October, 2009 - BlueWater British Car Club

MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
of the
Bluewater British Car Club
October, 2009
P.O. Box 22021, Twin Lakes,
Sarnia, Ontario, Canada N7S 6J4
www.bluewaterbritishcarclub.ca
AUTO MUSEUMS ALONG THE WAY NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA
MG NATIONAL MEET...By Kim Rutherford
Australia is huge country, so most of the time we were flying from place to place. However, between Melbourne
in Victoria and Adelaide in South Australia we rented a car and drove the beautiful Ocean Road. The car rented was an
Australian Holden Commodore, very comfortable and smooth, a big step up from smaller imports we had in New Zealand.
Not far out of Melbourne at Geelong, where the
Australian Ford Falcon is made
we came across the National
Meet of all the MG Clubs in
Australia. What really stood out
Lots of MGs
was the huge number of T Series cars, that were exported to
Australia, and also the Y Tourer which was bodied in Australia for their market.
MGF, RV8. the newer MGTF, and some very nice MG saloons, (some the V8
model), were there. A nice range of MGBs up to 1973. They were assembled in
Australia, but that ended in 1973. Rubber bumper MGBs were not imported, and
any car there has been done so privately. One enthusiast imported 100 LEs from
rust free California, and resold them. Standouts, were a 30s MG SA Saloon ,
and several modified MGTCs. For me the RV8 looked like a great road car. They
can be imported here when they are 15 years old
in 2010, the first models came out in 1995. Most went
to Japan; they were never used, and are now returning to the UK. Moving along the Ocean road took us
through a little town of Portland, where we stopped
and spent an hour looking through the Portland
POWERHOUSE MOTOR AND CAR MUSEUM.
RV8
Small but interesting, British, Australian, and American cars, stationary machinery, motorbikes, and an
old cable tram . The museum is manned by the local car club who take care of the
general running, and is of credit to them. Admission was a only $5, donations gladly
Aluminum bodied MG TC
received. Most gladly given, as it was nice to see these small museums available
for all to see. This was the last Museum on our trip. While in Adelaide , we did
not have time to get to the Birdsville National Motor Museum, which has the famous Birdsville Run every year from
Adelaide.
Kim and Laura. ( Many thanks to Kim and Laura for this series of stories of their adventures down under, Ed.)
MG TC Hot Rod or Resto
Riley
Holden Panel
MGF
The Spanner
Minutes from our meeting of September 9, 2009
Members at meeting – 6
Review August minutes.
Minutes & events were reviewed & accepted by Dennis
Purcell & Kim Rutherford
Treasurer’s Report –Bank balance $470.58 with 34 members, Accepted by Mark Jones & Dennis Purcell.
Old Business - BWAHC car show at Rutherglen Close on
Sat. Sept. 12th. Charity is the Salvation Army.
Battle of the Brits – New location at St. Mary’s College, Orchard Lake, Michigan on Sunday, Sept. 13th.
Bronté British Car Show – Sunday, Sept 20th.
Fall Colour Tour, Saturday, Oct. 3rd. See newsletter for details.
Would you please contact Don & Gayle Fysh to confirm numbers for lunch reservation at the Benmiller Inn. Meeting at
Mike Weir Park at 9:30 am & leaving at 10.00 AM.
John & Carol Holmes have agreed to organize the 2010
Rally.
Hot August Nights had a good member turnout (about 6
cars.)
New Business – Pam & Jeff Park were married on Saturday,
August 15 2009. Their wedding day went very well. Pam will
do a write up for the newsletter with pictures. Jeff & Pam
sent a card of thanks for the Wedding card we sent them.
Suggestion was made to do a write up each month on one
of our advertisers (to be discussed at the next meeting with
more members.)
Tech Session – The club is looking for someone to host a
fall tech session. Does anyone have projects on the go?
Meeting was adjourned. (Thanks to Laura Rutherford)
Here's something to keep you occupied until the snow disappears
UNBELIEVABLE MATH PROBLEM
Here is a math trick so unbelievable that it will stump you.
Grab a calculator. (you won't be able to do this one in your Head)
1. Key in the first three digits of your phone number (NOT the Area
code...)
2. Multiply by 80
3. Add 1
4. Multiply by 250
5. Add to this the last 4 digits of your phone number
6. Add to this the last 4 digits of your phone number again.
7. Subtract 250
8. Divide number by 2
Do you recognize the answer ??
October, 2009
2
The Bluewater British Car Club
promotes interest in acquiring, driving, maintaining, and restoring all makes of
British Cars.
Membership is open to anyone with an interest in British cars. Meetings are held
monthly, every 2nd Wednesday, at Stokes By
The Bay, 7:30 P.M. In addition, monthly club,
driving and social events are scheduled
throughout the year.
