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The Next Meeting
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The Ohio Motorpool March meeting will return to the hanger of the
Liberty Air Museum,
(see map at the bottom of their website),
Saturday March 8th at Noon.
meeting to follow lunch
The Tin Goose Diner is currently closed,
however pizza will be provided,
sponsored by our NY members!
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Story & Photos by Rick Forys
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On August 10, 2024, OMP faithful gathered at the home of John & Pam Cheney for the August meeting. It was another
good day in Cheney-land as most of the collection was lined up on display. Mike Thomas, Bob Pierce and James Hazlett also brought
vehicles, but otherwise everything else seen, is part of the collection. Things officially started out with one of
those incredible Pot-Luck lunches, followed by some casual time where members caught up and checked out all the
vehicles. The meeting kicked off at about 2:30PM, and moved along pretty quickly, covering normal club business.
Before too long, the meeting wrapped up, with everyone basically resuming what they were doing before.
Certainly one of the highlights of the day was a visit from members of the Veteran Car Club of America. Altogether,
eight classic vehicles and their owners made the trip to attend the meeting and see the collection. The VMCCA is
one of the largest classic car clubs in the US, however the word "veteran" refers to the age of the vehicles, not
their service. Regardless, their appearance just topped off another visit to Cheney-land!
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Story & Photos by Rick Forys
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Once again, OMP members made their way to beautiful, Republic, OH for the annual July corn roast at
the home of Don & Ann Winegardner. Hot & dry, sunny skies awaited all who made the journey, to be
rewarded by a gigantic pot luck lunch, which left many ready for a nice summertime nap! Luckily,
the meeting (the reason for all this) following was brief, so we could then continue the
important tasks of snacking, resting, catching up, and checking out Don's stuff! Once again,
another great day! Thanks Ann & Don!!
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Story & Photos by Rick Forys
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Marking its thirty-seventh year, the Findlay Military Show has long been known for the large number of vehicles and
vendors always in attendance, however three years ago, the show introduced a "theme vehicle" which appears to have
become very popular with vehicle owners and other attendees. Things kicked off in 2022 with the MUTT March, and continued
in 2023 with the Mule Muster. For 2024, the show was happy to celebrate the durable Dodge with Dodge Dayz.
There were a number of new things happening at this year's show. This was the first of the three themed shows to
present theme awards. The winners were (in order from first), Ralph Bennett, 1963 M56B1 engineer vehicle, Nathan
David Parker, 1942 Dodge WC51, and John Cheney II, XM711 wrecker. Other new occurrences was an indoor display area
and military vehicle judging. Ten vehicles were entered for judging, resulting in seven Gold awards, two Silver awards,
and one Bronze award.
Once again, the Findlay Show lived up to its reputation as a great show, with the theme aspect working to infuse new
vehicles into the mix. After over thirty-five years, whether you're shopping, showing your truck, or just want to hang
with like minded folk, the show has certainly endured and evolved to become one of the nation's premier military vehicle
events. Mark your calendar for next year, May 15-17, 2025.
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Photos & Captions by Rick Forys
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(A) The Liberty Aviation Museum, located at the Erie-Ottawa International Airport in Port Clinton, Ohio has hosted the Ohio Motorpool
March meeting for about ten years. From the 1930's until the 1980's, Island Airlines based their fleet of Ford Tri-Motor aircraft at the airport,
serving the islands of Lake Erie. (B) This year, we returned to find the Tri-motor Heritage Foundation 1929 Ford Tri-Motor
newly painted in its very striking Island Airlines colors. (C) The Lima Historical Society M4A3E8 Sherman tank is still in
residence at the museum. (D) This 1941 Boeing produced PT-17 Stearman Kaydet looks great! (E) The long-time
crown jewel of the museum, B-25J Mitchell "Georgie's Girl" was produced by North American Aviation at their Fairfax - Kansas City plant in 1945.
