GM Futurliner 2006 Progress Reports GM Futurliner Restoration Project National Automotive and Truck Museum of the United States

GM Futurliner 2007 Progress Reports
GM Futurliner Restoration Project
National Automotive and Truck Museum of the United States

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The following are Don Mayton's progress reports on the Futurliner. To read in chronological order, start from the bottom and read up the page.

2007 Work/Show Reports
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October 30	FUTURLINER UPDATE - PLANNING MEETING On October 23, 2007 we had our fall planning meeting for the Futurliner. We had a great turn out of volunteers (24), and after 4 hours we got through the agenda. VOLUNTEER UPDATE We have had some volunteers with health problems and we are thankful that most are on the mend and are recuperating. We thank the Lord for that. Wayne Jackson lost his wife to cancer at the end of the summer. 2007 SHOW SCHEDULE We had a great year showing the Futurliner with 11 eventful shows. The Futurliner is always well received and the crowds lining up to visit the driver's cockpit is fun for all, from toddlers to the elderly. Visit our web site www.futurliner.com to see the photos of the various shows. We were in five different states with the Futurliner in 2007. One of our shows was at the AACA Meet in Moline, Illinois where the Futurliner achieved its 1st Senior AACA award. We are very proud of that. 2008 SHOW SCHEDULE Yes, we are working on the 2008 schedule. 2008 being GM's 100th anniversary there is lots of interest in folks obtaining the Futurliner for their show. We already have three firm shows and are working on others. Again, watch our web site for the future show schedule. FUTURLINER MAINTENANCE We have discovered we have a bad carrier bearing on the drive shaft. However, there is a story that goes with it. The carrier bearing is part of the drive shaft system that connects the front engine-transmission combination to the rear transmission. The drive shaft is located between the lower storage area and the display area that we open at shows. We store in this area all our setup items like our tables, NATMUS banner, tools, and our tent that we set up to display our Futurliner memorabilia. Once the Des Moines show concluded all these items was again packed into the lower bay storage area. Little did we know that the corner of the tent was sticking up contacting the drive shaft. The drive shaft cannot be seen unless you lay down in the storage bay and squiggle your body past a frame member to see the drive shaft. After everything was stored the Futurliner was driven some distance to the local Cadillac garage for overnight storage. One of our volunteers noticed in the garage a confetti looking material coming out of one of these storage bays. He open the lower storage bay door and confetti was every where. Our tent was now white confetti. The drive shaft managed to pulverize our tent. Because this material would present itself as a fire hazard if ignited it was decided to immediately remove this confetti. So with razor blade knives all this material was cut out from around the drive shaft. During this process one of our observant volunteers noticed that the carrier bearing needed replace. Moral, bad things can happen for the good! FUTURLINER BOOK Many shows we go to folks ask us if there has been a book published about the Parade of Progress, the Futurliner, the Streamliners, the Paraders and I could go on. Our book is at the printer now and should be available by December. This is exciting as we have used much of the information that you folks have given us over the years. We have a great story to tell and now you can have it in print. Again, watch our web site www.futurliner.com for the books release. NATMUS will be handling the orders or you can pick the book up when we are at a show.
August 26	VOLUNTEERS To prepare for the Moline AACA show and its judging we had to have a work day at the Futurliner to prepare the vehicle for judging. Our goal was to achieve a 1st Senior award. If you recall we received our AACA 1st Junior award at Hershey in October of 2006. So on Monday, August 20, 2007 we met at 9:00 AM at Ed DeVries' storage building. Although it was pouring rain we had a great turn out of volunteers: Mike Ball, Al Batts, Jim Baker, Nick Battjes (Don Mayton's 14 year old grandson), Del Carpenter, Connie DeJong, Ed DeVries, Ron Elzinga, Don Feutz, Don Mayton, Art Miedema, Paul Prinzing, Al Scholten, Jerry Sigler, Wally Snow. The clean up included buffing out a vehicle long imperfection due to a tree branch touching the vehicle at the height that required us to assemble a scaffold. Buffing all the aluminum letters. Wiping down dirt and cleaning out all the compartments. Al S. had to do some electrical work. Ed and Ryan had previously made some repairs on our Futurliner trailer and some adjustments had to be made. The engine had to be wiped down and this was left to the youngest person there, one that could crawl into the engine compartment which was Nick. A complete sorting out of our Futurliner memorabilia. Some paint touch up of nicks including the chassis. And I could go on and on. We went to a local restaurant for lunch. Shortly after lunch we were done and the Futurliner was back to her best. AACA National - Moline, Illinois Star Trucking of Grand Rapids with Fred Hoffman driving hooked up to the Futurliner trailer and on Friday, August 24, 2007 headed to Moline arriving in mid afternoon. Our volunteer group accompanying the Futurliner for this show was: Del and Sue Carpenter, Dick Chambers, Ron Elzinga, Paul and Marjo Prinzing, and Wally and Audrey Snow. Wally was the group lead volunteer for this show. The AACA hosts were very accommodating for all our our volunteer needs. The show field was a downtown street that was blocked off in front of the Civic Center as well as the John Deere Museum, hotels and other important Moline buildings. The Futurliner was placed in front of the civic building. Our group made the decision due to the rain in the weather forecast to not do the traveling cleanup until the following morning. On Saturday, bright and early, the crew was out there wiping down the Futurliner and doing last minute clean up. Show day was beautiful with lots of beautiful antique cars. Once the judging was completed the Futurliner cab was opened up for the general public to tour the cab. Immediately a long line occurred. Also the display doors were opened and the display was available for all to see. Again there was a crowd around the Futurliner until the show ended up at 3:30 PM. The driver from Des Moines, Iowa showed up, the trailer hooked up with the Futurliner loaded on it and off to Des Moines. An interesting foot note. In September of 1955 the Parade of Progress toured both Moline, Illinois and then Des Moines, Iowa in the same sequence as this tour of the Futurliner. History has repeated itself 52 years later. AACA BANQUET During the awards we did receive our AACA 1st Senior. Congratulations to NATMUS and John Martin Smith's vision to save this Futurliner, the volunteers whose hard work allowed the restoration to be completed, all of you out there that supported us financially as well as your encouragement, as well as all the suppliers that supported us with their services. AACA GRAND NATIONAL The next step in the awards ladder would be an AACA Grand National. The next scheduled one would be in March 2008 in Melbourne, Florida. We do not have the financial means to transport the Futurliner to Florida. However, one way would be to couple it with another show in the southeast area of the USA. Lets hear from you. SALISBURY HOUSE -- Des Moines, Iowa September 9, 2007 The Futurliner volunteers extend you an invitation to visit us along with the Futurliner in Des Moines. Look for ads in your newspaper.
