Newsletter - The Car Nut
Transcription
Newsletter - The Car Nut
AJS Newsletter Vol. XXX, num. VIII www.atlantajaguarsociety.org ALUMINUM! By Alan Talbott, President Jaguar has been making cars the last few years and under Tata all future Jags and now Land Rovers will be made from that material. The aluminum construction is obviously lighter and stronger than steel resulting in better fuel mileage and lower emissions. The switch will also create stiffer chassis’s for better handling and crash worthiness. They will need all the improvements they can get since their annual report indicates they lost 1.1 billion dollars on Jag/Land Rover last fiscal year vs. making that much the year previously. The UK government has offered a 286 billion dollar bridge loan to see them through the tough times. However, with the new models here already and the XJ out in November in this country the future is looking pretty good assuming no more massive financial problems around the world. (Ed: Or as the Brits say al-u-mini-um!) We had a smaller than usual crowd at the Fernbank/IMAX Martini night mid-July but that didn’t dampen the enthusiasm one bit. Dinner, drinks, dancing and the movie is always a pleasurable evening. Our speaker at the July monthly meeting was our own Frank Coleman. He regaled us with stories of his Navy background, which covered decades of service by the way, and chronicled those activities to the very recent times with his son retiring as a high-ranking Navy official himself. All the stories, some I’d heard most I had not, kept us entertained after dinner for what seemed too short a time. Very well done Frank and we appreciate the effort to make the meeting, August, 2009 which we know was not easy, but great stroll memory lane with you. We have the pool party coming up next week at the Preston’s home on Lake Lanier (see Kim’s write-up) which will be great fun and another British Car Show in Norcross that occurs every year in September. Also, please enter early for the Concours d’Elegance in October at Nalley. We need all the help we can get in planning the numbers so it’s very helpful to know your coming. We have a special treat this year in terms of the trophies. Each entrant will be photographed with his or her car as you pull into Nalley. If you win a Concours trophy in the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place the photograph will slide into a special frame on the plaque showing your photo with the Concours inscription below that. This will make a very nice addition to your wall or mantel. If you do not place you will still get a photo that will commemorate the day. But, you have to enter to have this memento so please do so soon or let Dick Thyer know your intentions ASAP. Also, a catered lunch will be provided for a nominal amount for those interested and you can sign up for that when you do the entry form. (NOTE: The registration form is also attached to the email.) Our next monthly meeting will be Monday August 31st at Aldo’s in Sandy Springs. Our speaker this month will be Joshua Weber, Senior VP, Wealth Advisor at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. Everyone needs as much information, in these times particularly, as they can get so join us for an interesting evening talking the world of finance! As always, please RSVP to Beverlee Leo at 770-949-6775 or [email protected]. Next monthly meeting August 31st Aldo’s Restaurant Social hour- 6:00 pm, Dinner-7:00 PM Please RSVP to Beverlee Leo 770-949-6775 or [email protected] at 3:00 PM on Saturday, August 15th. If you don’t care to jump in the lake to cool down, please note the Preston’s have a pool, and you are welcome to take a plunge. Aside from visiting with your many friends from AJS, there will most likely be boat rides on the lake as well as lots of great food and drinks. JUNE'S CORNER AJS will provide the drinks and barbecue for the party, but we ask all guests to bring an appetizer, dessert or other dish to go with the barbecue. Please let Johnnie know what you might be bringing when you call her at 770-9985872 to RSVP. For planning purposes, we need to hear from you by August 12th. Member News By June Mindrup, Health & Hospitality Director On Wednesday, July 29th, Marsha Lauria had micro spinal surgery in Piedmont Hospital. She is at home now and progressing nicely. Hopefully this surgery will cure all her back problems. The party will be held at 9440 Lantern Lane Gainesville, GA 30506. Directions: Wayne Harris participated in the Racquetball Division of the Georgia Games the weekend of July 10th - 12th. He won the Gold Medal in the Men's 55+ bracket. Congratulations! Take GA 400 North to GA -306, exit 17, towards Gainesville – 0.3 mile. Lt. Cmdr. Frank Coleman presented a fascinating program at the July meeting with experiences during his Naval career. The writer is still concerned as to how he survived when his plane crashed in the frigid waters off Newfoundland in FEBRUARY!! Turn Right onto Road/GA-369 – 7.3 miles. Jim Mindrup's youngest daughter (Cheryl) and