BATOC is about 1955 to 1957 and 2002 to 2005 Thunderbirds (the years two seaters were built by Ford), but anyone is welcome.  We have monthly outings to scenic and interesting places around the San Francisco Bay Area and Northern California and even take the occasional overnight trip to places like the Gold Country, Wine Country and the Monterey Peninsula.  Click the "Learn More" menu button.  (As a guest you only have limited access to this site.)

Last January Event
DELTA TOUR
Levy Mystery Tour, Ryde Hotel, Cal Auto Museum, Delta King Riverboat!

Our first event of the year was no disappointment. The President’s Mystery Event was attended by 24 members (but only 8 Thunderbirds). This was the only sunny day in weeks and the assumption that the event day would be no different caused some owners to leave their birds at the nest. Cars were evenly divided, 4 Retrobirds and 4 Earlybirds. The Earlybirds that did attend were coincidently all red! First time a mono-color has occurred in a long time. Dave was certainly brave in scheduling an outdoor touring event in January where the chance of rain is forever eminent and this year in particular we have seen precious few dry days so far. But that didn’t frighten Dave. He won the weather lotto. The clear skies and sunshine in the photo below were not digitally enhanced but the real thing. Maybe our outing should have been a trip to Reno instead!

The event started as many do at the Bagel Street Café in Danville. The size of our group filled up most of the seats with many left still standing. Even though sunny, the 49°F morning temperature didn’t persuade anyone to migrate out to the café’s outside deck area as we often do.

Our first stop was the historic Ryde Hotel which was built in 1929 at the peak of the prohibition era. The lower level was a speakeasy, offering bootleg whiskey and jazz to a clientele in search of a good time. After our brief stop at the Ryde, we were off again on our levy journey toward the California Auto Museum.

We arrived at the museum around 12:00 PM and looked at the cars that were there. Unfortunately it isn't the same as when it was the Towe Museum a few years ago which housed mostly Fords. The museum now displays vehicles of which approximately 25% are currently owned by the California Vehicle Foundation and the rest are displayed by private exhibitors. Unfortunately it was as cold inside as it was outside (about 53°F). Had the temperature been a bit more agreeable, we probably would have stayed a bit longer and gotten our monies worth out of our $8.00 dollar per person admission fee.

Around 1:15 PM we got back in our birds for the short drive to the Delta King Paddlewheeler permanently docked at Old Town Sacramento. The Delta King is an authentic, historic and permanently moored 285-foot riverboat on the Sacramento River in Downtown Old Sacramento. We were given our own section in the “Pilothouse Dining Room” where we were allowed to order off the menu. The food was good, although pricey. Overall service was good, especially given the size of our group and given free reign of the menu. No doubt we will make the trip again to the Delta King for a future event.

Christmas Party!

On December 12th, members gathered for the second year in a row at the Pier 29 restaurant in Alameda for our annual BATOC Christmas party. This year however we split the party between the restaurant and the Mathieson’s house where we had desert and our usual gift-taker exchange. The food was delicious starting off with h'orderves of breaded, deep fried zucchini and shrimp followed by soup or salad, and a main course of member’s choice of steak, salmon or chicken. After dinner the club was given a car trivia quiz (a toughy) where most members scored less than 50%. A copy of the quiz and answers have been provided in the documentation section of this site. President Dave Adams also took the opportunity after dinner to recognize some of the members who contributed a lot of time and effort to the club for 2009 which included the Guthries’ the Dixons’, the Matheisons’, and Marty Nelson. Vice President Lisa Perry also came up to congratulate and honor Dave for his support of the club. These members were all given a special reward of a photo of their car from the BATOC photo archives. After dinner the party moved to Jack and Sue Mathieson’s house. After coffee, ice cream (with a choice of hot fudge or hot caramel topping) and cookies; members engaged in our traditional gift-giver exchange. Members that brought prizes pick a number and when their number is called they have the opportunity to pick a new wrapped gift off the pile or to “steal” a gift they prefer that was received by another member. Presents have a three hand limit, that is, it can change no more than three times with the third person getting to keep it. (The three hand limit was imposed many years ago as without a limit this game can last for hours as the most coveted presents keep passing back and forth.) Two gag gifts circulated as well….a leg-lamp (a la the movie “The Christmas Story”) and a red stripped elf negligee. Carol Glander was kind enough to model it for us! (See photos). After the gift exchange, things wound down and with a final collection of member donations for “toys-for-tots” all members departed with plenty of Christmas spirit!

 Pumpkin Patch
Wrap Up  

16+ members attended this month's pumpkin patch event where we had a great time in addition to managing to get several good photos for use in this year's 2010 and next year's 2011 calendar.

We pulled into the driveway at Uesugi Farms after the hour drive south around 11:00 AM  and in a quick minute or two we passed under the "Welcome to Uesugi Farms" archway, past fantastic scarecrows, drove through a 6 foot cornfield maze, and in to their huge parking lot where they let us park away from the crowd in our own space next to the cornfield where we took some potential calendar shots. 