August 20	Monday, August 20 we work on the Futurliner at Ed's place. This is in preparation for the AACA Show in Moline, Ill. Since this is a judged show it is essential that the Futurliner be at its best for judging as we are going for our Senior. We need everyone that can make it. Bring your own tools and any parts that you need as there is not a supply at Ed's. Plan to be there at 9:00 AM. We will have coffee and doughnuts and for lunch go to a local restaurant.
August 5	Over all the Futurliner at Red Barns was a great hit. We had good sales and again lots of interest. Even though some of our volunteers had to work at the show as judges we had great volunteer turnout. Many thanks to the wives of volunteers that came, they are a real blessing as they do a better job in sales as we men do. At least that is my observation. Thanks to each of you who were there. Thanks to Dick Saddler for being the manager of this show.
July 26	AACA GRAND NATIONAL - July 7, 2007 What an outstanding show. Over 350 beautiful AACA Grand National cars displayed on the Gilmore Museum grounds amid the Red Barns. We had a great turnout of volunteers considering most of our volunteers had to work for our local AACA Chapter to cover the AACA Grand National show that we sponsored. This is probably one of the prettiest spots to hold a car show because of the grass fields. MACKINAC BRIDGE AUTHORITY On Wednesday at the old car group lunch, Don Bratt presented me with a Mackinac Bridge Authority bright yellow and red safety vest as a memento to our historic Futurliner breakdown on the 5 mile long Mackinac bridge. As if I needed this to remind me. The vest is now hanging in our display cabinet. Yes, this experience will be fully recorded on our next video that we are putting together. Thanks Don Bratt. ZEELAND PARADE What an outstanding success. For those of you considering hosting the Futurliner you may want to consider doing this as an attention getter for the actual car show the next day or later that morning. We basically duplicated the Parade of Progress entering Zeeland but instead of using 12 Futurliners we used our single Futurliner. Zeeland is a perfect town for doing this since the downtown area is 1 block long, the street with its businesses looks like a 1950's down with parallel parking on one side and angle parking on the opposite side. Mary Nyhof, the car show director and Ann Query the President of the Zeeland Chamber of Commerce did an outstanding job of marketing the Parade of Progress for Friday evening followed by a 1950's sock hop. Downtown Zeeland was filled with people and at each of the 60 parking locations was a 1956 or earlier vintage car including some period rods. The parade was lead by a vintage 1951 Harley Davison Motorcyle driven by its owner Jim Work. Jim was completely outfitted in his vintage police uniform. And with siren blaring entered downtown Zeeland. (Jim, previously checked in with the Zeeland police department to make sure what he was doing was not going to cross with them, good PR.) Because his motorcycle is air cooled he had to keep the cycle moving and did loops in front of the parade to the delight of the crowds. Following Jim's motorcycle was an actual 1937 Ford Michigan State Police cruiser with Michigan State Police Trooper Scott Seida. Al Batts had arranged through the Michigan State Police this vehicle. We discovered that the Michigan State Police have several vintage police cars that are available for pubic events upon written request. Following the police car was a 1938 International Fire Engine driven by `Don Wiersma`. A WWII Jeep followed driven by `Harris Driesenga`. An Army truck was close behind driven by Doug Boeve accompanied by his wife Mary. The local VFW Color Guard then came marching by. The last emergency vehicle was a 1955 Chevy Ambulance driven by Phillip Harrison. This vehicle has quite a history being made by the Barnette Co. in Memphis, Tennessee. It is one of 24 Chevy Ambulances built on 55, 56, 57 Chevrolet chassis. In the 1940's and 50's when the Parade of Progress entered a town or city there was always one GM car representing each division. Each of these cars were painted the same red and white as the color of the Futurliner. For this parade we decided to do the same thing. It is one challenge to find the cars and even more of a challenge to find red and white GM vehicles representing each division. Leading these cars was a 1956 Cadillac convertible driven by Dick Demming. Then Jessie and Sandy Caauwe drove their 1955 Buick convertible. Del and Sue followed in their red and white hardtop Oldsmobile. A 1955 Chevrolet hardtop followed with Ron and Kathy VerHey. We then had Ryan and Lynda in a 1958 red and white Corvette. Connie DeJong with Zeeland Mayor, `Lester Hoogland,` followed in another red and white Chevrolet and were the last car prior to the Futurliner. Although the parade was not long the crowds were enthusiastic. The sock hop that followed later was a real hit with awards being made for the best dancers as well as best dressed 50's folks. (NOTE: THE PARADE WAS CAPTURED ON VIDEO AS WELL AS PHOTOS. THIS WILL APPEAR ON OUR WEB SITE IN THE NEAR FUTURE.) ZEELAND CAR SHOW The next day was the Zeeland car show. The day started with the rain pouring. Finally at 11:00 AM it stopped raining and we were able to open up the Futurliner. Even though the rains came the car show was a success with many folks driving their cars to the show in the early morning downpour. A very successful day.
