I’m seeking a Club member to take over from me as one of the AHCO’s two representatives on the ABFM organizing committee for the 2010 meet.  I’m in my third year in the job and, as much as I’ve enjoyed it, I need to move on and plan to resign after we complete this year’s meet.

The ABFM organizing committee is a great group of people to work with (you likely already know many of them).  Our active participation on the committee and in the meet is important because proceeds from the ABFM provide a significant amount of revenue to our Club.  As many of you already know, we are responsible for the timely counting of the People’s Choice ballots.  This position on the ABFM committee is responsible for organizing and carrying out that job.  I have begun writing up a guide to the job and, if you volunteer now, you can learn from me during this year’s meet (sorry, we’re all out of Ginsu knife sets).  The job itself requires attending committee meetings about once a month between April and August, about two days of preparation before the ABFM, and most all day Saturday at the ABFM with a team of about 20 other Club volunteers.  Contact me at (503) 364-6789 or mach@toast.net if you would like to inquire further, ask questions, or apply for the job.

Thanks

After serving as its caretaker for the past few years, I’m now seeking a new home for the Club’’s library of printed material.  The library consists of four bookcases of print copies of our Healey Northwest newsletters, as well as newsletters from many other Austin Healy clubs throughout the US and around the world going back to the 1970s.  If you are interested in providing a home for this valuable and interesting Club asset, please contact me at (503) 364-6789 or mach@toast.net.  I’ll be glad to help with the move.

Saturday morning, a little after Oh Dark Thirty, low clouds were threatening, Larry Clemenson and I met at the Starbuck’s parking lot on SW Roy Rogers Rd.  We met there so we could drive into the Sherwood Cruisin together.  We had both pre-registered so that we could use the preferred fast lane into downtown Sherwood and get preferential parking in a good spot plus stay together.  Once we were parked we buttoned up the tonneaus in case it decided to rain and walked around a little to check out the other cars.  There were quite a few other early birds and as the morning wore on the streets filled with lots of cool machines, mostly heavily modified hot rods.  However, there were very few British cars but ours were the only Healeys.  There was one MG T-sumthin’ and one MGB but it had a monster 8 cylinder engine and lake pipes hung below the doors. The main gates to the Cruisin opened at 09:00 AM and soon the streets were filled with hundreds of spectators.  It was fun talking to the people passing by our Healeys, answering questions about our cars and hearing the usual, “I had one of these in college.  I shoulda never sold it.  Man, that car was fun to drive.”   The oddest story I heard was about a guy who had a Healey as a young student and used the car on his Oregonian paper route to deliver papers.  I’ll bet that was a little hard on the clutch.  About 11:00 AM the air in downtown Sherwood became filled with the smell of volumes of gray tire smoke and the sounds of labored V-8 engines revved to the point of destruction.  One of the featured parts of the Cruisin is a “Burn out” competition.  This consists of parking a vehicle on the designated concrete pad, locking the front brakes, and spinning the tires until they nearly catch fire and burn off a couple hundred dollars of tread.  Larry and I just didn’t get that one but the guy from Les Schwab just at by his vendors’ trailer and smiled.

Another competition at the event is a lot like the ABFM or Rendezvous    popular car shows.  Spectators walk around with ballots in hand, look at the cars, and vote on the one they like according to designated categories.  I pre-registered my Healey in the “1969 and Older Import (Stock/Classic/Period Correct)” category.  After lunch I was sitting by the cars answering questions when an official looking guy with a very expensive camera showed up and asked if he could take pictures of my car.  Of course I agreed.  It turns out the winning car in each 40+ categories is photographed for later publication on the Cruisin web site.  Guess what?!?!?  The Schneider BJ8 won first place in its category!  Larry seemed to take exception to the people’s choice of my car but it turns out he had pre-registered his car in a much tougher category.  I think Larry said his Healey was entered in the “1607 and Older Human Powered Military (Urban Assault Vehicle) category.  Although there were not many other entries in that group the competition was reportedly daunting.

