May - Sacramento Area Miata Owners Association

MiataTudes
SACRAMENTO AREA MIATA OWNERS ASSOCIATION
MAY 2011
Robins Nest
by Robin George
What a great time… If you were there you know what I’m talking about. We had our
annual Autocross Club Championships at the old Mather AFB. The weather was beautiful,
dry and warm. The Sports Car Club of America has a regular circuit they run each year.
The circuit consists of monthly autocrosses at venues in Northern California. This month
was run at the old Mather AFB with as a benefit for the Shriners
Hospital. This is a highly attended event by many drivers of all different
types of vehicles. Roughly 150 drivers were there. Besides our group
of Miata’s there were muscle cars, corvettes, mustangs, open-wheeled,
go-karts, and lots of fun driving vehicles. Club member Jack Parker,
also SCCA member, organized for us to race in the morning. He set
everything up and made the day go nice and smooth. Kudos to Jack.
Winners of the various run classes will be announced at May’s General Meeting on May
12th.
-1-
Besides driving our
Miatas around a bunch
of orange cones really
fast, this was also an
opportunity to learn
how to drive your fun
loving car without
hurting yourself or
others. (pic 3 was the
only victim.) Believe it
or not you never get
out of second gear.
And honestly, what
damage could you do in
second gear?
Maybe next
time…
-2-
Treasure Trove News
by Jeanne George
We welcome our Newest Members
Paul and Jean Y’Barra
Christy Barden
Sue and Bob Carter
Joe and Paula Douglas
Memberships renewed in April
Long, Ed and Chris Allen
Carlson, Bob and Donna
Neville, Doug and Susan
Gust, Steve and Susan
Pike, Gary and Lynda
Mackey, Neal and Elaine
Souza, Shelia and John
Parrish, Bruce and Lee Ann
Bechthold, Gary and Gundi
Memberships Expiring May 1st
Battimarco, Alan
Burgess, Jim and Lori Thomas
Cowan, Clay and Barbara
Cummings, Stan and Judy
Falconer, Bob
Jensen, Dee and Bob
Larson, Dennis and Susan
Loo, Diana
O’Dell, Amanda
Revo, Ama
SAMOA stats: 138 Memberships, 219 members, 147 Miatas
-3-
Events for May and June
by Diana Loo
May 7, 2011 – Martin Griffin Preserve near Stinson Beach – Contact Skip at (916)
863-1336 for more information and RSVP
Join kip Noyes on a run to Bolinas to the Audubon Canyon Ranch to view the Snowy Egret and
Heron nesting site on May 7th. Meet at the McDonalds in Davis at 9 am. Bring a picinic lunch
and enjoy the beautiful drive to Marin County.
The 1,000-acre Martin Griffin Preserve near Stinson Beach is open to the public annually
Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from mid-March to mid-July, following the annual return of
Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets to one of the most significant and wellstudied nesting sites on the West Coast.
Created following a successful effort to stop development of a freeway and a marina in West
Marin, the preserve offers visitors several hiking trails to explore the canyons and their diverse
ecosystems, including forests of Douglas fir, coast redwood and California bay. Open hillsides
support grasslands and coastal scrub, while chaparral, streams, ponds and freshwater marsh
habitats nestle in the canyon floors. Martin Griffin Preserve serves as ACR’s headquarters and is
home to resource anagement, conservation-based research and environmental education
programs that are conducted throughout the year.
For over 40 years, the Martin Griffin Preserve was known as the Bolinas Lagoon Preserve of
Audubon Canyon Ranch. In July 2010, The ACR Board of Directors formally renamed the
preserve the Martin Griffin Preserve in honor of L. Martin "Marty" Griffin’s lifelong commitment to
the environment and in recognition of the critical role he played in permanently protecting this
unique section of the Marin County coastline.
June 18, 2011 – Run to Upper Clear Lake – RSVP to Adi Damania at
abdamania@gmail.com
Meet at 8:00 AM at McDONALDS on Chiles Road in Davis. Depart McDonalds at 8:30 AM after
sign-up, introductions, and Run Leader’s description of the run. Route will go through Esparto
and Capay with a quick stop at Cache Creek Casino gas station. Then heading through Brooks
and Gunida. There will be time to visit antique stores in Upper Clearlake before meeting for
lunch at the Blue Wing Café and Salon.