June 29	ST. IGNACE AND THE FUTURLINER This past weekend the Futurliner volunteers took the Futurliner to the annual St. Ignace - Antiques on the Bay car show. Before I get into the details of the car show perhaps I need to start with some background information for those of you who know nothing about St. Ignace and the surrounding area. Any one living in Michigan is familiar with this area so you can skip some of this background. This area is so rich in history and geography and has such pristine beauty I thought this added information might help those unfamiliar with this area. GRADE SCHOOL LESSON Growing up in Michigan, children are given a simple geography lesson about the State of Michigan. No Michigan child ever forgets this lesson so here goes for all you non-Michigan followers of the Futurliner project. Although you might think this is a wild goose chase, stick with me. Michigan is made up of two very irregular peninsulas. Both of these peninsulas are surrounded by water and connected at their root by other states. To understand the shape of these two distinct and separate peninsulas first take your right hand, palm facing you and rotate the hand so that the hand is pointing up. Slightly separate the thumb from the other fingers and also slightly separate the little pinky from the other three fingers. The center three fingers keep tight together. You are now looking at Michigan's lower peninsula. At the wrist area is where the lower peninsula touches the states of Indiana and Ohio. The rest of the lower peninsula is surrounded by water, starting at the left side of the hand is Lake Michigan up to the middle finger. Continuing from the middle finger clockwise is Lake Huron and then all the connecting waters down to the right bottom of the hand is Lake Erie. Any grade school kid that lives in the lower peninsula can point to where they live. If you don't believe me look at a map. Now lets go to the Upper Peninsula, UP for short in Michigan. This time take the left hand, palm facing you again. Rotate the left hand until the middle finger is horizontal and pointing to the right. Keep all fingers tight together. Now you are looking at the UP of Michigan and again this entire peninsula is surrounded by water except on the far left (west) where it connects to Wisconsin. The waters surrounding the UP include Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, and Lake Huron with all the connecting waters. Again, look at the map, however very few maps show the UP as one intact section as it is stretched out so far. A USA map would be more appropriate. Now lets put the two hand peninsulas together relative to each other. Again with the palm's facing you on both right and left hands, the right hand vertical, the left hand horizontal, bring your two hands together so that the right hand's middle index finger is under and a 1/4" away from the tip of the left hand's little pinky. This is Michigan, the lower peninsula (right hand) and the UP (left hand) separated by a 1/4" which in reality is a 5 mile strait of water known as the Strait's of Mackinac. Going back to your hand map of Michigan, the middle right finger is where Mackinaw City sits in the lower peninsula. The town of St. Ignace sits across the Straits of Mackinac in the UP and Mackinac Island sits to the right of the left pinky finger. You might also notice that I have spelled Mackinaw (Mackinac) two ways. That is another lesson of the difference of how the French and English spell that word. Both spellings are correct for each of their separate applications. Both are pronounced with the "naw" sound. HISTORY Because water travel was the easiest prior to modern transportation the group that controlled the water routes around this area not only controlled the land but became wealthy because they controlled the trade. Indians traversed this area with their canoes trading their furs, food (primary fish from the local waters) and other goods. The first European settlement began in 1671 when Father Jacques Marquette established a mission to the Huron Indians on Mackinac Island. Then the French traders showed up, again using canoes, and controlled this area. Soon the British and the French were fighting over control of this area as well as the Americans later. The War of 1812 began and ended in this area. Even into modern times this area was a center of Great Lakes freighters passing through this area carrying bulk cargo such as iron ore, grains, and lumber. However travel within Michigan from the lower peninsula to the UP was difficult, costly, and time consuming due to having to use ferry boats to cross the waters of the Straits of Mackinac. Often the ferry boats could not travel due to the wind and waves and once the water was in the freezing state and later thawing state nothing traveled across these waters. Ice bridges were used in the dead of winter, but were very treacherous. THE BRIDGE Finally a bridge was built, opening in 1957. For the first time motor vehicles could cross the Straits of Mackinac. At the time of its opening it was the longest suspension bridge in the USA. It still has the world's longest total suspension span between cable anchorages. The bridge spans over 5 miles of water. This year, in celebration of this bridge's 50th anniversary several events are taking place, one having the Futurliner present in the crossing of the bridge and leading antique cars from Mackinaw City (lower peninsula) to St. Ignace (UP). ( Another piece of Michigan trivia, the folks that live in the UP are known as YOOPERS" and those that live below the bridge (lower peninsula) are "TROLLS". TRIP TO ST. IGNACE (cars taken on the trip) Ron Elzinga (32 Ford), was our AACA tour master for our trip to the St. Ignace - Antiques on the Bay car show. Ed DeVries (32 Buick) planned the arrival of the Futurliner organizing the volunteers hosting the vehicle. Don Bratt worked with the State of Michigan and the Straits of Mackinac Bridge Authority to provide accessible spots on the bridge to take video shots of the Futurliner and the antique car parade as the vehicles crossed the bridge. Don had a total of 6 video camera folks lined up. Other volunteers that helped in putting everything together included: Mike Ball (39 Chevrolet), Al Batts (photographer), Dorothy Bratt, Del and Sue Carpenter, Dick and Carolyn Chambers (31 Ford), Dorothy DeVries, Ryan and Lynda DeVries (09 Cadillac), Elaine Elzinga, Don and Judy Feutz, Don and Carol Mayton (53 Buick), Wes Myrick and Tony, John Wissink (Ford model T speedster) , and a new volunteer John Atsma. Owen Marsman, from Marsman Construction donated his time and semi truck to haul the Futurliner to St. Ignac and back to Grand Rapids. We did have to pay for a $500 fuel charge. All the volunteers paid for their own transportation, meals, cost of motels, and other expenses. TRIP TO ST. IGNACE We gathered at 10 AM Thursday, June 21, and then proceeded north. Most of the participants trailered their antique cars north. The lunch stop was in Lake City at a local restaurant. I could not resist the homemade 1/4 size slice of strawberry-rhubarb pie. While traveling north in Michigan's upper peninsula the scene is simply lots of dark green, trees and more trees, broken up my many lakes and streams. Also there are many farms along the way with varieties of fruit (apples, cherries, blue berries, peaches) and the grains. Arriving at Mackinaw City the first thing that you see are the towers of the Mackinac Straits Bridge. Due to the high winds when we arrived the speed limit for the bridge was reduced for all traffic. The weather was perfect with a clear blue sky. The waters of both Lake Michigan to the left (west) and Lake Huron on the right (east) were a Caribbean blue. To the north east we could see Mackinac Island. Driving into St. Ignace we all headed to our motels. The first order of business was to unload our cars and then find a restaurant for dinner. When we arrived at the restaurant we discovered that the Futurliner was headlined on the front page of the local newspaper. FRIDAY'S TOUR TO HESSEL Ron had arranged an old car tour to Hessel with two stops. The first stop was at an antique wood boat restoration shop. The shop contained wood boats of the 1920's, 30's, 40's, and 50's vintage. The restoration results were flawless. There were single, double, and triple cockpit style boats. What works of art! From there we went to the private summer place of Hank and Joyce VanderWerp. Our hosts live on a channel in the Les Cheneaux Island group. Many residents in this area have wood antique boats. Our hosts provided lunch. After lunch we headed back to St. Ignace. FRIDAY