VOLUME 17, NUMBER 5 Sept-Dec 2012

INSIDE THIS ISSUE UPCOMING EVENTS For the rest of the planned 2013 Brighton Run 3 meeting venues please see page 9 of Branch Members 4 Dec. 4th Branch Christmas of this issue. Dickens Sweets / ECAIP 2012 8 Party—Sundance Place, 6574 New Meeting Places / Ladner Trunk Road, Ladner EDITOR’S BIT Help Wanted BRBC 2014 9 6:30pm drinks, dinner 7:00pm . As always, many thanks to our Meeting Minutes 10 Jan. 8th Regular branch meeting contributors for this issue, it is Smiths Instruments 11 at Rainbow Station—slide show much appreciated. I hope every- Welcome to OECC / The Boot / presentation of Monterey 2012 one has a great holiday season At the Wheel 12 highlights. and we’ll see you all in the new year.

David Cohen Collection Text by Steve Diggins Photos by Dennis Nelson and Alan Miles

In late August we were invited to David Cohen’s house in West Vancouver to look through his garage. What we saw were some of the finest and rarest cars ever built. David is one of the most knowledgeable enthusiasts in our area and his cars are a reflection of this. Most of them are unique in specification of build or history. Also, most are from the 1930’s which many consider to be a golden 1937 Bugatti Type 57 era for sports cars. You might have seen in the news a report on one of his cars winning the three top awards at one of the premier concours in Europe. This was his beautiful 1933 Alfa Romeo 6C-1750 one off streamlined coupe recently restored by RX Autoworks. The 6 stands for the number of cylinders, the C stands for compressor which is a super- charger and 1750 is the engine size. Unfortunately the car was not there for us to have a look at as it was on its way back from Pebble Beach where it won another two of the top awards.

Not all of David’s cars were at his home at our time of visit as some were being worked on and a few were stored elsewhere. I believe he has sixteen. The nine which we had the pleasure of looking at were as follows with my guess at dates:

1937 Bugatti type 57 with one off drophead coupe body by Grabor of Switzerland. A great example of design, en- gineering and craftsmanship coming together to make something very special. 1929 6.5 litre - a large and powerful car with a lightweight body built for one thing, thundering down the Mulsanne straight at big speed.

1956 Mercedes Benz 300 SL Coupe known as the gull wing, shown to us with the doors open. Could be the best looking car the Germans ever made.

1952 Bentley Continental R - one of the first cars to be 1952 Bentley Continental R (on the left) and 1929 styled in a wind tunnel. Has the bragging right of being Bentley 6.5 Litre (on the right) the first with a cruising speed of over 100mph.

Mr. Mallard, a home built special that saw action in hill climb competition. Built in the late 1950’s on a pre

war Riley chassis using a large 4 cyl. air cooled engine from an aircraft. It is light, fast and loud.

1929 Morris Shooting Brake with a wood station wagon like body used to take out a group of hunters to the grouse range. Nothing exotic but lots of character.

1938 Bentley 4.25 Coupe with one off body with maximum glass including a sky light and skinny windshield pillars to give the illusion of riding in an open car

1932 Invicta S Type low chassis -The low chassis was the new way to go for sports cars in the early thirties. This rare all original example with light weight body powered by a 4.5 OHV straight six was very quick. I think it is fair to say it was the AC Cobra of its day

1932 Invicta S Type Low Chassis 1938 Bentley 4.25 Coupe

Alta single seat racing car, 1936. This company was one of the first in England to concentrate solely on the building of race cars with a number of successes and famous drivers to it’s credit. It lasted from 1931 to 1952. The company name was chosen because the owner, Geoffrey Taylor, liked the sound of a province in Canada called Alberta, so he modified it a bit to Alta.

1956 Mercedes Benz 300 SL Coupe (left)

Mr. Mallard

(right)

Alta racing car

Thank you very much to David Cohen for opening his garage door for our club members. I think this was our best turn out all year and everyone enjoyed looking at these great cars. David told me he would invite us back when all of his cars are assembled together. I look forward to that.

VOLUME 17, NUMBER 5 THE ROUNDABOUT PAGE 2 London Brighton Commemorative Run 2012 Text by Alan Miles (with input from Gil Mervyn, Les Foster and Steve Diggins) Photos by Alan Miles and Les and Calla Foster

This year’s LB Run turned out to be a little wetter than last year’s outing but approximately 30 old English car enthusiasts turned up to brave the elements anyways. As it turned out the weather was quite acceptable with light showers at the beginning of the run which had stopped by the time we arrived at our final destination in White Rock.

