Sep 2015 - Puget Sound Early Birds

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ofting upward into the
dazzling blue skies of
Long Beach came hundreds of
kites in a symphony of sizes,
shapes and colors — some
floating, some soaring, others
whizzing here and there in
intricate patterns and precise
geometrical movements.
It was the 35th Annual
Washington State International
Kite Festival at Long Beach, and
the town was packed with
people, the streets with cars and
the skies with kites. And yet the
traffic, contrary to an earlier
warning, was never backed up
and continued to move slowly
but steadily through the central
part of downtown as groups of
tourists wandered from store to
store in search of the perfect
souvenir or place to eat. Think
of a huge block party that extended up and down the beach
for more than a third of a mile
that lasted for a week.
The festival was an
official event sponsored by the
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GOOD TIMES, GOOD FRIENDS, GREAT CARS!
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Well, here we are closing out on summer and we had our 'tops' down most of the time.
Again, Gordon and Judy have arranged a great tour on Bainbridge Island for Sept. 12th.
They will leading the caravan around the island and we’ll get to spots that are off the beaten
path.
The Fall Color tour on Oct. 2nd will be led by Carol and I.
The Kite Festival was great and the weather was fantastic all 3 days. There four birds, 3 reds
and 1 blue. The highlight for us was seeing the indoor kits flying without wind. It was a real
ballet of human and kite performing. It was also nice for us as our kids and grandkids were
there camping.
We are looking forward to rounding out the year with a lot of cars attending our tours for
the next 4 months. See you on Bainbridge Island.
Back by popular demand, the Fall Frost Bite Color foliage tour along the “North Slope” hosted by Jerry and
Carol Weiler. For those who didn’t make it last year, you
really missed a great tour. It was a beautiful day and the
Weilers took us to places on the “north slope” that most
of us have never seen. Who knows what they have up
their sleeve for this year’s tour.
“East Siders” (that is east of the Hood Canal), meet at
10:00 AM at Port Gamble General Store and caravan to
7 Cedars Gift shop on the water side where Jerry and
Carol will pick up the lead at a bout 10:45. From there
we will tour around the ‘north slope’ and have lunch, followed by a garage tour.
Please RSVP to Jerry and Carol @ 360-452-3096 or [email protected] to let them know if
you are coming so they can make reservations at the restaurant.
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American Kite Association, and counted
toward valuable national points. Winners at
Long Beach could accumulate enough points
to be invited to participate in this year’s
annual convention and national finals at
Enid, Oklahoma in September.
During the week, flying exhibits were open to
viewing, including mass ascensions each
day with 100 or more of the same style of
kite soaring aloft. Sport kite competitions
with competitors flying their kites in intricate
patterns or making them dance to music was
also on the schedule. Kite makers brought
their flying artwork to be judged for beauty in
the air and the finer points of construction.
Battles were held with large Rokkaku kites
(hexagonal shaped kites) and smaller twoand four-line fighter kites.
In the local
school gym there was even an indoor kite
flying showing ultra-light kites that could fly
without any wind at all, with the contestants
dancing and moving to make the kites fly.
Carol and Jerry Weiler also saw the indoor
competition which Carol said was stunning
and perhaps her favorite event.
Kite clubs, kite makers and other kite
professionals came from all over the U.S.,
mostly in the West, but also as far away as
Kentucky. They came from other countries,
including Canada, but some as far away as
France, the UK, Brazil and even Australia to
join in the fun and competition.
After arriving at the Long Beach Inn on
Thursday afternoon, PSEBers all decided on
what they would like to do later that
afternoon and evening after looking at the
kite festival schedule of events. But first
there was the serious matter of a happy hour
party in Gordon and Judy Thorne’s room
that extended into a happy hour-and-a-half
party. Lots of great eats but Christine and
David Hill topped us all when they showed
up with not one but two, great appetizer
dishes Christine had seen in a magazine and
tried out on the rest of us. We munched on
so many delicious appetizers that for some
of us, the nibbles became dinner. That
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decision freed us to walk the short distance to
the street lined with vendors at the start of
the beach grasses out to where the sky was
alive with color and motion.
Friday was the jam-packed day with several
major kite events, but also the 5:00 pm start
of the Seahawks/Kansas City game. That
morning saw a mass ascension of Deltashaped kites and a junior dual-line control
competition for those 14 and under, with
contestants required to do a number of
precise geometric figures in the sky. The
afternoon started with another mass
ascension, this one of cellular kites.
But for many, the highlight of the day was the
Mystery Ballet, where individual kite flyers
with two or four lines had to create a dance
routine to a popular song of 3 to 4 minutes
selected at random and unknown to them.
