December 21,
2001
To All Members:
On Saturday, December 22nd we will go live with our membership survey. In
order to serve our members better, we have built a simple survey in order
to gather some basic information on our members -- their wants and needs.
You can access the survey in the Member's Only section. There will be a
header at the top of the Member's Only page. Just click on that header and
it will bring you to the survey. As you all know, feedback is the best way
to improve our organization and it's relevance to our membership so please
take a few minutes out of your busy holiday week and take our survey. For
some of you, there may be a problem with the survey. If you are on WebTV
or are running Microsoft XP.
The survey form is written in Java
script. This is a common practice on internet sites for things such as
forms and surveys. Unfortunately, if you are using older versions of Web
TV, or a new PC that came with Microsoft XP pre-installed, neither
supports Java -- so the form will not work for you.
With Microsoft XP, you can
download Java support for XP from the Microsoft Web site. Here's the Quote
from Microsoft.." The Microsoft Virtual Machine (Microsoft VM) is
available only as a Web download. The latest 32-bit edition of the
Microsoft VM is available at the following Microsoft Websites: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com
or http://www.microsoft.com/java/
The omission of Java support from the default installation of Windows XP
is indeed unfortunate and is the result of Sun Microsystems lawsuit
against Microsoft. You can read the Open letter from Microsoft at: http://www.microsoft.com/Java/issues/openletter.htm
.
Downloading the Java support would
be a good idea, as there are a lot of sites on the internet using Java.
For the Web TV members, a printed version of the survey will be available
in the next issue of the C5 Registry newsletter.
 Thank
you for your participation. Jake, Kathy, Marissa, Michele, and myself want
to wish all of you the very merriest and safest holiday this season.
C5Ya!
Dan Adovasio,
Director, C5 Registry
December 11,
2001
To All Members:
I received an interesting link the other day from George Rogers C5R#
Z6271. It is a listing of gas stations around the country that carry 100
and 110 Octane Sonoco and Cam 2 Racing Gas. You can go in and fill up for
a mere $4.20 per gallon and load your Corvette up with 110 Octane. The
website is located at www.racegas.com/Racegas/gt100locals/default.asp
.
For those of you who are
going to attend the Birthday Bash West (August 9th - 14th) and the
Monterey Del Oro, we have found out that the 1-800 number for Hilton
reservations does not know about our C5 Registry discount. The best way to
reserve a room is to call the Monterey Hilton directly at (831) 373-6141
and use the special code "C5 Registry" for your discounted
rates. For those of you interested in staying for the Monterey Historic
races, we have 25 rooms reserved for August 16th and 17th at $239 per
night at the same Monterey Hilton.
For those of you attending
the Birthday Bash East (April 18th - 21st) at the National Corvette Museum
you can now register ONLINE at
www.corvettemuseum.com/registration/c5_bash/registration.shtml
.
For information on the Bash
itself and the agenda please try one of these pages: www.corvettemuseum.com/registration/c5_bash/c5_info.shtml
or
www.corvettemuseum.com/registration/c5_bash/agenda.shtml
.
Make sure you read Frank's
page on the Z06 C5 pacing the 2002 Olympic Torch Relay. The story is on
Hot News at www.c5registry.com/Members/hotnews.htm
. I'm sure you'll want to see
it if it comes through your town.
We will be conducting a
membership survey on the internet in the upcoming weeks. We try to make
the Registry appeal to all its members and the only way we can do that is
through input, so Chaz Cone has been kind enough to put together a
membership survey which we will use for two reasons. One is to try to get
a handle on the demographics of our membership so we can better serve
them. The second reason is to gather in new ideas and new ways of doing
things and to find out what is important and not important to our members.
So, please participate in the survey when you see it up which should be in
the next week or so.
We have added a number of new
Corporate Registry Members. If you have not
checked out the Corporate Members page, please give it a click. It's at:
www.c5registry.com/Links/corpmembers.htm
.
October 25, 2001
To all members, I Just returned
from a fabulous time in Phoenix, AZ at the Birthday Bash West. We have so
many shows here on the East Coast that it sure is fun to get away and head
out west. Janet and Mike Curran put together a tremendous event for our
western members. Every time we need help on the West Coast, Mike and Janet
are there, and each time they do a better job than the last. The only
thing that makes the Registry great is its members and Janet and Mike are
perfect examples of that.
What a beautiful place Arizona was. We took a road
tour up to Sedona with about 45
cars and I saw some of the prettiest country I have ever seen in my life.
