IN THIS ISSUE Get Roundabout in colour: • At the Wheel ..................................... 2 www.oecc.ca/vcb/ra03.pdf • Autojumble ..................................... 10 July 4 Meeting • The British Choice ........................... 5 • Editor’s Ramble ............................... 9 7:00 MCL Motor Cars, • Fort Langley Run ............................. 6 Vancouver • OECC/VCB Calendar ..................... 10 August 1 Meeting • LeMay Collection ............................. 7 7:00 Stewart Historic Farm, • Living Wtih CMS .............................. 8 Surrey (come at 6:00 and • Name This Mystery Car ................. 10 bring a picnic; bring your • Overland to Langley ........................ 1 English car and tour • Rare Embers of Bygone Days ........ 1 Crescent Beach and White • Wings & Wheels 2006 ..................... 9 Rock afterward) • What Was I Thinking? ..................... 1 OLD ENGLISH CAR CLUB OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, VANCOUVER COAST BRANCH MAY-JUN 2006 - VOL 11, NUM 3 Overland to Langley Rare Embers of What Was I Les Foster Bygone Days Thinking? “By road this 7th day of April, in the year of…” Who could blame Carl Knorr Elaine Lafontaine Or the Restoration of a and me for feeling like we should scrawl A few summers back Patrick Jones Demon Imp a claim on some handy rock after finally and I went on a trip into the interior of John Chapman reaching Langley in a 1951 Ford BC in pursuit of car graveyards. An Thames E83W pickup truck! auto-wrecking yard in Clinton proved to My story begins back in 1973 at a Nowadays it is seldom necessary to be of the bygone days where cars were Saturday car auction in Southend-on- question whether your vehicle can make abandoned without being crushed. Sea in Essex, England, when I was 20 it to the Fraser Valley from What we found were fields of trees and years old. This was a “low end” auction Tsawwassen, a distance of 35 miles, of stacked, shoved, dumped rusting where desperate owners would try to even for elderly British classics. The embers from a time long gone. The unload their sick and dented vehicles Thames, however, is a different breed. yard’s owner was as overgrown and as and back street dealers would get rid of Called in one book “a study in classic worn as the cars, but in his frame and cars of dubious backgrounds. I would Fordisms” it is the product of a different field sparks of life were still being lived visit quite regularly in the hope of age and a very different set of expecta- out from the remains. picking up a bargain that I could fix up and then sell on at a profit. tions. The E83W was introduced in The owner moved as slowly as and Britain in 1938. A true commercial looked as out of time as the tractor he I could tell many tales of the cars that vehicle, its offset drivetrain allowed a used to drag the wrecks from their I purchased over the couple of years short snout and maximum load space resting places among the trees. There that I went there. Once I bought a Rover on a 90 inch wheelbase.. It was was energy in that old tractor that 2000 for $120 and put in a Perkins designed for a legal speed limit of 30 chugged and persistently pulled at the diesel engine mated to a Triumph m.p.h. in a land of country lanes, cars that had set roots into the soil just overdrive gearbox. But that’s another congested city streets, punitive tax laws, as much as the owner had. There was story. and expensive petrol. With a top speed rumor that this yard housed a 1958 On this particular Saturday amongst 5 m.p.h. above the national limit, it was Austin, and I spied it off in a protected the usual pile of wrecks was this 1966 considered rather sprightly. Today, with valley where it had been resting and Sunbeam Imp, white in colour with black 30.5 B.H.P. and a 6.83:1 rear axle ratio rooted since 1968: the majestic interior, one owner with just 21,000 pulling an unloaded weight (with fuel Westminster Countryman. miles on the speedometer. The interior and two occupants) of about 2500 A long time ago wagons were called was like new and just a small dent on a pounds, it is spectacularly slow! A 1947 Estates and Countrymans reflecting the front fender that would be easy to fix. road test claims about 20 seconds to 30 prestige for a social class of people who Imps had a reputation for bad build m.p.h. but this seems incredibly optimis- desired to go back into the country that quality and bad reliability. This one had tic. the romantic poets alluded to; bring to signs of water in the oil and oil in the The result is that any expedition