MAY, 2015 - BlueWater British Car Club

MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
of the
Bluewater British Car Club
MAY, 2015
147 Watson Street
Sarnia, Ontario, Canada N7T 6T9
www.bluewaterbritishcarclub.ca
The Wind in My Hair By Ron Hollander #2014
Re-printed with permission of The Sacred Octagon, of the NEMGTR
You have to understand about my new TC: It is the car I always wanted. By
“always” I’m talking an easy 52 years, maybe longer. Certainly back to college. And
that means back to the red, 1953 TD I bought for $550 around 1962. About the same
time an old girlfriend gave me a paperback copy of Don Stanford’s “The Red Car”
4
with that great, color painting of the red number 4 TC, its windshield folded flat,
churning dust past the finish line in front of the town market (yet what was that
bumper without over-riders doing on the front of the car?).
Don’t misunderstand: The TD was great. I spent a good part of college polishing it needlessly in front of the girls’ dorms at Brandeis, driving it round and round
campus of course with the top and windshield down while the school cops eyed me
evilly. It was only nine years old, and it was my everyday car. I drove it from New York to Boston on the I95. From New York to Norfolk for my first reporting job, crossing the Chesapeake on the ferry before the Bay
Bridge-Tunnel was opened. All over town as I covered fires and cops and the courts. I did have a heater installed, but its porous windscreens and thrumming top – to say nothing of its Spartan upholstery – did little to
endear it to my dates. My very best drive was back to New York on the twisting Blue Ridge Parkway wearing
a ski mask to keep my long hair out of my eyes, windshield down, passing lumbering Cadillacs and Buicks
with impunity on the curves… just like the Red Car.
But it was no TC.
Oh, those 19-inch wire wheels. Those narrow, high-arched fenders. The long, rakish, cut-to-the-chase
lines unconfined by any bumpers. When my TD arrived in my Rockville Centre driveway – a yellow and
black, prancing Ferrari horse North American Racing Team decal on the left-hand driver’s side – my mother
looked out the front door and said, “It’s just like those little cars you used to make.” She meant Revell’s plastic 1:32 Highway Pioneers series including a yellow Stutz Bearcat, my favorite. (The best part about building
them was heating the ends of the axles with a cigarette lighter after the wheels were on and flattening the axles
to make a hub cap.) But it was really the TC that epitomized the models she meant.
So my car life has been a quest for those 19-inch wheels. Let others pine for Ferraris and Maseratis, for
aerodynamic Lamborghinis and James Bond Aston Martins. (Though I admit the Jaguar XK-120 and 140’s
swooping fenders – actually a sensuous profile of the TC – work their siren call). I want those (un-stand-able),
two-strip running boards; the double-clutch first; and the gas tank that needs a yard stick for measurements (I
used a green, plant-support stick with my TD and only ran out once). Maybe “quest” is not the right word because it implies a search for something hard to find, and surely with 10,000
production cars made from 1945 to 1949 and 1,820 exported here, the TC
was not a rarity. But sometimes the quest is internal rather than external;
could I see myself actually owning this sacred object, the focus of my
automotive desires?
This story will continue for the next 4 or 5 issues of the Spanner. Ed.
These two pictures are from the web.
The Spanner
May, 2015
2
Bluewater British Car Club Minutes
Date: April 8, 2015.
Number of Members present: Dinner: 8, plus guest, Jack McInnis, from Port Huron. Meeting: 13
Location: Stokes Bay, Sarnia, ON
Minutes respectfully submitted by: Secretary, Sandra Cronk
1. Call to order: President, Kim Rutherford, called the meeting to order at 7:40 p.m.
2. Approval of the Minutes of the March 11, 2015 meeting.
A motion to approve the minutes as printed was made by Allen Bachelder
and seconded by Barbara Warwick. It was carried.
3. Treasurer’s Report: Treasurer, Roy Overton, reported that we had one renewal ($20.00) and one new advertisement ($20.00) for a
current balance of $1039.75. To date we have 15 paid memberships with 7 more members to hear from.
