People began arriving before noon on Sunday, December 6^th, for the annual Austin Healey Club of Oregon Christmas Party.  Some folks actually drove their Healeys since it was dry, including two brave, but frozen souls, who travelled sans top.  Perhaps Santa will bring them one for Christmas.  The Eastmoreland Golf Club had recently been re-modeled and now was beautifully bedecked for the holiday season – ready to greet Healey Club folks.

We had two hours to have some Christmas cheer, mix, mingle, meet new people, and catch up with old friends, while also bidding on (and sometimes winning) some great silent auction items.

At 2:15 pm, The Eastmoreland staff served a delicious brunch, featuring prime rib, eggs benedict, fruit, salads, and a variety of desserts.  Many folks, out of the 56 or so present, went back for seconds.  There was more food than you’d think we’d ever eat, but by the time people went back for seconds, it was pretty well gone.  It was good stuff!

With the meal over and drinks replenished, our President, Jeff Mach, shared a few words.  Jeff thanked everyone for coming, thanked everyone for their volunteer efforts, and thanked the 2009 officers for their service this past year.

Then, it was time to start the oral auction.  As usual, Tom Monaco served as grinch auctioneer, with Jeff as his right hand man.  They took us through lots of great items with precision and a generous amount of humor.  There were many good bargains had among the silent auction and oral auction items, the proceeds from which will benefit the Club’s charity fund.

What a day!  We acquainted ourselves with members whom we’d not met before (some of whom have belonged to the Club for many years) along with some brand new members.  We shared many laughs, had a delicious brunch together, and left with some nifty auction items.  The event came off without a hitch and the party was a rap by 4:15 pm.

Despite the fact that the Club has several good photographers, they either didn’t attend the party or left their cameras home, so no publishable photos of the event have surfaced.  Bet that won’t happen again!

Here are a few comments left by party-goers:

Thanks so much for the great banquet – Bruce and I had a wonderful time and am so relived that you and Skip helped me find my purse!  I set it at the wrong table (that was before the wine!).  – Bruce & Kerri Harding

Enjoyable afternoon, nice people and good brunch — we recommend the Healey Christmas Party and Charity Auction.  – Michael & Wanda Hartfield

Great party, we really enjoyed ourselves.  – Dick & Gerry Lynch

Beautiful venue, great food, met a lot of fun people, & the auction was a blast.  – Brian & Kerry O’Boyle

I had a wonderful time! Jeff and co. organized the timing so we had  2+ hours to mingle and participate in the silent auction. Brunch was next with mouthwatering goodies. The oral auction ended the event and only took a half an hour. (Thanks, Tom for cutting the time down. It was perfect!) The Golf Club had their usual Christmas glitter all around: 3 decorated trees, classy new black chairs and wreathes (what seemed like) everywhere. A terrific way to start the holidays! A big thanks to Jeff and the Charity Committee.  – Jan Whittlesey

Had a good time at Xmas party.  We stayed as long as we could, but I was on call that day, and sure enough, I got called in.  – Jeff & Lisa Brown

We had a great time.  It’s good to get to know fellow club members outside of tech sessions and road trips!  – Dick & Kappy Lenahan

I thought Jeff and the charity committee did a great job putting together the Christmas party, meal, and auction. It went very well and was enjoyed by all that attended, I’m sure. Thank you to each and every one of you. It was a fun day.  – John Meyer

Here’s a hearty Thank You! to everyone who helped stage the event!   This was our 1st AHCO event and we really enjoyed ourselves, met a lot of really nice people, ate good food, thought the golf course was a great place & just had a great time.  We enjoyed the auction & think you have picked some really deserving charities to help. We are looking forward to the next event.  – Don & Sharon Slaybaugh 

The AHCO holiday party was well organized providing a friendly social  environment for making new/continuing former acquaintances while at  the same time providing outreach to the community at large and a  monetary contribution to the needy during this holiday season.  – Del Allen

As the out-going president of Oregon Mini Society – and an AHCO member – I have to say that the AHCO tradition of a Christmas Party / Auction for Charity is what inspired our club to begin such a giving tradition!  These clubs aren’t here for “profit”, and the moneys we do accumulate need to be put to good use.  Our OMS Christmas party has become such a sharing event, with the annual Oregon Food Bank drive plus donating a percentage of our holdings to two local charities.  In addition we do a gift exchange and pot-luck dinner.  My hat’s off to the AHCO Charity Committee for their hard work in gathering and then auctioning off those items!  The money garnered will certainly help someone in need this Holiday Season!  PS . . . the grub and companionship were excellent, too!  A good group of car folks!  – Craig House, President, OMS and Portland ABFM Committee Member

Thanks for your efforts to put on another great AHCO holiday party!  Good friends, good food, good venue, great auction (silent and oral).  Happy holidays to all!  – Bob & Jean Bennett

Thank you for all your hard work. It was a great event and we really enjoyed ourselves.  – Rick and Iva Curry

I attended Barret Jackson Las Vegas a few weeks ago and thought my fellow AHCO members would like to see some of the pics.  Could you post these pictures to the site?  Our very own John and Robert Wilson of Healey Lane Restorations were there selling a very nice black ’62 BT7.  Although Healey prices seemed fairly consistent- it looked like you could get a pretty good deal on muscle cars and hot-rods vs. a year ago.

