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Conversations with NECOA's Earliest Members

17K views 38 replies 20 participants last post by  kenrogers1 
#1 · (Edited)
As part of the Celebration of our 10th Anniversary, I want to begin a conversation with some of our earliest members. This Thread will be dedicated to those pioneers who experienced the early growth of the NECOA and elcaminocentral, and later the merging of the two El Camino themed organizations into the Association we know now.

So, my friends, if you have a NECOA number that is 1000 or lower, please post up some of your earliest memories of the organizations. Tell us about how you came to join up, what you've gained from the Association, and of any "growing pains" the Association went through back in the early years. Please go for it!....................Ken :dontknow:
 
#2 ·
Found this POst..................

I found this post this afternoon, and couldn't resist posting it on this Thread. Hopefully, Dale M. will find it here. If not, I'll make contact with him tomorrow and ask his indulgence. His NECOA number is 41, and he joined up in February of 2002, at least a year before the NECOA as we know it came into being an Association......................Ken :dontknow:

If the VIN plate reads 13380 then it was originally a 6-cyl car, the standard series with a V8 would have 13480. A Malibu series (or Custom) with the 6-cyl will have 13580 starting the VIN and the V8 will have 13680.
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NECOA #041 - 67 El Camino
The Powerglide was the only available optional automatic transmission for th 6-cyl, the 283, and the 327. The 396 engines could also order a Powerglide or the beefier TH400. A manual 3-speed was the base/standard transmission behind anything.
__________________
NECOA #041 - 67 El Camino
Dale, I see that you joined up in 2002, and have only 46 posts. I find that fascinating - can you tell us about how you have came back to the Association after so long, or how you've kept the posts to only 42 over the past 11 years, and how the Association got off the ground back in 2002 & 2003? You’re obviously very astute about the El Camino and it’s history, so I would like to hear your story. Did you initially join Dan's group, the NECOA, or was it Robert's, the elcaminocentral group. I don't want to hijack this thread, so please go to the "Site Topics" Forum to respond - that is if you don't mind sharing the early stuff with us................................Ken
 
#3 ·
I have NECOA number 124 and ECC number 1. Some of the join dates and numbers got bunged up during the first or second merging of the databases and site software upgrades, but I did go back and manually edit the resulting database to reflect everyone's original NECOA member number. Of course, the original elcaminocentral site had a different numbering scheme too and I chose to retain the NECOA numbering system when we merged or every one of the original members would have two numbers or a site number greater than their NECOA number. I do not remember exactly how many members each had but the majority of them were members of both NECOA and ECC.
 
#4 ·
Thanks, OH All Powerfull GUru.............

Would you mind going into some of the early growing pains of the merger, some of the interesting things that came about, maybe some of the funny things? I'm sure that most, like me, would be facinated with how the basis was laid for a 23,000 membership in 10 short years - or did you ever dream that the numbers would get so high, ever?

Based upon what you've told us about the numbers, I upped the eligible numbers to those with below Number 201..................Ken :dontknow:

I have NECOA number 124 and ECC number 1. Some of the join dates and numbers got bunged up during the first or second merging of the databases and site software upgrades, but I did go back and manually edit the resulting database to reflect everyone's original NECOA member number. Of course, the original elcaminocentral site had a different numbering scheme too and I chose to retain the NECOA numbering system when we merged or every one of the original members would have two numbers or a site number greater than their NECOA number. I do not remember exactly how many members each had but the majority of them were members of both NECOA and ECC.
 
#5 ·
The early roster numbers were a real cluster at the merge. Hell it doesn't even show that I am a member here to this day. Belonged to NECOA before the merge & you had to prove that you owned an Elcamino to join. I seriously doubt that this new crowd gives a .... what went on 10 years ago. Most of it can be reviewed through the "search " function anyway.
 
#8 ·
Nice always have to start somewhere. :neutral2:
 
#11 ·
John , The old website is pretty cool and I will go back and look at more of it . Ken , the idea of hearing from some of the members that were involved with the association years ago is very interesting and I look forward to reading about them . :smileyb:
 
#15 ·
I don't think people realize what a prize this organization is. I build and show different brands of cars/trucks and by far there is no other organization that has informed and participating members like this one. I have done lots of custom mods to my vehicles and wrote a lot of tech articles for other sites with no response. So to learn how this site became what it is and why the people are so involved is very interesting to me. The people on this site have helped me Unknowingly, immensely, and they don't care if i also have a brand x. :You_Rock:
 
#17 ·
Couldn't have said it better.:hail: :cali: :agreed:
 
#16 ·
I don't know if this can be confirmed .Original member at NECOA # 279 also ECC # 727 , I am registered on NECOA site page [ 26 ] last page. Have to say this is an excellent site and people . Also a happy 10 Year anniversary to El camino central and an Elcamino Owner also 10 Years this month ... :beer:
 
