Sunday, February 28
2:00pm

Danville Community Band Concert
Band on the Run:
Celebrating Transportation of the 20th Century

This concert is free with admission to the Blackhawk Museum.

Join the Danville Community Band, under the baton of Director Robert Calonico, Director-Emeritus Dr. Lawrence Anderson, and Assistant Director Teri Musiel, on a musical expedition through the 20th century and be carried along by some of the many melodious modes of transportation! Come enjoy the music inside the spectacular Blackhawk Auto Museum.

For more information visit the Danville Community Band Website: www.danvilleband.org.

Saturday, March 13
10:00am

The Always Provocative MARTIN SWIG Presents a Talk:
He's sure to stimulate and possibly irritate, but he is never Dull!

The State of the Automobile Industry:
After the Crunch of Last Year, Who Came Out Ahead? Who Lost? And What Does the Future Hold?

Join us for a talk from the always provocative Martin Swig as he addresses the current state of the automotive industry in the wake of a very turbulent 2009. Where will the industry go from here? And where will the pieces that remain fit into the future? This talk is free with admission to the Museum and will take place in the lower auto gallery beginning at 10:00 am.

Martin Swig is a San Francisco Bay Area-based car collector, vintage racer, founder and chief organizer of the California Mille, La Carrera Nevada, and other notable U.S. vintage car rallies and events.

Martin Swig grew up in Palo Alto, Northern California, in the 1950s. It was a perfect time to be around to see the beginnings of the West Coast European car craze. As a youth, he recalls being a fan of Henry Manney (Road & Track correspondent) and keeping himself up to date with news of cars and sports car racing and in Europe. After getting a degree from Stanford University in 1956, Swig entered the car business. He joined European Motors on Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco as a salesman selling Alfas and Fiats. This was just as well, because he recounts that the car that really "set him off" was the 1958 Alfa Romeo Giulietta, which he describes as a "good all rounder".

Swig was busy during the 1960s as European Motors added Mercedes-Benz to its list of marques. By the end of the 1960s, he had struck out on his own by buying a Datsun dealership in Northern California.

By the early 80's he had developed his list of franchise dealerships to include over 10 marques from North America, Europe and the newcomers, Japan. These were Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Rolls Royce, Bentley, Audi, Saab, Plymouth, Oldsmobile, Chrysler, Mazda, Suzuki, Toyota and, of course, Datsun.

Today, Swig is primarily involved in organizing international vintage car events such as the rallies he has come to be associated with. The company he founded that undertakes the organization of vintage rallies and events is called 'Amici Americani Della Mille Miglia' (translated to be 'American Friends of Mille Miglia').

Around the same time Swig was planning to leave the car dealership business, the first Mille Miglia Revival took place in Brescia, Italy in 1982. Determined to drive in it, Swig entered his 1900 Alfa Romeo Zagato, sharing the cockpit with Road and Track writer John Lamb. Since then, he has entered all but one Mille Miglia Revival.

By the late 1980s, Swig was organizing informal events that catered to those like he who had a taste for long distance (town to town) Vintage Car events. In 1990, the Colorado Grand was organized as the first Premier Vintage Rally in the U.S. Martin Swig entered it in his Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce. After the event, being impressed with the level of organization and the popular response, Swig and his fellow drivers sat in a Colorado bar chatting about the possibility of a California-based vintage event along the same lines. Spurred on by the fact that someone else will undoubtedly think of this idea and act on it, Swig began charting out a possible plan for what was to become the California Mille.

***Taken from the article "An Introduction to Martin Swig" by Shivu Rao. Please read the full and informative article here at www.velocetoday.com