Also here is a Youtube link of the actual auction- for those watching it on Speed Channel it was interrupted by a commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92VZK0_6YuE

Click photos to view larger

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.

Let’s go to the Beach

On Sat. Oct. 10, join us for a relaxing tour to the coast. We’re going to meet at exit 65 off Hwy. 26 just west of Portland. Go north off the exit onto Cornell Rd.

Go right at the first light and we’ll be there. At this location there is an AM-PM Mart which has fuel, snacks, etc. The tour will begin at 9 a.m. dull.

We’ll have several opportunities along the way to stop for fuel, etc. About midway through we’ll stop for lunch, then it’s back on the road to Seaside.

The Club will be providing dinner and dessert. Please bring the beverage of choice. The business meeting will follow at approx. 3:30 p.m.

For those wishing to stay over night, two motels are very close.

• Motel 6 1-503-738-6269
• Shilo Inn-East 1-800-222-2244

Re: the dinner head count which follows the tour, please rsvp to tomsimport@ipinc.net or 503-245-0174.

Don’t miss out on this fun event!

Tom and Skip Monaco

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

Saturday, August 8, 2009 was set as the day to celebrate       the birthday of one of the founding fathers of the Austin    Healey Club of Oregon.  Bill Bolton celebrated his 80th  birthday with the help of a large number of friends  from the Healey Club as well as family, friends and    neighbors from the Eugene/Springfield and Creswell area.   Those of us who are members of the AHCO can thank Bill for his participation and leadership in the formation of ther Club in 1975, 34 years ago.

On Saturday several Club members spent the morning touring down the Willamette Valley before arriving at the Creswell Community Center to participate in the birthday pot luck lunch and party.  Thanks again, Bill, for all that you have done for the Austin Healey owners in the Northwest and beyond.

These details are provided by Dennis Saxon for those going on the LeMay Tour starting Aug.28.

For information about driving up to Tacoma on Friday see this post.

Saturday August 29th, 2009

We will meet at 7am Saturday morning at Starbucks Coffee, located at S. Tacoma Way at the end of SR 512. Take exit #127 from I-5 and go west, (1 block) to S. Tacoma Way. Turn left at the light and go ½ block to Starbucks. Starbucks is located on the right side directly across from MacDonald’s and south of the 76 gas station. MacDonald’s and 76 both have huge signs so it will be hard to miss.

We will leave promptly at 7:30 am and proceed to the LeMay Museum where we will line up as a car club to gain entry to the car show.

When we leave MacDonald’s, we will get on SR 512 and head east to the second exit, which is SR 7/ Pacific Ave. (Parkland/Spanaway). We will exit at SR 7/Pacific Avenue and turn right (south). The first cross street is 112th. We will continue 2 miles to 152nd/Military Road. Turn left at 152nd (north) and go about ¼ of a mile. We will turn left at the LeMay museum sign. We might be lining up on 152nd since a lot of cars will be entering at this time. Be prepared to stop and form a line.

Entry fee is $10.00 per person. We have been asked to have exact change if possible. This will facilitate our cars getting in quicker as a group.

Hopefully we will have car passes by then to park in the Collector Car Corral. I’ve asked for 25 passes. Museum members get priority parking and have until the end of the first week in August to exercise their parking privilege. If there is room, we will be able to park in the Car Club Corral. Only collector cars (cars 25 years and older) will be allowed to park at the Marymount Academy site. This is where we are parking. If you have your BJ9 you will have to park at one of the six off site parking areas. Busses are provided to take you to the Marymount site or the private LeMay home grounds. The LeMay home museum is only opened up once a year to the public. This makes this day very special to car lovers.

I will have maps for those that show up at MacDonald’s. For more information about the LeMay Museum, visit their website at www.lemaymuseum.org. You can also call Dennis Saxon at 253-335-2327.

Join us Friday night (August 28th) at Famous Dave’s BBQ for a get together with the Oregon Austin Healey Club. We will meet at 5pm. Famous Dave’s is located at 1901 S. 72nd. St. Tacoma, just off I-5. Take I-5 to exit #129 and go east to the first intersection (Hosemer St.). If you’re coming from the north, you have to go under the overpass and come back over the highway to go east. There is a Chevron station on the right. Turn left into the shopping center. Dave’s is on the corner next to the Sports Authority. See you there!!

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.

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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 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

The June 6th meeting and tour is to The Dalles to visit the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center and Wasco County Historical Museum. The tour will meet in the Fred Meyer parking lot at Hwy. #224 (Estacada Hwy) and Hwy #205. Be prepared to leave at 8:00 a.m. sharp. We will travel over Mt Hood and then to Hood River where Kent Lambert will lead us on a scenic highway tour from Hood River to The Dalles. We are scheduled for lunch and club meeting at Spooky’s Restaurant around 11:30 to 12:00. After the lunch and meeting we will proceed to the Discovery Center. George Koeber will collect $6.50 per person before we leave Spooky’s so we can pay for  the group rate for admission.

Mark your calendar for this fun tour and experience the Discovery Center with us. Please let George know if you are meeting us at the Fred Meyer parking lot.

koegeoja@hevanet.com or 503-244-3731