June 25, 2011 – Show and Shoot – Mike Wilson (916) 331-3670
The run will take us down to the Murphy's/Volcano area. After some scenic roads heading down
to that area, we will be checking out Murphy's fourth annual Classic Car Show. Make sure to
bring your cameras because after the run, we will ask us to send us your best photo for a chance
to win a great prize. This run is just in it's beginning planning stage so more information will be
coming soon.
-4-
Just Miatas of Riverbank
by Terese Mac Davis
I‟m enjoying my retirement from the Miata restoring endeavors. Unlike my friends, I didn‟t
exactly know I was going to retire…just happened. Kinda like getting laid off. We‟ve all seen a
lot of that. When the economy tanked, I was left with eight beautiful, finished Miatas,,,for ten
months. And paying insurance on them.
My run actually outlasted the dealership by almost a year. In the last year before the very last
year, people needed to park their no-mileage monsters and find a smarter way to commute.
They needed Miatas! The last year was pretty good, and then bam! All those commuters lost
their jobs, the Miata only holds two people and becomes the third car.
I waited it out til the summer and then started moving them out. I was losing so much on
insurance, I had to give super deals and was lucky to find the right people for the cars.
At the same time, Jimmy‟s mom moved in with us and we went a new direction. I had
eventually needed to retire anyway, and threatened to occasionally. I knew what I wanted to
retire with,,, at least two of my most favorite Miatas! I
After spending six weeks in Wales with my grandson, I started my projects. The BlueBerry is a
94 automatic A package (I know, automatics!! Wait til you‟re my age…and can have a 5-speed,
too).
I found a complete power window assembly on craigslist, got Jimmy to promise to put it in, and
bought it. I had bought a chrome style bar for it the year before. And I wanted air horns!!! Just
like my Fiat had.
So Jimmy put in the power windows (just as easy as everyone says), and my mechanic, Jeff put
in the air horn. Jimmy and I are going to put on the stylebar before our weekend run. It‟s also
getting a cold air induction K&L. Why not? Give the old AT a little extra vroom!
The Tequila Sunrise was also to get a cold air induction (which I thought it already had, but
didn‟t) and an air horn. Jeff calls me and says, “Terese, did you know it already has an air horn?”
What? I can‟t believe I‟ve had that car for two years and never honked the horn! And it sounds
just like the Fiat! It now also got the cold air induction and roars like a proper beast now, when I
floor it….my favorite postion.
I mentioned our weekend run. We have our own little unofficial Miata Club, Just Miatas of
Riverbank, which consists of all our Miata friends and family and lots of people who have gotten
Miatas from me and live locally.
-5-
This was one of our first Twaine Harte runs.
So, most of the cars in the run are my babies! This weekend we‟re going to Daffodil Hill. Jeff,
our Mazda mechanic, says his hot rod club is going there, too. Might be a few car and bike clubs
there.
We do three or four runs a year with our little group. No newsletter or dues, just „ya wanna go‟?
This year will be our 5th Annual Twaine Harte Street Faire run and our 4th Annual Garre Winery
run. We usually have between 5 and 13 cars…one year Garre was 6 red Miatas and one
Montego Blue!
-6-
It‟s so much fun to see all these people again, and my cars, too, of course. We trade Miata stuff,
as well as lies.
This year, I‟ll be able to compete in „the most done to the car since you’ve had it’ contest. I‟ve
added all kinds of goodies, and both my cars are going. Some good friends who used to have a
Miata are going to drive the Tequila and I‟m going to drive the BlueBerry with Jimmy as my copilot.
I‟m hoping to launch my Miata book this year. It‟s called “All These Flippin’ Miatas” and is
submitted to two publishers so far and I‟m just waiting. Wish me luck. If I get it published, I‟ll
donate some to SAMOA for gifts. You‟ll be surprised who of you (and your cars) are in the book!
We don‟t get up to Sac very often for your events (you‟re welcome to come down here for
ours!) but we hope to do the Vintage Car Races Corral this year, and maybe bring some of our
little club!
2008 Miata Corral, Vintage Car
Races
Jimmy and I are finally members of SAMOA again. We let our membership lapse for awhile, but
we‟re baack! I still read your newsletter and enjoy hearing what you folks are up to. I know how
much work it is to run a club the size of SAMOA … it needs the support of „us‟ members.
The events we have done with SAMOA have been wonderful and we‟ve gotten a few
ideas…very small ones. I don‟t want to get into a lot of work again.
