Car club a family (7/19/03)

A 35-year tradition of family and classic cars.

Jayland Antique Car Club members feel like part of a family, rather than an organization.

“It’s such a cliché to say that we are closer than most families, but we are,” said Debbie Gaskill of Portland, a 15-year club member.

At a July 13 picnic, 38 group members — most of them dressed in club colors of bright yellow and red — met in Portland to celebrate the group’s anniversary with food, games and hours of chatting.

“Many members are (getting older) and can’t come on (driving) tours, but they can come to the picnic,” said club president and Union City resident Shane Farlow.

Farlow and his wife Cindy have been involved in the club for seven years.

“(The club) is like a real family,” Cindy said. “We kind of adopt each other and get to know (each other’s) family.”

The group consists of 39 classic car enthusiasts from Jay, Adams, Randolph, Delaware and Allen counties.

“We see them more than we see our family,” 15-year club member Toddy Schroeder of Parker City said about her fellow club members.

“We are all the same caliber of people in the same age groups,” said her husband Ken Schroeder. “... and we have fun,” Toddy added.

Club members Rob and Valarie Pearson told their friends the Shroeders, when they first joined the club three years ago, that they were amazed how well everyone got along.

“They thought it was amazing that there was no bickering, no arguing,” Cindy said about the Pearsons who also live in Union City. “Everyone just goes with the flow.”

Members meet monthly for planning meetings or day, overnight or week-long trips. In January, February and March, members meet to volunteer to plan trips in the upcoming months.

“We go wherever someone wants to lead us,” Gaskill said about the groups eagerness to follow plans made by members.

“It’s not where you go or what your doing, it’s the people you are with,” Farlow said.

The group plans day tours for the second Sunday of each month from April through October. Club members also take week-long trips and plan one or two overnight tours each year. The group also meets for Thanksgiving and Christmas parties.

Last year, club members traveled to Minnesota. They shopped at the Mall of America and followed the Mississippi River to Missouri on the way back to Indiana.

This year, the club will be traveling to Pennsylvania. While there, the members will visit historical sites at Gettysburg and the Hershey Chocolate factory.

When the club first started in 1968, most of the membership included parents of younger children, so trips included activities for kids. Today, no active members have young children, only grandchildren or great-grandchildren. Activities now are more adult -oriented, Gaskill wrote in the club’s recent newsletter.

The group is always looking for new members.

According to the club’s bylaws, a member can own an antique car that is 25 years old or older or have an interest in antique cars.

In 1968, car enthusiasts and Portland residents Everett May Jr., Lowell Fraze, Jim Kelly, Charlie Wilson, Ray Mock, Jim Pyle and Lowell Shreeve started the club.

The members created a set of by-laws and elected officers at the club’s early meetings that year.

“I don’t think (any of the club’s charter members) really looked 35 years into the future and thought that (the club) would still be going,” said Shreeve, the club's only remaining charter member. “(The club) is stronger than ever and the events are more structured.”

Also in 1968, members took their first day trip to Washington Court House in Ohio. The group got about one mile out of Portland before a car broke down, according to the club’s recorded history.

Also that year, the group traveled to the Hoosier Swap Meet at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for its first overnight tour. The cars were allowed to drive around the track until some of the drivers started racing. Track officials then halted the impromptu race, Gaskill wrote in the newsletter. On Sunday, club members will return to the speedway as part of its anniversary celebration.

“The enthusiasm the people have in their cars and the interest in the members and their families (is why the club has lasted 35 years)” Shreeve said.

Shreeve has owned a 1946 and 1948 Lincoln Continental Coupe, a 1950 Ford Crestliner and 1946 Lincoln Sedan. He currently does not own an antique car.

In the fall of 1968, Joe Arnold of Portland joined the club.

Arnold’s wife Ruth and their three children went along on tours in the couple’s Model A Ford car.

Arnold’s daughter, Debbie (Gaskill) remembers sitting in the back seat of her father’s car with her two brothers. Today, Debbie and her husband Joe own one antique car.

“I’m the only one that has kept the interest (out of my siblings),” Gaskill said.

Gaskill and her mother are the current editors of the club’s monthly newsletter, the Jayland Get About.

“I am proud (of the club). I’ve never been ashamed of the Jayland Antique Car Club,” Shreeve said. “All in all we got a pretty good bunch.”

Suggestions for future Points of Pride features may be mailed to The Commercial Review, P.O. 1049, Portland, IN 47371 or e-mailed to [email protected].[[In-content Ad]]