Classix Street Rod Association held its first Christmas party on Dec 8 in the Club Room of Riverhouse Condos. Steve & Joke Melville were our gracious hosts and Steve even offered a tour of their 17th floor home with a fantastic view of downtown Grand Rapids. A BIG thank you to the Melvilles! Everyone brought a dish to pass and other than Bob & Carol Hall who winter in Arizona, all other club families were on hand for the food and good conversation.
Most of the CSRA cars will undergo very few changes for 2014; other than a spring wash and wax. Some members, however, have been busy during this snowy off season making improvements to their rides. Jim replaced the ailing 383 small block Chevy in his beautiful yellow roadster with an even more potent 406 cubic inch version. Paul & Sharon decided to have the frame of their gorgeous 1948 Ford modified to take full advantage of the air bag suspension and allow their car to sit lower to the ground when parked. Paul had to replace the headers and exhaust to accommodate this lowering and has all these changes completed. Chip has been busy working towards completion of his second car, an English Ford Prefect. Unlike his Chevy powered Anglia, the Prefect will be Ford powered with a Mercury Bobcat V-6. Chip has fabricated many of the parts on the chopped Prefect sedan. Here's a few pictures taken earlier this month.
Jon's 41 Chevy will be getting new rear leaf springs from Chassis Engineering, Lokar emergency brake system and radiator from Superior Radiator.
Here's some new pics of Jim's cars parked in his nice warm garage. Editing this page to add these on 12-30-13.
Today's Breakfast Club gathering included a surprise for honorary club member, Camden. Cam is Rick's grandson and loves cars, trucks and hot rods. Rick designed and built a custom flat bed trailer for Cam to pull behind one of his radio controlled 4 wheelers. Jim welded all the aluminum components together and Pete applied his painting skills to the pin striping and custom license plate - CAM-1. The smile on Cam's face this morning was priceless!
We also had a guest at breakfast this morning. Steve's son, Justin, was in town for the holidays from his home in Birmingham, Alabama. Nice to meet you, Justin!
Club plans include a monthly get together at the Rio Grande Steakhouse on Northland Dr for Jan, Feb and Mar. Stay tuned for pictures.
Hope all who read our blog have had a Merry Christmas and we wish everyone a Happy and prosperous New Year. May spring come early in 2014!