2008 Club Executive
President
Mark Jones
519 862-3763
Vice President Don Fysh
519 869-2868
Treasurer
Roy Overton,
519 542-7652
Secretary
Byron Warwick 519 862—3527
Spanner Editor Byron Warwick 519 862-3527
News Publisher David Kelley
519 542-7214
Events Coord. Kim Rutherford 519 337-8586
Webmaster Mark Jones
519 862-3763
The Spanner
…is the monthly newsletter of the BBCC.
Articles, pictures, ideas, etc. are welcomed and are to be
submitted by the 20th of each month for inclusion in the
next month’s newsletter.
Forward items to:
Byron Warwick.
By email at bandb@ebtech.net
Or by post or hand to:
481 Tom St., PO Box 842, Corunna ON
N0N 1G0 Phone 519 862-3527.
David Kelley. 1085 Fairlane St.,
Sarnia, ON, N7S 3J9. Phone 519 542-7214.
Contributing writers this month: Kim Rutherford,
Laura Rutherford, Mark Jones, David Kelley, Byron
Warwick.
Photo credits: Kim Rutherford, David Kelley, Mark
Jones.
The Spanner
October, 2009
3
The President’s Garage Grumblings
You meet all types of people who have gotten into the car hobby for a variety of reasons. Many just want to
get in and drive, but some are looking for a project At Bronté British Car Days I met a guy who took on a very ambitious project. It was a driver, but did require a bit of “tweaking”.
Brad MacFarlane lives in the Guelph area and recently bought a 1970 MGB; his first car in thirty years. As
soon as he got the car home he set out adding hand controls to his B. Oh did I not mention that Brad is a paraplegic?
Brad’s cousin Dan Wheeler did the design and fabrication of the controls. The controls have been put relatively close to the steering wheel so that hands don’t have to be off the steering wheel for too long. The handle on the
left is for the clutch. The one on the
right is for the gas (pull) and the brake
(push). Brad says that the controls
work well. He likes how it is a simple
mechanical system; no hydraulics or
electronics like commercial systems.
He’s now out driving the
wheels of the B. He recently drove
the Forks of the Credit road. Amazing what can be accomplished when
one puts their mind to a project. Brad
thinks his winter project might be a
cruise control, which would make
driving a bit easier.
By the way, anyone have an
AMCO luggage rack they want to part
with? Brad’s looking for one to
“throw” his wheelchair onto.
Mark J
The Spanner
October, 2009
4
Received this letter from Sue Snyder via Les McGaw
Calendar
Of Upcoming
Events
2009
OCTOBER
3 Fall tour - Don & Gayle Fysh to Ben
miller Inn north of Goderich
14 Monthly Meeting - Stokes Bay
NOVEMBER
11 Monthly Meeting- Stokes Bay
XX Tech Session - Host & Venue?
DECEMBER
6 Christmas Brunch Sarnia Golf & CC
About a 1970 TR6 project
Sue, I am sending you this e-mail as a favor, as I am
not a member of the club. I started to restore the car,
but lost my job. The frame is painted and ready for reassembly. The body and all panels are in primer. The
motor has been rebuild, with receipts, new gaskets,
seals, timing chain, tappets and push rods, Head and
pistons decarbonized and new Borg and Beck clutch.
All parts to reassemble are bagged, tagged and
wrapped. 5 Michelin red line tires, 5-72 spoke wheels
in vary nice shape. Service manual and 3 body books.
I have almost $1000.00 in the motor alone. I am asking
$1500.00 and won’t take offers or part out. If you could
please pass this info to your members, this might help
all of us. I can be reached at 248-852-5072, and live in
Bloomfield MI. Thanks for reading this. John.
J. Jambor <mcduff73@comcast.net>
Car for Sale
This 1975 MG seen at Paul's Garage in Forest. Not bad
shape, has hard top owner asking $8,000 OBO (will have to
store in winter)
1973 MGB Convertible.
• Partially disassembled. All parts are there.
• New Top
• All Lenses, lights, glass and emblems are in
perfect shape.
• Newer interior
• Engine, transmission and rear end work perfectly.
• All front end components have less than 2k on
them.
• Front and rear brakes have less than 2k on
them.
• Twin carbs.
Car was being driven until the floor and castle rails
got too rusty. The balance of the body is solid but
has some surface rust. Restoration started and
never completed. Asking $1,200.
Bruce Middleton, Sarnia, 519-381-2480 cell, 519-5411109 res, boot0918@yahoo.ca
The Spanner
October, 2009
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BATTLE OF THE BRITS 2009
Several members went to the new site of the Battle of the Brits sponsored by The Detroit Triumph Club.
This year the venue was moved to their Orchard Lake site. It is about 30 minutes farther for our club, but the location did have lots of grass for their display area, and this is the largest British Car Show in our nearby area. So if
you want to see a lot of British makes and models this is the place to go.
There is already a large posting of the cars and people that attended this sunny day show. Go to the link
below to see the pictures. You can view them closer by clicking on the picture and zoom in closer with one more
click.
http://cid-f4aba209e9bc1fd2.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Battle%20of%20the%20Brits%202009?wa=wsignin1.0&sa=184404669
Some of our members cars are shown below along with some of the more interesting or unusual models.
