Speaker: Tom Peters
Retired GM Design Chief, Consulting Curator of Exhibits at the National Corvette Museum
Program Chair: Mark Pope
Monday, Sep. 12, 2022
5:30 – 7:30 PM Tour & Meal
7:45 PM Program

The Lingenfelter Collection, 7819 Lochlin Drive, Brighton, MI

There is a tour of the Lingenfelter Collection. This is the premier car collection in the Mid West. It is not open to the public but it is available for special events. This event is scheduled for Monday Sept. 12, 5:30 pm to 9 pm, at 7819 Lochlin Dr. in Brighton, Michigan. View classic, exotic, and unique automobiles as Brian Baker discusses the legacy of Corvette and the National Corvette Museum. A lite meal of Michigan Pasty and beverage will be included with ticket purchase.

Do not miss this opportunity to visit the Lingenfelter Collection and meet Ken Lingenfelter. What started out as five cars packed into a modest three-car garage has grown into a huge, beautiful collection of unique cars in a 40,000 square foot space. Included is an outstanding collection of rare Corvettes While the collection is not open to the public, it is available for corporate and charity events. Ken supports the American Cancer Society with moneys from tour events. This tour is a charity event.

Tom Peters is the Retired GM Design Chief and Consulting Curator of Exhibits at the National Corvette Museum. 

Tom is no stranger when it comes to assisting with Museum exhibits, having co-curated ‘Car-toon Creatures, Kustom Kars and Corvettes: The Art and Influence of Ed “Big Daddy” Roth’, a special exhibit that officially opened in January, 2020 and continues through April, 2021.
“Sean had the thought to see if Tom would be interested in being involved with the Museum in a more official capacity after his co-curation of the Rat Fink exhibit,” shared Derek E. Moore, Director of Collections / Curator at the Museum. “Of course, his design background with GM is huge and we figured the best use of his talents would be in aiding us in the overall visual experience of our exhibits at the Museum.”

Before the presentation, enjoy a genuine Upper Michigan Pasty prepared by Jason Edberg.

The Lingenfelter Collection, 7819 Lochlin Drive, Brighton, MI

Ken Kayser, Author
Saturday, 21-Aug-2021

Meeting cancelled due to COVID restrictions. To be rescheduled

Durant-Dort Factory One, 303 W Water St, Flint, MI 48503

Buick’s “Flint Flyers” Skylark & GRAN SPORT History

From GM’s ’53 Motorama Skylark  Dream Car to the ’87 Turbocharged GNX

David Dunbar Buick’s automobile company in one form or another has survived since 1898. However, to understand Buicks second fifty-year-span from 1953 through 2003 which is the subject matter of this book, one must first delve into Buick’s first fifty-year-span.

William C. “Billy” Durant helped re-found the Buick Motor Company in 1904 and began its racing program in 1905 with famous drivers Barney Oldfield, “Wild” Bob Burman and Louis Chevrolet. Billy Durant founded General Motors on September 16, 1908 with the Buick Motor Co. at its core and Buick’s U.S. Patented Over-Head-Valve engine as its financial juggernaut.

Buick Motor Co. executives Walter P. Chrysler, Charles W. Nash and Walter L. Marr’s FLINT FLYER aeroplane flew high above Flint, Michigan in September 1910 and Buick soon became #1 in the World. The Buick Motor Co. was at the forefront of GM’s new Proving Ground in 1926 and celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1929 just as the Great Depression crushed the United States. Buick’s powerful automobiles became the darlings of Hollywood during the 1930’s and the workhorses of World War II in the 1940’s.

In 1953 Buick’s management and its employees all fully expected its second fifty-year-span would be better than its previous fifty-year heritage epitomized in 1907 by William C. Durant’s When better automotive history is made, Buick will make it! Buick Motor Division and GM Styling created the 1953 Buick Skylark Dream car for its mid-century celebration with its brand new “Nailhead” V-8 engine.

