Spring Social

Spring time! The flowers are in bloom, the grass needs to be cut in the yard, time to do some spring cleaning... WHAT A MINUTE!!... Forget all those "chores to be done" crap... TIME TO GET THE DELOREAN OUT!

That's right, it was a long winter for many of us in the Mid-Atlantic area. Constant snow, road salt, and rain prevented many of us from taking our cars our of the garage for several months, and the desire to drive our cars was more than we could bare. What better way to start off the spring season then to attend the 2004 Spring Social!!!

The day's events kicked off at 9:00am as members arrived at PJ Grady's Shop in West Sayville, Long Island. The day would consist of tech sessions, door adjustments, BBQ lunch, raffles, dinner, and much much more. Once again, we need to thank Rob and Debbie Grady for all the time they donate to the club for events like this one. Rob also had once of his mechanics on hand to work on cars for a reduced rate that day! Several members took advantage of this great offer to get some much needed items addressed on our cars.

PJ Grady has a huge garage space that can fit about 9 cars, and two huge fenced in areas where other cars were being stored while awaiting work to be done by other customers. Parking for those in attendance for the event was a little tight, but we all managed to find a place to park our cars and show them off. Even though PJ Grady's shop has been in the same place for many years, we still managed to attract some passers-by who wanted to take a closer look at the cars that they "have not seen in years". Being the kind-hearted and friendly people that DeLorean owners are, we were more than happy to oblige and talk about our rides.

Typical of our Spring Social events, Dave Teitelbaum was on hand to do free torsion bar adjustments for anyone who wanted them done. Dave is always happy to help out a fellow DeLorean owner with advice and technical know how.

Along with Dave's door adjustments, Rob Grady was busy as usual giving free inspections of members' cars and helping to diagnose and fix small problems.

Thankfully, the unpredictable weather that we had been having all season long worked out in our favor. The sky was slightly cloudy that day, and there was a little bit of a breeze.

BUT WATCH OUT! Overcast skies and being surrounded by stainless steel makes for a great way to get a little unforeseen sunburn action (I learned this lesson well during the 2002 Spring Social!) With the weather holding out nicely for us, we all made sure our cars were clean and looking their best to show off all day. This year we had about 14 cars in attendance for the event.

Ok... It's not all fun and games you know... Sadly our club President Scott Tice has had many personal obligations recently, and had to step down as the club president. In the midst of this news, our V.P. Gary Gore asked for nominations for a new club president. Mike Deluca stepped up for the challenge and was made the new club President.

Mike has several great ideas to make the club even better, and we look forward to working with him. Mike also is the creator and organizer of the Fall Tour event which is always a huge success. Welcome aboard Mike!

Now that all the official business was out of the way, it was time for the REALLY important stuff. Who would be the winner of the 50/50 raffle!?

The tickets were sold at $5 each, or 3 tickets for $10 and the lucky winner would receive a $100 gift certificate to PJ Grady (always a good prize to win for any DeLorean owner).

The ticket was randomly drawn by one of our member's children, and the winner was Rich Acuti from Maryland. Rich had decided to purchase several items for his car that day so the gift certificate was gladly welcomed.

Once again, the afternoon must draw to a close but we have no intentions of stopping now! It's off to dinner. Debbie Grady made reservations for us all at an incredible local restaurant that was right on the water. The food was awesome, and we all had a great time.

After dinner, we all said our goodbyes and parted ways until our next gathering. We had lots of fun and look forward to seeing everyone again at the Summer Fun Run and the 5th Annual Fall Foliage Tour.