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This article is an excerpt from the March 2010 "Bowtie Bulletin"
The first national VCCA anniversary meet that Ray and Faye Guthrie attended was held in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1971. To the best of his knowledge, this was the first national anniversary meet to be held commemorating the beginning of the VCCA in 1961. Ray has attended all of the national anniversary meets since then, and is hoping to be able to go to the one in Flint, Michigan in 2011.
The Lone Star Region of the VCCA had just been chartered in April of 1971 and Ray was one of the founding members. However, he had been a VCCA member since 1967 when he had seen an advertisement for the organization in Hemmings magazine and had joined. He told Benny Zimmerman about the VCCA and Benny also joined shortly after that. Their national VCCA membership numbers are only 30 numbers apart. On April 16, 1971, Jim Harris who was soon to become the first director of the Lone Star Region, sent out a letter to a group of Chevy enthusiasts inviting them to a meeting at Meadowbrook City Park Recreation Center Building in Arlington, TX. This meeting was set for April 25, 1971 and on this day the charter was made, officers were elected and the club was given the name Lone Star.
Ray drove his 1957 Cameo to the meet in Indianapolis, and he has driven it to every other national meet since then. If he gets to go to Flint next summer, he plans to take the '57 Cameo again. Ray bought the '57 Cameo in April of 1962 when it was 5 years old and had 41,000 miles on it. It now has 175,000 miles on it and Ray's comment was that "It is probably in better shape than I am". He drove it to work for 10 years, a 50 mile roundtrip from Irving to Richardson every day.
Like a lot of VCCA members, Ray had a love for old Chevys at a young age and bought his first 1933 2-Door in 1947. He also has a 1934 Coupe that he used for parades, after changing the fan for better air circulation. He says he has a total of 20 old Chevys, and even though they are not all in top condition, many of them are.
At that first meet he attended in Indianapolis, he did not register for the meet, but just went to see what it would be like. Ray remembers that Doc Clinch, Jim Harris, Don Dunlap and the Fulmers also attended the 10th Anniversary VCCA meet and there possibly may have been others from the LSR in attendance. For every other anniversary meet after that, he would register his vehicle but would not have it judged.
For the meet in Colorado Springs in 1976, Ray could not decide between his 1934 Coupe and his 1957 Cameo, so he put the'34 on a trailer and pulled it with the '57 Cameo. He drove the Cameo all the way to the top of Pike's Peak. He had been up Pike's Peak once before in a 1953 Oldsmobile, but the Cameo was more fun. He says that all of the trips to the VCCA anniversary meets have been enjoyable, but his favorite would probably be the one to Colorado Springs in 1976 because of the beautiful scenery.
Ray's wife of 62 years, Faye, went with him on all of the trips thru 2001 in Springfield, IL. After that, her health didn't permit her to make the one in Grand Junction, CO in 2006, and she is no longer able to travel with him. Faye and Ray have one daughter, Kaye, who lives with her husband Mark Citzler in the Flower Mound area.
Note: We lost Ray and Faye in February 2014, Faye passed on the 20th and Ray on the 24th. They are greatly missed and fondly remembered by the LSR family.
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Bill Fulmer – A Life Revolving Around Cars
I guess that I have been an old car nut since my first car in 1957, which was a 1952 BelAir Chevrolet. The car was my means of transportation through high school. In 1960 that Chevrolet was replaced with a 1955 BelAir hard top which I drove while attending Weatherford Junior College.
While in college I became friends with a man who had a 1928 Chevrolet coach that I later purchased from his wife after his death. When we brought the car home everyone wanted to know what I was going to do with it. It didn’t take long to get the car driveable but Uncle Sam came calling and off to the Army I went.
During my tour in the military, a Chevrolet dealer from California came to see the ‘28 and made an offer to purchase it. Selling the car had not been on my mind, but my father had moved the car out of storage and I didn’t want the car to deteriorate. My mother convinced me to sell it to the dealer and then buy another when I got out of the service.
After getting out of the Army in 1965, a search for an old car began to replace the ’28 that had been sold. I found a 1931 Chevrolet 5 window coupe that did not have an engine and transmission. Don Dunlap and Doc Clinch suggested that I join the VCCA, as it would help me in finding the parts that I needed. I joined the VCCA in 1969.
In 1969 I married my wife Dianne, who didn’t realize what a car nut I was. Also, that year I purchased a 1934 Chevrolet 4 door sedan.
