JULY 2014 - BlueWater British Car Club

MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
of the
Bluewater British Car Club
JULY 2014
147 Watson Street
Sarnia, Ontario, Canada N7T 6T9
www.bluewaterbritishcarclub.ca
LONDON CLASSIC 2014
Saturday June the 7th turned out to be a beautiful sunny 25°C day on the field at
the Crossings Grill and Pub, on Hyde Park road in London, for the 2014 London Classic.
We took our 1961 Jaguar Mk 2 and after leaving Sarnia at 8:15 , had a pleasant drive
down highway 7 and 22 arriving at the show around 9:30.
A good selection of cars , a little less than last year, however that meant there was plenty of space
to wander around and enjoy them all.
After registering we enjoyed Coffee and donuts per
courtesty of our hosts.
BBQ food cooked by staff from the Crossings was
also available all day. We had a good day looking at
the cars and meeting up with old friends. A good
showing from our club, with 4 cars attending and all
won awards.
Kim R, Jaguar Mk 2, 1st place Jaguar
John Holmes, E Type Series 3, 2nd place Jaguar
Colin Pritchard, Land Rover Defender, 2nd place Orphan Cars
Brian Gormley, TR3, second place Triumph TR3
All had a great day, the show ending around 2:30
Kim & Laura’s Jag Mk2
Kim R.
John Holmes’ E-Type Jag
Sorry we don’t have a picture of Brian Gormley’s TR3
Colin Pritchard’s Defender
The Spanner
July, 2014
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Bluewater British Car Club Minutes
Date: June 11, 2014.
Number of Members present: 10. Location: Yale Hotel, Yale, Michigan
Minutes respectfully submitted by: Secretary, Sandra Cronk
1. Call to order: Treasurer, Roy Overton, called the meeting to order at 8:20 p.m.
He thanked Alan Cutcher for arranging tonight’s meeting at the Yale Hotel.
2. Approval of the Minutes of the May 14, 2014 meeting.
A motion to approve the minutes as printed was made by Barbara Warwick
and seconded by Alan Cutcher. It was carried.
Roy requested that the Ilderton run not clash with Mother’s Day weekend another year.
3. Treasurer’s Report: Treasurer, Roy Overton, reported that we have had two renewed memberships, so an income of $40.00. We
now have 22 members. The current balance is $1171.07. Alan Cronk moved to approve the Treasurer’s Report. It was seconded by
Michael Walton and carried.
4. Unfinished Business:
1) The Website has still not been updated.
2) Our Domain Name: Roy will continue to try and find Don Hubbard who set up our domain name to begin with. Don has
apparently moved, as he is not at the same address or phone number as when Roy dealt with him originally. The domain name doesn’t
expire until next year so Roy has some time yet.
3) Submarine Tour: At this point, Byron reported that a total of 18 people, from both Clubs, have signed up and paid for the
events for that day.
5. New Business:
1) There are three (3) members who have not paid their memberships for this year, so will not be receiving any more newsletters.
2) Change in location of the September Meeting: Alan Cutcher is looking into another venue for our September 10 th Regular Meeting instead of the Atrium Restaurant as previously planned. Watch the Spanner for details.
3) The London British Sports Car Club’s 21st Classic Car Show: Six (6) of our members attended.
4) Wednesday, July 9th Regular Meeting will be held at the home of Laura and Kim Rutherford starting at 6:00 p.m. It will
be a Pot Luck dinner with the Club buying the meat. Please bring lawn chairs, and a salad or dessert to share.
6. Announcements: The Mayor of Yale, Jim Cronin, welcomed us to his town this evening and told us about their Bologna
Festival on the last full weekend of July each year. It includes outhouse races and tours of the bologna factory. The local press lady
interviewed our members and took several photos for the paper. They featured Michael Walton’s car with our Club members.
7. Adjournment: Jean Hicks moved to adjourn the meeting at 7:30 p.m. and Pauline Daugharty seconded it. It was carried.
We, then, all enjoyed a delicious, filling meal!
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.
2014 Club Executive
President
Kim Rutherford 519 337-8586
Vice Pres.
Allen Bachelder 810 824-4188
Treasurer
Roy Overton,
519 542-7652
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 [email protected]
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: Kim Rutherford,
David Kelley, Sandra Cronk, Alan Bachelder.