#19 ·
No Danger to Computer

I want to assure all of our membership that there are absolutely NO MALICIOUS BUGS lurking anywhere in the old information posted by acauth1 (one of our Founders). The Bug caught by HKDUP87 came from a vendors connection - NOT from the ECC Forum software. This Thread is completely safe. I has been thoroughly checked by acauth1 and found fault-free. Sorry for any confusion and my delay in making this statement..........................Ken :dontknow:
 
#21 · (Edited)
I want to assure all of our membership that there are absolutely NO MALICIOUS BUGS lurking anywhere in the old information posted by acauth1 (one of our Founders). The Bug caught by HKDUP87 came from a vendors connection - NOT from the ECC Forum software. This Thread is completely safe. I has been thoroughly checked by acauth1 and found fault-free. Sorry for any confusion and my delay in making this statement..........................Ken :dontknow:

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE NEXT GUY LOOKS AT THE SAME LINK I DID?
I liked the site nothing like looking back and seeing and reading peoples post but I sure would hate for someone else to hit the first thread like I did .:dontknow::dontknow::beer: I would copy it and post it but I don't have that option on this Google Logictech system.


There's a lot of good info on the site that's for sure and I like it.


CASE CLOSED HOPE NO ONE ELSE FINDS THAT PAGE I DID.

ROBERT
 
#22 · (Edited)
Just for the fun of it, I re-visited the original NECOA.org website this morning and came across our first published Regional Directors listing (http://autocool.com/necoa_org/images/NECOA%20Region%20Directors.pdf)

There were only 4 of us "pioneer" Regional Directors at that time who had been appointed by Founder Dan Smith of Tennessee: John Harris (MA) Region 2 New England; Bryan Shook (PA) Region 3; Peter O'Rourke (FL) Region 6; Harald Weldon (TX) Region 13. Bryan was the first one of us to join the old NECOA and I was the first Regional Director to be appointed. Harald served as Regional Director until the 2010 reorganization when he graciously stepped aside to let that "new kid" Ken Rogers become Regional Director for Texas. Harald is still quite active in our present-day club and Bryan still attends the Carlisle events in PA and visits with current members there.

Founder Dan Smith began to travel extensively for his consulting work after the merger and asked me then to step up as National Director. By that time, the new-fangled WWW or "Internet" started growing phenomenally and with the ability of members to actually make "postings" on the updated El Camino Central website, it became much easier for members to build online friendships and begin sharing technical information with others.

Our growth was very slow but steady over the following years and there were hardly any actual NECOA gatherings or events sponsored by the club. Robert More (Acauth1) single-handedly maintained the website until folks such as Rob Haggard (Poltergeist) in CA and Peter Brown of GA became moderators and site administrators to share the technical burden with Robert More in TX. The website kept growing and having more traffic that caused frequent crashes. In order to keep the fledgling site functioning, senior members contributed their own funds to help Robert replace and upgrade the servers several times and improve protection against hackers and others.

A few notable members between 2004 to 2008 became technical gurus and helped increase the quantity and quality of the information-sharing about El Camino repairs, as well as posting technical reference material like VIN-decoding and similar data from GM. Ernie Guglielmo of RI (87ElCamino) was probably the premier expert on our site, along with Robin Cook of HI (Mrapii) and Peter Engstrom TX (Elky Pete), plus a few others who names I will add here later.

Looking back to the 2003 membership roster, you can see the names of many familiar members who are still very active with us and form the backbone of the present club in addition to the many newer members now in leadership roles. One name that stands out is Maikel Joosten of The Netherlands, who was our first registered member outside North American, and our first Regional Director for Region 24 Europe, and still one of our most active leaders today. In those early days, we did not use a site nickname, but registered under our real name.

Here's part of that roster of earliest members in the sequence in which they joined:Dan Smith TN; Pete Engstrom TX; Nick Landin OK; Tommy Robinson NC; Ben Rambow WA; Rick and Sue Harrington CA; Bryan Shook PA; John Christiansen IL; Lionel Burnette NC; John Harris MA; Betty and Doug Lamothe AL; Robert More TX; Peter Brown GA; Harald Weldon TX; James Stedman NJ (now FL); Karen Chernish B.C. Canada; Danny Hernandez CA. There may be others from those days who are still active on the new website, but are now using a different nickname to identify themselves. We will update this listing if and when we find out there are others to be listed.

During those first few years, Robert More's El Camino Central website was attracting its own members who were not initially members of Dan Smith's NECOA: You'll recognize quite a few of these "Old Hands" from their present site nicknames: NJLuke; theelcaminofactory; elky72ss454; Hastalavista; darbysan; Elky 83; Sandblaster; archerm3; Camino80; 60ElCam; 83Elky; Elky77; Elcaminonyc; LINY; ElCaminoGuy2; Pro Street Garry; 79Elky; greywolf; Lemmy; gr8ridejester; elcam84; Hansmanbo; ElCafreak; Bobby85; 85elcamino; and dozens of others still active on our website.
 
