June 2017 Editor: Colin Blair 19759 28 th Avenue Langley, BC V2Z 1Y1 Ph: 604-809-6461 E-mail: info@pacificmodelaclub.com www.pacificmodelaclub.com
PMAC 2017 Executive President: Bob Krause Vice President: Richard Gaska Treasurer: Mike Breed Secretary: Phil Harden Membership: Charlie Bridle Technical Director: Jim Wong Asst Tech Director: Gord Goranko Sergeant at Arms: Evan Cox Past President: Noel Cleveland Newsletter: Colin Blair THOUGHTS FROM THE EDITOR S DASH By Colin Blair It has been a while since I have prepared a newsletter for the club but I think I have a reasonable explanation. First, we went to Mexico for two weeks in February where I did manage to see a 1930 Model A Tudor, stock sounding but silver with bright purple fenders; I do not think those were Henry s colour preferences. Of course, a good time was had by all getting to eat our Mexican favorites and spend time at the beach relaxing. Then it was back home to the grind (for a while) and work has had me scrambling to test a pair of our LNG pumps running seven days a week. Testing is wrapping up this week and then we will be tearing the pumps apart and inspecting them. In between, Mexico and now, Jennifer s soccer team travelled to New Zealand to play in the World Masters Games and seeing how it would not be fair to the kids to leave them at home with me, we left them at home with Grandma and Opa while Jen and I travelled to New Zealand! Since we were going that far, we decided we should buzz through Australia to get an idea of what it is like. We travelled with two other girls from Jen s team and left Vancouver on April 12 th and flew to Hong Kong and then quickly hopped another plane to Sydney. We arrived in Sydney full of
energy and raring to go so we dropped our bags and started a mad dash tour of the city. I have to say it is strange travelling to a foreign country where they speak some form of English, I am so used to Spanish, Swedish and Italian. We travelled Sydney by foot and the hop-on-hop-off bus and managed to see quite a bit of the town. We also did a bus tour to the Blue Mountains followed by a trip to a zoo and a boat cruise at dusk into the Sydney Harbour. We made it to Bondi beach and the girls were very pleased with what they found. We then took the night train to Melbourne and did a rapid investigation of that town as well. We toured around Melbourne including the gaol where Jen and the rest of the soccer players were detained, much to their chagrin.
I also found the Fox collection which is a privately owned vintage car museum that is housed in the old Customs building down on the docks in Melbourne. We got to talking with the hotel concierge as he recognized us as foreigners (must ne our funny accents) and told us about the penguins at St. Kilda s pier. For those who did not know, penguins are just about Jen s favorite animal. So we made our way to St. Kilda which has a lot of similarities to White Rock and its pier and low and behold we saw penguins! About 30 all told. After Melbourne we flew to Auckland for the World Masters Games. Over 27,000 athletes plus almost as many supporters descended on Auckland for the two week sporting event. Think of it as the Olympics for old people as Anna said. I think Auckland profited nicely from hosting the games. Jen s team went undefeated in the round robin and then proceeded to lose to the Meralomas in the Quarter finals. For those who don t know, the Meralomas are a Vancouver based club and has knocked Jen s team out of the playoffs here the last two years. Travelling all the way to New Zealand and losing to a team from your own backyard, oh well. We had a great time and made some great new friends. And even better, we were home in time to join the club in the Cloverdale Rodeo Parade! Cheers, Colin
UPCOMING EVENTS June 17 KMS Tools Show and Shine June 18 PMAC Club Run June 25 Fortis Tools Chilliwack July 1 Otter Co-op July 8 Cloverdale Truck Museum Sept 20 Model A Swap Meet NOTES FROM THE PRESIDENT courtesy of the Touring Model A Club http://www.modelatouring.com/ Bob and Marilynn are off touring Portugal and Spain with the Touring Model A Club and we expect a full report upon their return. However, in the mean time we can spy on their tour courtesy of the Touring Model A Club Tour Blog: (https://modelatouring.club/category/t ours/) It s been a few years since MATC has done a European tour Those who participated before will remember Carla Oudenhuijsen-Matze, who s helping us arrange a fantastic tour of Portugal and Spain. Save the dates: May 3 through May 23, 2017. Here is our tentative plan: On DAY 1 of our tour (Wednesday, May 3), we arrive in Lisbon, Portugal, and transfer to a hotel in the nearby Cascais or Sintra area. If possible, it would be wise to arrive early enough in the day to attend our tour welcome and briefing. This is when we ll learn about picking up our cars at the harbor and other important details such as our European insurance coverage, getting gas, etc. In fact, if you can arrive a day before the tour (on your own dime), you ll be better adjusted to the time zone However, remember that many places in Lisbon are closed on Sundays, and Monday, May 1st is a major European holiday (roughly equivalent to our Labor Day). DAY 2: In the morning we will pick up the cars and in the afternoon we ll visit the Castle and Sintra, before returning to our first night s hotel. DAYS 3 and 4: We will drive north along the Portuguese coast, which is known as