Doc Clinch, Don Dunlap and I met Jim Harris, who was trying to get enough VCCA members together to start a local region. In April 1971, we had enough people to apply for a charter. We met at Meadowbrook City Park off Abrams Street so that all the members could sign the application for the charter, and the first VCCA region in Texas was formed on April 25, 1971.
In 1972, we purchased a 1938 Chevrolet pickup and in 1984, a 1936 Chevrolet coupe. Dianne had told me, “No more old cars in pieces”, so Hancel Brannon helped me get the car home and assemble it so when my wife saw it she would see a complete car.
Dianne and I have attended all the VCCA national anniversary meets except the first one in Indianapolis. We are also planning to go to the 50th in Flint this summer.
By: Bill Fulmer, April, 2011
Editor’s Note:
Bill Fulmer was one of the first board members on the Lone Star Region board when the region was formed in 1971. He went on to serve in the capacity of director of the LSR in 1975 and also as a board member several more times.
Dianne was the Christmas Party Chairman in 1974, which was the first year that the Lone Star Region had their party at the Vandergriff/Duncan Center.
Bill and Dianne have a son and a daughter. Their son Troy lives in San Antonio and has one son, with another one due to be born in June. Their daughter Tracey lives in Ft. Worth. Needless to say, Bill and Dianne are very proud grandparents.
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Roy Chambers Has Worn Many Hats In The Lone Star Region VCCA
Roy Chambers hasn't always been a Texan, but most of us think of him as one. Roy and JoAnn and their daughters moved to Dallas from Kansas in August of 1963. Their son was already in college and did not move with them. They moved into their home on Royal Lane in Dallas, an address that became quite familiar to everyone in the Lone Star Region. It has been the site for many board meetings and club activities over the last 39 years and was always a favorite place to go for great Texas chili. Their move to Texas was brought about by a transfer due to a promotion for Roy from his employer which was RCA.
Roy grew up on a farm and in his words, "I was a gear head even then, and grew up loving cars". His first old Chevy that he bought in 1969 was a 1926 Touring and it was just like one that his family had owned when he was a small boy. The people that he bought the 1926 Touring from also gave him a copy of a magazine called the G & D. This magazine really interested him, so JoAnn got him a membership in the VCCA in 1969.
On April 25, 1971, when a group of Chevy lovers met at Meadowbrook Park in Arlington for their first meeting, Roy did not know any of the other people. There were 15 members from the group that already had their VCCA memberships. It was from these 15 that the first officers of the Lone Star Region were elected. Roy was elected to serve as a board member, and this was just the beginning of many offices he has held over the years. In 1975, Roy was elected to serve as secretary/treasurer and he has served as treasurer for several years at different times. He was the club's director in 1979 and 1992. Roy was also on the VCCA Board of Directors from 1980 thru 1982. In addition to being a charter member of the Lone Star Region, Roy is also a charter member of the San Jacinto Region and the Heart of Route 66 Region. He has been a steady influence over the years in the handling of the club's finances and with the club's only fund raiser, which is the Lone Star Swap Meet at Traders Village in Grand Prairie, TX.
When the club first began, the budget was tight and Roy and JoAnn helped with the printing of the early newsletters by writing and printing them at Roy's business office. They specifically have memories of doing them with George and Peggy Slider when George was director. Those first newsletters did not have an official name and were jokingly referred to as the "No Name as Yet" newsletter. At the July meeting in 1972, the club voted to give the newsletter the name of "Bowtie Bulletin" and the name first appeared on the August issue.
In 1976 the 15th Anniversary Meet for the VCCA was held in Colorado Springs, CO and Roy and JoAnn attended along with several others from the Lone Star Region. JoAnn has said many times that this trip really bonded all of these families together in a way that has lasted for 39 years. They have been to every VCCA Anniversary Meet since then and plan to go for the 50th anniversary next year in Flint, MI.
The oldest Chevy that Roy and JoAnn have ever owned was a 1925 Speedster and they have owned too many others to mention since that first 1926 Touring was purchased in 1969. What a coincidence that their first old Chevy included a copy of the G & D! Some things are just meant to be. They currently have a 1969 Impala Convertible and really seem to be enjoying it.
Roy and JoAnn have three children, eight grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren that they see often, as they are a very close-knit family. Some of them live in Texas and some in Kansas, so they make a lot of trips back to Kansas, where they started out together.
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December 2015 Cruise In to:
Vintage Flying Museum
505 NW 38th Street Hangar 33 South
Fort Worth, TX 76106
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