#23 ·
I find all of this VERY interesting. As one of the "newbies", it's really great to see how it all started, and I'm proud to be a part of this organization.

I hope to be able to look back 10 years from now, and be able to say I was a part of the continued success of the NECOA and ECC.

Thanks to all of the founders, and early members who have made this THE place to come to learn, share, and keep our El Camino dreams alive.
:You_Rock:
 
#24 ·
This thread is a really cool read.

Some of the names I recognize and others I dont.

And some surprise me, like James Stedman(LOCKJAW) being such an early member.

I knew he was into Elkies for a long time but didnt know he was one of the originals.:beer:
 
#25 ·
Thanks, John

Thanks very much, John. Your insight into the early years in very valuable for explaining how the site developed and the membership grew. Please add any additional information that you feel would add to the discussion. I think we may find this Thread to be one of the most interesting, aside from mechanical magic Threads, of any to be developed. I know I've always been interested and am fascinated by what I've been able to learn..........................Ken :dontknow:
 
#26 ·
Wow...... It has been a long time. Went by quick though. I joined NECOA and have the number 042. I wanted to fix the Elky up rather than sell it and get something else. That's where the insanity started. I put it away in the winter now, although it has suffered in the rust belt. Here is the link to the web site I started about 1998 when I was buying parts from Rick at EC Parts, and wanted to show him the progress. Over the years, I have tried to document just about everything. Front and rear bushings, third brake light, to the latest serpentine conversion, adding the marine block 350, conversion to fuel injection to pass emissions..... 16 years of garage projects on there. I remember when the change happend, and although confusing, there was a LOT of work put in to it. I am sorry I haven't contributed very much over the years. I log in just enough to check things out, but devote more time to keeping my web site up to date.

There should be a link in my signature too. I Still have my sticker on the window from NECOA, and a couple T-shirts. Time for some new ones.

CONGRATULATIONS and Thanks for being here for all of us Elky Owners.
JC
 
#27 · (Edited)
im stiil around and i still have my 83 choo choo i don't post much been to busy, but i always check out whats new,i wish we still had the old site with our original picture gallery my car is still on the site but its hard to find my pics, not like the old site i use to check the comments all the time, my number was neoa #183 its still good to be here all these years. i also still have my original neoa tee shirts, Todd Pye
 
#28 ·
It was great to see the old NECOA.org pages, Robert.
Thanks for posting.
Ken-thanks for touching on the early history of the NECOA and ElCaminoCentral
-dan smith
 
#29 ·
John,
Thanks for the compressed history of the two sites.
Also, thanks to those members who assisted the growth.
Lastly, thanks to all members for your interest and posts.
Dan Smith
Chattanooga
(currently doing Corvettes, but would love to have another '59 Elky and another Choo Choo Customs SS. Heck, throw in a Royal Knight, also.)
 
#30 · (Edited)
Old NECOA Status Reports

Here are a couple of Status Reports that were published in our early days after the merger. You will see lots of familiar names and how we were outgrowing our own servers because of the increased traffic from new members.

Back then, some of our key members donated their own money to help Robert More buy bigger servers. You will see a Server Contributor badge in their site profiles when they post messages. These reports also include some of our initial thoughts on growth of the club that have now actually been accomplished:
 

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#31 ·
Bump!

This information is fascinating to read and absorb. I'm now going to change the number to anyone with a number lower than 1001 to please post their memories of their early days on this Forum and in the NECOA Association............................Ken :dontknow:
 
#33 · (Edited)
For those newer members who live in areas where there are a couple of el caminos around town, but no formal shows to go to, here's an idea to help you get started like we did in New England.

Please see the album from our Spring Dust-Off in early 2006 when we simply asked local members to show up for breakfast at a local diner to have a meal together on a Saturday morning and chat it up with each other. No washing or waxing, just show up with your Elky the way it sits. We had a good turn out and built on that simple concept over the next few years. No big planning, no expenses, just fun and meeting those with similar interests. I've also attached the flyer which we emailed to local members a few weeks before the gathering.

Here's a link to that Album: http://www.elcaminocentral.com/gallery.php?g2_itemId=69072&g2_page=4

Give it a try yourself and in ten years, you'll be one of the old pioneers of the even-bigger NECOA of the future!
 

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#34 ·
G'day Dan, just thought i would take the opportunity to say well done to you and all the other directors for what you have achieved with the NECOA.To be the founder and have numero uno beside your name must be a comforting feeling,bringing so many people together with a common interest.
I hope to get over to the states again to attend one of the get togethers and meet some members,some of who i have befriended on this site,
Cheers mate,
Moose.
 
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