EVENING ANTIQUE CAR TOUR This event was hosted by the St. Ignace Antique on the Bay organization. With the Futurliner leading the antique cars, in celebration of the bridge opening in 1957, there was a long line of antique cars. We were escorted by the police in Mackinaw City and once we crossed the bridge the St. Ignace police took us on a tour through the city. Don Bratt with his crew of video recorders captured the tour. We will be using some of this footage for a future video. SATURDAY CAR SHOW The Futurliner was placed at the center of the event. The number of cars entered completely filled the area of the car show. Some of our local AACA members took awards. The volunteers were busy all day while folks ask many, many questions about the Futurliner. Lots of donations were received as folks toured the Futurliner cab. The show was an outstanding success. FUTURLINER BREAKDOWN At the end of the Saturday show we closed up shop and then had to drive the Futurliner back across the bridge to Mackinaw City where our trailer was stored. Since I had not every ridden in the Futurliner since it was restored, Carol and I entered the cab while Ed DeVries drove. The Futurliner had to go about 4 miles to get to the entrance to the bridge. Once paying the toll fee we started up the incline on the bridge. The beginning of the bridge is just above the lake level and climbs to the center of the bridge which is over 200' above the water. Although it is not a steep climb it is up hill all the way to the center of the bridge. Just as we were getting to the first tower, which is about 1/4 of the way across the bridge, the Futurliner started to miss badly and then promptly stopped. It acted as if the Futurliner ran out of gas, but Ed had put in over 22 gallons of gas prior to leaving Grand Rapids. Because of the narrow lanes on the bridge, no pull offs, and the traffic, it was not long until the bridge authority showed up with two pickup trucks. One truck parked at the rear of our vehicles, John Wissink's Ford and Ed DeVries Buick driven by John Atsma, and one at the front. We made several attempts at trying to restart the Futurliner but not only would it not restart but then it failed to crank. A conference was held with the bridge authority employees and they just wanted to get the Futurliner off the bridge. They recommended that they try and tow the Futurliner with the larger of the two pickup trucks, which was a Dodge with a hemi. No, this is not a Dodge advertisement as I worked for GM for 42 years. A very large rope was tied from the hitch on the pickup to the front axle on the Futurliner. Remember we still have a 1/4 of the bridge to go up hill yet. It took two tries but the pickup started moving the Futurliner. The air brake system on the Futurliner depends on a minimum of 60 psi air pressure, if less than that the springs automatically apply the brakes. With the engine not running there is no way to generate air pressure. We had in the cab 78 psi of air pressure remaining. In addition the power steering does not work without the engine running. Carol is not happy with these facts!!!!!! Ed is steering, the bridge railing suddenly looks smaller than when we came across the bridge. All three of us are looking at the air pressure gage. Going up to the center of the bridge Ed does not have to apply the brakes. However, as we start to descend he has to occasionally apply the brakes to keep from running into the back end of the pickup. If the air pressure drops below the 60 psi then the brakes are applied on all eight wheels. Fortunately the trailer is just off the first exit ramp at the end of the bridge. Just as we enter the parking lot next to the Futurliner trailer our pressure has dropped to 62 psi. Again, we were being looked after. FUTURLINER REPAIRS Our chief engine mechanic, Del, had left for home with Sue a few hours earlier. When we were still on the bridge I had contacted him by cell phone and we were attempting to go through what could have happened. We had already determined that the fuel pump was functioning. It was noted that just before the Futurliner stalled that black smoke was coming out of the exhaust. In our trouble shooting now in the parking lot we did determine that our batteries were dead. We then jumped the batteries from a pickup truck but the engine would still not crank. Finally, it was found out that there was a loose wire on the starter. Once the batteries were charged the Futurliner was started and loaded onto the trailer. This week we will still have to work on the Futurliner to determine what caused the batteries to go dead. The batteries were just replaced with a new set two weeks ago. RETURN HOME Our return home for both the Futurliner and all the volunteers was uneventful. AACA members Ron and Mari Mortenson invited us to stop on the way home from the car show for lunch. Not only did we have lunch but since they lived on a lake we took a tour of the lake with their pontoon boat and most of the men tried out their sea-doo. A very relaxing way to end the weekend. ACCIDENT Clyde and Ethel Poll, local antique car folks always attend this show. On Friday, Ethel fell and broke her wrist. We pray for relief of pain and her quick recovery.
June 16	Vicksburg, Michigan; Friday and Saturday, June 8 & 9, 2007 Our volunteer Dick Saddler made the arrangements for the Futurliner to appear at the annual Vicksburg Car show. The show itself is centered in the center of the down town area of the town. On Friday the Futurliner was transported to Vicksburg and the show started in the afternoon. Saturday all the streets were closed for the normal traffic and the town was open to car show folks. The town filled up with approximately 1500 show cars. The Futurliner itself was at the main downtown crossroads. One of the hits in showing the Futurliner is allowing folks tour the driver's cockpit. It is a thrill to see the reaction of folks from 2 years old to 89 years old as they sit in the driver's seat. Where else can to actually sit in a restored vehicle. The teenagers comments are "sweet", "awesome", "neat", with lots of thumbs up. Marsman Construction arrived on time to transport the Futurliner from Vicksburg to Cincinnati. Cincinnati, Ohio; Ault Park, Sunday, June 10, 2007 Our volunteer Jerry Sigler was in charge of this show. Here is his report. Don, our Cincinnati team consisted of Al Batts, Al Scholten, Don/Judy Feutz, Ryan/Lindi DeVries, Ed/Dorothy DeVries, Stan/Carol Bowers and Jerry/Delores Sigler. We were a well oiled group with each person participating in an effort to showoff our pride and joy. We all arrived at sometime on Saturday. Ed had made motel arrangements for the truck driver carrying the Futurliner. He arrived from Vicksburg about midnight. At 5:30 AM the men headed for Ault Park to set up for the day. Concour d'elegance wanted set up and ready to go by 8:00 AM, which we did. The ladies arrived about 9:00 AM. There were 283 cars registered for the show. On average I understand that they normally have approximately 2400 to 2500 people show up for the show. At the end of the show their leader told me that they ran out of wrist bands at 5000. So they were extremely happy to have over 5000 guests. As usual, the Futurliner was eagerly accepted and reviewed by many excited people. It was fun to see how many dad's showed their little son's and told them they were seeing history. One man came to the show because he had seen the promotions and wanted to buy a model but did not realize he had to pay $25 to enter the show and was disappointed that we could not accept a credit card. I told him we would take a check but he did not have his check book. He said he would order one on line. At 2:00 PM they started handing out awards off of our stage so we only sold until 2:00 PM. As a result 250 people went through the cab in a four hour period. On the way home I remembered a man I had talked to last month in Michigan and realized he was near Toledo so I called him and met him at the Toledo Airport so he could buy a Furutrliner Model. The weekend was a great time. Holland, Michigan ; Ottawa Co. Fairgrounds; Saturday,June 16, 2006 Star Trucking volenteered take our Futurliner to Holland for this show. Our volunteer Al Scholten did all the arranging for this show. We had a great spot and again folks enjoyed touring the driver's cab like all the shows. The Futurliner again attracts all age groups and because of its uniqueness steals the show. This being a local show to the area where the Futurliner was restored still managed to bring a crowd. Several of out local vendors that supplied parts were represented at this show also.