the Costa Verde. We ll probably stay one night in the Figueira de Foz/Coimbra area. The next night we will stay in the Porto area. DAY 5: This day (a Sunday) will probably be spent sightseeing in Porto and may include a visit to a winery. (The photograph above is of Porto. Credit: cmup.fc.pt) We will remain at our Porto area hotel and there may be an option of hearing Fado music, which is a form of Portuguese singing that is often associated with pubs, cafés and restaurants. The music has much earlier origins but is generally thought to have originated in the 1820 s in Portugal. DAY 6: we ll travel through the Douro Valley to Lamedo. The Douro Valley is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Lamedo is considered one of the most beautiful towns in Northern Portugal. We will probably climb the famous steps leading to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Remedies, built in 1750. The city is considered the seat of Portuguese Baroque architecture. We ll overnight in Lamedo DAY 7: We will leave the valley of the Douro River for a full day s drive south through the Portuguese countryside to Ciudad Rodrigo, Spain. We will overnight in or near Ciudad Rodrigo. (Note: There is a one-hour time difference between Portugal and Spain.) DAY 8: We will drive to Salamanca to the Automobile Museum for a reception. We plan to have a group dinner and overnight in Salamanca. DAY 9: We will cross back into Portugal, via Ledesma and Fermoselle, through the Douro National Park to Miranda do Douro Here, we will embark on a river cruise through the Douro River Gorge. Again, we ll have to remember the onehour time difference between Portugal and Spain! We ll return to Spain to overnight in the Zamora area. DAY 10: We ll have a day of leisure. Zamora is the city with the largest number of Romanesque churches in all of Europe. (Photo DAY-!0 Credit: en.wikipidia.org) We may also have the opportunity to sample local foods such as las natillas almendradas (Spanish style custard with almonds). Zamora s cultural heritage derives from its role as part of several of the Jacobean Routes to Santiago de Compostela, including
the famous Vía de La Plata (Silver Way) or Ruta de la Plata (Silver Route). The Silver Route links the northern and southern parts of western Spain and follows an ancient (but still used) Roman road whose origins date back to the late Bronze Age. We may make a side trip to Toro, where the famous Spanish wines are produced. We ll return to our Zamora area hotel. DAY 11: We will travel winding little roads through the vineyards and visit a Toro bodega. Wine has been made in Toro since the end of the 1st century BC, when the ancient Greeks taught the local Celtic tribes. Red wine from Toro is made from the Tinta de Toro grape (Tempranillo). Possibly we ll have a wine tour. We will overnight in Tordesillas. DAY 12: We ll revisit the Douro Valley on our way to Aranda de Duero. There is a labyrinth of cellars under the town center, dug between the 12th and 17th centuries. Originally they were used to store the food and wine that makes the Ribera del Duero wine-producing region famous. Aranda de Duero also has a pottery museum that displays pottery from all over Spain. We will overnight in Aranda de Duero. DAY 13: We will travel via Santo Domingo de Silos, which is famous for its abbey with its Gregorian chants. We ll continue to Santo Domingo de Calzada. (Its name refers to its founder, Dominic de la Calzada, who built a bridge, hospital, and hotel here for pilgrims on the Way of St. James.) The town s network of medieval streets has been declared a National Historic Interest Site. We will overnight in Santo Domingo de Calzada. DAY 14: We will drive to Bilbao via the Pozalagua Cave. Declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, this cave contains the highest concentration of stalactites in the world, defying gravity and branching out and intertwining in all directions. It is located in the Peñas de Ranero peaks, inside the Armañón nature reserve in Carranza. We will overnight in Bilbao. DAY 15: Will be spent in Bilbao. We may visit the Guggenheim Museum on Day 15 unless we are able to do so on Day 14 by combining it with a visit to the caves. Nearby is the private car collection of Miguel de la Via, which is the only Rolls Royce Collection in Europe with all models manufactured between 1910-1998. The Rolls Royce car collection is located in the countryside, and the medieval Loizaga Tower also houses other unique