It‟s such a pleasure seeing my two babies out the kitchen window every time I pass and
know….I don’t have to do anything on them!
I‟m getting ready to submit this to Michelle Thomas and took a look at Miatatudes and read the
Inspiration article. I‟ve been considering doing more specialized cars, custom stuff. „Course,
nothing like these, but, hmmm. I feel a little inspiration coming on.
-7-
I‟ve thought of something more along these lines… this is a guy in Switzerland who sent me a
picture of his car. It is so, I hesitate to use the word „cute‟ on a guy‟s car, but, what? Cool?
Yeah, that‟s it. This is the kind of thing I‟d like to play with next time, maybe.
See the little alp to
the right, below?
-8-
5th Annual SAMOA Autocross Championships
The day started with a beautiful clear
morning and ten SAMOAns showing up
bright eyed and bushy-tailed for their
chance to be the 2011 top dog the Club
Autocross Championships. The organizer,
not being a morning person was less than
bright eyed and left his bushy tail at
home. A meeting was held and several
questions and answers were exchanged.
Tire pressures were checked, wheel caps
were removed, cars emptied of all manner
of stuff and the cars were placed on
grid. Since the members were all in the
same class this year their times could
be compared almost as they happened and
the competition was fierce. Each driver
was given four chances to run the course
and hopefully improved as the event
unfolded. And improve they did.
The first run was a little slower as expected as each driver "reconned" the course and
discovered the ins, outs, straights, corners and braking zones. In the Novice Class,
Chuck Garvin was the fastest after the first round with Martin Neft a close second and
Justin Lakin (driving his $800 Miata) and Dennis Strassburger battling for the next
position. In Class II, Ken Johnson showed that his PRHT was not going to be slowed with
all that extra metal he was dragging around and would up with the first round lead. Bab
Bacon and John Walsh were next. In Class III, Rod Gonzalez took the early lead with
Robin George and Rich Kelly, in that order next in line. After round 1, Rod had the
early overall lead.
Round 2 showed Chuck in Class I (Novice) was catching on very quickly as he improved his
time by a whopping 5 seconds. Those of you not familiar with the sport will be advised
that this improvement is remarkable. In fact, all the drivers in Novice improved with
Martin holding onto second and Dennis and Justin swapping positions. Chucks second run
was a very commendable 64.1. Class II showed Ken still in first with a 63.3 with John
and Bob swapping positions. Class III had Rod with a 62.3 holding onto first in class
and the overall lead with Rich and Robin swapping positions. So after two rounds the
overall leader was Rod by just under a full second over Ken
Here is where it got really close. In Novice Class, Chuck looked like he was going to
run away and hide with another improvement of .2 seconds. Martin, Dennis and Justin
continued to improve with Dennis gaining a second and Justin almost two seconds. Class
II had Ken turn in a 62.3 to take a little of a 2 second lead over Bob and a 3 second
lead over John. Here is where it got interesting in Class III. Rod could not improve
his time and had to stand on his previous 62.4 that held the lead over Robin and Rich but
fell to .035 seconds behind Ken for overall. As Rod finished I informed him of what Ken
had just done and you could see the tension and determination building in his face.
-9-
So the last run was upon us. With Ken holding a very slim overall lead it looked like
that the class leaders were going to hold as they all had commanding leads. Off go the
final runs. Novice class showed Chuck with a very large lead of nearly 5 seconds over
Dennis with Martin and Justin following in that order. I think Justin was ready to run
all day as he seemed to be hooked and ready to change everything on the car to make it go
faster. It is great to see younger people enjoying the cars as they were meant to be
driven. Class II is where the tension was mounting. Ken seemed to have a bit of a
problem as his uncharacteristic 3 second loss of time was unexpected. Bob had the
fastest time of the fourth round but couldn't catch Ken. The order of finish was Ken,
Bob and John. But with Ken's time slowing, and having to stand on his 3rd round run of
62.3 the door was open. Rod took off with an aggressive start and he just looked faster
than before on the course. He finished with very quick 61.2 (and a whoop) to take the
overall lead from Ken at the very last moment. That gave Rich the Class III win over
Robin who is determined to ditch his hard rubber tires and was heard trying to convince
everyone that he needed better tires for "safety" reasons. Jeanne I think bought it and
we will be seeing new rubber on the TOBARR mobile soon.
