NE LCOC History
(Including other early regional history)
This history of the LCOC New England Region is taken from the early “Comments” or “Bulletins” as they were called in the early days, and from early directories. References to are made to specific issues throughout the text.
Most people don’t know there was a LCOC New England Region in the early days LCOC. The New England Region was in fact the FIRST LCOC region.
The Early Years
In Bulletin #4 (June 1953) Elliston Bell notes that the “first regional Director has been appointed for Eastern Pennsylvania. He is Christopher Custer”. Bell asks members if they could help on a “meet committee” for this new region. Custer was planning his first meet at his Newtown, PA farm in September. Although Custer was the first regional director, there was already a “meet committee” in Boston. The first LCOC meet ever held was on June 14th at Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, MA. Bell also writes “Any of you who wish to take active part in the Club in your own sections, please get in touch with members near you or with me and let’s get going in all parts of the country at once…….”. It appears that Elliston Bell knew that local regions and local meets would be essential to making the LCOC an active and vibrant automobile club.
Bulletin #5 (August 1953) mentions what a great time everyone had at the first LCOC meet in Sturbridge, MA. Bell also says of this meet “I am sure that this is just the fore-runner of many enthusiastic get-to-gethers (sic) in all the regions across the country.” This sounds like Bell is referring to this meet as a “Regional Meet”.
Bulletin #6 (September 1953) announces the dates of two new meets. The Pennsylvania meet hosted by Chris Custer will be held on September 13th. The second is the “New England Region Meet” to be held in Princeton, MA on October 10th. Although this is the first reference in a Bulletin to the New England Region by name, this group was already in existence and actively scheduling events in the NE area before the Eastern PA Region was formed.
In Bulletin #7 (October 1953), Bell announces that the LCOC now has four regions with regional chairmen. There is now an Ohio Region, and a Kansas and Oklahoma Region in addition to the NE and Eastern PA Regions. Bell also mentions that the Chairmen of these Regions, and future Chairmen will appoint a National Activities Chairman to organize local meets and meets with other clubs.
Bulletin #8 (December 1953) announces two new regions, Wisconsin and Colorado. Bell also thinks Texas should be the next region and he tries to rally the many members in Texas to start a region. This bulletin also announces the results of the Princeton, MA meet and that “Peter Falk, New England Regional Chairman now has two successful meets to his credit.” It was a great day and awards where given for a pre-war and post-war classes of Lincolns. The awards for the best pre-war Lincoln and the longest distance where given to Chris Custer of PA for his 1941 Cabriolet. It is interesting to note that Custer’s car is now owned by Harvey Oberg of Woodbury MN. Harvey is a member of LCOC and well known in Lincoln circles for the fact that he has driven his Lincoln to meets for the last 20 years, over 50,000 miles, and still scores 99-100 points in judging.
The beginning of 1954 was a great time for the newly formed LCOC. The paid membership was now over 300. The January 1954 Membership List had on it’s first page the names of the National Chairman, the National Activities Chairman, and the eight Regional Chairmen. Not bad for a group that started only one year earlier. In the first paragraph of the Bulletin #10 (February 1954) Bell mentions the list of regions in the Membership List and asks all members to either join a region or help form one if you live in an area not covered by an existing region. The LCOC was also starting to plan their first national meet in Dearborn Michigan in the October.
In the spring of 1954, a notice was sent to LCOC members that the New England Region was going hold their first meet of 1954 at the Lars Anderson Estate in Brookline Massachusetts. The date of this event was June 19th and the invitation was personally signed by Henrietta Bell, Chairman of the New England Region, LCOC. It is odd that there was no mention of this meet in the Bulletins, but Elliston Bell was pretty busy with the first National Meet in Dearborn, MI and a lot of space in the bulletins was dedicated to updates on the planning, and to encourage LCOC members to attend.
Comments #14 (July 1954) announced two new regions, Illinois and New York. And on May 23rd, the California Region held it’s first meeting in Griffith Park.
The LCOC in 1955 was becoming a nationally recognized automobile club. With the success of the Dearborn Meet in 1954, they started planning an Eastern National Meet and a Western National Meet for 1955. The Virginia Region held their first meet on April 17th. Pennsylvania held their meet in September. There were now 10 regions of LCOC and Bell was still recruiting members to form regions in areas not covered. There was no mention of New England Regional events in 1955.
The 1956 LCOC membership list includes a list of the 10 LCOC Regions and their Chairmen on the first page. The New England Chairman is now listed as Elliston Bell himself. Regional news rather was scarce in the Comments of 1956. The LCOC wasn’t even sure if they were going to have an Eastern National Meet until Dr. L. Dale Shaeffer stepped up and arranged one in Boyne, Michigan. Comments #25 notes that “Regional Chairmen are have become slightly discouraged in attempting local meets.” In Comments #27, Bell addresses the roles of the national and regions groups. Bell also reiterates the role of the regions and how the person-to-person relationships will make the LCOC experience more pleasurable for all. But, not a lot of regional news in 1956.
