That "Video Vault" Thing - It's going to be, well, amazing.

[Phil Lampman]

Well, despite my doubts and criticism about this idea, I had an opportunity yesterday to tour the studio and production facilities with Don Mock. That was not my original intent; I was simply trying to return things my relatives had stolen last Saturday night during my birthday celebration. The Miss Wahoo is back in her rightful place in the museum. If we do this again, I am inclined to not invite my relatives with towing packages and large pickup trucks. Those wacky characters

To the point. Don and I had argued over wether or not this was going to be something the membership would embrace. I mean, c'mon, how many pictures of me screwing up something on the Blue Blaster do you need to see? Well, the production quality was good and the pictures of me were flattering.

To the point of the point. What Don showed to me and demonstrated was well beyond anything I thought it would be. This stuff ain't old Bardahl commercials or Uncle Harry's Super 8 home movies - though I do hope we'll find a place for them in this vault.

Until yesterday, I did not realize the extent and content of the archives we had at the museum. There is a great deal of material donated to the Museum by TV stations and networks. Don gave me a glimpse of races dating back to 1946, in Detroit. I nearly feared for my well-being as Don pointed out the stacks - no, columns - of boxes of old video and film he had yet to go through as I stood near them.

I suppose I'll reserve final judgement util everything is up and running - though it could take years - but one of the things I really like about this is that it provides a benefit to our out-of-state members as well as a terrific resource to model builders and historians. This is truly glorious stuff and likely not available anywhere else. In my opinion, the greater value we can provide to our out-of-state members, the better.

I was heading down o the museum to return the cooler my granddaughters were using for a playhouse on Saturday. Good thing we put it in our car. When I saw Jim's announcement though I simply had to respond. I feel sometime the museum might underestimate the value of what they have and the importance of it all to our non-local membership.

This is going to be very cool stuff....

Oh, one last item to mention o hose of you who might wonder if the higher membership fee is worth it, please remember that any payment to the Hydro Plane and Raceboat Museum is tax deductible under the IRS rules regarding category 501 (c) 3 "non-profits.

Okay, no more rambling, but I am excited about this new benefit to members.

.

[Phil Lampman]

Gary, that's a reasonable question and I'm not among the group of "propeller heads" that are putting this together so can't give you the definitive answer, The whole deal is still in its infancy. Watch this website for details, I think it's going to be very interesting.

[Jim Mesick]

If you are a $100 Member or above and have a profile created on the web site, we have sent invitations to join the Video Vault.  You MUST "CLICK" on the link at the bottom of the invitation to complete the registration process for the Video Vault.

If you did not receive the email invitation or deleted it like most of you do to my emails (INSERT HAPPY FACE) drop me an email and I'll be happy to help you out!

[e-mail]

Thanks for the kind words Phil!!!!

Jim Mesick

[Phil Lampman]

I am only here to serve, Jim. Based on what Don showed to me, I think this is going to a great benefit (finally) for our out-of-state members. It's not inexpensive, but I believe member/subscribers are going to find it to be of great value.

But let me coat tail on Gary Santos' post. If a current basic member wants to access the vault, but is not paying $100 for membership, do they need to wait until their membership renewal comes due or can they pay the difference to take their current dues to $100?

Jim Mesick said:

If you are a $100 Member or above and have a profile created on the web site, we have sent invitations to join the Video Vault.  You MUST "CLICK" on the link at the bottom of the invitation to complete the registration process for the Video Vault.

If you did not receive the email invitation or deleted it like most of you do to my emails (INSERT HAPPY FACE) drop me an email and I'll be happy to help you out!

[e-mail]

Thanks for the kind words Phil!!!!

Jim Mesick

[Tom Huber]

I am looking forward to all that footage of hydros. I got "hooked" in 1951 when my dad hauled me to some friend's home to watch the Gold Cup race from that year. I've purchased a lot of the videos and I'm looking forward to seeing the vintage stuff. I just registered, so I'm looking forward to the link on the bottom of the invitation.

[Don Mock]

You aint seen nothin yet!........news from the Video Vault.

I wanted to give you some additional info about the museum’s video vault. As one of the video archive producers at the museum, I am really excited about the incredible shows that we are uploading to the video vault. Most of the videos posted so far are from our 3/4” video masters. 3/4” was the standard TV hi-format video tape used from the late 70’s to the late ‘90’s. We have original masters of nearly every unlimited race during that period and are presenting these shows to you first.

Soon you will start to see the heart and soul of our video vault, the 8mm and 16mm film transfers featuring hours and hours of the classic races from the 1950’s thru ‘70’s. Many are the original black and white kinescopes donated to us by Seattle television stations and the URC (Unlimited Racing Commission, now called H1). And these TV recordings often include not only racing, but qualifying sessions, interviews and special stories. Along with these broadcasts are a surprising number of private films taken by fans and companies involved with the sport. Many of these are amazing color films that gives a whole new “look and feel” to the hydros we grew up watching on black and white TVs.

The museum has also received an overwhelming amount of VHS tapes and DVD’s over the years. Donated by individuals and families, we are in the process of looking thru every tape and disk. Many are recordings from TV and news broadcasts, but we are always on a sharp lookout for those rare one-on-a-kind videos someone shot or obtained. And we have been finding gems.

Although most of the videos so far are about Unlimited Hydroplanes and their history, we are also expanding the vault to include other classes of boat racing from outboards and inboards to R/C.

And we would love to hear from you about races, boats, drivers and era’s you would like to see from the vault. I also want to encourage you to write comments or ask questions about the vault videos.

-Don Mock

[Gary Finn]

Will any of the Video Vault be for sale on DVD??

[Jim Mesick]

If you see a movie you would like to have, contact us and we can sell you a copy.  Not sure how much we will charge from 1 offs.  [e-mail]

[Phil Lampman]

Thanks Jim, for taking care of that question. If I may be so bold as to offer an opinion, from what I've seen thus far of the amount of raw material in the archives and what the production crew is doing with it, I think the opportunities are boundless. I think we need to give Don and his team some more time to get through this project - I mean, it's huge - and then consider other opportunities like Gary has suggested. I like the idea, but the production team is going to have to tell us what's possible. 

The team is a pretty talented and knowledgeable about the subject, and the venue. I'm amazed at what they have done already. I can't wait to see what's next.

Gary's question is just the sort of feedback we need, don't you think?

[Jim Mesick]

As usual, Phil has the prudent suggestion!

It's easy for me to promise, Don has to do the work not me.

We will not make this public but, something to explore!

Keep the suggestions coming!

[Steve Cernich]

Just "re-joined" mainly for this video archive. Waiting with great anticipation to the release of some 1960's Local Seattle TV coverage! Great stuff, something that has been long overdue for this fan-base. 

[Gary Finn]

Thank You very much for answering my question.

Jim Mesick said:

If you see a movie you would like to have, contact us and we can sell you a copy.  Not sure how much we will charge from 1 offs.  [e-mail]

[William W Zuppe]

Please let me know what, if anything needs to be done to get me into the vault.

Bill Zuppe

[e-mail]

Jim Mesick said:

If you are a $100 Member or above and have a profile created on the web site, we have sent invitations to join the Video Vault.  You MUST "CLICK" on the link at the bottom of the invitation to complete the registration process for the Video Vault.

If you did not receive the email invitation or deleted it like most of you do to my emails (INSERT HAPPY FACE) drop me an email and I'll be happy to help you out!

[e-mail]

Thanks for the kind words Phil!!!!

Jim Mesick