Bill Slote, Ron Mumma just to mention a few formed the "Axle Snappers Custom Car Club". The club met at the old Willworth's garage just East of Hinkletown on Rt.322. The group of motor heads under the direction of Bill Slote and several others built and raced several dragsters over the early years of organized drag racing. In 1959 the club campaigned a flat head dragster that set a national record
and captured a national championship. In 1958 during a snow storm the club alerted members and pulled stalled cars out of drifts. The club didn't miss the opportunity to get credit for their work. They distributed specially printed cards informing drivers that they had been towed out by the car club and explained the purpose of the "Hot Rod" organization. The club was formed at that time as a not for profit corporation and actually filed in Harrisburg as a legitimate company. This required them to file tax information every year. Sometimes around the mid 60's the organization broke up and the members went on with their lives raising families, but never losing the love for cars. Now comes along the next generation gear heads. Local hot rodders and life time auto enthusiasts, Jake Stief and Jeff Shirk. These two have been friends for over 30 years and have always helped each other with their various projects. After completing the build of their rods, the two thought it would be neat to start a car club for local enthusiasts. They both knew of the "Axle Snappers" and Jake actually was a member back in the early 60's even though he didn't drive or have a car. They talked about resurrecting the old club but were not exactly sure how to go about that. After a lot of research and many phone calls they discovered the original club was still a legitimate corporation that was at as "inactive" status in Harrisburg. Many phone calls later Jeff found the last known address of registration for the old club. A letter to that address in New Holland produced a name and address for the last known Treasurer who is still alive and was excited to hear the guys wanted to resurrect the old club. With the help of Harold Good formerly from New Holland, the pair of rodders were able to get the approvals to reassign the ownership of the corporation and again the "Axle Snappers" are alive and functioning as one of the oldest active car clubs in the country. The duo has located the original patterns for the club license plates and have advertized the newly reorganized club and currently have 19 members. The club meets at the "Elks" in Ephrata and schedule a picnic in June open to all rodders and enthusiasts. There is also be a car show planned for August at the Elks and will draw a nice group of cars on display. For more information on membership go to our contact page and send an email. For dates of upcoming events see our events page as well. Come join in on the fun and comrodery.
