August - Antique Auto Mushers of Alaska

August 2005
Volume 46 Number 8
http://groups.msn.com/AntiqueAutoMushersofAlaska
4th of July Parade a Success!
Monday, July 4th arrived and I did not expect too many
of our club members to show up with their cars considering all of the other opportunities available.
Surprisingly, we had nine autos participate:
Dave Beck
1918 Model T (J. Swanson’s)
Jim Swanson
1949 Jeepster
Robbie & Marianne Robinson 1930 Model A
Jim & Victoria Fredenhagen
1929 Model A
Dave Mackey
1960 Nash Metropolitan
Kurt Rein
1964 Ford Mustang
Howard & Barb Hansen 1924 Dodge Touring
Milo Mujagic
1956 Cadillac Convertible
Jim Henderson (new)
1955 Buick Century
The parade was attended by an estimated 45,000 people
and the weather was great.
The group escorted the Miss Alaska American Co-ed
Ladies; we had five of them in four cars. They enjoyed
the ride not to mention dressed up the cars nicely.
We were instructed not to use the horns in the autos as
they might be confused with an emergency siren, but you
don’t tell Curt he can’t blow his horn.
Jim Swanson barely made it home with the Jeepster,
looks like the engine has to come out. This should give
his other cars a chance to see the road.
Thanks to all who participated.
— Dave Beck
AAMA—State Fair Parade
Let out the Kid in You
By: LeRoi Heaven, Chairman
What is AAMA without a parade? Arrangements have been made for AAMA to participate in the Alaska State Fair, Saturday, August
27, 2005.
The parade starts at 11:00 a.m. Everyone
should be at the starting spot, the Palmer Police Station parking lot (same place as in the
past), with their cars by 10:30 a.m.
The Palmer Police Department is on South
Valley Way, toward the north end of town;
north of the depot.
The theme is ―Let out the kid in you"
Following the parade we will go directly to the
fairgrounds. There is a designated spot to park
the cars for display inside the fairgrounds. I
will have the vehicle passes at the parade line
up. People will need to purchase their individual people fair entrance tickets on their own.
They can either get them ahead of time at
Carrs Tix, or they can purchase them at the
gate.
At the fair we expect each car owner to take an
hour "guard" shift at the cars so we always
have someone watching the cars and being
there to answer questions about the cars. Usually 2 couples do it at a time. I'll have the
sign-up sheet for times there.
A U G U S T 2 00 5
Tinkering Times
PA G E 2
President’s Corner– Fred Schurman
The Hope Weekend was small but well received by
the town. Many small parades and good food was
the prime objective, plus show off the cars.
August 12th the Joint Meet get underway in Fairbanks with the Vernon Nash Antique Car Club
hosting. We will meet at the Pioneer Park for a barb-que, on the 12th, we bring desserts. There are
quite a few activates planned for a busy couple of
days:
Friday evening 5:30 PM
Meet at Pioneer Park (if late call Willy on his cell
1-907-388-8352 to get in park.
Saturday 10:00 AM
Meet at the Carlson Center back parking lot for
Car
Games & Fun
12:00 Noon
Meet at Rivers Edge RV park for lunch
1:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Start cruise
6:00 PM
Banquet Big Daddy's at 107 Wickersham St.
Sunday 9:00 AM
No host breakfast at Denny's
Rivers Edge RV Park and Cottages prices:
$26.95 for RV
$139.00 for cottages
Cottage reservations call 1-907-474-3601
August 27th is the day of the State Fair Parade in
Palmer, line up in front of the Police Department by
10:30 AM, after the parade, those that want to will
take their cars to the Fair grounds where tickets are
available.
