MBCA | CAROLINAS SECTIONTHE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE MERCEDES BENZ CLUB OF AMERICA | CAROLINAS SECTION | 3RD QUARTER 2016

WHAT’S INSIDE THIS ISSUE

President’s Message ...................... 2 New Members ................................. 3Pinehurst ...................................... 4-6

NC Transportation Museum ......... 7-9Wheels & Wings .............................10Dock Party .................................11-12

Volunteer Sign-Up ..........................142016 Fall Events Calendar................15 Other Member Information .............16-17

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President’s Message

About MBCA | Established in 1956, MBCA has approximately 26,000 active members and 9251 additional household members in 12 regions which are comprised of 80+ local sections throughout the United States and Canada. Each region is administered by a regional director who is responsible for assisting and inspiring the sections in the region. The regional director also fosters the formation of new sections, coordinates regional activities and represents the constituents as a member of the national board of directors. Hundreds of events are organized by sections, from social gatherings to tech sessions, from car shows to driving events. Most sections publish a newsletter of information and events and each section has its own officers and bylaws.

Special thanks to all who submitted photos for this issue, especially Steve Lawson who provided most of them. Ads are from member recommendations but do not constitute MBCA endorsement. See The Star magazine or go to www.MBCA.org for a list of National Officers and contacts.

I t’s hard to believe that six months have passed already! As I keep our survey in mind, I am reminded that

some members join the Club for the supporting dealer discounts and new car rebate. Some go for the tech info that is available online and from other members. Most say they joined to meet other members and participate

in local events. I put myself in that category. Obviously you have to participate to meet others.

So far this year we have had events on the west sides, center, and east sides of our geographic boundaries and most members are willing to travel 2 -3 hours to attend one. We have had some excellent events from “Command School” and free inspection class at Hendrick, our first open Board meetings, a great NC Transportation Museum tour, learning about a real control tower, and our popular Annual Dock Party.

For the second half of this year we have some truly great ones from our 1st Gimmick and Appreciation Rally to the always booked Annual Meeting. We have a very full calendar! See the Events section in this Newsletter for specifics. Updates will continue to come via e-mail as we approach each event. Note that while events are months into the future you need to react soon on some of them. Note we have already lost spots at the Hilton Head Motor Festival in early November. See Bruce Wood’s note under the “Other Info” section.

I also need your help on a couple of matters. This is a volunteer position and as usual volunteers need help too!

For events: lately we seem to be leaving sign ups to the last minute. This makes it difficult to work out final details and reservations needed. It is far better if you commit early and if necessary cancel later, usually up to the reservation due date, than the other way around. Where payment to the Club is required your checks are not cashed until just before the event. So please get your reservations in early rather than late whenever you can.

Second is about the Club. Right now this is almost a one man show. I am lucky to have Butch serving as Secretary and jack of all trades, Harriet serving as acting Treasurer after the unfortunate death of Roy Davis last year, and Louise serving as Newsletter Editor which takes many hours. We have had some help on local events from Board members and others. The more volunteers we have the easier each job becomes.

But in some ways we continue to be a disaster waiting to happen. What if anything happens to me again or to the others? Where is our backup? Our membership continues to grow and that places more demand on us. By the same token we need that growth to run even better events. Please take another look at the Volunteer sign up sheet and give it your full consideration.

Any questions or comments? You have my e-mail address. Enjoy this newsletter!

Nick Pasquine, President - MBCA Carolinas Section

OFFICERSPRESIDENT Nicholas Pasquine Lancaster, SC (803) 283 - 3144 | NickPasq@aol.com

IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT Rugby G. Hodgkins, Jr. Gastonia, NC (704) 472-1221 | rugwill@bellsouth.net

VICE PRESIDENT Position Open

SECRETARY Butch Barksdale Charlotte, NC (704) 497-2816 | barkford@bellsouth.net

TREASURER Position Open Harriet Pasquine, Acting hap068@aol.com

MEMBERSHIP CHAIR Nicholas Pasquine Lancaster, SC (803) 283 - 3144 | NickPasq@aol.com

EVENTS CHAIR Position Open

NEWSLETTER EDITOR Louise Johnson Brookfield, CT (203) 885-9168 louisepj@la-pak.com

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Pedro Campuzano | campuzano.pedro@gmail.com

Rick Deiber rick@deiber.biz

Tom Sharar tsharar@gmail.com

2 | OFFICERS & PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

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NATIONAL MBCA VS. LOCAL SECTIONS: The National Club gives 20% of your annual dues, in

4 quarterly payments based on the number of members we have, to each Section. That money is for the operation of the Local Club, to produce the Newsletters, create and maintain the website, e-mails, and put on the local events, including the Annual Meeting. We use some of that money to subsidize the cost of some events which reduces your cost.

