2016 YEAR IN REVIEW
Being more so people who better enjoy looking forward than back , despite being early Twentieth Century automotive industry historians and artifact preservationists, we thought it novel for us to include a "year in review" article to take stock of just some of the major milestone accomplishments of the year that was as it draws to an end.
So many things took place for us that it is hard to decide on a format to conveniently and concisely express it all, but here goes . . .
JANUARY -
MotometerCentral achieves one million plus views/hits in its first full year
of operation.
MotometerCentral's founder and president, Francis G. Clax was
selected as to be a featured speaker at the Society of Automotive Historians
(SAH) Eleventh Biennial Conference to be held April 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio.
MotometerCentral's founder and president, Francis G. Clax was
nominated for the Society of Automotive Historians (SAH) Carl Benz Award
for the "best presentation of automotive history appearing in a periodical for
his article that was published in the Antique Automobile Club of America's
(AACA) 2015 September/October Issue of the Antique Automobile magazine.
Francis' article was titled "More Than A Hood Ornament." This article is
available online via the AACA Library & Research Center's website. Click here,
"More Than A Hood Ornament" to view and read the article.
FEBRUARY -
Shortly after permitting website customers the opportunity to list their
motometer-related items in our CLASSIFIED AD service our first client listed
his Marmon - logo BOYCE MOTO-METER. We are happy to report that the
MOTO-METER sold in a few days.
APRIL -
Francis was contacted by a wonderful lady, Ginny Cusenza who wanted to
donate a motometer that had belonged to her late husband, Frank. Frank was
a devout auto enthusiast who truly lived his passion and interest. Frank's
former motometer was made a permanent member of our permanent
collection in his honor.
MotometerCentral's founder and president, Francis G. Clax gave an
extremely well-received presentation on Motometer history as a featured
speaker at the Society of Automotive Historians' (SAH) Eleventh Biennial
Conference held April 14-16, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio.
A small but very comprehensive assembly of ultra rare motometers was
placed on display for first-hand conference attendee viewing and inspection,
including the oldest known surviving example and lone surviving BOYCE
MOTO-METER " Jobbers' Salesmen's (Confidential) Selling Data" catalog and
several others that best epitomize those manufactured throughout the
product's lifecycle to the delight of the crowd.
Templar Motors museum owner/operator, Dave Buehler donated a
Templar Motors BOYCE MOTO-METER to Francis.
MotometerCentral's motometer collection exhibit at the Antique
Automobile Club of America's (AACA) headquarters in Hershey, Pennsylvania
drew to a close after a year.
JUNE -
MotometerCentral's exclusive newsletter, "The Monitor" launched and was
distributed to website subscribers.
"The Monitor" is a currently a semi-annual dpublication that furnishes behind-
the-scenes insights into the activities of MotometerCentral and motometer
collector tips on "How" to build a better (quality) collection among others.
JULY -
Francis G. Clax was selected to be a featured speaker at the Historic
Vehicle Association's (HVA) 2016 Driving History conference to be held October
21-22, 2016 at the newly opened HVA Laboratory in Allentown, Pennsylvania's
NB Center for American Automotive Heritage.
AUGUST -
MotometerCentral introduced a Video Gallery to its ever evolving website
features.
SEPTEMBER -
Francis G. Clax was selected to be a featured speaker at the 2016 second
annual Jean S. Argetsinger Symposium on International Motor Racing History
to be held November 11-12, 2016 at the International Motor Racing Research
Center (IMRRC) in Watkins Glen, New York.
The Jean S. Argetsinger Symposium is organized by the IMRRC and the SAH,
which recognize the many contributions of the Argetsinger family to auto
racing, preservation of its history and heritage including the construction of
the Watkins Glen racing facility.
On September 29th MotometerCentral lost Martin "Marty" Schultz a
highly valued, praised and sorely missed friend and member of our family.
OCTOBER -
Francis spoke at the HVA Driving History Conference the theme of which was
"Protecting Our Overlooked Automotive Heritage in the Twenty-first Century."
The conference was held on October 21-22, 2016 at the recently opened HVA
Laboratory within the illustrious NB Center for American Automotive Heritage
in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Francis aptly spoke and presented on the subject of "Motometers: The
Overlooked and Misunderstood Origins of early Twentieth Century
Automobile Engine Temperature Indicating Devices"
NOVEMBER -
Francis spoke on November 12, 2016 at the Second Annual Jean S. Argetsinger
Symposium on International Motor Racing History held at the International
Motor Racing Research Center in Watkins Glen, New York.
Francis presentation was titled "Motometers and their Racing Association"
wherein he spoke and displayed illustrative examples of the role(s) played by
motometers on race cars during events held around the world. Several
artifact examples were were on-hand for conference attendees to physically
examine.
MotometerCentral announced a new partnership with Paul Taylor's
Acrylicsnmoore business of Moore, South Carolina to furnish acrylic materials
used to produce its exclusive patent pending Motometer Pedestals.
In close association with this announcement MotometerCentral exclusive
patent pending Motometer Pedestal saw an immediate increase in sales of
more than 500% followed by n increase of 250% the month after.
We also observed many MotometerCentral Motometer Pedestal customer
motometers come to market extolling the aesthetic beauty and utility that
they associated with owning our pedestals and displaying their items upon
them.
DECEMBER -
MotometerCentral summorized the many brilliant presentations that took
place at the Second Annual Jean S. Argetsinger Symposium on International
Motor Racing History. MotometerCentral's founder and president,
Francis G. Clax, was among the international field of distinguished speakers
at the event.
MotometerCentral announced several changes to the lineup of monthly
featured articles and advance notices of some service price increases for the
new year.
We experienced a large number of people contacting us from around the
world seeking information on their motometers.
And, we observed an equally large number of persons referencing highly
select portions of our website information to attempts to aid the sale of their
motometer-related item(s).
All-in-All it was a very good and productive year for MotometerCentral for
which we are truly thankful and look forward to better serving our
constituency next year and the years that follow.