Editor’s:
Barbara and Howard Hansen
Officers
President: Fred Schurman 276-2278
Vice President: Jim Fredenhagen 234-5214
Secretary: Gwyn Wiedmer 243-7005
Treasurer: Howard Hansen 345-1268
Members at Large
Gary Stoops—2005
Robbie Robinson—2005
Kurt Rein—2005
Ralph Centoni—2005
Immediate Past Presidents
Diane Allen (2004)
Fred Schurman (2001, 2002, 2003)
Peg Stout (2000)
Ken Stout (1999)
Dennis Allen (1998, 1997)
Mike Weidmer (1996)
George Chase (1995)
Art Isham (1994)
Tom Cresap (1993)
Marguerite Grau (1992)
Len Grau (1991)
Newsletter Consultant: Gayle Santana
Send letters, articles and ads to: Tinkering Times, 14840 Loc Loman Lane, Anchorage, AK 99516
E-mail: howbarb@alaska.net (Place ―Tinkering Times‖ in the subject line.)
Telephone: (907) 345-1268
A U G U S T 2 00 5
Tinkering Times
PA G E 3
Hope Weekend
A great time was had by the few attending.
Prez Fred and Janet, Dennis and Diane, Mike
and Gywn, Scott, Claire, and Cindy, Lee and
Betty, Me, Sara and Max. Cars in attendance
in order of above: Tee flatbed, Reo Speedwagon, RR, Subaru, Chevy.
The most fun for me was meeting so many
people in Hope. The Speedwagon developed a
flat tire so we got to meet Carny Joe who has a
small shop. He is a fairly young man who likes
old vehicles. Met with Mike at 10:00 p.m. Saturday night and he promised the truck would
be ready by 10:00 a.m. on Sunday. He was
true to his word.
We met Billy and Anne Miller, long-time Hope
residents. Billy gave a great tour of the museum. He and Mike had a lot of interests in
common. Anne runs the museum gift shop.
She was postmaster for 26 years.
We went to see a miniature burro farm where
we met Bud , a rather grizzled old timer with a
clearly beloved Georgetown sweatshirt. Bud
used to fly DC-3s and C-82s for Northern Air
Cargo. There were twelve or thirteen burros
there and the people are glad to show them
off.
Dwayne McBride, my best friend in Hope, was
a true help.
He assisted
Betty by getting her a
diamond
willow cane;
he helped
Mike by introducing us
to
Carny
Joe; and he
supplied us with some fresh netted Kenai
River Reds which Dennis cooked up superbly
for everyone.
Dennis won a gift certificate in the raffle—not
sure if it was $300 or $400. Lee came in 2nd
place in his division in the footrace.
Max enjoyed riding our Honda 80cc dirt bike
and I had fun getting our 100cc Kawasaki running again.
Claire had her birthday cake (well, we all did).
Diane rested regally on her throne chair with
Janet’s pooch “Cindy” on her lap. Cindy Hulse
had two friends with her and they were here
and there. Mike hauled a brand new wood
stove from Anchorage to Hope for me and enjoyed getting some practical use out of the
Reo. (So did I). He was able to maintain a
steady
45mph
w h i l e
s oun d i n g
like
a
dryer full
of
nuts
and bolts.
Woowee,
is
that
truck noisy
at highway
speeds.
We did little parading and from what I could
see we were not missed by the mainly snagging fishermen crowd. The running crowd
showed up just before the race on Sunday and
disappeared immediately after the race, which
is normal.
I maintained my record of never getting to the
pancake breakfast at the Social Hall as Mike
and Gywn and us sat up late talking and partaking of wine. Also, was late for Dennis’s dinner. Dennis cooked a very fine breakfast of
bisquits and sausage gravy.
The Hope trip is one of my favorites because
we do so much together. We talk together, eat
together, and swap rides. I really enjoy that
much more than when we all stay in different
hotels, campgrounds and only see each other
for group car photos.
— Gary Stoops
A U G U S T 2 00 5
Tinkering Times
Whitehorse & Skagway Bound
PA G E 4
rying spare gas and water be sure they are well identified.
By Dennis Allen
Our 2005 long distance tour left the Red Robin parking
lot in East Anchorage at 8:25 am on Wednesday, 29 June
under the guidance of our ―Cat Herder‖, Bruce Campbell.