Buick produced almost three-million Skylarks from 1953 through 1990 however only 115,163 (3.89%) were actual 1965-1972 “Gran Sport” Muscle Cars. From 1978 through 1987 Buick produced almost 2 million Regals yet only 8,369 (0.43%) were Grand Nationals.

Every Muscle Car devotee knows something about the Chevelle “SS-396”, Pontiac “GTO” and Olds “442” and the 1965 Malibu-SS clan knows all about the 200 highly prized Malibu-SS Z-16 396-in3 375-HP Police Specials. Virtually no one knows about Buick’s 1966 Gran Sport Ultra-High Compression two-hundred Police Specials inspired by Chevrolet’s Z-16 Chevelles.

Only twelve Buick “Pilot” RPO-L78 Promotional Drag-racing Gran Sports of the planned 200 were produced by Buick Engineering in 1966 and one very special FLINT FLYER has survived with its original powertrain and very rare metallic racing brakes… This is its story finally told!

Sat., Aug. 21, 2021
Durant-Dort Factory One, 303 W Water St, Flint, MI 48503

The Mid-Michigan Section of SAE International presented the Harlow H. Curtice Hometown Memorial Trophy at Back to the Bricks® celebration in Flint, Michigan.The award was presented to Ken Kasyer’s Flint Flyer Buick, one that Harlow Curtice would likely have enjoyed driving. 

See all photos here

Listen to Ken and others in this WNEM TV5 clip “Mid-Michigan Buick owners talk about what make their car special”

The Mid-Michigan Section of SAE International will again present the Harlow H. Curtice Hometown Memorial Trophy at Back to the Bricks® celebration in Flint, Michigan.The award will be presented to either the Buick or Chevrolet that Harlow Curtice would most likely enjoy driving. The winning car for the Harlow H. Curtice Hometown Memorial Trophy will be selected from the cars on display at Back to the Bricks® by a team of engineers representing the Mid-Michigan Section of SAE. The award will be presented to the winning car owner at the Saginaw Street Central Lot during the afternoon programs. 

Harlow H. Curtice, a long time Flint resident and civic supporter, retired as General Motors 11th President on August 31, 1958. Curtice (nicknamed “Red” for his shock of red hair), is generally remembered fondly — a real achievement for an executive in a field known for its extraordinarily competitive nature. Even in the controversial book “On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors,” which chronicles John Z. DeLorean’s time with GM, Curtice is described as, “warm, flamboyant, exciting,” and as “a man whose mere presence would command attention and stop conversations when he walked into a room” Harlow Curtice became General Manager of Buick in 1934 and was named Executive Vice President of General Motors in September 1949. It was in this position that he approved the 1953 Buick V-8 engine and the 1953 Chevrolet Corvette for production in Flint. Curtice was elected President of GM on February 3, 1953. During his tenure as President, Curtice championed V-8 engines, including the Buick “Nail-head” and the Chevrolet “Small Block.”

In keeping with the vision of Harlow Curtice, the vehicle selected for this Award will feature a combination of the classic design features of the production car with upgrades that enhance the vehicle as do concept cars produced by auto manufacturers. 

To enter your car for Award selection please text a photo and contact information to (810) 265-8365. For more information, contact Bernard Santavy by email SAEMidMichSec@cs.com.

Wed.-Sat., May 18-21, 2022
Michigan International Speedway, 12626 US-12, Brooklyn, MI 49230

Details here

About Formula SAE® Series

In 1981, SAE International (formerly known as Society of Automotive Engineers) developed and managed the first Formula SAE® (FSAE®) student competition with assistance of Ron Matthews, Professor at University of Texas. SAE International operated the only Formula SAE competition for 17 years before its partnership with IMeche (Institution of Mechanical Engineers) in England where the brand “Formula Student” was developed. Since its inception, Formula SAE has expanded and includes many spin-off events. In the North America there are three competitions managed by SAE International one in Michigan, California and Ontario, Canada. Internationally, the expansion of Formula SAE/Formula Student brand has exploded to over 20 competitions currently hosted by engineering societies or private business.