The place is extremely well decorated giving us plenty of “Kodak Moments” including a 30' Pumpkin Pyramid, Pumpkin Patch Train, hay wagon and the verified biggest pumpkins in California along with rows and rows of pumpkins and flowering marigolds.  Uesugi however “loses a star” because you have to pay $3 for parking and then have to pay for everything else in the park. They try to make money in every possible way.  (Lisa did not know about the $3 parking which everyone had to pay individually as she was not told about this when setting up the event.)

After about spending an hour or so at Uesugi where a few of us bought pumpkins, decorations, and other paraphernalia, we headed north a few blocks to some more calendar photo locations at nearby farms and ranches.  The photo shoot went well and gave us a couple of great images for our 2010 “nostalgia theme”. 

Our final destination was Famous Dave’s Barbeque Restaurant in Gilroy where we all had a western feast. 

Anyone that enjoys barbeque owes it to themselves to try Dave’s at least once.  (This is not a local restaurant but a large chain but excellent anyway [ Famous Dave's of America, Inc.(NasdaqGS: DAVE)].

Dave tries out the "Green Acres" tractor
next to Kathy's black 2004 bird.

Dave, Lita, Irene & Kathy

Marie pets an affectionate burro.

 Dave's Pool Party:
GOOD TIME, GREAT PEOPLE

Movie So So......

As expected, our pool party went on without a hitch. Plenty of good food, and friends made a great combination. Weather was perfect and Dave even heated the pool this time. Attendence was a bit thin this year compared to other times we've had it. Members in attendance were were Dave Adams, Guthries, Lloyds, Mathiesons, Perrys, Hines, Elizabeth McSorley, Ed Franzen, Vizcarras, Marty Nelson & Kathryn Mcvein and Sandy Merritt. Bob and Kim Dixon joined us for the Drive-in movie portion of the event.

The movie choice was a bit lackluser for some members. Main movie was "District 9" which (per IMDb) is about an extraterrestrial race forced to live in slum-like conditions on Earth that suddenly finds a kindred spirit in a government agent that is exposed to their biotechnology. In short, it was a video game without the interaction or controllers. The second movie was "The Hangover" (which had already been seen by most members and therefore didn't stick around for the 2nd feature) was a comedy centered around three groomsmen who lose their about-to-be-wed buddy during their drunken misadventures, then must retrace their steps in order to find him. Oh well, next year's movie choices will be better if we do this event again in 2010. 

Group before lunch

Waiting for Movie

More Photos in Shutterfly Photo Gallery

Danville Hot Summer Nights
Come to a Close

 
BATOC made a good showing at the last Danville Hot Summer Nights held on Thursday, August 20th along Hartz Ave. in Downtown Danville.  (Click here for photos) There used to be 6 events per year then it was reduced to 4 and over the past two years they have held only 2. It is unclear whether there will be any for 2010.

 
Organization has never been the event's "strong suit" and this was probably their worst. Ever since they lost their usual staging area at San Ramon Valley High School due to new construction being done, staging has been chaotic, at a different location each time. Last Thursday's was the worst so far as staging was setup at the BART parking lot at the intersection of Sycamore Valley Road and the 680 freeway. While this would be a great empty parking lot on Sunday afternoon, it's amazing no one figured out that on a weekday afternoon the lot would be full of activity as people are arriving on a myriad of buses and weary wage-earners trying to exit the parking lot to get home. There were a lot of coarse words exchanged in the process.

However, once the cars were lined up as usual along the avenue, things were back to normal with hundreds of people coming to see the many vintage cars on display. BATOC was once again the single largest car club to attend and show their cars next to each other. Except for the staging fiasco, everyone had a good time having dinner, looking at all the cars on display and mostly just sitting and talking and having a good time.

While it is unsure whether there will be a "Danville Hot Summer Nights" next year in 2010, if it does happen you can be sure BATOC will be there once again showing our CLUB SPIRIT!

Anniversary Picnic Was HOT!

The temperature was well over 110º but thanks to Sue Mathesion we had a great spot in the shade under the oak trees which she had reserved for us.

We played darts, cards, a Ford trivia game courtesy of Paul Barrow where no one got a perfect score. The closest was one of our newer members, Ed Benson, who got 8 right although most of us were lucky to get 4 out of the 15. We had questions such as "..... which famous couple, never having purchased a Ford, wrote to Henry Ford praising the speed and handling of the 1933 V-8 sedan?...."

But of course, the thing everyone enjoyed most was the food.  Marty took on the responsibility of running the Barbecue, Sue distributed all the contributions from members and there was enough for everyone of what the wanted.  There was a slight miscalculation as to how many burgers were needed as Marty cooked up a ton of chicken and hot dogs but for some reason the burgers went first.

 Some of the planned events were aborted due to the heat such as the badminton and croquet tournaments but darts and card games were still played.  All and all it was a great event and definitely a place to have another picnic in the future.