FOUR ENTHUSIASTS JOIN SARATOGA AUTOMOBILE MUSEUM BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Saratoga Springs, NY           The Board of Trustees of the Saratoga Automobile Museum has been greatly enhanced in recent months by the addition of four very successful businessmen who are also automobile enthusiasts sharing a wide variety of interests.

Saratoga Springs, NY resident Wally Allerdice, who heads a local business group that includes Allerdice ACE Hardware, Allerdice Rent-All, Allerdice Building Supply and Allerdice Glass and Mirror, among others, has already been instrumental in managing updates to the museum building, located on the Avenue of the Pines in the Saratoga Spa State Park.

An enthusiast since his teen years, Allerdice often relates that the best part of owning his 1971 Corvette convertible, 2003 “50th Anniversary” Corvette, 1917 Ford delivery truck and 1935 Chevrolet coupe is that he “learned how to fix them and still loves doing it today.”

David Collins of Greenfield, NY, owner of the DA Collins Construction Co. in Wilton, is the 2016 Chairman Elect of the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce and serves on the boards of a number of other groups, including the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Empire State Highway Contractors Assoc. and the Associated General Contractors. A sports car and driving enthusiast, Collins belongs to the Monticello Motor Club and has taken an active role in the auto museum’s exhibit committee.

Floridian Gary Brown began his business career as an executive of Amsterdam Printing and Litho Co., then became head of Kole Industries in Miami before founding BrownCor. Brown has also established, built and then sold gNeil Companies and Centis Inc. along with Motorcar Portfolio and Classic Motorcar Auctions. He currently serves on the board of a number of corporations while providing venture capital to a variety of businesses.

An avid motorcycle enthusiast, Brown has led group trips on four different continents. He now spends his summers at the Great Sacandaga Lake while maintaining his involvement in a number of Amsterdam charities in memory of his late parents.

Kevin Biebel of New Milford, CT is the owner of Art Metal Industries, which specializes in high end stainless steel fabrication. His firm does work across the nation but specializes in the New York City market, where it is best known for fabricating the stainless steel fixtures seen in the new Yankee Stadium.

The multi-talented Biebel, who at one time was among the nation’s premier restorers of Mercedes-Benz automobiles, now devotes his energy to his own 40-car collection, which is dominated by early Fords and turn of the century automobiles. A number of these cars, including a 1908 Sears originally available through the Sears-Roebuck catalogue, are currently on display in the Saratoga Automobile Museum’s Golub Gallery exhibit “Real Steel – Stories of Automotive Archaeology.”

Biebel is now serving on both the exhibits committee and the executive committee of the museum while overseeing and sponsoring the latest SAM’s Garage “hands on” youth education project, the restoration of a pair of vintage quarter-midget cars he donated to SAM.

“We very pleased to welcome these distinguished gentlemen to our board of trustees,” summed up board chairman Anthony Ianniello. “Their business success is indicative of their drive, energy and dedication to meeting goals. They bring all that to the board along with great enthusiasm for anything automotive and a desire to support our mission of education in general and pointing out the perils of distracted driving in particular. I look forward to working with them and the other trustees as we continue to enhance the museum and its many educational programs.”