Flyers went one at a time, alone on the sandy
field watched by untold hundreds of
spectators. They were judged on the difficulty
of maneuvers, how well the flier performed to
the music, and also to crowd response. The
first up was a 4-string kite which performed
beautifully to Mannheim Steamroller’s classic
“Carol of the Bells.”
Others followed with great routines, including
a wonderful duet to the Beatles’ “Lovely Rita,
Meter Maid”, but the crowd favorite seemed
to be “Island Quad”, three men and a woman
from Vancouver Island. They lined up in a
row, and then to the rollicking strains of the
Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine”, gave us killer
choreography in a precise, synchronized
performance. Their kites swooped, soared
and chased each other in perfect lines,
sometimes just a foot or so apart. They were
like the Blue Angels of the kite world. An
extraordinary performance, especially since
they had no idea of what music they would
have to perform to.
Then it was time to trek back to the motel,
fortify ourselves with more liquid refreshments
and watch the Seahawks game. Dave and
Judy III joined Gordon and Judy in their room
and then all got takeout from the Thai
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restaurant conveniently located at the end of
the Long Beach Inn’s parking lot. The food was
better than the Seahawks performance, with
the blue and green going down by a point.
Score was Thai Food, Kansas City, 14,
Seahawks, 13. After the game, some went
back one more time to various places on the
beach or boardwalk to view the kites flying in
the darkening night sky all lit with multi-colored
lights and patterns. And that was followed by a
very pretty fireworks show coming up from the
beach right in front of us.
Saturday morning, after a continental breakfast,
Judy Thorne took samples of her Just Beachy
company Christmas ornaments and made a
sales call on a local gift shop. (The shop owner
took everything Judy had and wants more!)
Gordon joined Jerry and Carol and Dave and
Judy III in driving north about 10 miles to tour a
wonderful old time general store that dated
back to 1885. It was a combination variety
store (remember 5-and 10-cent stores?), gift
shop, drug store, hardware store, and grocery
store with a live butcher, all complete with
creaky hardwood floors, and shelves stacked
high with merchandise and with wooden
ladders on rollers top and bottom to access the higher shelves.
The heavy traffic we had been warned about finally materialized as weekenders poured into
town for the last two days of the festival. But for us, it was so long beach, as Carol and Jerry
joined members of their family who were camping nearby, and David and Christine took off on a
driving trip south. Gordon took a spin on the Go Kart track, (came in second) then he and Judy
took off for home. And Dave and Judy III? They were last seen still wandering the aisles of The
Company Store looking at old timey things such as doodads, gimcracks, potrezeebies and
veebelfeetzers.
Gordon Thorne
Update on GRUMPY (Dave Hill’s newly restored ‘55): She still has some kinks to be
worked out. Grumpy has bias ply tires. Why? Well, we guess Dave wanted the
true ‘55 driving experience. Some additional kinks that need to be to worked out
are the windows which seem to break the regulators when they roll up. So, maybe
Der, Ted, Phil or other mechanically inclined club member could give Dave a
call and point him in the right direction.
As for the bias ply tires, was Dave you thinking wide white sidewalls? Les
Schwab sells Coker radials with wide sidewalls. You editor had bias ply on his ‘57
and ditched them even though the tread was perfect. Why? The 50s driving
experience is one experience we would all like to forget.
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Every month in The Motor Mouth, an item appears noting the need for school supplies for the
needy. We finally got together to respond in a meaningful way to that plea!
On Wednesday, August 12, a number of us gathered at The Loft in Poulsbo to enjoy a
leisurely stroll through town, enjoy each other's company over a yummy lunch and, most
importantly, to gather our donated school supplies.
We stuffed the Rohweins' trunk with everything from pencils to notebooks, crayons,
backpacks, markers, pens, paper, scissors... you name it and there it was! What a wonderful
response from club members. Darleen and Carolyn delivered the supplies to the Bremerton
School offices where they were gratefully received.
The day was such a success in every way that we declared that we should add a school
supply drive onto our July or August club calendar in addition to our official club event. What a
great day! Thank you to all who donated supplies, money and time.
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The Puget Sound Early Birds believes we should help support the community in
which we live and work. This month PSEB members worked with our local
schools and a local retirement home and brought joy to many folks, both young
and old.
Once again PSEB was invited to Crista Shores Retirement Village to show off our 'Birds. With a full
lunch provided, who could turn down an invitation for another chance to get together? Definitely
not the Hills, Ed Schlie and Carolyn Zimmerman, Callards, Rohweins, Harrises and the Austins!