You get the local Carolina’s Newsletter 4 times per year via e-mail. Issues are also posted on the local website link at www.mbcacarolinas.org. You also get at least 2 e-mails per month regarding local events as well as info passed on from surrounding Sections that may be of interest. They will almost always have MBCA or Mercedes in the subject line. There is also a Carolinas Facebook presence that is updated by our Newsletter Editor, time permitting, at www.facebook.com/pages/Mercedes-Benz-Club-of-America- Carolinas-Section/155544007831933. However all Event updates will be via e-mail.

The Newsletter tells you about events that were held, lists upcoming events, has articles submitted by members, local member ads as well as local business ads. Any business ad should be from a business that you have used and like. Rates are in this issue.

Any member may advertise a personal Mercedes car or item for sale at no cost in the local newsletter. Any member may submit an article for publication subject to review prior to publication. Both are welcome. The Newsletter also lists contact information for local Officers, a list of new members each quarter, and a minimum 6 month in advance list of upcoming local events. You are welcome to contact an Officer with any local issue question you may have. Your e-mail address is never shared without your consent.

The National Club produces The Star magazine, National Events like StarTech and Starfest, the large National website, all secure Membership records, the Club Store, as well as maintains the Regions. You get The Star magazine 6 times per year. You get National E-mails regarding National Events and the raffles. ALL Officer contact information is in The Star magazine every month,

The national website, www.MBCA.org is VERY extensive and was recently totally re-done. If you have not been there recently, check it out. It is a wealth of information about membership benefits, technical issues, and a LOT more. Not all areas of the website are available to you until you Login. Login is simple. Click on login. You enter your e-mail address and a password of your choosing. After you are logged in you can also order

NEW MEMBERS & MEMBER BENEFITS | 3

Name Badges for you and your Associate member on the National site at https://mbca.org/name-badge or https://www.mbca.org/catalog?catalog=All. You are paying for all this information so get the benefit from it. ALL Sections, including ours, have a presence on the National website under the Community tab. Some members refer to this when planning a trip.

More than one membership? Can you have membership in another Section due to geographic’s, snowbird, etc. besides the Carolina’s? Yes. The additional cost is about $16. per year for an additional Section. Call 800-637-2360 to do it.

Membership referrals: Did you know that anytime you refer a new member to the Club you get a free month of membership added to yours. Just be sure the new member indicates you referred them and adding your membership # to their application assures you get credit.

Dealers: Most, but not all dealers give a 10 to 15% discount to members in good standing. We tend to support the dealers who support us with our referrals and service business. ALL dealers honor the $500. rebate on new Mercedes vehicle purchases. The form is on the National website and is funded by Mercedes Corporate back to the dealer. That is like 9 years worth of dues free!

I hope this gives you some info to get you started and increase your interest. And yes, renewal is as simple as calling 800-637-2360. ■

WELCOME TO OUR NEW MEMBERS:Lisa Boff ........................................................ Weaverville, NCOscar H Currin Jr. ..............................................Ashville, NCMelvin Frank .................................................... Charlotte, NCJoe Grochowski ...............................................Charleston, SCLarry Harrelson .....................................................Seneca, SCPeter Heald ........................................................Salisbury, NCGloria Henley-Smith ....................... Hilton Head Island, SCJames Hoffmeister ..............................................Brevard, NCLawrence Karp ...................................................Waxhaw, NCKatie Little .............................................................Ladson, SCJonathan Mayes ................................................ Charlotte, NCFloyd McKissick III ......................................... Mint Hill, NCAndrew Miller .............................................Isle Of Palms, SCLaChelle Oliver ................................................ Charlotte, NCRon Payne ..............................................................Ladson, SCWalter Pringle IV ................................... Mount Pleasant, SCNeil Rei ......................................................... Spartanburg, SCLawrence Schey...................................... Mount Pleasant, SCMichael St. John ..................................... Mount Pleasant, SCDoris Tummillo ...................................................... Aiken, SCKevin York ................................................... Huntersville, NC

We get new members every month, and we also lose some often due to lack of knowledge. And we have some old dogs too that can use some updates. So hope this helps:

New Members 101 (and old dogs too!)

