April Newsletter

We’ve all heard the story about the rare old Mustang sitting down in someone’s basement. Well, I was recently told one of those stories and decided I needed to check it out. The story goes that it is owned by a gentleman in his early 90’s, was partially restored, and had a brand new engine installed. But this Mustang was a little bit different. This Mus-tang was designed to have wings and tail and was the state-of-the-art American fighter plane during World War II. Yes, I’m talking about a P-51 Mustang sitting in a basement garage right in the heart of Nashville.

The owner is a gentleman named Pony Maples. Over the years Pony has converted his basement into a WW II museum. If you are into history, especially military history from the WW II era, then this is a place you need to try and see. He has many rare artifacts, especially ones around mil-itary aviation. Along with the P-51 Mustang, he also has a fully restored cockpit from a B-24 Liberator bomber, the side gunner position from that same B-24, along with vari-ous other bits and pieces. There are weapons, parachutes, medals, and lots of airplane models. I was an invited guest as part of a tour that had already been set-up so I currently don’t have the details about how to get on a tour. If I get that information I’ll be happy to pass it along to anyone who might be interested. Otherwise look him up on the internet and you’ll see more pictures.

I want to remind everyone to mark your calendars for our upcoming open track event in Memphis May 25 – 26. If you are planning on coming over to help out the club, remember to contact Jim Chism because we have some rooms available for the volunteers.

The flyer for our September car show will also be available soon. One more hurdle on the insurance certificate from MCA which is in the works and then we’ll be locked in for our location and date (September 29th, West Wilson Middle School).

At the February meeting Jim talked about a restoration project the club has undertaken and several of you have al-ready volunteered to help. This is the restoration of Fred Joyner’s 1965 coupe. Fred passed away at the end of February and we are restoring the car for his wife and son. One of Fred’s wishes was to get the car to a local show and we are go-ing to accomplish that objective. We will hopefully be able to get the car to the Kars 4 Kids show in Brentwood at the Tennessee Baptist Children’s Home April 21st. Mark your calendar for that Saturday as that is always a great show and we would like a good representation from MCMC.

Take Care,
Jeff Billings