Jump to content
Model Cars Magazine Forum

Recommended Posts

I'm finally going to bite the bullet and admit that I'm at a loss. I've searched on here and on the 'Net and can't find the answer. What does NNL stand for? I can find loads of info about NNL events, but not once could I find anything that says what it stands for. Now, keep in mind that I'm just getting back into the hobby. Try not to laugh too awfully hard. I just HAVE to know.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Since the NNL started in my garage in 1980 I think can address an and all questions anyone might have concerning the meaning of the name or it's mission.Six regular competitors from the MPC contest series decided we did not want to give up the friendships and common intrests we had found during our meetings at those early contests.As a result I suggested we meet at our house in Jackson Center,Ohio and bring along any models we had built or were were working on along with any photos of slides(remember those?) and catch up with what had been happening in our lives.

We gathered in our garage,my lovely wife Karen fixed food for all of us and we had a great time!And now the absolute truth about the name.We are the Nameless National Luminaries.That was derived from an article written my Mark Gustafsen from Utah for model car magazine in which he was trying to explain his failed atempt to establish a new national model car contest.That did not happen and we six were actually at least partially responsible for that.Mark is a great guy and modeler but the rules he was proposing were way too compicated and we thought over burdensome.As a result we six regularly heard from modelers from all over the country concernng the upcoming conteset and wether we were going to attend.We resoundingly said No we were not going and nobody we knew was going either.That word evidently spread and as a direct result his first attempt at starting a new national contest failed miserably.His article reflected the fact that the contest had been ruined and I quote"by a group of National Luminaries that shall remain Nameless".My good friend Chuck Helppie was there at our meeting with a copy of that article and said  I quote"I guess that make us Nameless National Luminaries dosen't it!"Thus the true origin and the meaning behind the name.

If anyone has any further questons please ask,and thanks for being patient enough to read all of my ramblings.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great story Tom. I have meet both Tom and his wife along with Tim at the NNL Nationals .  They are all very nice and helpful people that do not know me from Adam but are always there with a smile. 

Andy.....great thing about the NNL is that we are all on the same pedestal.   The thing we all share is our interest in model cars and building model cars.  That makes us all equals.  Doesn't matter one wit who's won awards and who hasn't won them.  Nor whose work has appeared in the mags and whose hasn't.  Or which models have hundreds of hours of minute detail vs. which ones are just clever ideas assembled for fun.  We're just a bunch of really good friends trying to get together for a few hours of friendship and sharing the hobby we all love.  That's the vibe that we always got from a visit with Tom and Karen at their Ohio model kingdom, and it's what we've tried to maintain even though NNL's now draw hundreds and hundreds of people to each event.     That's also one of the reasons why Tom, Chuck, and I have always skewed towards a preference of "no awards" at NNL' s  (while pragmatically agreeing to requests from event organizers the idea of a few "people's choice" awards voted on by the participants).   TIM

Edited by tim boyd
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...