(F) Dodge produced the one and a half ton WC62, commonly used as a prime-mover for artillery in WWII. (G)
The LAM also hosts the Lake Erie Warbirds' 1945 Grumman TBM-3 Avenger World War II vintage torpedo bomber. (H) The Museum's
1928 Ford Tri-motor 5-AT-B has returned from a nine-year lease to the EAA in Oshkosh, WI, and is expected to be providing rides to the public
this summer. (I) The Liberty continues the restoration of PT-728, a WWII Vosper PT boat built at Annapolis Yacht Yard in 1945.
(J) Other military vehicles include this Dodge WC51. (K) March Meetings at the Liberty are always well attended.
(L) The museum acquired their 1945 Consolidated PBY-6A Catalina in 2022, and are still in the process of going through all of the
systems and components. (M) The collection touts a 1947 Flxible Bus that actually served as a mobile mooring mast and support
vehicle for the world-famous Goodyear Blimp. The March LAM meeting has always proved to be an interesting day trip, and this year didn't disappoint.
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Story & Photos by Rick Forys
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For several years now the Ohio Motorpool has been able to include Camp Perry in its monthly rotation of meeting locations, this year
fitting it into the October slot. As it was still early in the fall, the weather was chilly but pleasant with bright hazy sunshine,
which enticed basically 40 members to leave their cave for a meeting. After the typical OMP pot-luck lunch, the meeting got rolling
around 1:30 covering a pretty normal list of topics including the upcoming Findlay Show & National Convention. Following the formal
meeting portion, a Camp Perry Civilian Marksmanship Program volunteer gave a talk about growing up in the area around Camp Perry.
Afterwards, the group moved out to the tank park to take advantage of the sunshine and also stage a group photo, but unbeknownst to
anyone, one member had another thing in mind and everyone watched as he got down on one knee to purpose to his long-time girlfriend
in front of the Sherman tank, the same spot where they met years ago. She said yes!
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Story & Photos by Rick Forys
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For many Ohio Motorpool members, one of the most anticipated annual club events is the fall trail ride, which continues to be hosted by John
Ellis at the family quarry business, just outside of Danville, OH. This year, members gathered on September 7th for the Noon potluck lunch and
slightly condensed meeting under breezy and mostly sunny skies.
Altogether, ten vehicles were on hand for the ride over hilly and sometimes winding paved and dirt roads, which occasionally followed the
Mohican River with its kayaks and tent campers. Four members brought their vehicles to the quarry start point for the ride, fielding a
1944 Willys MB, and three MUTTs - two M151A2s, and an M151A1 that were either driven or trailered to the event. The remaining six vehicles
were all graciously presented by the host, with four of these offered up for driving to other attending club members. This included two
wartime Dodges, a WC23 and WC63, an M38, M35A2, and two M998 HMMVEEs.
All in all there were no real problems, although one of the Dodges suffered a slight mechanical issue, which I'm sure has already been
fixed. It was a good ride, but all too soon we made our way back to the quarry, towing the suffering Dodge. John Ellis & family were
wonderful hosts, and the quarry makes a great back drop and starting point for this fun annual event. However, being the Fall trail ride,
it also signals the beginning of the end of another busy military vehicle show season in Ohio.
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Story & Photos by Rick Forys
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The Ohio Motorpool was very happy to host the 2017 MVPA National Convention also known as the World of Tanks Cleveland
Tank Plant Homecoming Military Show & Swap Meet. By most all accounts the show was very successful.
It appears that all the planning and hard work by our Ohio Motorpool volunteers paid off, producing possibly one of
the best shows ever. At over 300 military vehicles or displays, it topped the number set at Tobyhanna in 1998 (288),
and public turnout was also very good. It was reported that paid admission was just under 14,000, and the vendor
area was strong too, (406 tables) with most all of the big names on-site ready for business.
Anyway you look at it, this was a great show. Plenty of trucks, lots of people, numerous vendors, and more than enough
space - all you could ask for. The trip back and forth to the host hotel was short and basically all freeway, and
nightly gatherings at the hotel bar were crowded and very lively. As always it was good to see old friends and make
new ones. This convention was big fun and I think my favorite so far. My second favorite was the Louisville
show and guess what? We go back there next year!
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Click the flag for vehicle code info.
This link has proved to be a popular resource for club members.
A lot of information can be found here with a bit of digging. |
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