As was the case last year the run started at Rainbow Station in Burnaby with 25 cars registering for the 10:00 am start. Grand Marshal Les Foster gave a stirring and humorous speech to see the troops off before going home and putting his feet up in front of the fire (or so he claimed). Les is forgiven for not participating in the actual drive this year as his Thames pickup is currently in pieces.

Les ended up staying a little longer than expected as one of the cars had electrical problems and despite many attempts by all present Don Bartlett’s TVR could not be coaxed back to life and after about an hour a tow truck was called. Also showing up a bit after 10:00 was a beautiful 1934 owned by Howie Wong . Also notable was the appearance of John Chapman’s Imp, making it’s OECC debut.

Here are the numbers from this year’s run:

Total registrants: 25 (although about five more cars came later or joined us in White Rock). Registration: $46.00 (plus two food bank donations in lieu). Plates sold: 10 at $10.00 ea. = $100.00 Cash food bank donations: $8.00 (the VCB will also donate $100.00 to the food bank). Special thanks to Steve Diggins for planning the run, Steve McVittie of the Celtic Treasure Chest for setting up our reception in White Rock, the merchants of East Beach for opening up their stores and restaurants to us, Mayor Wayne Baldwin for being on hand to greet each car and the City of White Rock for all their help and co- operation in making the run a success.

VOLUME 17, NUMBER 5 THE ROUNDABOUT PAGE 3 When we moved to Vancouver in 1964, our first car Cars of Branch Members was a 1963 Series IIIC Minx. This was the newer style and their Stories. Minx which had debuted in 1956. The car was equipped with the now infamous Smiths Easidrive Automatic transmission. The original owner of the car had returned it for a refund due to the number of times By Walter Reynolds the transmission had required service visits. Dad bought the car on the basis that Rootes would convert the car to a manual shift gear box. This car was in our family for 12 years and, for a one dollar payment to The Cars of Alan and Mary Lou Miles. dad (never made), became my first car; I was in Grade 12 at the time. My friends and I had many adventures in that ’63 Minx, but sadly, by about 1977, the old tin Alan’s parents were from Hertford, England where his worm had gotten the best of it. dad was a mechanic for Water’s Garage, Hertford, a Rootes dealer. They moved to Canada in 1952 and took up residence in Toronto. Alan’s dad was hired by Rootes Motors Canada where he worked in their Parts Department. He held this job until 1964 when he was transferred to Rootes Motors Vancouver. Here his job was Parts Superintendant, and was in this job until the 1967 buy-out by . He continued with Chrysler until his retirement in 1981.

Alan and Mary Lou’s stable currently consists of the 1962 Series IIIA convertible and a 1969 MGB GT. All photos are from Alan’s collection.

Alan continues the story:

One could say that my interest in Rootes Group vehi- 1963 Minx that Alan “purchased” off his dad in 1974 cles started in my childhood, thanks to dad working for Rootes for so many years. In my early years there was After a brief foray into American cars, I returned to always a Series Minx (or Mark Minx) in our driveway. Rootes and, still in 1977 bought a 1961 Minx One of these cars took us all over the place on holidays, that was my daily driver for a year or so. I sold both even to Florida. Going on vacation with a load of spare the ’61 and the ‘body rotted’ ’63 for about $500.00 and Hillman parts was not unusual due to the lack of that closed that chapter of my “Rootes Experience”. Rootes dealers in southern U.S. I’d play with my Dinky Both of my parents had earlier passed away when the toys on the rear parcel shelf while dad drove – no seat second and current chapter of my “Rootes Experience” belts in those days! commenced. I had been casually searching the classi- fieds for Rootes product and wondering how many of the marque were still around. Mortgage and two kids barred any serious contemplation! When finances al- lowed such serious Rootes contemplation, I “Googled” ‘’ and was surprised by the mass of re- sults. Who would have thought that so many, many Hillman and Rootes fans there were out there: I imme- diately joined the Yahoo Discussion Group on Hillman Cars, a group I am still with today and which has pro- vided Mary Lou and me with so many new friends. My goal became a search for a Hillman Minx, preferably Series IIIC, like the one my father owned.