June 6	FUTURLINER at AUBURN, INDIANA, June 1 & 2, 2008. Futurliner #10 was delivered to Auburn by Mitch Mounsey and his son Mark around noon. It was met by the crew of Ed & Dorothy DeVries, Howard Sullivan, John Wissink, Chuck & Gail Snow and Paul & Marjo Prinzing. It took nearly an hour to unload the Futurliner and park it in position at the NATMUS site. Just as the crew readied for a lunch break, Al & Carol Scholten arrived to help with the clean up. As often is the case at our shows, Carol jumped right in and had the Futurliner sparkling! Soon the crew and Futurliner greeted the many guests to the events held at the ADC Museum and NATMUS. Parked next to the Futurliner was one of the special "golden" Bel Airs produced in 1955 to celebrate the 50th million Chevrolet. Early the next morning the Futurliner was moved to Kruse Auction Park. New driver Paul was concerned about lane placement while driving from the center of the vehicle. Also a number of cars kept pulling off the road as he drove by, but he soon realized it was only because people wanted to get a better view of the Futurliner as it passed. At Kruse's, crew member Al Batts and NATMUS volunteers Mark Jones and Ed Kase joined the others to answer questions from the crowd. Many auction participants commented on the reduced crowds, but at Futurliner #10 there was a steady stream of curious on-lookers. At the end of the day, as the Futurliner was being loaded onto its traveling trailer, a large group of people gathered to watch the whole process. Finally, Futurliner #10 was secured and it was transported back to its storage site by Mitch and Mark. (Report by Paul Prinzing, volunteer in charge.)
June 5	Today after receiving the new set of Futurliner tires from Coker yesterday we set about the process of installing these tires. VOLUNTEERS: Mike Ball, Al Batts, Del Carpenter, Conrad DeJong, Ed DeVries, Don Feutz, Wayne Jackson, Don Mayton, Paul Prinzing, Dick Saddler, Al Scholten, Jerry Sigler, Wally Snow, Steve Cordes* , John Ujvari, Jerry. Steve from Cordes Trucking provided the tractor to pick up the Futurliner in the morning at Ed's storage building. Steve as well as John provided the expertise and equipment to demount the old wide white wall tires and then mount the new correct wide white walls with the raised letters: "GENERAL MOTORS"; "US ROYAL"; "FLEETWAY" and "PARADE OF PROGRESS". In addition, during the process of the tire installation, they, having the truck tire expertise of operating a trucking company, discovered some maintenance issues that needed addressed immediately. These included changing worn wheel mounting studs, taping out holes that had damaged threads, torque the lug nuts with greater force, and other items. Some of these items resulted in making numerous runs to the local truck parts store as well as the Cordes business to pick up items. We are grateful of their presence as well as spending the entire day at our side getting these tires installed. We had a good turn out of our volunteers and it ended up that we needed everyone. In addition to helping out with the above Paul and Marjo provided a list of 14 items that needed addressed from the recent show this past weekend at Auburn, Indiana. This list included items that were taken care of today but other items will require planning to be done between our show schedule this summer. Also, Del has a big job going that will go into Thursday. We had a great work day with lots done. The Futurliner looks great in its new white shoes. It is ready to dance. Remember we have 10 shows scheduled this summer with the Indiana show already behind us. This Friday and Saturday we will be in Vicksburg, Michigan and then on Sunday, Cincinnati, Ohio. Check our web site for the show schedule which includes Michigan, Illinois, and Iowa shows. 2008 SHOW SCHEDULE Can you believe we have three shows scheduled already for 2008. If your organization is interested in showing the Futurliner get your request in early. First come first served.
June 4	THE TIRE MIRACLE The restoration of Futurliner #10 by a group of volunteers became known by the miracles of events, people, and businesses showing up at the right time, with the right skills, resources, or the financial means to let the project continue for 8 years until completion in the Fall of 2005. In fact, this occurred so often the volunteers continued to be over whelmed by these events. Even as one of the volunteers offered to make a video of the restoration the miracles continued to happened with those having skills of communications volunteering in the creation of the video, "MIRACLE AT BEAVERDAM". The one thing that continued to frustrate us was the fact that we could not find anyone to make the original type white wall tires. These tires were truck tires, size 10:00 X 20, but unique in the fact that they were wide white walls with the following raised letters in the white wall area: "GENERAL MOTORS"; "PARADE OF PROGRESS"; "US ROYAL FLEETWAY". and with the round "US" rubber stamp. Many calls were made to many tire companies with absolutely no one interested to tackling this job. Even a call to a China tire company ended up with no response. A a call was made to Corky Coker about the possibility of his firm, COKER, making the tire. After several conversations it was agreed to transport an original tire to the fall AACA Hershey meet and have Corky look at it. Once delivered to Hershey, Corky took the tire to his firm to have his engineers look at it to see what the costs would be. We were upfront with Corky and told him we had no money and no means to pay for such a venture. If Coker decided to build the mold and manufacture the tires, it would be a 100% donation to the restoration project. Coker's engineers came up with the costs and it was just too steep of a climb for them to do for one vehicle. In the Spring of 2005 we were invited by General Motors to participate in the EYES OF DESIGN with the Futurliner. At first we turned them down because we did not have the Futurliner painted nor the inside done, nor any white wall tires. With a contribution from GM we were able to complete the body work and painting plus some casting of key trim pieces. However, we still did not have the inside done. GM consented to allow us to keep all the doors closed including the cab during the show. We installed a temporary dark plastic windshield to make sure no one could see the inside. Still no white wall tires. Just six weeks prior to the Eyes of Design show one of our volunteers, who lives in the town of Muskegon Michigan, on his return home from working on the Futurliner one day stopped at a local tire shop that repaired over the road tractor trailer and truck tires. They had a process of repairing the side walls of truck tires. Bill Ginman, the business owner agreed to try to bond white wall rings on a set of new tires. After a lot experimentation he successfully was able to bond white wall rings to a set of 10:00 X 20 truck tires. Another "MIRACLE". We arrived at Eyes of Design with a new set of wide white tires (albeit without the raised letters). Over the next few years we continued to try to find a source to make these tires. Bill Ginman suggested that we contact a proto-type shop in Muskegon to see if they could create white wall rings that could be bonded onto a set of tires. This company, Select Engineering, spent many hours developing a mold to make the rings. However, they never could formulate a material that they could pour and then bond to the tires. We assumed at this point that we would have to live with our bonded white wall tires that were doing a great job, just missing the raised letters. Fast forward to January 2006, to the Barrett-Jackson auction in Arizona. We were aware of the Canadian Futurliner that was going to be auctioned. If fact we had visited this Futurliner when we started our restoration and benefited from their restoration in many ways. Also, we gave Barrett -Jackson permission to use anything on our web site in their promotion of this Futurliner. As a group of volunteers we had a party at one of our volunteers homes to watch the auction. We were amazed at what happened, the selling price of $4.2 million. This again benefited our restoration as our web site took a record number of hits the next day. Ron Pratte, the purchaser of the Futurliner at Barrett-Jackson made contact with us about some details of our restoration which we supplied. As he pursued the web site, www.futurliner.com, and seeing our white wall tires, he called Ginman Tire to order a set of bonded white wall tires for his Futurliner. In the conversation, Bill told Ron about the efforts to create the "real" duplicate of the original tire. In turn, Ron called me to ask more questions coming to the final question of: "Who could build the tires?". I told him the only person and company that took an interest in doing the tires was Corky from Coker tire. I gave Ron the contact information for Corker. Shortly, thereafter, I received a call from Corky to again ship them the original tire that we had hanging on the wall. Jerry Sigler and I constructed a box and shipped the tire to Corky in Tennessee. From there Coker's engineers took over and a mold was made. Once samples were produced, the DOT testing and requirements completed. Coker started producing this tire. Again, another MIRACLE has happened in the life of the Futurliner restoration. The credit goes to those that take up the challenge to preserve history like Ron Pratte and Corky Coker. The restoration volunteers for Futurliner #10 thank you.
