Hobby / Industry News

Streeters Condolences.... A heartfelt goodbye to one of our own...

It is very much so, with a heavy heart that we mourn the passing of Nolan McBride, one of our long-time club members and the owner of one of many member's favorite place to cruise on Wednesday evenings... The Pizza House in Johnsburg...

Nolan McBride passed on late last night (Around 11:02pm), 5 months after being rushed to the hospital due to complications of a stroke and heart attack. He has since never been back to the Pizza House as he's been in and out of Hospitals and assisted living centers, to that where he's spent the majority of his time.

To most of our club members, Nolan will always be remembered fondly as he truly LOVED to see the people and the cars. The "Thunder Road" Cruise Night as Nolan named it, was never the biggest cruise night... In fact, it definitely was one of the smaller ones; mainly due to the limited size of the parking lot at the Pizza House (Which at maximum could hold about 35 show vehicles).

Still, people showed up week after week, because of a few reasons... For many it was local, easy to get to and leave from, If you brought your ride you always got a FREE slice of Pizza and FREE soda, you were always guaranteed to see a friend or two, it was comfy joint to just hang out in, and of course Nolan's hospitality and his love of the cars and the people. The Streeters and the Rat Pack car clubs were the two clubs that always hung out there, and everyone got along and had a great time. Nolan always greeted everyone, took pictures all the time and if he liked your car enough, or you were there a lot, you just might see your car adorning a Pizza House Menu, T-Shirt, Dash Plaque or sign of some sort.

Many Streeters may have seen their car in pictures around the Pizza House as well. Nolan loved showing those pictures as much as he loved taking them.

The Pizza House was what it was... It was a "Joint" as I commonly referred to it as... A nice comfy, "Hangout" or "Joint" that all your friends know, and all your friends like to come and visit. It WAS... The "OFFICIAL STREETERS HANGOUT"!

Over the past several years, Nolan and myself (Streeter Joe) became close. So close, as I would come pretty much EVERY Wednesday, no matter who showed up... Or didn't. Often, it'd just be me and Nolan... And he was always happy to see me.
Over the years I did a lot of artwork for Nolan to help him out, and he was always good to me too. We had a very good, close friendship as I knew the family very well. Donna, Missy, etc.

I will miss Nolan very much, as I know his family and other close friends will as well. Nolan was a good man, and tried to do the best whenever he could. While he wasn't perfect... (Who is?)... He always promoted the Collector car hobby, and made people feel at home. For those who participated in the Johnsburg Memorial Day Parade... Up until this year (He was in the hospital then), Nolan would always get up early and open the doors to the Pizza House (Where our Parade Lineup group would meet up) and offer FREE Coffee and Donuts. He just loved to see the cars show up out front and to get out and meet and greet everyone there. That's the kind of guy he was.

Nolan will be missed indeed. While the future of the Pizza House may be unsure right now (It is STILL Going, and Missy, Nolan's daughter is doing what she can to keep it going), we will ALWAYS have the fond memories of Nolan, the Pizza House and the Cruise Night on Wednesday evenings.

STREETERS TV NEWS: "TUNE IN" with Streeters "Gearhead TV" News: Garage Squad and LOTS MORE!

In addition to the "Gearhead TV" news I broke about "Wheeler Dealers" and "Top Gear America" the other day, I have one bit of other info on a returning Car Show to the Velocity Network... (For those who do get it with their Cable or Satellite packages...

The show "Garage Squad", or "Overhaulin' on the CHEAP!" as I call it, returns for Season #4... and with an added bonus. It's been expanded to a full-hour now, rather than the 30 minutes it's been at for the first 3 seasons.

All three hosts are back, the cute and perky, and willing to get or at least look like she's getting dirty (in grease and dirt), Heather Storm. Heather replaced the original host Lauren Bohlander, after the 1st season (Lauren is also the wife of IndyCar racer Tony Kanann).

Bruno Massel (Also the co-host of "Truck U"... Also airs on Velocity), and Joe Zolper, the Chief Mechanic on the show... (Also the owner and chief wrench of Prison City Choppers in Joliet, IL).

The show will be expanded from 30 minutes to a full hour, so hopefully we'll get to see more details of what they are doing or the work involved. The projects have been fairly diverse, with some interesting cars and trucks... everything from Street Rods to Gassers, Muscle Cars, Trucks and Imports.

As mentioned, I call it "Overhaulin' on the CHEAP!" or "Overhaulin' Lite"; as they gather at a car owners home to finish an abandoned project for whatever reason. Some may or may not like this show, but it can be interesting, and Heather's cute smile is always worth a viewing.

Currently NEW seasons of "Chasing Classic Cars", "Americarna", "South Beach Classics" and "Legendary Motorcars" have recently began started airing... (As far as "South Beach Classics" go... If you noticed, Robin, Ted Vernon's wife is no longer on the show... Divorce rumors seem to be true as some research of my own found some news and evidence of that being the exact reason you no longer see her and won't anytime soon).

Also on History Channel, the NEW Season of "Count's Customs" began airing...

Also airing soon...
Barrett-Jackson's 2017 Palm Beach Collector Car Auction airs Thursday, April 6th on both Velocity and Discovery networks. (Check your local listings or websites for times)... June brings the NEW Northeast Barrett-Jackson and October will be the month for the Las Vegas B-J Auction.