We took the interstate almost to Flagstaff, cut over to a windy mountain
road which wound through one of the most beautiful mountain valleys. I
have ever seen and ended up right in Sedona. If you are ever in that part
of the country with your Corvette, I highly suggest you take a side trip
to Sedona. The roads are
FABULOUS!
We had a great dinner that night and had a fabulous
speaker from the General Motors
Desert Proving Grounds in Mesa, Arizona. He brought a test mule with him
to dinner. It was a '99 Corvette fitted out with a 2002 Z06 drive-train
and suspension. It was really cool, loaded with electronics, so that they
could test everything including engine spark and have the ability to
change the timing from INSIDE the Corvette. Jim Contes was the senior
high-speed test engineer at the proving grounds who came to speak, and
showed us a video. What he didn't tell us was the video happened to
include him blowing a tire out at 170MPH! It was WILD to say the LEAST!
He's a great guy and we REALLY enjoyed his talk. The
next day we all headed over to Firebird Raceway for the Route 66 show.
Attendance was rather sparce, but all the better for
our members because we got to
monopolize the Autocross course and drag strip. I think a couple of our
members used the Autocross course so much that they had to buy a new set
of tires before they could drive home. But it was a great time and it was
great to be with our members in the West. I can't wait until our next Birthbash
West!!!!!!
C5Ya!
Dan
October 2, 2001
Many of you saw Kathy
Wilhelm's post on "Dan's Ramblings" and have sent numerous calls
and personal e-mails asking me about my experience in New York on
September 11. I would like to offer my thanks to those who have expressed
concern and bring everyone up to date.
Twenty-five State Farm agents from Central Florida
took a trip to New York to visit the stock exchanges and the financial
district. Since State Farm now offers mutual funds, I thought this trip
would be a good educational experience.... We arrived in New York Monday
afternoon on September 10 and we had reservations for a tour of the New
York Stock Exchange at 9:15 AM Tuesday September 11. We arrived in the
financial district at about 8:45 AM. After finding our way to the New York
Stock Exchange, we stood in line to obtain our tickets and prepare for the
opening bell. While in line, I looked up and noticed smoke in the air and
a tremendous amount of paper floating down from the tops of the buildings
on Wall Street. I thought maybe an air conditioner or some type of
mechanical unit on top of a building had started on fire. No one seemed
very concerned at the time, so I asked one of the Wall Street Exchange
guards, "What happened?" He told a small plane had hit the World
Trade Center. Again, he did not seem concerned at all. Enlisting five of
my fellow agents, we decided to go and investigate.
We walked about two blocks and were within 1200 feet
of the World Trade Center. The first tower was on fire and what the struck
me the most was that the flames were massive. I just knew this could not
have been a small plane. From our vantage point, the first tower was
partially blocked by the second tower. As I thought about taking pictures,
suddenly a second large airplane practically flew over my head, banked,
and slammed right into the second tower. It was utterly amazing. It looked
like the building ate up the jumbo jet. Your mind expected the plane to
come out of the other end of the building because of the speed at which it
was traveling and because of the size it was, but it didn't. Flames burst
out all four walls of the tower. My guess is that they shot out over 50 or
60 feet. At that point, all hell broke loose. The Wall Street veterans who
did not seem concerned at all about the earlier crash into the first
tower, began screaming and running in a sort of massive stampede.
I dove into a doorway to avoid the charging crowd.
Once it passed, I found some of my fellow agents and my initial reaction
was that this was a terrorist attack and there were more planes coming in.
We decided the best thing to do was to get out of Manhattan. We took
shelter in the first subway station we found. In station, no one seemed to
be aware of what was happening above. It so happened that the first train
at the subway was headed for Brooklyn. We hopped on it because our
objective was to get our of Manhattan ASAP. (As a time reference, this was
all within five minutes of the second plane hitting the second building.)
We told the passengers on the subway not to get off because of what we had
just witnessed.
So, we took the subway to Brooklyn Heights which was
right across the river, and in fact, a very nice area. It was there that
we were able to sit down, take a deep breath, and assess the situation. I
was able to secure some ice for one of the female members of the group who
had been knocked down and injured during the stampede. Our first instinct
was to call home and tell our families that we were OK, and our second,
was to find a TV and see what the heck was going on. One of the members in
our group, found a sports bar in which the owner was cleaning up,
preparing for his opening for later that day. We banged on the door, got
his attention, and told him what we had just been through. He opened the
door, turned on all the TV sets, and within 15 minutes I would say there
were 150 people crammed in the place watching. It was here that we watched
in horror as both of the World Trade Centers collapsed. We also learned of
a third airplane attack on the Pentagon.