The Spanner
October, 2009
6
Let’s Get Technical”
MARK JONES
Roy Overton
Our generation maybe the last to be able to occasionally exceed the
posted speed limit. Why? Because we are likely to see a new generation of
vehicles fitted with GPS devices that will record not only where we happen to
be on the planet but how fast we are going. So if we drive along an empty
country road or highway above the posted speed we are likely to hear a voice
telling us that we are exceeding the speed limit and that we will be reported
for excess speed if we fail to slow. The technology has been around for nearly
10 years, it's only the lack of political will and public uproar that has kept this
from being introduced earlier. If it does come, and it still might, new cars will
have the device fitted on delivery and older ones will have it fitted as a aftermarket accessory. A bit of a blow for the average motorist, but think of the
Aston Martin, Ferraris and other super cars, their owners will be bored to
tears!
Unusual Car Bits
Byron, The following was posted on the E type Forum, FYI, Regards, John Holmes
"""I was looking for the spring clips that hold the windscreen washer fluid hose to the bonnet and ran
across this catalogue. Lots of interesting obscure hardware and trim pieces. I thought some of you might
find it useful.
http://www.restorationspecialties.com/
PS: I never did find the spring clips
For Sale
1961 Jaguar Mk 2. 3.8 Automatic. $70 000 spent on body and mechanical, 1500 miles
on engine since. Wedgewood Blue with Red Interior. Wire Wheels, Motolita steering
wheel.
Asking $20,000 OBO
Contact Kim Rutherford 519-337-8586 for
further particulars.
The Spanner
October, 2009
7
By David B Kelley
GORDON KEEBLE
Jim Keeble and John Gordon were respectively, a British engineer and a British financier who
thought that they could take on Italy’s GT supercar makers in the early 1960’s.
The Italian coachbuilder Bertone used a young Giorgetto Giugiaro to design a two-door, four seatcoupe body , which was then molded from Glassfiber by Williams & Pritchard. The chassis was composed
of a complex square section space-frame, a DeDion rear suspension, and a Chevrolet V-8 (5395cc, 329 cu
in) engine.
The Gordon-Keeble was first announced as a “Gordon” in 1960 but wasn’t put into production until
1964, with a price of
£2798 which was too
low of a price to
make money.
After a year,
the company had produced just 80 cars .
Component supply
problems and under
investment meant
that Gordon-Keeble
never realized its
true potential. An
additional 19 cars
were built in 1966
under new management at a price of
£4058.
Just 99 Gordon-Keebles were built at Eastleigh near Southampton.
In 1968 production was taken over by another firm which intended to sell it in America as the
“DeBruyne”.
An American John DeBruyne, bought the rights to the Gordon-Keeble and in 1968 he showed two
re-badged Gordon-Keebles at the New York Motor Show, as well as a mid-engine coupe, using a 5.7 litre
Chevrolet V-8, five speed transaxle, and a claimed top speed of 180 MPH.
That concludes the story of DeBruyne. Being Fibreglass and therefore rust proof, about 90 cars still
exist.
The Spanner
October, 2009
Fall Colour Tour
Saturday, October 3
Assemble: 9:30 am at Mike Weir Park
Departure: 10:00 am sharp
Destination: Benmiller Inn
We will follow a meandering path through rural roads and woodlands arriving at
Benmiller Inn for lunch.
Estimated cost is ~$12-14 plus beverages etc.
http://www.benmiller.on.ca/menu/dining_lunch.html
Return to Sarnia via Blyth (leather shop) and Goderich
with an optional stop at Bayfield.
Please let Don or Gayle know if you will be joining us.
519-869-2868 or gdfysh@gmail.com
They are still using
our favourite British cars in advertisements. This
brochure is published by the Province of Ontario
and is available at
our local Travel
Office so you can
plan another Fall
tour on your own.
8
The Spanner
October, 2009
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BRONTÉ BRITISH CAR SHOW 2009
Colin Pritchard MGB
Daimler Conquest Convertible
1951 Riley 2.5 L Convertible
Morris Minor Convertible
John Broomer and MarkJones
1961 Jaguar Mark II
Wolseley 6/110
Aston Martin DB 6
MG WA
The Bronté British Car
Show sponsored by the Toronto
Triumph club was again a well
attended event, with over 1100
cars on display.
Several of our members
were there and some of them
are seen with their chariots.
There were not big line-ups at
1958 Austin A-105
the toilets and the hamburgs
Citroën Traction Avant
and hot dogs were 5 Bucks
each. The sun shone all day, and there was a HUGE Flea Market so you could get the parts that need
replacing or are missing from your carriage. There was a good selection of saloon cars as is normal
for this event, and there is room for other European cars as well. We hope you can capture some of
the flavour of the day with these pictures. Wish I had been there, Ed.
The Spanner
October, 2009
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