her new husband (Phill Brinson) arrived from Arlington, Texas to help celebrate Jim's 89th Birthday in mid July. Don't forget to mark your calendar for Saturday, August 15th for the Lake/Pool Party. This year’s event starts at 3:00 p.m. at Dick and Johnnie Preston's home. Tuck an appetizer, dessert or other dish under your arm and enjoy barbecue and a good time. Call 770/998-5872 to R.S.V.P. Turn Right onto Keith Bridge Road/GA306-1 mile. Browns Bridge Turn right onto Lantern Lane - 9440 is on the Right. On the day of the party, please use Dick’s cell phone for any questions or directions 678427-4813. Kim Daly, Activities Director (c ) 770-633-4960 or (h) 770-410-5717 Last of the Jaguar XJ X350 models Kim Daly, Activities Director The very last X350 (factory code name for the current generation XJ model, 04-09) rolled off the production line at Castle Bromwich back in March. The car is being donated by Jaguar to Coventry’s Museum of Road Transport, which already has a fine collection of Jaguar models, due to the heritage of the Browns Lane site. We’re in Atlanta and it is August. It is hot and humid. Why not take advantage of the water in Lake Lanier and join us for a party at Dick and Johnnie Preston’s lake house. The fun will begin Richard Else, Director of Production Operations at Jaguar Castle Bromwich said: "As we bid farewell to a classic era of Jaguar design, we are swiftly moving forward with our plans to Activities pave the way for the next generation of Jaguar saloon to be built here in the West Midlands." "Today is a significant day in Jaguar's history," he continued. "Not only are we bidding farewell to a great British icon in the current XJ, but we are heralding another new era in Jaguar design and technology, confirming that the all new aluminum XJ model, codename X351, its replacement, is going to be built right here at Castle Bromwich." Cash For Clunkers By Alan Talbott Wish I could have taken advantage of that but my wife’s clunker ’97 XJ6 VDP broke big time. A 3” hole punctured the oil pan on the engine for some reason (supposedly an oil pump that quit working) and an extremely rare thing occurred- no oil in the engine as she moved into a parking spot. Heard a “wooosh” and the oil was all over the asphalt. Jaguar engines just don’t go bad even with 121,000 miles on them but there goes that theory. When you look at your options, in a bad economy, you find there are few. Cash for clunkers doesn’t work to well when your looking at car worth probably $5,000, if running, and a new XJ is $60,000 on up. Guess we could have gotten a Kia but I bet their club is not as much fun. Even used Jags where more than I wanted to pay if they had low miles and trust me the lowest mileage cars I found locally were between a low of 90,000 miles to a high of 220,000 miles. We found a 60,000 engine and had it installed. Yes it was more expensive than I first thought but was ultimately the cheapest way to go and it even came with a ninety day warranty. Got it back and it runs great. One other bit of info about the car is that in the last year or two if you drove one mile an hour over 70mph the car had vibration everywherewheel, pedal and seat. Wheels and tires checked, nothing wrong. Someone suggested it might be the drive shaft. Took it to a specialist in drivelines one week before the engine failed. He indicated it was probably the driveline and took it apart and checked the universal joints, shaft and whatever else under there. Joints were OK. He rebalanced the drive shaft and it is very smooth at high speed now. If you get a vibration like that and everything else checks out it may be a drive shaft problem. I have been shafted twice in the last two weeks so I should know. THE TRANSPLANT Pre-Concours d’Elegance Party By Alan Talbott When: Saturday Evening October 3rd Time: 7:00PM to 9:00PM Where: Jim and Marsha Foley’s 3465 Township Ridge Point Marietta, GA 30066 770-552-1504 Bring: Appetizer, Covered Dish or Dessert As has been our custom for the past thirty-two years we have a pre-Concours dinner the night before our show of cars on Sunday. This year the Foley’s will open their lovely home to AJS for this party and I’ll review it now before the event even happens. It was loads of fun with a big crowd in attendance. The food was spectacular as usual and the conversation was intelligent and mostly lucid. Seriously this is a truly wonderful event and I run out of platitudes in trying to describe it. These gatherings are what we are about. If you are new and haven’t made many events make this one it’s a guaranteed great time. You don’t get many of those in life! Atlanta British Car Fayre Where: Norcross, Ga – South Peachtree St Go to Atlanta British Car Fayre site for more info and map: http://www.babg.org/BritishCarFayre.html When: September 12th Time: 10:00AM to 3:00PM Entry Fees: $20/car day of or $15 if paid on line. Proceeds go to charity. We will not try to organize this as a club event but many of our members have been to this show over the years and