The events of the day led us to decide that we would
try to find a room in Brooklyn, or if it seemed safe, we would attempt to
make our way back to our hotel in mid-town Manhattan sometime in the late
afternoon. By 1:30 there were policemen on every corner and they said that
they were expecting the subways to start operating around 3 o'clock. They
directed us to an armored car where some subway officials had set up a
temporary command post. Those officials told us which subways we could
take to get back to our hotel, and so we proceeded to do so.
Once at our Manhattan hotel, we accounted for
everyone who had traveled within our group. The stories that were told
were of many having to walk some 120 blocks from the financial district
back to the hotel. The group agreed to find a way to get out of Manhattan
and I was on the cell phone with a couple of Registry members in New York
and New Jersey who were trying to arrange a way to come in and get us out.
It's nice to belong to an organization with members all over the country
that you know you can call on in a time of need. We chartered a bus that
had dropped a tour group off in Manhattan Tuesday morning and was stuck
there because all the bridges being closed. Once the bridges re-opened, we
left Wednesday at about noon and 26 loooong hours later we arrived at our
homes in Florida. What an experience! I learned a few things. One: the
people in New York aren't anywhere near as mean as they're
cracked up to be. Everywhere we went, people were trying to help us figure
out ways to get home...ways to get to our hotel... how to get TO
places...how to get AROUND places. Another thing was that in a situation
in which you are faced with danger, usually your first instincts are the
best, but the key point is the quicker you react, the better off you are.
The people around us that went with the flow of the crowd, ended up
getting trapped against the water in lower Manhattan and had to deal with
that large cloud of smoke from the collapse of the buildings and THEN had
to traverse over some hundred blocks to get back up to mid-town. I still
shudder when I hear a plane flying low overhead, but other than that there
are no permanent afflictions except for a deep-seated hatred for those
that carried out this terrible, horrendous, event.
I'm proud to be an American and I'm proud to drive
America's sports car, the C5 Corvette,
C5Ya!
Dan
September 26, 2001
Over the years, many of you have
attended one of the many C5 Registry race functions, including the
24-Hours of Daytona, 12-Hours of Sebring, Road Atlanta, etc. and at most
of these functions we were provided with tents, parking corals, but most
importantly, ACCESS to the C5R Race Team and its drivers and pit crews.
The person most responsible for this access
is GM Race Manager, Gary Claudio. We now have a chance to repay Gary for
the time and effort he has put in on behalf of the Corvette race fan.
Each year the American LeMans Series, at
its annual American LeMans Series Award Banquet, gives out an award called
"From the Fans Award." This award is presented to the
individual who fans feel contributed the most to sports car racing during
the year.
The inaugural recipient in 1999 was ALMS
Founder Don Panoz, while Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, Head of Audi Sport, was
chosen to receive the award in 2000. The name of the 2001 winner will
remain secret until being revealed at the banquet.
You can join me in casting your vote for
Gary Claudio by sending an e-mail to webmaster@americanlemans.com
. In the e-mail, all you need to say is "I vote for Gary Claudio
of Corvette Racing for the From the Fans Award." If we all pull
together, we can get this award for Gary Claudio as a thank-you from the
C5 Registry for all he's done for the fans of Corvette Racing. Vote only
once, so you don't nullify your vote! Thanks for your help and I'll see
you at the Petit LeMans at Road Atlanta on October 6th.
C5Ya! Dan
September
11, 2001
For those of you who are unaware, Dan is in New York this week for State
Farm meetings. I just spoke to a very shaken Dan, who told me that he and
his fellow State Farm agents, who were in meetings at the Stock Exchange
building two blocks away, had gone outside when the World Trade Building
was first hit. As they stood watching the smoke billowing from the upper
floors of the building, they became aware of a plane approaching, and then
hitting, the second tower. Dan said it was the most devastating thing he
has ever seen, and certainly something he will never be able to forget. He
and the other agents were immediately evacuated, and were all safely away
when the buildings collapsed, for which we are all grateful.
On behalf of myself and the entire Registry staff,
please know that our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and loved
ones of those lost today.
Kathy Wilhelm, Member Services
August 19, 2001
I
recently received this letter from Thomas Bembenek, who is president of
the Corvette Club of Rhode Island which has several C-5 registry members
within it's fold. His club recently sent the letter below to all New
England Corvette Clubs. I think this is a great idea and a worthy cause.
