On this week's episode, host Phil Tower welcomes Tom Sinas, partner at The Sinas Dramis Law Firm. Tom is a long-time advocate for those with head injuries and bicycle safety with the Lids for Kids bicycle helmet giveaway. Sinas Dramis Law Firm and community partners are hosting Lids for Kids, one of Michigan's longest-running and best-known free bike helmet giveaways. Each year, events are held in Lansing and Grand Rapids, and this year's event is in Grand Rapids at Garfield Park on Saturday, June 1st. Tom told us that Lids For Kids draws families across West Michigan.
Online: Lids for Kids
In part two of our program, Phil welcomed the Collections Specialist & Historian Jay Follis with The Gilmore Car Museum. The Mission of the Gilmore Car Museum is to tell America's history through the automobile. We foster experiences that connect people with the automobile's history, heritage, and social impact by collecting, preserving, and interpreting its story. Gilmore also offers chauffeured rides in classic cars from the Gilmore Car Museum's collection, which is offered Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from May through September. Jay also talked about their newest automotive exhibit, "Are We There Yet?"…. Focusing on America's favorite station wagons through the years, and highlighted the always popular model T driving school offered by the museum.
Online: The Gilmore Car Museum.
https://gilmorecarmuseum.org/
Online: Lids for Kids
In part two of our program, Phil welcomed the Collections Specialist & Historian Jay Follis with The Gilmore Car Museum. The Mission of the Gilmore Car Museum is to tell America's history through the automobile. We foster experiences that connect people with the automobile's history, heritage, and social impact by collecting, preserving, and interpreting its story. Gilmore also offers chauffeured rides in classic cars from the Gilmore Car Museum's collection, which is offered Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from May through September. Jay also talked about their newest automotive exhibit, "Are We There Yet?"…. Focusing on America's favorite station wagons through the years, and highlighted the always popular model T driving school offered by the museum.
Online: The Gilmore Car Museum.
https://gilmorecarmuseum.org/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
iHeartMedia West Michigan Weekend, a publicaffairs program. Hi, and welcome in.
It's West Michigan Weekend from iHeartRadio andI'm your host, Phil Tower.
Thank you for tuning in across whateveriHeartRadio station you may happen to be tuned
into. Don't forget this is apodcast as well. After you hear us
on the radio, you can checkus out on the left side of the
(00:27):
page atwoodradio dot com. All ofour four hundred and fifty nearly four hundred
fifty episodes are available there for listeningon demand. In this segment, I'm
very pleased to welcome back. Thisis an annual thing. Well, we
have him on a little more thanannually when we talk about personal injury law,
and we've done programs with Tom Sinusabout no fault auto insurance because he
(00:51):
is a very knowledgeable guy. Hehappens to also be a partner with a
Sinus Dramus law firm here in GrandRapids, Michigan. A one time aspiring,
talented musician who gave it all upfor law, and we're grateful for
that because he's been a tireless advocatefor those with head injuries and avoiding head
injuries. And that's why Sinus Dramasis one of the lead sponsors for a
(01:17):
great annual event called Leads for Kids. And the partner with a Sinus Ramis
law firm that I'm speaking about isTom Sinus. Tom, my friend,
welcome back to the program. OhPhil, it's great to be back.
You have been a tireless supporter ofthis important event every year and I really
appreciate it and I always look forwardto talking with you. It is such
(01:37):
an important thing to put the powerof many radio stations behind this event,
because Tom, you never know,with all the conversations we've had about lids
for Kids through the years, youever stop and wonder about how many people
we just kind of put dis nudgein them that said, Okay, I
got to do something about this.It could have even been an adult who's
never worn a helmet on their bike. So don't you wonder about how many
(02:00):
people we've influenced over the years.I do, And you know, I
think the proof is in the puttingbecause every year we've been doing this in
Grand Rapids since about twenty fourteen,and of course we have to take a
couple of years off there because ofCOVID, But every year that we've been
doing this, I'm always amazed atthe number of people who show up,
(02:21):
which I think both speaks to theneed and importance of what we're providing,
but it also certainly speaks to thereach of the message. Thanks to you
and all the other people who havesupported this event over the years. We're
talking about Lids for Kids. Thisis the biggest and best known bike helmet
giveaway and bike safety event here inthe state of Michigan. Happens in Lancing
(02:45):
and Grand Rapids. As we're havingthis conversation on the radio, the Lancing
event was roughly a week ago,and the Grand Rapids Lids for Kids event,
which we're going to be focusing on, is Saturday, June first.
And this sounds like a pretty basicthing, but there are still too many
kids, too many adults riding bicycleswithout helmets and not taking head injuries serious
(03:09):
enough. And I know you seethese directly in your practice and have for
a long time with Signus Dreamous LawFirm, But this is an important thing.
Let's start with a basic question.I ask you every time Tom say
sign Us, why why is thisso important to you? And to your
law firm. Well, as youmentioned earlier, our law firm represents people
(03:30):
who have been seriously heard or havelost a loved one. But before we're
lawyers, we are parents and fathersand sons and daughters. And the last
thing that we ever want to haveis a case in our law firm involving
a brain injury to a child.And so we thought a long time ago,
what can we do. You know, we're just a bunch of lawyers.
(03:53):
We can protect our own children asmuch as we want, but we
sure would like to be able todo something more than that. And so,
starting in about two thousand and three, I guess now over twenty years
ago, we thought, well,we can give away bike helmets. As
you pointed out, Phil, Eventhough I think people know now more than
(04:14):
they did when I was a kidabout how important bike helmets are, there
are a lot of people that don'thave access to them for one reason or
another. So we thought, well, we can maybe try to help with
that problem. Maybe we can showup in communities where we live and work
and bring a bunch of helmets withus, a truckload if we have to,
and fit them on the heads ofkids. That need them and give
(04:39):
them away for free. And I'veoften said to you, as you know,
if in twenty years of doing thiswe have prevented one brain injury and
one child, then the whole thingis worth it. So that's why we
do it. We don't want childrenin our office, we don't want parents
of injured children in our office,and we certainly can't prevent all the potential
(04:59):
harm that might come to any ofus. But this always struck us as
a little something we could do forthat little ounce of prevention. And there
are a lot of people who reallydon't get this message. Year after year.
They consider it well a hassle,or they just don't think about it.
I think some parents have the mindsetthat, well, you know,
(05:19):
I rode my bike without a helmet. I don't need to worry about it.
But it is very important. Andeven if you have a bicycle helmet
helmet doesn't fit, well, it'salmost as bad as not having a helmet.
Tom, that's right. Some peoplehave said over the years, you
know, why don't you just havea drive through, so to speak,
(05:40):
where you just pass these things outand we don't have to come get out
of our cars and bring our kidsand we say exactly what you just said.
Yes, it's critical to have ahelmet, but it's equally critical to
make sure that the helmet is fitted, because a poorly fitting helmet gives people
that false sense of security and cansometimes not be a help at all.
