March 15th, 2024

Register for Dust 'em Off TODAY!!!!

The Chairman of Tune Up Week is currently soliciting vehicles for the coveted Tune Up Week T-shirts. Submitted cars will be entered to have a spot on one of the six featured nights' t-shirts. Thanks to our amazing partner Huntington Bank, 250 of these coveted shirts are produced each night as a special prize. Only cars registered have the opportunity to WIN one of these shirts. NEW this year, the winner will be notified ahead of Tune Up Week and allowed the opportunity to purchase additional shirts to showcase their vehicle.

Tune Up week is August 5^th – 10^th, 2024.

Rules:

1. Cars and trucks are eligible.

2. Multiple submissions per owner are allowed but MUST be different vehicles.

3. Vehicles previously used on Tune Up Week Shirts will not be accepted.

4. Vehicles must be able to attend during Tune Up Week and MUST be able to have their car on display for the night they are highlighted.

5. All submissions must be received no later than April 15^th, 2024.

6. The owners of winning vehicles will be contacted in early July 2024.

To enter, please email the following information to Tony Bauer at: TonyBauer@backtothebricks.org

1. Year, Make and Model

2. Vehicle owner’s name, phone, and email address

3. Classic Car or Truck photo

4. A short human-interest story about your vehicle.

Any interesting information you can provide is helpful in “selling” your vehicle to be selected. We’re looking for a concise story offering highlights of your history with the vehicle. 

Thank you and GOOD LUCK!

Back to the Bricks®

Backtothebricks.org

By: Gary Fisher

President - Genesee County Historical Society

Of all the men who helped build Flint and Genesee County up into an economic powerhouse, none compared to Josiah Dallas Dort when it came to the combination of civic pride and capital growth. Teaming with William C. “Billy” Durant in 1886 to build the Flint Road Cart Company, and later the Durant-Dort firm he helped set the stage for the world to come. 

Dort grew up in Inkster, Michigan, and attended the Scotch Settlement School with Henry Ford ironically enough, eventually migrating to Flint to work. Although neither Durant nor Dort knew the first thing about manufacturing carriages, they both possessed certain elemental skills that would make the business a success. Perhaps the most important of those elements was their innate ability to divide the work appropriately. Durant, the consummate salesman handled growth and expansion, while Dort focused on organization, personnel, and management. It was a formula that worked like magic. 

Dort focused heavily on improving the life of those who toiled for the firm, and the city that it was housed in. He became known as “The First Citizen of Flint’ for good reason. The land he owned became the college and cultural center and the entire East Side of the city. He worked with the architect of New York’s Central Park to develop the Flint Parks system, which became world-class. He promoted the arts in general and music in particular and founded the Community Music Association, which later became the Flint Institute of Music. 

Dort was an early and aggressive benefactor and organizer of programs that would benefit people far beyond what they did to earn their pay. He was the developer of the ‘Sick and Accident Relief Association’ at the carriage company. Employees paid an association fee, and in return, the company would pay for any medical bills incurred by the employee. Dort said that the association was instituted “not only to protect its members in the event of sickness, accident or death but through its Trustees and by means of its club or other features, to bring the whole body of vehicle and accessory workers into closer relationship and understanding with the factory management.” By 1922, the program’s name had changed to the Industrial Mutual Association (better known as the IMA in Flint) and had expanded to include athletic teams, sponsored trips, and programs for members, their wives, and children.

Dort, together with Durant, and as a part of the Durant Dort team, built the carriage maker into the world’s largest. It ultimately formed the financial and structural basis for the development of Buick when Durant took that struggling company over. Dort was a major player in Buick’s growth and as a result the development of General Motors. He also played a major role in attracting a young man named Charles Stewart Mott and his Weston-Mott firm to Flint. When Durant was ousted from GM and came back to Flint to invent a new company called Chevrolet, Dort again was there and provided him full management oversight, corporate leadership, and capital. 

When Durant and Dort mysteriously (it was never addressed or explained publicly) ended their business relationship (but by all accounts, not their long friendship) in 1915, Dort embarked on a new adventure creating the Dort Motor Car Company. The firm lasted for 10 years, and at one point was the 13th largest automaker in the nation. Dort Motor Car enthusiasts still make the pilgrimage to Flint to see where the object of their love was invented and to visit the offices of the man who envisioned it, and so many other truly revolutionary and wonderful creations. The city he helped build has had its ups and downs, but as for the ups, much of them can be credited at least in part to the man whose heart was even bigger than his sizable brain and pocketbook.

Speaking of Flint late in his life he said: “Nothing could mean more to me than Flint. Outside of the love of my family, this is worth more to me than anything else on earth … Others may say that they like this, that, or the other place … but I want to say to you that serving Flint is good enough for me, and serving in Flint suits me, and I will live and die in Flint, I hope among the people whom I love.” And that is exactly what he did, dying of a heart attack on the 18^th fairway of the Flint Golf Club that he co-founded in 1925.

Paired with Durant and C.S. Mott, Dort forms the triumvirate from which billions upon billions of dollars have been made and transferred between millions of people over multiple generations. Also, the establishment and support of the landmarks that have improved the lives of countless millions of people not just in Flint and Genesee County, but indeed around the world.

Dort was a man of his time, his industry, and most assuredly the truest devotee of Flint ever.

Gary L. Fisher

President 

Genesee County Historical Society

Young Dort

Dort in his later years

Young Dort with the Durant-Dort management team. Billy Durant on the far left, ABC Hardy lower between them, Fred Aldrich second row on the right

Al’s Garage

Vol. 5, Issue #3

"Shaking off the couch-potato blues"

Before I get into the subject at hand, I would like to inform all, that I am not in fact ‘dead.’ There was a rumor going around about me, but fortunately for me and you, I am still here! I went through a major surgery and have been slowly getting back on my feet. It was great seeing many of my friends at the recent Chrome & Ice™ show, which served as a nice way to pick up my spirits. Now for the topic at hand.