1957 could be considered the dark days of the early LCOC. Elliston Bell lost money on the 1955 Eastern National meet, and the club didn’t seem to be experiencing the success he envisioned four years earlier. Comments #31 (May 1957) was the last published by Bell, and at the end he explained that he was turning the club over to Dr. L. Dale Shaefffer and others. Regional news was non-existent except for Western meets and rallies.
1958 was the start of a new era. The LCOC was officially incorporated as a non-profit organization with National and Regional constitutions. Comments #35 lists the date as January 1958, but for some reason stopped putting the dates on issues for a while. Anyway, there is very little news on regions, except for Illinois and the Western Regions.
Comments #43 announces the newly chartered Mid-Atlantic Region held it’s first meeting at Cheesequake State Park in New Jersey. They also announced they would have future meets in Pennsylvania. There is no mention as to what states the region covers. Comments #45 mentions their first annual regional meet was held on October 24th 1959 at the Oak ‘n Spruce in South Lee, Mass.
The 1960’s
Comments #52 (Jan-Feb 1961) is the first issue where the regional officers are listed on the inside of the front cover. It lists the regions as the Western, Illinois, and Mid-Atlantic. What happened to the old regions? The Comments make no mention of these up to this point. It can only be assumed that the of the original 10 that were formed during Elliston Bell’s tenure, 8 had fallen into inactivity.
Comments #64 (Jan-Feb 1963) was the Tenth Anniversary Edition. There is an interesting article written by then Mid-Atlantic Director, Herman Rogg, and Pennsylvania member Richard Lee on page 24. The article is titled “History of the LCOC Eastern Regions”. There is some great history, but no mention of the New England Region. In the last line of the article, Rogg invites the members of CT, NY, PA, NJ, DE, and MD to join the MAR. Is this the list of states in the Mid-Atlantic regional charter?
Comments #76 (Jan-Feb 1965) lists a new region on the inside of the front page, Ohio Valley. On the Region pages at the end of this issue, MAR now lists their territory as the entire east coast from North Carolina to Maine except for the Western Pennsylvania which is part of the Ohio Valley Region. We can only assume that this was the end of the New England Region.
Comments #90 (Fall 1967) lists a new region on page 26, the South Atlantic Region. This new region lists it’s territory as Delaware, Maryland, Washington DC, Virginia, and North Carolina. All these states were formally in the MAR, but they broke off and formed their own region. By reviewing the location of MAR events up to this time, we can surmise that the LCOC members probably formed the SAR because of the lack of local events in these states. It’s also interesting to note on this page that MAR had a rare Massachusetts event at the Lars Anderson Estate in Brookline, in November.
The 1970’s
Comments #107 (Winter 1972). The Southeastern Region is chartered on April 8, 1972. There were a couple articles regarding this new region, and the successful meets they had held in 1971. This region is now know as simply the Southern Region.
Comments #116 (Spring 1974). The Illinois Region expands to include Wisconsin, Iowa, and part of Indiana. The region is renamed the Mid-Continental Region.
Comments #118 (Fall 1974). The SAR Region disbands after only seven years. Although they were very active in their initial years, activity rapidly declined over the last two years. Although this was disappointing to the SAR members as well as the LCOC officials, some lessons can be learned from this, especially that members did not want to drive generally more than 75-125 miles to attend meets. These states were never rejoined with the Mid-Atlantic Region, North Carolina is now part of the Southern Region.
Comments #131 (Winter 1977) now lists the new region of the Pacific Northwest. No news on this new region, just a list of upcoming events
Comments #134 (Fall 1978). Now lists the new region of Southwest. No news on this new region. So much press was given to the Silver Anniversary meets that maybe this was pushed to the side because of lack of space.
And so it goes…..
There are many more regions that have formed since the first 25 years of the LCOC. Most have been successful, some not. There have been mergers of regions, and secessions from regions over the years.
Regions play a vital role to all national automobile clubs. They satisfy the legal requirements for the non-profit tax status for most clubs. But more importantly they are what members want in a club. Members want to get together with their cars and fellow members to have good times, and to exchange information regarding the availability of parts or sharing technical tips.
Today
January 12th, 2008 – Revival of The New England Region was approved at the LCOC National Board Meeting in Atlanta, GA by an overwhelming majority.
March 18th, 2008 – The NER “Charter Meeting” was held to elect a permanent Board of Managers.
It’s time to start making some new NER history !!