June 4	A Brad Boyajian Futurliner was purchased by a gentleman in Sweden and will be shipped there by container later this year. He plans to begin restoration in 2009.
May 2	FUTURLINER PLANNING MEETING Had a great turnout of volunteers as follows: Mike Ball, Al Batts (Provided cookies), Stan Bowers, Ron Bratt, Del Carpenter, Dick Chambers, Conrad DeJong, Ed DeVries, Ron Elzinga, George Ferris, Don Feutz, Wayne Jackson, Don Mayton, Paul Prinzing, Dick Saddler, Al Scholten, Jerry Sigler, Chuck Snow, Wally Snow, Howard Sullivan (Provided dough nuts) and John Wissink 2007 SHOW SCHEDULE - Reviewed each show in detail. Auburn, Indiana; NATMUS - June 1, 2, 3. 2007 National Historic Dedication at NATMUS and the ACD Museum. Vicksburg Old Car Festival - Vicksburg, Michigan - Friday June 8 & Saturday, June 9 Ault Concours - Ault Park - Cincinnati, Ohio - Sunday, June 10, Mild to Wild - Holland, Michigan - Friday and Saturday, June 15 & 16, 2007. AACA Grand National - Gilmore Museum at Hickory Corners, Michigan. July 6 & 7. Zeeland Car Show - Zeeland, Michigan - Friday parade, July 13 & Saturday car show, July 14, 2007. Red Barns - Gilmore Museum - Richland, Michigan - Saturday, August 3 & 4, 2007. AACA Fall National Meet - Central Division - August 25, 2007; Moline, IL Salisbury House - Des Moines, Iowa - Friday, Saturday, Sunday; September 7,8,9, 2007. Ed DeVries 2008 SHOW SCHEDULE Car show; Sloan Summer fair - June 27 & 28, 2008. Car Show; Traverse City, Michigan - July 11, 12, 13, 2008 FUTURLINER WORK WEEK - April 9 through the 13th, Monday through Friday. Work went very well. We have a few items to clean up. Will be scheduled later. NATMUS DISPLAY - Need a volunteer to take on this assignment. We have some of the elements to put together a full size portion of the poster that we sell as a full size display. We need a volunteer to take on this job, working with the museum to display it. Display will include a child's Taylor Tot (donated by Howard Sullivan), child mannequin (need donated), dressed in period clothes (donated by Howard Sullivan). Also will include a women's mannequin with period clothes that needs donated. See me (Don), on this. RETRO 1-2-3 Futurliner model. Sales are steady and are approaching the maximum limit set RETRO. Better get your order in through RETRO. NOREV MODEL - Sales very good. Model is well received. Remember, order through the NATMUS MUSEUM. Just look up our web site www.futurliner.com, to place your order. We have already run out of the first order and the second order arrived this week. FUTURLINER BOOK - This is another venture. At every meet we have been asked about a book on the Futurliner and its history and restoration. Bruce Berghoff and George Ferris with Al Batts providing the photos, and Mike Ball doing the research have done an outstanding job of putting the book together. We hope to have the book out by mid summer. Just like the new model, stay tuned.
Apr. 16	SPECIAL WORK SESSION April 7-16 VOLUNTEERS: Jim Baker, Mike Ball, Al Batts, Don Bratt, Del & Sue Carpenter, Fred Hoffman (S & M Star Trucking driver delivering and picking up Futurliner), Fred and Marge Carpenter, Dick Chambers, Conrad DeJong, Ed DeVries, Ryan DeVries, Ron Elzinga, Don Feutz, Wayne Jackson, Don & Carol Mayton, Art & Wilma Miedema, Paul & Marjo Prinzing, Dick Saddler, Al Scholten, Wally Snow, Howard Sullivan (* Provided food for lunch, deserts and/or doughnuts.) This special work session started out at Ed's place on April 7 when the Futurliner was picked up and then delivered to our work place in Beaverdam. It ended with on Monday, April 16, when the Futurliner was transported back to its storage facility. We had a list of about 30 maintenance items that had to be taken care of before the show season. I will not mention each item but we had a great turnout of volunteers to accomplish about 90% of the items. The few items left were due to waiting on parts. I will just list some of the bigger items even though the smaller ones were important to make a better presentation of the Futurliner. PAINTING Showing the Futurliner last year did cause some wear and tear. All the areas that had to be touched up were completed including a big area in the center of the front. This required the removal of the driver's access door as well as the large front "GM" letters. Minor touch up was done on other outside areas. Also some touch up had to be done in the driver's cockpit. The entire under side was gone over removing rust and repainting where necessary. The rear wheel hubs were painted requiring the removal of the rear dual wheels. The engine was cleaned and detailed. LARGE 16' SIDE DOORS We removed the gear motors and Al Scholten over hauled them by replacing all the bearings. The gear motors were re-installed and the doors checked out for their operations. New and improved upper 16' door weather seals were installed to eliminate the leaks we experienced during downpours. On one of the basement doors the small latch gear box had to be repaired. FUTURLINER MEMORABILIA A complete inventory was taken of all our Futurliner memorabilia. We have ordered more items where the inventory required it. Our new Futurliner model inventory is almost depleted, we are waiting the next shipment. ELECTRICAL Repairs were made at the rear tail lights. New lights were added in the electrical control area. TRIM Trim repairs were made in the drivers cockpit as well as on the outside. ENGINE Dean in North Carolina has repaired our extra carburetor and discovered the source of the fuel leak. A new exhaust cut out was made by Ryan and it has been installed. A cable has been installed to open and close the cutout from the driver's cockpit. The Futurliner mechanical area were greased. AIR CONDITIONER Duct work for the air conditioner had to be corrected. The entire Futurliner was washed down and cleaned. SHOW SEASON We are now ready for the 2007 show season. We already have two tentative show dates for 2008.