collections of vintage cars. We ll return to our Bilbao hotel. DAY 16: Will consist of a full day of driving from Bilbao to Pamplona, which is well known for the Fiestas of San Fermin. It is internationally known because of the running of the bulls, where the bulls are led through the streets of the old quarter. This event originated from the need to transport the bulls from the fields outside the city (where they were bred) to the bullring. During this run, youngsters would jump among the bulls to show off their bravado. The bulls in the event are those that will be featured in the afternoon bullfight of the same day. We will overnight in the Pamplona area. DAY 17: We will have a morning tour of Pamplona. Then, in Huesca we will visit the oldest store in Spain: Ultramarinos La Confianza. It s a lovely old-fashioned shop filled with lots of interesting foods, herbs and spices etc. We will try to get group dinner reservations here, and we ll overnight in the Huesca area. DAY 18: We plan to travel to Lleida on to visit the Roda Automobile Museum. For special interest groups, the museum offers advice and collaboration of mechanical and automotive experts. We ll overnight in Lleida. DAY 19: We ll continue to the Mediterranean coast and overnight in the Barcelona area. DAY 20: (Monday May 22): Time to hand in the cars and have our farewell dinner. We ll overnight in the Barcelona area. DAY 21: (Tuesday May 23): We ll transfer to the airport for our flights back home unless you want to extend on your own! Barcelona is a great jumping off place for many European cities. TOURS AND PARADES COMBINED TOUR OF THE TOTEM MODEL A & T AND PACIFIC MODEL A FORD CLUBS SUNDAY, APRIL 9, 2017 By John Welsh and René Doyharçabal The weatherman certainly gave us a beautiful sunny day for our second combined tour. Our hosts, Earl and June Tucker, had us meet and set off from the A & W on 200th Street just north of Fraser Highway in Langley at 10:00 am. We had an interesting tour through the Clayton and Willoughby residential areas and ended up at the Gary and Darlene Cassidy residence in Milner. We were treated to a wonderful collection of approximately 40 100+ point cars dating from a modified Model A through to recent years all housed in a beautifully detailed modern building complete with live visual equipment with which Gary was watching us from his temporary location in Arizona. Of course, this caused many of us to smile
and wave to him. Our next destination led us back through Willoughby and necessitated having to deal with some unavoidable traffic lights on our way to Joe Decoffe s residence in Port Kells. But it all became worthwhile when we were able to admire the 1931 Chrysler Cabriolet that Joe has done a total off-frame restoration on. This very unique sidedoor rumble seat Coupe is now a beautiful grey and burgundy red work of art with flawless highly polished bright work. Also on display was his immaculate 1947 DeSoto Club Coupe with matching homemade teardrop trailer. At this point in time, we headed to Rusty s Neighbourhood Pub in Cloverdale for lunch. We were treated to very adequate parking and delicious food at very fair prices. John Welsh was treated to his meal by Michael Robson in thanks for providing tour transportation in his lovely 1978 Olds 98 Regency sedan. After the enjoyable lunch stop, we got back on the road and headed south in the pleasant South Surrey area to Roger Morrow s interesting home/business located in the Hazelmere district. We were treated to fascinating displays of Plasma Cutting and Powder Coating by Roger. He then presented Earl with a number of cut-outs in the form of a Model T and three or four Model A s that Earl, with the help of Eric Phillips, raffled off to lucky recipients by free ticket draws. On display were Roger s 1939 Packard, 1915 Simplex, 1931 Pierce Arrow and 1930 Model A Roadster. From there it was a short drive to June and Earl s beautiful new residence in the Brookswood area of Langley. Tours of the lovely home and buildings, along with all sorts of refreshments, were supplied by our gracious hosts. A delicious treat was the birthday cake in celebration of Vic Bourne s special day. He seemed surprised. Do you really think that he had forgotten? We extend a special tribute to Earl and June for taking on this very successful event so soon after going through the moving and relocating ordeal of the past several months. Also, a special thanks to all the Totem and Pacific members who joined together for this memorable tour. The following people made it special by appearing in their vintage automobiles. We hope we got you all, but please accept our apologies if we missed some of you. Name Year Make Dave Kettler 1981 Cadillac John Welsh 1978 Oldsmobile Earl Tucker 1953 Packard Llew Hunter 1958 Imperial Eric Phillips 1946 Chev Pickup Bill Halioki 1951 Ford Pickup Vic McFarland 1941 Plymouth Coupe Greg Lillico 1945 Chrysler Mike Breed 1929 Model A pickup Gordon Hill 1930 Model A Tudor Phil Harden 1928 Model A Tudor Bob Krause 1931 Model A Victoria