The weather gods graced us with sun and a lovely breeze and the staff provided a delicious (and
very healthy) lunch. What about those brownies, one might ask... the pastry chef just couldn't
help himself. He had to show off one of his best desserts.
Oh, such variety in the mini car show! Ted Austin was ever so happy to have another chance to
show off his very luxurious '37 Packard. Many other "not-T-birds" worthy of note were a Lincoln
Continental V12, a '40 Ford convertible, a 1940 Buick Special convertible, a turquoise (!) '39 Ford,
a '48 Buick with a fun display of period antiques including a typewriter and many other cars, too
numerous to mention.
Best of all, our Thunderbirds really stood out all lined up in a row, shining in the afternoon sun.
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Benefits of CTCI Membership:
♦
♦
♦
♦
If
CTCI purchases liability insurance that covers CTCI chapters and chapter members, acting
on the chapter’s behalf, from a covered loss suffered at a chapter event.
Each chapter receives a display ad for announcing a chapter event each year in the EarlyBird magazine. An event could be a fund raising project or appreciation to a long time
member, etc.
A free one page web page on the CTCI web site to provide our chapter’s description which
can assist in PSEB’s growth.
The award winning magazine, Early-Bird, which is packed full of great information, how to,
other club events, ideas for events, etc.
you have recently joined CTCI, please contact Gordon Thorne with your membership number.
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PSEB club members who have done one or more of the three joint tours we’ve had the past few
years with the classic C-1 Solid Axle Corvettes,
our former huge rivals from back in the day,
know how much fun these events have been.
The fourth tour between these two former
competitors will be Saturday, September 12th
and it promises to be another unique, fun tour.
Gordon and Judy Thorne are organizing this
one, and they have picked driving around the
beautiful scenic perimeter of Bainbridge Island
as this year’s tour. And to cap off the tour, we’ll
all have the opportunity to taste and sample
various artisan wines, award-winning brews and what was labeled the World’s Best Vodka in 2014!
Birds —and Vettes — coming from the greater Seattle area must depart no later than the 10:40 am
departure from Seattle to Bainbridge Island. If you wish to go on the earlier departure, at 9:35 am
you’ll be able to spend some time poking around the quaint shops in downtown Winslow before
heading up highway 305 to Madison St. (third stoplight) and turning left into the First Baptist church
parking lot. For PSEB members coming across
the Agate Pass Bridge onto Bainbridge Island, go
south down highway 305 to the island’s third
stoplight at Madison, and turn right and follow
around a short distance into the parking lot of
the First Baptist Church, just west of the highway
at Madison St.
The tour will begin about noon, after an 11:45
drivers meeting, appropriate brochures, a driving
map and turn by turn directions will be handed
out.
First third of the tour will be driving down island
to Winslow, then starting back up island on the far east side with great views of Puget Sound and
the Seattle skyline. After about a 25 to 30 minute drive, we’ll stop at Fay Bainbridge Park, at the far
northeast end of the island, where we have a reserved picnic shelter, plus several extra tables all
with a sweeping view looking east over Puget Sound. Be sure to bring your own picnic lunch and
whatever you would like to drink. PSEB and the Solid Axle will provide chilled water, fresh baked
chocolate chip and raisin/oatmeal cookies, plus lemon bars and/or brownies.
After a leisurely lunch and time for beachcombers to search the driftwood-laden beach for
treasures, we’ll continue on our counter-clockwise tour of the island, past wooded coves and
hidden inlets with waterfront estates and mansions, to areas of deep woods, meadows, a charming
little village with its British half-timbered architecture and narrow roads running right next to low
bank rolling bays, some with funky little beach homes, an interesting and eclectic contrast to the
multi million dollar mansions.
The end of the tour will be at Coppertop Business Park, where within about 150 feet of each
other are the Bainbridge Island Brewery with its hand crafted ales; the tasting room of Fletcher Bay
Winery, an artisan award winning winery; and the Bainbridge Island Distillery, Washington’s first
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Yes, we’ve covered this before, but the Northwest has had an exceptionally hot summer and
heat is not a tire’s friend; that coupled with a typical T-Bird isn’t driven many miles each year
means that our tires could be not only old, but in fact have also dried out. So, the reason to revisit
this issue.
Think of your tire as a rubber band. What happens to a rubber band over time? It cracks and
eventually snaps. That’s what happens to a tire.
Here are some simple facts:
1) The average full size spare is nine years old
2) The average mini spare is 12 years old
At what age should I replace my tires? There are no specifics other than tread wear, but most
professionals, depending on where you live (deep south, desert south, etc.) will give you ranges
from five to eight years, considering the storage of the car, how it is driven, etc.
