BRITISH SPORTS CARS ALASKA British Sports Cars Alaska Limited is the club for owners of all British sports cars including Austin Healey, Caterham, Jaguar, Jensen Healey, Lotus, Marcos, MG, Mini, Morgan, Sunbeam, & Triumph October 1, 2016

This issue: “Tour d’Eagle River” > 2017 Calendar Photos Needed by OCTOBER 25! Coming Events > Portland All British Field Meet > BSA > Costin Nathan GT Periodical News > Member News > Buy/sell/trade

“Tour d’Eagle River” Story & photos: Ken Morton For our last planned drive of the season, Rick volunteered to lead us up and down some of his favorite roads above Eagle River and Dean offered to host a BBQ at his home when we were done driving.

Leonard brought his TR4A, and everybody had to inspect the engine compartment. The week of rain ended and the sun began breaking through as we gathered at the Eagle River Fred Meyer parking lot. After checking to make sure no one was left behind at the Carr’s parking lot, we headed up Eagle River Loop toward Skyline Drive. Through numerous hairpin turns and blind By the time we were ready to depart, we had three intersections, the route becomes Jamie Drive, Jaguars, three Triumphs, one MG, and of course, McCrary Road, Upper Skyline, Canyon View Drive, Rick’s Marcos. and eventually Golden Eagle Drive according to Goole Maps. At the end of Golden Eagle is the Mt. Baldy Trailhead.

Jason arrived in style. A bit of socializing always seems to include looking under at least one bonnet. Coming Events Sunday October 2, 2:00 PM. Members’ meeting, Jitters Coffee Shop, Eagle River

On the cover: High above Eagle River on Stewart Continued on page 3 Road

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Where do we go next?

Mt. Baldy parking area on Skyline Drive. Front to back: Rick’s Marcos, Ken’s TR6, Leonard’s TR4A, John’s E-Type, Martin’s Midget, Johnson’s E-Type, Dean’s TR8, and Jason’s XJ6.

Coming down Skyline Road. The photographer’s TR6 waits while Rick, Leonard, John, Martin, and Johnson pass by.

Historic plates on Triumph and Jaguar

Heading back down Skyline Road From Mt. Baldy we descended again to Eagle River Road and continued on to Stewart Drive. Through

Terry and Dolly visit another series of twists and turns, Stewart Drive Continued on page 4

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British Sports Cars Alaska is the monthly newsletter of British Sports Cars Alaska Limited. British Sports Cars Alaska Limited is the club for owners and enthusiasts of all British sports cars. BSCA is an affiliated chapter of the North American MGA Register. Individual or family dues are $30.00 per year.

The BSCA Ltd board is: Dean Cox, President [email protected] Johnson Quarles, President-elect [email protected]

Rick Harding, Past President becomes Canyon Drive, Sheppard Drive, Lynx Way, [email protected] and Brownie Drive. The road is gated just past the John Martin, Treasurer/secretary intersection of Brownie Drive and Barclay Drive, [email protected] where we made a U-turn at the switchback and David Baldwin, At-large parked for the view and photos. [email protected]

Ken Morton, Newsletter Editor [email protected]

Useful contacts British Sports Cars Alaska (BSCA) Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/441619005978014/ North American MGA Register (NAMGAR) http://www.namgar.com/ North American MGB Register (NAMGBR) https://namgbr.org/

Near the top of Stewart Drive/Barclay Drive Vintage Triumph Register (VTR) http://vtr.org/ Austin Healey Club of America (AHCA) https://www.healeyclub.org/ Austin Healey Club USA (AHCU) http://www.healey.org/ Jaguar Clubs of North America (JCNA) http://www.jcna.com/ Antique Auto Mushers of Alaska (AAMA) http://www.antiqueautomushersak.org/ Midnight Sun Street Rod Association (MSSRA) Continued on page 5 http://www.midnightsunsra.com/