So we've asked friends over the yearsif they would volunteer a couple of hours
(06:03):
of their time and serve as helmetfitters. And we've got community partners this
year like we've had in the past, people from all around the community,
whether it's folks at Mary Freeband orGrand Rapids Public Schools, the Fire Department,
Fox seventeen. You know that thelist goes on and we have a
bunch of wonderful folks, including fromour law firm, who'll give them of
their time on a Saturday morning andmake sure that those helmets are fitted on
(06:26):
the kids who show up, becausewe want them to have the helmet,
but we want them to have theirown helmet, one that fits their head
and one that is hopefully tight aroundtheir chin and sits right below the ear,
because we want this to be easyfor families after they come to this
event. You know one thing I'velearned as a parent is times of the
year just sneak up on you.You know, all of a sudden,
it's spring and your kids want toride their bike, and you haven't thought
(06:50):
about the bike as a parent ina long time because you've been thinking about
other things, and all of asudden, your kids want to ride the
bike and maybe you realize, well, I don't have a helmet. And
so we want to make that processnot an issue. We want to just
come to people where we live,where they live, where we work,
and say, here you go,here's not only a helmet, but here's
(07:10):
one that we've made sure was fittedfor your son or daughter. So when
they want to grab that bike ona beautiful day we've been having, they
can grab their helmet just as easily. Tom Sinus is with US partner with
a Sinus Draymus Law firm. Theyare also the sponsor for the Lids for
Kids free bicycle helmet giveaway and bikesafety event happening on Saturday, June first
here in Grand Rapids. There isa terrific website where you can learn all
(07:35):
about the Lids for Kids Grand Rapidsevent at Lids for kidsmi dot org.
Lids for KIDSMI dot RG. Thisevent happens at Garfield Park Saturday, June
first, next Saturday, from tenam until noon and it is a big
event. There are a lot ofpeople who come out for this. What
(07:59):
is the four one one for peopleto know, for parents to know as
far as yes, I have childrenor you know, we've got some old
bicycle helmets. We're not sure ifthey work. I mean you would welcome
people just to make sure their helmetsare good, right, yeah, I
mean what we do is give freehelmets to kids under the twelve age years
(08:20):
twelve and under. It's certainly welcometo bring their old helmet, but our
goal is to bride them a newhelmet. You know, one thing about
a bike helmet is over time thatstyrofoam so to speak, and break down.
And also these helmets can become crackedand we might not even know it.
So we have just decided that it'sthe easiest thing to do is to
give kids new helmets. Also,of course their heads are growing and they're
(08:43):
growing, right, so they cancertainly bring their old helmet and come join
the fund. We also have raffleprizes. You know, we raffled off
three bikes and other fun stuff overthe years, But all they have to
do is bring a child age twelveor younger. It could be their child,
it could be a neighbor's child,and be whoever, and bring a
little bit of patience. In thebeginning of these events, there's always a
(09:05):
line, and I think that speaksto the interest and the need here.
Last year we fit five hundred andfour helmets on kids in two hours,
and that's pretty typical. That's alot. That's a lot of heads,
right head, and a lot ofhelmets. And usually what happens in the
beginning of the day before we getrolling is there's a line of people who
(09:26):
have formed before the event starts andwe open up, and then we start
breaking the kids out into age groupsand getting them fitted and getting the right
helmets so on. So it cantake a little bit of time, but
we always managed to make our waythrough the line, and for the ten
years we've been doing this in GrandRapids, it's not uncommon to have a
day where we're doing four or fiveor even more than five hundred helmets in
(09:48):
the day. So if you showup and you think, oh my gosh,
I don't want to wait in thisline. Just bear with us.
We will get through it. Saturday, June first, from ten am until
noon at our Field Park here inGrand Rapids. As Tom mentioned, this
is presented by Sinus Freamus Law Firm, the Brain Injury Association of Michigan Grand
(10:09):
Rapids Public Schools, Fox seventeen,and several other event partners, including our
friends at Mary free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital. It is a big event, but
you know you want to be patient. You will have the fire trucks there
because fire trucks are more of adraw than the good looking guy that Tom
Sinus is. And of course yourpartners at Sinus Stornum's Law firm got to
(10:33):
at least have a little eye candylike a fire truck. And you know
people from the fire department. Tom, I mean no doubt. I mean,
who wants to listen to a lawyerof black baron? So I take
no offense to anyone being bored withwhatever I'm doing. We are very lucky
that we have you know, GrandRapids Fire Department, Garfield Park Neighborhood Association,
Applied Innovation, Go Go Squeeze,and the organizations you mentioned. They're
(10:56):
all there to not only facilitate theevent make sure it goes smoothly, but
also provide entertainment or giveaways, justa way to engage the kids and the
families that are there. And oneof the things I love most about this
event is it's really become kind ofa community wide event. We get to
use Garfield Park, as you mentioned, we take over part of the park.
(11:16):
We have various tents and boots fromour friends who are there with us,
and I think people leave having agood time, and that's important,
I think as apparent least, becauseyou want the child to have a positive
association with this helmet that they got. You know, when I was a
kid, the son of a personalinjury lawyer, I think I was the
only kid in my town that wasrequired to wear a bike helmet. And
(11:39):
in the eighties, you know,bike helmet's had a horrible stigma and there
weren't a lot of good looking options. Thankfully, we've come a long way,
and what this event does, I'dlike to think is the kids who
are there not only get the freebike helmet, but they had fun getting
it, so when they grab itoff the shelf, there's a positive association
with the helmet. And our communitypartners make it possible they do. And
(12:03):
Tom Sinus, this is really importantto mention parents need to model this helmet
behavior as well. You know,you can say, yes, you have
to wear your helmet, but youshould wear a helmet as well. You
guys have been doing the Lids forKids event long enough, I'm sure you
can answer questions for adults in termsof hey, Tom, what's a good
helmet to buy? Or you know, what would you recommend as far as
(12:26):
this or that. So, momsand dads, if you're heading to Lids
for Kids next Saturday at Garfield Parkhere and Grand Rapids, make sure you
are walking the walk, talking tothe talk. You've got to do both
because otherwise your message is certainly goingto fall short. Fair enough, right,
Oh yeah, absolutely. I meanit's a bit like using curse words
(12:46):
if you use them around the houseand then you expect your kids not to
they see through that. So whilewe don't we don't have a program to
give away free bike helmets to adults, we hope that the event is a
reminder, as you say, foreveryone to be wearing a helmet, because
of course we're all equally at riskfor a serious head injury when we're on
(13:07):
our bike, and we all cando this thing that the medical science has
proven it the most effective thing youcan do to prevent that injury, and
that is wearing a helmet. Sowe hope that the event not only is
about giving free bike helmets to kids, but also a reminder of this simple
thing that we all can do.You know, I'm I just while we
were talking about helmets, I justlooked on you know online. I mean,
(13:31):
you can get a good bike helmetfor anywhere from you know, thirty
bucks to sixty bucks. And evenif you spent seventy bucks, compare that
to having to be hospitalized or longterm rehab for any kind of a physical
injury or a head injury or braininjury. You can't even compare the two.
