Austin Healey Club of Oregon’s veteran’s day card that the club is sending to the vets in the local VA hospital. Designed by Glen Enright.

Austin Healey Northwest Meet 2009

‘Nestled in the heart of Oregon’s beautiful wine country, McMinnville is Oregon at its best. There are numerous scenic roads and beautiful vistas as well as the charming downtown area. You can enjoy delicious wine tasting, explore downtown shops or just have fun on the meandering Healey roads.’ I could not come up with a better description than John Carter’s of the site of the 2009 Austin Healey Northwest Meet. We arrived Thursday afternoon after a beautiful trip down Hwy 99 from Portland. The sky was blue, and the temperature was a perfect 75 degrees. Registration and socializing took place in the parking lot reserved for us, and at 5:45 we lined up the Healey’s for our first planned event, dinner at Golden Valley Pub and Brewery. Located in McMinnville’s historic downtown district, Golden Valley is well known for their outstanding beers, premium local wines, comfortable environment and delicious food. There were 44 of us seated in our own room where we enjoyed fabulous beer, wine and repast. We returned to the motel after dinner and continued to socialize in the Hospitality Room provided by the Red Lion Inn.
Friday was a ‘free’ day to explore on your own or pal up with others and go wine tasting, stroll through the Historic Downtown area, visit the beautiful campus of Linfield College or tour the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum. More Healeys arrived over night and more came in the morning, so we knew we would make quite an impression as we all ventured about the area. Larry and I opted to go to the Museum, knowing there was a new building recently opened totally dedicated to Space Flight and Exploration. We spent the morning touring the Aviation Museum, including a tour of a B-17 bomber and of course, the world’s largest wooden airplane, the ‘Spruce Goose’. After lunch and a glass of Spruce Goose Pinot Gris, we continued our tour of the Space Museum. There we were able to visit the Titan II Launch Room and view a 5 minute launch simulation. We returned to the motel to socialize in the parking lot again (the weather could not be finer), and learn where everyone else had gone and what they had seen. We were still getting new arrivals around 3:30 which marked the beginning of the Slot Car Races. Denis and Jan Saxon hosted this event with help and the round robin began! 36 cars raced, 4 at a time. With expert guidance from Denis, we all had a grand time with 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winning a bottle of local wine and a ‘medal’. John Carter and his ‘Idleometer’ started making the rounds at 4:00 and with the help of George Koeber, tested the idles on any Healey whose owner was brave and confident. John Carter created this ‘Rube Goldberg’ like machine which records the roughness or smoothness of your idle. We had quite a few test but the results won’t be in until tomorrow night to allow more testing in the afternoon. We all convened in the Hospitality Room for a buffet of appetizers including fruit, veggies, cold cuts, cheeses, meatballs and dessert. It was a great spread and while you were in line, you could check out the Healey-Feely bags.
On Saturday, after our daily continental breakfast provided complimentary by Red Lion, we all assembled in the parking lot. Jan Whittlesey and Glen Enright were our guides on a road tour of the surrounding area. What an incredible drive! Through farmland, foothills, vineyard and nurseries, we wound around, arriving in Carlton at 11:00 to roam around the shops, taste wine if you were inclined, or just sit on a bench and watch rest of us take a break. We saddled back up at 11:45 to caravan to Laurel Ridge Winery where we tasted wine and ate our picnic lunches overlooking vineyards. Our hosts did their best to accommodate such a large crowd and all had a good time. After lunch, some of us headed back to MAC, some continued wine tasting at Willakenzie Winery up the road. We all gathered back at the parking lot at 4:00 for socializing, testing your idle with John Carter’s Idleometer and general relaxing after a Healey tour day. At 5:45 we saddled up again for our Authentic Texan Barbeque at the McMinnville Senior Center. The theme was Western and quite a few brave souls dressed accordingly. It was fun to see the cowboy hats and boots, skirts and turquoise! We had an excellent dinner catered by Buster’s Authentic Texan Barbeque! After dinner, we returned to the motel for awards for ‘games’, raffle and door prize drawings, and socializing in the Hospitality Room. I think the first awards were given for ‘Oil Stains’. A sheet of brown paper was placed under your Healey for a period of ½ to 1 hour. Then Gary and Jan Jackson announced the winners; ‘Most Oil’ went to Phil Daniels, ‘Least Oil’ went to Michael DeWilds and ‘Most Artistic’ Oil Stain went to Dennis Saxon. The next awards were given for the Idleometer test. Tom Magnuson(45pts.) won a run away first place, John Stevens(70pts.) won second place and Michael Hartfield took third with 74pts.. And the two winners of the Questions to the Answer were Bruce and Sue Jackson for first place and Susan White for second place. Final awards going to winners of the Slot Races were Michael Hartfield with first, Bob Poague with second, and Doris Johnson won third. The Healey-Feely contest was won by Lynn Martin. Then we learned the raffle winners. We had an amazing array of items for raffle and all were very pleased with their winnings. A good time was had by all. We had a total of 108 people registered from Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Idaho and even one couple, Terry and Patricia Bancroft from Sydney, Australia (they were driving the beautiful metallic green Cougar!). We had about 40 Healeys of various makes. All that were left were the good-byes in the parking lot on Sunday morning and promises to ‘See you next year!’ at the 2010 Austin Healey Northwest Meet at Lake Chelan!