4 | APRIL EVENT - PINEHURST

A round 9PM as I was head-ing home down a rather dark road outside of the Pinehurst

grounds I notice MBCA President Terry Kiwala and John Byrne of the Triangle Section walking on the oppo-site shoulder but in my direction. I pull off onto the side of the road and wait for them, can I give them a ride? Call the police? As they reach the window of my 300TD Terry says “we are looking for Roscoe.”

The 4th Annual Pinehurst Concours d ’Elegance was held April 29 – 30 on the beautiful grounds and fairways of the famous Pinehurst Resort, reputed to be the “Cradle of American Golf ”. The Pinehurst Concours website (http://pinehurstconcours.com/about) points out that “Pinehurst has hosted more golf championships than any other site in America, including the U.S. Open, U.S. Women’s Open, PGA Championship, a Ryder Cup match, PGA Tour Championship and U.S. Amateurs.” The Pinehurst Resort was founded in 1895 by Boston soda fountain magnate James Walker Tufts in the Sandhills of North Car-olina, located about 100 miles east of Charlotte and 70 miles southeast of Raleigh. The famous courses of Pinehurst were designed by Scotsman Donald Ross who effectively, through his work designing and redesigning 400+ courses over 48 years, laid the foundation for golf in the United States. Pinehurst is thus ideally suited for a Concours d ’Elegance following the template of the famous Pebble Beach Golf Resort Concours in Cal-

ifornia. In four short years Pinehurst has become a must attend east coast event for those interested in fine pre and post war automobiles, such as the beautiful 1928 Auburn Boat Tail above.

Of course Mercedes Benz automobiles and the Mercedes Benz Club have had a strong presence at the Pinehurst Concours since the shows inception.

This year Mercedes Benz Club Trian-gle Section leadership Steve Redwine, Bill Faison and Tom Reedy set up an MBCA membership and informa-tion tent as well as secured 34 spots for member’s cars to display in the un-judged section of the show field. A full array of Mercedes Benz mod-els were presented by members from 7 of the 8 Club Sections in the Eastern Region.

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PRESIDENTIALGetting PRESIDENTIAL at Pinehurstby Pedro Campuzano

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In attendance and helping out at the MBCA tent was our aforementioned National Club President Terry Kiwala as well as Regional Director Jim Rob-erts, National Concours Chair Pete Lesler and National Enthusiast Chair Jose Lesler.

Many fine Mercedes Benz automo-biles were present in the judged sec-tion of the Concours as well, in fact there was a class exclusively for 1954 to 1963 Mercedes 300SL Gullwing Coupes and Roadsters. One young man drove his Gullwing all the way from Mexico!

Alright, maybe he shipped it… his suit looked nicely pressed and the car was immaculate.

A Mercedes 600 Limousine, a few 190SLs and John Byrne’s beautifully finished 280SL all competed for and won class honors in the Post War Closed and Open European classes. I imagined that John’s 280SL could have been suspended off the side of this impressive Grosser Mercedes as a din-ghy of sorts.

After a day spent strolling the grounds admiring the beautiful automobiles on display we were able to see and hear the class winners driven to the awards ceremony, a treat for the eyes and ears.

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Another treat for the ears was a singing group from the 82nd Airborne Division stationed at nearby Fort Bragg who provided entertainment for the relaxing crowd in the afternoon. Notably the day before the Concours many of the cars on the show field, some worth over a million dollars, made a 70-mile round trip to Fort Bragg in what is called the Iron Mike Rally to salute the brave men and women of our military, allowing them to see and appreciate the cars up close on the base. As the evening approached and the awards ceremonies wound down Grammy award winning R&B group “The Commodores” took the stage and the MBCA members met on the patio of the resort clubhouse to enjoy the music and relax before dinner in the Donald Ross room.

