Ford Econo 50th gathering Avon Lake Ohio, Aug 12, 2010

This is posted elsewhere but thought it would be good to have this in the events section as this is quite a milestone event for van lovers.
Ford contacted the moderators of the Old Econoline Group on Yahoo to let them know that Ford Econoline owners of all generations of Fords from 1961 to 2010, their family and friends are invited to the troll out of the 2011 Econoline at the Econoline plant in Avon Lake Ohio, near Cleveland. The event is now set for Aug 12. Ford is interested in hearing from Ford owners about the stories on their vans. They are sending a video production company to the 2010 National Truck-In in Greenwich New York to video Econo owners and their vans. The actual date(s) this will be happening at the Nats will be posted soon.
Details are still coming in for the main event. If your on Facebook go to the Econoline 5.0 and you can post pictures of your Econoline van or pickup.

New Update; Bad News....
Ford has declined the proposal to pre-video at the NATs :

" It’s up to Ford to select the elements they want included in their celebration. I understand how disappointed you and the club member are that they did not approve the video but the remainder of the proposal is still pending.

Latest news; website for Lodging at the Hampton Inn:

I called the Hotel; they are flexible on arrival/departure dates is you call them directly and tell them you are with the Econoline Group for the special rate.

For Lodging, web page address is: http://hamptoninn.hilton.com/en/hp/groups/personalized/CLEDRHX-FOR-20100812/index.jhtml?WT.mc_id=POG

Group Name:
Ford E-Series 50th Anniversary

Group Code: FOR
Hotel Name:Hampton Inn Cleveland-Westlake

Hotel Address:
29690 Detroit Rd.
Westlake, Ohio
44145-1934
Phone Number:
4408920333

Guys, After a week of no replies to emails and phone calls, I now get the following:

50th Anniversary Celebration for Job#1 Cancelled.‏
From: Hurt, Damoni (D.) (dhurt1@ford.com)
You may not know this sender.Mark as safe|Mark as junk
Sent: Fri 7/16/10 1:52 PM
To: bluelemon72@hotmail.com
Cc: Ruggirello, Craig (C.S.) (cruggire@ford.com)

Jim,

I was going to call you however, I am sensitive to your work schedule of 12 mid to 7 am and didn’t want to wake you with a call. Thus I am sending this email regretfully to inform you that the 2011 - 50th Anniversary event that was planned for August has been cancelled. We were unable to get approved funds and aligned support to move forward with this event within Ford. Its definitely unfortunate as we felt that half a century of E-Series is something that needed to be celebrated. We would have loved to have celebrated the event with your club as that would have been a great way to celebrate the past and the future.

I still think there are some great opportunities for us to support your events in the future and there still is the possibility that Ford may invite your group to future events for 2011 MY still exist. However I deeply regret that we could not get aligned for the Job #1 Celebration, but there could still be some synergies moving forward.

Please keep us informed with the future events of your club. We would still like to send some items to support those events.

Please let me know if you have any questions or issues and again I offer my deepest apologies to you and your group members for any challenges this may have caused.

Feel free to call or email if you have any questions,



Regards,
Damoni Hurt
E-Series/Transit Connect Marketing Manager
Commercial Truck Sales and Marketing
Ford Motor Company
p. 313-323-2091
f. 1-866-325-4162
e. dhurt1@ford.com