Thanks to all who helped make this a wonderful event, especially John and Judy Carter, George and Jackie Koeber, and Glen Enright and Jan Whittlesey.
Also, many thanks to Kym Randolph for writing this article.

A new Club roster will be printed next month, so please take a moment to check your copy – making sure that all of your information is correct. If any of your info has changed, please let me know at: tomsimport@ipinc.net

Skip

click photos to enlarge

Friday morning, August 28, found four Healeys and their people ready to leave for the LeMay tour in Tacoma. John and Judy Carter led Jan and Gary Jackson, Jan Whittlesey and Glen Enright and Allan and Mary Gross on a very relaxing trip on mostly back roads and with great weather. We stopped for lunch at the Bean Tree in Morton, then headed for Tacoma.

The motel was easy to find as it was right next to the Tacoma Dome. Dennis Saxon met us there and we went to Famous Dave’s for dinner. We met people in the parking lot and on the trip back to the motel who all seemed to know about the LeMay event and who assumed we would be going. We had a reminder of Seattle area traffic on our way – no accident, just stop and go for the heck of it.

During the night on Friday we could hear the unmistakable sound of raindrops. It was still raining when we left to meet the group from the Washington Cascade Club and it kept raining for a good part of the morning. It is true if you go faster in the rain , it tends to blow over you. However, we never approached that speed so we were a little soggy when we arrived at Marymount, one of two sites for the show. Our group managed to arrive together and we were early enough that we all got to park in the second row of collector cars.

Still raining, most of us got on shuttle buses to go over to the LeMay Grounds where the LeMay’s house is. That isn’t all that is there. There was a whole tour set up to take you through a number of buildings, filled with cars and trucks and collections on both floors of the buildings. Mr. LeMay at one time had over 3100 cars in his collection- many fully restored, others sitting under the trees. Now the collection has about 2400 vehicles, 1000 on display and 1400 stored elsewhere. One of Mr. LeMay’s sons is carrying on buying more. It is hard to describe just what it was like. Everywhere you turned there were cars- almost all beautifully restored.

Some of the rooms were named after the cars in them like the Ford room. Amidst all the cars were car related toys, posters, gas pumps, wheels, parts and pictures. There were other collections of dolls, meat grinders, salt and pepper shakers, and brass hose nozzles, and an old general store, a soda fountain. There was an old schoolhouse, train cars, tractors- it went on and on.

After the tour at the house, a shuttle took us back to Marymount. Marymount was a boys Academy that Mr. LeMay bought. Here the buildings still look as they did on the outside, but inside they also are filled with cars. There were so many beautiful ones that it would be hard to pick a favorite. The featured car this year was the 1937 Chrysler Airflow. There were about 10 of these and a few beautifully restored and even one in the original state. One came all the way from Maryland.