The Formula SAE competitions challenge teams of university undergraduate and graduate students to conceive, design, fabricate, develop and compete with small, formula style vehicles. The competition is an engineering education competition that requires performance demonstration of vehicles in a series of events, both off track and on track against the clock. Each competition gives teams the chance to demonstrate their creativity and engineering skills in comparison to teams from other universities around the world.

Teams are to assume that they work for an engineering firm that is designing, fabricating, testing and demonstrating a prototype vehicle. The vehicle should have high performance and be sufficiently durable to successfully complete all the event at the Formula SAE competitions. Each student team design will be judged and evaluated again other competing designs in a series of Static and Dynamic events to determine the vehicle that best meets the design goals and profitably built and marketed.

Formula SAE promotes careers and excellence in engineering as it encompasses all aspects of the automotive industry including research, design, manufacturing, testing, developing, marketing, management and finances.

In 2006, Dartmouth College (partnered with SAE International) created the fuel alternative event Formula Hybrid using Formula SAE cars with gasoline-electric hybrid power plants.

In 2013, Formula SAE saw the implementation of battery electric class to the portfolio already containing internal combustion gasoline.

SAE Collegiate Cup
Speaker: Collegiate Student Leaders

Feb. 25, 2021
Zoom

We observe “National Engineers Week” with a banquet and technical program featuring presentations by students from Central Michigan University, Kettering University, Saginaw Valley State University, and The Kettering University AutoDrive Challenge Team. The students are members of SAE Collegiate Chapter project teams which compete in the SAE Collegiate Design Series http://students.sae.org/cds/ The design series has grown from a national competition to an international competition featuring students from Asia, Europe, North and South America. During this year’s banquet, the teams present will compete for the annual “SAE Collegiate Cup” presented by the Mid-Michigan Section. This event’s competition will be judged based upon the quality of the oral presentation of the team’s “Design Series” project.

During this unusual year the Leadership Team of the Mid-Michigan Section, SAE will run our Student Night competition a little differently. Following SAE International guide lines, the event will be virtual using the Zoom platform. Student teams will create a 15 minute video outlining their Collegiate Design Series program. These videos will be evaluated by a judging team consisting of Mid-Michigan SAE Governing Board members before the Collegiate Cup is awarded.  Additionally, because of time constrains, the judging will take place in two phases.

Phase 1 will be conducted during the week of February 14 – 20, 2021. Phase 1 will select the top three (3) video presentations.

Phase 2: The top three will be shown during our Student Appreciation Night Zoom meeting. The full Mid-Michigan Section membership will be invited and after each video a short question and answer period will follow.    

Following the February 25^th event ALL submitted videos will be displayed on the Mid-Michigan video page SAE MidMichigan website  for SAE member and public viewing.

Presentation Competition
Speaker: SAE Collegiate Members
Program Chair: Mark Pope
Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022
5:00 PM Social Hour
6:00 PM Dinner
7:00 PM Program

Bavarian Inn Lodge Conference Center, Frankenmuth, MI 

Please join us as we observe “National Engineers Week” with a banquet and technical program featuring presentations by students from Central Michigan University, Kettering University, Saginaw Valley State University, and The University of Michigan – Flint.

The students are members of SAE Collegiate Chapter project teams which compete in the SAE Collegiate Design Series http://students.sae.org/cds/ The design series has grown from a national competition to an international competition featuring students from Asia, Europe, North and South America.

During this year’s banquet, the teams present will compete for the annual “SAE Collegiate Cup” presented by the Mid-Michigan Section. This event’s competition will be judged based upon the quality of the oral presentation of the team’s “Design Series” project.

Special Guest Speaker David Bakos has been Executive Director, Global Aftersales Engineering & Service Operations at General Motors since February 2015. Prior to this Dave was Executive Director,Sales and Marketing for GM
Customer Care and Aftersales. Dave began his career in 1979 as a Cooperative Student with Pontiac Motor Division. He earned a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from Kettering University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Michigan.