In addition to Bruce & Marl in their Chevrolet truck pulling a trailer with their 1914 Model T Ford Calliope, our
caravan included Peg & Ken Stout in their 1940 LaSalle
Sedan; Jeff & Betty Hassler in their 1940 Ford Tudor Sedan; Gary, Sara, and Max Stoops, Gary’s cousin Vivian
(Sissy) Morrow & her grandson Griff Morrow in a 1958
Chevrolet BelAir and a motorhome; Greg & Jean Lear
with Jean’s sister Joan in their 1971 Mercedes; and Dennis & Diane Allen in their 1964 Lincoln Continental convertible. On our way through Chugiak we were joined by
Lee & Betty Westcott-Plumber driving Cresap’s 1966
Ford Mustang coupe
After getting the water drained from the tank and float
bowls and adding Heet to the tank the Ford came back to
life. We all arrived safely back in Tok by 11:00 pm.
On Thursday morning we were pleasantly surprised to
find Mike & Gwyn Wiedmer’s 1949 Ford convertible
parked in front of a Young’s Motel room. They had spent
most of Wednesday getting a rear wheel bearing replaced.
After finally getting out of Anchorage they were fueling
in Palmer at 6:30 pm and arrived in Tok shortly after
midnight. That may not set a speed record between
Palmer and Tok but I bet it does in the ’49 Ford category!
We gained one car but unfortunately we loss Jeff & Betty
with their ’40 Ford. Their throw-out bearing had started
making loud noises and causing difficult shifting so they
thought it prudent to return to Anchorage.
Our newly formulated caravan headed for the boarder
hoping to overwhelm Canadian customs with our unusual
caravan and have an incident free entry into Canada. So
we could arrive at customs as a group we stopped at the
International Boundary for a photo opportunity and
waited for the stragglers.
At Red Robin bright and early for the long distance tour.
The weather was partly cloudy and the scenery exceptional. With the Chugach range to the South and the Talkeetna Range to the North we passed the Matanuska Glacier, Sheep Mountain Just north of Mendeltna we stop in
a turnout for lunch.
Arrived in Tok at 5:50 pm and checked into Young’s
Motel. After dinner at Fast Eddy’s we drove over to the
Sourdough Campground to check on the Stoop’s tribe and
tell them of the revised departure time – 7:00 instead of
8:00 am. We found out Gary stayed in Mentasta with the
Hasslers to help get their car running.
At about 8:00 pm Dennis, Diane, and Sara headed for
Mentasta with the top down. It sure got cold when we
passed into the shadow of the mountains! Arriving in
Mentasta we found Jeff and a helicopter mechanic under
the hood of a very uncooperative ’40 Ford. Although I am
sure this is a painful subject to Jeff I feel there is a lesson
for all of us and in that light I mention it. Whenever car-
There was quite a line of cars waiting at customs but once
we reached the inspection booth we were quickly processed and sent on our way. We made it 200 meters down
the road where Stout’s LaSalle stalled due to vapor-lock
caused by overheating while waiting in line! I wonder
what the customs officers thought about all of the cars
lined up along the road just pass their booth.
Lots of suggestions later and some pushing and the LaSalle was up and running. We made a quick stop at Buckshot Betty’s to top off our fuel and then we were off for
Whitehorse. By this time we had lost sight of the other
cars and didn’t know who was in front and who was behind us but we knew we would all meet for lunch at Lake
Creek.
Several miles after leaving the Talbot Arms gas station
we noticed a bright piece of metal fly off the ’49 Ford.
We stopped to pick it up while Mike & Gwyn turned
around and came back. It was the stainless steel shield
that fits around the gas filler. The cap had been left off.
No sooner had we realized we had to return to the gas
station for the cap than a local drove up in his pickup with
the cap in hand. What a guy! Thanks.