Any of our members in the New England area who want to help out, please
contact Thomas.
Dan
New England Area Corvette Clubs &
Owners;
On Sunday, October 14th,
National Childrens Day, the Corvette Club of Rhode Island will be
conducting it's first annual Corvette "Cruise for Children". You
are hereby cordially invited to participate in this charitable function,
the details for which are currently in the works and will be forthcoming.
Our goal is to make this an
annual event in which all of the Corvette clubs in New England are
invited/welcome to participate. Our intention is to send this letter to
all Registries and Clubs with a national forum to see if it can become an
annual nationwide Corvette enthusiast activity.
We are seeking your ideas and
inputs to establish the organizational aspects of this event. We are
conducting this "run" in support of the USMC "Toys for
Tots" campaign. Current thoughts are to find a centralized New
England location (possibly a state park or school campus with a large
field) to which all clubs can independently cruise (`Vette-a-van) and join
up for a massive collection `Vettes and `Vette Clubs as well as tons of
"goodies" for the kids.
If you are interested in joining us in this endeavor, please e-mail me at:
ri.vette.news@worldnet.att.net
and please provide us
with your ideas and comments for consideration as soon as possible.
Thank you for your time, remember to "Save
the Wave!".
Tom Bembenek, President, Corvette Club of Rhode Island
August 8, 2001
I recently received this letter
from Karl Johanson [C5R #X1619]. Many of you know he sells Corvettes for a
living. I think Karl hit the nail on the head, and I realize this is like
"preaching to the choir" – but I wanted to share this with
you.
Dan
Gentlemen:
First of all I would like to say that the past two and a half years of
concentrating on the sales and service of the Corvette have been wonderful
years and I am truly grateful for the job that has been performed by all
of you, in providing the public with such a wonderful Sports car. Not only
do I sell the product but am also a proud owner of a 2001 Corvette Coupe.
Because I am on both sides of the fence, this letter is being sent to
address a major concern that I have that is generated not only from the
fact that I sell Corvettes and must be in a position to give my customers
as much accurate information as possible but also from the fact that I am
an avid owner and enthusiast of the Corvette and the "CORVETTE
EXPERIENCE" myself.
What I am referring to is the fact that in just a couple of days, we will
be losing Mr. Sonny Kilgo to retirement. Sonny has been an indispensable
asset to the Corvette Dealer and the Corvette customer in keeping us
informed concerning the progress of each individual's Corvette. The
ability to have a Liaison with the plant has made me a virtual hero with
my customers in the fact that I could keep them better informed than
many of the other dealers that sell and service your product. It was
brought to my attention, even though your organization had at one point
decided who would take Sonny's place, that at this time the decision has
been made to not replace him. This decision concerns me greatly and I felt
that even though my opinion may not carry much weight with Detroit,
If I did not express how valuable this information has been, then the loss
of that communication may or may not go unnoticed.
What this information has meant to the customer is that we have been able
to accurately follow the progress of the individual Corvettes down to the
very day that the car would come off the assembly line or as many of my
Corvette owners would fondly refer to as "The day my Car was
Born." Not only do many of them want to know that; but more and more
are wanting to be there the day their Corvette comes off line. Without a
Liaison that we can speak to it will be very difficult to accommodate
these Corvette enthusiast or should I refer to them as OUR Corvette
Owners. Sonny has been so gracious in always insuring that we had the
latest information and especially the sequence numbers for the respective
cars. So much so that the entire nation of Corvette owners has become
spoiled by the excellent service that we have received from Sonny and the
information that he has provided. I personally feel that the inability to
continue to receive this type of information will not only effect my
ability to keep my customers informed but it will also effect the
attendance you have at the factory tours and possibly even the attendance
figures that the Corvette Museum has been so fortunate to have over the
past two years. I currently have eight Museum deliveries lined up for the
initial release of the 2002 model year Corvettes. The purchase of a new
Corvette has become a wonderful experience that so many of our customers
want to enjoy to the fullest extent possible. If you remove our ability to
get individual sequence numbers for our specific orders and our ability to
find out what sequence number started on what day, then we will lose our
ability to make sure that the excitement level of our customers will
remain high from the very day that they place their orders to the first
time they turn the key to their brand new Corvette and start out on their
solo flight with a smile on their face. That smile comes from knowing that
everyone involved with the planning, manufacture, delivery, and service of
their Corvette is genuinely interested in knowing that they have provided
the best experience that they possibly can for the Corvette owner.
