LOWER COLUMBIA CLASSIC CAR CLUB 1 PRESIDENT FRED MESTRICH / VICE PRESIDENT DARRYL NIEMI /

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1 LOWER COLUMBIA CLASSIC CAR CLUB 1 MARCH 2018 H ello again! A big thank you to Judy Jordan for arranging the February Valentine no host lunch at Jim s Roadside Grill in Warrenton. We had over 40 people attend, and a good time was had by most. The weather was about as good as one could expect for the middle of February on the coast. We received an invitation for a Spaghetti Feed in Aberdeen Washington. This is being sponsored by not just 1 but 3 clubs. The Midnight Cruiser s, Push Rods, and Beach Boys. It will be held at the Aberdeen High School, 410 N.G. street. Sunday March 25th Doors open at 11:00am with lunch served from noon to 2:30pm. This will be our March Social Event. We will leave the Astoria DMV parking lot at 9:30am with a stop at the Dismal Nitch soon after to pick up any of our Washington members. Please RSVP me at by the 19th of March so we can give them a head count. Hopefully I'm going to be able to attend as I m having Shoulder Surgery on the 20th of March. Ann just might have to drive so I guess we WILL probably be taking the comet instead of the 56 Chev. convertible. Progress is being made on my 56 Chev 2dr Wagon. It s actually all in Epoxy primer. Still have a few things to do before it comes back out to my shop for Engine & Suspension installation. We are supposed to get the roadster back this Sunday with a new interior and top. The Swap Meet is coming together real good. The arena is almost full & we created a few more spaces. Car Corral is full although we will have room elsewhere for any others. The Exhibit hall is filling up too. It looks like we will have more spaces filled than last year. The next meeting is Thursday March 15th at Steve Jordan s 7:00pm. I will have a report on the success of the Swap Meet, Hopefully, I will see you at the Swap Meet and the March Club Meeting. Fred Mestrich President

2 LOWER COLUMBIA CLASSIC CAR CLUB 2 Lower Columbia Classic Minutes minutes of regular meetings February 15, 2017 Steve Jordan's shop Helligso Lane Astoria, Oregon The regular meeting of the Lower Columbia Classic Car Club was held February 15th, 2017 at 7pm at Steve Jordan's shop. President Fred Mestrich called the meeting to order. It was moved and seconded to accept the minutes as printed in the BACKFIRE. The motion carried. Welcome to new member Michael Farreura. The sunshine committee- Judy told us to keep Frank Kossak and Linda Upoff in our thoughts, and Jeff Penuel is doing better. The swap meet is doing well. We have rented 32 for regular booths, and only 7 car corrals left. We still need donations for the club booth, and we still need volunteers for the day of the swap meet, March 10 th. The 50's cruise planning is going well. We will be closing at 3:00, instead of 4:00. Trophy's will be handed out at 2:00. We need trophy sponsors, and we need volunteers to park cars, and at the registration booth from 12:00-2:00. Robbie has been working on the website. Go check it out to make birth date's, and anniversary dates are correct. The newsletter is transitioning to as planned. If you would like a hard copy, please contact Ross. As always stories, and input are always welcome. The Warrenton High School Auto Club has plans to build a metal building 60x120 feet. It will be built by June. It will house an auto, welding and woodshop. Gail needs pictures for the 2017 scrapbooks, please. year. The college committee is working with Thad, on coming up with a donation for the There will be a club social on the Sunday the 18 th. A no host lunch at Jim's Roadside Grill in Warrenton at 1:00. The midnight cruiser's, beach boy's, and push rods spaghetti feed will be March 25 th, from 12:00-2:30 in Aberdeen. We will leave at 9:30 from the DMV. Call Judy to RSVP. We need someone to chair the Christmas Party please. Meeting was adjourned at 8:05pm. The attendance winner was Ross Getchell. Secretary Margot Gittins.