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2017 BSCA Calendar: We need your photo by October 25! We’re going to do the calendar a little differently this year. Please email your photos before October 25 to me at [email protected] . Send me a photo of your car, plus a group picture for the cover if you have one.  Photos will be published in the November newsletter for everyone to see.  You may vote for your favorites by email, and tell me how many calendars you want.  Calendars will be printed. Stewart Road/ Barclay Road. Looking up Eagle River  The calendars will be available to pick up at Valley the Christmas party. After the party, the remaining calendars will be mailed out to those who have paid. Don’t forget the Triumph 6-Pack helpful photo hints:  Take time to position the car nicely.  Keep other people out of the shot.  Set your camera to the highest quality.  Don’t have the sun directly behind the car.  Keep your shadow and your reflection out.  Make sure the camera is focused.  Watch out for signs, poles, trees, trash cans and people sticking up out of your car.  Don’t fill the frame with the car as it makes it Following Johnson’s E-Type up Eagle River Road impossible to crop photo for the calendar.  Wide angle lens distort things badly.  Look for interesting angles, compose the shot, squat down or stand up on something.

The afternoon ended with a delicious meal at Dean & Sandra’s house above Eagle River Road. Many thanks to them both.

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Portland All British Field Meet (ABFM) Story & photos: Ken Morton

From T-series MGs to Triumph TR8s

Sunbeam Tiger Most Labor Day weekends find your editor in Portland at the All British Field Meet. This event includes a huge British car show on Saturday and a British car swap meet on Sunday. The ABFM is held 1924 Bentley 3 Litre in conjunction with vintage racing all weekend on the adjacent Portland International Raceway road course.

1953 BSA Bantam 125 motorcycle

Land Rover was the featured marque this year, and there was a huge variety of standard and special Landies including campers. At the ABFM this year were a couple of cars I’d never seen or heard of before, and one I learned more about. They are profiled in separate articles beginning on page 8. Morgan Plus 8 Continued on page 7

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The small-bore race grid included Bug-eye Sprites, (SOVREN) also allowed Cobra replicas to run this MGBs, a Triumph GT6, a Morgan 4/4, Elva Couriers, year. a Haggispeed Clubman, plus a variety of German, Italian, Swedish, and Japanese cars.

Out and out race cars included a large number of ‘70s open-wheel Formula Fords, and a handful of V8 Classic battle between Triumph TR6 and Datsun monsters like this winged 1969 Ford Can Am car. 240Z in mid-bore race.

Cars and parts for sale at the Sunday swap meet ran The large-bore races were dominated by big-block the gamut from rusty, dented and nearly useless bits Mustangs and Corvettes. The Sunbeam Tiger was to beautifully restored cars like this Alamo Beige one of the more interesting also-rans. Race MGA. organizers, the Society of Vintage Racing Enthusiasts,

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The unique front suspension is fully independent and BSA Automotive Division utilizes an upper and lower pair of quarter elliptic Story & photos: Ken Morton springs on each side serving as both the A-arms and Most of us probably think of motorcycles when we the springs. The Scout had a 90 inch wheelbase, and hear the name BSA. At its peak, Birmingham Small weighed about 1300 pounds. Arms Company was the largest motorcycle And there’s another interesting tie-in to the BSA manufacturer in the world and owned Triumph as Automotive Division. In 1910, BSA had merged with well as BSA. But BSA once manufactured Daimler, one of Britain’s earliest auto automobiles as well as firearms, bicycles, buses and manufacturers. In 1956, Edward Turner, Managing motorcycles. Director of BSA's Automotive Division, was asked to In 1912, BSA became only the second auto design a V8 engine for Daimler. Turner based the manufacturer worldwide to use all steel bodies. The design of the cylinder head on those he had BSA Scout, introduced in 1935, was developed from developed for Triumph motorcycles, including the BSA’s three-wheeler, which differed from Morgan’s use of hemispherical combustion chambers. three-wheeler in that it was front-wheel drive. The four-cylinder flathead engine sits “backwards” in the chassis, with the transmission ahead of it.

The resulting Daimler 2.5 litre V8 was used in the Daimler SP 250 sports car and a larger version was used in the Daimler Majestic saloon. After Daimler was acquired by Jaguar in 1960, the V8 was used in the Daimler 2.5 V8, an upmarket version of the Mark 2 Jaguar saloon. Production of the SP 250 ended in 1937 BSA Scout Series 2 1964. Source: Brian Long, Daimler V8 SP 250 (Editor’s note: A highschool classmate of mine owned one of these remarkable cars, while I drove a mere MGA!)