A motion was made by Brian Gormley to accept the report. It was seconded by Laura Rutherford and carried.
4. Unfinished Business:
1) March 15th Lunch at Paddy Flaherty’s was a success. There was a request to move our monthly meetings there as the
food is good. Kim will look into it. Currently, Stokes provides a secluded space for our meetings at no cost to us.
2) Saturday, May 9th Drive to Ilderton and lunch at the King Edward. The BAHC currently has ten (10) people attending
according to President, Dave Gildner. There may be more. He’ll know after their next meeting. The London British Car Club has decided to go another day.
3) Stahl’s Museum Tour: Because of the construction on the Bluewater Bridge in the next few months, there was discussion
as to whether to have any tours to the U.S. during the construction, or wait until after construction is completed, for fear that traffic
would be delayed. Allen Bachelder found crossing the bridge tonight no problem at all. It was decided to see how the traffic flows in
the next while and perhaps plan something in the warmer weather.
4) April 19th, Ancaster Flea Market and Car Show: Kim Rutherford, Allen Bachelder and Brian Gormley have expressed
an interest in attending.
5. New Business:
1) The British Car Council has sent out their recent information. President, Kim, feels the insurance offered by this group is
worthwhile for our Club to pay as it protects our members during car runs and is a reasonable price; a few dollars per member.
2) The new ad by Peninsula Import Auto Parts in the Spanner needs an upgrade. Byron has been in touch with them and is
looking after that.
3) May 24th Retrofest Chatham: Kim explained to our guest that it is a local car show in downtown Chatham put on by the
Historic Car Club of Chatham and there is a mixture of cars from different eras.
4) June Meeting: It had been suggested that the new RM Restaurant could be an outing for a regular monthly meeting but
some members felt that it was a boring run and quite a distance for an evening meeting. It was suggested that we combine going there
with a weekend day trip to RM Restorations. Allen Bachelder offered to organize a meeting at Yuri’s in Port Sanilac, if the brid ge
traffic is okay by June.
5) May 7th, London Classic Car Show: Members who have attended feel that it is a worthwhile trip with a variety of cars and a nice restaurant on site
.6. Announcements: Our next meeting is at Stokes Bay, May 13th. Dinner at 6:00 p.m.; Meeting at 7:30 p.m.
7. Adjournment: Brian Gormley moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:11 p.m. It was seconded by Allen Bachelder and carried. Members
visited for another while.
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.
2015 Club Executive
President
Kim Rutherford 519 337-8586
Vice Pres.
Allen Bachelder 810 824-4188
Treasurer
Roy Overton,
519 332-3449
Secretary
Sandra Cronk
519 845-3209
Events Coord. Byron Warwick
519 862-3527
The following are non-elected
Spanner Editor Byron Warwick 519 862-3527
News Publisher David Kelley
519 542-7214
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@cogeco.ca
Or by post or hand to:
481 Tom St., PO Box 842, Corunna ON
N0N 1G0 Phone 519 862-3527.
David Kelley. 1085 Fairlane Ave.,
Sarnia, ON, N7S 3J9. Phone 519 542-7214.
Contributing writers this month: Allen Bachelder,
David Kelley, Kim Rutherford, Sandra Cronk, Byron
Warwick.
Photo credits: Many.
The Spanner
May, 2015
3
From The President’s Garage
With April under our belt, at least we had the Obsolete Garage Sale, and the British Car Flea market and Car Show in Ancaster to visit. I attended both. One purchase of a flexible fuel hose for the Mk 2 at
Obsolete Automotive, and other than joining the British Saloon Car Club, nothing at the flea market. They
are trying to get a chapter going in London, which would be good for us . A great showing of cars in the
parking lot at Ancaster, really quite surprising considering that it was extremely cold with a heavy wind.
I went with John Holmes in his Jaguar V12 , also on display in the car show from our club was Mark Jones
MGF and Michael Walton's Triumph 2000. I almost think the time has come to change the date of this show. Every
year it seems the weather at this time of the year is bad . However having said that the building where the flea market
is held was packed solid with people at 10.00 o'clock. You had to push and shove to get to see what was on display on
the tables.