3 LOWER COLUMBIA CLASSIC CAR CLUB 3 By Jim Wood This months adventure took me over to Ernie and Judy Atkinson's place here in Astoria. I went over there to check out their '31 Ford roadster. Now, most of us have seen this hot rod at several club events in the last five years. That's about how long they have owned this car. However, Ernie has known this car since it's birth in Oakland, Ca. Ernie grew up in the car culture in Oakland in the 50's and 60's. From drag racing his '53 Olds cpe to road racing, to rallying his Porsche Speedster. Ernie started as a young man working in a muffler shop in Oakland. His main job was designing dual exhaust systems for regular cars and hot rod builders. The next thing you know he's building his own '32 Ford cpe. In the late fifties and sixties Oakland was a hotbed of custom cars and hot rods. When Ernie and Judy moved north to Astoria in the seventies he left his '32 cpe stored in Oakland. Some forty years later Ernie was talking to an old car building friend of his in Oakland when they decided to trade cars. This is how he ended up with his '31 roadster. Because it was such an old build, there was a lot of TLC and refreshing to be done. Ernie did all of that and ended up with the awesome example of a period correct Ford roadster. The thing is this doesn't just look correct, it is actually an original that has survived sixty years or so. I don't think there are any parts on this car that aren't at least fifty years old, except for maintenance parts. When I first saw the car I thought it was a '32 Ford because of the radiator shell and grill. It is a '31 Ford all steel body and boxed '31 frame. The roadster is powered by an early '60's 327. Sitting on top is an ancient Edlebrock intake displaying 2 Holley 94 carbs. 3-2's? No, this a really an old school and unique setup. Blowing the burnt gas from the heads are awesome hand made Zoomy pipes and headers. One thing I know is newer is the Borg-Warner 5 spd. tranny. This delivers the power to a narrowed Ford 9" rear-end. Ernie had Wheel Smith build him a set of beautiful wire wheels that are also very correct, but stronger than the originals. Most of the original speed equipment and accessories are from places like So-Cal and Moon. Ernie was kind enough to ask me if I wanted to go for a ride. Of course I said yes. I started to wonder what a kind of a ride this was going to be when I noticed the heavy duty Simpson racing seatbelts. Anyway, it was great fun. There is really nothing like riding in a open roadster with a roaring V-8 at the tip of your toes. Being an open roadster in our climate does limit you opportunities to cruise. Ernie uses his down time in the winter months to catch up on maintenance. This past winter he replaced some old wiring, gave it a tune-up that included new plug wires that mimic the old school braided cloth ones. Very cool. He also replaced one of the front '40 Ford brake wheel cylinders. One of the Holley 94's was acting up, so he rebuilt it and replaced the fuel pressure regulator. Well, come on sunshine Ernie and Judy are ready to roll! I have had so much fun meeting and reporting on our club members. I am amazed and surprised at the amount of knowledge and skill within this membership. If you didn't know Ernie and were standing next to him at the store, you probably would not suspect that this gentleman was an expert on hot rods and racing. Judy also contributes to this club. I just ran into her while we were setting up for the Swap Meet. Ernie and Judy are both retired from teaching school in Astoria. They are an awesome addition to our club.

4 LOWER COLUMBIA CLASSIC CAR CLUB 4 Ramblin `Round With Steve OK - so I guess winter came and went during the week of February 19th - - maybe? The went part is still in question. Sunday Feb. 18th Valentine s social at Jim s Roadside Grill drew 41 members from as far away as Gresham and as near as... You guessed it, Warrenton. Anyway, lots of great camaraderie and even met new members; Mike & Diane Matthews. Good turn out and good friends. Our 26th Annual Swap Meet is coming up on Cruisers with Sonny Collier at the front, the show continued through 1998, it s 15th and final show so the T-shirt says. Lower Columbia Classic s picked up the show in 2000 as a result of requests from local gearheads who missed the hometown show. Call chairman Burt Young to volunteer an hour or two of your time - so that a few fellow members don t have to work at it all day. Burt can be reached at Coming up this summer are a number of tours that members are planning on attending. One group of 10 or more cars will head for Joseph, OR. for the Oregon Mountain Run on June 8th & 9th, another group are attending the Cruise the Gorge show in The Dalles on August 11th then the Dufur Threshing Bee Car Show on the 12th. Both great shows. If you ve not signed up to attend either of these events and are interested in traveling with the club, give me a call There are still accommodations in both places. the 10th of March and if you haven t received a phone call from Fred Mestrich or Rod Dawson asking for your help, call either of them and schedule one or two hours of your time - you'll have fun. On April 28th we host the 50 s Cruise Car Show at Camp Rilea, our 18th year with the event. Started in 1983 by the North Coast SAVE THIS DATE - March 25th. The Midnight Cruisers, the Beach Boys and the Push Rods Car Clubs are hosting their annual Invitational Spaghetti Feed in Aberdeen, WA. and have invited us to attend. The club plans to caravan to the event. Details including addresses and times, will be ed out later in March.