BSA Scout front suspension Daimler V8 SP 250

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rivals Alfa Giulietta Sprint, Lotus Elite, and Porsche Costin Nathan GT 356B. Despite its somewhat antiquated chassis, that Story & photos: Ken Morton high-revving twin cam engine puts the MG far ahead of its competitors in acceleration.

A unique car competing in the Columbia River Classics vintage races at this year’s Portland ABFM was this 1967 Costin Nathan GT, seen here passing an MGB. The Costin Nathan was designed by aerodynamicist Frank Costin. Costin was, of course, the “cos” in “Marcos,” and also designed the Lotus www.classicandsportscar-magazine.com 11 and Lister Jaguar. Roger Nathan developed the highly tuned 998cc Hillman Imp engine. Weighing Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car just 700 pounds, the car had a power to weight ratio The “Workshop Restoration” section of the of around 250 hp per ton. The monocoque chassis, November issue of Hemmings Sports & Exotics tells like the Marcos, was constructed of resin-bonded one man’s tale of restoring a 1973 Triumph TR6. plywood, and like the Marcos, the smooth body was fiberglass except the aluminum prototype. About six open Spyders and two dozen closed GTs were built between 1965 and 1968.

Periodical News Highlights from favorite classic car magazines: Classic & Sports Car The October issue of C&SC carries an interesting comparison of four 1950s sporting coupes. The magazine profiled the MGA Twin Cam coupe with

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have owned it ever since. In 1983, the engine was BSCA on Facebook completely rebuilt after we spun a rod bearing. The We’ve had a Facebook presence since last year, clutch was replaced at that time also. It never thanks largely to BSCA member-in-exile Ben skipped a beat until the last day of an Alcan Highway Compton. Martin Walters has volunteered to help trip when I burned a valve due to cheap Alcan gas. I administer the page. limped in on 3 cylinders and a quick valve job put it https://www.facebook.com/groups/441619005978014/ back on the road. It was the following year that I put an ad in the paper for anyone interested in forming a Member News/Projects: British Sports Car club and BSCA was born. It has never left me stranded. Current mileage is 88,200 5-speed Spitfire? amounting to 12,000 miles in 34 years due in part to Norm Leuthold is looking for sources of information summer driving only in Alaska. Virtually every and/or parts to install an overdrive or 5-speed mechanical system has been rebuilt and it is a good transmission in his late Spitfire. Contact Norm at strong runner. The body is a bit rough as it has not [email protected] been touched in those 34 years. I am asking $8,000 for it and can assist with shipping arrangements.” Buy/sell/trade/etc. Charlie can be reached at: [email protected] 1952 MGTD Triumph TR4A radiator Used, but serviceable. It came out of a running car This is not a kit car, and I didn't want to send it to the scrap yard. The but a 1970 radiator is at Rick's. FREE! Richard Black, 907-250- California hot rod 5864 [email protected] of a 1952 MG TD. The powertrain is Ford, but the body Contributors wanted is original metal Got a story you’d like to tell, a picture you’d like to and wood. The engine appears to be a racing version share, a question you’d like to ask? Write it up and of the Ford Pinto 4 cylinder. Front disk brakes, 4 email it to Ken Morton, [email protected] speed synchromesh transmission, and drum break I’ll be happy to help you polish it up a little if you’re rear end are also Ford. The car runs well, looks great, nervous about your writing skills! and is fun to drive. The top is serviceable. The tonneau cover needs snaps, and the side covers need recovering. $13,500 Please call for an Join or renew! appointment to drive the car, and put it up on my lift Annual BSCA dues for an individual or a family are for inspection: 907 223-5831, Jay Skaggs $30.00 per year, payable at the time of the Spring MGTD membership meeting. Dues include the BSCA Charlie Laurence Newsletter. writes: “I have finally decided to Mail to: sell the MG. This is the 1952 MG- British Sports Cars Alaska TD that founded c/o John Martin British Sports Cars Alaska in 1998. My earliest 8004 Meadow Hills Circle information on the car had it purchased from a Anchorage, AK 99502 fellow in Seattle in 1980. I bought it in 1981 and

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