Locally, I looked at a few rusted relics then a fellow worker suggested I put a ‘Wanted’ advert into the Vic- toria Times Colonist, the pretext being that there Alan and his dad’s Minx in Florida would be lots of British cars over there. I took his ad- vice and soon received responses. After looking at sev-

VOLUME 17, NUMBER 5 THE ROUNDABOUT PAGE 4 eral possibilities, including 13 rusted, rat-infested Hill- which I didn’t really like but decided I would live with. man hulks scattered around one person’s property, I I had the car shipped to Richmond and it arrived in was getting a little discouraged. Perhaps there were no August, 2003. As I had been a bit foolhardy by buying really good left in this area. I was looking for the car without seeing it in person, or at least having a Hillman in good to excellent condition as I was a nov- an inspection company look at it, I was relieved to see ice mechanically and didn’t feel I was able to do a lot of it was indeed in very good condition. my own repairs. I’ve since done more than I ever imag- ined I would, including two engine swaps (with the In 2004 I had it repainted in a proper Rootes colour help of Gerry P. and Les F.), but at that time, I wasn’t combination of Pearl Grey and Pippen Red. so sure of my abilities in that area. Then came a prom- ising response from a young fellow near Duncan. He had a Series IIIC saloon that was apparently in good condition and, at $1,000.00, sounded like a fair price.

I went over to see the car and it looked quite solid al- though I felt that there may be some bondo in the rock- ers and the paint colour wasn’t really stock (a metallic blue Mazda colour), but it drove well. Needless to say, money changed hands, temporary insurance was bought and I found myself driving down the highway in my brand new 1963 Hillman Minx. Two things struck me on that drive; how narrow the car was and how noisy it was. You could hear a heck of a lot of wind Rapier in new colours and its current new top noise. I started thinking how far modern cars had come in the past 40 years, but I still couldn’t wipe the smile off of my face! The brakes, four wheel drums, were a bit Unfortunately, it was not the best paint job and I have dodgy so I made a note to have those looked at. The recently had the car off the road for a refurbish- brake shoes needed relining and two wheel cylinders ment/restoration which included rust repairs and re- were replaced. Other than that, the car ran quite well, paint as well as some interior upholstery work (door although I did have a fair amount of work done to it, panels, dash pad, etc.), new carpeting and soft top. The things I would tackle myself now. (Like modern cars, I car is now mostly reassembled, including the rebuilt have come a long way too – mechanical skills, speaking 1725cc engine and all-synchro gearbox with - since this first car.) which I installed with the help of Gerry Parkinson, John Chapman and Les Foster. I also installed a new The previously mentioned Minx was purchased in May, wiring harness. I was hoping to have the Rapier ready 2003 but that didn’t stop me looking! I’ve come to real- for the 2012 Brits Round B.C., however, I didn’t make ize that that’s part of the British Car disease, I mean it. hobby, you’re always on the lookout for the next car. I had realized that the Hillman wasn’t going to be able In 2005, a friend sold me a 1960 Series III Rapier to qualify for Collector plates without a lot of work be- Hardtop. It sported a very bad homemade paint job in ing done to it and that the car wasn’t nearly as good as red and white. The interior was green but in excellent I had first thought. It did however fly through AirCare so I was running it on regular plates but I knew its days were numbered. I had been looking at eBay relig- iously and found a beautiful 1962 Sunbeam Rapier Se- ries IIIA convertible for sale in Wisconsin. For those that might not know, the Rapier was basically the sporting version of the Minx. It came in a two-door coupe version or a convertible. It shared all its body panels with the Minx but had different shaped fins, different front grill treatment etc. and nicer interior, complete with wood dash and bucket seats. It also had the aluminum head engine with twin Zenith carbs which generated about 78bhp vs. the Minx’s 54bhp. The Rapier looked to be in excellent shape although it was painted a non-Rootes colour, DuPont Torch Red, Looks presentable, from 20 feet

VOLUME 17, NUMBER 5 THE ROUNDABOUT PAGE 5 condition and my plan was to repaint the car in its Fort Rodd in 2010 and it ran fine. Although it had only original two-tone green. The body had a fair amount of 34,000 on the odometer when I bought it, the car was bad filling and bondo, especially in all the fenders and very dirty from sitting in a barn for a few years. To sills but looked very presentable – from 20 feet away! qualify for Collector plates I had to get some uphol- For $2,500.00 it came with a rebuilt engine although it stery work done as well as install new carpets. I also was not actually in the car but the previous owner said cleaned up the engine bay, repainting auxiliary parts, he would help me install it, at no charge. This was etc. and cleaned and repainted the underside. I sold done shortly after and it did indeed run very nicely. the car in 2011.