it is very good. The event is open to all British cars and motorbikes. Norcross is blocked off so that the cars can be displayed properly and downtown will have all the restaurants open serving a variety of cuisine and they have some very good restaurants to boot! Registered owners can take advantage of prizes, including best of show. Edna’s favorite and a raffle for $1000 travel voucher. Live music with the Dixie Kings will keep things lively. Looks like a great time! Quite a few Jaguars come to this event! Pictures from the 2008 show: Schedule for 2009 Feb 21st – Tech Session by Leatherique th March 7 – Ron Greene’s Car collection 14th - St. Patrick’s Day Parade April 25th – King Tut Exhibit & lunch May 2-3 – The Classic Motorsports Mitty Road Atlanta 16th - British Motorcar Day, Berry College June – 7th - Montaluce Winery and Estates tour 20th - N. GA Jaguar Club Picnic and car show July 17th - IMAX at Fernbank August 15th – Pool/Lake Party September - 19th – Kangaroo Conservation Center and party at the Ruiz’s October ?? – Concours d’Elegance & Party 16-18 – Eurofest Spartanburg 31st – Halloween Party November ?? – Truitt Cathy’s car collection December 6th - Christmas Party Atlanta Jaguar Society www.atlantajaguarsociety.org Officers & Directors Honorary Chairman Alan Talbott (H)770.621.9854 [email protected] (O)770.939.1644 President Elect Don Hart 770.956.7165 Vice President Ray Gore (H)706.864.4903 [email protected] 2nd Vice President J.P Summers (H)770.448.5244 [email protected] Advertising & Publicity Director Open Past President Paul Brower (H)770.509.6830 [email protected] Secretary Kenneth Carr (H)404.843.0681 [email protected] Treasurer Fran McNair (H)770.497.9980 [email protected] Activities Director Kim Daly 770.410.5717 [email protected] Newsletter Editor Lew George (H)404.892.6979 [email protected] Membership Director Wil Sommer (C)404.803.0306 [email protected] Health & Hospitality Director June Mindrup (H)770.457.1217 [email protected] Technical Director Ivan Ruiz 770.998.0923 [email protected] Regalia Directors: Marlene Hart 770-956-7165 [email protected] Dabney Talbott [email protected] 770-621-9854 Concours Director Dick Thyer 770.887.1312 [email protected] AJS Founder John Steen 770.419.9632 [email protected] The AJS Newsletter is published monthly except December and is distributed free to all Society Members. For email delivery send request to: [email protected] Submissions for publication should be supplied to the Newsletter Editor by email or in other machine readable form by the 25th day of the month prior to publication. Material is subject to editorial revision and may express the sole opinion of the submitter. AJS Newsletter Editor Lew George 220 Renaissance Pkwy. Unit 1113 Atlanta, GA 30308-2352 Note From The Editor: Send me good quality scenic pictures of your Jaguar and it may be a featured car in the newsletter! WHEN IT HAS TO BE RIGHT, Quality Service & Repairs – Genuine Jaguar Parts New & Select Edition Pre-owned Vehicles We are proud of our association with the Atlanta Jaguar Society. “Drive in the Fast Lane” Internet Pre-owned Sale!! Visit us at www.nalleycars.com Present this ad for a $500 discount off the new Jaguar XF! Offer valid through August 31, 2009 As always, AJS members are entitled to these exclusive benefits: 15% discount on Parts & Accessories! - 15% discount on Labor! Excludes scheduled maintenance and tires, cannot be combined with other offers or specials. AJS Member’s Car of the month Dick Thyer’s 1987 XJ6: My jaguar is a 1987, XJ6 and it is the last year of the series three. I had it restored inside and out. I've had it for 9 yrs. It has approximately 70,000 miles. It is a black beauty and I love it! Ed: What a beautiful car Dick!! (I know that you left it to me in your will!) 2009 Concours d’Elegance Registration Please register my Jaguar(s) in the 2009 AJS Concours d’Elegance to be held at Nalley Jaguar, 11507 Alpharetta Highway in Roswell, Georgia on October 04, 2009. Concours Class Touring Class Advance Registration, received by 09/25/09 $20 $10 ________ Registration at the Concours $25 $15 ________ Each additional Jaguar $10 $10 ________ Car Total Catered lunch/s ____ @ $10ea. Lunch total Car 1 Car 2 Car 3 Type of Jaguar Year *Class Number Owner: Name Address City State Zip Telephone Please make your check payable to “Atlanta Jaguar Society” and mail completed registration by September 25th to: Dick Thyer 792 Brannon Road Cumming, GA 30041-6437 * Please check your class number carefully on the opposite side. 2009 Concours d’Elegance Judging Classes Class Number Model 1 Pre – 1949 2 XK 120 3 XK 140 4 XK 150 5 E type S1 1961-67 6 E type S2 1968-71 7 E type S3 1971-74 8 Mk 1, MK 2, 3.4S,3.8S 9 MK VII, MK VIII, MK IX 10 MKX, 420, 420G 11 XJ6/12 S1, S2 1969-78 12 XJ6/12 S3 1979-87 13 XJ6/12 S4 1988-94 14 XJ6/8/12/R S5 1995-2003 15 XJ-S S1, S2 1976-85 16 XJ-S S3 1986-91 17 XJS-S S4 1992-96 18 XK8/XKR (PRE-2007) 19 S-Type 20 X-Type 21 XJ8/R 2004-2009 22 XK8/XKR 2007 - 2009 23 XF TC All Touring Class Cars