Feb. 4	ANNUAL KALAMAZOO SWAP MEET On schedule here in western Michigan is the Kalamazoo Antique Auto Restorers Club (KAARC) annual February Kalamazoo swap meet held at the county fairgrounds. We always look forward to this as our first old car event of the year. Prior to the meet, Mike Ball gathered all our Futurliner memorabilia and transferred it into Dick Saddler's truck. Then Friday before the meet Dick and Stan Bowers set up our tables in the fairground buildings. However, the weather forecast was very ominous with a blizzard predicted for the week end starting late Friday evening. We had a few of our volunteers cancel when they got up Saturday morning, the weather was terrible. Nothing but snow blowing horizontally at up to 40 mph. We had already received over night 12" with another 12" predicted in the next 24 hours. I called Stan who lives in Kalamazoo and he stated that the snow had not arrived in the Kalamazoo area yet. Del Carpenter and his passenger, Nels, chose to proceed along with me and my passengers. We started in blizzard conditions with complete "white outs" but by the time we got 1/2 to Kalamazoo we ran out of the blowing snow but it was still blowing. By the time we arrived at the fair grounds the snow started coming down, the blizzard had arrived in Kalamazoo. At the swap meet we again met lots of our supporters and again presented our memorabilia. The crowds were down due to the weather and every time we looked out side the snow was getting deeper. Due to the light crowds and the fact that by 1:00 PM the crowds had really thinned out we chose to close up. Since US-131, our route back to the Grand Rapids area, had been reported to be closed several different times during the day we chose to drive the back roads to Martin, Michigan and there get on US-131. This drive was dicey due to the wind and blowing snow but both Del and I were driving 4 wheel drive pickups. We were not worried about the snow so much as we were about the constant "white outs". For those of you if not the snow areas when the wind starts blowing hard it picks up the falling snow, blows it horizontally in such a volume that you cannot see beyond the end of the hood. Driving at any speed you cannot see the road or a car in front of you or coming. Once we got to Martin, Michigan I had to divert to drop off one of my passengers so Del with his passenger got onto US-131 and proceeded to the Grand Rapids area. Later I learned that not ten miles going north he came across a pile of wrecked cars scattered over US-131 with the crashes still occurring due to one of these "white outs". Del was able to wind his way through the mess and proceed. The police and emergency folks had already arrived. About 15 minutes we were headed towards the same wrecks, with more wrecks. The "white outs" occur so fast and completely blind everyone the police could not get the cars stopped. We happen to see the wrecks in front of us so that I could start braking on the ice and snow. However, as I looked in the rear view mirror I could see a pickup behind me traveling too fast and was out of control. I simply stated to Paul, my passenger, that I had to quickly get out of his way or he was going to crash into us. I managed to get my truck off on the left side of the road dodging another wrecked car. As I was doing this the pickup truck behind me slid pass me, hit the rear of a stopped trailer truck, then bounced off the road on the right side. As I looked in the mirror I could dimly see more head lights headed out way. I told Paul we have to get out of here or we will be next. We managed to get the truck around another wrecked car, and then in front of the stopped trailer truck. Later we were told by a policeman that before they managed to get the highway closed down there was another 3/4 miles of wrecked cars behind us. In total he stated that there were about 50 wrecked cars. Many cars like us saw the wrecks in front of them and managed to either get stopped or simply put their car in the ditch to avoid getting hit. The good news, due to everyone traveling at a lower speeds there were only non-life threatening injuries. The Lord was looking after us. We had to cancel being at the swap meet for Sunday. The wind is still blowing, the blizzard continues but is predicted to blow itself out here by evening. Most everything in the Grand Rapids area is shut down; churches, malls, restaurants, movie theaters, and other businesses. The police have asked folks to stay off the highways. The blizzard of 07 out staged our swap meet.
Jan. 26	The second planning meeting for the Zeeland car show was today (Friday, January 26, 2007). At the meeting today was Mary Nyhof (Zeeland Car Show), Ann Quary (President, Zeeland Chamber of Commerce) and Don Mayton. We had another great meeting and discussed the expansion of the car show with a Friday night (July 13, 2007) program. The Friday program night will consist of a mini Parade of Progress parade followed by a Sock Hop with a DeeJay. The next planning meeting will be in March or as required. The entire event will be video taped. From the video's will be produced a second edition video (To be named.). Then from the second video will be a short version made to add to our web site (Jim Crame). Don Bratt will be in charge of the video production with help from all the volunteers. Official photography (Al Batts). The Zeeland Car Show with awards will be on Saturday, July 14, 2007 with the Futurliner being displayed. In addition to the planners, input is encouraged from others. Following are some plans and thoughts for these two days. * Revised items as of 1-26-07. Friday evening, July 13, 2007 PARADE OF PROGRESS TYPE OF PARADE, FOLLOWED BY A SOCK HOP. 1) Since Zeeland still looks like a 1950's town it is a perfect place to recreate a Parade of Progress parade. 2)* The parade will start in the after noon. Streets closed at 3:00 PM for parking the old cars. Parade starts at 6:30 PM. 3) The parade will travel from east to west to have the sun streaming into the downtown area. 4) Prior to the parade we would like to have 1950's and earlier cars parked in the normal Zeeland downtown parking spots. (Cannot have modern customs, but have period rods, James Dean type of custom cars.) The cars do not have to be restored, nor look the greatest, just have to look like a typical downtown area in the 1950's. 5) Prior to the parade, we would encourage folks to come to the downtown area in 1950's period dress. Period dress would include: + Bobby socks, hoola hoop skirts, pegged pants, white tee shirts with the sleeves rolled up, jeans, white shirt-tie, straw hats, etc. 6 & 7)* The parade would start on a side street, Centennial St. From here it will proceed 2 blocks, the 2nd block into the downtown area. At Elm St. the parade will terminate. 