(13:52):
That's why it's so important to takethis seriously, especially for kids,
and in this case, lids forkids. If you've you've got a kid
twelve at under, there's an opportunitythere. So the most important thing to
remember is this is truly an ounceof prevention. It might be just a
drop of prevention that can make ahuge difference in the long run. Tom,
(14:13):
I've got about just a minute left, real quickly. Lids for kidsmi
dot org is the best place forpeople to go to learn more. Any
other final words of wisdom from you, you know, only to riff on
what you just said. One ofthese lids for Kids helmets saved my daughter
from a serious head injury. Shewas I don't know, maybe three or
four years old. She was ona scooter. She hit a ridge in
(14:35):
the sidewalk and tumbled over the frontand cracked one of these lids for Kids
helmets, And thank god, she'sokay. So I hope that I certainly
don't hope that happens to anyone,but I hope that if it does,
they've got a Lids for Kids helmetor some other kind of helmet on their
head. And I hope they comeout Saturday, June first, ten am
to noon, Garfield Park, Bringyour kids, bring your friends' kids,
(14:58):
give us some patience and a wonderfultime, and start your summer the right
way when it comes to bike safety. That is Tom Sinus, partner and
Tireless advocate for of course, headinjuries and bicycle safety. Lids for kidsmi
dot org is the website they've beensponsoring this the Sinistreamous Law Firm has four
(15:20):
years he's been our guest on thissegment of West Michigan Weekend. Tom.
Thank you as always, Phil,Thank you for your support and helping spread
the message. We really appreciate it, always enjoy it, always take it
very seriously. We have more comingup on West Michigan Weekend. In just
a moment, stick around, we'llbe right back. She didn't just visit
the sick and poor. She movedin with them because they needed help.
(15:43):
Mother Theresa couldn't do it all,but she gave her all compassion. He
is in you now. Pass iton from pass it on dot Com.
Hi Thearon, Welcome back. It'sWest Michigan Weekend from iHeartRadio. I'm so
glad you have joined us on whateveriHeartRadio station across West Michigan you are listening
to. I have to say thisis my happy spot when I get to
(16:06):
talk about cars, and probably oneof my favorite destinations, if not my
favorite, here in West Michigan andreally for that matter, for the whole
state of Michigan. The Gilmore CarMuseum should be on your list this summer,
especially if you haven't been recently.A lot of new features and just
an amazing place. Even if you'renot all that into cars, it's just
(16:27):
a great family experience. And onour live line to kind of give us
a much needed update about the GilmoreCar Museum for the summer of twenty twenty
four. Jay follis collection specialist andhistorian with the Gilmore Car Museum. A
longtime friend of iHeartRadio. He's beenon these airwaves many a time at the
(16:48):
Michigan International Audio Show. This timewe are talking about summertime at the Gilmore
Car Museum. Hey, Jay,thank you so much for joining us.
It's great to be back with you. Phil. It's great. And when
you say so much going on inthe Gilmore this summer, there is so
much. And like you said,if you're not into old cars or whatever,
it doesn't matter. You come outand just look at the ninety acre
(17:11):
grounds and go, wow, thisis impressive. Or see some of the
different exhibits that we have you think, oh, I didn't think I was
into cars. The first exhibit I'mgoing to talk about is our brand new
exhibit and it's called are We thereYet? Seeing America Through the Station Wagon?
You think, oh my word,station wagons that's got to be boring,
right, No, So the firstthing you're going to walk in,
(17:32):
you're going to see probably what wecan see, the most iconic station wagon.
And it's iconic because you probably didn'tthink of this as traveling for your
own family, but you watch theGrizzld family take this on vacation. It's
the National Lampoon's family truckster. Andthat's the thing you see when you first
walk in. You know, thekind that Chevy Chase drove and the family
(17:53):
vacation and so that movie was oneof those things that you can relate to
everything, right, Well, thinkof the things you sad when you're in
the car with your family. Youknow, your parents would say, don't
you make me stop this car?Or you know you kuld behave he's on
my side. She started it backand forth, all those things. What
we wanted to do is bring outiconic cars that you would really relate with,
(18:15):
and then also show you some ofthe stuff that maybe didn't even know
existed. I don't know about alot of people, but I grew up
in the Brady Punch air are right, So that's what the seventies eighties.
So those cars that we see outhere, and we do have a few
of those out here. Think ofit. Did you ever get to ride
in the back the very far backof a station wagon where you're facing oncoming
traffic. I mean that's where youknow, we all like battle to get
(18:37):
back there. I wanted to beback there. Of course, somebody would
always throw up because they're kind ofriding weird. You know, if you
think about it, that's when theyhad the station wingings. They had the
vinyl on the side that made itlook like wood. Well before that they
actually did have wood. You getback into the early fifties, they were
just getting away from the wood.Early forties, early thirties, they were
(18:57):
wood, and it was part ofit. It wasn't just a look,
it was really part of it.I think you're going to come through this
exhibit and you're going to see somecars that go only where. That's what
my grandparents were in, and that'swhat I remember riding in. Or we
went to whatever vacation it was in. And you'll see how people stayed,
how things changed. You know,we've got different travel things like maybe you
remember going to the Mystery Spot,or maybe you stayed at the Tpee resort
(19:21):
where you actually stayed in the tepee, or if you're a little bit older,
maybe you stayed at one of thetourist cabins. There's one called you
need a Rest, So we've recreateda tourist cabin right here for you.
Michigan is the water Wonderland. Thelicense plates and all that that you can
remember, and that's what we're reallytrying to do is bring you back so
that you can say this was sucha fun family time, like when we
(19:41):
went to the Macanol Bridge, ormaybe you had a car that had a
fold out camper on the roof thatshe had to climb up into. It's
just one of those things that wereally want to make it fun for the
people. And that's the very firstthing you walk into. Then you're gonna
see about four hundred cars on display. Where North America's largest car museum,
and we chained out things constantly.We have about six hundred cars in our
(20:04):
combining collections. But as you comeout here are almost them all of America
when it comes to car museums,because you have partner museums on our site.
So you're going to see the MadaleFord Museum or the Lincoln Museum,
the Caatellite Museum, all these differentmuseums right on their site. Don't even
realize they're different museums. You walkedfrom one car dealership to the next,
(20:25):
or one barn to the neck.So that's the exhibit part of it,
and you know it's interesting. Iwant to go back to the are we
there yet? Station wagon exhibit Ihad you were talking about the seventies,
remember distinctly road trips in the seventies. In our I think we had a
nineteen sixty nine Country Schoir. Itwas easily one of the best selling station
(20:45):
wagons of the time. In fact, Ford made that car for over forty
years. I just saw an interestingstatistic or a little fun factoid about this.
