Photo of 1955 LeMans start sent to Tom and Skip Monaco from their French Healey friends. Lance Macklin is the driver of Healey number 26 which is involved in the crash.
Below is a video on race disasters (including the 1955 LeMans) with Macklin discussing the accident. Macklin comes on the video at 3:24.
Following up on Tom Monaco’s presentation on hubs and splines, I found this article from Classic Motor Sports Magazine. Since Tom has been in the tyre business and has worked on more British wheels than he like to admit, I’m expecting him to read the article and tell us how accurate it is.
What a great turnout. Approximately 25 members showed up for the session and meeting. Members from Eugene came up as well as members from Seattle coming down.
Thanks to John and Judy for hosting at their beautiful home.
The technical session featured Mark Schneider talking about ZDDP and Tom Monaco talking about general maintenance topics.
Mark’s information can be seen in his post titled: Oil for Classic British Sports Cars
After the ZDDP discussion we trooped out to the garage to listen to Tom. In addition to Tom’s talk, John Carter also showed us the suction mounted video camera he recently purchased. There are a lot of these types of camera mount systems. What was interesting about this one is that the camera is solid state and the suction system has a pump with a red-line indicator that shows if the mount is losing suction.
John hasn’t tested it out yet but we are all waiting for the video debut.
Tom then took the stage. He covered the importance of using the proper battery in your Healey, especially making certain that there is absolutely no movement of the battery when sitting the the battery tray. Tom has seen many Healeys come into his shop with batteries that have shorted out against the body because the battery was the wrong size and not properly fastened down.
After the hub, Tom talked about adjusting carburators and some differences between types of spark plug wires and how to tell if your issue with a poorly running engine is more likely a carburator issue or a spark plug wire issue.
Click to view
Thirty Years Ago
Discussion at the Club meeting centered on attracting new members; 25 paid members were on the membership roll at that time. Planning was underway to hold the 5th Annual Austin Healey West Coast Meet at the Inn at the Seventh Mountain, near Bend.
Healey Northwest featured a long article entitled, A Guide to Originality. I wonder how those guidelines match up to today’s concours standards?
Twenty Years Ago
Planning for another West Coast Meet, to be hosted by the AHCO was underway. This time, the event would be held at the Rippling River Resort, at Welches. In the pages of Healey Northwest, Richard Mayor described his season’s adventures vintage racing in a big Healey. Just think how much more he knows now!
If you Santa didn’t bring you what you wanted, there was a completely rebuilt BT7 tri-carb advertised in Healey Northwest for $13,500.
Ten Years Ago
Club members met in Eugene for visits to a custom upholstery shop and Bob Macherione’s Sports Car Shop, followed by the West Bros. Barbeque for the meeting and dinner. A couple folks even showed up in their Healeys owing to unusually nice weather.
I hope you all have survived the holidays and the beastly weather we’ve been experiencing recently here in the Willamette Valley. I was fortunate enough to escape the worst of Oregon’s weather during Christmas week. Dawn and I spent the week in Arizona with members of her family. We had rain and relatively cold weather down there, but nearly as bad as it was back at home. Even during the nicer weather we had, I failed to spot a single Arizona Healey out and about.
After 32 years of printing a Club newsletter every month, we’re finally fully embarked on using the electronic Healey Northwest, here, as our primary means of communication. We’ve been experimenting with it for several months now and it seems as if it has been successful. As always, your contributions to the site and our communications among Club members, whether it’s the written word, photographs, video, or something else, is always appreciated. Keep it coming.
2009 promises to be a busy year for the Club. Austin Healey is the featured marque for this year’s Portland All British Field Meet (the 33rd annual event, if you’re counting), over Labor Day weekend. We’ll start planning our “Town Square” display featuring some aspect of the marque this month. If you have some ideas on what that display could feature or you’d like to help in its organization and installation, please contact Doug Auburg or I.
We’ll also host the Northwest Meet a couple weeks later on September17 – 19. We’ve selected the Red Lion Hotel at McMinnville as the site for the Meet. George and Jaci Koeber will provide us with an update on this event at the January meeting.
Finally, we’ll soon select the site and start the planning for the 2010 Healey Rendezvous (or West Coast Meet for you old timers). We’ll have presentations from the two finalist sites, Eugene and Seaside, at our meeting next Saturday. We’ll also be posting a side-by-side comparison of information for the two locations on the Club web site soon, so those of you who can’t attend the meeting can review some information on the sites prior to a membership vote on the matter. We’ll send ballots to all Club members, so you may help choose where to hold the event. No matter which location we choose, we’re sure to need some help from Club members to help get all of the activities, awards, and other details that goes with a Rendezvous in order before summer 2010.
With all of that, I expect we might even find some time to go for a drive or two once the weather dries out and warms up. Please join us for what should be a fun year ahead.
| January 10, 2009 | ||
| 10:00 am | to | 3:00 pm |
I thought a reminder concerning the January meeting might be appreciated during the holiday rush. On January 10th two important events will occur. First, will be a technical session starting at 10:00 AM at John and Judy Carter’s home located at 16173-SW DeKald St, Tigard, OR. Directions are available elsewhere on the website under the “Events”. The second event will be the January business meeting starting at 1:00 PM at Max’s Brew Pub located at 12582-SW Main St in downtown Tigard. Directions are below and there is ample off-street parking behind the pub.
The club members have an important decision to make in the first month or two of 2009 regarding the 2010 Rendezvous, specifically, selection of the site for the meet. In support of this decision pertinent information will be presented and discussed at the the January meeting. First, will be a Power Point presentation prepared for the club by Mr. Alan Smiles, Executive Director of the Seaside Chamber of Commerce. Next will be two presentations concerning Eugene. Ms Sue Harshbarger of Convention & Visitors Assoc. of Lane County (CVALCO) will propose Eugene as the venue for our Rendezvous. Then, Mr Dan Miller, Director of Corporate Sales at the Valley River Inn in Eugene will provide a briefing on the merits and offerings of his establishment as a potential headquarters for the 2010 event.
Directions from Carter’s to Max’s Pub – From Carter’s home return to Bull Mtn Road and turn right. Head easterly on Bull Mtn to HWY 99 South, turn left. Drive north to Main St in Downtown Tigard. (Main St is the last intersection before the bridge crossing over the RxR tracks.) Turn right at the light onto Main St. Max’s Brew Pub is about one block ahead on you right. If you pass A-Boy Electric and Plumbing Supply on Main you’ve gone too far. A drive way to the parking lot is along the bank of Fanno Creek and alongside the Pub building wall.