The "CRUISER" Newsletter

JUNE 2026

AS THE WHEEL TURNS!

BY ROGER BEAUCHAMP, PRESIDENT

To Be Or Not To Be...............a club

In the mid 90s when I earned my amateur radio licensee, I joined the Red Cross Amateur Radio Club. The primary function of this group was to provide communications between a remote location and the Red Cross main building. 

We paid dues to place us under the Red Cross umbrella. We had monthly meetings, Christmas parties, a weekly on air club meeting, and other fun events. These fun events were open to the general public, no membership required.

When I moved to upper Michigan I joined the local radio club. A small group and when the main man decided to move south, the club duties were split up between myself and another. Jeff took over the finical end, and because the club had a radio station located on Federal Forest service land I took over the interface with the FCC and U.S. Forest Service.

For 3 years in the winter months we put on Amateur radio classes to increase our membership. This added a few more members and we did the monthly meetings, radio events and diners, all open to the public. The first year we charged dues, when someone ask what was the advantage of paying dues, their was no good answer so we dropped the dues requirement, I believe that made us a group and not a club.

I was also a member of SORVA, a off road vehicle club. This was a club and we paid dues and did trail work for the Michigan DNR. They paid us for that work and we used the funds to purchase equipment to perform the maintenance. We were a licensed nonprofit club with the federal government and the state of Michigan. We were required to provide meeting minutes and insurance certificates.

Looking at our own area, a long established car club just last year disbanded to become a group with another name. Past members are still a very active group having social events that are well attended including many of our members. So that brings me back to the original question. To be or not to be a club, I don’t know the answer, but maybe not knowing the answer is the answer, if you get my meaning.

Please follow the Web page Ellijay www.ellijaymountaincruisers.com for up to date information on events.

Roger

EDITOR’S NOTE: Roger brings up a good point about the difference between a group and a club. We, Ellijay Mountain Cruisers, would be considered a club as we have an executive hierarchy, president, vice-president, etc, and we have a dues structure. We also have a charitable component and a website. These all take funding.

So when Roger talks about what is the value of membership/dues, our particular value is this newsletter, our charitable component, our website and events. Your membership dues funds these activities and the components that support them. We also have sponsors who pay us to support these same components, and in some cases also provide the membership with added value. Executive leadership, like most clubs, is via unpaid volunteers.

Your participation is what you make it. What is the return on your investment? EMC has a monthly Cars and Coffee, a monthly Dine and Drive, a monthly Club Social Dinner Meeting, and we participate in other events throughout the region. Some of you attend everything, a few of you attend some of the things, and some don’t attend anything. I guess the website and this awesome newsletter are enough for you!

The reality is we’d like to see your smiling faces at more things more often. If you have a suggestion on how to improve an event or a suggestion for a new event, or a suggestion for the newsletter, send us a message via the website or send me an email and I will pass it along. You can contact me at mgbtgkg@gmail.com.

Thanks for reading today and we hope to see you soon at a future event!

Tom George, Newsletter Editor (also a volunteer position - :) )

UPCOMING EVENTS FOR JUNE, 2026

This calendar is dedicated to car events OTP (Outside The Perimeter) covering the North Georgia area.  www.ellijaymountaincruisers.com

---RECURRING EVENTS---

(Some events may be seasonal; always check with the host group)

Sunday, 7th - Caffeine and Octane Car Show. Town Center at Cobb - 9:00 AM (Recurring event-first Sunday of the month)

Sunday, 7th - WORSHIP Vintage and Classic Car Event - 1135 Woodstock Rd.,Roswell, GA. Vehicles must be 18 years old or older. 8:00am - 11:00am (Recurring event-first Sunday of the month)

Friday,12th - Gilmer Street Rodders - Shane’s Rib Shack, 289 Highland Crossing, E. Ellijay, GA. 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm. (Recurring event-second Friday of the month)

