dan WelchNovember 25 Dick PhilipsNovember 27 Jan Crichton

Happy Birthday!Happy Birthday!

The Ford is my auto; I shall not walk. It maketh me to lie down beneath it. It leaveth me stranded in deep waters. It vexeth my soul. It leadeth me in the path of ridicule for its name-sake. Yea, though I ride through the valleys, I am towed up the hills. I feel all evil for my sparkplug corrodeth. My rods and my bolts discomfort me. It preparest a puncture in the presence of trouble. It anointest my hands with grease. My radiator boileth over. Surely curses and punctures shall fol-low me all of the days of my life, and I shall plead before the Ford in vain forever.Birney Dibble, Eau Claire, Wisconsin

BJ found this in a “Reminisce” magazine

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days nailing the garage back together. There were a lot of laughs recounting that operation. Next time I will write what Clem had to say about the ‘35-‘36 Fords in his memoirs.

A Family Story, continued

The picture above is that of Cliff Lieske of the Thunderbird Midwest Club, Arnie Ko-erber, General Manager of New Brighton Ford, and TCRG member Bruce Nelson. Bruce and Cliff presented an Appreciation plaque to Arnie for New Brighton Ford’s continued support of the New Brighton Car Show and Swap Meet.

I typically do not write an Editor’s col-umn like Jerry Windle does in the V-8 Times. I prefer to publish the stories I receive from Club members. However, since I need some material to fi ll my pages this month and annual election of offi cers is just around the corner, I thought I would provide a perspective. I have been a member of TCRG for over 6 years, and I am grateful to Chick Meyer for turning me on to what TCRG membership has to offer. I try not to do anything without a purpose. I believe strongly that you get back no more than the ef-fort you put into it, and that passion extends to TCRG. I don’t like sitting on the sidelines. It’s like the Gophers in a “4th and 1” situation to win the game and I’m on the bench. That’s not where I want to be. I want to make a positive contribution, and I don’t care if it takes a little more of my time. I think it’s worth it. As you know from Duane’s message from page 4, we need a President and an Ac-tivities Director. As diffi cult as these positions might seem, they are not. My fi rst position on the board was AD and I enjoyed it. The un-derlying reason is teamwork. In fact it is some of the best examples of teamwork I’ve expe-rienced. I was extremely scared to volunteer for the Great River Rendezvous Chairman, so scared that I refused to do it unless I had an ex-perienced individual to help me. Honestly, I had never even attended a National Meet, and now I was considering Chairman. Have I gone com-pletely nuts? Lo and behold, Mary and Bill Gil-

lies stepped up to co-chair, with me. Now that it is all said and done, I can say I had one of the best experiences. It’s hard to describe how ful-fi lling that successful event was. I learned what a great club TCRG is, and that the members are the true backbone of any car club, not the cars. In my job, I lead 30 sales people who thrive on teamwork to succeed. But ironically, it was the GRR team who truly taught me about the value of teamwork. You just never know what life will offer, and you have to take advantage of the opportunities that are provided to you. I encourage you to consider becoming even more involved in TCRG. You get to work with great people (that you will soon call your friends, if not already), and have a voice in the direction of the club. Even if you don’t feel an offi cer role is a good fi t for you, I encourage you to come to as many meetings and events as pos-sible. You won’t regret it!

M O R E F U N W I T H I N V O L V E M E N T

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On Saturday April 7, 2007 I attended the funeral of Dorothy Rahn my fi rst cousin once removed. Dorothy passed away on her 96th birthday just one and a half hours into the new day. She was a sweet gal and will be missed by her family. You know how stories come to life at funerals, well I would like to share one with you. Dorothy was the daughter of my Great Aunt Minnie Marotzke and her husband Charles. They moved to a farm in Rosemount in the mid 30’s and later our own Cliff Helling would be their neighbor. Dorothy married Clem Rahn and he hated Fords, and had nothing good to say about them. I think the main reason was his brother Malcolm died in 1931, at age 27. He went through the wind-shield of a 1923 Model “T” Ford touring car. He landed on top of his head on the pavement. The front wheels had ‘jackknifed’ on a straight stretch of road. Mal had been in the right front seat. The steering wheel had spun out of the driver’s hands, but stopped him from going out too. The drivers only injury was a small broken bone in his wrist. Mel passed away a few days later. Many things soured Clems ideas about fords. The lack of safety in the early days was number one. Here is what he said about the hand crank on the model “T “ ford. Most early cars had the crank hanging out the front, usu-ally held up by a leather strap. The Model “T “ crank just hung down and plowed up the high center of the road. Thousands of arms and thumbs were broken when the engines would kick back. There was no automatic spark ad-vance on early cars- they had a lever by the steering wheel which you forgot to retard. It seemed the typical Ford owner usually had his