THE TECHNICAL MODEL A TO KILL A BATTERY! by Tom Endy Model A Ford battery: The battery in a Model A Ford tends to not last as long as one in a modern car. The reason is the inactivity. Cars that are driven daily usually keep the battery fully charged. Batteries that sit around less than fully charged tend to fail sooner. A sneaky leaking diode: One of the things that will drag a battery down is a leaking diode. Model A Fords did not have diodes back in Henry's day. Today many owners have installed a diode in the generator cut-out, or replaced the generator with an alternator. An alternator has six diodes in it. If you drive the car daily you might not even be aware you have a leaky diode. However, if you let the car sit for a long period of time it will pull the battery down. The diode: A diode is a device that when installed in an electrical circuit will allow current to pass in one direction but not the other. Another way of stating it is that it has a low resistance in one direction and a high resistance in the other direction. The high resistance direction, however, is not absolute, and a very minute amount of current is able to pass in that direction. The amount is so small as to be almost undetectable, and to a car driven daily it is of no consequence. The cut-out: The purpose of the cut-out on a Model A Ford is to disconnect the battery from the generator when it is not rotating. A non-rotating generator would be a dead short on the battery and would discharge it very quickly. There is a single set of contacts inside the cut-out. When the engine is running and the generator is rotating the contacts close automatically so that the generator will charge the battery. When the engine stops the contacts open automatically. After many years of service the cutout contacts can become stuck together, this is especially true with the poor quality reproduction cutouts being offered on the market today. Thus became the reason for the cut-out diode modification. The diode does not have contacts, but it can still fail. Many times the failure is subtle and is manifested in a leak instead of a dead short. The alternator: An alternator is a device that produces AC power. In order to convert it to DC power for use in a car six diodes are installed as a rectifier circuit. When the alternator is not rotating the diodes prevent the battery from discharging through the alternator exactly the same as does a diode in the generator cut-out. If any one of the six diodes develops a leak it will pull the battery down. The ammeter: The ammeter on the dash will indicate if there is a severely leaking diode. When you shut the engine off the ammeter should be zeroed out. If it is deflected slightly negative, something is drawing current. However, a leaking diode may not be leaking enough to register on the ammeter. An easy check: Most inexpensive voltohm meters ($10. or less) have a milliamp scale. The one I have has a 250milliamp scale. This equals one quarter of an amp. One quarter of an amp will not register on the dash ammeter, but it is enough to kill your battery. Pull the fuse out of the holder on top of the starter (it is prudent to have one installed) and place the meter probes across the fuse holder with the meter set to the milliamp scale. The
meter will measure the current drain. The six-volt positive ground alternator on my Model A has one or more diodes leaking 200 milliamps and it did kill a battery. Pull the fuse: Anytime you park your car for an extended period of time, or even overnight, it is a good idea to pull the fuse and stand it on it's head at one end of the holder. If you do have a leaking diode somewhere the absence of the fuse will prevent it from draining your battery. The six- volt positive ground alternator on my Model A still has a leaking diode, even after I installed a new battery. It may have been that way for a number of years, however it puts out power just fine. One of these days I may get around to fixing the problem, but for now I just make sure I lift the fuse when I am done driving for the day. NEEDS AND LEADS PMAC has baseball caps with the club logo for $20.00. We also have videos of Model A restoration tips. Rene Doyharcabal has a friend with a 1930 s Stewart Warner South Wind Model 780 car heater. He is looking for offers. Dave Water s friend is looking for door latches for a 1928 Tudor (part on the body) Leo looking for a 1928-29 Flatbed pickup or Double A Truck. Jim Sinclair is looking for a truck lid and lower panel and hinges for a 1928-29 coupe. Ann Kirk is selling a Visible BA gas pump and a 1960 s square type Homes gas pump. Gord Goranko is looking for speed equipment for his 48 Ford. (Aluminum finned heads, intake manifold, etc. Richard Gaska has an un-restored early1928 rolling chassis for sale asking $800.00. Jim Wong is looking to purchase a 1931 Slant Window (Canadian Made). Mike Breed is looking for a 28-29 dash rail for his Phaeton. The Pacific Model A Club has developed plans for a Model A wheel straightener. Please contact us for details.