I bought this car because the plan at the time was to The latest Rootes car to be added to our collection was have a saloon and a convertible. I had really wanted a a 1962 Sunbeam Alpine Series II that we purchased in Hillman saloon but had been unable to find a good one October 2008. and this car was local and cheap, plus I imagined I would use it as a practice car and, as previously men- tioned, try my hand at some body work and auto paint- ing. I soon came to my senses and sold it the following year when I finally did find a good Hillman.

The Miles’ Alpine, Brits ‘Round B.C. 2010 The Easidrive Hillman Minx This car was bought from the son of my dad’s old boss at Rootes Motors Vancouver. My dad had always The next car that I added to our collection was a 1962 wanted an Alpine, having planned to restore one in his Hillman Minx Series IIIC Saloon. This car was brought retirement, but never got around to it so I thought I’d to my attention in the summer of 2006 by a fellow give one a try. I had never been a real sports car fan Rootes enthusiast. It was in very good original condi- but once I drove it, I was hooked. tion and came with a functioning Smiths Easidrive automatic transmission which, in itself is a rarity.

The Easidrive transmission was a fairly conventional gearbox that was controlled electrically and featured a powder friction clutch that basically eliminated clutch drag or any power loss associated with a conventional automatic. The Easidrive was a huge failure for Rootes Motors as they were prone to many problems. Most cars with this transmission were converted to manual gearboxes. The fact that this car had a functioning Ea- sidrive transmission intrigued me but my main inter- est was the car itself and its wonderful condition.

Up until the time I sold this car, I did a lot of work to it. The transmission still operated although not with- out some quirks. I didn’t take it on long trips but it was great for around town. We took it over to ECAIP at Dad with a Tiger (in front of an Imp and Minx).

VOLUME 17, NUMBER 5 THE ROUNDABOUT PAGE 6 The fact that my dad’s old boss and his son (who coinci- In 2011, I bought an MGB GT. Why an MGB GT? you dentally worked with my dad at Chrysler) had restored might ask. Generally, I’ve always liked MGs, especially the Alpine made it seem like it was karma. Without too the MGB GT. In 2010 I had the opportunity to drive much thought the deal was made and it became mine. Gerry Parkinson’s MGB GT and the search was on! A The car was by no means perfect (I noticed that the year later and while alone at our cabin in the Cariboo, gearbox was very noisy so realized that that would be Gerry phoned from the Shuswap to tell me about an the first job) and still needed a fair bit of sorting out MGB GT for sale in Vernon and, did I want to see it? I which continued to the time I sold the car. The Alpine drove over to Gerry’s place and we headed to Vernon to took us on a fantastic 2,600 mile round trip to South see the car which I eventually bought. I’ve had to do a Dakota in 2009 for a Sunbeam meet. Unfortunately, it few things to get it to my liking, including removing didn’t quite make it all the way home – we blew the the driver’s seat-raising hardware that a previous engine about 8 hours from the Canadian border! In owner had installed plus installing a smaller 14” Mota 2010, after an engine rebuild, we put over 1800 miles Lita steering wheel and a centre console. on it what with Brits Round B.C. and several other runs. I sold the car in the Spring of 2012. This car took Mary Lou and I on Brits ‘Round B.C. this year and performed wonderfully. The only problem we At one point, I was working on the engine of one of my had was a broken wire on the brake light switch (now cars while the valve cover was off. Somehow I managed fixed) and a water leak from the fresh air intake which to drop a nut down one of the oil galleries, but I didn’t I have now been informed is a blocked drain hose un- know that the nut had found its way down into the oil der the car (apparently a common problem). pan. It was one of those moments where, an instant before it happened, a thought flashed through my mind, ”You’re going to drop this”, and I did! On the off chance that the nut had ended up in the oil pan, I drained the oil and settled in for a long “fishing” expe- dition using a goose-neck magnet to try and locate the nut. On my first cast, so to speak, I heard a metallic ‘snick’ as the nut stuck to the magnet and I was able to remove the nut without incident. My worst fear was that I wouldn’t find it and would have to disassemble the engine to find the nut.