5 LOWER COLUMBIA CLASSIC CAR CLUB 5 FROM THE BACK SEAT THE GAL S PAGE Club Members who need a little Sunshine The names below have been submitted by the Sunshine Committee. Those listed are our fellow members and need you. ALL IS WELL WITH OUR CLUB MEMBERS!! (as we know of) Someone not up to speed let Judy Jordan, Sunshine Committee Chair know. Judy s Phone number is: (503) Jim is always going to buy some kind of crazy car. He is shopping around and I guess that gas was high at that point. He was supposed to buy a car and it was supposed to be for me. So Jim shops on the computer and he finds this Mercedes. And it is a diesel, I don t like diesel and I don t like the smell of diesel. Anyway he made connections with this guy. So we drive to Portland to meet with the man with this Mercedes and we met him at the Clackamas Town Center. As we are in the parking lot here comes this ugly car and I mean it was ugly. I said Jim, where is the Mercedes? I said, That thing! and he said yeah it was a Mercedes. I pictured a red car and this was ugly yellow with moss or green stuff all over it. Jim always finds cars like that. Anyway he drove it around in the parking lot. He finally gave the man the money I have no idea how much he paid for it. We drive it home, he drives the car and I drive the pickup. When we get home with it he tells me I have to come and sit in it. You know how short I am, it felt like I was sitting on springs; I couldn t even see over the steering wheel (it was all electric). I don t believe I ever drove the car. He spent a lot of money cleaning it up. It was detailed and had the air conditioning fixed in Hillsboro. I called it an old man s car. Don t even remember if it was two or four door. We drove it around, I should say that Jim did, not very far. He even complained about the seats being low. My sister in law passed in the summer months. Jim suggested we drive it to the memorial. So we get up one morning and head down I 5, stayed somewhere in Grants Pass. Then we continued on to Redding and we were going to take Hwy 299 from Redding to Arcata, California. Since it was summer it was 110 degrees in Redding. We stopped at a big mall to shop and to take a break. When we came out and tried to start the Mercedes it was slow starting. We did get it started and then we took off and got on 299 towards Arcata. The road is pretty desolate, with a few small towns along the road, and it was hot. We didn t get as far as Weaverville and the thing died out in the middle of nowhere. So here we are along the road, hotter than heck, Jim raises the hood, dings around with his little bag of tools, thinking it might be the fuel line or something. In the meantime another person comes up to help us, they discussed what was wrong with the car. The person helping us went back to Redding to get a tool or? Jim fooled around with it, he had majored in Diesel Mechanics, and got it to run. We waited for the man to return, he brought a filter or something. After thanking him we take off and continue to Arcata and then to Hwy 101 which goes into Eureka where my family lives. We got to the memorial a half hour before it starts. My brother loves harassing Jim and said What the Hell did you buy this time. I was a nervous wreck about the car wondering if we would make it home okay. We left the next day taking 199 to Grants Pass. I stressed the whole time, but the damn thing ran all of the way home. I finally convinced Jim that I wasn t going to drive the Mercedes so he found someone else to buy it. It was a man from Portland who got a good deal. However, it took 3 months after we sold it for the new owner to go to DMV and put the car in his name. We were getting parking tickets from Portland. We kept contacting him and Jim went and got it straightened out. That is the story of my Mercedes. Katie Scarborough Judy Jordan once again has provided individuals who will put together an article for this Backseat page. Thank you Judy!! January, Judy Jordan February, Patty Getchell March, Katie Scarborough April, Valarie Purdy May, Jul Grandbois June, Patricia Riley July, Linda Uphoff August, Dorothy Gillies Sept, Robi Nelson October, Gail Penuel November, Melba O"Bryant December,?

6 LOWER COLUMBIA CLASSIC CAR CLUB 6 FOR SALE LOT & ANNOUCEMENTS This 1955 Buick Century owned and restored by Steve Jordan is For Sale. Spread the word. Questions, call For Sale 1954 Ford 1/2 ton SNB 312 V8-c.4 Trans. $ OBO Jon I have the following manuals available to any of our members. HAYNES, Ford pick-ups & Bronco WD & 4WD, Full size, F100-F350, Gasoline engines. CHILTON, Ford, pickups and Bronco PHONE JUL GRANDBOIS WANTED/NEEDED Chairman for LCCC Christmas Party! Time for a change, the rewards are fantastic a different venue than the last few years, someone else to guide the process and bring holiday cheer to our members. Think about it YOU can make a difference and YOU are needed to step up to the position. Thanks for stepping up previous worn out chair Patty Getchell Call if you will step to the Christmas table S W A P