Photo credits: Kim R, Byron W.
The Spanner
July, 2014
3
From The President’s Garage
Do you live in Lambton County? Are you tired of the flat landscape, and lack of hills and
curvy roads. Well there is a solution.
For 10 days the Rutherfords in their Healey and the Warwicks in their MGTF enjoyed real
sports car country by driving down to Tennessee, and after 3 nights in Gatlingburg, we went further south
and experienced, The Dragon, with it’s 318 curves in it’s 11 mile length. This is also known as US Highway
129Excellent banked curves surrounded by lots of natural beauty. At the end of the Dragon you arrive at
Deals Gap which is The Tail of The Dragon with its large tree covered in parts from vehicles and motorcycles that had an unhappy ending. It is aptly named the Tree Of Shame.
We then moved on to The Blue Ridge Parkway for the next 3 days. Lots of sharp corners and great
scenery, with the highest elevation on the road being 6053 ft. Weather HOT !!!!! most days in the high 80s
F. In all definitely a cure for the sports car blues.
The July 9 meeting is at the Rutherfords, please let us know if you are coming so we can plan accordingly. 519 337- 8586 or [email protected] at least several days before.
Hobbyfest on July 20th will this year be held in Canatara Park . So shine up your car and lets have a
good showing from the club.
Happy Motoring,
Kim R.
THIS IS A HEAD TURNER!
PLEASE NOTE THAT OBSOLETE ARE NOW CLOSED ON
SATURDAY MORNINGS
The Spanner
July, 2014
JULY MEETING
Calendar
Of Upcoming
Events
CALENDAR of EVENTS
2014
2014
July
February
9
12
20
March 20
August12
7
April 9
99
13
17
20
May
September
14
5-7
June 7
10
8,9
11
20
21
July
October
89
18-19
November
12
December
7
4
Monthly meeting,
meeting atRutherfords
Stokes Bay
Hobbyfest,
Canatara
Park, at
Sarnia
Dinner at 6:00pm,meeting
7:30pm.
British Car Show CTMHV, Essex
Monthly meeting at Stokes Bay
Hot
August
Nights—Canatara
Park
Dinner
at 6:00pm,meeting
at 7:30pm.
Old Autos Car Show, Bothwell
WAMBO
Car Show,
Wallaceburg
Monthly meeting
at Stokes
Bay
Monthly
Dinner atmeeting—Host
6:00pm,meetingrequired
at 7:30pm.
Port
Burwell
Submarine
Join
Ancaster
British
Cars andDisplay,
Flea Market
with BAHC
Monthly meeting at Stokes Bay
Vintage
races WatkinsatGlen
Dinner atMG
6:00pm,meeting
7:30pm.
Battle of the Brits MI
Monthly
Columbus,
MI
Fleetwood meeting,
country Cruize-In
Komoka
MonthlyCar
BAHC
meeting
Show at
Rutherglen
Yale, Michigan
Close
BolognaBritish
Bronte
Capital,
CarAlan
Show,
Cutcher
Burlington
Monthly meeting at
TBA
Stokes Bay
Dinner at 6:00pm,meeting at 7:30pm.
Fall tour, Near North, Kim and Byron.
Monthly meeting at Stokes Bay
Dinner at 6:00pm,meeting at 7:30pm.
Christmas Luncheon
Hobbyfest 2014
Keep the date open for this joint event of our two
Clubs. Sunday July 20, at Canatara Park.
10:00am to 4:00pm
This is a great venue for this relaxing show.
Let’s show Sarnia our great British cars!
2013 photo
The July monthly meeting will be held at the
home of Kim & Laura Rutherford on
Wednesday, July 9, 2014, 6:00pm.
147 Watson Street, Sarnia Ontario
You can arrive at 5:00 pm
Would everyone please bring lawn chairs and a
salad or dessert to share as well as drinks of your
choice. Laura will make lemonade, tea & coffee
and have soft drinks on ice.
Barbequed meat will be provided by the Club.
Please bring a veggie, salad, snack food or dessert
to share.
Kim & Laura look forward to hosting the
July meeting.
