This is the second issue of our quarterly newsletter. Devoted to folks who own and/or appreciate the classic GMC motor coaches built between 1973 and 1978.

2005 Officers

President: Mike Rice

Vice President: Mark Elmer

Treasurer: Keith Barnett

Secretary: Elizabeth Livingston

Activities Chairperson: Les Watson

Newsletter Editor: Mark Elmer

New Members

We wish to welcome the following new members.

Reed Parr, West Jordan, UT

John & Susan Brewer, Kearns, UT

Lynn Clark, Sandy, UT

Larry Foote, Salt Lake City, UT

Carroll & Ethelyn Hodges, Smithfield, UT

Bud & Marlene Meineken, Kendrick, ID

Bob & Jean Moore, Draper, UT

Bob Peterson, Idaho Falls, ID

Craig & Darline Sentker, Salt Lake City, UT

Dan Froscheier, Tooele, UT

Robert O. Dunlap, Osburn, ID

Kerry & LeAnne Tandy, TX

Valden & Elizabeth Livingston, Kaysville, UT

Ray & Carol Southwick of Bountiful, UT should have been listed in the fall newsletter as part of the original group that paid their dues at the first Great Mountain Classics meeting. Sorry for the oversight Ray & Carol.

This brings our roster to twenty-three GMC ownerships that have paid their 2005 dues of $20.00. Seventeen are also Family Motor Coach Association members.

Membership in FMCA is not a requirement for Great Mountain Classics membership. However, FMCA offers many great benefits for both individuals and for our club as well.

Great Mountain Classics member Mark Evans of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada shared his thoughts about FMCA membership a short time ago via email:

“…It is exciting to see how fast things are moving with the new club, website and all!

Earlier you mentioned a problem getting members of the club to join FMCA.

As I have thought about this, the best benefit of membership in FMCA to me is the monthly magazine.  I would join just to have the subscription.  Perhaps if those who are undecided could see the magazine it might entice them to join.”

Once we have twenty FMCA members in our club roster we can become an FMCA chapter and enjoy some pretty good benefits. Here is some information I copied from their website.

Each chapter is entitled to one sign package per year, which consists of four Coroplast boards, four directional arrows and four FMCA logos.

The national office also annually supplies each chapter a door prize package to be given out at chapter rallies. The chapter president is the designated person to request this package. The items in this package consist of several items emblazoned with the FMCA logo, such as a multipurpose lantern, glasses, and a stadium cushion cooler bag. The seven items in the package have a total value of $132.

FMCA's insurance policy provides coverage for bodily injury, personal injury, and property damage alleged to have arisen out of an occurrence, or an accident, by an insured. The insured’s are FMCA, Family Motor Coaching Inc., areas, associations, chapters, members, employees, and volunteers while acting on behalf of FMCA.

If you wish to join FMCA please contact me and I will be glad to provide you with further benefit information and an application.

Great Mountain Classics Financial Report

Our treasurer Keith Barnett now has our nonprofit status set up with the state of Utah. Keith had some help from Val Livingston. Keith also has our checking account set up too. Thank you Keith and Val.

As of this writing our club checking account has a balance equal to our membership x $20.00 each. There are some outstanding receipts for copies and postage that will reduce this balance and there are likely fees that the bank has taken out as well.

Keith is currently on vacation, so there will be a more accurate accounting in our spring newsletter.

Meet Les and Sharon Watson

One of the benefits of belonging to an organization like ours is a chance to meet great people. I met Les through the GMCnet forum, which I had been using as a research tool while looking for a GMC to buy.

Once I found a potential coach I put out a plea on the GMCnet for someone in Utah or Idaho to help me along. Les invited me to see his coach and also offered some very good advice on what to look out for.

Our first official overnight outing in our GMC was up Provo Canyon with Les and

Sharon.

