NCDBS 2008 Galt Event

Galt Meet

NCDBS Northern California Dodge Brothers and Sisters is a group of people who love and own vintage Dodge Brothers and Graham Brothers vehicles. Our group is located in Northern California. We promote Dodge Brothers vehicles and Grahman Brothers trucks in our everday life.

When Roger Gong arrived at 8890 Orr Road in Galt on Sunday morning of September 28th, he was greeted by Al, the volunteer who was at the admission gate and very few other people except a vendor or two and other volunteers preparing food, etc. for the anticipated crowd. The second person arriving on site was Howard Burke from Long Beach to volunteer at the Festival. Howard is a member of the National DB Club and is the proud owner of a 1919 Touring car. On the grounds were three 1915 Dodge Brothers Touring cars lined up with one Model T tourer - it was early and not too many of the cars or people had arrived at the demonstration area. However, within an hour, many of the cars began to arrive (either on trailer or self propelled) to the MacFarland Living Ranch and the 21st Annual Galt Old-Car Festival.
Also arriving early was Herman and Barbara Boone of Farmington. Herman drove the 1933 4-door sedan in while Barbara opted for the luxury of their SUV. They quickly set up their pop up tents, tables and chairs underneath the shade of the large walnut trees in the area. Just as an aside, the 1933 Dodge Brothers DP Sedan won first place in the 1931 through 1934 category!

Donn Marinovich and Sherrin Grout arrived on scene with the Sonora Screenside and soon joined the growing group of NCDBS personnel on hand. As the '23 Screenside was being unloaded, the Thompson '15 on a trailer pulled next door to unload. In attendance, were Herman Boone, Barbara Boone, Amil Gehrke, Roger Gong, Tom Gong, Elaine Gong, Jim Reid, Francine Reid and grand daughter, Bob Carrere, Donn Marinovich and Sherrin Grout. Beyond those sitting under the canopies provided by the Boones, a plethora of other Dodge Brothers afficiandos came by to talk Dodge and kick the tires.

The DB vehicle which cause a lot of excitement and commotion (and it was not on display) was Tom and Elaine Gong's 1930 Straight 8, DC Rumble seat coupe. Amil Gehrke has been working on this car for about 2 months or so, and he trailered it from Petaluma to let all of the NCDBS group see the progress to date. He also succeeded in surprising Tom and Elaine who arrived a litte late to the Festival. They had no idea that the car was going to be there.

With no fenders, doors or hood it looked like a hot rod. However, when the folks who came over to examine the car, everyone quickly recognized that it was a DB with all original parts and pieces. The amazing thing was that this car ran like a Swiss watch and purred without a hitch. It has a long way to go, but even as it sits it is "roadable". It was a crowd pleaser to say the least.

It was a great way to wind up the NCDBS activities. And aside from that, Barbara Boone won 2 of the door prizes and the 1933 Blue Baby won first place in its division.

The NCDBS Group received information regarding a 1926 Dodge Brothers Deluxe Town Sedan for sale. It is all original and in perfect running condition. It is now in primer and has solid Budd wheels. It is for sale by Dave Kafton and he is asking $8,500 for the car. You can reach Dave at (209) 368-7259 or (209) 747-2936.

This is the 1926 Deluxe Town Sedan for sale.

Below are some of the digipix taken during the event with an IPhone. There were many more cars on site, from a 1908 Reo Model B Runabout, a 1922 Detroil Electric, a 1930 Whippet Model 98A, a 32 Plymouth Roadster, a 1937 Cadillac from the Towe Museum, a 1937 Rolls-Royce, a 1913 International Wodel MW Auto Wagon and many more which were not photographed. We plan to take more pictures with a real camera next year.

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This is the Thompson 1915 Touring car. John and his touring car has been a fixture at the Galt Old Car Festival for many, many years. This Festival has a multitude of different pre-war cars on display. The Dodge Brothers cars made up about 16% of all the cars on the grounds.

This is one of the other 1915 Touring cars on the grounds early on Sunday morning.

This is the Van Dohlen 1915 Touring cars on the grounds early on Sunday morning.

This is the 1923 Sonora Screenside of Donn Marinovich and Sherrin Grout. As usual this Screenside was a "non-judged" entry.

A picture of the Award winning 1933 Baby Blue DP Sedan was not taken. However, here we see Barbara Boone (owner of this car along with husband Herman) contemplating when to begin serving the food she had prepared for the members of the NCDBS Group.

Sherrin Grout and Donn Marinovich under the canopy warding off the hot sun awaiting questions regarding the 1923 Screenside.

As mentioned previously, there were a multitude of cars and trucks at this event. Here we see a 1917 Reo Truck "Speed Wagon". It sits beside a 1925 Fore Model TT flat bed.

Here we see Tom Gong exiting his 1930 DC rumble seat coupe in the midst of restoration. It should be ready for the 2009 National meet.

Another view of the DC rumble seat straight 8 coupe. You can see Donn Marinovich conversing with Amil Gehrke in the background.

A pair of 1929 Jordan's - a touring car and a rumble seat coupe owned by George Kline. George has joined the NCDBS group on previous tours.

The - next event for the Northern California Dodge Brothers and Sisters group will be our participation in the Sonora Christmas Parade. Anyone and everyone can join in the parade using the Marinovich home as the kick-off point. Almost everyone in the NCDBS Groups knows how to get to the Marinovich place but if you don't you can contact Donn Marinovich for further information. Telephone (209) 533-3663 or EMAIL to dcmmld@mlode.com.