President’s Pit Stop... By Dan Nicewander

I used to subscribe to multiple magazines only to see

them sit from month to month with my inability to find

the time to read all of them. Mustang Monthly,

Hemmings Muscle Machines, and Muscle Car Review

were a few of my favorites, and I

had looked forward to their arrival

in the mailbox for years. I didn’t

want to let a subscription laps as

then I wouldn’t have a string of

consecutive issues...and who wants

an incomplete collection right?

How dare I think that I could break

this habbit! It wasn’t expensive,

and at some point I’d have time to

catch up and read all of those back

issues. Well, I finally concluded that

there was simply no way I would

ever go back and read all of those

back issues, so I let them all lapse

except one – Muscle Car Review. I can hear the gasps

from our SWMMC members now…”Dan let Mustang

Monthly laps?!?”

When I finally said I’d only subscribe to one magazine, it

came down to which one I enjoyed reading most. And I

had found that after Mustang Monthly fired Donald Farr

as editor and converted back to exclusively covering

first generation Mustangs a couple of years ago, it just

wasn’t as good of a magazine as it once was (to me).

Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a fun magazine to read, but

it wasn’t nearly as interesting to me as MCR was with

their broad coverage of all things muscle cars. There’s

plenty of Mustangs in their issues, but there are also

many other types of cars that I enjoy which they talk

about. We also have a vintage Mopar in our stable next

to our Mustangs so it seemed OK to let MM lapse and

focus on a broader magazine anyway.

But the kicker for me, and one

of the things I like most about

MCR, is when I get all the way to the very end of each

month’s issue, after all the fun reading through the

articles and looking at the pictures, when I don’t want it

to end…there’s one last single page article to satisfy

that last itch for something to read as I prepare to wait

a whole month for the next issue. MCR titles it The Last

Page, and they’ve had it since late 2008. But how it

came to be is an interesting story!

To really understand that story, I

have to tell you about one of my all

time favorie car activities – Hot Rod

Magazine’s Power Tour (which is

coming up in a couple of weeks!). If

you’re not familiar with Power

Tour, it’s an organized cruise where

car lovers of all kinds drive a week

long pre-planned route throughout

the United States. It began in 1995

when Hot Rod staff members

decided to take some of their

project cars on a cross-country

drive from Los Angeles, California to Norwalk, Ohio.

Hundreds of people participated along the way and

seven participants even made the entire journey.

The next year they decided to repeat it and had an even

greater turn out. And since its inception, this event has

continued to gain in popularity and is now one of the

most anticipated automotive events each year. It is held

in late May or early June and covers over a thousand

miles. In recent years, the tour has evolved to become

essentially a continuous trek around the United States

that begins near the location it ended the previous year.

Each stop is combined with events or activities that vary

as much as the participants themselves. There are

autocross events, drag races, a show every night at the

destination city, and lunch stop activities along the way.

One of the coolest parts is going through these tiny little

towns along the backroads route, where some have

Main Streets that are only a few blocks long. Well, more

often than not the whole town

comes out to welcome the

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

President’s Pit Stop 1-2 New Member Welcome 3 Iowa Cruise Summary 3-4 All Ford Show Summary 4 Upcoming 2017 Cruises 5 Upcoming 2017 Shows 5 Charity Update – PL Auto Tech 6 Things That Make You Smile 7 Member’s Rides 7 Upcoming Grand National Show 8 2019 Northern Star National Show 8 Other Mustang Activities 8-9 Want Ads 9 2017 Club Calendar 10 Your Club Leadership Team 10 In The Trunk 11