FOR THE FUNNY BONE Courtesy of the World Wide Web How many of these extremes can you guess or know? Where is the world's hottest place? Death Valley National Park The highest air temperature ever recorded on Earth was 134 degrees Fahrenheit, at Death Valley National Park on July 10, 1913. Where is the world's coldest place? East Antarctic Plateau On the high ridge of the East Antarctic Plateau, the temperature can drop to as low as -135.8 degrees Fahrenheit, which was recorded in August, 2010. Where is the world's most populated city? Shanghai At a whopping 24,150,000 permanent inhabitants, Shanghai is the only city that is home to over 24 million people in one city. Where is the world's least populated city? Vatican City With a paltry population of 842, the citystate of Vatican City is the smallest city and state in the world. Where is the world's wealthiest city? Tokyo, Japan That tower might as well be made of gold since Tokyo tops the charts with a GDP of $1,520 billion, beating New York City by a mere $310 billion. Where is the world's poorest city in the poorest country? Kinshasa, Congo It is the poorest city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is also the poorest country in the world, at a GDP of $55 billion. Many of its residents live on less $1 a day. What is the highest point in the world? Mount Everest Towering 29,029 feet in the air, the top of Mount Everest is the closest you can get to touching outer space while still standing on Earth. Where is the lowest point in the world? The Challenger Deep Trench It is the lowest known natural point in the world at 35,797 ft below sea level at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Only three people have ever made it to the bottom in a submersible, one of which was filmmaker James Cameron.
What is the most photographed place in the U.S.? Surprise: the Guggenheim building in New York Photos have always told stories, but in today's world of cell phone cameras and social media, that story is relayed as data to companies who monitor everything we do. Geotagged data was culled by Sightsmap using a Googlebased image sharing software, and can show us the most photographed places in the world, right down to this landmark. The strange winner is this building in New York City. Guess it impresses a lot of visitors. Where is the wettest spot on Earth? (and it's not the Amazon!) Mawsynram, India In this city in India, it rains an average of 467.35inches per year, and has a record of 1000 inches in 1985...much more than any rain forest! Where is the driest spot on Earth? (It's not the Sahara!) The Atacama Desert The 600 miles of South America's Atacama desert is recorded as the driest place on Earth, no contest. This desert has an average of only 4 inches of rain every hundred years. Incredible, but true. What city claims to be the sunniest place in the U.S.? Yuma, Arizona In this city in Arizona, the sun shines for an average of 11 hours a day. The usual forecast is sun for 90 percent of the year, averaging a total of 4015 daylight hours each year. Where is the most expensive city to live in? Singapore This city has recently beat out Tokyo, Japan, for the title of "most expensive city" for 2014. Cars can cost between 4-6 times as much in Singapore from what they cost in the US or UK (for example, a Toyota Prius actually costs about $150,000.00 there). Where is the least expensive city to live in? Mumbai, India At the other end of the spectrum, Mumbai, India, is the cheapest place to live in the world according to the Worldwide Cost of Living Index, 2014. For some comparison, a loaf of bread that would cost $3.36 in Singapore, would only cost $0.91 in Mumbai. A lot of poverty brings the cost of living down. What country consumes the most food per capita? The overweight United States We eat an average of 3,770 calories a day each. Shamefully, obesity is becoming more of a problem every year. Where is the world's oldest city? Damascus There's quite a bit of controversy over which city gets to officially claim the title of "oldest continuously inhabited city. However, Damascus is the safest bet, with evidence of civilization that extends back over 11,000 years.