I think everyone learned something this day as they observed others in the large run
group with all sorts of race rubber and various kinds of mods on their cars. But I think
the most important aspect is they explored limits of their cars that they could not do on
the streets of Sacramento or anywhere else legally.
Thanks to all who participated. It was fun keeping track of times with Jeanne George our
designated time keeper. Many thanks to Jeanne for her continued support of this event.
She is a real Miata supporter. And congratulations to the class winners and our new
Overall Champion, Rod Gonzalez. See, there is something else Rod is good at beside
counting fish. Trophies will be given out to the winners at the May meeting by our
official time keeper so don't forget to come and congratulate the big winners.
*Please be sure and check the SAMOA WEB PAGE for a complete collage of PHOTOS from our
club Autocross Championships!
- 10 -
SAMOA’s First Annual Easter Egg Hunt
by Ron Petrich
What with Easter egg hunts limited only to the little ones taking place last weekend, we decided
that us big kids ought to be allowed to share in the fun. So we have created a virtual Easter egg
hunt at www.sacramentoareamiata.org. Twelve eggs are tucked away safely in the four corners
of our website. Find them all, or more than your fellow eggsterminators, and you will win a nice
prize at the May 12th club meeting. In the case of ties, we will have something for all winners.
You have until May 11th to submit your entry. And of course, in order to win a prize, you must
be present at the meeting.
The eggs are all small – approximately ½” by ½” in size. They can be hidden anywhere on our
site, but are not on any other site that we link to. And the image on our home page (similar to
the large image above) is also not one of the hidden eggs. So far six members have submitted
entries, and although no one has yet found all of the eggs, one member has come very close.
So that perfect score is still out there.
Come May 12th we’ll bring a big screen and a PC to the meeting to show everyone where the
eggs are hidden.
As that famous Revolutionary War traitor “Eggs” Benedict Arnold once said, if you don’t
participate the yolks on you. So come out of your shell, scramble your brains, and if you don’t
find them all right away keep your sunny side up and do your search over [nice and] easy.
Doesn’t this little hunt just crack you up?
- 11 -
Whale Watching in Bodega Bay
It was a beautiful Saturday morning. The weather prediction for the day was in the mid 60’s. The RSVPs were
coming in all week long. The list of attendees was ever changing. The final count on Saturday was 10 Miatias and
18 people. It was my first run and I wanted it to be perfect.
I had struggled with the
route and directions since
it’s conception. I consulted
with other members to plan
a run that was fun and
hopefully was new for some.
I now know the importance
of having a test run before
the actual event. I was
typing the directions on the
Sunday before the run. This
was my weekend to stay in
town because I was on call (yes, as a manager for the Department of Consumer Affairs in the information
technology division, I am on call 3 weekends a year. This means no drinking alcohol and I have to be in the area if
I need to go into the office.) I thought this was the perfect weekend to work on the directions for the run.
For some reason, I wanted to verify the mileage with Google. To my surprise, the mileage that I had and Googled
showed was about 5 to 10 miles off. Needless to say, I was a little distressed with this finding. The last thing that I
wanted to do was to hand out directions with incorrect directions. I just could not understand how I could have
been that far off. Seeing my distress, Chris suggested that we do the run one last time to verify the mileage at 4:00
p.m. The end result was I was right and Google was wrong. The good thing
about doing a run a third time was
that I knew the route realty well. I did not get lost or had to do any U-turns.
The beginning of the run was the route around Lake Berryassa with a stop at the Oakville Grocery Store. This store
has all sorts of goodies from wines to preserves, tapnades, to wonderful things to eat. Also, there was a guy selling
organic produce. Since it is only April, most of the fruit trees and grapevines were barren, but the sun was shinning
and it was a beautiful day in Sonama and Napa valley. After a short stop it time to hit the Oakville Grade, this is s
almost 2 line road (at one spot there is a stop sign because part of the road has washed away and there is only one
lane). The Oakville Grade is only 12 miles, but 12 miles of twisty roads that is perfect for the Miatas.
The day was obviously a good day to head towards the coast because a Corvette club was at Valley Ford and so was
a group of Alfa Romero owners. And, there was a lot more traffic on the highways than on the test runs. The
traffic was an issue because of the left turns that we had to make but thankfully there were areas for us to regroup
so it was not to bad.