Also NEW SEASONS of "Graveyard Cars", "Junkyard Empire" and "West Coast Customs" are airing in Early April...

Rumored... In the works...
The second season of "Iron Resurection", Season # 4 of "Bitchin' Rides" is expected to return probably this summer. Other shows in the works, but not much knowledge of where and when they will air is an ALL-NEW car show produced by Volo Auto Museums NEW production company (Their own I hear)... I heard it was supposed to air in March, but I have now heard early June on the History Channel.
Possibly another season of "Unique Rides" and a new season of "Fast & Loud", now without co-host Aaron Kaufman, after leaving his buddy Richard Rawlings and "Gas Monkey Garage" abruptly at the end of the season.

Also a NEW "Wrenchin' show" produced and hosted by former Overhaulin' host, Courtney Hansen. As of yet, no date of release or network announced (That I'm aware of)...

Streeters Cookbook

Hi everyone,
We are doing a cookbook for our anniversary that we are hoping to sell and give the proceeds to our Township Senior Transportation. The grant was cut by $10,000 this year, and things have to be cut. Hopefully we can help a little. Our seniors depend on this for doctors appointments and their grocery shopping once a week.

I have about 300 so far, but would like to have a lot more. If you have a favorite recipe or a bunch, please send them to me. I am hoping to have it done to sell at some of the car shows Danny & I go to, and other events.

Thanks so much for your help.
Carole Olenick
Email Carole

More Theaters Win a FREE Projector

As most of you may know by now, the McHenry Outdoor Drive-In Theater was the 4th winning drive-in to receive a FREE Digital Projector System courtesy of the Honda Motors company.
With the help of the Scott Dehn the owner, WGN radio and television, the Northwest Herald, the Public and the Streeters, the McHenry Outdoor Drive-In was saved by getting people to vote.

There were a total of 9 winning Drive-Ins overall, as Honda announced recently that they would extend the voting to give four more theaters a chance to win a projector too.
Now there may be more projectors given away by Honda, so we urge people to go to Honda's facebook page and help by posting your requests for them to extend their generosity even further. This is just a terrific thing that Honda has done. Maybe more companies will get involved. Perhaps maybe some domestic auto companies.
http://projectdrivein.com/
I personally wish to thank all of our club members who made the time to vote or to get the word out. I know from speaking with many of our club members, that this was indeed the case. So again thank you all, and let's hope we can help save more of these American Icons, as they all deserve to be saved. Most of them across the United States will need help in finding the money to purchase the digital projectors in order to be able to show any first-run movies for 2014.

Again, thank you all for your support and your help. I am proud to say the Streeters had a hand in being part of this worthy cause.

To see the latest story from Autoweek, click on the link below...
http://www.autoweek.com/article/20130923/CARNEWS01/130929929?utm_source=DailyDrive20130923&utm_medium=enewsletter&utm_term=article4&utm_content=20130923-Honda&-percent238217;s-Project-Drive-In-saves-four-more-theaters&utm_campaign=awdailydrive
(Posted 09/24/13)

THE MCHENRY OUTDOOR DRIVE-IN THEATER HAS BEEN SAVED!

Earrrrrly Monday morning, 9/9 at 4:00am to be specific, The McHenry Outdoor Theater, Golden Age Cinemas hosted a Publicity Event to support the survival of the Drive-In Theater. They featured a FREE showing of Grease for ANYONE that came out. There was also FREE Donuts from Riverside Bakery in McHenry and FREE Coffee!
The
WGN TV morning crew with Marcus Leshock were there broadcasting live.



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FOUR of your "Streeters Men", Joe, Freddy, and 2 Wayne’s (as if one wasn’t enough!!) were out there to show our club support for the Drive-Ins across America and more specifically the McHenry Outdoor! Freddy had his '68 Buick, Joe in his '72 El Camino, Wayne B in his ’57 Chevy and Wayne S in his ’74 Alfa.
The fate of ALL the drive-ins across America are in trouble as they are all in the same boat of possibly NOT being able to show any more FIRST RUN movies. This is due to ALL the movies being released in DIGITAL format ONLY in 2014!
For the drive-ins, this is especially difficult because the digital projectors they need, start at $80,000. The McHenry Outdoor Drive-In shares this same challenge, and is looking for help in funds and support. So if the McHenry Theater cannot get this projector, they will no longer be able to feature any NEW or First-Run movies for 2014! Ouch!!
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Honda and Sony are sponsoring a contest to where EVERYONE can vote for their favorite theater. The FIVE Drive-In theaters with the MOST votes will win a FREE projector!
So we need EVERY SINGLE ONE OF OUR MEMBERS TO HELP VOTE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE! You can vote up to ONCE EACH DAY! Simply click on the link.... http://projectdrivein.com/ and follow the instructions to vote. It's easy, and Painless and NO personal info is asked for!
Great backstory. AnnMarie shared that this was her son’s (A.J) very first movie ever. She mentioned that she also watched her very first movie as a child at the McHenry Outdoor theater!! When asked what his favorite part of the movie was (Grease), he said “…the cars!!” We couldn’t have said it better!!
If you love movies, particularly movies that feature a car, or in this case a Ford Mustang,
READ MORE.