Is the problem real? Yes, yes, yes it is a real problem for our flat tappet engines.  At the June meeting John Wilson reported serious damage to one of his engines not long after a re-build.  The failure was due to an inadequate amount of ZDDP in the oil.  This raised the question of how do we get ZDDP in our engine oil.  I gave a report at the club meeting some months ago after having researched the question.  I have several reference reports I can send to members if  I receive an me an email requesting them.  In the meantime the following provides a concise summary answering the question.   See the last lines especially.

How do I get oil with ZDDP in it?

•You can buy non-American Petroleum Institute (API) certified oil
o Look for ZDDP at 0.12% or 1200 PPM on label
o Viscosity 20W-50
o Appropriate for vehicles driven frequently

• You can buy oil formulated for classic cars (Moss 220-810, 220-815)
o Typically with ZDDP at 0.12% or 1200 PPM
o Viscosity 20W-50
o Addition rust & corrosion inhibitors
o Appropriate for vehicles driven less frequently

• You can buy API certified oil and add a ZDDP supplement (Moss 220-805, 220-908)
o API SM oil with 0.08% or 800 PPM
o Viscosity 20W-50
o Add 4 oz ZDDPlus to 4 quarts to get 0.14-0.15% (1400-1500 PPM) ZDDP
o    Add 4 oz ZDDPlus to 5 quarts to get 0.11-0.12% (1100-1200 PPM) ZDDP
o    Add 6 oz ZDDPlus to 7-8 quarts to get 0.11-0.12% (1100-1200 PPM) ZDDP
for a Healey oil and filter change

Seven Healeys driven by an equal number of bleary-eyed gentleman, accompanied by bright-eyed navigators prepared in the Oregon dampness to depart  on a tour to The Dalles.   We met at the Fred Meyer at the junction of highways 205 and 224.  As warned, George began to lead us off on the tour promptly at 08:00.  I nearly had to leave Marilynne to wander in Freddie’s for the day as she had gone inside and when George says we leave at 08:00 he bloody well means it.  We traveled Hwy 224 to a junction with Hwy 211 that branched us over to Hwy 26 and on to the mountain.  We stopped at Government camp briefly and then moved on to a rendezvous (funny how that word keeps coming up in my vocabulary these days) with Kent Lambert and some of his colleagues from Hood River at the junction of Hwys 35 and 44 on the east flank of Mt Hood.  We followed Kent into Dufur, OR for a very pleasant visit at the Dufur Living History Museum (See the attached images).  By this point in our travels we had left the dank and mists behind and the day was turning into a spectacular one.

z

Once we arrived in The Dalles went gathered at Spooky’s restaurant for lunch and the monthly meeting.  During the meeting Mark informed the members regarding the ongoing preparations for the 2010 Rendezvous planned for Eugene and the Valley River Inn.  Only one major segment of the Rendezvous Committee remained unfulfilled by a leader, i.e., the auction.  John Wilson promptly stepped up and volunteered to lead that effort.  Mark’s threat to lock all the meeting room doors until he had a volunteer may have had something to do with John’s enthusiasm.  John Carter announced that there are only five cars registered for the Historic Races next month.  Too bad.  that’s not a very good showing for the club.  John also talked about a trip to the Le May Museum in Tacoma in August.  And, George Koeber covered the plans for the July 18th meeting at Fort Vancouver.  See the Future Events for details of these activities.

After the meeting we mounted up and drove the short distance to the Columbia River Interpretive Center. We toured there for a couple of hours before departing for the Mosier, OR Ice Cream Parlor and Collector Porsche Dealeership.  Now, there is a unique business model if ever I have seen one.  It is not often I have walked around with a waffle cone full of chocolate ship cookie dough while discussing the merits of a twin screen Porsche.   The route to this fascinating place in Mosier was one of the best sports car roads I think I have seen in Oregon.  Hwy 30 from The Dalles to Mosier runs atop the bluffs above the Gorge.  and it twists and turns and ups and downs fantastically.