After having lunch at the Tides Inn, we head to the Bodega Head to go whale watching. We all had on our winter
wear and was still finding that it was very cold and windy. We were all having a hard time standing still because of
the wind. After about 2 minutes, we decided to leave. So much for whale watching for 2011. The run was almost
perfect. Maybe next time.
- 12 -
SAMOA Forum
by Webmaster
Some interesting statistics about the SAMOA forum raise some interesting questions.
Our forum currently has 276 registered members. Members do not have
be SAMOA members, nor do they necessarily have to be Miata owners or
enthusiasts. But we hope that they are car folks interested in some of the
same things that we are interested in, and that they joined the forum in
order to participate (or at least become aware of) in our discussions.
However…
to
Although forum membership has grown steadily in the 5 years of its
existence, participation has not. For example, 226 members have not logged in to the forum in
the last 6 months, 183 for a year. 161 members have never posted, and just 88 members have
more than 1 post.
The Forum currently has no rules regarding inactive accounts, and I suggest that we don’t
impose any now. But many forum members may simply have forgotten their user name and/or
password and cannot log in. If that is the case, please send me an email and I will let you know
your user name, and reset your password. You can then go in and change the password
yourself. If you are no longer interested in forum membership at all, let me know and I can go
in and delete your account for you. But I won’t take any action unless I am specifically
instructed to do so by you.
Remember that posting to the SAMOA forum is like earning airline miles with
a credit card. For every post, SAMOA chips in toward your next new Miata
purchase. We’re not saying how much we chip in, but you might be
surprised, if and when you buy that new MX-5, how much SAMOA chips in.
- 13 -
WHAT’S IN A NAME? – WHAT’S IN AN EXHAUST NOTE?
By Adi Damania
Almost everything, if you ask me. The Japanese, Korean, German and British sports automakers still don‟t
get it. But the Italians do! I just love a rorty exhaust note. My 1991 Honda Prelude did not have it. But it
did have a heat shield rattle that came on at 2000 RPM and when on till about 3500 RPM and I enjoyed it
so much I never got it fixed all those 5 years that I owned the car!
The other day, I had nothing better to do so I logged on to a website that had exhaust notes of all the
exotics from Lamborghinis to Bugattis, incl. the 16.4L Veyron. They ALL had a lovely sounding, music to
the ears of an autoficiando, exhaust note!
Our Miatas could be great candidates for a nice sounding exhaust note. Some call is the “tragic Achilles
heel of the Miata”. Has anyone in our club fine-tuned the exhaust to sound like a Ferrari? Why didn‟t the
Japanese copy that one aspect so dear to my heart from the Alfa Romeo spyder?! Even the 650 cc FIAT
belonging to a British secretary (since deceased) at my first job with the FAO in Rome, had a lovely
exhaust note. You do not need cylinders in multiples of 4 (or 5) to produce an exotic‟s exhaust note. All
you need is a suitable number of baffles and a clever welder with a blow torch to do the job.
Miatistas offer all sorts of crazy ideas admitting that the Mazda engineers did a very poor job when
designing the MX-5 exhaust. One worthy said “have you tried adding sound damping material under the
trunk liner? It is indeed resonating like a standing wave back there with the hollow trunk and thin sheet
metal. I cut down the drone quite a bit by adding mass to the sheet metal by sticking on tar strips and vinyl
flooring tiles.” Vinyl tiles in the Miata trunk??!! Another said “In the grand scheme of things, a 'better'
exhaust note doesn't make the car look, handle, brake or accelerate any better.” I beg to differ. Another tip
“Remove the secondary (rear) catalytic converter and build a Helmholtz resonator to cancel the offending
low frequencies.” How come all those 4 into 1 exhausts on mutli-cylinder motorcycles sound so good??!!
Shall I source out a Honda motorcycle re-cycler?
Has anyone tried to fix a “Borla” exhaust on a Miata? Can anyone give me pointers? One blogger
mentioned that if the „resonator‟ of a Miata MX-5 is removed a great improvement can be achieved in the
exhaust note. Has anyone tried that? BTW what is a resonator? Doesn‟t resonate with me. MAZDA are
you listening?
- 14 -
And finally,
[When driving the Mercedes SLR McLaren through a tunnel]
When they debate as to what the sound of the SLR exhaust was akin to, the British engineers from
McLaren said it sounded like a Spitfire.
