HELLO OUT THERE ...

During the pre-spring doldrums of 1993 , when most rodders are snug in their garages working on their summer dreams , I (due to lack of a garage ) was rattling around my basement looking for something rod related to do. I picked up a recent issue of Street Rodder to help stimulate my brain and the words Club Directory jumped off the cover and started my wheels turning . Maybe somewhere out there in amongst all the ASRA , BSRA .... ZSRA there was another FSRA ! Another club which shared our initials and our interests , perhaps a source for pen pals , a destination for a long distance cruise , maybe even "twin or sister" the clubs (cities do it why not street rod associations) , as the possibilities flooded my mind I began to search through the directory. I was approaching the end of the directory feeling slightly disappointed , I had gone through the entire USA listing and was into the international listings and had not yet seen one FSRA when ... There It Was .... the France Street Rod Association ! WOW !

Now that I had found another FSRA I began to prepare to contact them . I wanted to let them know that we billed ourselves as the FSRA so I bought two of our leftover T-shirts and Two of our mugs as the basis of my introduction package. Since France is so far from here and I wanted to tell them a little about where we live , I collected some promotional material from the Stampede board and bought some post card booklets of Calgary and Banff to add to the package. Finally I typed up a cover letter to introduce the Foothills Street Rod Association to the France Street Rod Association , threw in a picture of my rig and shipped the package to France. That was in May '93.

I waited anxiously , hoping that the address I had used was good , hoping the package arrived intact , it did ! In August '93 I received in my mail a package of France SRA souvenirs along with an enthusiastic cover letter from FSRA president Philippe Baës (translated version attached) encouraging further contact. In September I received a copy of Le Bulletin (the France SRA newsletter) and a France SRA membership list. I have, in turn, sent copies of Foothills Cruzin' to France and will send a copy of our membership list as soon as it is revised. There will be a raffle of France SRA souvenirs , including a FSRA T-shirt and FSRA Nat's dash plaques at our post fun run appreciation night.

This brief exchange has the makings of a lasting friendship between our two clubs. I will continue to correspond on behalf of the Foothills SRA, if anyone has any ideas to add to this exchange or would like to help out please jump in , it's a great way to improve your cereal box french as well.

This originally appeared in the Foothills Street Rod Association newsletter 'FSRA Cruisin'.

Contact Michael Siewert mdsiewer@ucalgary.ca

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