Hello Cruisers,

    I hope everyone is good and rested up because it's almost time for our first show to be held at the Florence Darlington Tech on March 31st. I really think it's going to be a great show. John and I were talking and we think as the years go by for this show we believe that it's going to be a great venue, getting bigger and better each and every year. 2012 is proving to be a great year for our car club , we have 5 shows for this year and basically everything is in place for each one. So what I want to see from everyone this year is to just have fun and enjoy the cars and fellowship.
    Happy Valentine’s Day! I really hope you have got something sweet for your sweetie. Don’t forget or you just might be forgotten! I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine’s day.
    I would like to wish the following car club members Happy Birthday:
Mr. Bob Liger 02/16, Mrs. Ann Beasley 02/25, Ms. Jean Nance 02/28
    A Happy birthday to each and every one of you, may God bless you.
    We have just one anniversary this month and it is for Mr. & Mrs. Bobby Blackwell on February 7th. Happy Anniversary and may God bless you both.
    As usual, if I have missed anyone's birthday or anniversary please let me know.
    Our next meeting will be February 6th at Shoney’s on Hwy 52 between Florence and Darlington. 6:30 pm to eat and 7:30 pm for the meeting.
I look forward to seeing everyone there.

Davy

John & Maryann Ralph's '55 Chevy Bel Air

John and Maryann's 1955 Chevy Bel Air is an all stock and original car that they bought at a car show several years ago. John is a big fan of all original cars and this one was as close to original as he had ever seen. It was built in Maryland in August of 1955 and originally sold in Virginia. John tracked down the second owner, who bought it used from a Chevy dealership in the mid 1970s. The only things John has done to the car is remove some small items that would not have been there in 1955 and added some that were missing. The car's colors are Dusk Rose over India Ivory, which is a somewhat rare color for the car since it was a fall color choice introduced in August and production ended a month later for the 1955 model. You see the color more often on wagons for some reason. Someday they hope to give it a fresh coat of paint, as this one is showing its age a little. They also hope to put in an original interior and after that, they'll call this car finished.

Click on the ad above to visit the Web site of this month's featured Friend, O'Reilly Auto Parts.
Click on the "CRUISERS' FRIENDS" button at the top of this page to visit the Web sites of the rest of the Palmetto Cruisers' friends. They support us, let's support them, too.

Click HERE to download a copy of the FEBRUARY, 2012 Palmetto Cruisers News Letter (.pdf document).

Click HERE for a list of gas stations in South Carolina with no ethanol in their gasoline.
Go HERE to add your name to a petition to halt the ethanol mandate.

    Here it is, February and my yard is as confused as I am about what season it actually is. It’s sunny, warm and green as I look out my window and I can recollect in disbelief that this time last year I was freezing and digging out from snow. My car was in the garage stored for the winter next to my motorcycle and yet somehow, I have managed to get both out and enjoyed the warmth with a mid winter drive and ride under my belt. I sure hope this craziness holds out right into spring!
    I really don’t have much to report club wise since we are still several weeks away from our first show but I can tell you that your board members have met and are hard at work to make that first show and the rest of the season a success! Davy has attended a meeting with Jill at FDTC to iron out the details, the trophies are ordered and all the supplies in the trailer are being stocked for 2012.
    Looking at our schedule it seems most of our shows are in the spring and summer and we are left open for the fall. My hope is that this allows the Palmetto Cruisers to attend a few shows as a car club as well as finally have that picnic we have been discussing for a while now. It will be festival season and I think it would do our club a great service to present ourselves at some local shows as a club that has fun together in addition to one that does great things for the local community. We don’t get to do it very often but I personally enjoy it when we have the opportunity to travel as a group and I think others that see us like it too. It is one thing to see classic cars static at a show with their hoods open and quite another to see them in traffic traveling down the road.
    I hope everyone is recovered from the holiday season and celebrations. Rest assured that all those pounds you put on since mid October can be easily removed by participating in the Palmetto Cruisers car show workout and diet! You will have several opportunities to sweat those pounds away in 2012!

John Ralph

HAVE A COOL OR CLASSIC CAR, BUT NOT A PALMETTO CRUISERS MEMBER? E-mail us a photo* of your ride along with your name, city, state and e-mail address, and the year, make, and model of your ride, and if we get enough responses, we'll pin your picture on a VISITORS' RIDES page, something like this:

    If we get a large enough response, we'll turn it into an online car show... complete with door prizes and trophies!
    * Although most photos will be resized, the larger the photo, the better it will appear on the page, and the format must be .bmp, .jpg or .gif.
    Join us and we'll put your car photos on our MEMBERS' RIDES page!

Palmetto Corvette Club
"...formed to allow owners of Corvettes to come together for social events, friendship and to promote America's true sports car."

Got an interesting or amusing story about your car(s) you'd like us to publish in CRUISIN' "THE VIEW"? E-mail it to us at cruisersall@palmettocruisers.org. Click HERE to see previous installments of CRUISIN' "THE VIEW."

How well do you know your cars...      NEW QUESTION: One 1949 make and model American coupe "...cost hundreds more than comparable Fords and Chevys, but was a solid car that could be nicely optioned," according to the Auto Editors of Consumer Guide. To which make and model were they referring?     Good guess, but it was not the series 62 Cadillac Coupe DeVille, and it was not an Oldsmobile Rocket V8.     Nope, not the Buick Roadmaster Rivera.     Great looking car, but no, not the Oldsmobile Futuramic 98, either. Huh-uh, it wasn't a Hudson Hornet, though the business coupe did have plenty of add-ons.     Nope, not a Mercury and not the Plymouth 3-Passenger Businessman's Coupe.     Another good guess, but, although the Plymouth's 1949 Woodsided Special Deluxe Wagon fit the "hundred's more" part of the question, there were few if any options, so the Plymouth Deluxe wasn't it.     It wasn't the 1949 Packard, and certainly not a Packard Clipper, as Packard dropped the "Clipper" name in 1948.     Answers are anonymous, so if you'd like to get credit for your correct answer, add your name to the answer before you submit it. Click HERE to see Questions&Answers from previous months.