But the German engineers from Mercedes at Stuttgart said „Nein! Nein! Sounds like a Messerschmitt!‟
They were both wrong. I say it sounds like the God of Thunder, gargling with nails.
- 15 -
History Of Why We Drive On Left and Right Side Of The Road
by Adi Damania
China, 1100 B.C.
Australian historian M. G. Lay traced the first regulation of one-side-or-theother to the Chinese bureaucracy of 1100 B.C. The Book of Rites stated: "The
right side of the road is for men, the left side for women and the center for
carriages." This Western Zhou dynasty rule applied only to the dynasty's wide
official roads and was "more concerned with protocol than avoiding head-on
collisions."
Ancient Rome
Bryn Walters determined Romans drove on the left.
Walters found a track into the old Roman quarry at Blunsdon Ridge. The
track was only used for bringing stone from the quarry to a major Roman
temple being built on the nearby ridge (near Swindon in England), and then
fell out of use, so it is very well preserved. And since the carts went in empty
and came out laden with stone, the ruts on one side of the road are much
deeper than they are on the other. The conclusion: Romans drove on the left.
Middle Ages
Seven hundred years ago, everybody used the English system. In the Middle
Ages you kept to the left for the simple reason that you never knew who
you'd meet on the road in those days; you wanted to make sure that a stranger
passed on the right so you could go for your sword in case he proved
unfriendly.
Pilgrims, 1300s
This custom was given official sanction in 1300 A.D., when Pope Boniface
VIII invented the modern science of traffic control by declaring that pilgrims
headed to Rome should keep left.
Travel Library disputes this, saying that Kincaid found no records of this
decree. Instead, he found evidence that in 1300, Pope Boniface VIII ordered
pilgrims on the Bridge of St. Angelo en route to and from St. Peter's Basilica
to keep to the right. [Parvin and I have both gone across this bridge many
times during our stay in Rome]
The papal system prevailed until the late 1700s, when teamsters in the United
States and France began hauling farm products in big wagons pulled by
several pairs of horses. These wagons had no driver's seat; instead the driver
U.S., France, 1700s sat on the left rear horse, so he could keep his right arm free to lash the team.
Since you were sitting on the left, naturally you wanted everybody to pass on
the left so you could look down and make sure you kept clear of the other
guy's wheels. Ergo, you kept to the right side of the road.
England, 1700s
In small-is-beautiful England, though, they didn't use monster wagons that
required the driver to ride a horse; instead the guy sat on a seat mounted on
the wagon. What's more, he usually sat on the right side of the seat so the
whip wouldn't hang up on the load behind him when he flogged the horses.
(Then, as now, most people did their flogging right-handed.) So the English
continued to drive on the left... Keeping left first entered English law in 1756,
with the enactment of an ordinance governing traffic on the London Bridge,
and ultimately became the rule throughout the British Empire. It extended the
rule in 1772 to towns in Scotland. The penalty for disobeying the law was 20
shillings (£1).
- 16 -
According to Amphicars the UK Government introduced the General
Highways Act of 1773, containing a keep left recommendation to regulate
horse traffic. This became law as part of the Highways Bill in 1835.
North America,
1800s
The first known keep-right law in the United States was enacted in
Pennsylvania in 1792, and in the ensuing years many states and Canadian
provinces followed suit. In 1792, Pennsylvania adopted legislation to
establish a turnpike from Lancaster to Philadelphia. The charter legislation
provided that travel would be on the right hand side of the turnpike. New
York, in 1804, became the first State to prescribe right hand travel on all
public highways. By the Civil War, right hand travel was followed in every
State. Drivers tended to sit on the right so they could ensure their buggy,
wagon, or other vehicle didn't run into a roadside ditch.
France, 1800s and
it's influence
In France, before the revolution the aristocracy traveled quickly on the left,
forcing the peasantry over to the right. According to Amphicars after the
revolution aristocrats joined the peasants on the right. A keep right rule was
introduced in Paris in 1794.
Later Napoleon enforced the keep-right rule in all countries occupied by his
armies, and the custom endured long after the empire was destroyed. The
revolutionary wars and Napoleon's subsequent conquests spread the new
rightism to the Low Countries, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Poland and
Spain.
Europe, Russia
1800s
The states that had resisted Napoleon kept broadly left - Britain, the AustroHungarian Empire, Russia and Portugal. Of these independent states, only
Denmark converted to driving on the right (in 1793). This European division,
between the left- and right-hand nations remained fixed for more than 100
years, until after the First World War.
