2012 Buick Club of America National Meet, Concord, NC

[CarolinaBuick2012]

The Carolina Chapter of the Buick Club of America is pleased to announce the 2012 Buick Club of America National Meet is coming to Concord, NC June 27-30, 2012. We would like to invite all Buick owners to join us for this event. We are expecting to get over 500 Buicks to this event and have great tours and activities planned. A registration form is attached, but more information can be found at our website www.buickclub.org/2012. All Buicks are welcome and we have classes for 400 point judged, display only, driven, modified, specialty and professional, and vintage race cars. All Buick’s through current production year can register to attend this event and be placed on the showfield, but accepted years in each class do vary so check the registration form if you have a fairly modern Buick to see which classes it is eligible for.

The showfield will be located on the grounds at Charlotte Motor Speedway (at this time tentatively in the garage area of the 1.5 Mi oval) and will host the 500+ Buicks including a vintage Buick Race car class new for 2012.

Also beside the new race car class for 2012, this meet will also host the 75^th Anniversary event of 1936-1938 Buicks in cooperation with the 36-38 Division of the BCA. All 36-38 Buicks in attendance will receive a special dash plaque and there will be awards for highest scoring 36-38 Buick and longest driven 36-38 Buick. We are hoping to have one of each model (40C, 41, 46S, etc) of each year ’36-’38 Buick in attendance.

The host hotel is the Embassy Suite Charlotte Concord just off I-85 Exit 49. They will begin accepting reservation July 5,2011 at the BCA rate of $129 per night which includes a full hot buffet breakfast each morning and two cocktails each night at their manager’s reception. The hotel also features a Spa and an 18 hole golf course.

The event begins Wednesday with a bus tour to Steele Rubber in Denver, NC. This is a great opportunity to see how they make the rubber reproduction parts for our Buicks and many other cars.

Guest may also visit the Hendrick Motorsports Museum and Race Shops which is virtually across the street from the host hotel . Guest can take self guided tours at their leisure throughout the event during the normal business hours of the museum.

Wednesday night guests may choose to participate in zMax Dragway’s Drag and Brag Series which is a weekly “run what you bring” event that takes place on the 4 wide “Bellagio” of drag strips, zMax Dragway, just a half mile from the host hotel. Due to insurance reasons, this is not an official BCA event so fees for this event will not be collected in advance.

Thursday there is a choice of bus tours to either the NASCAR Hall of Fame Museum or the Levine Museum of the New South, both in downtown (or as we call it, uptown) Charlotte.

Friday there is a driving tour to The NC Transportation Museum in Spencer, NC and the shops in Salisbury, NC. This is an approximately 1 to 1.5 hour long (each way) driving tour from the host hotel to Spencer, NC, the route will be meander through both scenic and historic areas along the way and will travel at speeds suitable for all but the earliest Buicks.

Friday night we are going to cruise to Oehler Barn (pronounced “Ay-ler”) for a Buick Heritage Alliance benefit BBQ dinner event. They have a large grass field next to the barn where we can park our Buicks. The barn is approximately 6 miles away from the host hotel on roads that do not exceed 45 mph speed limits and there are only 3 turns.

Saturday is the show day and the only day the cars will be allowed on the showfield. The awards banquet in the evening will be at the host hotel.

Sunday The Buick Driving Enthusiast and the Pre-War Division of the BCA hold after tours. Contact those groups for specific details.

We will have a Buick only swap meet and car corral at the host hotel throughout the event with indoor and outdoor swap meet spaces.

For more information contact the Carolina Chapter at [email protected] or visit www.buickclub.org/2012 where we have a more information , a Frequently Asked Questions page, the registration form, maps and links to each tour destination’s website. We look forward to having you going to Carolina not just in your mind, but in your Buick.

