NCDBS 2009 Galt Tour

Galt Tour

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.

The Galt Old Car Festival at the McFarland Living Ranch for 2009 has come and gone. Once again, all attendees were treated to the display of many wonderful pre-WWII vintage cars. There were many DB's, Fords, Chevrolets, Chryslers, Plymouths on display along with many "one of a kind" automobiles such as the Detroit Electric, the Jordans, etc. The weather was fairly warm for this years event. The event opened at 8:00 to allow cars that were to be on static display to enter the field. The general public was allowed to enter and inspect and enjoy the cars at 11:00 a.m. while the event was open until 4:00 p.m. During this years event the Northern California Dodge Brothers and Sisters were represented by the Marinovich/Grout 1923 Sonora Screenside, the Tom and Elaine Gong 1930 Straight 8 coupe trailered up by Amil Gehrke and Roger and Lynne Gong's 1925 Screenside. Also in attendance without their vehicles were Tom Barham, Travis Barham and Jim and Francine Reid. We all had an enormous amount of fun examining the various cars on the field of display. We also had a NCDBS mini-meet to discuss the pro's and con's of becoming a Region of the National DB Club. Basically, the recognition of a Region by the DBC was to allow any region access to a broad arching liability insurance policy. This policy would then protect the Officers and Directors of the DBC from individual law suits caused by inividual members of the club (the "deep pocket" syndrome. It would also protect officers and directors of the individual Region and those who organize events from law suits. However, in the state of California it is already a state requirement that every car on the road must have PD and PL insurance. Therefore, it is our interpretation that in California our individual insurance works much in the same way it does when we rent a car. If you waive insurance rights - then your own policy is in force and there is no way to file suit against the rental agency or their affiliate employees or management team for liability damages. It was also decided that for the NCDBS Group/Region we would provide a waiver statement for those who are not members of the National DBC or of the local Group/Region. We would encourage all participants to join, but we would not refuse joining in an event. The National DBC membership dues are $25 per year. We have decided that for the NCDBS we would begin in 2010 to request $15/year for individual dues and $20/year for family dues. The reason for increasing our dues is to ensure that the Newsletter is self sufficient and does not require "out-of-pocket" subsidy as it has in past years. The meeting was closed after these discussions were finished. The group that was present elected Amil Gehrke to be our representative at the Board of Directors meeting in Hershey in October.