A F A M I L Y S T O R YB Y G A R Y R O S E N B E R G E R

right arm in a sling. Cranking the Model “T “ in Minnesota winters was a demoralizing oper-ation- with four rod bearings, three mains and three bands on the transmission dragging. If it turned at all, it had a rubbery feeling. When you crank a car you learn to put your thumb on the same side of the crank with your fi ngers. If you straddled the handle you broke your thumb when it kicked back. Each Ford owner had his favorite way to start his “T “. Some jacked up the left rear wheel and threw the clutch- brake lever in high. If you forgot to block the wheels, it tried to run you over. Some poured lots of hot water over the intake manifold and carburetor, but the steam could short out the ignition system. The best way to get it started was to fi ll a wash tub with hot coals, jack up the front end and slide the pan under the engine. If the “T “ did not burn up you could be to work by noon. Well enough about Fords lets talk about Clem’s 1928 Dodge Coupe that he bought in 1936 and made into a tractor. Not many peo-ple could afford a factory built tractor in those days. The Marotske’s horses down on the farm in Rosemount passed away from horse sleep-ing sickness. One day Grandpa Charlie asked Clem and my cousin Earl if they could move his garage to a new location at the top of the hill. Cousin Earl had a 1928 Dodge Coupe also so they hooked up both cars to each corner of the garage and took off up the hill. They tried to coordinate their starts but ended up jerking the building up the hill like a waddling duck. By the time they got to the top of the hill Gramps had, had enough. He spent the next couple of

Continued- bottom of next page5

On Saturday October 20th, 2007 the TCRG group went on a tour in search of leaves with colors. Now keep in mind that it had rained for the last 18 out of 19 days and we forgot what the sun looked like. You have to have sunshine if you are going to experience the beauty of the forest colors. So I made a deal with my higher power. I said “ honey if you would smile once I bet the sun would come out.” Well back the truck up it worked.. The day was astound-ing and even the chip-munks had a smiles on their little mugs. We met at 9am in Inver Grove Heights and we had seven cars in all. There were the Shucks, Longs, Taba-kos, Gillies, Rosenberg-ers, Tim Anderson, and Glen Kelly rode with Tom 1⁄2 Cent. By the time we got to Red Wing the traffi c was getting heavy thanks to the news media and the newspaper article about the best place to see leaves was going south on Hy 61. So we crossed over the river on the Eisenhower Bridge and went down Hy 35 in

(10/06)

Eisenhower Bridge and went down Hy 35 in

(10/06)

Wisconsin. We turned off the main Highway south of Maiden Rock and went up in the hills on the back roads. The best part of traveling on Wisconsin’s back roads is the lack of paint on their roads. It gives you the feeling that the road is part of the countryside. In Minnesota they have every road painted up like a cheap date at the Mustang Ranch.

Seven miles northwest of Pepin is were Laura Ingalls was born, from Little House on the Prairie fame. We stopped at the little log cabin that was built in her honor to represent the cabin where she was born. A picture was taken of all of us standing in front of the cabin. By now we were getting hungry

so we drove down to Pepin Wisconsin and had lunch at the Pickle Factory. As we fi nished lunch the line to get in the restaurant was backed up outside. It was time to hit the trail. We were off like a cloud of dust heading to Nelson Wiscon-

Activities Director Gary Rosenberger pointing the kos, Gillies, Rosenberg-

Activities Director Gary Rosenberger pointing the kos, Gillies, Rosenberg-

familiar ‘51 Merc in the direction Sandy tells him to

F A L L F O L I A G E T O U R U P D A T E

Continued on the next page

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sin. My Great Great Grandfather and Great Great Grandmother settled in Nelson when they came over from Germany. They had a farm near By Golly Creek and raised Perche-ron draft horses. They were the mercurys of the working horses. I have an old picture of the farm house and I was able to locate the house where they lived. It turns out it is right in the middle of town now. They both passed away in 1907 one hundred years ago. So we left Nelson on county Rd D and headed for the hills. I had never been back in this area but it was similar to the roads we took on our tour this summer out of Winona. Pretty valleys and streams and hills fi lled with colored leaves. Farm yards and cornfi elds, long horn cattle, wild turkeys, deer. Because of the rain the grass was so green and the contrast to the brown cornfi elds was mag-nifi cent. We ended the day with supper in Red Wing and headed for home in the dark. Thanks to everyone who came and shared their day

F A L L F O L I A G E T O U R U P D A T E

I learned from Rom Long that the pic-tures on the next page were mostly taken by Liz. Unfortunately, the black and white news-letter does not do them justice. The colors in the background are spectacular! Gary really picked the right week (and the right roads) to have a fall foliage tour. Thanks Gary!

Gary captured this shot late in the day in Red Wing

Below is the tour group picture in front of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s birthplace

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Some of the picturesque sites the tour group witnessed on the fall foliage tour

TCRG tour cars at the birthplace home of Laure TCRG tour cars at the birthplace home of Laure ingalls Wilder

Gary, Sandy, Duane and Jean enjoying great fall color on relaxing Wisconsin back roads

Tim Anderson’s ‘47 with a small town cemetery in the background

Some of the picturesque sites the tour group witnessed on the fall foliage tour

If only you see the beautiful color that the Shuck’s and Tom Halfpenny are looking at!

F A L L F O L I A G E T O U R P I C T U R E S