I don't know if you have thisin the exhibit. The wood panels
in the very early versions. Asyou said, you were so accurate in
mentioning this jayfallis the wood panels ina lot of these early woody station wagons
(21:08):
for the country Squire. Ford actuallyhad an iron Mountain plant where they made
the wood panels for the country Squire. I did not know that in the
Upper Peninsula. It was a lumberplant owned by Ford and then of course
they change those over to plastic orfiberglass or whatever. But you're gonna recognize
(21:29):
not only the National Lampoon truckster,but it looks like you may have a
Buick Roadmaster in their station wagon orwhatever. You know, the Big Vista
Cruiser, the Old Vista Cruiser.Those were very classic back in the day.
And yes, are we there yet? Is such a perfect name for
that. Jay Fallis is with usfrom the Gilmour Car Museum. And not
(21:51):
only is the Gilmore Car Museum withninety acres just a beautiful place. I'm
going to tell you the drive thereis a lot of fun because you get
to see and beautiful backcountry roads,just peaceful, beautiful, and when you're
coming from Grand Rapids Is I haveseveral times, it's just a wonderful drive.
An important fact to note as weare here in the summertime, you
(22:11):
guys are open every major summer holiday, Memorial Day, July fourth, and
Labor Day. So if you don'thave plans, maybe you're going to do
a staycation for July fourth, you'rethinking about what to do. The Gilmore
Car Museum is open on those holidaysand you can buy tickets online at Gilmourcar
(22:32):
Museum dot org Gilmourcar Museum dot org. They're very affordable, so jay for
listeners who are more into muscle carsand you know, things that make a
lot of noise. You still gota great muscle car exhibit there as well
too. Let's hit on some ofthe other exhibits if you would please sure
we go right into from this exhibit, you walk into a gallery where it's
(22:56):
the best of the thirties and someof these cars are incredible. It's one
of the most value is that you'regoing to see Mercedes and Dusenbergs. But
right next to that, you're goingto walk right into performance gallery and in
that we have the muscle cars ofthe sixties. There's a few weeks through
in there that are performance cars aswell, and you think, wait a
minute, that might not be amuscle car. Well, we're looking at
performance and you're gonna see some incrediblecars in there. But as you walk
(23:18):
through, you're going to go intothe Ford Dealers. See the model A
forwards and just to give an exampleof the Dusenbergers I was talking about in
nineteen twenty nine, you could goto your Ford dealer and buy about let's
say twenty four modelay Fords and twohouses or one Dusenberg. That just tells
you where the world has been andwhere you know if you want to look
(23:38):
at the haves and have not,it's back in that time frame. You
know you're ultra wealthy to own aDusenberg. And now they only made like
four hundred and eight of them.Just the exhibits alone are very cool.
But if you want to try somethingreally cool and you got to get behind
the wheel of a Model T.Now most people, if you don't know
anything about anti cars, you've heardof them, a model A Model T.
(23:59):
My neighbor kid one time said,hey, is that a Model Tea?
We were pulling out of the barn. It was just an old black
car, so we thought it wasa mountl Tier Finel A. But we
allow people to drive Model t's rightout of our collection. We do classes
and we usually have about five hundredtake these classes throughout the summer and we'll
go clear through October with these.But a Model Tea is like absolutely nothing
you've driven on the road before.There's no there's no gas gauge to check
(24:22):
the gas. You have to pullthe front seat out and put a stick
down into the tank. See ifyou have gas. You know, it's
driven with no gas pedal. Thegases up on your steering column right by
your steering wheel, and then it'sdone with pedals. So we always joke
we say the first pedal is forward, the second pedals reverse, and the
third title is boy, I hopethis thing stops. So some people call
(24:45):
it a break, but really isn'tmuch of a break. But we do
that. We have people from allover the country come to that. We
have actually before COVID, we hadpeople from all over the world will come
and take our class because we're theoldest and the largest when it comes to
the Model T classes. And ifyou're thinking of a gift, boy,
that's probably the one of the bestgifts because that's how a good majority of
people have taken the classes, thatsomebody's given it to them as a gift.
(25:07):
So it doesn't matter if it's Father'sDay, Mother's Day, doesn't matter,
Birthday, Christmas, whatever. Peoplehave gotten them as gifts. And
you might think, I don't knowif I'd be interested in that. We've
had entire families come out and takeit. We've had mothers and fathers,
you know, their grandfather, youknow, all just generations have taken it.
And the other thing we always say, if you know anything about driving
(25:30):
a car and you say, okay, I know how to drive a stick
shift, I always tell people getthat out of your head because this haslays
nothing like a stick shift, andit is something you do need to register
for. Jay Follis, it's theModel T driving experience. You were recommending
folks buy tickets online because you canactually go there. I'm looking there are
(25:51):
actually some saturdays that are sold out, so you want to get oh,
get in now and get signed upfor this. You want to talk about
a great photo op, a wonderfulFather's Day gift idea. This is something
that you can even gift for somebody, maybe maybe a graduate, a graduate,
Jay, somebody that you're thinking,Okay, this kid has everything.
(26:12):
What can I give them they don'thave? Give them the Model T driving
experience, great opportunity. Yeah,we've taught as young I think as thirteen
or fourteen, and as old asprobably ninety one or ninety two. So
I mean it's it's neat for everyage. And we had one kid one
time. I think It was justturned sixteen and his parents said, you
(26:33):
know how to drive a stick,Well, we'll take you this class.
So we had to learn how todrive a stick. So he felt bad
when I told me it's nothing likeits stick. Yeah, but you're gonna
have fun in this class. Whetheryou're an adult, a kid, or
whoever you are, you will havea blast and I'll guarantee it. Yeah,
I'm glad you don't have a blast. I'll give your money back.
Oh was that Okay? Well,there you go, and you can sign
up for that online Gilmore Car Museumdot org. Please note it takes about
(26:57):
three hours for that class. Youdon't need a driver's license. And yes,
even if you're a you've got aseventeen year old kid at home who
wants to do it and would loveto do it, that is an opportunity
as well. Jay follow us iswith us here on West Michigan weekend collection
specialists in historian with a Gilmour CarMuseum Gilmore Car Museum dot rg. You
(27:23):
are doing did I read You're doingChaufford rides in cars from your collection on
certain days of the week, Jay, Yeah, during the weekdays, on
the weekends, we get crazy busybecause we do shows just about every week
right week. But during the weekdaysyou come out here with the family.
Let's say it's a Tuesday, orit's a you know, Wednesday afternoon or
whatever you can have. We happento one of our cars and the drive
(27:45):
around a campus, isn't it becausewe probably have I don't know, four
or five cars every day running andevery day they change out because we have
twenty cars that we use for that, and all these volunteers come in on
their own time, but they lovetelling you the story about the car or
maybe the buildings you're seeing, andit's just neat because not very many museum
collections will take cars right out theircollection and one let you ride in them,
(28:07):
or two let you drive them.And we do that both of the
Vinny drives and with the model Keys. Jay follow us is with us.
