Gulf Coast Corvette Club

The Florida Gulf Coast's Premier Corvette Club
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Toys For Tots
December 4, 2010

December 4th brought beautiful weather for our 14th Annual Toys For Tots Car Show and Toy Drive. We had a great turnout of cars...139 to be exact, and dozens of more parked outside the event. We had plenty of spectators as the event was held in a busy shopping center parking lot. Even the spectators brought out toys for the Marines and gave donations.
 
 
Local merchants gave donations of cash, discounts and product to help make the event a success. The owners of the shopping center were more than accomodating as we surpassed the allotted space and overflowed into ajacent areas. We generated over $1000 with a 'Chinese Auction', $398 from 50/50, where the 11 year old winner donated her winnings back to Toys-For-Tots, $1000 in cash donations, a $5000 donation from the FOP (Fraternal Order of Police) and almost $3000 from registrations and other donations... for a total of $10,085 in cash. We had shopping teams from the Fraternal Order of Police as well as from the local car clubs to go into Beall's Department Stores and purchase toys for the Marines. Beall's gave us a 50% discount, which means we got $20,000 worth of toys!!!
 
We had enough give-away stuff that every registered car got something... from t-shirts to quality pen sets! Music and MC services provided by RJ, the Gulf Coast Corvette Club President, and member of the Mustang Club of West Central Florida, Trophies judged by the Mustang Club, and awarded by Dave Thompson Coordinator of the show and member of the GCCC and Duke Clancy, of the MCWCF.  
 

Many thanks to our co-sponsors, the Mustang Club of West Central Florida (www.MustangClubofWestCentralFlorida.com) for donating the trophies, doing the judging, and helping out in so many ways!  I think we all look forward to doing it again next year! Many thanks also to Dave Thompson and Donna Scott for putting this event together!

 

For tons of pictures, click on the following link: http://picasaweb.google.com/petedonio/ToysForTotsDec42010#

 

 

Gulf Coast Corvette Holiday Party
We celebrate the season just after the Holidays so that our members have plenty of time and opportunity to spend time with their family and other friends outside of the Corvette world. Our members can travel to other locales and our northern friends can relax knowing that our party is held once the season winds down a bit. This year we had a wonerful dinner at Peridia Golf and Country Club, right here in Bradenton  ( http://www.peridiagcc.net/ ) 
 
Afterwards we had our Gift Exchange, a raffle for dinners and golf outings provided by Peridia, gift certificate give-aways, a 50/50 raffle, and our infamous 'Hot Wheels' races.
Pete Donio again took lots of pictures, and they can be seen at the following site: http://picasaweb.google.com/petedonio/HolidayPartyGCCCJan92010?authkey=Gv1sRgCImPh5KEqZHxew#
 
 
Bad Karma
Here's a couple of pictures of Jimmy Blakely's 'No-Hit' 67 roadster. The moral? Dont let a "mechanic" (Slick's Garage) take his kid to school in your classic car. He hit the back of a semi- tractor at a stop light and then claimed the brakes didn't work... only after he told onlookers and officials that the accelerator stuck... oh, and since his business had not yet officially opened... he did not have insurance. go figure...