The last leg of the day was crossing over the Columbia at tHood River to pick up Hwy 14 for a moderately high speed run back to Vancouver and then into Portland.  Our good-byes were smiles and waves betwen Healeys as we entered into town on I-5, different cars going in different directions.

Actually, I think we all do.

The group met at I-205 exit 12 and departed at 8AM with George and Jaci Koeber leading the way. We had a rest stop at Government Camp before meeting up with Kent and Judy Lambert , John Stanley,Steve and Bonnie Tate,Art Larson and Bruce Tuckerand at Hwy.44 and 35.
Judy and Kent hosted a wonderful tour on back roads toward The Dalles. The group made an interesting stop in Dufur to view the historical displays. We enjoyed the beautiful and changing scenery of Mount Hood National Forest and the rolling hills of grass beyond. Spectacular!
Lunch was in The Dalles at Spooky’s followed by the club meeting. It was then on to the Columbia River Interpretive Center for some education about local history. Afterward Kent insisted that we stop for ice cream in Mosier at a place called Route 30. The ice cream was delicious and the Porsche displays were very interesting. Everyone had to admit it was a good idea.
The weather was great, we had a good turnout of about 24 people and seven Healeys and everyone enjoyed a beautiful “Healey “ day.
Thanks again to Judy and Kent Lambert.

Submitted by Judy and John Carter, June 7, 2009

My 2009 vintage race season greeted me with delays and set-backs in the “freshening” of my race motor. I missed the SOVREN Defrost Kick-Off and the Spring Sprints, but with the help of club members Tom Monaco and Richard Mayer I was able to put all the pieces back together in time for General Racing Ltds. Wine Country Classic at Sonoma’s Infineon Raceway. GRL is the same group that puts on the Monterey Historics and everything they do is top notch.

read more and view video of race from Doug’s car….

After 2 weeks straight of late night (or early mornings) in the garage my ‘57 100-6 MM vintage race Healey was ready to do battle with the best Alfa’s, Porsche’s, Morgan’s, Corvette’s, MGA’s, and Lotus’ on the west coast.. My goal was keep it upright, stay on the track, finish somewhere in the middle and hopefully not have to spend all my time between races wrenching on the car.

I’m happy to say it all worked out as planned, somehow. The car ran great even with only 3/4 full throttle needing only tire pressure adjustments, fuel, and polishing. I qualified 24th out of 41 on Saturday and finished 17 out of 41 in Sundays feature race. Michele, my wife and 2 other couples who travel down for the event had a wonderful time wine tasting and visiting some of the Napa valleys beautiful winery’s and still made it back to the track in time for my races. I highly recommend this premiere event to any who enjoys vintage cars, vintage racing, great food, and world class wine.

July 18th Tour and Meeting

This is scheduled for the third weekend in July because the 2nd weekend is the Historic Races. We will meet in the Fort Vancouver parking lot at 1001 E 5th Street, Vancouver, WA @ 1:30 p.m. for a tour to begin promptly at 2:00 p.m. The tour will be 90 minutes long and will be guided. There is a cost of $6.00 per person. After the tour Alan and Mary Gross will lead us to their home, also in Vancouver, where they will have some Chalupas, etc., for us to enjoy. The club will cover the cost of the meal. The general meeting will be at approximately 4:30 p.m. Please call Mary and Allan at 360-254-4527 or AGROSS9217@aol.com, to let them know you will be attending  in order to help with their planning the food.

We will meet at the rest area on I-5 South of Wilsonville at 7:30 a.m. for departure at 8:00. We will tour to the rest area North of Albany, approx. milepost 239, where we will meet members from the Eugene area. Jim Averill will lead us to Albany’s Brass Ring, which is a sight where the city of Albany has undertaken along with numerous volunteers to carve and construct a full scale Victorian Era Carousel. After the tour of their project Jim will lead us on a tour ending up in the Eugene area where we will have a pot luck lunch and our general meeting. Please bring a salad or dessert to share.