A U G U S T 2 00 5
Tinkering Times
We topped our fuel tanks in Haines Junction. We had
been looking forward to a fancy dinner at Raven Gourmet Dining but without reservations we would have to
wait a long time so we settled for ice cream at the
Frosty Freeze. By 6:30 pm we started the last 100
miles to Whitehorse. 40 miles out of Haines Jct. we ran
into a cloud burst and had to put the tops up. Everyone
else had arrived in Whitehorse ahead of us. After
checking in and unloading the cars Mike and Dennis
went to the car wash to clean the cars for Friday’s parade.
PA G E 5
Canada Day arrived and we assembled for the parade
several blocks from the hotel. Diane and I were privileged to have as our guests in the Lincoln two lady
WWII veterans, Marg Baker and Flo Whyard. Because
the calliope and the bag pipers needed some separation
Bruce was sent to the back of our group so we led our
group followed by Stouts ’40 LaSalle; Lee & Betty in
Cresap’s ’66 Mustang; Lear’s ’71 Mercedes; Stoops
’58 Chevy; and Wiedmer’s ’49 Ford with two more
Lady veterans.
After the parade we displayed the cars at the Yukon
Transportation Museum. There were few people stopping to see the cars so after touring the museum we
went to ―Sam & Andy’s Authentic Mexican Food‖ for
lunch. Different but very good! The rest of the day was
spent napping and doing a self guided tour to see the
fish ladder and dam and the Riverdale residential
neighborhood.
Campbell’s calliope and two of Canada’s finest.
On Saturday we set off for a local tour down the South
Klondike Highway to Carcross then back up Tagish
Road to Atlin Road and then 58 miles to Atlin. We will
be traveling through Carcross again tomorrow so we
did not spend a lot of time stopping but we did get
some ―Fry Bread‖ and refill our coffee.
From the Webmaster
- Gary Stoops
I think we need to have some kind of parameters for
photo albums. Dennis asked me to download his pictures—there were over 250 of them. I culled through
them but still ended up with too many. Scott has
beaucoup pics and I have a plethora. Storage costs
money.
I propose that all submitted photos have captions under them. You see a picture of a mountain—so what?
You see people—who are they? I also recommend
we do not include repetitive pictures. In fact, I recommend we restrict each album to a maximum of 25
of the finest pictures. If a person has more than that,
they can create a briefcase and we can publish the
link to that.
Pictures should contain something happening. We
have too many pictures of the same cars in the same
positions, that goes the same for people standing
around.
I also recommend that we start pulling albums after
two years of posting and burn them to a disk for archiving. Or, buy a big storage space and place them
all in there and create a link to them so anyone can go
and see the old pictures without cluttering up the
website with a lot of old news.
That is my suggestion—now let me hear yours.
I do believe that photo albums (along with a write up
of the activity) are one of the best attractions to the
site and want to make them dynamic and alive.
A U G U S T 2 00 5
Tinkering Times
PA G E 6
AAMA/ATC(M) Reception of the
CCCA “North to Alaska” CARavan
By Stu Hall
I hope you will all agree with me that the
AAMA/ATC(M) reception of the CCCA ―North to
Alaska‖ CARavan was a success. The membership
and vintage vehicle turnout was superb. I am very
grateful for the two club’s support.
Many thanks to those who attended, brought their cars
and even donated food to the occasion. Hopefully
you got a chance to enjoy the cars and meet/talk with
out guests. As Gary Stoops observed, we won’t have
a group of cars like that visit Alaska again any time
soon. It’s not likely to happen in my lifetime. Perhaps another organization, especially those that specialize in long-distance tours, e.g., Contemporary Historical Vehicles Association /CHVA, might undertake
a similar trek.
Mystery Picture
Here’s a little nostalgia for you long-time AAMA &
VNAAC members. When and where was this joint
meet held, and how many cars/people can you identify?
Bring this issue to this year’s joint meet and let’s
reminisce together. (I can identify two cars, for
sure.)
July’s Mystery Picture—Answer
The young man in the picture is Ken Evans working on a 1956 Oldsmobile Super 88.
For CCCA National CARavan Chair or this CARavan’s Tour Coordinator, as appropriate.
