REGISTER. From the President. Kevin THE TUCSON BRITISH CAR

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1 THE TUCSON BRITISH CAR REGISTER February, 2016 Volume 22, Number 2 Articles, opinions and suggestions printed in the Register are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the official policy of TBCR, its officers or members unless duly noted. Technical tips are for informational purposes only. Inside The President Member Chat Annual Meeting Tubac Car Show Calendar Cuba From the President We have some difficult work ahead of us this year. For those that don't know, Ben has stepped down as the events director. His departure leaves a huge hole that I and the board are working hard to fill. He has a few events left that he has planned but those will soon be behind us. At the annual meeting, we discussed putting together a committee of individuals that will divide up the various driving events. Thus the 2 nd Saturday breakfast will have a couple individuals that will look after it. As will BLAT and Cruise and Schmooze. Special events is still up in the air. In the future you will need to respond back to those members...ben will be out of the loop. Since the point of contact for the various events will be different, we are looking into using an service (mail chimp) to get the information out to the membership. We will be having a board meeting in the near future to further refine the process. A word about events which require an RSVP. In the future, we will have a club based RSVP address for simplicity. The purpose is to get an accurate headcount for the hosting venue. The club then incurs a financial commitment for x number of attendees at the cost per person. When members RSVP and then pull a no show the club must step forward and pay for the absent members. Clearly, this is not a smart use of the club's resources. Please remember, if you RSVP for an event the club must make good on your attendance. That's it for this month! Kevin Have You Paid Your 2016 Dues? Dues may be paid by sending a check (write 2016 dues in the memo) for $35 to: Tucson British Car Registry PO Box Tucson, AZ

2 The Register Page 2 of 8 Member Chat by Mike Jelinek New TBCR member Mike Jelinek sent this introduction to a very interesting project. Mike reports we probably won t see him at driving events till he gets this finished. First, let me tell you about my MGB. I bought it new in After numerous modifications to the I-4 engine, I was still not happy with the performance, so I put a 1963 Buick 215 in it (1993). In 2006, I used information from British V-8 magazine to build and install a 298 CI stroker, and T5 tranny. I sold that to a friend in Jan 2015, just before I moved to Tucson so I could build a car that I have wanted for awhile. If I was to build a coupe, it would have been a GT40. I retired in Oct 2014, and have a very nice workshop to perform the build. I am building a version of the 1958 Lister-Corvette. The British Listers were touted as the most successful race cars of the 1950 s. There s history online about Brian Lister and his cars. It even involves Carrol Shelby who worked with the Corvette before he went to Ford and AC Cobra fame. There have been a couple attempts to recreate the Lister. The current is the LC470 by Lucra Cars in San Marcos CA. (LucraCars.com). It is 6 wider and 6 longer than the Lister, and has an LS or Corvette style engine. I am among a very few to attempt an owner build. The tube chassis is glassed to the carbon fiber body at the Lucra facility. The suspension is from a C4 Corvette, 1991 in my case. I built up a supercharged 408 iron block donated by a 2007 Silverado (6.0L) with all forged rotating assembly, dual disc clutch, hydraulic through-out bearing, and a Tremec 600 tranny. My build should weigh in around 2050 pounds and have spectacular performance, way beyond my driving abilities. I installed the engine just before Christmas. The suspension, brakes, emergency brake are complete. The fuel system and clutch are one part away from completion. The Hella lights are enroute, and then I need to order the instruments, so I can tackle the electrical system. I still don t know what color or scheme to paint it. Mike s Lister build.

3 Page 3 of 8 The Register PRESIDENT Kevin McCue kevin@themccuesonline.net VICE PRESIDENT Ron Furtak rfurtak@cox.net SECRETARY Sandy O Harra asemo0@comcast.net TREASURER Brenda Johnson redsportscars@earthlink.net Annual Meeting Good turnout for an unusual Sunday drive in cool, cloudy weather. Breakfast at the Hungry Fox was followed by a well run meeting highlighted by discussion of how to fill Ben s shoes in driving events. Several members stepped up to help in keeping driving events on the road. NEWSLETTER John Mead tucsonbritish@gmail.com DRIVING EVENTS Committee Chair Ron Furtak rfurtak@cox.net REGALIA Len & Nancy Wheeler lenscats@comcast.net WEB SITE Harold Beekhuizen harold_beekhuizen@msn.com TBCR Mail Address (Including Regalia Orders) Tucson British Car Registry PO Box Tucson, AZ TBCR Website Featured Photos Thanks Mike, Newton, Geo, Alan and staff.

4 The Register Page 4 of 8 Tubac Car Show Perfect weather greeted the Tubac car show attendees (quite an improvement over last year). The drive was reported to be on the chilly side, but nice. The British cars occupied two rows near the center of the show and TBCR entries took up a majority of the spots. Ben had at least two batches of scones and everybody had a good day under the winter sun.

