Last Updated: 01/02/2005
The Potomac
Classic Thunderbird Club (PCTC)
was formed in 1968 as a chapter of the Classic
Thunderbird Club International (CTCI)
to unite Thunderbird owners from the Mid-Atlantic States and the District of
Columbia. Pete and Kathe Van Schuyler realized the potential for a CTCI chapter during a June 1968 weekend concours arranged by Bob
Rosson at Nags Head, NC. The
organizational meeting was held in September 1968 at Harrisburg, PA.
The charter meeting for the chapter was held in November 1968.
Chartered as CTCI
Chapter 23, the club started with a nucleus of 18 members from the
Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. By
1975, PCTC's membership grew to 120.
Today, annual membership averages around 100 households. The PCTC
membership includes restorers and parts vendors.
Help is also available somewhere in the club on almost any facet of T'Bird
care, maintenance, and restoration.
Each year, PCTC
offers a variety of events designed to appeal to all members, their families,
and their guests. Formal club
activities include caravan drives, local day and overnight trips; dinner,
brunch, and pot luck meetings; picnics with fun concours, and an annual Holiday
Party. Meetings include technical
sessions -- sometimes, impromptu because of car breakdowns -- by PCTC
members. The PCTC publishes
a monthly newsletter to keep in touch with members and to provide information
about events, reports on PCTC
activities, technical articles, and other T'Bird
related information.
The PCTC
has participated in every CTCI
concours since the 1969 event in Lake Placid, NY, as well as in many regional
concours. Routinely, PCTC
cars have been trophy winners. In
1983, PCTC hosted the Region 4 Concours in Fredericksburg, VA., and in
1990, PCTC took on the challenge of
hosting the 1990 National CTCI
convention in Williamsburg, VA. Annually,
PCTC members and their classic T'Birds
can be found at the Washington, DC St. Patrick’s Day Parade, the Annual
Das Awkscht Fescht Car Show in Macungie, PA, the Virginia Wine Festival, the
Sully Plantation Antique & Car Show, and the Rockville (Md) Antique Car
Show.