Remember the old Slant6 Club of America

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/sixchall

/sixchall

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Here’s some old Slant6 info from my own automotive history. Back in the late 80’s and into the 90’s I was a member of the “Slant Six Club of America”. The club publications were all geared toward the “A” bodies with Slant6 engines, that really meant anything with a factory Slant. I was involved as a member with the SoCal chapter myself. Usually making all of the gatherings with them, out of maybe 25-30 cars I had the only “E” body Slant6 car there, a real oddball. I was going through my old club magazines and picked out the “E” issue to post, for interest. There were a few “B” also with the Slant under hood. Any of you remember the old Slant6 Club? I believe there are a couple of holdout chapters that still exist, just not here in SoCal.
Thanks, Al

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I was a longtime member out here in the east coast. I think Jack Poeller ran the operation for a long time till health issues took him out of the game. I believe @slantsixdan was a long time contributor as well.
 
Jack Poehler bought the club from founder Harry Aunes in 1985. Poehler put a hell of a lot of work into propelling the Slant-6 Club of America for over a decade, putting together and distributing a very good quarterly paper magazine and managing the contributions of a long list of technical contributors and the comings and goings of numerous far-flung regional chapters of the club. He put together the magazine by hand; he refused to learn to use a computer. Gradually it got harder and harder to find a printer who would accept paste-ups rather than electronic files. Also, Poehler's health gradually worsened (poor diet, no exercise, heavy smoker), so the magazines grew later and later and eventually it was no longer possible for him to carry on. There was some friction and upset in the last five or six years as people carried on sending in subscription money but didn't get any magazines. He died in 2017.
 
Thank you for your reply Dan, yes I knew Jacks health was worsening later on. Several times I talked with him over the phone there in Portland Ore. I sure did like that guy a great conversationalist and quite interesting. I believe he said he had spent his life as some kind of an engineer.I joined up right after Jack had bought the club off of Harry and stayed as a member until it folded up. Thanks again, Al
 
slantsixdan said:
Jack Poehler bought the club from founder Harry Aunes in 1985. Poehler put a hell of a lot of work into propelling the Slant-6 Club of America for over a decade, putting together and distributing a very good quarterly paper magazine and managing the contributions of a long list of technical contributors and the comings and goings of numerous far-flung regional chapters of the club. He put together the magazine by hand; he refused to learn to use a computer. Gradually it got harder and harder to find a printer who would accept paste-ups rather than electronic files. Also, Poehler's health gradually worsened (poor diet, no exercise, heavy smoker), so the magazines grew later and later and eventually it was no longer possible for him to carry on. There was some friction and upset in the last five or six years as people carried on sending in subscription money but didn't get any magazines. He died in 2017.
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Then I take it The Slant Six Club Of America is now defunct. Are you familiar with this, Dan?

https://slantsixclub.com/
 
Live here in the Bay Area. There is a group of what we call "the slant six club". They have a little show/gathering each year in Redwood City at the marina. It's free and a lot of fun. Maybe 25 cars. Hard to get hold of them.
 
I believe there is a chapter in New Jersey still active under Ben Deutchman. The one in Cal’s Bay Area is also still active under Doug Dutra (Dr. Dodge) who has the gathering at the Marina. These two are the only ones I’m aware of, if there are any others I haven’t heard of them. Thanks, Al
 
Maybe Charrlie S will chime in.
There was a east coast group, Buzzin Half Dozen and a west coast group called the KillerBees. They are/were a bunch of Slant drag racers. I got a trophy from the KillerBees sitting on my shelf from 2014.I have been out of the game for awhile now.
 
IIRC Brian Bowie hosted an east coast slant meet every year around Oct at B & B salvage yard in MD. Usually had a decent turnout
 
I was on board for years also. Don, did you attend the B&B shows? I made 2 or 3 coming up from Tidewater. Ben D I think is running the slant six facebook page, $16 dollar dues to join. Gary Platz used to run a Petersburg VA slant six show. He is still running his Duster.
 
I attended quite a few of the shows at B & B. Always a pretty decent turn out and B & B gave us the run of the place if we were looking for anything. As i recall they even fed us as well
 
"Slant-6 Quarterly" was the publication of a separate club formed in NY/NJ by Dan Gallo around 1985, perhaps in reaction to Harry Aunes having sold the Slant-6 Club of America. That was a good magazine, too, but after about three years of back-and-forth sniping and squabbling, Poehler (who I am fairly sure was never an engineer) and Gallo buried their fences and mended their hatchets and Gallo's club became a chapter of Poehler's club. This is the first I'm seeing of that slantsixclub.com website, but the pics in the Gallery section make me wonder if it might be a Gallo operation (or perhaps Ben Deutschman is involved, whose brown '60 Savoy I think that is in the 2nd pic in the gallery).

Yes, the Slant-6 Club of America as such is defunct, though as others have mentioned some of the stronger regional chapters have kept going on their own. I formed and ran the Denver chapter from 1992 to 1994, and in 1995 (a quarter-century ago, squack!) I drove down from Eugene, OR for Doug Dutra's meet at Alviso Marina. Still got pictures around here somewhere, old-fashioned photo prints.

Now what was I saying? Oh yeah: speak up, willya? I can't hear ya when ya mumble.
 
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