www.southwestmetromustangclub.com June, 2017

SWMMC Monthly The Official Newsletter of the Southwest Metro Mustang Club

The Twin Cities’ Mustang Club Of America Chapter

Apple Ford Shakopee

Sponsors the SWMMC

1624 Weston Court

Shakopee, MN

thousands of cars which parade through their little

hamlet. One of the years that we were on PT, I

remember one of the towns having a bakery along Main

Street. They placed an employee out in front of their

store with a massive box of donuts and a sign that

simply read “donuts for donuts.” All you had to do is

chirp your tires and they’d give everyone in the car a

free donut! Very fun…

Drew Harden, the current editor

of MCR, was on staff at Hot Rod

and was instrumental in coming

up with the idea of Power Tour

back in 1995. Drew left Hot Rod

shortly after that and by 2008

he was looking to give it a go

again. But he wanted to experience the tour from the

participant’s point of view. How had things changed in

the 13 years since he kicked off an event which had

become one of the largest automotive cruise events in

the world? So in his words, he wanted to see if anyone

would want his “sweaty butt to sit in their nice car for

the day”. In exchange, he would write about each car in

an article called The Magnificant Six. One car for each of

the 6 legs to the tour that year. A couple of months

later he penned his article and each of the 6 cars and

their owners were given a spread with pictures in MCR.

Out of the dozens of applicants he received, we were

honored that he chose our 1965 Mustang Fastback for

the 3rd day from Lincoln Nebraska to Des Moinse Iowa.

We were elated to get this opportunity … and pleased

to find out that he really didn’t sweat that much!

He did our photo shoot next to an old brick building on

the Lincoln fair grounds, and during our ride to Iowa

together he asked the interview questions. One of the

things that Drew was also really good at was taking all

of the cool action shots along the route for the article.

So as we were driving he’d not only be taking notes but

he’d ask me to manuever to get the ultimate road

pictures. He might tell me to move more to the center

of the road, move towards the side of the road, move

up 3 cars in position of the train we were in, ok…hold it

right there! Then “click click click” he’d take some shots

that were really increadible. He certainly had a knack

and skill for getting the very best picture out of what

looked to me as just a bunch of cool cars driving down

the road.

But along the way, Drew also wanted feedback on how

we, as MCR readers, saw his magazine. What did we like

and not? What could they improve upon, and what

should they not mess up? I told him one of the things

that I didn’t like about MCR was that when you got

about 3 pages from the end, the

only thing left was advertising

and it left me feeling a bit

cheated. It was like the ending

was not really at the back of the

magazine at all, but rather

somewhere a few pages short of

that. So I’d read to that point and

and then put the magazine aside, not even thumbing

through the last few ads. Why not instead, put

something of interest right at the very end, so it felt like

more of a reward for completing it? That last little taste

before you had to wait another whole month to read

MCR. Kind of like the last sip of coffee at the end of

desert, or turning that last bolt or screw on a car

project. There would be a bit of final satisfaction in it at

that point. He thought this was a really interesting idea

and it wasn’t something he had previously considered.

Low and behold, 3 months later The Last Word shows

up in MCR!

If you’re still with me, this was a long story to say I

thought that we’d try something like that with our

newsletter as well. So in this issue we’re starting

something that I’m calling In The Trunk (if you have a

better name I’m all ears!). In The Trunk is the last thing

you’ll see in the newsletter each month and will be

made up of articles from somewhere around the world

that should have general appeal to our Mustang

membership. Just like after you’ve finished a cruise or a

show and are unpacking your Mustang in the garage

where you check for things in the trunk, this is

something for that last little minute before you put

away the SWMMC Newsletter and call it a day.

I hope you enjoy reading In The Trunk, and I encourage

you to send me things you find that might fit into this

sort of column! Dan…

Page 2 June 2017

Welcome to Our New Members!

Brian Blumberg – New Prague

1998 Cobra and 1993 GT Convertible

Frank Maroni – Farmington

1965 Coupe

Ruth Ann M – Maple Grove

2007 Mustang GT

Roger and Libby Parras – St Peter

2015 Mustang GT

Ross and Carol Ragan – Shakopee

2014 V6 Convertible

Ron Weinzier – Belle Plaine

2017 Mustang GT

Jeffrey and Jeannie Weiss – Costa Mesa, California!

‘68 Coupe, ‘69 GT Convert, ‘15 Anniversary Edition

Iowa Cruise Summary By Pete Schmidt

The club’s May 6th cruise was a trek to Clear Lake

IA. The weather was great for a cruise that included

14 cars and 22 people. Making our way to Clear

Lake after the second rally point in Lakeville was

easy and relatively quick.

We arrived at the Surf Ballroom on schedule to find

nine Mustangs from the Unique Mustang Club lined

up in the parking lot.