I could go on about this subject all day to no avail. I would graciously
request that those in charge of the manufacturing of the Corvette would
realize the importance of being able to acquire this information and be
able to pass it on to our customers. It is my understanding that the
Dealer Business Center will not be able to help us with this
information. That sequence numbers will only be able to be obtained
through our continued ability to discuss this type of information with
someone at the plant. While I understand that those in charge may feel
that Sonny's position is not one that needs to be continued, I am writing
to inform you that the elimination of this position would be devastating
to me as a dealer and to the thousands of Corvette enthusiast and owners
who thrive on all the information that they can get a hold of concerning
their personal Corvettes.
Please consider making a way for us to continue to be as efficient in
providing this information as we have been so privileged to do over the
past two years. The Internet has been an invaluable source of information
and helped to generate sales of these vehicles. It would be a shame for
the flow of information to be moving backwards when the ability to
continue to move forward with the sales of the Corvette through the power
of the Internet will only continue to grow and move forward.
Thank you for your time. I hope that you will consider this request to
continue the flow of information that we have been receiving from Mr.
Kilgo.
KARL A.V.JOHANSON
CHUCK HUTTON CHEVROLET
2471 MT. MORIAH RD.
MEMPHIS, TN. 38115
August 7, 2001
Members, For those of those asking about what your duties as a tour guides
of the Bowling Plant would be... we received the message below from Jane
Bowlin, editor of the Vette Gazette.
She sent us this very detailed explanation of what would be required. Any
additional questions, please feel free to contact her.
C5Ya!
Dan
From Jane:
Corvette Assembly Plant Tour Host Aug.
31 and Sept. 1:
The job:
What could be more fun than spending the morning or afternoon in the
Corvette Assembly Plant! C5 Registry members who have helped in the past
love having the chance to get a closer view of our assembly operation and
talking with some of our friendly production personnel.
This opportunity includes:
- Standing (we also provide a chair in case you
need a rest) at a designated spot along the assembly line.
- Making sure that visitors proceed along the route
in a safe manner
- Assuring that visitors stay on the tour route
- Answering questions about the area in which you
are posted
It does not include:
- Leading a group of people through the entire tour
route
- Knowing everything there is to know about the
Corvette assembly process
Shifts available:
- Friday, Aug. 31: 8 a.m, to 11:30 a.m. and 11:00
a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
- Sat., Sept. 1: 7:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
We provide on the job training! Volunteer now,
spaces are limited!! E-mai:l jane.b.bowlin@gm.com
for more information or to reserve your spot on the Corvette Plant tour
route.
August 3, 2001
Attention all members:
If you have been a Bowling Green plant tour guide in the past or would
like to be one NOW…you can! The Bowling Green Assembly Plant is looking
for volunteer plant tour guides to help out at Labor Day. The shifts will
be Friday August 31 8AM to 11:30 AM and 11AM to 2PM and Saturday,
September 1 7:30AM to 11AM. If you are interested, contact Jane Bowlin at
jane.b.bowlin@gm.com. They need our help.
Dan
July 25, 2001
"There's been a little chatter on the Net about delivery of the
Newsletters. We have a new fulfillment house -- they handle mailing out
our newsletters so if we have some problems I would like to hear about it.
So far I've only received three e-mails from members saying they have not
received their newsletter. If there are more of you out there, please let
me know and I'll fire you off one right away.
We are changing the way we mail out newsletters.
Because of its size, we are now eligible to go the same way that all your
auto magazines come to you -- that is the preferred magazine rate. The
application was submitted some time ago, but....the best laid plans of
mice and men often go astray... We had first understood that it was a
simple process to get the post office approval and it should only take a
couple weeks. Once we got into it, we found that was far from the
truth...we had to have on-site inspections and submit tons of
documentation.
Well...that's all behind us now....at least I
thought so....but we got another call yesterday and the post office wants
more information...(I think they just like our newsletter...'cause they
keep on asking for more copies.)
We should have this done by our next newsletter, but
I certainly would not be betting on it... So please bear with us until we
get the situation resolved. And if you have NOT received your newsletter,
make sure we know about it. And by the same token, if you have changed
your address ...make sure we know. In fact, we've had many more problems
with changed addresses than we did with late delivery of the last
newsletter." ...C5Ya!, Dan
Comments? E-Mail Me at: c5dan@c5registry.com |