Colonization
The trend among nations over the years has been toward driving on the right,
but Britain has done its best to stave off global homogenization. Its former
colony India remains a hotbed of leftist sentiment, as does Indonesia, which
was occupied by the British in the early nineteenth century. They say the
Dutch influenced Indonesia to go left before the British. Thanks to the Brits,
Australasia and Africa also go left, with the exception of Egypt. Egypt had
been conquered by Napoleon before becoming a British dependency, and its
traffic goes to the right.
Japan mid-1800s
The English minister to Japan achieved the coup of his career in 1839 when
he persuaded his hosts to make keep-left the law in the future home of Toyota
and Mitsubishi.
Interestingly, Amphicars says it happened in the 1850's. "... in the 1850's
Gunboat diplomacy forced the Japanese to open their ports to the British and
Sir Rutherford Alcock, who was Queen Victoria's man in the Japanese court
persuaded them to adopt the keep left rule." According to other sites, Alcock
didn't go to Japan until his appointment in 1858. I believe Adams meant 1859
not 1839.
Until the Meiji Restoration (1867/1868), people traveled mainly on foot or
horseback and did not use wheeled traffic.
U.S., 1900s
When inventors began building "automobiles" in the 1890's, they thought of
them as motorized wagons. As a result, many early cars had the steering
- 17 -
mechanism-a rudder (or tiller), not a wheel-in the center position where the
side of the road didn't make any difference. Lay points out that technical
innovation created the configuration we are familiar with in the United States:
"However, with the introduction of the steering wheel in 1898, a central
location was no longer technically possible. Car makers usually copied
existing practice and placed the driver on the curbside. Thus, most American
cars produced before 1910 were made with right-side driver seating,
although intended for right-side driving. Such vehicles remained in common
use until 1915, and the 1908 Model T was the first of Ford's cars to feature a
left-side driving position."
By 1915, the Model T had become so popular that the rest of the automakers
followed Ford's lead.
Russia, Portugal,
1900s
Russia switched to driving on the right in the last days of the Tsars. Portugal
changed to the right in the 1920s.
Austro-Hungarian
Empire, 1900s
The break up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire caused no change;
Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Hungary continued to drive on the left.
Austria itself was something of a curiosity. Half the country drove on the left
and half on the right. The dividing line was precisely the area affected by
Napoleon's conquests in 1805. Napoleon gave the Tyrol, the Western
province of Austria, to Bavaria. It continued to keep to the right, although the
bulk of Austrians drove on the left.
Japan, 1900s
In 1924, Japan passed a left-side driving law.
Austria,
Czechoslvakia,
Hungary, After
1938-1939
Nonetheless, the power of the right has been growing steadily. When
Germany annexed Austria in 1938, it brutally suppressed the latter's keepleft rights, and much the same happened in Czechoslovakia in 1939.
On 12 March 1938 Hitler invaded Austria, and the next day proclaimed
Anschluss, the absorption of Austria into Germany. He ordered that the traffic
should change from the left to the right side of the road, overnight. The
change threw the driving public into turmoil, because motorists were unable
to see most road signs. In Vienna it proved impossible to change the trams
overnight, so while all other traffic took to the right hand side of the road, the
trams continued to run on the left for several weeks. Czechoslovakia and
Hungary, the last two states on the mainland of Europe to keep left, changed
to the right after being invaded by Germany in 1939.
Okinawa 1945-1972
During U.S. occupation, Okinawa, Japan drove on the right side. Okinawa
changed back to left side when it was returned to Japan.
China, 1946+
China changed to the right in 1946.
Korea now drives right, but only because it passed directly from Japanese
Korea After WW II colonial rule to American (and Russian) influence at the end of the Second
World War.
Pakistan, 1900s
Pakistan also considered changing to the right in the 1960's. The main
argument against the shift was that camel trains often drove through the night
while their drivers dozed. The difficulty in teaching old camels new tricks
was decisive in forcing Pakistan to reject the change.
Canada
New Brunswick,
"Since 1 December 1922 there had been a problem for automobile drivers
who crossed the border between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick - on that
- 18 -
1922-12-01+
Nova Scotia,
1923-04-15+
date New Brunswick had switched to driving on the right-hand side of the
road, while Nova Scotia remained with the left-side rule. For four and a half
months, drivers crossing the border in both directions had to remember to
change to the other side of the road, and even with the relatively low traffic
levels of that day there were some near- misses resulting from this conflict."
