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!