We've got less than a minute left. I want to real quickly plug Gilmore
Car Museum memberships. It's a greatopportunity for Father's Day or someone who has
a birthday coming up this summer wholoves cars a terrific gift and you can
(28:29):
check that out at Gilmore Car Museumdot org Gilmourcar Museum dot org. They're
open Monday through Friday nine to five, Saturday and Sunday nine to six,
and a ton of great shows.As we are running out of time here.
Bottom line is Jay, they needto get to the Gilmore Car Museum.
I definitely do. I mean I'vebeen here for a number of years,
so you can tell you how muchI love it. Yes, definitely
(28:49):
need to come out and check thisplace out. All right, All right,
well, I appreciate your time verymuch. We're going to send some
folks your way, and you havea terrific summer. We look forward to
seeing you down there follow us.Thank you so Muchee appreciate it. You
bet. He's been our guest onthis segment of West Michigan Weekend. That's
our program for this week. Thankyou so much for listening. We'll catch
you again right here next week onthis iHeartRadio station iHeartMedia. West Michigan Weekend,
(29:14):
a public affairs program
iHeartMedia West Michigan Weekend, a publicaffairs program. Hi, and welcome in.
It's West Michigan Weekend from iHeartRadio andI'm your host, Phil Tower.
Thank you for tuning in across whateveriHeartRadio station you may happen to be tuned
into. Don't forget this is apodcast as well. After you hear us
on the radio, you can checkus out on the left side of the
(00:27):
page atwoodradio dot com. All ofour four hundred and fifty nearly four hundred
fifty episodes are available there for listeningon demand. In this segment, I'm
very pleased to welcome back. Thisis an annual thing. Well, we
have him on a little more thanannually when we talk about personal injury law,
and we've done programs with Tom Sinusabout no fault auto insurance because he
(00:51):
is a very knowledgeable guy. Hehappens to also be a partner with a
Sinus Dramus law firm here in GrandRapids, Michigan. A one time aspiring,
talented musician who gave it all upfor law, and we're grateful for
that because he's been a tireless advocatefor those with head injuries and avoiding head
injuries. And that's why Sinus Dramasis one of the lead sponsors for a
(01:17):
great annual event called Leads for Kids. And the partner with a Sinus Ramis
law firm that I'm speaking about isTom Sinus. Tom, my friend,
welcome back to the program. OhPhil, it's great to be back.
You have been a tireless supporter ofthis important event every year and I really
appreciate it and I always look forwardto talking with you. It is such
(01:37):
an important thing to put the powerof many radio stations behind this event,
because Tom, you never know,with all the conversations we've had about lids
for Kids through the years, youever stop and wonder about how many people
we just kind of put dis nudgein them that said, Okay, I
got to do something about this.It could have even been an adult who's
never worn a helmet on their bike. So don't you wonder about how many
(02:00):
people we've influenced over the years.I do, And you know, I
think the proof is in the puttingbecause every year we've been doing this in
Grand Rapids since about twenty fourteen,and of course we have to take a
couple of years off there because ofCOVID, But every year that we've been
doing this, I'm always amazed atthe number of people who show up,
(02:21):
which I think both speaks to theneed and importance of what we're providing,
but it also certainly speaks to thereach of the message. Thanks to you
and all the other people who havesupported this event over the years. We're
talking about Lids for Kids. Thisis the biggest and best known bike helmet
giveaway and bike safety event here inthe state of Michigan. Happens in Lancing
(02:45):
and Grand Rapids. As we're havingthis conversation on the radio, the Lancing
event was roughly a week ago,and the Grand Rapids Lids for Kids event,
which we're going to be focusing on, is Saturday, June first.
And this sounds like a pretty basicthing, but there are still too many
kids, too many adults riding bicycleswithout helmets and not taking head injuries serious
(03:09):
enough. And I know you seethese directly in your practice and have for
a long time with Signus Dreamous LawFirm, But this is an important thing.
Let's start with a basic question.I ask you every time Tom say
sign Us, why why is thisso important to you? And to your
law firm. Well, as youmentioned earlier, our law firm represents people
(03:30):
who have been seriously heard or havelost a loved one. But before we're
lawyers, we are parents and fathersand sons and daughters. And the last
thing that we ever want to haveis a case in our law firm involving
a brain injury to a child.And so we thought a long time ago,
what can we do. You know, we're just a bunch of lawyers.
(03:53):
We can protect our own children asmuch as we want, but we
sure would like to be able todo something more than that. And so,
starting in about two thousand and three, I guess now over twenty years
ago, we thought, well,we can give away bike helmets. As
you pointed out, Phil, Eventhough I think people know now more than
(04:14):
they did when I was a kidabout how important bike helmets are, there
are a lot of people that don'thave access to them for one reason or
another. So we thought, well, we can maybe try to help with
that problem. Maybe we can showup in communities where we live and work
and bring a bunch of helmets withus, a truckload if we have to,
and fit them on the heads ofkids. That need them and give
(04:39):
them away for free. And I'veoften said to you, as you know,
if in twenty years of doing thiswe have prevented one brain injury and
one child, then the whole thingis worth it. So that's why we
do it. We don't want childrenin our office, we don't want parents
of injured children in our office,and we certainly can't prevent all the potential
(04:59):
harm that might come to any ofus. But this always struck us as
a little something we could do forthat little ounce of prevention. And there
are a lot of people who reallydon't get this message. Year after year.
They consider it well a hassle,or they just don't think about it.
I think some parents have the mindsetthat, well, you know,
(05:19):
I rode my bike without a helmet. I don't need to worry about it.
But it is very important. Andeven if you have a bicycle helmet
helmet doesn't fit, well, it'salmost as bad as not having a helmet.
Tom, that's right. Some peoplehave said over the years, you
know, why don't you just havea drive through, so to speak,
(05:40):
where you just pass these things outand we don't have to come get out
of our cars and bring our kidsand we say exactly what you just said.
Yes, it's critical to have ahelmet, but it's equally critical to
make sure that the helmet is fitted, because a poorly fitting helmet gives people
that false sense of security and cansometimes not be a help at all.
So we've asked friends over the yearsif they would volunteer a couple of hours
(06:03):
of their time and serve as helmetfitters. And we've got community partners this
year like we've had in the past, people from all around the community,
whether it's folks at Mary Freeband orGrand Rapids Public Schools, the Fire Department,
Fox seventeen. You know that thelist goes on and we have a
bunch of wonderful folks, including fromour law firm, who'll give them of
their time on a Saturday morning andmake sure that those helmets are fitted on
(06:26):
the kids who show up, becausewe want them to have the helmet,
but we want them to have theirown helmet, one that fits their head
and one that is hopefully tight aroundtheir chin and sits right below the ear,
because we want this to be easyfor families after they come to this
event. You know one thing I'velearned as a parent is times of the
year just sneak up on you.You know, all of a sudden,
it's spring and your kids want toride their bike, and you haven't thought
(06:50):
about the bike as a parent ina long time because you've been thinking about
other things, and all of asudden, your kids want to ride the
bike and maybe you realize, well, I don't have a helmet. And
so we want to make that processnot an issue. We want to just
come to people where we live,where they live, where we work,
and say, here you go,here's not only a helmet, but here's
(07:10):
one that we've made sure was fittedfor your son or daughter. So when
they want to grab that bike ona beautiful day we've been having, they
can grab their helmet just as easily. Tom Sinus is with US partner with
a Sinus Draymus Law firm. Theyare also the sponsor for the Lids for
Kids free bicycle helmet giveaway and bikesafety event happening on Saturday, June first
here in Grand Rapids. There isa terrific website where you can learn all
(07:35):
about the Lids for Kids Grand Rapidsevent at Lids for kidsmi dot org.