Ah, but what about Roscoe? Ah, but what about Roscoe? Roscoe is a 1938 170V Mercedes Benz owned by Tri-angle Section Member Jack Vanstavern. Triangle’s Tom Lewis was driving Roscoe back to his trailer outside of the grounds when Roscoe just gave up and stopped on the side of the road. Terry and John were kind enough head out on foot to help push start the hesitant old Benz but Tom was able to get some fire back into Roscoe before they arrived and we are back to the start of our story. Terry and John were shuttled back to the grounds in my old W123 and I began my trip home with fine memories, new friends met and a plan to return next year. Hope to see you, and Roscoe, on the Pinehurst greens in 2017. ■

On April 23rd the Tarheel, Triangle and Carolinas Section partnered together to have a life size version of our Planes, Trains and Automobile Event at the NC Transportation Museum. During our previous version of this at Hendersonville, NC, at the Apple Valley Model RR a few years ago, it rained big time. This time the weather was beautiful. We had over 50 members including families in attendance.

M embers started arriving by 10 AM. We spread the cars out on a designated exhibit

area and put on a mini Mercedes car show for the public. First guy that walked up said wow, you guys must be rich! We educated him.

We are real down to earth people who happen to be enthusiastic about Mercedes.

At 11 AM we lined up for our train ride. The train consisted of restored Southern diesel #6133 pulling six full

NORTH CAROLINA Transportation Museum

length Pullman cars. The conduc-tor gave us a car of our own and did not let others into it until we were all seated. During the 40 min. ride we listened to a history of the town of Spencer and it’s function as a main repair and maintenance center for the Southern RR steam era. During it’s peak, it employed over 3,000

people. Is was unique in that rather than living in company housing the RR paid well enough that all the workers were able to live in their own private homes. Sometimes three gen-erations of the same family would be working there.

After our ride was over, some started enjoying the picnic lunches they had packed in the covered picnic area. Others headed across the street to a small Italian restaurant called Pinocchio’s. The restaurant is normally only open for dinner. How-ever after some discussion Tracy and Giuseppe made an exception and opened just for our Club. This meant firing up the kitchen early and bringing in help to cook and serve. They rearranged all the tables so that more of us could sit together. That meant having to redo it all for their Saturday night dinner crowd. They knew we had to be back by

2 PM to start our tours. The restaurant seats 42 and they were able to serve 32 of us all at once and literally served beverages and our entrée in less than 20 mins. We were almost 15 mins. late getting there but we were done by 1 PM with plenty of time to make the walk

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back to the Museum. The food was excellent and some us added some very smooth Chianti and dessert. I can say the best cannoli I ever had! If you are in the area check them out at pinocchiosofspencer.com. We thank them for great job at a great price!

We all met back at the very large Roundhouse with turntable. We split into two groups with our guides Jim and Scott. They were both terrific and in spite of being volunteers they would not accept a tip. So we donated ours to the Museum. We started out with the Steam engines. Some are opera-tional and some have been restored on the outside for display. We even learned what a push pole is! OSHA would probably not allow it today. From there we saw the restored die-sel engines. The shops there are fully capable of restoring these engines and making parts that are no longer available. We then visited a deluxe Pullman car that was used by the “real rich”. Workers from Lancaster, SC are moving to the Museum and they will soon start restoring these cars at the Museum for private parties and for other Museums like they do for engines. Some of the cars will eventu-ally see service on excursions, special events and dinner trains.

From there we went through a Post Office car and saw how mail was

handled when you did not use an airmail stamp! We then toured an Army Hospital car from WWII. It was sobering to listen to how they functioned as they brought soldiers from planes and ships to hospi-tals near where they lived. This was something our volunteer tour guide could relate to personally.

From there the planes were next. Allegheny Airlines started in NC and we saw a pilot trainer, “stewardess” and pilot uniforms and engines, the Wright Bros. wind tunnel and other memorabilia. There is an exact replica of the Wright Brothers plane there as that 1st flight happened in Kitty Hawk, NC. We also learned

that the original in the Smithsonian is not the original! The original was destroyed in a storm shortly after it’s first flight.

Next was the BIG building. The build-ing itself has been restored from the terrible condition it was in. Currently you can stand at one end and look at everything they are storing there for future exhibits. First responder equip-ment, fire trucks, big trucks, DC3 and a lot more. With the tight budgets it will take a few years to get the many millions it will take to finish this area.

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Next was the Auto Museum. Think electric cars are new? We saw a fully enclosed “ladies car” from 1907 that went 25 miles on a charge. From there we saw steam powered cars to Model T’s, Model A’s, pick up trucks to Edsels and Corvairs, and a Divco Milk truck. Our tour guide thought Past President Rick Dieber would remember that truck!