I would like to express my appreciation to the
ATC(M) members for bringing their vehicles and contributing half the rental fee for the Aviation Heritage
Museum. What generosity!
And, thanks to everyone else who helped, either with
donations or cleaning up (to insure we got our deposit
back) to keep the cost of this event reasonable.
We even made the news—KTUU/Channel 2 carried a
story about the CARavan on the 5 o’clock news. A
news release was sent to the Daily News but they didn’t follow up. I actually received a call on Sunday
from Channel 2 asking the whereabouts of the Reception but that was a ―no show‖. Tuesday morning I received another call from KTUU but I explained to the
reporter that the CARavan was headed for Homer for
an overnight at Lands End on the Spit, then on to Seward. I am not sure where the news crew caught up with
the CARavan but they did. I am going to order a couple of copies of the video; one for our records and one
Tinkering Times
A U G U S T 2 00 5
PA G E 7
Denali National Park
September Trip
Welcome New Members!
Karl Lauterbach
Ed Murphy
Ted Hawley wrote the following message to
AAMA Members:
If you are planning on going on the Denali National Park trip in September, I would like to
offer a special side trip.
August Birthdays
Julia
Margaret
Sandy
Fritz
Marianne
Jimmy
Irene
Gene
Max
Bert
Dave
Robert
Jenna
Ted
Kelly
Ede
Heaven
Severson
Wohlwend
Robinson
Beck
Peterson
Porter
Stoops
Shaw
Beck
Shoemaker
Fredenhagen
Hawley
Weidmer
My family owns a cabin at Colorado Station on
the Alaska Railroad about 60 miles south of the
Park. Colorado Station can be driven to—it is
about three miles from the Parks Highway on a
private road with a locked gate. We have a nice
small mining museum and it is an interesting
area, rarely visited by the public. This would
add a few hours to travel time between the Park
and Anchorage.
1
2
4
4
6
9
9
10
10
11
11
13
26
27
27
Our mining property is the Golden Zone Mine
about 10 miles west of Colorado Station. It can
be reached by a monster truck tour operation,
weather permitting. If some of the group are
interested, I can arrange a good deal on the tour.
This would be an all day trip.
It is very likely that my dad will be at the mine
or at Colorado Station at the time of the trip—if
he can meet up with a group of people, I’m sure
he would be happy to provide a very informative lecture on Alaska mining history (he wrote
the book, ―Wesley Earl Dunkle, Alaska’s Flying
Miner‖.
Anniversaries
Jim & Victoria
Donald & Judy
Howard & Barbara
Jim & Julie
Ted & Debbie
Tom & Marcy
Fredenhagen
Morefield
Hansen
Ede
Hawley
Cresap
15
19
20
23
27
31
If you are interested please call or e-mail for
more information:
Home: 344-5930
Work: 261-7423
E-mail: ted.hawley@acsalaska.net
A U G U S T 2 00 5
Tinkering Times
Events Calendar
Aug 7
Aug 10
Aug 12 13 14
Aug 27
Sep 10
Sep 14
Oct 12
Nov 9
Dec 14
Show and Shine (Park Strip)
Regular Meeting 6:30 p.m.
VNAACF Joint meet /Fairbanks
State Fair Parade (Theme:
Bring Out The Kid in You)
Assemble between 10:00 10:30 a.m.
LeRoi Heaven, Chair
Adopt-a-Road Cleanup
Regular Meeting 7:30 p.m.
Regular Meeting 7:30 p.m.
Regular Meeting 7:30 p.m.
Regular Meeting 7:30 p.m.
PA G E 8
Club Meeting
August 10, 2005
6:30 PM
Robbie’s Club House
3318 Jerde Circle
Find a Word
July’s Answer:
If you found all the place names, the leftover
letters spelled Studebaker and Hudson.
Tinkering Times Article Deadline
Please submit articles for the Tinkering Times by the 25th of August for the September newsletter. Fax
information to Barb Hansen (907) 345-1268 or e-mail: Howbarb@alaska.net. Please put “Tinkering
Times” in the subject line.