Lids for KIDSMI dot RG. Thisevent happens at Garfield Park Saturday, June
first, next Saturday, from tenam until noon and it is a big
event. There are a lot ofpeople who come out for this. What
(07:59):
is the four one one for peopleto know, for parents to know as
far as yes, I have childrenor you know, we've got some old
bicycle helmets. We're not sure ifthey work. I mean you would welcome
people just to make sure their helmetsare good, right, yeah, I
mean what we do is give freehelmets to kids under the twelve age years
(08:20):
twelve and under. It's certainly welcometo bring their old helmet, but our
goal is to bride them a newhelmet. You know, one thing about
a bike helmet is over time thatstyrofoam so to speak, and break down.
And also these helmets can become crackedand we might not even know it.
So we have just decided that it'sthe easiest thing to do is to
give kids new helmets. Also,of course their heads are growing and they're
(08:43):
growing, right, so they cancertainly bring their old helmet and come join
the fund. We also have raffleprizes. You know, we raffled off
three bikes and other fun stuff overthe years, But all they have to
do is bring a child age twelveor younger. It could be their child,
it could be a neighbor's child,and be whoever, and bring a
little bit of patience. In thebeginning of these events, there's always a
(09:05):
line, and I think that speaksto the interest and the need here.
Last year we fit five hundred andfour helmets on kids in two hours,
and that's pretty typical. That's alot. That's a lot of heads,
right head, and a lot ofhelmets. And usually what happens in the
beginning of the day before we getrolling is there's a line of people who
(09:26):
have formed before the event starts andwe open up, and then we start
breaking the kids out into age groupsand getting them fitted and getting the right
helmets so on. So it cantake a little bit of time, but
we always managed to make our waythrough the line, and for the ten
years we've been doing this in GrandRapids, it's not uncommon to have a
day where we're doing four or fiveor even more than five hundred helmets in
(09:48):
the day. So if you showup and you think, oh my gosh,
I don't want to wait in thisline. Just bear with us.
We will get through it. Saturday, June first, from ten am until
noon at our Field Park here inGrand Rapids. As Tom mentioned, this
is presented by Sinus Freamus Law Firm, the Brain Injury Association of Michigan Grand
(10:09):
Rapids Public Schools, Fox seventeen,and several other event partners, including our
friends at Mary free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital. It is a big event, but
you know you want to be patient. You will have the fire trucks there
because fire trucks are more of adraw than the good looking guy that Tom
Sinus is. And of course yourpartners at Sinus Stornum's Law firm got to
(10:33):
at least have a little eye candylike a fire truck. And you know
people from the fire department. Tom, I mean no doubt. I mean,
who wants to listen to a lawyerof black baron? So I take
no offense to anyone being bored withwhatever I'm doing. We are very lucky
that we have you know, GrandRapids Fire Department, Garfield Park Neighborhood Association,
Applied Innovation, Go Go Squeeze,and the organizations you mentioned. They're
(10:56):
all there to not only facilitate theevent make sure it goes smoothly, but
also provide entertainment or giveaways, justa way to engage the kids and the
families that are there. And oneof the things I love most about this
event is it's really become kind ofa community wide event. We get to
use Garfield Park, as you mentioned, we take over part of the park.
(11:16):
We have various tents and boots fromour friends who are there with us,
and I think people leave having agood time, and that's important,
I think as apparent least, becauseyou want the child to have a positive
association with this helmet that they got. You know, when I was a
kid, the son of a personalinjury lawyer, I think I was the
only kid in my town that wasrequired to wear a bike helmet. And
(11:39):
in the eighties, you know,bike helmet's had a horrible stigma and there
weren't a lot of good looking options. Thankfully, we've come a long way,
and what this event does, I'dlike to think is the kids who
are there not only get the freebike helmet, but they had fun getting
it, so when they grab itoff the shelf, there's a positive association
with the helmet. And our communitypartners make it possible they do. And
(12:03):
Tom Sinus, this is really importantto mention parents need to model this helmet
behavior as well. You know,you can say, yes, you have
to wear your helmet, but youshould wear a helmet as well. You
guys have been doing the Lids forKids event long enough, I'm sure you
can answer questions for adults in termsof hey, Tom, what's a good
helmet to buy? Or you know, what would you recommend as far as
(12:26):
this or that. So, momsand dads, if you're heading to Lids
for Kids next Saturday at Garfield Parkhere and Grand Rapids, make sure you
are walking the walk, talking tothe talk. You've got to do both
because otherwise your message is certainly goingto fall short. Fair enough, right,
Oh yeah, absolutely. I meanit's a bit like using curse words
(12:46):
if you use them around the houseand then you expect your kids not to
they see through that. So whilewe don't we don't have a program to
give away free bike helmets to adults, we hope that the event is a
reminder, as you say, foreveryone to be wearing a helmet, because
of course we're all equally at riskfor a serious head injury when we're on
(13:07):
our bike, and we all cando this thing that the medical science has
proven it the most effective thing youcan do to prevent that injury, and
that is wearing a helmet. Sowe hope that the event not only is
about giving free bike helmets to kids, but also a reminder of this simple
thing that we all can do.You know, I'm I just while we
were talking about helmets, I justlooked on you know online. I mean,
(13:31):
you can get a good bike helmetfor anywhere from you know, thirty
bucks to sixty bucks. And evenif you spent seventy bucks, compare that
to having to be hospitalized or longterm rehab for any kind of a physical
injury or a head injury or braininjury. You can't even compare the two.
(13:52):
That's why it's so important to takethis seriously, especially for kids,
and in this case, lids forkids. If you've you've got a kid
twelve at under, there's an opportunitythere. So the most important thing to
remember is this is truly an ounceof prevention. It might be just a
drop of prevention that can make ahuge difference in the long run. Tom,
(14:13):
I've got about just a minute left, real quickly. Lids for kidsmi
dot org is the best place forpeople to go to learn more. Any
other final words of wisdom from you, you know, only to riff on
what you just said. One ofthese lids for Kids helmets saved my daughter
from a serious head injury. Shewas I don't know, maybe three or
four years old. She was ona scooter. She hit a ridge in
(14:35):
the sidewalk and tumbled over the frontand cracked one of these lids for Kids
helmets, And thank god, she'sokay. So I hope that I certainly
don't hope that happens to anyone,but I hope that if it does,
they've got a Lids for Kids helmetor some other kind of helmet on their
head. And I hope they comeout Saturday, June first, ten am
to noon, Garfield Park, Bringyour kids, bring your friends' kids,
(14:58):
give us some patience and a wonderfultime, and start your summer the right
way when it comes to bike safety. That is Tom Sinus, partner and
Tireless advocate for of course, headinjuries and bicycle safety. Lids for kidsmi
dot org is the website they've beensponsoring this the Sinistreamous Law Firm has four
(15:20):
years he's been our guest on thissegment of West Michigan Weekend. Tom.