After this great tour we saw some bicycles (early trans-portation you know) and hit the gift shop. Then back to our cars for socializing and some door prizes like a Mercedes umbrella since it did not rain, a Museum book to remember the day, and a Mercedes mug for the next day’s coffee, etc.

I want to thank Gary Swinkley, Event Chair of the Tarheel Section who did the initial legwork to put this great day together, and to the members and families who are what made this such an educational and fun day. All the comments were positive and one member’s spouse summed it up...I had NO idea!

Thanks also to Vicki Wilson and Steve Lawson for all the great photos with this article that let you see some of what you missed. In reality, there is so much there that all of us saw less than half of what there was to see in just one day, but that will make a next time possible. ■

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On Saturday, May 21st, twenty-eight brave members headed for the Downtown Greenville, SC Municipal Airport despite the weather reports. Our meeting place was the Runway Café. These cafes are at numerous small airports around

the Country. Private Pilots are known to fly a couple of hundred miles just for one of their burgers!

We got there only to find the parking lot jammed! There was a big birthday party going on in the hanger next to the café. We all managed to find a place and got together in their private meeting room. After some socializing next came lunch. Our poor server earned her keep that day! With the large party next door, us, and the regular dining room at lunch time, and with being one server short, they had their hands full. To add to it, the list of members and their meal choices that I e-mailed to them did not line up the same on their printer so everything was off by one column! We got all of that sorted out, the orders in, and most of us got exactly what we originally ordered!

After lunch, President Nick brought us up to date on upcoming Club events including the June Dock Party, July Rally, August Winery, September Mercedes & Muskets, October Eurofest, November’s two events, and the Annual Meeting in Aiken on December 10th. We then had some fun door prizes. Some got chocolate airplanes, others airplane beer and even a box of 16 AA batteries in case they were getting one of those new “AA Class” sedans as seen on Saturday Night Live. (see more on this later in this issue). It had special meaning to President Nick as every Duracell AA Battery sold in the USA is made right in his hometown of Lancaster, SC. The Duracell batteries he gave as a door prize were fresh from a factory production line. Never even made it to packaging.

Member Paul Witt then told us how to get to the Airport Control Tower for a tour of that facility. The first thing we learned is that there are a LOT of stairs! You have to be in good shape to work there everyday. Kind of like a lighthouse. Due to the number of us we split in to two groups and took turns going to the top of the tower. We met the two air traffic controllers who handle this tower. We watched small business jets coming in as well as prop planes practicing their “touch and goes”. The Tower maintains a number of radar units which track planes in the air and weather, both “a bit” important issues in aviation. The Tower also works with major airports as needed. We asked lots of questions which they handled with ease. We asked if they could contact AF-1. They said yes, but they wouldn’t let us do it!

Special thanks to Paul & Michelle Witt who got this event started. All in all it was a fun day. Good food, we learned some new things and we met some new people. As one of the new members said, this was our first event and we found out the members are real peo-ple just like us! And that folks, is what it is all about with the Mercedes brand, our initial common bond. It is always good to get together and yes, they went to another event. ■

WHEELS & wings at Downtown Greenville Airport

10 | MAY EVENT

Yes, we are talking about our 2016 Annual Mercedes Dock Party at the waterfront home of Henry and Katherine Dunbar, which they graciously open to all

our Members on a Saturday in June every year. They have a long dock and so the date each year is picked based on when it is close to high tide for the “best” water view. Henry is a Past Club President and Katherine has served as Secretary.

Members started arriving as early as 9 AM to help with set ups, food, etc, Past President Rick Deiber from Charlotte even handled early landscape clean up and brought some “Old Croc” cheese samples for us from the Company he represents. Look for it in your grocer’s deli section. In fact most Past Presidents were on board including Tony Santagati, and Rugby Hodgkins.

As each member signed in with our acting Treasurer, Harriet, they were given a numbered sheet to fill out and put on their car with information about their vehicle. They received voting ballots so they could vote for their favorite two door and 4 door by number. They received a ticket for door prize drawings, and they received two stemless wine glasses that they could take to a reception desk and get filled up with mimosas etc. And yes, they could keep the glasses!