7 LOWER COLUMBIA CLASSIC CAR CLUB 7 KAREN BRUNMEIER 3/16 BRYAN CORKILL 3/26 MARK GITTINS 3/27 KATHY HYNEN 3/27 MIKI JOHNSON 3/25 FRANK KOSSAK 3/20 FRED MESTRICH 3/27 KATE SCARBOROURH 3/20 PERRY 3/11 (CORRECTION; WE MISSPELLED FRED BERDE- MEYER, THE CORRECT SPELLING IS BREDEMEY- ER) MAKE CHANGES TO YOUR COPY OF THE ROSTER. *SUPPORT YOUR SPONSERS*

8 LOWER COLUMBIA CLASSIC CAR CLUB 8 OUR NEW CAR Sara and I had a 1927 Dodge Brothers 4 door sedan for over 10 years. Over the time, we got It into pretty good driving condition. The car had a couple driving conditions that were common for cars of this year. The brakes were only rear wheel friction, the transmission was not synchronized and the engine was a 4 cylinder. We found a 1931 Dodge Brothers in one of the club's quarterly magazines for sale in Cleveland Ohio. I made several calls and letters to the seller and he assured me that it was in tip top driving condition. I talked with a couple members of the DB club and they seemed to have seen it and told me that it was OK. Sara and I made plans to drive to Cleveland in the spring after most of the bad weather was past and most of the tourists were still at home. We packed up our2007 Ford F150 XLT pick up and headed east trying to stay off major highways as we wanted to see the country, not just some more blacktop. I prepared the truck for long distance travel by: changing oil and filters, new wiper blades and bought new tires. I told him that I wanted quiet tires because I did not want to spend 5 weeks listening to tires. I've complimented him a couple of times because even at highway speeds, we could not hear the tires!! That truck is more comfortable for long distance driving than our family Subaru! Some benefits of driving before tourist season: very little traffic on the roads, most motels were UN- DER $50, when we stopped at national parks, we could park within 100 of the front door and there were no crowds inside. While stopping overnight in small towns, we found that picking dinner or breakfast places was pretty easy, we just looked for the ones with lots of cars parked around them, seems the locals know where to go. When we got to Cleveland, we visited with two cousins and got to spend time with their mother, my last living aunt and had a good time driving around Cleveland, my old home town. The folks who own the house that I lived in for 20+ years were very nice and walked us through. It had been upgraded a bit, but it was still the home that I remembered. We picked up the U-Haul and picked up the car, it looked nice. Driving back was a bit more hectic what with a full sized auto and trailer behind the truck. Gotta say though, that truck never heated up on hills or showed any problem with towing. We took a more southerly route back but still kept to secondary roads which really let us see lots of small towns. There sure is a LOT of land between Cleveland and Astoria but it did give us an updated visual idea of what this part of the country looks like. We returned to Astoria in early June and got the car inside where I could take my first really good look at what we'd brought home. Turns out the fellow selling the car had rose colored glasses on when he described it. The tires were checked and brittle, I bought new and had OK Tire put them on with new tire flaps and tubes. Of the 8 brake pads, two were moving somewhat. Mike and I took them apart and he taught me how to hone brake cylinders and replace all of the other parts. After driving it for a while, I noticed that it was suffering from emphysema. Smoked too much and had less than ½ the compression it was supposed to have. It had a couple other oil leaks so I ordered all of the needed gaskets and piston rings from various suppliers and Mike and I jacked it up and took it apart. We picked the day to put it back together and found that the piston rings were not what was needed. Short call to the supplier and he shipped me another set, these did not work either. I found another supplier in Maryland who assured me that his were the ones I needed, nope, his did not work either. Going through Old Car Parts in Portland, they put me on to Elderly Auto Parts in West Linn. Guy has at least 2, 40 X 100' buildings. In one he's rebuilding from the ground u 4 Plymouths. He has more NOS parts in the box, drive gear, handles, grills etc, etc than I 've ever seen. He did not have the rings I needed so he sold me a set of pistons with all the hardware, SIGH, they're 3,000 thousands over size, my cylinders are not! Egge will make me new pistons for $1,200 so I guess that is my next step. The '31 is back on the road and seems to be more fun to drive than my We've had it at two NW DB meets so far with no down time. I do recommend one driving tip, don't drive too far with the emergency brake on!! VERY EXCITING!! Chuck Meyer

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10 LOWER COLUMBIA CLASSIC CAR CLUB 10 LOWER COLUMBIA CLASSIC S CAR CLUB P.O. BOX 1259 ASTORIA, OREGON BACKFIRE LOWER COLUMBIA CLASSIC S MARCH 15TH CLUB MEETING AT STEVE & JUDY S SHOP