Thank you as always, Phil,Thank you for your support and helping spread
the message. We really appreciate it, always enjoy it, always take it
very seriously. We have more comingup on West Michigan Weekend. In just
a moment, stick around, we'llbe right back. She didn't just visit
the sick and poor. She movedin with them because they needed help.
(15:43):
Mother Theresa couldn't do it all,but she gave her all compassion. He
is in you now. Pass iton from pass it on dot Com.
Hi Thearon, Welcome back. It'sWest Michigan Weekend from iHeartRadio. I'm so
glad you have joined us on whateveriHeartRadio station across West Michigan you are listening
to. I have to say thisis my happy spot when I get to
(16:06):
talk about cars, and probably oneof my favorite destinations, if not my
favorite, here in West Michigan andreally for that matter, for the whole
state of Michigan. The Gilmore CarMuseum should be on your list this summer,
especially if you haven't been recently.A lot of new features and just
an amazing place. Even if you'renot all that into cars, it's just
(16:27):
a great family experience. And onour live line to kind of give us
a much needed update about the GilmoreCar Museum for the summer of twenty twenty
four. Jay follis collection specialist andhistorian with the Gilmore Car Museum. A
longtime friend of iHeartRadio. He's beenon these airwaves many a time at the
(16:48):
Michigan International Audio Show. This timewe are talking about summertime at the Gilmore
Car Museum. Hey, Jay,thank you so much for joining us.
It's great to be back with you. Phil. It's great. And when
you say so much going on inthe Gilmore this summer, there is so
much. And like you said,if you're not into old cars or whatever,
it doesn't matter. You come outand just look at the ninety acre
(17:11):
grounds and go, wow, thisis impressive. Or see some of the
different exhibits that we have you think, oh, I didn't think I was
into cars. The first exhibit I'mgoing to talk about is our brand new
exhibit and it's called are We thereYet? Seeing America Through the Station Wagon?
You think, oh my word,station wagons that's got to be boring,
right, No, So the firstthing you're going to walk in,
(17:32):
you're going to see probably what wecan see, the most iconic station wagon.
And it's iconic because you probably didn'tthink of this as traveling for your
own family, but you watch theGrizzld family take this on vacation. It's
the National Lampoon's family truckster. Andthat's the thing you see when you first
walk in. You know, thekind that Chevy Chase drove and the family
(17:53):
vacation and so that movie was oneof those things that you can relate to
everything, right, Well, thinkof the things you sad when you're in
the car with your family. Youknow, your parents would say, don't
you make me stop this car?Or you know you kuld behave he's on
my side. She started it backand forth, all those things. What
we wanted to do is bring outiconic cars that you would really relate with,
(18:15):
and then also show you some ofthe stuff that maybe didn't even know
existed. I don't know about alot of people, but I grew up
in the Brady Punch air are right, So that's what the seventies eighties.
So those cars that we see outhere, and we do have a few
of those out here. Think ofit. Did you ever get to ride
in the back the very far backof a station wagon where you're facing oncoming
traffic. I mean that's where youknow, we all like battle to get
(18:37):
back there. I wanted to beback there. Of course, somebody would
always throw up because they're kind ofriding weird. You know, if you
think about it, that's when theyhad the station wingings. They had the
vinyl on the side that made itlook like wood. Well before that they
actually did have wood. You getback into the early fifties, they were
just getting away from the wood.Early forties, early thirties, they were
(18:57):
wood, and it was part ofit. It wasn't just a look,
it was really part of it.I think you're going to come through this
exhibit and you're going to see somecars that go only where. That's what
my grandparents were in, and that'swhat I remember riding in. Or we
went to whatever vacation it was in. And you'll see how people stayed,
how things changed. You know,we've got different travel things like maybe you
remember going to the Mystery Spot,or maybe you stayed at the Tpee resort
(19:21):
where you actually stayed in the tepee, or if you're a little bit older,
maybe you stayed at one of thetourist cabins. There's one called you
need a Rest, So we've recreateda tourist cabin right here for you.
Michigan is the water Wonderland. Thelicense plates and all that that you can
remember, and that's what we're reallytrying to do is bring you back so
that you can say this was sucha fun family time, like when we
(19:41):
went to the Macanol Bridge, ormaybe you had a car that had a
fold out camper on the roof thatshe had to climb up into. It's
just one of those things that wereally want to make it fun for the
people. And that's the very firstthing you walk into. Then you're gonna
see about four hundred cars on display. Where North America's largest car museum,
and we chained out things constantly.We have about six hundred cars in our
(20:04):
combining collections. But as you comeout here are almost them all of America
when it comes to car museums,because you have partner museums on our site.
So you're going to see the MadaleFord Museum or the Lincoln Museum,
the Caatellite Museum, all these differentmuseums right on their site. Don't even
realize they're different museums. You walkedfrom one car dealership to the next,
(20:25):
or one barn to the neck.So that's the exhibit part of it,
and you know it's interesting. Iwant to go back to the are we
there yet? Station wagon exhibit Ihad you were talking about the seventies,
remember distinctly road trips in the seventies. In our I think we had a
nineteen sixty nine Country Schoir. Itwas easily one of the best selling station
(20:45):
wagons of the time. In fact, Ford made that car for over forty
years. I just saw an interestingstatistic or a little fun factoid about this.
I don't know if you have thisin the exhibit. The wood panels
in the very early versions. Asyou said, you were so accurate in
mentioning this jayfallis the wood panels ina lot of these early woody station wagons
(21:08):
for the country Squire. Ford actuallyhad an iron Mountain plant where they made
the wood panels for the country Squire. I did not know that in the
Upper Peninsula. It was a lumberplant owned by Ford and then of course
they change those over to plastic orfiberglass or whatever. But you're gonna recognize
(21:29):
not only the National Lampoon truckster,but it looks like you may have a
Buick Roadmaster in their station wagon orwhatever. You know, the Big Vista
Cruiser, the Old Vista Cruiser.Those were very classic back in the day.
And yes, are we there yet? Is such a perfect name for
that. Jay Fallis is with usfrom the Gilmour Car Museum. And not
(21:51):
only is the Gilmore Car Museum withninety acres just a beautiful place. I'm
going to tell you the drive thereis a lot of fun because you get
to see and beautiful backcountry roads,just peaceful, beautiful, and when you're
coming from Grand Rapids Is I haveseveral times, it's just a wonderful drive.
