VOLUME 15, NUMBER 2 MARCH-APRIL 2010 INSIDE THIS ISSUE UPCOMING EVENTS EDITOR’S BIT Member’s Cars — Fred Bennett 3 Sunday, April 18th—Fort Langley Run Welcome to my first issue as editor. Issigonis Part 8 6 Sunday, April 25th—LAMB Putting it all together was a little bit Olympic Hillman 9 St.George’s Day Show daunting at first but once I figured Famous Austin In Vietnam 9 Sunday, April 25th—Restoration Fair things out it turned out to be a lot of Cars in Wooden Crates 10 Saturday, May 22nd—Van Dusen fun. Many thanks to Steve Hutchens Scuttlebutt 11 ABFM and after party (see page 11) for all of his assistance (via e-mail ABFM After Party 11 June 24th—July 4th: Brits ‘Round from Tulsa, Oklahoma) and to all of Welcome To OECC 12 B.C. 2010 (go to oecc.ca and click the contributors to this issue. It came Autojumble 12 On the “Brits ‘Round B.C.” link for in a little long at twelve pages but I At The Wheel 12 more info). didn’t want to cut anything. I hope you enjoy it. Hearts, Birds & Liz By Celia Obrecht Early Valentine’s Day morning looked pretty dismal, dered many trails promising a good show in a few weeks. but the Liz Blake Memorial Valentine’s Day Run caught a Ken Miles spotted a large owl roosting in the top of a tall break in the weather. It was a fitting memorial for Liz tree and shared his discovery with those of us nearby. because she and Steve founded and led the Hearts and Tarts Valentine Run for the MOGNW Northern Pod over many years, always including heart shaped Dove Choco- lates for all as treats. This year’s run was organized by Lorna Hoare and Win Muehling and included both the Old English Car Club and Morgan Owners Group Northwest (MOGNW) because Liz belonged to both groups. Twenty five cars gathered at the Annacis Island McDon- ald’s. (See participant list in box.) After a generous period of socializing we followed a route along the Fraser River, through Ladner, along to Westham Island and the Reifel Bird Sanctuary. Traffic was light so the group stayed mostly in parade formation, providing entertainment to walkers and runners along the River Road levee. At the Reifel Bird Sanctuary many participants bought bird seed and walked the trails. Daffodils at bud stage bor- Participants enjoyed the bird sanctuary at their own pace and then filtered back to Sharkey’s Bar and Grill in Ladner where Steve Blake joined us for lunch. Even though we nearly filled Sharkey’s, arriving with more people than expected, they did a great job of serving us. This run provided everything one could want; a good drive, fellowship, a bit of exercise, good food, and all in the context of appreciating our memories of Liz Blake. OECC (12) - David and Trevor Austin, Italo Cirillo and Anna Antonelli, Doug and Rhonda Gale, Alan Inglis and Maureen Kirkbride, Bence and Helen McIntyre, Alan and Mary Lou Miles, Steve and Sheila Morris, Gerry and Anita Parkinson, Mike Parkinson and Kelly Bruce, Bart and Audrey Shaw, Malcolm and Barbara Tait, Richard Taylor Both Clubs (7) - Steve Blake and Hugh Monroe, Steve Hutchens and Celia Orbrecht, Ric McDonald and De- nise Bougie, Bob and Judy McDiarmid, Ken and Pat Miles, Win and Christine Muehling, John and Setsuko Rennie MOGNW (6) - Chris Allen and Pam Mahoney, Les and June Burkholder, Laurie and Verna Fraser, Terry Sadler and Val Smith, Ron and Yvonne Theroux, Brian and Tina Thomlinson Photos by Steve Hutchens, Celia Obrecht, and Alan Miles VOLUME 15, NUMBER 2 THE ROUNDABOUT PAGE 2 ‘who-to-go-to’ and through this, found that Octagon Motors Our Members’ Cars and was a place to go to for Spitfire parts. In the local paper, I found an advert for the Old English Car Club. The contact Their Stories: This issue was “I. Cox of Maple Ridge” (that’s Ian Cox who is now in Victoria). I paid my dues and joined the Club. Ian told me featuring Fred Bennett about the B.C. Triumph Registry. I went to a meeting and joined that club. I was now a member of two British car clubs and was the owner of a sad looking Triumph Spitfire! By Walter Reynolds The British motor industry in the 1990s was going through a phase of listing as many heritage British car part suppliers as they could find, and for the B.C. coast, they listed a supplier in Victoria. I didn’t know of the exis- Welcome to our Members’ Cars feature. This is a regular tence of Ruth Burgess at that time, however, through the feature in which we learn about the car or cars of one course of meetings and talking to people, I found out that member per month. This month’s article features the cars Ruth was actually the ‘go-to’ person for British car parts and motorcycles of Fred Bennett (all photos are by Fred.) and advice. 