Tuesday, 9th - ELLIJAY MOUNTIAN CRUISERS CLUB SOCIAL DINNER at El Reys Azteca. El Rays Mexican Restaurant - 6:00 PM (Recurring event -Second Tuesday)

Sunday, 14th - Dahlonega Car Club Cruise-In. 140 S.Chestatee St, Dahlonega,GA. 9:00am - 12:00pm (Recurring event-second Sunday of the month)

Saturday, 20th - Po Boys Cruise-In, Riverstone Plaza, 1447 Riverstone Parkway, Canton, GA. 3:00pm - 6:00pm (Recurring event-third Saturday of the month)

Friday, 26th - Georgia Mountain Classics DQ Cruise-In. 380 Progress Circle, Blue Ridge, GA. Blue Ridge Dairy Queen. 6:00pm - 8:00pm (Recurring event-fourth Friday of the month)

Saturday, 27rd - Pickens Freedom Crusiers Crusie-In, 104 N. Main St., Jasper, GA., 4pm - 8pm (Recurring event-fourth Saturday of the month)

Tuesday, 18th - ELLIJAY MOUNTAIN CRUISERS DRIVE & DINE - Ellijay, GA. Meet at the parking lot next to McDonalds-11:00am (Recurring Event - Third Thursday of the month)

Saturday, 27th - ELLIJAY MOUNTAIN CRUISERS CARS AND COFFEE  Ellijay, BURGER KING - 9:00 AM (Recurring event-Last Saturday of the month)

OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS - JUNE, 2026

( $$ = required registration fee)

Saturday, 6th - Rome Shrine Club Annual Car, Jeep, Truck & Motorcycle Show, Rome Fairgrounds, 69 Church St., Rome, GA. 9am-3pm  $$

Saturday, 6th - Piedmont Church Cruise-In, 570 Piedmont Rd., Marietta, GA. 8am-11am

Saturday, 6th - Jeep Night & Car & Truck Show, Burger King, 11245 Hwy 27, Summerville, GA., 5pm-9pm

Saturday, 6th - 4th Annual Cruise-In, 1416 Loving Rd., Morganton, GA. 12pm-3pm

Sunday, 7th - Children’s Miracle Network Car Show, Walmart 669, 2545 E. Walnut St., Dalton, GA. 12pm-4pm  $$

Friday, 12th - Summer Nights Car Show, 415 Hwy 53 E., Dawsonville, GA., 4pm-8pm  $$

Saturday, 13th - Make A Wish Foundation Cruise For A Warrior, Honoring Nicholas DeLuca, Cherokee Veteran’s Park, 7345 Cumming Hwy, Canton, GA. 9am-1pm  $$

Saturday, 13th - Creeper’s Fun Run 34, Jim R. Miller Park, 2245 Callawy Rd. SW, Marietta, GA. 9am-3pm

Saturday, 13th - Gathering Church 3rd Annual Car Show, 156 Wilford Ash Sr Pkwy, Cleveland, GA. 9am-2pm

Saturday 13th - Austin Chafin Cancer Benefit Car Show, Burger King @ 1313 Turner McCall Blvd, Rome, GA., 6pm-8pm

Sunday, 14th - Car-B-Que at the Flat, Big Easy BBQ, 2864 E. Cherokee Dr., Canton, GA. 9am-12pm

Saturday, 20th - NextGen Car Show Fundraiser, 960 Millholland Rd., Mineral Bluff, GA., 10am-3pm  $$

Saturday, 27th - RevMatch Rally for Reading Car Show, 325 Old Mill Rd., Cartersville, GA., 8am-2pm  $$

Saturday, 27th - 10th Annual Car Show, Miles Through Time Car Museum, 120 Old Clarkesville Mill Rd., Clarkesville, GA. 9am-1pm  $$

4 Tips to Save Time on Your Project Car

BY KYLE SMITH

(REPRINTED BY PERMISSION OF HAGERTY MEDIA)

When working on vintage cars, it’s easy to get a little jaded about rarity or scarcity. Yet there is one thing everyone collectively agrees is actually in short supply: Time. We all have a finite amount of hours available to wield tools and flex our minds to maintain, restore, or modify vehicles.