An important fact to note as weare here in the summertime, you
(22:11):
guys are open every major summer holiday, Memorial Day, July fourth, and
Labor Day. So if you don'thave plans, maybe you're going to do
a staycation for July fourth, you'rethinking about what to do. The Gilmore
Car Museum is open on those holidaysand you can buy tickets online at Gilmourcar
(22:32):
Museum dot org Gilmourcar Museum dot org. They're very affordable, so jay for
listeners who are more into muscle carsand you know, things that make a
lot of noise. You still gota great muscle car exhibit there as well
too. Let's hit on some ofthe other exhibits if you would please sure
we go right into from this exhibit, you walk into a gallery where it's
(22:56):
the best of the thirties and someof these cars are incredible. It's one
of the most value is that you'regoing to see Mercedes and Dusenbergs. But
right next to that, you're goingto walk right into performance gallery and in
that we have the muscle cars ofthe sixties. There's a few weeks through
in there that are performance cars aswell, and you think, wait a
minute, that might not be amuscle car. Well, we're looking at
performance and you're gonna see some incrediblecars in there. But as you walk
(23:18):
through, you're going to go intothe Ford Dealers. See the model A
forwards and just to give an exampleof the Dusenbergers I was talking about in
nineteen twenty nine, you could goto your Ford dealer and buy about let's
say twenty four modelay Fords and twohouses or one Dusenberg. That just tells
you where the world has been andwhere you know if you want to look
(23:38):
at the haves and have not,it's back in that time frame. You
know you're ultra wealthy to own aDusenberg. And now they only made like
four hundred and eight of them.Just the exhibits alone are very cool.
But if you want to try somethingreally cool and you got to get behind
the wheel of a Model T.Now most people, if you don't know
anything about anti cars, you've heardof them, a model A Model T.
(23:59):
My neighbor kid one time said,hey, is that a Model Tea?
We were pulling out of the barn. It was just an old black
car, so we thought it wasa mountl Tier Finel A. But we
allow people to drive Model t's rightout of our collection. We do classes
and we usually have about five hundredtake these classes throughout the summer and we'll
go clear through October with these.But a Model Tea is like absolutely nothing
you've driven on the road before.There's no there's no gas gauge to check
(24:22):
the gas. You have to pullthe front seat out and put a stick
down into the tank. See ifyou have gas. You know, it's
driven with no gas pedal. Thegases up on your steering column right by
your steering wheel, and then it'sdone with pedals. So we always joke
we say the first pedal is forward, the second pedals reverse, and the
third title is boy, I hopethis thing stops. So some people call
(24:45):
it a break, but really isn'tmuch of a break. But we do
that. We have people from allover the country come to that. We
have actually before COVID, we hadpeople from all over the world will come
and take our class because we're theoldest and the largest when it comes to
the Model T classes. And ifyou're thinking of a gift, boy,
that's probably the one of the bestgifts because that's how a good majority of
people have taken the classes, thatsomebody's given it to them as a gift.
(25:07):
So it doesn't matter if it's Father'sDay, Mother's Day, doesn't matter,
Birthday, Christmas, whatever. Peoplehave gotten them as gifts. And
you might think, I don't knowif I'd be interested in that. We've
had entire families come out and takeit. We've had mothers and fathers,
you know, their grandfather, youknow, all just generations have taken it.
And the other thing we always say, if you know anything about driving
(25:30):
a car and you say, okay, I know how to drive a stick
shift, I always tell people getthat out of your head because this haslays
nothing like a stick shift, andit is something you do need to register
for. Jay Follis, it's theModel T driving experience. You were recommending
folks buy tickets online because you canactually go there. I'm looking there are
(25:51):
actually some saturdays that are sold out, so you want to get oh,
get in now and get signed upfor this. You want to talk about
a great photo op, a wonderfulFather's Day gift idea. This is something
that you can even gift for somebody, maybe maybe a graduate, a graduate,
Jay, somebody that you're thinking,Okay, this kid has everything.
(26:12):
What can I give them they don'thave? Give them the Model T driving
experience, great opportunity. Yeah,we've taught as young I think as thirteen
or fourteen, and as old asprobably ninety one or ninety two. So
I mean it's it's neat for everyage. And we had one kid one
time. I think It was justturned sixteen and his parents said, you
(26:33):
know how to drive a stick,Well, we'll take you this class.
So we had to learn how todrive a stick. So he felt bad
when I told me it's nothing likeits stick. Yeah, but you're gonna
have fun in this class. Whetheryou're an adult, a kid, or
whoever you are, you will havea blast and I'll guarantee it. Yeah,
I'm glad you don't have a blast. I'll give your money back.
Oh was that Okay? Well,there you go, and you can sign
up for that online Gilmore Car Museumdot org. Please note it takes about
(26:57):
three hours for that class. Youdon't need a driver's license. And yes,
even if you're a you've got aseventeen year old kid at home who
wants to do it and would loveto do it, that is an opportunity
as well. Jay follow us iswith us here on West Michigan weekend collection
specialists in historian with a Gilmour CarMuseum Gilmore Car Museum dot rg. You
(27:23):
are doing did I read You're doingChaufford rides in cars from your collection on
certain days of the week, Jay, Yeah, during the weekdays, on
the weekends, we get crazy busybecause we do shows just about every week
right week. But during the weekdaysyou come out here with the family.
Let's say it's a Tuesday, orit's a you know, Wednesday afternoon or
whatever you can have. We happento one of our cars and the drive
(27:45):
around a campus, isn't it becausewe probably have I don't know, four
or five cars every day running andevery day they change out because we have
twenty cars that we use for that, and all these volunteers come in on
their own time, but they lovetelling you the story about the car or
maybe the buildings you're seeing, andit's just neat because not very many museum
collections will take cars right out theircollection and one let you ride in them,
(28:07):
or two let you drive them.And we do that both of the
Vinny drives and with the model Keys. Jay follow us is with us.
We've got less than a minute left. I want to real quickly plug Gilmore
Car Museum memberships. It's a greatopportunity for Father's Day or someone who has
a birthday coming up this summer wholoves cars a terrific gift and you can
(28:29):
check that out at Gilmore Car Museumdot org Gilmourcar Museum dot org. They're
open Monday through Friday nine to five, Saturday and Sunday nine to six,
and a ton of great shows.As we are running out of time here.
Bottom line is Jay, they needto get to the Gilmore Car Museum.
I definitely do. I mean I'vebeen here for a number of years,
so you can tell you how muchI love it. Yes, definitely
(28:49):
need to come out and check thisplace out. All right, All right,
well, I appreciate your time verymuch. We're going to send some
folks your way, and you havea terrific summer. We look forward to
seeing you down there follow us.Thank you so Muchee appreciate it. You
bet. He's been our guest onthis segment of West Michigan Weekend. That's
our program for this week. Thankyou so much for listening. We'll catch
you again right here next week onthis iHeartRadio station iHeartMedia. West Michigan Weekend,
(29:14):
a public affairs program
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