mind the harmony of nature, the honour water, a common fault on these cars. requires careful route planning. The of a simple hard working life, the The water pump would break which in Thames simply cannot use many of the majestic nobility of breeding and social turn overheated the engine which would familiar arteries. Seeking a survivable standing. True to their calling, the then bow the cylinder head which would route to Langley, I got out the map and Estates were given extra trimmings. then result in poor running and non- decided on a circuitous meander They were fitted with leather seats and starting. Continued on page 3 Continued on page 2 Continued on page 4 Rare Embers of Bygone Days noble car of the Wolseley breed that being mine. Unwilling to sell it, I have Continued from page 1 liked the long highway miles, and had made contact with the Ontario owner started restoration on my in-town car the and have learned of his attempts of Austin A55 Mk. I. I had even planned restoration. I have also learned of the arm rests, larger more powerful engines, ahead to my retirement car and pur- role the Westminster Countryman played extra leaf springs in the back, and extra in the Royal visit dash options of the 1950s by such as tachs Queen Elizabeth and clocks. Going who toured a step farther, the Canada’s coun- Countryman also tryside. It was provided fold also her car of down seats, with choice in the UK fold out leather during the time of seat cushions for the headrests, and Westminster’s the wagons glory days. offered a six-foot long bed space. It I look forward to was a car for the the day when I man who had can make the everything. time and find the place and energy Just as the old to restore this yard owner came timepiece to its to life when former glory for speaking of the all enthusiasts to cars and the see. It has stories behind jumped the cue them, I could see line I have made the nobility in the chased the Triumph TR3 roadster that for myself, and hope to have more then old hulk of the Westminster A95. Its now sits in my father’s back yard until just my hand directing its return to life. proud flying A held aloft on its hood, the day that I can work on restoring it. The liveliness and camaraderie of forever marked its destiny to the driver at Like the first car I restored, these were enthusiasts working together would the wheel, setting the direction. The all to be home repairs and works of encourage and kindle the fires needed to Westminster had come to a premature passion. This new addition would be pursue such a daunting task. At the end, stop as the brother of the owner had looked upon as excessive even by my the Countryman would be a testament to cause to have the engine overhauled, own standards. those who deem it to take it upon sending it to a car repair shop. But The thousand dollars that I paid for it, themselves to bring back to life what during the same year, the brother had the auto wrecker’s enthusiastic reassur- was a people’s accomplishment of a poor health and consequently died. The ance and determined time and era gone by. car was ignored, but as the memory of insistence of its intrinsic the brother was kept, so was the car value, and the assurances of AT THE WHEEL held in memory of a time gone. As time a fellow car enthusiast were went by, the engine was lost, never to be Chairperson: Bart Shaw factors, but basically I was 604-946-4700 recovered from the garage, but the car, enthralled. So it has been either by association of its owner or of its Vice-Chairperson: Ken Miles hauled to a dry storage on [email protected] - 604-576-8036 own noble bearing, was protected by its the coast where will sleep for current owner until 2003. The locals had Treasurer: Elaine Lafontaine another few years until its’ [email protected] - 604-591-3332 not managed to stone the windshield like day of restoration. I have Membership renewals: the other hulks and the trees had not learned of its rarity over time, #73-8190 King George Highway, Surrey, BC V3W 5B7 found holes through the floors to grow as Patrick, a short time after Secretary: Dennis Nelson through. It had stayed its ground from its’ voyage across BC, sent [email protected] - 604-599-9032 time and time’s ravishes. It had suc- New memberships and correspondence: pictures with a short descrip- 10932 Scarborough Drive, Delta, BC V4C 7X1 cumbed, however, to the hot dry climate, tion of the car to the UK auto and looked as it had been burned and Meeting & Event Coordinator: Steve Diggins magazine called Practical 604-294-6031 shrunken by the sun.