We wondered around

the outside of the Surf

Ballroom and found

that we could indeed

go inside to view the

venue and the vast

memorabilia

collection. The room itself was

set up for wedding later that day. We also found

the welcoming folks from the Unique Mustang Club

led by Rusty Daniels.

While milling around the facility a ballroom

expert/tour guide took the group into the back-

entrance room/stage entrance waiting room. He

had many great stories and the walls, and ceiling,

were covered with signatures and messages from

many of the bands that have played the Surf since

1994. Personally, I saw ZZ Top, Elton John, Foghat,

and John Mellencamp. The room was the last room

that saw Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big

Bopper before their plane crash in 1959.

Our group drove about a half mile to The Other

Place for lunch. The food was good as was the

company. After lunch, a few folks went to the plane

crash site while most head to Mason City’s Music

Man Square. The facility includes a neat museum

dedicated to Meredith and the movie The Music

Man. A re-creation of the movie set is indoors and

the 1920’s preserved home of Meredith is available

to tour. The group was split in two and given tours

of the home and facility.

Around 3:30 folks

were ready to head

back to their

respective homes.

Rusty made mention of

the annual car show in

Clear Lake and the

cruise around the lake

Page 3 June 2017

as well as his club’s annual show in Des Moines on

August 20th. It was cool to make new Mustang

friends and we thought meeting up again in the

future would be fun.

The SWMMC did have a casualty on the way home.

About ten miles North of Albert Lea Jay and Lois

Bickford lost their serpentine belt due to a bad

alternator pulley. After a bit of calling and false

starts on repairs, their pony was towed to

Owatonna Ford for repairs. All is well with their

Mustang now.

All Ford Show Summary

By Mike and Beth Fredrickson

We had a great show on May 21st with 46

registered cars and about 50 spectators for the

show despite the drizzling rain! While the weather

didn't cooperate, all who showed up had a great

time. The boy scouts served donuts and coffee

along with hamburgers and hotdogs. With the

weather turning against us, and even though we

had quite a few cars, we weren’t able to award all

of trophies.

We want to thank all those who helped put the

show together and those that helped Saturday and

Sunday moving cars. All of this help really made

the show go smoothly. A special thank you to

Trooper Mitchell Johnson from Minnesota State

Patrol for braving the elements. And finally, we

also thank all the companies and organizations that

contributed to the show. Especially to Apple Ford

Shakopee for their sponsorship and support. For a

list of all car show sponsors, visit our website and

click on "Partners" and check out the pictures on

Shutterfly (thanks Anthony Sagat!).

We hope to see you on July 22nd for the Mustang

and Ponies Show at Canterbury Park. It’s shaping

up to be a great show and one that you won’t want

to miss!

Page 4 June 2017

Upcoming 2017 Cruise Schedule:

• Jun 11 Albertville/Rogers, MN to tour Vescio’s

Customizing with side trip to Albertville Outlet

Mall if desired

• Jun 24 Airfest & Autorama, Menomonie, WI

• Jul 29 Fountain City, WI to tour Elmer’s Auto

and Toy Museum

• Aug 6 BBQ lunch at the Hoisington’s

• Aug 12 Austin, MN to tour Spam Museum

and/or Forestville Caves

• Sep 16 New Ulm, MN Tour Schell’s Brewery

• Oct 8 Ellsworth WI, Vino in the Valley winery

If you have some input on these or other cruises,

please contact Dan at dan.nicewander@gmail.com

2017 SWMMC Car Show Schedule:

If you can help at any of our shows please contact

our Show Directors Mike and Beth Fredrickson at

freddie0105@hotmail.com

• July 22nd – 3rd Annual Mustangs & Ponies All

Mustang Show at Canterbury

• August 19th - 3rd Annual American Muscle Car

Show at AutoMotorPlex in Chanhassen

• September 10th - 9/11 Remembrance & Honor

Car Show at Lowe’s Coon Rapids

Page 5 June 2017

Charity Update – PLHS Auto Tech

Our club

work with

Prior Lake

High School

as our charity

partner is

continuing to

mature. Last

month we

coordinated

and held our

first Tech Talk where we partnered with Apple Auto

Group. AAG brought in their Body Shop manager

and one of their lead technicians who walked

through what types of positions are available

for someone interested in not only their auto

body area, but other skills as well. Their tech

brought a banged-up fender which had

various states of repair done to it along for a

demonstration which the students were quite

interested in. After the talk, we discussed the club

with several of the students who have

interest in hobby cars, with one of them

having a Mustang! We encouraged that

group to think about our upcoming All

Ford show and TWO of them showed up!