This is where my wife Beth received some coaching from Sharon on what the “Rights and Responsibilities” are of a GMC co-pilot. She also taught us how to play “Jokers & Marbles” a very infectious game similar to “Sorry” but played with two decks of cards instead of dice.

Les traveled to many places while serving as a flight crewmember in the U. S Air Force. He has been all the way around the world once.

They call their 1977 Palm Beach “Frog” and whatever they tow behind it “Toad”.

Two summers ago they attended the Western States GMC rally in Cody Wyoming and from there they traveled all the way to Georgia and back, taking in many great places.

Sharon was able to gather a great deal of family history information while on this trip. And Les was able to visit the campus of his Alma Mater Southern Illinois University for the first time ever as he received his higher education while serving his country.

As our Activities Chairperson, Les hosts our Great Mountain Classics “Come if you can” dinners. These are held the first Wednesday of each month at 6:00 pm at the Home Town Buffet in Sandy. 10390 South Sate Street. (801) 572-3303. These are open to anyone with an interest in GMC motorhomes. The next one is February 2nd, 2005.

You are welcome to bring your coach as they have a very large parking lot. It seems each month when we meet there are new GMC friends that we are meeting for the first time.

Les hopes holding these at a consistent time and place will make it possible for folks from other parts of the country to join us in their travels.

Recipe Corner

Sharon's Hawaiian Chicken

Preheat oven to 325°F. Put 6 chicken breast halves in 9x13 baking dish.
Mix together:
1 pkg. Lipton onion soup mix
1 jar (8 oz) apricot pineapple jam

1 bottle (8 oz) Russian Salad dressing and pour over chicken.
Cover with foil.
Bake 1 to 1 - 1/2 hrs till chicken is done.
Serve with rice and a salad.

Great Mountain Classics on the Web

I want to extend a big thank you to our Webmaster John Brewer.

John has created a webpage for our club, which can be accessed at: http://www.wirelessbeehive.com/~gmc

At the moment you will find in PDF format our membership application and newsletters. John can also put up pictures of coaches, projects, activities or whatever he receives.

John has informed me that we will want to register a proper domain name, which will require a modest expenditure from our bank account.

Storage Tips

Here are some favorite uses for Zip Lock bags:

Carry just the exact amount of soap needed for doing laundry.
Keep game or puzzle pieces from getting lost.
Keep your camera dry if you are in a damp environment.
Keep cords and lengths of rope separate and tangle free.
Store a few days supply of dry pet food.
Keep maps, charts, magazines and books dry
Important documents can be stored in a bag inside your refrigerator. Even if your coach were to burn down often the items in the fridge are unharmed.

Tire Maintenance Tips

Make sure you keep proper pressure in your tires. Buy yourself a good quality tire pressure gauge and use it often. It is a recommended you have your coach weighed. Not only is it recommended that the whole coach be weighed but that you have each axle weighed.

This way you can adjust your tire pressures to the weight of your coach. It will ride and handle better.

It is also a wise idea to know how old your tires are. Many GMC owners replace their tires at five or six year intervals. As tires get older they loose their elasticity and begin to break down.

To determine a tire's age look on its sidewall (usually the back side) for the letters DOT followed by one or more ovals containing numbers. The last oval will have three or four digits. If there are three digits, the first two are the week of the year and the last digit is the year of manufacture (the digits 229, for example, would indicate the tire was manufactured in the 22nd week of 1999). To distinguish between the 80 and 90 decades, tires manufactured in the 90's will have a triangular mark to the right of the manufacture date. Beginning with the year 2000 there are four digits. The first two are the week of the year and the last two are the year of manufacture (2301 indicates the tire was manufactured in the 23rd week of 2001).

Headlamps

If you haven’t already upgraded your sealed beam headlamps from the old incandescent type that was the standard when these coaches were built you should consider replacing them with halogen sealed beam units.

They are very affordable now and they offer a much brighter light. There are even “Brite-Light” & “Truview” halogen lamps that offer even brighter and whiter light than standard halogen units.