People came from Asheville to Hilton Head to attend this great Annual Event. At 11:30 AM we started introductions. As each member was called we learned where they were from and how long they had been with the Club. They varied from over 20 years to joined that day! We also met two product specialists from Charleston’s Baker Motors who brought a new 2017 C Class Coupe and new GLC for us to go over. Amy Overcash, a top notch realtor and Newsletter advertiser who now lives in Charleston also addressed the group. Finally we announced a surprise guest, Terry Kiwala,

WHAT A PARTY!It was a hot day so being by the water was good. It stayed sunny and hot all day, with just a couple of minutes of rain to be consistent with my “Rain as President.”

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our National Club President who flew in from Chicago to see what our now “famous” Annual Dock Party event was like. Over the course of the day a number of members got to meet and talk with him.

After introductions, Katherine summoned the ladies to the dock for the annual ritual of shucking the corn and preparing it for cooking, which Secretary and Chef Butch handled with ease (after we got the propane burner going for him)! Once everything was ready Butch rang the dinner bell, with ladies first. We had beef roast, shrimp, sausage, potatoes, and corn, plus other goodies and beverages including sodas, water, beer, wine, and yes, more. Then it was dessert time from watermelon and fruit tarts to cookies. As we said in the original announcement, if you left hungry it was your own fault.

1997 S420 Sedan. They both received a gift basket with close to $50 worth of German wine, beer, candies, cookies and more. We said the gift baskets were the same except the 4 door basket might have a little cheaper wine in it (haha)! Our musician Roger has a 1982 380SL with around 300K miles, which has received MANY new parts so we gave him a quart of high mileage Mobil One.

Then we had lots of door prizes compliments of both Baker Motors and the Club. Linda Levesque even got her own G Class (a little one) and Howard Schlop was first with his own Mercedes teddy bear that he can now sleep with!

Throughout the event, past Secretary Roger Levesque played popular music via his keyboard for our enjoyment.

We gathered after lunch, and President Nick covered upcoming events with emphasis on the rally and Mercedes & Muskets events. He then gave out the awards. First was for dirtest tires, then dirtiest glass, and then dirtiest car. Each of these proud winners received a cleaning product to address their “category”.

Next was best 2 door which was won by Steve Schachte’s vintage 190SL. The best 4 door award went to Bob Ogilvie’s

Between wine glasses, awards, and door prizes everyone got something to take home. I suspect even some cookies made it back to the cars!

After that it was party, socialize, put a bigger dent in the beverages, hit the water and cleanup.

Special thanks go out to the Dunbar’s and all who helped them do the extensive amount of work that this event requires. We welcomed new members who I am sure we will see again. And we checked out Jonathon’s new mint 2006 E Class wagon that almost took the 4 Dr. award as he signed up as our newest member that day. If you missed this year, you again missed one of our best events. Put mid June 2017 on your calendar so you don’t miss it next year. Check out the photos, also compliments of Secretary Butch, to see the fun we all had. ■

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5201 E Independence Blvd.Charlotte, NC 28212866-578-7234

Hendrick Motors of Charlotte offers custom quotes on labor and parts for all models 10 years and older. Our Technical staff has over 300 years of experience and are uniquely qualified to maintain and repair your classic Mercedes-Benz. We look forward to welcoming you to our state of the art 54,000 sq. ft. Autohaus Facility. Custom Quotes by appointment only. Please call 704-972-5482.

A volunteer signup sheet for both current open positions, for back up and for future openings.

E-mail Nick Pasquine at NickPasq@aol.com by if you would like to apply and discuss these positions, current or future:

❏ President ❏Vice President ❏Treasurer

❏Secretary ❏Event chair ❏Newsletter Editor

❏Membership Chair ❏Active Board Member ❏Area Co-ordinator

❏Photographer ❏Advertising Chair ❏Individual Event Volunteer

Name _______________________________________________________ Membership # ____________________

Additional Comments:

14 | VOLUNTEER SIGN UP

August 27 | Annual Mercedes Day at Shelton Winery - Starts at 9 am Joint Event of Tarheel, Carolinas and Triangle Sections. Information will be resent via e-mail. Over 100 Mercedes participate each year.

September 9 - 11 | Mercedes & Muskets* An educational weekend at Colonial Williamsburg VA. with fellow MBCA members. Registration is full and closed. Please contact President Nick Pasquine at NickPasq@aol.com if you want to be wait listed. He will notify you if an opening comes up.

October 8 | A Meet & Greet Event at Northlake Mercedes in N. Charlotte. These meet & Greet Events give you a chance to meet and learn about other members who share your interest in the Mercedes brand. These are also excellent events for new new members. You will also meet the newest Staff GM at Northlake Mercedes and get some Mercedes info. A lunch will be included. Registration will come via e-mail.

