News can be good, or it can be bad.  Sadly, we report the passing of a few in our CLC community.  One is Lee F. Herbermann, former CLC Southeast Regions Vice President and CLC board member for many years.  He was a Pittsburgh area resident.  CLC members who are not going to the Grand National can attend his Celebration of Life on Saturday,  June 7.  More details are on page 3.  Also, earlier this year, Potomac Region (PR) member John “Jay” Brown of Bel Air, MD, as well as PR member Tom McQueen's sister, Lynn, passed away.  Please send your sympathies to those in mourning.

PR Past Director and current Car Show Coordinator Dan Ruby suffered a medical crisis in May that caused him to miss the Spring Car Show and Automobilia Auction at Sport Cadillac, but he came through it like a champ.  Wish Dan well on his road to full recovery.

Now for some good news:  The Potomac Region got three new members in the past month:  1)  Lee Mardiks of Falls Church, VA, with a 1938 Cadillac convertible sedan, 2) Lorenzo Plater of Laurel, MD, with a 1974 Eldorado, and 3) Steve Plunkett of London, Ontario, Canada with 48 Cadillacs, one of them a hundred years old.  Welcome all!

The big news in this issue is the Potomac Region’s 33rd Annual Car Show and Automobilia Auction.  It was quite good, actually, showing 33 Cadillacs and one LaSalle on a sunny windy day in May.  Cogitations and cerebrations emerged after the show:

It’s always good to see a LaSalle at any CLC event.  When I was growing up, the last LaSalles were just very old cars.  “Real” antiques had polished brass and funny horns.  Now, a millenium later,  Barry Leese’s 1937 LaSalle  is the oldest car at almost any event, including our 2025 PR show.  Indeed, it took home two awards.

Reviewing the show’s sign-up sheet, I quickly scanned the model years of all the cars.  I gasped at seeing Mark Brodsky had registered a ’24 Cadillac.  (Really!  Polished brass?  Funny horn?)  It was a Y2K moment, and it took a few seconds for the reality of 2024 to sink in.  Since our hobby has crossed the century mark, we should be using four-digit model years.

My thanks go out to those who did the work for the show.  I can’t list everybody here, but special thanks go to Vince Taliano for substituting as auctioneer in Dan’s absence (big job, well done!).  On the day before the show, Vince and Harry Scott drove to Dan’s house to pick up the majority of the donated auction items, and the car show awards.  Also, thanks to Peter Chen for pinch hitting as the show photographer.  None of our regular photographers could make it this year, but Peter appeared with a real camera strapped around his neck.  He created a great gallery for the 2025 PR show.  View the pictures in this issue and on the Region’s website.

 After the show, the PR officers went out for a bite to eat.  As we sat around the table, Vince observed the age of the group.  The young ones among us were those under 80.  Now that’s advanced!  Scary, too.  Is the Potomac Region headed for extinction?  If we don’t start recruiting in kindergartens, then at least let’s hit high schools and colleges.  Tell us your ideas.

In just a couple days, the 2025 CLC Grand National begins.  Our Regional Vice President Grady Davis asked me how many PR members will attend.  I couldn’t answer because I honestly don’t know.  After the awards banquet on Saturday night, let’s make our presence known.  Let’s gather for a PR family photo this year like we did last year.  Looking forward to it!

Larry Good