The Rolling Antiquer's Old Car Club (RAOCC) has a 58 year history and is part of the Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA). Last year they put on a three national show in Hamilton and every year on Memorial Day weekend they host the car show in Norwich at the fairgrounds. (Submitted photo)

NORWICH — The Rolling Antiquer’s Old Car Club (RAOCC) is creating a lot of excitement with some of the largest car shows in Norwich and the surrounding regions.

Former Rolling Antiquer’s Old Car Club President Allan Strong said they have 58 years of history and are part of the Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA).

A major development in

2023, the club hosted the

Special Eastern Nationals Classic Car Show in July at White Eagle in Hamilton.

The free event attracted thousands of people and displayed about 150 vintage automobiles including rare Bentley, Cord, Pierce Arrow and Packard vehicles.

Traditionally, the group holds an annul show in Norwich on Memorial Day weekend. One of the largest locally and in the northeast, it also regularly attracts hundreds of automobiles and thousands of visitors from across the region.

The Norwich shows featured a variety of old cars, trucks, military vehicles, muscle cars, motorcycles, tractors and old engines.

“We try and put on a show,” said Strong. “We have a two day event now with the first day being Hot Rod Muscle Cars and the second day is Antique Classic Cars.”

“One of the things we added to the show at the fairgrounds is ‘Future Classics,’ he said. “So if someone has a car that’s pretty nice, come on and join the club.”

Strong added, “One of the interesting vehicles we see at the show is a RatRod. Big Daddy Roth started this in the 60’s or 70’s. You take an older vehicle with a good frame but maybe the body isn’t so great, tear off the body, start adding this, adding that, put in a different engine, transmission, different brakes and suspension, lights, etc. It all has to pass inspection so it’s road worthy.

He said a lot of engineering and thought goes into it.

One of the good points of the Rat Rod is how accessible and inexpensive the hobby can be.

He said, “There’s a lot of leeway on the hot rod muscle car side and for the other side we try and be more purest and yet, we aren’t as fussy as the AACA who have been around since the 1935.”

According to the Antique Automobile Club of America the club is the country’s oldest and largest automotive historical society and is dedicated to the preservation, restoration, and maintenance of automobiles and automotive history and has over 55,000 members.

New national show in 2023

Strong was president for the last six years and recently passed leadership in 2023 to Dan McGrew. Straong said the group is looking forward to the future and trying new ideas.

The club started planning the national car show two years before 2023 after receiving approval.

“We put on a three day national show in Hamilton at White Eagle, with a lot of planning and had to move it out of Norwich because we needed more hotels, and eating places,” he said.

A few of the cars entered in the show consisted of a 1922 Ford Model T, 1953 Packard Clipper, 1997 Cadillac Eldorado, 1956 Ford Thunderbird, 1987 Shelby GLHS, 1959 Austin-Healey 100/6, 1979 BMW 635CSI, 1965 Jaguar E-Type, and many more.

Strong said, “It was successful and we even made money. We try to do things maybe not to make a huge amount of money but not to go in the hole so we can afford to continue on. We came out in a positive.”

He said they had people come from as far as Baton Rouge Louisiana and Florida, pulling their cars in a trailer.

Rolling Antiquer’s Old Car Club President Dan McGrew said, “We also planned a first outing for the show visitors, bussing them into Norwich to the Northeast Classic Car Museum and they were ‘wowed’. They couldn’t get over the cars we had in our museum. We arranged for a vendor outside the museum and shared additional eateries, etc. so they could explore and have a good time.”

He said the following day the visitors were bussed to Cooperstown and enjoyed the experience.

“So, all in all, we pumped a lot of revenue back into Norwich, Hamilton, and Cooperstown,” he added.

Strong said one of the perks of being a club member is they take road trips. He said they’ve gone as far as Reno and Detroit, gone through the Deerborne Museum and the most recent years have taken trips in the Northeast to Rhode Island and down to the Harley Factory in York Pennsylvania.

He said their non-profit club makes money through registration fees, gate fees, and food truck vendors’ rental space fees, all of which support the costs for the meeting space at the Northeast Car Museum, bussing visitors, scholarships, fairground fees, and trips.

Appealing to a new generation

“Our membership has gone from well over 100 people in the community, down to about 25 or so now,” said Strong.