October 22 | Euro Auto Festival at Greenville, SC.* Over 440 European car Club Cars on including MBCA members. Car registrations, Hotel Events and rooms need to be booked now! Link is: http://www.euroautofestival.com. Do not wait!

November 5 | Hilton Head Motoring Festival. Club Car Show is 11/5, Concours is 11/6 Link with all Festival Info including how to register and show your car is: http://www.hhiconcours.com/events/overview.html NOTE: MBCA members should also contact member Bruce Wood asap at dowsup@roadrunner.com regarding Mercedes Club member events during that weekend.

November 12 | Tour of Jib Gibbs Racing NASCAR Facility Details to follows.

December 10 | Annual Meeting and Christmas Dinner at The Willcox Inn - Aiken, SC Registration and Hotel reservations will open approx. 10/3. Please do not contact them prior to this date. You will receive a formal Invitation to respond to. This major event is a sell out every year.

Watch your e-mail for other local events, board meetings, and just because events in your area.

Have an event suggestion for next Spring 2017? Please send it to me!

2016 FALL MBCA CAROLINAS EVENT CALENDARAs you can see there is a LOT going on so read carefully and note the dates on your calendars

as some events require quick action in order to participate:

* family friendly

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THE AA-E CLASS MERCEDES: Let’s start this section with some fun! Many of you have seen this Mercedes “infomercial” from SNL. It hit home here as every Duracell AA battery sold in the US comes from a factory right here in Lancaster, SC. If you have not seen it yet click on the image below…and enjoy!

HILTON HEAD MOTORING FESTIVAL: See below from Bruce Wood and please contact him asap before we lose all our car club spots in a year that features German cars:

Bill Schmitt who ramrods the “Cars and Coffee” on Saturday, November 6th is now holding only 5 slots for our cars since we have been a “no show” for the last couple of years. He wants us back and will work with us. BUT, he needs to know fairly soon. I will take care of everything for any attendee. “Cars of Germany” are the featured cars this year.

Contact me: 843-715-2580 home, 843-681-1413 work, 804-350-1338 cell, or email: dowsup@roadrunner.com

Please contact Bruce Wood at dowsup@roadrunner.com for club info and car registration. Click here for tickets.

SEPT. JUST BECAUSE LUNCH: See Tom Sharar’s write up. A good chance to catch up with each other:

On Saturday, 24 September, at 1pm we will gather for lunch at the Gondolier Italian Restaurant, 1360 Tunnel Road, Asheville, NC.

This will be a casual get-together, with no business meeting. Bring your car and your appetite and we’ll have a great time and a great lunch. There is no charge for this event, only the cost of your lunch and beverage.

We have a room reserved separate from the main dining room. We will order from the regular menu, which includes Italian, Greek, Pizza, and some excellent desert choices. Beer and wine are also available. Price range is very reasonable, and the food is good. (John and Marellen Struhar and my wife, Sharon, and I tested it a few weeks ago to be sure.)

The restaurant is conveniently located, close to I-40 and the Blue Ridge Parkway.

From I-40E: Take exit 55. Left at stop light at bottom of off ramp. Go to next light, turn left on US70. Restaurant is on the right about ½ mile.

From I-40W: Take exit 55. Right at bottom of off ramp. Go to light, turn left on US70. Restaurant is on the right about 1/2 mile.

From Blue Ridge Parkway: Take US70/Black Mountain exit. Go East on US 70 about 3/4 mile, restaurant is on the left.

NOTE: Please RSVP to Tsharar@gmail.com. The Gondolier has no minimum number or charges, but needs a number of attendees to plan for their staffing. Hope To See You There! Tom.

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TARHEEL EVENT - AUGUST 26-27 SHELTON VINEYARDS MERCEDES-BENZ CAR SHOW: Dobson - just off I-77 at Exit 93 - follow signs

Friday: MBCA Dinner at Harvest Grill limited seating - for reservation, contact Gary Swinkey: glswinkey@gmail.com

Saturday: Car Show - 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

REMEMBER: Support your local dealer if you expect them to support the Club. You should also encourage private Repair shops who handle some of the older Mercedes that you support to do so.

Keep up to date on events by regularly visiting www.mbca.org

OTHER MEMBER INFORMATION | 17