Have only had a moderate response from our club regarding our trip to Illderton, if you are going, let me
know, as of this time we have 13 people listed for us, and 10 from the Healey Club. The London Sports Car Club has
changed the date they were going, and will meet us there , which is great.
Car wise, the new horns are working on the Mk 2. Traced the problem to the horn button on the Moto Lita
steering wheel. The connections were burnt and blackened . However to get it apart, I had no choice but to damage the
little plastic legs holding it together . It so happened that Murray Schreder was returning some magazines and I
showed him the damage. He was good enough to take it home and an hour later returned having replaced the plastic
legs with brass screws and nuts, job done and two loud horns .
Surprisingly enough, considering the weather we have been driving both the Healey and the Mk 2 around
town. One thing both cars have in common is that they both like gas stations and premium gasoline. About 18 MPG is
the norm . Of course when these cars were new the price of gas was of no concern!
Happy Motoring,
Kim R
PLEASE NOTE THAT OBSOLETE ARE NOW CLOSED ON
SATURDAY MORNINGS
The Spanner
May, 2015
Bluewater British Car Club Luncheon at
the King Edward Pub
Calendar
Of Upcoming
Events
CALENDAR of EVENTS
2015
May
9
13
23
Lunch at King Eddies Ilderton. Joint
meeting with BAHC and BSCCLondon
Monthly meeting at Stokes Bay
Dinner at 6:00pm,meeting at 7:30pm.
Retrofest Car Show, Chatham/Kent
June
6,7
Fleetwood Country Cruise-in
Komoka.
6
London Classic by BSCC London.
8-12 MG 2015 Niagara Falls NAMGB
Register
15-19 NAMGAR meet at Frankenmuth MI
10
Monthly meeting at TBA
21
Sarnia Street Machines, Car Show.
30
BAHC drive to Toyota Plant
Cambridge.
Joint event with the BAHC and BSCCL
Date: Saturday, May 9, 2015
Time: Noon
Place: 13239 Ilderton Road
Ilderton, Ontario
RSVP: Kim Rutherford by Saturday May2nd at
kimrutherford@ebtech.net
519-337-8586
Meet at Global Donuts on London Line at 9:30am
Saturday 9th of May. Leave at 10:00am
See the attached link below for the King Edward
Pub.
http://www.thekingedward.com/
July
08
19
Monthly meeting at Rutherford’s
Hobbyfest at Canatara?
August
8
8
12
20
September
9
XX
20
October
14
XX
4
Old Autos Car Show-Bothwell
Wambo at Wallaceburg
Monthly meeting at TBA.
Hot August Nights, Canatara Pk Sar.
Monthly meeting at TBA, Port
Huron?
Battle of the Brits Michigan
Bronte British Car Show
Monthly meeting at Stokes Bay
Dinner at 6:00pm,meeting at 7:30pm.
Fall tour Drive and Dinner?
MG WA Saloon
The Spanner
ANCASTER
May, 2015
5
BRITISH CAR FLEA MARKET AND CAR SHOW
Some of the interesting
cars at Ancaster this
year. Kim R.
Sunday, May
17, 2015, 11am – 4pm
Camp Dearborn
1700 General Motors Road, Milford, MI 48380
The Windsor-Detroit MG Club is proud to
sponsor the third annual Spring British
Car Gathering & Picnic at Camp Dearborn in
Milford, MI.
contact us at Board@WDMGC.com
or contact Steve Finch at (248)343-1614
No registration, no formal car show or class parking,
and no awards; just an opportunity to
share our passion with fellow British car owners and
The Spanner
Month, 2015 May,
6 2015
6
Clutch Chatter…
By Allen Bachelder
Ahhh… May Day is almost here as I write. And what have I to show for the passing
month of April? In the shop? Well not quite, how about the kitchen? It’s only about 30 feet
from the shop. Does that count? I’ve been involved in a “Honey-do” that has been working out just like a car
restoration project. That is… everything that can go wrong does, and even the simplest parts of the project systematically become much more difficult and time-consuming than ever anticipated.
