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Ted Shaffer 1935-2011
Director, Member, Friend
Ted passed away after a brief illness on October 7,2011.
Ted loved his cars and enjoyed the many local, regional, and national events in which he participated.
His work,along with his wife Pat, in the Rotary and many other service organizations was an inspiration as they accomplished much for many people.
Ted was remembered at the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix Check Presentation as the MBCA Pittsburgh Section Award was received in his name.
PDF Copy of Latest Newsletter
Newsletter Fall 2011
OKTOBERFEST 2011 IN NORTH PARK
On a nice day with only a few late showers we enjoyed a great gathering of cars and members at the 2011 Oktoberfest. Pictured here are the prize winners.
Peoples Choice for Open Cars Dan Spinnazola
Closed Cars: New member Albert Heiles.
Our local dealers each contributed a $100 Gift Certificate for Parts or Service.
Winners are shown below.
Check Out all other current photos on our galleries page. We Need YOUR Photos from MBCA Events to complete our website.
You may e-mail to me, send me a link to them on a photo service or mail me a disc.
Contact me (Bob Speer) if you need assistance getting them to us. (respeer@comcast.net)
We Hope To See More Members in 2012.
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 The Pittsburgh Vintage
Grand Prix 2011
As a long time Mercedes-Benz Club member and the Showside Director for the PVGP, I am
occasionally put in an awkward spot. When we needed to expand the Porsche area, I made
the call to relocate the Mercedes Club to what I thought was a better area. After consulting with
the leadership of the club we made the move. (how's that for sharing the blame!!)
When we erected the tent on Friday the ground under the tent was as dry as could be. We
were faced with some soft ground between the tent and the track but we saw no problem setting
up the show. Wow how things change in a few hours.
 On behalf of the PVGP I apologize to you the member and guests of the Pittsburgh Section.
We have not experienced such a mess in that area at any time. I want to commend the officers
and helpers for putting the best face on a really bad situation. I also want to add my thanks that
not only did many members come both days but there were many wonderful cars there as well.
We will be working to assure that we do not have a repeat of that mess in any area.
The 2011 PVGP is going to likely set a record for funds raised. Thanks for being a part of the
success.
Bob Speer
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From The Wheel of the President:
To all of our members who attended the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix I would like to say thank you for attending. It has been a favorite of many for years. However, this year we had to endure some major problems at this “normally “ wonderful event. For those who did not attend or this was your first time to this event, I will explain.
We were moved from our regular spot due to Porsche being the Marque of the Year and required double the space they normally would use. It rained very hard Friday night & Saturday morning. We were placed up the hill which you would think would dry out from the rain faster than being in our normal low lying area. There must have been an underground spring along with the rain which made our parking area a nightmare and dangerous when trying to park the cars in this squishy mess. Under our tent was a quagmire where you would slip, slide and your chair would sink into the ground.
Most of you know, this being my first year as president, I want everything to be perfect and this was the last thing I wanted to happen. It was just not right that our club members had to sit in this muddy mess for two days. So I want to apologize to the members who came, especially the first timers, but also thank them for sticking around.
I do need to thank many board members and others for their help or this would have been even more of a disaster. So, thank you to Dave Fabyonic, Ray Smetana, Dan Spinazzola, Paul Mundorff and Ted Shaffer for tent duties, parking, etc. Thanks to Gil Zuber for being chief judge and all those who helped judge and scribe. Most importantly, all the ladies who handled the paperwork to keep everything straight, Janice Fabyonic, Marilyn Smetana ,Pat Shaffer, Ellen Engstrom and Betsy Marcin. (Hopefully, I didn’t miss anyone)
We have been assured that this will be changed for next year. After lots of frustration I started to think why we are here. Yes, of course we are car people, but the main reason is for people with autism who just can’t change their lives like we can change our tent spot. Wish it was that easy. So here is to next year’s PVGP, may it be dry and fun again.
MBCA and the PVGP - 2011
Well as most years in the past, it was hot and we had rain. What else is new? We still had over 60 cars on the field and over 100 members for lunch on Saturday. We also had a few more members coming in from Ohio and West Virginia for their first time at this event. Thank you for driving all this way for this worth- while charity event.
Thanks to Bobby Rahal Mercedes, Mercedes-Benz of Pittsburgh, Bud Smail Mercedes and John Sisson Mercedes for supplying Saturdays lunches to our members. It was very much appreciated!
We had our Concourse Judging on Saturday and here is a list of the well -deserved winners. Remember the big rains on the way in took its toll on all the tedious work put into these beautiful cars previous to the rains and muddy field. Lots of re-cleaning being done in this humidity was draining. Here is the list of Street Class winners:
First Place: Brad Badaliwith his 1973 - 280SE, Wayne Reck with his 1988 – 560SL, Adam Parness with his 1981 – 240D, and Dan Marcin with his 1999 – C43 AMG.
Second Place: Dan Spinazzola with his 1986 – 300SL, Ron Swenson with his 2008 – E550.
Third Place: Robert Kormus with his 2008 – C63, and Paul Mundorf with his 1985 – SL380
Sunday we returned for the races and lunch.
Thank you all for bring your beautiful cars out into the elements and supporting your club and the charities.
Join us next year at our regular spot.
Dan Marcin
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