Hydro Caps

Member Lynn Clark has provided some information on “Hydorcaps.” These replace the existing caps on the lead-acid batteries in our coaches.

The charging of lead-acid batteries causes them to boil off water or “gas”. This makes it necessary to add distilled water to the batteries to keep them in top condition. “Gassing” releases Hydrogen and Oxygen, which creates the potential for an explosion.

The maker of these Hydorcaps claims to offer the following advantages:

· Water maintenance greatly reduced.

· Service life of battery increased.

· Battery use made safer.

· Hydrogen and oxygen gases recombined into harmless water.

· Acid fumes removed from air.

· Corrosion of metal virtually eliminated.

Hydrocaps literature indicates the caps are $7.00 each.

I will need six caps to outfit the two NAPA six-volt golf cart batteries back by my Onan. .

I have provided a copy of Hydrocaps “Battery System Information” form on the last page. It looks more intimidating than it really is.

Hydro Cap needs a sample of your original battery cap in a plastic bag and the form filled out with all of the information about your system.

Technical questions can be answered by Hydrocap at (305) 696-2504 975 N.W. 95 Street, Miami, FL 33150

Thank you Lynn Clark for bringing this to our attention.

GMC Trivia

Your GMC coach it is one of 12,921 manufactured during the six years of production. Totals were as follows:

Year	GMC Interior		Transmode		Totals
	23’	26’	23’	26’
1973	461	1598	N/A	N/A	2059
1974	168	1496	N/A	N/A	1664
1975	N/A	1196	36	425	2402
1976	N/A	2413	549	298	3260
1977	N/A	1694	253	455	1879
1978	N/A	689	178	1012	1879
Totals	629	9068	1016	2190	12921

I want to thank Dave Greenberg of Port St. Lucie, FL for that information. Dave maintains the GMC registry; which is a database he created of GMC coaches, their serial numbers and ownership history. Of the nearly 13,000 coaches he knows the whereabouts of more than 6,000!

If you are curious about the history of your GMC or want to help Dave out with his worthwhile project by making sure he knows about your coach he can be contacted at

(561) 262-0233 or via email at:

davegreenberg1@juno.com

GMC Classifieds

Mike & Kris Rice need to sell their 26’ 1978 Eleganza II. They have owned this very nice GMC for three years. You can contact them at (801) 255-0521. A complete description of the coach with pictures can be viewed at:

www.bethunesales.com/listings/rice.html

Don Froscheiser of Tooele, UT wishes to sell or trade (up or down) his 26’ 1978 GMC Royale Motor Home. 59,584 miles, 403 engine, dash and roof air, 6KW generator, parquet hardwood flooring and oak cabinets, 3-way refrigerator, floor furnace, built-in vacuum system, rear bath, front dinette and kitchen, all service bulletins, parts books, monthly newsletters, repair and maintenance manuals, records and history from date of manufacture. Original owner operated a GMC Motor home (72-78) dealership for many years prior to selling. Interior is original except; new carpeting and re-upholstered dinette area. Continuously stored inside. Asking $22,995. Trade items of interest: 59-67 Corvette, ATV, and snow blowers single and two-stage. Contact Don at: (435) 882-1719 home or (435) 512-6619 cellular or email him at: donfro@burgonye.com

Editor’s Comments:

It is gratifying to see how we are growing in our membership. I am anxious to hear some feedback from you about what you would like to do as far as activities.

Are any of you interested in a “project day” for example?

You are welcome to call me anytime on my cell phone: (801) 367-3432 or email me at: 77pickles@earthlink.net

Les Watson and Reed Parr are offering to put together at least two campouts for us. One will almost certainly be at the home of Bert and Barbara Wanlass. I am sure that Les and Reed would welcome any input as to when and where other campouts should be.

Les Watson can be reached at: (801) 360-0719 and his email is: wattles@comcast.net