Fr’instance… We’re getting new countertops. The contractor comes in and installs them while your
humble servant remains in the shop – right? Well, a granite countertop guy comes out to make a template for
the new countertop. OK, so what? “Do you have a backsplash?” they ask. Well, yeah, we have a ceramic tile
backsplash. “OK, that
will
have to be gone before the granite countertop template guy comes out.
MARK
JONES
So, I collect a bunch of putty knives and chisels - anything with a sharper edge than my old screwdriver
– and also a hammer. Tap tap tap… tap tap tap… …
bang bang bang… bang bang… BLAM BLAM BLAM, and half of
the first tile falls out. Wow are we making progress! Such progress
is it that not only does half the tile fall out, but a whole bunch of
cementy stuff and a good deal of drywall come out with it. In case
you’re wondering what drywall is, when you look at the walls of
your house, drywall is the reason you don’t see 2X4 studs, pipes,
wires, and insulation. I am later told that cementy stuff is called
“thinset” and a skilled drywall worker, or in my case, a not-soskilled previous owner smears it all over the drywall so as to provide the smoothest possible surface onto which to glue the tile. It’s
good stuff! In fact I’m lucky that the entire house did not come out
Framing for new cabinet back panel – and with the tile! Heck, I had the whole backsplash and about half the
drywall out in only about two (whole) days!
to support those §¶ª•ºªº*&^&% corbels!
So the granite countertop template guy comes out and
makes his granite countertop template. We have a peninsula with about 13 inches of overhang. “Oh with a
granite countertop and any more than 10 inches of overhang, you’ll need to install corbels – first.”… Corbels?
Did you ever see “Mr Blandings Builds his Dream House”? I was waiting for the guy to ask if I wanted my
corbels rabbitted. Typing “corbel” into the Home Depot website told me what corbels are and I ordered about
four. Sounds like a proper number of corbels, don’t you think? But hey, the backsides of these fine American
Chinese cabinets hardly support corbels – rabbitted or not! What’s more, my Demented Previous Owner found
it unnecessary to line up the cabinets before adding new floor tile thus locking them in place for the next millennium – assuring that the back panel would never be straight, I then had to fur them out with some 2X4s to present a framework strong enough to support unrabbitted corbels and
straight enough to support a flat cabinet back panel upon which to
kick your feet while eating at our new peninsula. Guess what? My
new construction added about 3 inches of thickness to the cabinets,
thus reducing that overhang down to about 10 inches – no corbels
needed.
There’s a circular argument going on somewhere here. If I
ever figure it out, I’ll let you know…
Oh – my MGs? Maybe next month. Don’t hold your breath.
‘ See you on the road…
Finished cabinet back panel. Note the
four corbels! Some trimming, mudding,
and painting required…
The Spanner
May, 2015
7
By David B Kelley
BRITAIN’S STRAIGHT EIGHTS
Eight-in-line engines enjoyed little currency in England, even during the straight-eight boom of 192830. The reason was taxation, at a rate of $5 per unit of taxable
horsepower. This information is confined to models offered
for sale.
Alvis (1930-31) The 91 c.i. (1 1/2 Liter) FA series supercharged front-wheel drive . Alvis eight was listed at
$4,875.00.
Arrol-Aster (1929-31) This car was the result of
combing the Scottish Arrol-Johnston Co. And Aster of WemAlvis 1930-31
bley . The car was a 3.46-liter (211 c.i.) single-sleeve engine.
The company was in receivership, so few cars were built
and sold at $4,000.
Beverley-Barnes (1924-1931) The first BeverleyBarnes were 4 liter. Beverley-Barnes was merely the name
of the London suburb where they were built. Total production amounted to eight big single-cam models, two small
single-cam models, and three with the twin cam units.
Beverley-Barnes
Brough Superior (1935-1936) These cars wore a
modified Hudson
254 c.i. eight, bodied by Atcherley of Birmingham. The car sold for
$3,475. Most Broughs were based on the 212 c.i. Hudson Six.