Now that begs the question,
how old are your T-Bird’s
tires? See the illustration.
If you’re still unsure,
consult with your local tire
store manager.
As many of us wish to have
our T-Bird as close to
original as possible and
that usually means wide whitewalls which are sold by Coker, among others. Your editor contacted Paul Howell, the Les Schwab Manager in West Seattle who advised that any Les Schwab
dealer could assist on checking your tires for safety and age, plus they are able to supply you
with Coker tires with competitive prices.
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organic distillery. The brewery offers a sampling rack of five of their most popular ales for
just $7. The winery tasting room will give us generous pours of up to seven of their new
releases for just $5. At the 2014 London international vodka festival, slightly more than
1,000 vodkas from 25 countries were judged. The vodka judged to be the World’s Best
Vodka came from this little Bainbridge Island Distillery — and you can tour their tiny
distillery and sample the world’s best vodka, plus their vanilla vodka and unique gin —
all free of charge!
Our Birds have been outnumbered by the ‘Vettes the past two tours, but this time,
the Olympic Classic Thunderbird Club is joining us as this is their official September
event as well. That means this could be the biggest turnout yet for our two Detroit icons
— and we’d like you all to join us! We do need to get an idea of a car count for this
driving event in order to bring enough water, cookies and turn-by-turn instruction sheets.
So please — be kind and RSVP to Gordon or Judy Thorne at
[email protected], or call them at 253-857-0063.
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September 12:
Bainbridge Island Tour with Solid Axle Corvette Club (Sep 12) — Thornes
October 2:
Frost Bite Tour (Oct 2)— Weilers
November:
Great Chefs — Johnsons
December:
Christmas Party — Harris’s
Tony & Yvonne Gaudet -- Sep 9
Jim & Darlene Stott -- Sep 11
Judy Roupe -- Sep 23
Bill & Diana Graves -- Sep 26
OFFICERS AND CHAIRPERSONS
President: Jerry Weiler
360-452-3096 - [email protected]
Vice President: Cheryl McCurdy
360-394-4426 - [email protected]
Secretary:
360-692-5199 - [email protected]
Treasurer:
Immediate Past Pres.:
Newsleer Editor:
THE MOTOR MOUTH
www.pugetsoundearlybirds.org
Vol. 22, No. 9 -- September 2015
The award winning
monthly publication of the
Puget Sound Early Birds, Chapter 81
Classic Thunderbird Club International.
Members are encouraged to submit articles
written by themselves or others. All
submissions are subject to editing and
space available.
Deadline: 20th of the preceding month
[email protected]
Membership:
Ameni es:
[email protected]
Webmaster:
THE MOTOR MOUTH
Our Mission
To encourage and promote the
preservation, admiration, ownership,
enjoyment and restoration of the 1955, 1956
and 1957 Ford Thunderbirds.
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Cool PSEB Stuff
Call Tanya Johnson
360-779-5067
If you would love to have some cool PSEB stuff, hat, shirt, jacket, sweatshirt, etc., Tanya
Johnson is the member to see. She will collect names and items and then, when we have
enough folks who would like the same item, she will order them. See Tanya’s contact on the
next page. And Check out http://www.geiger.com/ for a full range of products.
Don’t forget to check out the CTCI Member Store http://www.ctci.org/store.php for CTCI
products.
Cool Early T-Bird Stuff — Visit the CTCI Store
http://www.ctci.org/store.php
Powder Coating
Craig Rohwein
Let us give you a quotation for your next job!
360-265-2337 or [email protected]
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Tanya Johnson, CAS
Referrals are the
greatest form of flattery!
Representing the Geiger Company
McCurdy’s Restorations
Tanya Johnson, C.A.S. 360-779-5067
Contact: Phil McCurdy @ (360) 394-3636
[email protected]
15560 Sandy Hook Rd. NE
Poulsbo, Washington 98370
•
CTCI Gold Award: First Place overall in the show. . .
but wait, that’s not all . . .
•
CTCI Gold Medallion Award: Her car received in excess of 290 points . . .
•
CTIC Excellence in Authenticity Award: Received all
51 points for authenticity.
Thousands of marketing ideas &
products from Geiger!
http://tjohnson.geigermall.com
CAROL WEILER
Angeles Book Binding
Restoration and Rebinding
Books, Bibles, Hard Bound Covers, Embossing
(360)
452-3096
Bethany Vriesman
MeritWorks Partners, LLC
727-967-2025
[email protected]
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