The switch had an interesting effect on the beef industry: "In Lunenburg
County, 1923 is still known as The Year of Free Beef; the price of beef
dropped precipitously because oxen which had been trained to keep to the left
could not be retrained — oxen are notoriously slow-witted — and many
teamsters had to replace their oxen with new ones trained to keep to the right;
the displaced oxen were sent to slaughter."
Sweden,
1967-09-03+
The last holdouts in mainland Europe, the Swedes, finally switched to the
right in 1967 because most of the countries they sold Saabs and Volvos to
were righties and they got tired of having to make different versions for
domestic use and export.
'...Swedish government felt increasing pressure to change sides to conform
with the rest of Europe. Anders Hanquist writes, "The problem with left-hand
driving in Sweden was, of course, that all our neighbors already drove on the
right side. There are a lot of small roads, without border guards, leading into
Norway so you had to remember in which country you were. Another
curiosity was that most of the cars running in Sweden were built for righthand driving. That means that the steering wheel was on the left side. Even
cars imported from Britain were built that way.'
At the same time as cars switched, the Trams had to also:
"By 1962, there were 405 trams in Stockholm but Stockholm Tramways
decided to withdraw all city's trams and almost 400 older buses rather than
convert them to the standard Continental right-hand drive. On the 2nd of
September 1967 the last tram ran in Stockholm‟s inner city and only a few
hours later the rule of the road was changed from the left to the right."
Perhaps not causal, but along with the road change, Sweden began large scale
road safety work. For example, instead of unrestricted highways, speed limits
were imposed.
- 19 -
May Birthdays
by Ron Petrich
May is an historic month, and those born in May ought to feel honored to share their birth month
with some of these famous events…









In 1631 John Winthrop is elected 1st governor of Massachusetts
In 1803 Britain declares war on France after Napoleon Bonaparte continues interfering in
Italy and Switzerland
In 1860 the Republican Party nominates Abraham Lincoln for president
In 1945 the Tigers and A's both have 7 straight games postponed due to rain
In 1960 Eillen Fulton begins playing Lisa on As the World Turn (for > 30 yrs)
In 1961 Alan Shepard became the first American in space
In 1980 Mount St. Helens blows its top
In 1990 Cubs Ryne Sandberg sets 2nd baseman record 123 errorless game streak
In 2011 Rod Gonzalez celebrates his birthday on Mother’s Day – how sweet is that?
Tak Auyeung – May 32nd
Christy Barden – May 32nd
VJ Dozier – May 3rd
Cathy Dugan – May 4th
Mike Dugan – May 26th
Robin George – May 14th
Kristen Gingrich – May 22nd
Rod Gonzalez – May 8th
Susie Hahn – May 1st
Doug Hoffman – May 21st
Dee Jensen – May 28th
Kathleen McCarthy – May 19th
Linda Moe – May 29th
Gary Nelson – May 15th
Skip Noyes – May 13th
Sally Parker – May 32nd
Lee Ann Parrish – May 23rd
Corky Phillips – May 19th
Denise Russell – May 32nd
Richard Russell – May 32nd
Chuck Selman – May 20th
Jennifer Sipe – May 23rd
Sandra Stewart-Stewart – May 14th
Don Updegraff – May 3rd
John Walsh – May 1st
Alan Westfall – May 19th
Paula Zicker – May 32nd
Wes Zicker – May 32nd
- 20 -
*Etcetera Pages :
*fractured but funny submissions from our members
“Sharpie” Miata
- 21 -
California Dreamin’
My lungs heave as I run to the mailbox naked
...on a dare
It must be over with the postman because I just realized
...he doesn't care
Beauty is fleeting but Victoria's Secret
...makes amazing underwear
Donning the first pair out of the package I strut back to my home
...with flair
It's time to get ready for work so I run a comb
...through my hair
My Miata greets me in the garage and I'm dressed perfectly because
...it has no air
As I'm driving around topless I get a sudden craving for
...an eclair
When the sun starts melting the chocolate I park in the shade
...over there
I notice a gymnast doing headstands
...on a chair
With one stealth move I capture him and return him to
...the state fair
The alarm clock rings and I realize my dream has been quite
...a scare!!
Poem by Michelle Thomas
- 22 -