Please phone or email so we can estimate the
number coming by Monday the 7th.
519 337-8586
[email protected]
MG TF 1954
You could be only the
third owner of this much
loved 1954 MG TFneeds to sell
Black with original
leather interior. Top and side curtains faded but in good condition. Car#HDA46/5587; Engine #XPAG/TF; Body #16148
Includes manual and original tools.
Total ground up restoration in 1987. Driven annually until
2006: periodically since. A fun summer car to drive.
Housed under cover in garage year round. Four new wire tires
with tubes and rims. Regularly serviced and passed safety
check in 2013 by Klein Auto Repair, London On.
Price:$19500
Contact Terry Sockett Auto Service 519-433-3782
PRICE REDUCED
Thanks to Reading and Enjoying MG for the cartoon.
The Spanner
July, 2014
Scenes from the Yale Michigan monthly meeting. The Mayor of Yale
Jim Cronin, an old friend of Alan’s in blue stripes.
More pictures from the London Classic 2014
5
The Spanner
July, 2014
6
“Let’s Get Technical”
What a pleasure it was to read in the May Spanner of the great virtues of Joe Lucas electrical components. Smoke theory is indeed essential to the comprehension of these devices, and I
think we all concur. But in all I have read about Lucas's great achievements, I have yet to see his
greatest achievement acknowledged in the press.
Sometime circa 1960, one of the first really useful transistor-like devices came into common use. Called a
"diode", its purpose was rectification. The problem addressed was the fact that AC (alternating current) electricity reverses direction 60 times per second. Batteries rather supply DC (direct current) which flows continuously in one direction only. Most of the components on our cars are designed to work on direct current, as that is what our car batteries
supply, and many of them will not function on alternating current. OK, here comes the beauty of the DIODE: it acts as
MARKpassing
JONESthe current in one direction only - thus converting AC into pulses of DC.- a process
an electrical check-valve,
called "rectification". So when AC current is run through a diode, the alternating pulses in the "backwards" direction are
filtered out.
Diodes came into many other uses in strictly DC applications. Whether you understand it or not, there are numerous places in an auto wiring harness where current can "backfeed" from one component, activating another component even though it is turned off. The solution is the diode. Diodes were a quantum leap in the history of electronics because they allowed the flow of current in ONE DIRECTION ONLY. "Backfeeding" was eliminated.
But it was up to the research and design team at Lucas to take the next bold step: to develop a device that inhibited the flow of electricity in EITHER DIRECTION. Always at the cutting edge of electronics, the Lucas R&D team
leapt on the challenge and came up with an infallible solution - and in fact they developed it decades BEFORE the diode...
Ladies and gentlemen... (drum roll please)... I give you Joe Lucas's Magnum Opus... the Lucas BULLET CONNECTOR; the device that prevents ANY flow of electricity in EITHER direction!
Particularly in early models, bullet connectors were not entirely successful, resulting in some current flow. Furthermore, these components could often fail as they were not capable of withstanding constant jarring or wiggling. Such
treatment could result in momentary passage of electricity, but even this fault would usually correct itself when such violent activity ceased, and once again, electrical activity would halt. For this reason, early Lucas switches provided the
"dim" and "flicker" modes. In fact, the default position for all Lucas switches was "OFF". No other positions on these
switches existed, and any implication that an "ON" position was intended is sheer vicious rumor; one that is largely responsible for smears on the otherwise fine reputation of Lucas Electrics.
A curious condition at Lucas influenced the entire automotive industry. Recall that British cars built before circa
1950 had semaphores, or "trafficators" to indicate an intended turn. The workings of these were simple and wellunderstood by all other drivers. If a right-hand trafficator failed to rise and illuminate, others understood that meant a
right turn was to be anticipated. Similarly, an inactive left-hand trafficator would indicate an anticipated left turn. But
quite accidentally, Lucas discovered that switching on the tail-lamps and front marking lamps on just one side would
create a flickering effect as the car hit various pot-holes in the roadway, thus catching a lot of attention from other drivers. Other manufacturers worldwide soon caught on, but the likes of Delco, Fomoco, Mopar, etc, operating at a lower
level of technology were unable to duplicate the flickering effect, so they had to design a bimetallic flasher unit to reliably create the same effect. Within a decade, "trafficators" were a thing of the past and flickering turn signals became the
universal norm in every country.
