Abingdon Rough Rider Review

Transcription

1 Abingdon Rough Rider Review October 2017 Vol. LIX no. 10 President Vice President - Activities Coordinator Brian Sonner Secty/Treas/Newsletter Editor- Eminence Gris Web Master Joe Marcotte Howard Shempp Allan Chalmers Bill Traill Rick Storms Note: This time it is Saturday thru Monday We will meet at the usual southern spot, the McDonald s at the plaza to the west after taking the Cochrane Rd exit from 101 in Morgan Hill. Leave there by 10AM If folks would like to connect up before or further on, let me know. The flyer is attached. Signed up are: Chalmers, Storms, Traill, Marcottes. Let me know if you are left off the list, or are planning to go. Next Month Dinner & Nominations!

2 An advisory from our webmaster For those receiving the web version, remember, you can contact your esteemed officers by clicking the About Us link and clicking on the name of the officer. This protects us from malefactors! On the Events page, each month's event includes three icons. One is to the host, one is a link to a Google map that shows the starting point of the run, and finally, one to show weather conditions. Rick If you d like to drop the printed version and read this on the web site let your editor know Coming Events Saturday thru Monday October 7,8,9 will be the conclave at the Inn at Morro Bay, details further on Sunday, November 12 Dinner and nominations at Café Sport in San Francisco. Last year s acclaimed spot, Buca di Beppo has permanently closed! More info coming next newsletter Saturday, December 9 Holiday Party in Healdsburg at the Taylor s Victorian, with a breakfast the following morning Missive from the desk of your president: Well, I have long acknowledged that my cartooning skills do not measure up to the genius of Phil Frank. You often hear me beg for ideas. The evolution of a cartoon can take me days. Once I get an idea (the most difficult part of the process), I spend a lot of time working on the words. There is very little space; so the words are critical. You may not notice that what is said and who says it drives the organization of the drawing. We do read from left to right and top to bottom. Once all of this is drafted, I begin the drawing process and finally the water coloring. When the finished product is ready, I turn it over to Jane and Cruz to determine if it is good enough to submit. There are some that end up in the shredder. This does not include those deemed inappropriate by the EDITOR. (They never find their way into print.) When I attend an event it is not too difficult to come up with an idea because hanging out with you folks is a target rich environment. When I cannot attend an event and there are no recommendations provided by my spies, I am forced to come up with another approach. This month is a good example of why you need to provide ideas so that I am not forced to work inside my head. And you know that that is a dangerous location. Occasionally, I finish one and get family approval, but the evil spirit in me suggests a modification. This one went through the entire process and was ready to submit. Brian

3 Museum The Railway Museum run was a rolling success, thanks to Dick & Carolyn Duncan! Folks gravitated there from near and far Andrew Sanders and wife came down from Donner in the TA! Howard Shempp from Davis in the TC, the Duncans in a ZB Magnette, Terry, Cindy and Charlotte the Basset in an Alfa, Bill Traill, the Marcottes and Swackhamers from San Jose, Norman and Brenda and Brenda s father and partner from SF, the Chalmers. With son Craig and grandsons Jacob & Owen from Palo Alto, in rice burners. Also attending was honorary member Budd Wentz and Bill Traill s friend Jay, long associated with the museum. We had a substantial lunch there, then a guided tour, then folks took a train ride. The Chalmers boys are mesmerized Charlotte came along with Terry & Cindy Barry, Joe, Sue, Bill, yrs truly, Craig Chalmers & Jcaob & Owen Barry, Bill, Carolyn & engine A San Francisco streetcar similar to the ones my father piloted