Backing up to 1976, when I was 18, I lived in England for four months and had a . The B GT and Mary Lou ready for Brits Round B.C.

2012.

The Rapier has been off the road for about three years for body work and the repaint referred to earlier. Dur- ing this time, I’ve also had Octagon work on the carbs and clutch. The car is now back in use. Steve Diggins put a new soft top on it, recovered the inside door pan- els and the dash pad. He also made a new soft top cover. There are still small things to be done to the car, but it is now mainly finished.

Finally, with all the coming and going of cars, we are a 1965 Mini in front of my relative’s house in Essex, two British car stable again, one a Rootes Group car England, 1976 and the other an MG

The car leant to one side, plus it used a lot of oil. In And there you have this month’s story. The contents fact I would carry two quarts in the parcel shelf on the were gleaned through an interview with Alan, along driver’s door at all times. I used to joke that I’d pull in with a reading of the 2011 OECC Spanner article on a petrol station and say “check the petrol and fill up his cars and from his web site, the oil”. At one point the Mini broke down and the me- www.theseriesminxpages.com. The “Cars of Branch chanic I took it to told me the engine had two burnt Members and their Stories” continues in future issues valves. He replaced the valves and put everything back as follows (subject to change): February 2013 – Elaine together. Cost of the new valves and labour: 22 pounds Fontaine. As this section is for members to talk about sterling. Now that was value! their cars, please contact me to have your British vehi- cle’s stories told.

VOLUME 17, NUMBER 5 THE ROUNDABOUT PAGE 7 Lorna Hoare sends in this report on the run she and John organized to Dickens Sweets on Sept. 8th.

Pictures by David Ballantine and Lorna Hoare

Five cars left Guildford Mall at 10:15. We enjoyed great weather and a run that took us through Langley, Alder- grove and Abbotsford with a stop at Granny and Grumpy’s Antique Barns where we all found something we couldn’t live without! Grumpy gave us fresh picked corn on the cob. Steve Hutchens left the group at Chilliwack and the rest of us enjoyed lunch and high tea at Dickens Sweets and poked around the British museum and shop.

Apparently they decorate a lot at Christmas with tons of lights etc. so another trip in the season might be of in- terest.

ECAIP 2012

By Alan Miles (with assistance from Wayne Watkins)

Photos by Alan Miles

This years English Car Affair in the Park held on Sunday Sept. 9th saw just three Vancouver Coast Branch cars at- tending. Mary Lou and I in our 1969 MGB GT, Malcolm and Barbara Tait in their 1970 2000TC and John and Mary Jane Chapman who, due to unforeseen circumstances, had to attend in Mary Jane's new MINI Cooper.

The event was attended by about 140 cars if memory serves me correct with the Tait’s Rover winning the very prestig- ious Bill Vance Award. Mr. Vance, as many of you will know, is a automotive journalist who has written many books on classic and collectible cars and his articles are featured in in many major newspapers. In previous years Mr. Vance has attended and presented the award himself but was unable to attend this year so passed his duties on to Jim Wal- ters of Bristol Motors. Mr. Vance's criteria for the award is “advanced concept and/or engineering for the time at which the vehicle was introduced”.

Congratulations to Malcolm and Barbara!

Malcolm and Barbara pose with the Bill Vance award (left) while John and Mary Jane shop for a new car (above)