What an encouragement to have them

come to the show, one with a Mustang and

one with a vintage Ford truck. Additionally,

the students produced our All Ford show

trophies (they turned out VERY nice!) and

our student produced wall banner for the

club is proudly hanging in the PLHS AT

Shop! Finally, we’ll be participating in the first

SWMMC PLHS scholarship award Tuesday June 6th.

The committee will be awarding this to the student

at the PLHS Awards Ceremony where we’ll get to be

on stage to talk a bit about our club, why we’re

working with PLHS AT, and how we chose our

student.

Page 6 June 2017

Things That Make You Smile

What many of us feel!

Ummm…what?!?

SOOOO me!

Member’s Rides

This month’s Member’s Rides comes from

Members Ron and Cindi Broekemeier.

We joined SWMMC in 2014 when we attended our

very first SWMMC car show at Apple Ford,

Shakopee. We were hooked! Our enthusiasm for

Mustangs started with our black 2008 Ford

Mustang GT, and then last year we got the bug to

buy a convertible and stumbled upon a ruby red

2015 Ford Mustang GT, a convertible with the 50th

Anniversary edition package.

We enjoy participating in the Summer cruises,

social events and spending time with fellow

Mustang enthusiasts. Ron has enjoyed his

position as club Secretary, and helping the club

grow. For the past 2 years we’ve enjoyed hosting

the annual SWMMC Holiday party.

From Maple Grove, our family consists of 3 grown

daughters, age 25 and twins who are 20, plus a

Mini-Schnauzer dog, and 2 cats. In addition to

enjoying SWMMC events, we enjoy traveling locally

and international, trying new restaurants, and

spending time at our cabin in Maple Lake, MN.

We look forward to seeing everyone on the cruises

this summer!

If you would like to have your ride published in our

newsletter, please send me a short write up and a

picture or two! Dan… dan.nicewander@gmail.com

Page 7 June 2017

Upcoming Grand National Show

Just a reminder that The Mustang Club of Kansas

City is hosting a

Grand National

Mustang Club of

America show

August 25-27,

2017 in Overland

Park Kansas

similar to what

we will do in

2019. This

would be a great

way for any of us

to experience a

national show, and we encourage you to attend.

Some of us will be driving our Mustangs and others

are just driving down to make a weekend out of it

to attend and help out at the show without our

Mustang. This is the closest MCA show for 2017,

and as of this writing they have over 460 Mustangs

registered for their event! If you’re planning on

going, let Pete know at tk421tk421@mchsi.com so

we can get together as a group at the show.

See the following link for more info:

mustangclubofgreaterkc.com/activities/2017-

mca-grand-national/ or Facebook at

facebook.com/2017mcagrandnational/

2019 Northern Star National Mustang Show

We have a very limited number of preview t-shirts

that we’ve had made which are now available for

$15 each on a first come basis. Contact Pete if

you’re interested. Our show committees are

meeting, and they have started to plan some high-

level details. One of the interesting things we’re

learning from other National shows is the quantity

of trailers that we will have to deal with. Kansas

City for example has over 140 trailers that they will

need to find parking for. This is something our

parking committee is beginning to work through.

This is a huge opportunity for our club to be

recognized as a national entity, and quite the

honor to be doing one of the 3-4 national MCA

shows in 2019. Would you like to get involved? We

can use any and all talents!

Contact the NSNMS Chairman Pete Schmidt at

tk421tk421@mchsi.com if you can help, or just to

find out more information.

Other Upcoming Activities

UMRSAAC All Ford Show is Sunday, June 4th.

Page 8 June 2017

Hot Rod Power Tour is June 10th through the 16th.