I know many ‘couch potatoes’ out there, and you could count yours truly as one of them. I had a fair number of projects I wanted to address this winter but unfortunately, because of medical reasons, all my great plans were abruptly shelved. Last summer my wife and I purchased a 1950 Willys Jeepster which I spotted at the Linden, Michigan Tune-Up party. It was unrestored but presentable from twenty feet away. It was a complete vehicle and ran well but for sure it needed some tender love and care. I started with the engine bay by removing brackets, hoses, belts, starter, generator, etc. Cleaning and repainting anything that could be removed. After the engine bay, I started on the undercarriage from the transmission forward. I then turned my attention to the brake system.

I purchased new wheel cylinders, flex brake hoses, and a new master cylinder. I got as far as the last wheel cylinder and came to a screeching stop! (No pun intended!) My progress was interrupted by my health issues and hospitalization at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Fortunately, my son, Phil, and great friend, Hector Garcia, the owner of American Auto Works in Burton, finished the brake work and installed new shocks on all four corners. What is left is a new exhaust system which I will have installed upon my return to Michigan in early April. Our plans for the Jeepster are for it to be a ‘driver’, good to look at from twenty feet, but with no fantasies of winning any trophies or awards. Presentable? Absolutely! Fun to drive? Always! Memorable? No question about it! Jeepsters are very recognizable due to their unique design, and they were only made for two years; 1949 and 1950. There were a few 1950 Jeepsters carried over into 1951 and were titled as 1951’s. However, due to their unique body style, they are very recognizable. With the car show and car cruise season fast approaching, look for an all-black Jeepster with faux chrome wire wheels and stop by and let’s talk ‘old cars.

Keep on Rollin'

Al Hatch

Founder of the Back to the Bricks® 

Chairman Emeritus

Hey everyone,

I know it's been awhile, so I thought I should give you an update. We made it through Chrome & Ice, had tons of fun, lots of laughs and for sure made some great car memories. Proceeds from Chrome & Ice as you may know go to our Back to the Bricks® Scholarship Fund. Applications will be accepted until April 15th, so if you know of a senior looking for a scholarship tell them to consider our application. We have a wonderful committee that takes time to go through each submission, they have a grading scale, and LOVE reading the essays. It's a fun task for them, and then selecting the 5 students is a true honor the committee is proud to do.

"Excitement" is the word our Chairman used, and that's exactly what I see too. I am so thankful to all our Sponsors and Partners for their support and excitement for this 20th Anniversary year. There's so many events popping up all over the place, including car shows this coming Spring and Summer, so our calendars are quickly filling up. So don't forget to mark your calendars for the staple Back to the Bricks® events.

• May 19th, Dust 'em Off Car Show
• Dort Financial Center
• 1 Day Outdoor Car Show
• $10 registration/donation
• Register HERE
• June 7th - 12th, Back Roads Promo Tour
• Traveling around Michigan
• 6 Days of FUN, Car Shows and Tourism
• $65 per car until April 1st. $80 after April 1st - May 1st
• Learn more HERE
• July 17th, 1st Road Rally
• ALL-NEW experience traveling to Gilmore Car Museum
• 1 Day Road Rally Adventure
• Fee based on package selection
• Registration opens April 1st
• August 5th - 10th, Tune Up Week
• Traveling each night to another city around Genesee County
• 6 Nights of Car Shows
• FREE but registration to win prizes and T-shirts
• Registration opens May1st
• August 12th - 17th, Main Event
• Full week of FUN
• Car Shows, Cruises, Concerts and MORE!
• FREE but registration to win prizes and T-shirts
• Registration opens May1st

So buckle up my friends, we've got the events laid out, our Committee is working HARD behind the scenes, this 20th year of fun is going to be memorable.

Speaking of memorable... I want to thank everyone who has sent their support and encouragement for our organization over the last few months. As you know we lost two very important car enthusiasts and family members. On February 1st, Michael Whysall, Head of Security for Back to the Bricks®, and on February 27th Bob Sovis, one of the founding members of Back to the Bricks®. Both were tremendous individuals who not only volunteered and served on many of our committees for many years, both served as Directors on the Back to the Bricks® Board. It's never easy to say goodbye, and the loss of these men is still being felt, even more now as we plan the upcoming Summer season. But we will honor them and all our Founders and Board Members before them with a memorial that we are working on to be in the downtown Flint area, more details on that coming soon.

Loss doesn't stop there... Everyday we see more and more of our friends passing on. I myself lost my Grandma this last month, she was 99 years young. As a child, she was raised in an orphanage, as a toddler survived the depression with all her brothers and sisters, delt with a lot of sadness and sickness over the years to include covid. She thrived on being involved in her community, was great at sewing, and baking. She was full of life, passion and her beliefs in her faith. She LOVED hearing about you all, and the events we put on. She would say, "How are you liking the cars?" She lived a long good life and I am really missing her right now.

I've been talking with our Chairman Al, and Vice Chairman Ralph, about a place for a car enthusiast to go to honor their fellow car brother or sister, and leave a memorial for them. They fully support my ideas, and encourage me to build it. So it's my mission to complete this soon... More details about this in the coming weeks.

I will end with this... We aren't guaranteed tomorrow, so make today the best day ever. Tell your friends and family you love them EVERY TIME you speak to them.

See you soon!

Amber Taylor, CTA

Executive Director

Back to the Bricks®

810-877-8383

ambertaylor@backtothebricks.org