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567 Club of Manitoba

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FIFTY 5 6 7 CLUB, 1974 - 1989

I once stated in Editor's Comments that writing obituaries for people that you know is probably the hardest job for a 5 6 7 Editor and that is true, but for sure the second hardest job for the Editor is to try and cone up with a new 5 6 7 history story each year and after years it is probably not possible to do.  I looked back at all the old stories and decided that the one back a few years ago probably the one that did the best job of describing 5 6 7's history and giving credit to those early members who go:it going.

The forming of the 5 6 7 Chevy Club was talked about in late 1973 by several people on Saskatoon.  At that time rods runs in Alberta and Sask. were restricted to pre'49 vehicles and there were no events other than car shows that people with 5 6 7 vehicles could attend.

It was decided in 1974 to send out a letter to all those in the area who were known to have a 5 6 7 vehicle to see if they would be interested in paying $5.00 to start a local 5 6 7 club.  This club would have a newsletter and put on some events for 5 6 7's.  Forty letters went out and the response was great.  Everybody wanted to get involved.

A meeting was held, the dues were paid and the first newsletter went out in March 1974.  Wayne Gilbert was the Editor and the magazine was printed where he worked.  Ted Robb's Nomad was on the cover and the magazine was very small, but it featured some stories and classified ads.

In May 1974 an afternoon run was put on and a lot of 5 6 7's and people attended.  This event was to find out what people wanted to see the club do.  Some ideas were kicked around and then a hail storm came and put an end to the event.

In late February of 1974 runs were made to Prince Albert and Regina, Sask.  Those were one day events and got the members out to these areas to meet people with 5 6 7's and more members were obtained and now instead of being only a Saskatoon Club.  5 6 7 had become a Saskatchewan club.  Wayne Gilbert came up with the name Fifty 5 6 7 Club and Bruce Williams made us our first decal

In October 1974 Kelvin Polonich took his 1955 Chev 2dr. hardtop to a car show in Edmonton where he got talking to some Edmonton people who were looking to start a 5 6 7 club and they decided to join with us.  They did and now 5 6 7 covered two provinces.

People in Edmonton and Saskatoon who worked for the C.N.R. in those days used to get sent for courses to Winnipeg to the C.N.R. shops and in this way we began to acquire a lot of Winnipeg members most of whom also worked for the C.N.R. By early 1975, 5 6 7 was in three provinces.

In the summer of 1975 a C.B.C. TV announcer in Saskatoon decided to do a feature film on restoring old cars and he picked 567 for his feature.  We took a lot of 5 6 7 to Blackstrap Lake and spent the day there doing this feature.  It was to be shown in Saskatoon as a filler for the local news and it was, but it also got sent to Ottawa and then was later shown on the National News all across Canada.  From this film we acquired a lot of B.C. members plus members from other parts of Canada and by the end of 1975 what started out to be a local 5 6 7 club was now a pretty big Canadian club.

Wayne Gilbert was the editor of the 567 News until May 1975.  At that time Dave Snell took over doing the magazine at his father's work place.  He also designed the cover format we now use and Ian McDonald took over as Editor.  Sheila Snell was our secretary until July 1975 and at that time Annie McDonald became the secretary of 5 6 7.

In 1975 we also added features such as Member of the Month and Scoops & Scandals. The name scoops and scandals was picked in a contest from a number of names submitted for this column.

The first National Banquet was held in December 1974 and was actually the Saskatoon Christmas party  After that the banquet date was moved to November and has always been in Saskatoon.

The first W.C.M. was held in Calgary in 1976 and featured a tour to Banff.  It was put on in Calgary by the Saskatoon people and the first t-shirt for a W.C.M. was designed by Bruce Williams as was the original 5 6 7 club t-shirt.  Bruce was also instrumental in designing the club logos.

Over the years we have added local chapters Area Reps, the National Directors, the constitution. lots of 567 items to sell, a back picture page, color pictures in 567 News and have had 45 National Banquets, and 13 W.C.M.'s.

The membership in 5 6 7 has varied from time to time, but has mostly stayed situated in the four Western Canadian Provinces.  We have gone from a high of about 1,500 members to approx. 1.000 which we have had for the past several years.  A lot of members have come and gone, but a lot of 5 6 7's have been around for a long time being owned by many different people.

We have made a lot of changes and put on a lot of events over the years and what started out to only be a local Saskatoon club continues to survive as a large club covering a lot of territory in Canada and having had over the years a lot of members from all parts of North America and also the World.