VOLUME 17, NUMBER 5 THE ROUNDABOUT PAGE 8 NEW MEETING PLACES FOR 2013 come down earlier for supper. We will be in the quiet room up behind the fireplace on the west side. by Steve Diggins March 5th - The Sports Pavilion at Hugo Ray Park, No. 3 Street, West Vancouver. Also known as the cricket club house it has a bar which will be open. The One of the challenges of our Vancouver Coast Branch meeting is in a room downstairs. has been finding locations for our meetings. The leading factors is trying to cover all our area from the north April 2nd—The Billy Bishop Pub - 1407 Laburnum shore mountains, south to the border and from the west Street, Kitsilano - park at the beach parking lot and side of the city to points east of greater Vancouver. It is walk a half block east on Cornwall to Laburnum. Meet- hard to find interesting locations throughout the lower ing in the Spitfire Room. This old style pub has no food mainland to have meetings and serve our members as services but many tasty beers on tap. best as possible. May 7th -T.B.A. A restoration shop has been tentatively I will be taking over from Lorna Hoare as the events booked. coordinator for 2013. Lorna has done a good job of this for three years and previous to this I did it for six years. June 4th -Sports Pavilion at Hugo Ray Park, No 3 I am going to change the focus slightly from finding in- Road, West Vancouver teresting meeting locations to making sure we cover all July 2nd -T.B.A. A collection has been tentatively our bases and getting to see everyone. For example, we booked. will have meetings on the north shore and the west side of the city where we have quite a few members and pro- August 6th - Ocean Park Pub and Pizza - 12822 16 spective members. We haven’t had many meetings in Ave., Surrey. Meeting in the room behind the fireplace. those areas recently. Interesting automotive and his- Meet at 7:00 but join us for dinner earlier. torical meeting locations will still be welcome, however, covering all our area will be the priority. September 3rd - Billy Bishop Pub - 1407 Laburnum, Kitsilano. Meeting in the Spitfire Room. Note no food The following is the list of meeting places for 2013. services. Parking at Kits beach. Please mark them on your calendar. So we hope to meet you at these venues and bring a friend if you would like. October 1st - Sports Pavilion at Hugo Ray Park off Mathers, West Vancouver January 8th - Rainbow Station - North Willingdon Ave., Burnaby includes a slide show of 2012 highlights November 5th - Club Annual General Meeting - Rain- of Monterey bow Station, 120 N. Willingdon in Burnaby

February 5th -Ocean Park Pub and Pizza - 12822 16 December 3rd - Christmas Dinner T.B.A. Avenue, Surrey - The meeting starts 7:00 but please

This is not a complicated undertaking, but does HELP WANTED require a bit of time and effort, so it's not too early to get started with the planning.

If you enjoy touring in your car, especially with Having done the 2012 tour, I found that the earlier 'old' friends and meeting new ones, then we have a one gets started, the easier it is as one can do a lit- position for you. tle at a time. The OECC requires a 'Wagonmaster' to organise Previous 'Wagonmasters' will be most helpful with the 2014 Brits 'Round BC Tour. any advice needed.

 no experience necessary but having been on The Brits 'Round BC is one of the most impor- any previous tour and organised hotels and tant events the OECC has, and the experi- planned some meals for a group is an asset. ences shared on the tour last a lifetime.

 must be able to read a road map, Here is a chance to really give something back to  you get to pick the route you would like to your club. travel, participants will be happy with any Please reply to; Ric MacDonald route you choose. 604-710-9506 or [email protected]  renumeration; seeing your friends enjoy a drive you organised, 'Priceless'!