4 Bill Kendall I m sorry to have to inform you that Bill has died. He was a long time member of the Rough Riders, starting out life here in the Bay Area, spending time in the Peace Corps, where he met his first wife Maria, a Swiss, moving to Seattle as an assistant DA, moving to Washington DC and overseas with the State Dept. He landed in several countries and was known to have driven a TD in the Malaysian Grand Prix! He had a TC and a TB. The former known as the Bondo Special, which is evident from the picture, the latter, Tinkerbelle was his main car. Young woman was possibly his second wife Patty - although I haven t seen her in years. Don t know the whereabouts of either car. Bob Wilmer and Clarence Weiss Two of our old friends in the TC Motoring Guild have recently died. There is are tributes to them in the latest TCMG newsletter Clarence Charlotte & Bob

5 Axles and brakes In looking for a source of a click in the drive train of the TC, I pulled both axles. The near side axle broke a few years ago on the way to a conclave. The off side when pulled looked like this compared to a new one: The Marino axles should be examined regularly, if you are using them. That slight twist indicates a soon-to-be failure. Also note, it is quite a bit shorter than the new one, part of the reason for future failure a lot less of it in the rear end gear. Both axles are from Marino. New axles and hubs are available from From the Frame Up, Moss Motors or Bob Grunau in Canada. I am using Grunau axles in the TA. Norman Tuck recently switched to his axles and new hubs. The axles have tapered outer ends with keys and the new hubs are broached to accept them. None have been known to fail. Moss axles are advertised as being nitride, but not tapered. When looking for the clicking I found the brake shoe pivot on one side had worked loose, causing movement back and forth. This threaded pivot can be tightened, but you will probably have to take the drum off. Check all four. Datsun Steering box And another thing check your steering boxes for fluid the Datsun box in the TA was empty, so I went to the internet and found the shop manual for the Datsun 1000 pickup truck, from whence our boxes came, and the fluid required is 90 weight oil.

6 And whilst on the subject: From a Vintage newsletter, extracted from a Motoring Guild newsletter and probably by Mike Goodman

7 Car Fiction from our Vice President, Joe Marcotte TC 1697 occupies a prominent part in in my life. So does reading. Topics concerning TCs in particular and old cars in general are on my mind more often than not. I love to see them, talk about them and read about them. Over the years I ve accumulated what, for my needs, is an adequate reference library of automotive literature, the latest acquisition being Mike Sherrill s TCs Forever More! If I had more shelf space and, frankly, if car books weren t as expensive as they ve become, my library would probably be larger than it is, but that s the real world! An adjunct to my library of automotive fact are a few works of automotive fiction; novels whose prime component is a car. It appears that the primary audience to whom this area of literature is addressed are children and teens. The kids book section of any store or website is invariably stocked to overflowing with best sellers like Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang; The Car; Running Wide Open and so on. Mature readers aren t so lucky; Jack Kerouac s On the Road or Stephen King s From a Buick 8 are about as good as popular adult car fiction gets. Particular stories about TCs are almost non-existent. While I imagine that most of this readership has heard of The Red Car, by Don Stanford, I wouldn t be surprised to learn that only a few of you have actually read it. I haven t. This story has been out of print for about 50 years and, although it does appear to be available for purchase, it seems to be selling for about the same price as you d expect to pay for a TC stainless steel muffler and tailpipe set, i.e. beyond my book budget range. However, despite this dismal introduction, there is hope! I ve spent some very rewarding hours reading a couple of old car stories which I m going to suggest to you. A word about the authors and their stories... G.R.N. Minchin. Born in 1888 in Manchester, England and educated as an Electrical Engineer at Cambridge, he became interested in cars in the early 1900s. He owned and raced many cars and travelled in the rarified circle of aristocrats and automotive adventurers, not the least of whom was Charles S. Rolls. As the Managing Director of two different automotive battery companies, he secured the rights to supply the new, prestigious firm Rolls- Royce, Ltd. with electrical parts. After his friend and fellow Cambridge alumni Rolls died in an airplane accident in 1910, Minchin continued both professional and personal relationships with Rolls partner Frederick H. Royce. In failing health for several years during the twenties, Royce managed his company through trusted executives from a home on the French Riviera, where he often entertained his friend Minchin. Although not necessarily a great reader, one evening, during the course of a conversation about crime and criminals Royce mentioned the name Edgar Wallace, a prolific crime fiction author 1, noting how difficult it must be to write a mystery. Minchin interpreted this remark as a challenge and they entered into a wager, Minchin contending that he d produce a good, readable story. He did, in 1930, and the title is N7. N7 is one of the principal highways in France. Not unlike our US 101, it runs the length of the country from the English Channel port of entry in northern France to the Riviera, at the other end of the country. The principal characters in the story are a 1927 Bentley 3 Liter, its dashing young driver, his girlfriend and a Rolls-Royce driven by an unscrupulous colonel, who chases our hero from London to Monaco. The story is replete with late 20s period detail, descriptions of Paris and the French countryside. It provides a wonderful depiction of what the lives of comfortably-off young people must have been like at the time. N7. Rolls-Royce Foundation, pages. Available on the Internet in hard copy from Abe Books