“We have a number of elderly women that came to the club via their husbands and although they may not be heavy participants with the cars, they still help out with the needs of the club and the shows and we couldn’t do it without them.”

Strong said the shows are important to the community as they are a big boost to the economy.

He said he would like to see more data collected and shared from Commerce Chenango on the economic input to the community from the different events that go on.

He would like to know how many extra tanks of fuel were sold, how many more hotels booked, and how many more meals sold.

McGrew said, “There’s a lot of old cars and it just takes people wanting to be part of the club.”

He said the club was a fun organization that shared knowledge and comradery while working on cars together.

“We’re looking at doing some changes, one is coming up with a new name,” McGrew said.

McGrew said, “We want to see new members, any age, any car, as long as you enjoy the car and if you want help to restore the car and have fun.”

He explained they want to attract younger generation, even the AACA has updated their logo.

“We’ve been using is a 50’s Chevy Apache Truck,” said McGrew. “So we want to move forward with something more recognizable that the younger generation can look at.”

He said he also wants to change the name and get rid of the old concept and come up with something easier to convey. They will also be upgrading the website.

“The website has been around a long time and served its purpose, so we want to give it more pop and flavor with a younger attitude,” said McGrew. “Showing it’s a lively club, a club that does stuff.”

He said he’d like to see the club give mini tours again when the weather’s nice. They can all get their cars out and go hang out somewhere in the evening or afternoon and let people see the cars and come talk to them.

He said another item of discussion is the possibility of getting tours through the AACA.

“Instead of putting on a National Car Show like we did last summer at the White Eagle in Hamilton, this time we could have some type of tour that AACA would sponsor,” said McGrew. “People from all over the country could come here and map out a nice little tour for them to take of upstate.”

“Our non-profit group meets at the Northeast Classic Car Museum where we rent space and also rent space at the fairgrounds for the car show,” he said.

Strong explained the club did all of the food preparation at the car shows in the past at the fairgrounds. They recently decided it might be more efficient to have food vendors.

McGrew said one of the ideas they have for the younger members that have children is to offer meetings twice a month, in order for members’ schedules to not conflict with kids’ summer activities, sports, family time, etc. or possibly meet at a restaurant or something like that. He said virtual meetings are a possibility too.

“This time of year, a lot of members have bugged out to Florida, so at least we can do a recording and post it on our website for those missing members to view it there and keep up on stuff,” said McGrew.

The benefits of sharing knowledge

The club looks to help others learn about older cars. McGrew said they would just need the garage and space to do it.

“I would think some of the young guys going to BOCES in the automotive classes would be interested in the club and there’s gotta be a couple of elders that can pass on a few things, but on the other hand, the new technology is being taught to the younger generation and they can teach us about that and help us out with the newer cars,” he said.

Strong said they had reached out to BOCES to see if any of the students would like to join the club.

“We did use some of those students to prep for the car show and all through the automotive group,” he said. “And a few graphic arts students came up with designs for our t -shirts. They received free shirts once finished.”

Strong said they give out two $1,000 scholarships every year. One is for tools and the other for automotive curriculum anywhere in the country. When a student matriculates into a curriculum they will receive a registration number. That registration number then lets them know the student is in and if chosen, the money will be given to that school for purchases or studies.

“We get a lot of support from our community for our car shows but when communities start losing events, organizations, churches, you begin to tear apart the fabric that holds the community together,” said Strong. “It’s very difficult to weave that back into a really viable situation. It’s not just Norwich, it’s all over the country.”

Strong said the group hopes to find more participants willing to judge at the show.

For the past five or six years, a request for judging has been placed on the registration form. They ask at the gate too and would like to see more participants.

McGrew said, “You can’t judge your own car class but you can judge another class. Even if you’re not in the club, you can judge.”

“I judged cars for the first time at the last car show when they had no one to judge the foreign cars,” he said. “They knew I owned a foreign car, so I said okay and took the form and judged by checking off all the tick marks.”

Strong added, “Some people just want to have their car seen. Others want to win a trophy. But 80 percent of the people that show up like what they’re driving, being around like-minded people, and having a good time.”

McGrew owns an MG he purchased in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1975 and at one time owned a 69 Camaro Convertible and a Datsun 240z.

For more information visit their website at raocc.org or email raoccny@gmail.com.