2012 BCA Registration Form.pdf

[CarolinaBuick2012]

Just a quick update. In the first three weeks that registration has been available we have 38 people registered with 28 cars and the hotel is already 30% booked. This is an extremely fast start compared with the previous few BCA National meets. We know many people wait until the last minute to register so the fact that early registrations are strong is a great sign of things to come. We hope y'all can make it.

Also Charlotte Motor Speedway has confirmed the showfield for Saturday will be inside the 1.5 Mile oval garage areas.

[CarolinaBuick2012]

Another month another update

We gained only 3 more registrations in the past month, but 8 additional cars. So 40 registered with 36 cars. I'm not surprised registrations have slowed down as most people wait until the last minute, but for planning purposes if the earlier you can make your plans the better please. The oldest car registered so far is a 1932; the newest, a 1996.

The hotel has been filling up quickly. A few statistics:

48% of room block is full

peak night room block is 42% full

peak night, BCA has booked 1/3 of the entire hotel

So get your room booked soon, 704-455-8200 is the direct line to the host hotel.

We now have confirmation that the showfield on Saturday will be inside the 1.5 Mi Charlotte Motor Speedway in the areas surrounding the cup and Nationwide garage buildings. Maps are available on our website 2012 Buick Club of America 500 at Concord, NC National Meet.

The other big news is Mr. Earl's 5454th post on the BCA Forum http://forums.aaca.org/f115/5454-310730.html inviting all 1954 Buick's to the 2012 National meet with a goal of 54-'54s at the meet visit www.1954buick.com for more information.

We also have a few limited edition 2012 polo's still available. Contact me for more info.

[CarolinaBuick2012]

UPDATE:

The host hotel for the 2012 BCA National is SOLD OUT. Unless someone cancels there are no more rooms available in this hotel.

The overflow hotel is directly adjacent to the host hotel, approximately 600 ft from the front door to the BCA Registration area in the host hotel. See the attached aerial photo with notes.

The overflow hotel information is

Courtyard by Marriott Charlotte/Concord

7611 Scott Padgett Pkwy

Concord, NC 28027

704-454-1510

www.marriott.com/Concord

ROOM RATES - $129 for Monday-Thurs &, Sun, & $99 for Fri-Sat.

No breakfast or cocktails included like Embassy.

Free Wireless Internet included

It is recommended you contact the hotel directly via the number above and not via their 800 reservation line or website. Their 800 reservation line does not have the details on the $99 Friday-Saturday rate.

Also attached is a list of all the other hotels on the same exit as the host hotel, but we do not have room blocks at any of these.

Also we already have 62 cars from 77 registrants. At this point the cars range from 1929 McLaughlin to a 2008 Enclave. I do know some folks with cars older than 1929 are scheduled to attend but haven’t registered as of yet. Compared to the previous few BCA National meets, we are well ahead in registrations and car counts at the same time. So hopefully this plus the selling out of the hotel are signs of a large attendance of Buicks!!

Courtyard.pdf

Hotel Listing.pdf

[CarolinaBuick2012]

OK this will be my last update so as not to wear out my welcome here.

I just wanted to post a final reminder that the registration deadline is less than a month away, May 20th.

If anyone has any questions just email them to carolinabuick at yahoo dot com

Thank you all for allowing us to promote our event.

Regards,

[Drew Dowdell]

I wish I could make it... even though I'm an Olds driver, the Olds nationals are just too far away and the NC ones could be reachable.

And feel free to post pictures and further updates of the show here. I'm sure everyone here would appreciate seeing the classic Buicks.

[G. David Felt]

This sounds sooooo cool, to bad it is cross country from me. Please post pictures and updates on the event. Looking forward to hearing about it.

[GMTruckGuy74]

OK this will be my last update so as not to wear out my welcome here.

I just wanted to post a final reminder that the registration deadline is less than a month away, May 20th.

If anyone has any questions just email them to carolinabuick at yahoo dot com

Thank you all for allowing us to promote our event.

Regards,

Though I reside on the east coast (NJ), I cannot make this show. Please continue to update us and post pictures and reviews after it occurs