Club News and Special Event Information:

2003 North Central Regional Convention

The 2003 North Central Regional was hosted by the Thunderbird Midwest Chapter in Brooklyn Park, MN July 31 – August 2. The theme was “Up North” celebrating the northern woods and natural beauty of Minnesota! The weather cooperated holding off  rain until late Saturday afternoon when judging had been completed. CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS & MORE

2002 VTCI North Central Regional Convention – Winnipeg

by Jack Nessen
On Wednesday, July 17, 9 T-Bird Midwest couples plus 2 Chicagoland couples left Rogers for the trek to the Winnipeg convention. Just prior to departure, Cliff & Pat Lieske gave us a surprise send off which included the presentation of the new cruise leader’s special hat. We had a fairly warm drive to Fargo. After lunch, Greg & Jackie Dockter joined us for a cooler but mildly wet drive to the border where we lingered for awhile at the Manitoba visitor center. We arrived at the Club Regent Hotel at 6:30 – just in time to head downtown for a cruise night which hosted T-Birds as the featured car.

Thursday brought numerous visits to the hospitality room, registration, meeting old friends plus new ones and the usual car cleaning. Thursday evening included a cruise to the Tin Lizzie car & memorabilia museum followed by a scenic Red River drive to a popular car club destination – Skinners, a neat hot dog haven started in 1929. Back at the hotel we met the Thursday T-Bird Midwest crew of 10 more couples.

The Thursday morning adventure for the second caravan started with word that Rick & Sandy Madson would be late getting to Rogers due to some car problems. They would catch up with us later that day, or at least that was Rick’s thinking at the time. Off we went with our two couples from Chicago, Stan & Elaine Shuman and John & Linda Katauskas. At the Sauk Center overpass, our members Jim and Julie Halvorson snapped some pictures of us as we passed their way. After we cruised on by, they jumped in their T-Bird and caught up with us and traveled to Fargo to eat lunch with the group. Really was nice of them to join us. 

Nothing much happened except John & Linda lost their generator, Stan’s carburetor caught on fire, Dan & Barb Nordberg had two tires go bad on them. They ran out of spare tires so had to borrow one to get into Winnipeg. Jim & Gloria Lonergan had to nurse their car the last leg. This was the maiden flight for this car so they weren’t too sure what to expect. The group arrived at 7:30 that evening and immediately started to enjoy the Friendly Manitoba hospitality.

Friday offered many choices: tours of the downtown historical districts, visits to the adjacent casino, shuttle vans ready for trips to shopping malls, visits to the well stocked hospitality room open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day, more car detailing and judges training session. Wally & Mary Warpeha rented bicycles & spent 6 hours riding the city bike trails. A social hour & buffet finished off the evening with Carol Abbott entertaining us with her ˝ hour of uncontrollable giggles while hubby Mike astonished us with his numerous trips to the buffet table. At one point he returned with at least 8 deserts which we mistakenly thought he would be sharing with the other members – ha!

Saturday brought more shopping excursions, final car preparations, judging and the big banquet-awards ceremony. Thunderbird Midwest walked off with 17 trophies. First time VTCI winners included Lloyd & Ardys Smith with their spotless bright red 2002 roadster, Jim & Gloria Lonergan and John Heyn/Mary Moore. Raffle drawings provided Greg & Jackie Dockter with a $250 gift certificate from Jim Mill’s Classics and Otto & Dee Gartner won a certificate that gave them their 4 night stay at the hotel – free!

Thunderbird Club of Manitoba has been a chapter of VTCI for only 2 years, however, they have been a T-Bird club for over 20 years and their experience really shined in putting together a very successful meet. Everything was well organized - excellent hotel selection, the ultimate in secured parking, great tour and shuttle service, well run banquet and most important – a club full of fun and friendly T-Birders. At the conclusion of the awards banquet, Jim Mills, convention chairperson, received a standing ovation from all the participants. I believe that this enormous expression of gratitude also included the entire membership of Thunderbird Club of Manitoba. In addition to our usual large Thunderbird Midwest representation, Chicagoland T-Birds and Vintage T-Birds of Kansas City also had a nice turnout of members & nice cars.