The ultimate application of this technology was the "four-way flasher". To this day, members of the Bluewater
British Car Club possessing Nexus passes know that they need to turn on their parking lights while crossing the Bluewater Bridge while driving in the center lane. But lacking this Lucas technology, cars built in North America will yield a
nondistinctive steady glow in the lamps - uninterrupted by bumps in the road, expansion joints in the bridge, etc. Thus,
these North American cars (and most of their Asian imitators) have to be equipped with a separate switch for four-way
flashers - required for Nexus users of the center lanes.
Lucas: First in Creative Failure…
Thanks to Allen Bachelder for this insightful (sic) article.
The Spanner
July, 2014
7
By David B Kelley
TRIUMPH
Like some other British car companies, most started out by selling Bicycles/Motor cycles. Triumph started in 1887 doing
the same.
However in 1923 Triumph made four-wheel vehicles powered by a 1.4 liter four-cylinder engine with a four speed gearbox.
Triumph’s first real success came with the super seven in 1928 with a smaller 747 cc engine, and later enlarged to 832 cc
as the super eight. A supercharged sports edition was briefly offered.
In 1930 the Triumph Cycle Co. Ltd. Became the Triumph Motor Co. Ltd. In 1931. A six-cylinder power unit was offered
in the Scorpion, while a Coventry-Climax engine went in the Super Nine model.
In 1927-32 Triumph brought out the Super Seven. The 832cc (51 cu in). Super
Seven was available in many styles. Popular Tourer, Tourer de Luxe, two-seater de Luxe,
fabric Saloon, and the streamlined Gordon England fabric Saloon.
Triumph moved up-market with the Triumph Gloria (1934-37) with low-slung
chassis, and was offered with four and six
cylinder Coventry Climax engines of 1087 cc
(66 cu in) and 1476 cc (90 cu in). A sporting
Super Seven
Monte Carlo Tourer featured a special 1232 cc
(75 cu in) twin-carburetor engine. This model was inspired by Donald Healey. A new
Gloria radiator mascot featured a winged lady reminiscent of the Royce-Royce Spirit
of Ecstasy.
A supercharged Triumph DoloGloria
mite straight eight which was done by
Donald Healey, who had joined Triumph in 1933. Only 3 models were made.
The next model that triumph built (1937-39) was the 1937 Dolomite, which
was an updated Gloria. The first Triumph designed and built engines by
Donald Healy went into production to
power this new model. The range was
Dolomite Straight 8
expanded in 1938 to attract more customers and introducing drophead and
open versions. A new luxurious Dolomite Royal in 1939 Dolomite failed to save the
company and on June 7, 1939 Triumph declared itself bankrupt and all production
Dolomite
ceased.
After the war, despite damage done during bombing raids on Coventry. However in 1944 it was purchased by the Standard Motor Company. The 1800/2000 sedan
made its debut in 1946. The 1800/2000 car was mounted on a tubular steel chassis and
ash frame, which made extensive use of aluminum, were by Mulliners Ltd. Of Birmingham and the prominent Lucas headlights were separated and affixed to the fenders. The
interior had leather-surfaced seats, thick pile carpeting and European walnut veneer. The
1800/2000 Roadster
1800/2000 roadster was lower, shorter and wider than the sedan. Rumble-seat passengers, had to clamber over the rear fenders to enter. Total production was 4,501.
From 1949-54 Triumph made the Renown which was a rather grand and stately looking saloon with razor-edge styling,
which impressed the company boss Sir John Black. 12,000 were manufactured..
Triumph Mayflower was made from 1949-53. This car resembling a
rocket-sized Rolls-Royce. The Mayflower
was named by Sir John Black to appeal to
the American market. Fewer than 1,000 of
the 34,000 Mayflowers produced were sold
in the United States . This model was built
on a 84 in wheelbase. It would hold four
passengers and luggage. A full set of tools
came with the car. The price was $1,750 in
1950-53. We had a new Mayflower for
many years. The car is in the Forest area.
Renown
The Spanner
Copy from the OntarioMGTRegister Spring issue.
July, 2014
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July, 2014
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July, 2014
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