During a very busy three days of meetings in Tucson, Az, the LCOC National Board of Directors took a number of actions to revamp the national meet structure, add and revise judging classes and strengthen Continental Comments magazine.
New judging classes were created for Original and Custom cars. A new Millennium Trophy was created for a group of cars spanning the year 2000. The trophy was donated by Kim and Ted Hilton. In a related action, Tony Russo was named as the new Chief Judge. Details of the new and modified classes will be posted on the LCOC National website under the Judging tab prior to the first 2019 National meet. Former Chief Judge Steve D’Ambrosia’s service was applauded. He will become emeritus after his current board term expires. He will step down from the Technical Services Committee and be replaced by Mike Bradley.
The national meet structure will be changed after 2021 to 2 national meets per year and the Lincoln Homecoming at Hickory Corners. Hosting regions will rotate for three years and there will be one National meet in the 4th year.
For 2019, the 6th annual Lincoln Homecoming will be held August 7 through 12 at the Lincoln Motor Car Heritage Foundation headquarters in Hickory Corners, MI. Sponsoring Club is the Road Racers Lincoln Registry. All Ford products will be encouraged for display. The Western National Meet will be in Grand Junction, Colorado, July 10th to 14th and sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Region. The Eastern National Meet will be held September 19th through 22nd in New York’s Hudson Valley sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic Region. Details of the meets are posted on the LCOC National website.
The board authorized a stipend of up to $500 per month for a professional to integrate social media and Web site outreach efforts with the direct goal of increasing membership. This person also will be in charge of preventing email hacking. A steering committee will help Stacy Roscoe write the job description for this individual. Following national meets, two issues of Continental Comments will expand from the normal 64 pages to enable full meet coverage and photos of prize winners. Comments editor Jeff Shively and photographer John Walcek will have their travel expenses to meets paid in lieu of a flat stipend.
A new policy for classified ads was adopted. Members will still have the privilege of posting free ads online but non-members will be charged $25 for a 3 month run. After expiration they may renew for $25 for another 3 months. Ads posted in Continental Comments will run for three issues. Display ads from professional organizations will be integrated into the pages of copy. The percentage of advertising in the magazine will go up from 25% to 33% of the total content. All ads in Comments will be in color.
Master editor awards were given to Tim Howley for his work on the Western Region Confab in 2018 and to editors from other regional newsletters.
To prepare for the upcoming LCOC Board of Directors elections, bios and photos for those wishing to run for the national board must be submitted for publication to Continental Comments Editor Jeff Shively by April 30th.
Several proposals were discussed but referred for further study. A proposal to realign the current regional structure and create 3 super regions in North America was tabled. Jon Wessel has stepped down as the VP of Regions. He will be replaced and there is a proposal to elect 2 additional VPs representing the regions to serve under his successor.
LCOC President John Talbourdet reported he is studying an idea to place the club under the Lincoln Foundation. No action was taken but he said that alignment would have tax advantages. Treasurer Jack Shea reported that the donation level to the Lincoln Foundation has been quite low and urged all board members to encourage donations at all levels.
Free LCOC memberships will be allocated to regional and national directors for 2019 on request for distribution at their discretion.