VOLUME 17, NUMBER 5 THE ROUNDABOUT PAGE 9 The meeting was then brought to a close at 11:55 by M inutes of the Vancouver Coast Steve, again, thanking the members for coming. Branch Executive Meeting held at Rain- bow Station Sept. 22nd 2012 M inutes of the Vancouver Coast In attendance: Steve Diggins, Chairperson. John Chap- Branch meeting held at the Billy Bishop man, Membership Secretary. Colin Crabbe, Treasurer, pub, Kitsilano, October 2nd 2012. and Alan Miles, Roundabout Editor & Communications. Steve Diggins opened the meeting at 7:25 pm with 16 Absent: Bill Grant, Vice Chair. Steve Hutchens, Past members present. Chair. Lorna Hoare, Events. Colin Crabbe, the Treasurer gave a brief financial report. The meeting was opened at 10:00 am by Steve Diggins by We have $4,300 in the bank with nothing owed. There welcoming everyone and thanking them for coming. was a discussion about the $600 received from the club for the AGM held here in June. It was unclear as to the Financial report: Colin Crabbe announced that we had branch having to pay it back to the club as the cost of the over $4,000 in the bank with nothing owing. He also said AGM was covered by attendance fees. Gerry Parkinson that the budget for 2013 should be planned after the and Colin said that they would look at the costs and reve- AGM in November. nues again and then contact the club Treasurer for clari- Secretaries report: John Chapman stated that we had 87 fication. members in the branch. He then showed every one pre- Collin then spoke of the $5 per head subsidy that the club sent the current “welcome pamphlet” which is out of date was going to contribute to the Christmas Dinner this and asked who would be responsible, and had the capa- year. There was a discussion as to put this up to $10 as bilities to update it. Steve Diggins suggested that John the branch had money accumulating in the bank. It was get in touch with Candy Francis, the club Chairperson as decided that this should be a decision that should be the pamphlet was originally organized by the club not our made by the members for next year’s budget and that this branch. John said that he would contact Candy when he year should remain as originally agreed at $5 per head. had some time. The Membership Secretary, John Chapman, stated that Steve Diggins then said that he had spoken to Steve we now had 88 members in the branch, the same number Hutchens recently on candidates for the new Executive as last year, and that there was a new member present for 2013 which have to be voted in at the November 6th and a prospective new member. AGM held at Rainbow Station. He would phone Steve again to remind him. Steve Diggins spoke of the AGM next month at Rainbow station and asked for volunteers for the Executive for Steve asked if any of the members present knew if the next year but none came forward. He then spoke of a pos- branch had received a sample of the regalia which is sibility of spreading the venues for Tuesday club meet- available. As nobody knew anything about it Steve said ings around the Lower Mainland to encourage members that he would speak to Steve Hutchens for an update as to attend who would normally not due to distance. Steve has been involved in regalia with Judy Unia. He then roughly outlined the route for the London to Steve then spoke of some of the annual events that are Brighton Commemorative Run on the 4th November to organised but attendance by the membership is some- White Rock. Entrance fees would still be $2 or a donation what lacking. Events, such as the Fort Langley run, and to the Vancouver food bank. He also suggested that the the annual picnic may have run their course. It was dis- club donate $100 to the food bank. This was discussed by cussed and then decided that venues for these events the members present and a vote was taken. All members should be changed each year for variety. Steve also men- voted for the donation with no vote against. tioned that Tuesday meeting venues should be spread around the lower Mainland to include members that do With no further business, the meeting was brought to a not normally come to meetings due to distance. close by Steve Diggins at 8:00 pm.

The route for the London to Brighton Commemorative Run was discussed and it was suggested that entry to East Beach in White Rock should be from the North, driv- Meeting minutes submitted by John Chapman ing along the Esplanade and not from the South. Steve said that he would look into it.

The last event of the year would be the Christmas Dinner to be held at The Sundowner Motel in Ladner. Colin said that the club had again, in the budget, decided to contrib- ute $5 per head to the cost.

VOLUME 17, NUMBER 5 THE ROUNDABOUT PAGE 10 SMITHS INSTRUMENTS Tony Dowell 2008

At one time, Smiths car instruments were as English as , string back gloves and, er, Lucas electrics. Most British cars from the 1920s to 1980s used Smiths instruments, or British Jaeger or VDO made by Smiths.

From beginnings as S. Smith & Son, a jeweler making clocks and watches near the Elephant and Castle in SE London in 1851, Smiths Industries be- came the dominant force between the wars and after WW2 in auto, marine, industrial and aircraft instruments, car radios and heaters, antifreeze and spark plugs.

Now, Smiths is a shadow of its former self, and although the management is highly regarded, is reduced to making scanners for airport security.

Its growth, dominance and fading away mirrors in many ways that of the British watch making and motor car industries.

They acquired KLG spark plugs in 1919, and later merged it with Lodge, to compete with imported American Champion plugs. Core income from spark plugs funded growth and acquisition throughout the 1930s and 40s.

Smiths began to make electrical clocks and instruments in the early 1930s, moving to the present site in Crickle- wood in North London then, and reached a non-compete agreement with archrival Joseph Lucas. A substantial clock making business was established between 1930 and 1939, and they began to make aircraft instruments and automatic pilots. Instrument and automatic landing was added with the purchase in the 1950s of my father’s company, S G Brown, and the Sperry Gyroscope Company, becoming the aviation division. Marine instruments were added with the prewar purchase of my uncle Frank King’s company, Kelvin Hughes.

They acquired British Jaeger from the French-Swiss parent company in 1937, with distribution rights in the Do- minions, Protectorates and Colonies., and in 1931 production and distribution rights for Bosch and VDO equip- ment. Fresh air car heaters, a real novelty, as against the older recirculatory type, were introduced, and car ra- dios, under the Radiomobile brand. Later, Motorola radios were made under license.