1970 Triumph Spitfire Mk III: Why did I buy the Spitfire? I bought the Spit- fire in July 1992, but first, some background. I had been involved in competitive shooting for years but injured my arm, so I became more involved in boating in 1975. I had a 28 foot ‘hole in the water’, but sold it in 1990. Then I decided to “fiddle with cars”. At that time I had been again riding British motorcycles for about four years and decided to try a British car. My first car was a 1935 Ford, followed by an Austin A40 Devon, which was replaced by a 1947 Ford coupe. I then moved to B.C. and purchased a 1951 Ford Prefect. The Sad Spitfire Being Picked Up By Fred, July ‘92 last time I worked on a car was in 1962 and it was a 1949 Dodge. In 1962, I also owned another Prefect. The Spitfire, So, as I said earlier, I bought the car in July 1992 and as I say, looked sad, but it was so cute! The asking price started the restoration work shortly thereafter. While only was whittled down to $400 which I paid and then had the one complete rear fender was replaced, the other was re- car towed home. paired with “patch” welding. The body tub required much cutting and grinding and new metal. Other parts that had Now the story: I belonged to the B.C. Coalition of Motorcy- to be purchased included sills and sill end plates. Even the cles (BCCOM) and saw an advert in the BCCOM newslet- floor pan had to be replaced – someone had tried to repair ter for a 1970 Triumph Spitfire Mk III. The ad was buried it with epoxy resin and the end result was a structure in amongst all the ‘bikes for sale’ ads. The ad stated that looking like a doily. My son, Grant, did some of the weld- the car had a new top, new tires, new brakes and a rebuilt ing and I did the parts that I felt comfortable doing. I had engine; all lies! Perhaps the car should have stayed buried not done any welding before starting on the Spitfire but like the advert was! The car was located in Aldergrove Grant had worked on several cars. I taught myself as I and, when I went to look at it, was in a sad condition. went. By the end of the project, I had accumulated 6 Spit- At the time of buying the Spitfire, I didn’t belong to any fire doors (anyone need a Spitfire door?), 3 bonnets, an car clubs, but I did belong to the British Motorcycle Own- extra frame and numerous other parts. At one point, I ers Club. A friend of mine and I decided to buy bikes at the bought a parts Spitfire in parts. We hauled it home in two same time. He bought a Triumph and I bought a BSA. pick-up trucks. Shortly thereafter (1975), I stopped by the local Triumph The restoration took 12 years to complete and was a dealership to look at the five new Triumph motorcycles frame-off restoration. Work, family and lack of funds filled they’d recently received. The owner convinced me to take a the time periods between restoration work periods. That’s test ride on one of the bikes. Needless to say, when I re- not to say that small jobs were not done. There were many turned to the dealership with the bike, I traded the BSA of those; like disassembling parts and sub-assemblies, and for it and then rode home to surprise my wife! I got out of using a wire wheel to clean muck off parts, big and small bikes after about six years but returned to them in 1990. (lots of the latter). I did the majority of work myself Through the Triumph motorcycle club, I got to know the VOLUME 15, NUMBER 2 THE ROUNDABOUT PAGE 3 (except the earlier mentioned Grant welding jobs), how- As mentioned earlier, while working on the car, I had to ever, the jobs requiring specialized training and experi- perform tasks that I had neither the training in, nor ex- ence were contracted to those with that expertise. The perience of. Cutting and shaping metal to replace rusted 1296 c.c. engine was rebuilt by Coquitlam Automotive and pieces became a new-found skill. The closest that I had our own Steve Diggins rebuilt and upholstered the seats.