8)* Parade order. + Leading the parade would be a 1950's Harley Police Motorcycle. Two Harley Police Motorcycle's would even be better. (D. Mayton) + Next a 1940's or 1950's Police car. (D. Mayton) + Zeeland High School band. (Ann) + Small group of Veterans. (Mary and Ann) + One or two WWII Army Trucks. (Mary) + Parade of six GM cars. (1953 - 1956; (D. Mayton) # 1954 Oldsmobile, red and white. (Del Carpenter) # 1953 Buick Skylark, white. (D. Mayton) # 1953 or 4 Chevrolet Convertible (C. DeJong) # (Others to be determined, would like one car from each division, Chevrolet, Pontiac, Cadillac, truck) (D. Mayton) 9) Following the cars would be the Futurliner. The Futurliner will circle the block and then park in its place for Saturday's car show. The Futurliner will remain here over night for the Saturday car show. Note: the Futurliner will not be open for tours in the cab or the side doors open until Saturday AM. There will be a sign posted to this effect. Set up the tent for selling Futurliner memorabilia can be done as well as selling the memorabilia. (Futurliner driver and volunteers.) 10) Futurliner display trailer will have been previously parked at the Futurliner display location. (Del Carpenter) 11) Following the Futurliner in the parade will be the old cars attending the evening events. 12)* Don Bratt and crew of video folks would be stationed along the street and in several 2nd floor open windows. (Don Bratt); (Ann to arrange for the 2nd floor spots.) Items to be specifically videoed: Parade, sock hop, inside "The Diner", inside Franks, the bicycle shop, 50's stroller with mother and baby, store fronts, antique cars parked on the street, police giving ticket, see item 13 for other video shots. 13) Evening events include: + Sock hop. (Ann) + DeJay has been arranged. (Ann) + 14) Special events. + Have two 1950's Taylor Tot children's stroller. #1 Stroller will be pushed by Katie Vuyst with her child. (Daena Vuyst) (Video - Don Bratt) #2 Stroller (To be determined.) (Video - Don Bratt) + Pop Corn Machine (Jerry Sigler) (Video - Don Bratt) + Antique bike with boy (8 to 12 years old) and Sheriff and old Police car. Sheriff loading boy's bike into trunk of Police car for violating riding bike on Zeeland's side walk. (Staged - Ann) (Video - Don Bratt) + Local 50's looking restaurants, inside and outside. (Video - Don Bratt) + 1950's bicycle's in front of bicycle shop. (Ann) (Video - Don Bratt) 14) Awards for Friday to be presented with other car awards Saturday afternoon? Best jitter bug by age groups? Best 50's dress by age groups? Best 50's dressed couples? etc. Purpose of doing this is to have people show up for the car show the next day. (Mary and Ann) 15) Media: + Flyers and posters. (Ann and Mary) + TV and Radio. (Ann) + Futurliner web site. (J. Crame)
Jan. 12	The first planning meeting for the July 13-14 Zeeland car show was today (Friday, January 12, 2007). At the meeting was Mary Nyhof (Zeeland Car Show), Ann Quary (President, Zeeland Chamber of Commerce) and Don Mayton. We had a great meeting and have expanded the car show with a Friday night (July 13, 2007) program. The Friday program night will consist of a mini-Parade of Progress parade followed by a Sock Hop with a Deejay. The next planning meeting will be January 26, 2007 at The Dinner, downtown Zeeland at 9:30 AM. We are really excited to recreate a Parade of Progress parade. The entire event will be video taped. Don Bratt will be in charge of the video production with help from all the volunteers. In addition to the planners, input is encouraged from others. Following are some plans and thoughts for these two days. Friday evening, July 13 2007 PARADE OF PROGRESS TYPE OF PARADE, FOLLOWED BY A SOCK HOP. 1) Since Zeeland still looks like a 1950's town it is a perfect place to recreate a Parade of Progress parade. 2) The parade will start in the afternoon. 3) The parade will travel from east to west to have the sun streaming into the downtown area. 4) Prior to the parade we would like to have 1950's and earlier cars parked in the normal Zeeland downtown parking spots. (Cannot have modern customs, but have period rods, James Dean type of custom cars.) The cars do not have to be restored, nor look the greatest, just have to look like they would in a typical downtown area in the 1950's. 5) Prior to the parade, we would encourage folks to come to the downtown area in 1950's period dress. Period dress would include: + Bobby socks, hula-hoop skirts, pegged pants, white tee shirts with the sleeves rolled up, jeans, white shirt-tie, straw hats, etc. 6) The parade would start on a side street just around the corner of the east end of the 1 block downtown area. 7) The parade would then come around the corner of this street into the 1 block downtown area. 8) Parade order. + Leading the parade would be a 1950's Harley Police Motorcycle. Two Harley Police Motorcycle's would even be better. (D. Mayton) + Next a 1940's or 1950's Police car. (D. Mayton) + Zeeland High School band. (Mary and Ann) + Small group of Veterans. (Mary and Ann) + One WWII Army Truck. (Mary and Ann) + Parade of six GM cars. (1953 - 1956; (D. Mayton) + 1954 Oldsmobile, red and white. (Del Carpenter) + 1953 Buick Skylark, white. (D. Mayton) + (Others to be determined, would like one car from each division, Chevrolet, Pontiac, Cadillac, truck) (D. Mayton) 9) Following the cars would be the Futurliner. The Futurliner will circle the block and then park in its place for Saturday's car show. The Futurliner will remain here over night for the Saturday car show. (Futurliner driver and volunteers.) 10) Futurliner display trailer will have been previously parked at the Futurliner display location. (Del Carpenter) 11) Following the Futurliner in the parade will be the old cars attending the evening events. 12) Don Bratt and crew of video folks would be stationed along the street and in several 2nd floor open windows. (Don Bratt); (Ann to arrange for the 2nd floor spots.) 13 ) Evening events include: + Sock hop. (Mary and Ann) + Deejay. (Mary and Ann) 14) Special events. + Have two 1950's Taylor Tot children's stroller. #1 Stroller will be pushed by Katie Vuyst with her child. (Daena Vuyst) (Video - Don Bratt) #2 Stroller (To be determined.) (Video - Don Bratt) + Popcorn Machine (Jerry Sigler) (Video - Don Bratt) + Antique bike with boy (8 to 12 years old) and Sheriff and old Police car. Sheriff loading boy's bike into trunk of Police car for violating riding bike on Zeeland's side walk. (Staged - Ann) (Video - Don Bratt) + Local 50's looking restaurants, inside and outside. (Video - Don Bratt) + 1950's bicycle's in front of bicycle shop. (Ann) (Video - Don Bratt) 14) Awards for Friday to be presented with other car awards Saturday afternoon? Best jitterbug by age groups? Best 50's dress by age groups? Best 50's dressed couples? etc. Purpose of doing this is to have people show up for the car show the next day. (Mary and Ann)