Joint Northern Illinois and Northern Ohio

Regional Groups Tour

By Tom O’Donnell

On July 17 my son Steve and I left home in my 40 Mercury Sedan Coupe and drove to meet Len and Irene Vinyard in their 57 T-Bird.  We drove to the Lincoln Oasis where we met up with Dick and Dot Alfini in their modern car, Sam and Judy Barone with their 41 Pickup on the trailer, Ken and Carolyn Bounds in their 50 Ford Convertible, Ernie Herzog in his 53 Ford Tudor, Joe and Eric Kozmic in their 53 Mercury hardtop, Joe and Delice Serritella in their 41 Ford Coupe and Bill and Marty Valters in their 40 Ford Coupe.

After a short meeting, we left for our trip to Battle Creek, MI.  Joe Serritella’s car began acting up.  We made a short stop to try to resolve his problem.  We thought it was fixed and traveled on to Watervleit, MI, where we had lunch.  After lunch, Joe went to a couple of auto supply stores to find a flex hose, while the rest of us traveled on to Battle Creek.

We arrived at our hotel in time to greet the Ohio group before they left for dinner.  We took some time to clean up and cool off before driving to Brewster’s Pub in Portage, MI.  The Ohio group waited to have dinner with us.  We got acquainted with Foster and Mike Buchtel (NORG 51 Ford), Jack and Sharon Bukzar (NORG 64 Ford Convertible), Bob and Marge Burras (Car Coddlers Club 66 Buick Convertible), Chuck and Pat Church ( CC 49 Chrysler New Yorker), Craig and Annette Gorris (NORG late model Mustang), Jeep and Georgene Iacobucci (NORG 47 Mercury Coupe), Charlie and Angie Jandik (NORG 77 Lincoln), Frank and Ginger Posar (Nifty 50’s 2005 Sebring), Don and Sandy Reither (CC 67 Mustang), Jay and Jean Rounds (NORG 56 Mercury Convertible), Dick and Nancy Smith (NORG 53 Victoria), Les and Loretta Somsak (CC 55 Ford), Tom Somsak (NORG 53 Ford Business Coupe), and Lenny’s Chevy friend, R.J. White (63 Impala Hardtop).

After dinner we returned to the hotel and met up with Joe and Delice.  We kicked tires and tried to harass Joe as he was trying to solve his fuel problem.  Early Saturday morning, Joe and Lenny went looking for a can of compressed air and some Seafoam.  Joe used the compressed air to clean out the line to the tank.  He and Delice toured with Ernie in his car, leaving the 41 and all possible troubles at the hotel.

Foster led us out of the parking lot for our drive to the Kellogg Manor House.  We had a nice drive on roads with trees to shelter us from the sun.  Ken Bounds took photos of everyone’s car as they passed the Kellogg Manor House.  We met Charles Kaiser at the Manor house.  The tour guide had us assemble in front of the Manor House for a group photo, before splitting us up into smaller groups for the tour of the house.

The house was built in the 1920’s on the highest point of Gull Lake.  The Kellogg family used it as a summer home until World War II.  The lake is 4.5 miles long and 2.25 miles wide. It is 100 feet deep in the deepest sections.  Because it has very little public access, it has plenty of fish and is stocked for game fishing.

When you enter the house, your attention is immediately drawn to the staircase on your right.  The intricate carvings were done in place by 2 workmen over 2 years. Each bathroom has its own colored tiles.  The ceiling in the living room is a manufactured plaster ceiling with a pattern pressed in.

The furnishings used by the Kelloggs were sold or given away when the house was turned over to the government during the war.  The Manor House and lake were used by the Coast Guard in WWII for training purposes.  Near the end of the war it was used by the army as a recuperating center for wounded soldiers.  The army painted all of the walls and tiles in the house.

When the army was through with the house it was donated to Michigan State University and used as a dormitory until the 1980’s.  It was restored in the 1990’s being completed in 1997.  It took almost a year to remove all of the paint from the tiles.

After the guided tour, we walked around the grounds while waiting for lunch time.  We were served a great lunch in the cafeteria.

After lunch we drove to the Gilmore Museum. Steve and I took photos of the cars as they passed the restored Shell gas station.  The cars were then lined up behind the Museum store and everyone was free to tour the museum on their own.  There were docents in each of the buildings to answer any questions.

In addition to the barns with the cars, there is a building devoted to motorcycles and another building that contains the Midwest Museum of Miniatures.  This photo is of a miniature carving representing a street scene before shopping malls.  There is a car dealer, a JC Penny store, a movie theater, a grocery store, a church and a hotel among the buildings.  The carving is about 4 feet long and 2 inches deep.

We had a photo taken of all of the cars just before we left for dinner at the Gull Lake View Golf Club.  After dinner we had a short meeting in the parking lot to draw door prizes.  There were 4 prizes, one for a man from Ohio and one for a man from Illinois. There were the same number of prizes for the ladies. The first drawing was won by Frank Posar from Ohio.  Joe Kozmic from our RG won the other can of Ford Elbow Grease.  Annette Gorris and Irene Vinyard each won a Ford Accessory Air Conditioner made in China.

We went back to the hotel and did some more tire kicking before retiring for the night.

Sunday morning, Joe and Delice, Bill and Marty, Ken and Carolyn and Joe and Eric left for home, while the rest of us traveled to Marshall, MI, to visit the American Museum of Magic.  They are not normally open on Sundays, so special arrangements were made.  The museum is full of some of the most colorful posters and some of the most popular magic tricks, such as cutting a woman in half, the guillotine, and the magic box that comes on stage empty but then a lady comes out of the box when the magician taps it with his wand.  Our last lunch as a group was at Win Schuler’s.  We said our goodbyes to our new friends and drove home.  Everyone arrived home safely without any further trouble.

More photos can be seen online at http://ilearlyfordv8club.shutterfly.com/.