Burney Streamline (1930-1933) - Sir Denniston Burney’s
astonishing rear-engine
seven passenger sedan
Brough Superior
with all-independent
spring and air-plane-fuselage type. The Prince of Wales was
among one of the customers who bought one at $7,500.00.
Daimler (1934-1953) - This Coventry firm built luxury
eights in respectable numbers. The engines used were 224 c.i.
(3.75 liter) and 4.6 liters (282 c.i.). A 7 passenger limousine cost
Burney Streamline
$7.300. Daimler’s only post-war straight-eight was a massive
DE36, a 333 c.i. (5.46 liters) and models sold for fifteen grand.
Hampton (1931-1933) - This small Gloucestershire firm offered an all independently sprung eight
cylinder sport sedan at $2,875.00.
Hillman (1929-1932) - The Hillman eight came
into being with a blaze of publicity . A fleet of left-hand
drive fabric sportsman’s coupes accompanying Sir Henry
Segrave on his successful record trip to
Daytona Beach.
Hillman
Hillman Straight Eight
The Spanner
May, 2015
8
These adverts are from the OMGTR
and may not still be available, but
are reasonably current. Ed.
The Spanner
May, 2015
9
THE KING’S SPECIAL
This story has been previously published but is essentially the story written by our Bluewater British Car
Club member Alan Cronk with much support from our Club Secretary Sandra Cronk, his wife.
Al Cronk’s involvement with this historic Canadian race car begins in about 1964 when Al acquired the
basic components in exchange for a running Model T Ford. The parts included the engine, transmission and some
other parts of the original racer, that was hand built by Art King and his brothers, from Fort William/Port Arthur,
and now known as Thunder Bay.
The Cronk brothers installed the modified engine in a Model T truck, they intended to use to deliver flowers, but abandoned the project when their hand made copper gasket failed and the engine was pulled and stored
for a future time, along with the miscellaneous parts. Alan continued to accumulate other parts that went with the
car over the years including 72-spoke Dayton wire wheels. Go forward to about 2001 and Al decided to make a
concerted effort to finish the project.
Back in the twenties the car had won many races. Initially
raced starting in 1925 by Art King, he soon turned the wheel over
to the well known driver, Frank Colosimo. Colosimo successfully
raced the car until about 1934. This picture and many others that Al
and Sandra have in the files were extremely valuable to see the actual way that the Special was built. They even have reproduced a
C/D from the original movies that were shot at the track in the former Thunder Bay, showing the racing on the dirt track of the era..
Al spent long hours making scale drawings of the various
parts, and being the accurate metal worker that he is, the parts were hand made again, on his
own metal lathe and also an English wheel that Al made himself that can be assembled in his
basement workshop. All the parts of the antique shocks were hand made and then plated .and
tested. The hubcaps had the same detailed design and fabrication, and finishing. It is rebuilt as
it would have been and it is an important part of Canadian Auto racing history.
The simple cockpit of the racer is shown and it is typically very cramped, and
Utilitarian.
If you can’t wait for the next instalment you can Google The King’s Special and see
many of the pictures, and current videos.
Byron W (Ed.)
Email from Mike Bane, former member now living in New Brunswick
Saturday March 14, 2015
well here i am with a new project—1962 mk11—all the way from Calgary—
arrived on Friday 13 Mar. been in the works for a few weeks now—but i never
ever believe it till it’s in my hands---u can see it needs work---complete rebuild—
oh well what's new—this will be sixth one ---i must be nuts at this age to do this—but ah that's life ain it---if
you don't try u never know—have lots of time and patience to work on it –have taken the front fenders off already---i knew it had been in a front drivers bump—so was looking to
see what was what—so will let u know over the next while how things
go—expecting two more snow storms –Sunday and Wed—so will probably be house bound for a few days –don't really bother me now that the
mg is here before it snowed again—we have had 325 cm this winter---cant believe it and bloody more to come---talk later.
mikeeee xx
We wish you well, Mike!
The Spanner
Bill Park informed us of
this event and
all members
are invited
and hopefully
you will bring
your cars. Ed.
May, 2015
10