NORWICH — The City of Norwich Youth Bureau, the Northeast Classic Car Museum, and the area's automobile dealerships will team up later this month to help newer drivers learn important car basics. This session will be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, June 28 at the Northeast Classic Car Museum.

City of Norwich Youth Bureau Director Anthony Testani explained the joint venture.

“Most of the activities sponsored by the Youth Bureau have been geared toward younger kids, and we wanted to offer experiences to older teens. Offering a session for new drivers, or soon-to-be drivers, seemed to be an obvious opportunity.”

“We contacted the auto dealers and the museum with our idea. They immediately came onboard,” he continued.

Youth Bureau Board Member Harry Graves is coordinating the event. “We reached out to many people for input once the idea was proposed. Most important were teens themselves, both current students and those who have been out of high school for a couple years. The older teens added ‘real life experience’ to our developing project.”

Bill Rapp Subaru, Matthews Ford, and McCredy Motors each will be bringing a car to the event and provide an experienced representative to demonstrate basic tasks that can be completed by the car owner.

“Comments from the students showed it was important to them to know how to safely change a tire, replace a blown headlight, and even know where to refill window washer fluid. Those who have been driving for a year or two stressed the importance of understanding dashboard indicators and checking the oil level,” Graves added.

“All teens encouraged us to demonstrate on car models that students are likely to be driving. Therefore, the dealers will be providing economy models that are five to eight years old. No luxury cars,” Graves commented.

“We’re gearing the evening toward newer drivers,” Testani noted. “But since we got such great cooperation from both the museum and the auto dealers, the event is open to anyone who wants to learn more about basic preventive maintenance of a car.”

Pre-registration is encouraged by contacting the Youth Bureau Facebook page or by texting your name to 607-226-0767. Instruction will take place in the museum’s main parking lot on Rexford Street. In case of inclement weather, the rain date will be on Thursday, June 30.

Questions and comments can be directed to Testani at youthbureau@norwichnewyork.net.

-Information provided by the City of Norwich Youth Bureau