Smiths chairman at that time was Ralph Gordon Smith, a keen horseracing man, and accordingly were built strategically near racetracks in Basingstoke and Cheltenham

The recent trend has been to use warning lights in place of calibrated gauges. Most car instruments are now made in a single dashboard unit for mass produced cars, and eventually Smiths had only one customer for elec- trical fuel and oil pressure gauges, and ammeters were bought in from (gulp) Lucas.

Smiths stopped making clocks and watches in the 1970s, most car instruments, and car radios under the Radio- mobile brand. They had been making Motorola radios also under license, and Bluecol car antifreeze.

The growing Aircraft Division was housed nearby in the Radiomobile , which had been the prewar Bentley car factory on the North Circular Road. It was close by the Van Den Plas coachworks, which built many vintage Bentley bodies, and which was later bought by BMC, eventually becoming a badge name for deluxe Austin and Jaguar saloon cars. My father’s office was W O Bentley’s original office, and had his original desk and office fur- niture (still there, maintained by the Bentley Drivers Club).

The Aviation Division became the main growth area of the company, was renamed the Aerospace Division in the 1960s and moved to Wembley, with the factory in Cheltenham.

Portland Plastics was acquired then, and the Medical Division became the second key division. The Aerospace Division was sold to American GE in 2007, leaving Medical & Diagnostics the only remaining ac- tive areas in what was S. Smith & Sons, renamed Smiths Industries in the 60s, then Smiths Group, now Smiths. Their main area of business now is making security and x-ray systems for airports.

VOLUME 17, NUMBER 5 THE ROUNDABOUT PAGE 11

WELCOME TO THE OECC ! Don and Sheila Bartlett—Vancouver, B.C.—1977 TVR 2500M Russell and Kathryn Johnson—Port Coquitlam, B.C.—1974 Triumph TR6, 1959 Sun- beam Rapier, 1965 E-Type Roadster Malcolm Kenning and Liza Thompson—Vancouver, B.C.—no car at present but looking for a Series III Hillman Minx Michael and Gail Dyer—Ladner, B.C.—1972 Triumph TR6 David Avery—White Rock, B.C. - 1961 Triumph TR3A Barry Ryley—Burnaby, B.C. - 1952 MG TD, 1958 MGA Coupe, 1960 MGA Roadster

THE BOOT

Stephen Way and Brian Lees pose with Stephen’s 1970 Jaguar E Type and its original owner Michael Wainright at the 2012 Van Dusen ABFM. Brian was the cars second owner. See Alyn Edwards fascinating article on this at http://www.vancouversun.com/1970+Jaguar+bought+new lyweds+second+honeymoon/7173566/story.html

(Photo: Alyn Edwards, Vancouver Sun )

Missed ABFM Awards

Regarding the listing of ABFM awards won by VCB members in the May/June edition of the Roundabout. I inadvertently missed two winners. They are as follows: John Chapman poses with his newly completed –1st place in Morgan Drop Head class Sunbeam Imp. (the infamous Demon Imp!) John Les Burkholder—3rd in Morgan Drop Head class reports that while the car still needs a fair bit of “sorting” it did pass the AirCare test first time My apologies to both through. The Imp looks fantastic, congratulations on a job well done.

AT THE WHEEL New memberships and correspondence: Roundabout Editor : Alan Miles Chairperson: Steve Diggins 604-294-6031 7923 144A St., Surrey, B.C. V3S 8C1 [email protected] - 604-272 -2145 ICBC/AirCare Liaison: Fred Bennett Vice-Chairperson: Bill Grant Immediate Past Chairperson: Steve 604-939-1773 / Fax 604-939-1753 [email protected] 604-936-6454 Hutchens [email protected] 360 - Treasurer: Colin Crabbe 733-3568 Good & Welfare: David Ballantine [email protected] - 604-590-621 Event and Meeting Coordinator: [email protected] - 604-980-4120 Membership renewals: 56-9088 Holt Road, Lorna Hoare Website Editor: Steve Hutchens Surrey, B.C. V3V 4H3 [email protected] - 604-584-2564 [email protected] 360-733-3568 Membership Secretary: John Chapman Communications Coordinator: Position [email protected] 604-590-3749 vacant

VOLUME 17, NUMBER 5 THE ROUNDABOUT PAGE 12