Join us Sunday evening as we arrive in Dearborn, and our local friends who live in area have put together an excellent drive to and from Dinner with the Mallinsons at a wonderful area restaurant - Station 885 in Plymouth, MI around 6:30pm! Enjoy the drive to and from the hotel on Edward N Hines Drive.
Convention Report: The Mallinson Caravan started off on time, leaving central Illinois towards Indiana via Route 24 and making decent time. Then halfway to Fort Wayne, our '95 SHO decided to throw out it's left front wheel bearing and had to finish the trip on the trailer. The rest of the trip went pretty uneventful and we met up with the Texas / St. Louis group right as we got to the the final stretch! Pulling in with almost a dozen SHOs was a GREAT site! After unloading the cars, we drove along Edward N. Hines Drive to Plymouth, MI to meet everyone at Station 885 for some excellent food. Back at the hotel, the parking lot gatherings continue!
MONDAY Our main registration day, meet up with old friends as everyone arrives, or take a tour the area with routes we have pre-run for you. Monday night we gather at the hotel for a PIZZA PARTY with the best pizza in Detroit/Dearborn. Your SHO Convention crew has tested this at some danger to our waistline, and are sure you will like what we found. We have a special guest speaker "Al English" lined up that you won’t want to miss. Also, you will get to see an “old friend” that hasn’t been to a convention in a long time (non-human).
Be sure to download the other forms for this event from the web site, or call for us to mail them to you. Send these forms in with your registration.
In a rare opportunity, we are able to raffle off a Dearborn Proving Grounds High-Speed Experience with a Ford Driver! There is a minimum bid of $350 please, and this session is already scheduled for Tuesday afternoon! Have other questions? Just ask!
GOLF: "Yes, there will be Convention Golf on Monday, July 12th. Due to events following the Car Show on Tuesday, I will not be golfing on Tuesday. Although others could play on their own if they wish. We will play at the Warren Valley Golf Club, which is only about 5 miles from the Host Hotel. I can’t set a tee time until a week in advance. But they said that Monday mornings are generally pretty open, and they have two 18-hole courses. I am planning on tee times around 9:00 – 10:00 AM. I would appreciate getting a rough estimate of who is interested. Usually two foursomes will cover us, but please let me know if you are interested. - Ron Porter - ron.porter@gmail.com
We've had some people ask about joining for just the Wateford Hills track day, so here's something NEW! Send in the registration form marked "TRACK ONLY" and pay just the track fee. Here's what you won't get though: Special event prices, reception pizza party, convention banquet, and our made from scratch convention program with maps and other sites to see in it!
The car SHOw at the host hotel was a surprising morning with more walk-in registrations! The “Road Warrior” class seemed popular among people this year with the new Gen IV's taking their place among the other SHO's! MRTs SEMA SHO dropped by along with the very rare AIV Sable that was spotted a while back on SHOForum.com!
Lunch / presentation at Ford World Headquarters went well and everyone seemed to enjoy their lunch provided by Ford! We had a special check presentation of $1800 from all of the cars attending the Proving Grounds Lapping! Brett Hinds talked on Future Engine Technology involved in the new 2010 SHO, along with having our group picture taken with Edsel Ford II!
A police escort helped us get over to the Ford Proving grounds in quick order, and everyone's $20 donation will help Ford charity of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) which totaled out as a $1800 donation!!
NOTE: NO cameras were allowed on the proving grounds, however we were able to arrange for Ford to have a photographer there taking pictures for us! These will be posted here when we receive them from Ford, and a form will be available soon to fill out if you would like a disk of the photos, just cover the cost of shipping and disk to get it!
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Livernois SHO
The Automotive Hall of Fame opened up for us (normally closed on Tuesdays) and inside awaited the MobSteel SHO for everyone to see! A short break before driving part of Woodward Avenue out to Comos in Ferndale!
WEDNESDAY Waterford Hills was a great track that has been a favorite of magazines in the Detroit area for decades. Our annual Driver Education event was an overall success, and while we did have one incident on track, no one was injured.
Download the video from the SHO Club site: http://www.shoclub.com/SHOconventions/19/Waterford Hills Laps.mpg The video was from a Ford Contour event I took my SHO to in 2008 and you'll have to forgive the strap of the camera swinging back and forth getting in the way of the video at times. Hopefully some of you will find it helpful though!
Along with a short and sweet turn by turn guide at this link here.
THURSDAY Most of our members took tours of Greenfield Village, The Henry Ford (Museum), or the Ford Rouge Plant Tour.
Thursday night was the annual banquet with door prizes, speeches from a few special FORD guests: Mike Celentino, Earl Lucas, and John Clor! Ford also surprised everyone with bringing a pair of very special give aways to each car! A 1:24 scale die-cast SHO similar to the smaller one given away last year, along with a custom "Taurus" beer or wine glass (while supplies lasted). Car SHOw awards were given out and the annual Charity auction raised around $4000 for the American Cancer Society! Along with items donated by our SHO business community, we have raised around $90,000 in the past 19 years! The signature helmet signed by Ford was no less than beautiful done up in the new SHO colors of Candy Red and Silver!
FRIDAY 10:30 AM - Hockey lovers of the world unite and forget the rivalry's as we get the privalige of touring the Joe Lewis Arena! Cost: $6 paid at the ticket booth to the Joe.
Bob Jacobs was nice enough to lead a caravan of cars over to the Cleveland engine plant where the SHO engine is built.
According to Bob: Here are some pictures from our visit to the Cleveland Engine plant. We ended up with about 30 people of the 50 that originally signed up. The tour lasted about 2.5 hours. The second picture shows the group who was in attendance awaiting orientation before going into the plant. The other shots show some of the machining that's done at this location. The comparison of the raw forging for the crankshaft to the finished product is especially interesting. About 35% of the work is automated and about 65% of the work is performed manually. The second to last picture shows a robot applying sealant very precisely to a critical surface. All these pictures and the others that follow are courtesy of my friend, Bill Bower, who some may have met at the convention. Bob Jacobs ........o-o=
A thank you letter to: Ford Employees at the Cleveland Engine Plant On behalf of all the SHO Club members that visited your plant last Friday, I want to thank you for your wonderful hospitality. It was great to see where the EcoBoost engines for the new SHO are made.We all came away with an appreciation for the care that goes into each and every engine made at the Cleveland Plant. Your explanation of how the engine goes back to the start of an operation if a problem is found was very enlightening. The traceability of parts and assemblies makes it understandable how you keep rework to a minimum and insure a reliable product is produced.I've already been singing the praises of your plant to anyone who will listen. Hopefully, this will result in more Ford sales of EcoBoost engines so your plant will be producing to capacity before long.It's great that SHO engines are made in the USA!Thanks again, Bob Jacobs ......o-o=
Stick around and extend your vacation at the convention room rate if you wish.
Posted up above is the current Registration Form along with other forms for the track day and updated information on our many events. If you have already sent yours in, then chances are we have it, but give us a call to confirm that we got your registration.