Which is the youngest country in the world? South Sudan The people of South Sudan were formally recognized as an independent country in 2011, making it the youngest country in the world to-date. Which is the world's most visited city? London After a several years of competition with Bangkok, London has regained its place as the world's most visited city (according to MasterCard's 2014 Global Destinations City Index). The city sees about 18.69 million international visitors annually, generating $19.3 billion in revenue for their city. What is the world's least popular country? Iran On that same rating scale, Iran has come in dead last (at a 79% negativity rating) for many years. Only 15% of people polled viewed Iran in a positive light. Where is the world's most dangerous city to live in? San Pedro, Honduras This city averages over three murders a day. The violence stems from the city's role as a major hub for illegal drug and arms trafficking. Which country consumes the most caffeine in the world? Sweden The strong coffee in Sweden will put a spring in your step, and hair on your tongue. The Swedes consume an average of 388 mg of caffeine in coffee per person, per day (that's almost 5 Red Bulls in the U.S.). Which country in the world drinks the most alcohol? Belarus In the little country of Belarus, each person above the age of 16 drinks an average of 4.62 gallons of alcohol every year. That's a lot of booze. Which country is the most bicycle friendly in the world? The Netherlands By comparing cities using the average number of bicycle trips made daily, one city reigns supreme: Groningen in the Netherlands. About 50 percent of the population commute via bike daily, making it the city with the greatest proportion of cyclists. However, many other cities in the Netherlands have a great bicycling tradition. Where is the world's most energy efficient city? Reykjavik, Iceland All of the energy and heat used by the citizens of Reykjavik, Iceland come from geothermal plants and renewable hydropower making it the most sustainable and energy efficient city in the world. This city has also been replacing traditional buses with hydrogen-fueled buses, from which the only emissions are water.
Which country has the longest life expectancy in the world? Monaco According to the World Health Organization's study from 2013, Monaco tops the charts for longest living citizens with an average life expectancy of 87.2 years. Men in Monaco live an average 85.3 years, and women live longer to an average of 89 years. Which country has the shortest life expectancy? Sierra Leone On the opposite side of that coin, the population of Sierra Leone live only to an average of 47 years. The men of Sierra Leone live to an average of 47 years old, whereas women live a little longer, an average of 48 years. Poverty plays a big role in their short life expectancy. What country would qualify as the most stressed-out nation in the world because of their living conditions? Nigeria By looking at the homicide rate, the GDP per capita, continued income inequality, corruption, lack of education opportunities and unemployment numbers, one thing is clear: Nigeria's people are, hands-down, the most stressed out population in the world. Which city has the highest average IQ? Hong Kong There are a lot of factors that affect an IQ score, ranging from national and personal wealth, to simply what test is used. As a result, these findings are highly controversial, but suggest that Hong Kong has the highest IQ level, at an average of 107 points per person. *However, Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China, meaning that it falls within the sovereignty of the People's Republic of China, yet does not form part of Mainland China, because it has it's own government. So these results are questionable. Which foreign city is the world's most well-connected one for internet use? Seoul, South Korea Surprisingly, despite China's 618 million internet users who spend an average of 18.7 hours a week surfing the net, China didn't even make the top 10 for internet connection. Seoul,Korea is a different story considering the average connection speed, availability, (including free access), openness to innovation, support of public data, and privacy/security, Seoul, South Korea is the champion of internetconnectedness. With 10,000 government supported free WiFi spots dotting the city, and an internet speed that goes unchallenged globally, Seoul is an internet junkie's paradise. Wasn't that interesting?