5 \ Page 5 of 8 The Register Events Calendar Wednesday February 4 Saturday February 13 Wednesday March 2 Saturday March 12 Saturday, March 26 Saturday April 16 BLAT Depart 10:15am Circle K 4650 S Palo Verde Lunch at First Watch Restaurant 4755 E Grant RSVP to: tbcrtours@aol.com (This may be history by the time you read your Register.) Pre-Valentine s Day Drive & Lunch Depart 10:15am from Cars & Coffee at La Encantada (NW corner Sunrise & Campbell). Lunch at Tavolino (SW corner Sunrise & Campbell) RSVP to Ben: RCT2BNC@aol.com by Feb. 11. BLAT 2 nd Saturday Breakfast Run le Tour des Garages 9:00am 12:30pm with pizza at the Cohens D-M 50 Car Show 8am - 5pm. And every Tuesday: BritCar Café 7:30 9:30AM NE corner of Grant & Swan.

6 On the Road in Cuba Ide on The Register Page 6 of 8 By Alan Barreuther This travelogue does not include British cars per-se, but it s a delightful first-person report of a very different car culture. The Barreuthers made the trip to Cuba last autumn. My wife and I decided the next place we wanted to visit was Cuba. Both of us remember the days in the early 60 s when we curled up under our metal and wooden desks in elementary school to protect us from potential nuclear missiles being shot from Cuba at Tucson during the crisis. Now with relationship between the two countries improving, we wanted to see Cuba before the onslaught of visitors from the US looking for a new place to drink mojitos. We did our homework planning the trip and reading up on the history of Cuba. We were fascinated by the period of the 1950s when the island seemed to be dominated by organized crime figures from the US. Also brushed up on the overthrow of the Batista regimen and the Bay of Pigs. I was keen to see some of the old US cars in Cuba that I had read so much about and seen on Velocity s Cuban Chrome television reality show featuring the Cubans who kept the old cars on the road by any means possible. We arrived in Havana after a short chartered flight (Aruba Airlines) from Miami. We were carefully schooled by our two tour guides (one from the US and one from Cuba) about how to get through customs after our arrival. We arrived on Sunday afternoon to the Jose Marti Airport in Havana to a mass of humanity waiting outside. After we cleared customs (very piercing, stern looks from government officials!) we waited to gather our luggage. We waited a total of two hours for our bags on the conveyer belt and had our first unique Cuban experience! We saw plastic shrink wrapped wheel chairs, tires with full rims, and many color, large screen LED TVs, arrive before we got our bags. Certain Cubans who have US family relations (Miami most likely) have relatively free travel between the two countries. The merchandise mules are paid to travel back and forth to bring whatever they can back to Cuba. Young, female attendants (who we thought were flight attendants, but we still don t know!) meet the cargo and facilitate it transfer to the appropriate party. We boarded our spiffy new Chinese-made bus with our tour guides, driver and 17 members of our tour group for travel into Havana and our destination for the next five days, Hotel de Nacional de Cuba. To our amazement however, we went directly to Plaza de la Revolucion surrounded by the government offices of Raul Castro and images of Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos. Thinking the worst but expecting better, we were soon surrounded by about 20 old US cars with their proud drivers. We learned later this was a traditional welcome of tourists to get acquainted with the locals. I wandered through the old cars for my very first look at the time machines. Being a fancier of original automobiles, I was sort of amazed how stock they looked from 50 feet but as I got closer, my observations changed. Many of these convertibles were not born that way. They were modified and had rag tops added. This made me wonder how sound they might be since real convertibles have strengthened frames to make up for the loss in body rigidity from removing the metal roof. I also realized that original engines were rare but could be found in the stock-looking cars. One very nice 55 Chevy didn t sound quite right until I looked under the hood and saw a four cylinder Russian diesel engine and then understood why! We spent five days in Havana on a very rigorous schedule, traveling to community centers, schools, art venues, and local markets. We learned more about the Special Period that occurred in the early 1990 s after the USSR crumbled and removed most financial support of Cuba. Fuel was rationed as were many crucial supplies, but the Cuban people changed their normal actions to adapt. Many people ride bicycles, motorcycles, horse drawn carts, busses, or hitch hike, which is common and encouraged. Cars, whose drivers receive fuel subsidy from the government through their employment, bear white number plates with blue stripes on one edge. The drivers of these vehicles are required by law to pick up people standing on the curb with their arms extended to hitch a ride. Our motor coach had blue stripe plates, but we were exempt from picking up hitch-hikers. All in all we had a great visit in Havana and continued to Veradero Beach east of the city. We stayed in an allinclusive resort run by Melia the Spanish-based hotel chain. After two days of this, we returned to Havana and flew back to Miami. It was a great experience that I would be willing to repeat again in a few years.

7 Page 7 of 8 The Register Cuba continued Alan in a converted convertible. Russian power Cuban tuner Locals Member Notes and Notices From Richard and Rosie Reeve: Any Club Member who visits the U. K. Is welcome to visit or stay on our farm near Coventry. We are 5 miles from Coventry Transport Museum and 8 miles from Gaydon, our National Motor Museum. Train time from London is 1. Hour 10 to leamington Spa. For further information please contact the Reeves through the editor.

8 TBCR members may have a complimentary business card ad on this page For info contact the editor: tucsonbritish@gmail.com