Which, of course, is never enough. So rather than drive ourselves insane working around the clock trying to get our project car running, it helps to utilize the hours we do have more efficiently. It’s a game of minutes making hours, but small habits can make big changes to DIY working experience. Don’t believe me? Give one or more of these four tips a try and see if it makes your garage time a little more enjoyable.

Prepare the space

The same way it takes money to make money, it takes time to save time. This is more about the quality of experience than anything, though. I’ve found that I work significantly more efficiently and have better results when I take the time to lay out the parts I will need, ensure the space is ready, and know that I have at least enough time to do the project if things go right.

Preparation can range from ordering the parts needed, cleaning the space, ensuring the budget is there, reading the shop manual, watching or reading internet tutorials, or all of the above. In my experience, the time spent planning can pay back nearly two-to-one with each minute spent getting ready.

One project at a time

Focus is even more valuable than time and must be dispersed with judicial precision if you, like me and many others, have had your attention span slowly whittled away by modern technology and entertainment. Having multiple projects running at once often feels like the path to the most productivity, but reality often shows that in fact, all projects move more slowly when focus is spread thin.

Take breaks when you need to (or plan them)

When things aren’t going my way, the easiest way to ensure things will get worse is to push forward with work regardless. When a thread strips or an assembly isn’t going together the way it should, sometimes it makes sense to just keep at it in order to make progress, but other times the best course of action is to step away. While it seems counter intuitive to walk away when time and focus are so scarce, this is very much a quality over quantity situation.

With some of my projects, I even schedule time off. My Corvair got fresh brakes last year, and the job was completed in two shifts, with a trip and a separate project interjected. It made the project a little easier by allowing me to detach from the project after disassembly and recharge the mental battery needed to get things together right the first time.

Don’t pick things up twice

When working on a project, it’s important to not get painted into a corner where one thing will need to be completed or at least put back together to enable another thing to happen. These dominoes can stack up fast and create a lot of temptation to cut corners. I personally get caught in this all the time; one thing will need something small, but in order to complete that, another something will either need to be completed or started.

Getting the order of operations mixed up to the point that I’m doing tasks—no matter how small—twice is just a waste. In my Corvair brakes example, reassembling the car in order to be able to move it would not have taken long, but instead, I put it up on jack-stands in a place where it could sit for an extended period of time, just in case. No need to backtrack just to restart on the project.

***

Projects will always take longer and cost more than we expect, but with a little care, the overruns can be fewer and hurt a little less. Saving a little time here and there adds up big, whether it’s giving more time to work on the project or more time to gain favor with your significant other while trying to figure out how to break the news that another project is following you home next week. Either way, more time is always better.

PLEASE VISIT OUR SPONSORS!

Local companies and club Sponsors offer discounts to Ellijay Mountain Cruisers members for car parts, service specials and automotive events.

Being a REGULAR member of Ellijay Mountain Cruisers allows members access to special group discounts for club related events and shows and other discounts offered by vendors and sponsors!

Visit: www.ellijaymountaincruisers.com and click CLUB SPONSORS for more details about each sponsor.

NEXT CLUB MEETING: Tuesday, 9th - ELLIJAY MOUNTIAN CRUISERS CLUB SOCIAL DINNER at El Reys Azteca. El Rays Mexican Restaurant - 6:00 PM (Recurring event -Second Tuesday)

OUR CLUB SPONSORS

Local companies and club Sponsors offer discounts

to Ellijay Mountain Cruisers members for car parts,

service specials and automotive events.

Being a REGULAR member of Ellijay Mountain Cruisers

allows members access to special group discounts for club related events and shows

and other discounts offered by vendors and sponsors!

Visit: www.ellijaymountaincruisers.com

and click CLUB SPONSORS for more details about each sponsor.

link to sponsors