Inside of the schools gym was a wide array of cars. Some were even mounted on the bleachers The focus was on four impeccably restored cars, a Cord, a Tucker, a Daimler and a Duesenberg. It was the most extensive collect of cars we have ever seen. I recommend it as a must see for any car enthusiast. Be warned however, be prepared for an overdose of cars. Check it out at www.lemaymuseum.org

This being a Healey trip, there were a few glitches. Gary Jackson’s car wouldn’t start after it was parked in the hotel garage. He needed a push out of the garage and down a small hill to get it going the next morning. Steve Day helped out on that one. Then, on the way home the Gross’ car stopped on the main street of Yelm. There we were, three Healeys, almost on the side of the road. We had a lot of help from the local people. One told us he thought he had seen water coming out under the car. Another told us about a mechanic he knew and another told us about a place where we could get off the road. The most helpful was a tow truck driver who pulled in behind us with his lights on so we wouldn’t get hit. He also followed us as we pushed the car to the vacant lot. Luckily for us, Gary had Steve Day’s phone number. He had the knowledge and we had the parts, but it was still two hours before we finally got it fixed. I think Steve must feel a little like a doctor at a party – ” I just have this little ache here.”  He and the Jacksons and the Carters were patient to say the least. Once the car was going, the rest of the trip was really pleasant.

Thanks to Dennis Saxon and the Carters for making the arrangements for the trip.

Submitted by Mary and Allan Gross

As you likely know, the ABFM is produced by a consortium of Oregon-based British car clubs.  Each club has one or more responsibilities for the Meet each year.  Besides the fun and enjoyment of the weekend, the host clubs split any profits the Meet earns, which is a significant amount of our annual club income.

The AHCO is responsible for tallying the People’s Choice ballots.  To accomplish that, we need about 24 volunteers for most of Saturday of the Meet.  In exchange for giving up much of Saturday, you’ll have a cool (or dry, depending on the weather) place to hang out, we’ll feed you lunch and provide cold beverages, and you’ll receive a much-coveted ABFM Worker Bee t-shirt, which is almost nearly guaranteed to clash with anything else in your wardrobe.  I’ll be soliciting for volunteers at the Club meeting tomorrow and at next month’s meeting.  If you miss signing up at the Club meeting and would be willing to volunteer for this duty, please leave your name in the comments section and tell me what size t-shirt you would like to receive as your keepsake reward.

Thanks for your help.

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.

The following sad news was posted by John Harper on the Austin Healey email list this morning, May 28th.  Mr Harper received the notice from John Keener Chairman of the Austin Healey Club of the United Kingdom.

Dear All,

Sorry to announce to those who haven’t heard ,that John Healey passed away on Tuesday 26th.
I was with him and Joy at the Healey Drivers Club meeting on 10th May
and we had a laugh together. I have got a few words put on the website
prior to obtaining an obituary in due course.

Very sad
John Keener

Rendezvous 2010 Planning Launched
Auction Chair Needed

By: Charlie Frazer, Rendezvous Committee Chair

AHCO members voting by email ballot and voice vote at the May 16 meeting in Wenatchee unanimously approved the Rendezvous Committee’s proposed budget for the event to be held June 28-July 1, 2010 in Eugene.  Earlier this week President Jeff Mach signed the contract with the Valley River Inn that will be the site of the meet.  If you’d like to help out please contact any of the chairpeople listed below.  The latest addition to the team is Steve Day from British Car Ranch whom some of you met on last week’s drive.  Our most pressing need at the moment is for someone to organize the auction that, as most of you know, is a major source of revenue to defray costs of the event.  Please contact me if you’re willing to take this on.

I’d also like to recruit a Hospitality chair whose job would be to see that each aspect of the event is as pleasant as possible for our guests.  This could start with organizing shifts of greeters at check-in on Monday.
Please give serious thought to whether you could organize the auction.
Below is our meet logo designed by Glen Enright.

Charlie Frazer
cfrazer@uoregon.edu
541-345-1694

The 2010 Rendezvous Committee is seeking volunteers to lead and assist in the Committee’s efforts to (1) organize and conduct a successful and profitable auction at the event,  (2) purchase car show awards,  and (3) organize technical sessions for the event.  You don’t need to live in Eugene to help out, so please consider helping your club put on a successful Rendezvous event next year by volunteering your time for one of these tasks.  To volunteer, please contact Charlie Frazer, 2010 Rendezvous Committee Chairman, by email at cfrazer@uoregon.edu or by telephone at (541) 345-1694.  Thanks.