Contact Dan at dan.nicewander@gmail.com if you’d

like some background or find more information at:

http://www.hotrod.com/events/power-tour/

Back To The 50’s is June 23rd to 25th. See

https://msrabacktothe50s.com/

Want Ads

FOR SALE: SWMMC Club T-Shirts!

While you might not buy a used car from this

handsome young man, you can in fact trust him to

carry only the highest quality of club t-shirts! He’ll

have these at all of our club events including our

monthly meetings, or you can contact Pete directly

to reserve yours now at tk421tk421@mchsi.com

FOR SALE: Vintage Jag!

Vintage 1973 E-Type Jaguar Coupe, ~56,000 miles,

V12!!!, Automatic. $39,500. This is a great looking

vehicle that looks fast just sitting there! Contact

Randy at 612-812-4622.

Have something that has to do with Mustangs or

other cars to sell, trade or give away? Shoot me the

information and we’ll get it into the newsletter.

Dan at dan.nicewander@gmail.com

Page 9 June 2017

SWMMC 2017 Calendar

Your 2017 Club Leadership Team

President - Dan Nicewander

dan.nicewander@gmail.com

Vice President - Chuck Buchanan

cbuchanan51@hotmail.com

Treasurer - David Kronk

djkronk@gmail.com

Secretary - Ron Broekemeier

buzzrwb@yahoo.com

MCA Reg Dir and NSNMS Chair - Pete Schmidt

tk421tk421@mchsi.com

Show Directors - Mike and Beth Fredrickson

freddie0105@hotmail.com

Cruise Directors – It’s a team effort this year by

Rich Herpers, Dan Nicewander, Pete Schmidt,

Mike Stearns, and Steve Sommer (contact Dan

with any questions or comments)

Content Design – Jeff Mattson

mattson93@yahoo.com

Page 10 May 2017

In The Trunk – Interesting Mustang Tid-Bits

By Jerry Heasley, May 17, 2017, Photos By: Bob Perkins

Did you know there was a Mustang TV? “I didn’t say a

word. I just bought it. I didn’t go into details. At the

price I was paying, I didn’t want to bring up anything

that might clue him in that it was a unique piece,” John

Skavlem says.

Although, John, who recently reached his 88th birthday,

may have sold his large collection of vintage Mustang

parts several years ago because he “just got old,” he still

keeps his eyes open. During fall 2016, while perusing

the contents of a secondhand electronics store in his

hometown of Cincinnati, John felt a familiar jolt of

Mustang mania when he spied a portable television set

on a shelf. This old set is a sad sight to most consumers

today, but it’s a treasure to people like John. This wasn’t

just any TV. This TV came right out of a 1966 Mustang

accessories’ catalog.

Many people will not recall this accessory, but Ford did

offer a 9-inch all-transistorized Philco car and home TV.

But how many people have ever seen one? Even less

common, you don’t find many people who ever actually

watched a TV show while inside of a moving Mustang?

John had owned one that he used to display in his 1966

Mustang at car shows, playing the TV for all to see. So

he recognized the old Philco set right away.

“The dials are up top and the little screen is down

below. I knew right away what it was. But most people,

I would say, would not recognize that this TV went in a

Mustang, unless they were Ford people from the ’60s.”

According to John, the old set was “not working but was

in cosmetically pretty damn good condition.” His first

thought was to contact his longtime friend Bob Perkins

in Wisconsin. The same person he had sold his old

Mustang TV set to years ago. Health issues prevent John

from traveling now, so he packed up the treasure and

shipped it to Bob. As you probably know, Bob writes the

“Resto Roundup” column in Mustang Monthly and has

an enormous collection of Mustang parts and

paraphernalia, including an N.O.S. Mustang TV set in its

original box with additional extras.

Bob assessed the TV set’s value and is sending a check

to his old friend, no negotiations required. That’s shows

how much trust the two have in each other. He snapped

photos of John’s old set, as well as photos of the N.O.S.

set he has with the extras, and sent them to us. “It

started in 1966 and lasted until about 1968,” Bob says.

“It’s probably the most off-the-wall accessory ever

made for a Mustang. Do I like it as much as a brand-new

Cobra 2x4 set up in the box? No, but to the real true

Rotunda accessory nut job, [a Mustang TV set] is

probably the ultimate accessory.”

Page 11 June 2017