8 After retiring to South Africa in the late forties, Minchin wrote his second novel in about But, on completion he sought not to publish it. Our hero in this work is a talented young mechanic-amateur racing driver who has always wanted to participate in The Monte. A Rolls-Royce dealer agrees to sponsor him with two cars, a 1930 s Rolls-Royce open car and a standard Bentley saloon, in what is thought to be the 1950 Monte Carlo Rally. Again, Minchin regales us with lots of engaging detail about participating in this famous race, no doubt based on his own experiences in racing and trials and about post-war Europe. Murder in the Monte Carlo Rally. Rolls-Royce Foundation, 2002 Available on the Internet in hard copy from Amazon Books pages. Roger Corea. Roger Corea lives in upstate New York. He spent his primary career was as a financial advisor. Also, completing graduate work in Literature, he taught English literature at the high school level. In retirement he established Harwood Enterprises, a classic car restoration, sales and service shop in his garage. He expanded it to a 25,000 sq. ft. enterprise about 11 years ago. He has written a couple of car stories, The Duesenberg Caper being the first. The story line of this contemporary escapade is composed around a 1935 Duesenberg SJ formerly owned by King Victor Emmanuel of Italy. While vacationing in Sicily, a young school teacher-car collector and his feisty wife learn of the long-lost, incalculably valuable Deusey. Their search for and leveraged acquisition of it is complete with car crashes, grand theft, murder (the Mafia, predictably, figures prominently), a world-class concours and a vintage car race. This tale is more madcap and improbable than either of the two mentioned above, but also a clever story. The Duesenberg Caper. SelectBooks, pages. Available on the Internet in both hard copy and Kindle from Amazon: When the Minchin books were written there were no important awards for mystery fiction. Currently though, the most prominent prize for a whodunit is the Edgar Allen Poe Award. I doubt that when published any of these three books would have made an impression weighty enough to render them as competitors for that, or any other, literary accolade. And, as I recall, the Morris Garages Motor Company isn t mentioned in any of these works. So what s my point? My purpose is only to suggest that anyone who enjoys reading about old cars and is not above a bit of light entertainment, might fulfill these requirements by spending a couple of evenings with these three captivating books. Prolific indeed! Wallace s work consisted of more than 170 novels, almost 1000 short stories and at least 24 screen plays, the most-remembered of which is King Kong. Joe

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11 From Mike Titus, son of long-time Rough Rider Don Titus Fellow TC enthusiasts, After much thought I have decided to sell my car TC/EXU7392 which was my father s and originally purchased in Asking price for the car and the lot is $27,000. We live in Ashland, Oregon which is located 14 miles north of the California border on I-5. Come and drive the car. Michael Titus, Don Titus' son, is selling his dad's car and the bits Don had accumulated. You saw the ad for the car in the November issue of the ARR Review, and here is Michael's list of parts: MG-TC Parts For pictures/information michaeljtitus (at) gmail (dot) com There is a professional valuation of the car

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