Hidden Valley Model T Club, October 2019

Hidden Valley Commutator Newsletter of the Hidden Valley Model T Club, October 2019

The Hidden Valley Commutator is the newsletter of the Hidden Valley Model T Club. Upcoming Events The newsletter is published monthly and distributed on-line to all connected Oct 2 HVMTC Dinner & General meeting at Charlies members.

The 2016 thru 2017 Oct 12-19 MTFCSC Arizona Tour members of the HVMTC Board of Directors are: Oct 19 HVMTC surprise Tour in North County

President Craig French Oct 26-27 MTFCSD Speedster Run

Vice Pres Stephanie Terrell Nov 6 HVMTC Dinner & General meeting at Charlies

Tours Stephanie Terrell Nov 16...... SDARR 100th Anniversary at Campo

Treasurer Rail Museum Diane McPherson

Secretary Dec 4 HVMTC Dinner & General meeting at Charlies Karen Pepe

Editor Tony Bowker Editors Notes Vic Terrell felt unwell on the second day of the Big Bear Tour and Stephanie took Hidden Valley him home. On the was he had a seizure and ended up in a San Bernardino hospital. Model T Club PO Box 462314 He is currently at home but still not in good shape, please send his your thoughts Escondido, CA 92046-2314 and prayers. TonyB

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Presidents Message

It looks like Summer is about to end and Fall will show up soon. Model T driving here is a yearly event. So get the old T out and drive it around. The weather is turning cooler now so we don't need to use the AC in our Model Ts as much as we did a few months ago. Please show up at the next meeting and on the next tours. We can use any suggestions you might have for the club. Please let me know what you want to do so we can plan events that you will enjoy.

Thanks, Craig French Your Non-Elected President

760-727-5046 [email protected]

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October HVMTC Tour

October 19, 2019

The destination for this tour is somewhat provisional as Vic and Stephanie have other concerns at the moment Craig suggests we save the date of October 19 with a start at the Performing Arts Center at 9am. The destination will probably be a local park where there is an ART display or the Miniature Museum in Carlsbad. Naturally we will find somewhere nice for lunch.

Date October 19

Start Time 9am to leave at 9:30

Destination Surprise

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Big Bear Tour

September 17-20

This tour might be summed up by 2 direct quotes from participants: “That was the worst road we’ve ever driven on!” and “We wouldn’t have missed this for anything!” The interesting thing is that those 2 quotes were from the very same couple! On the drive up to Big Bear, about half of the group stopped off to make a short but rough hike in to Big Falls, the highest (135 feet) waterfall in Southern California. Beautiful clear water tumbled over granite boulders as we climbed to the big upper falls. Beautiful and well worth the hike. By late afternoon all 9 Model Ts and 18 people had arrived at the Best Western: Tony B, Janna L, the Pepes, the Stanfields, the Terrells, the Risings, the Klings, the Lambrechts, Marilyn and Kirby with their friends Kay and Doug.

The motel turned out to be quite nice and quite reasonable (off season and midweek). Big Bear has quite a variety of restaurants including Andy Devine’s “Captains Anchorage” which felt like a step back in time to another era with dark paneling, red leather booths and old school waitress.

After breakfast on Wednesday, the Ts all headed West past the Village and Boulder Bay with a stop at the historic Big Bear Lake Dam, dating to 1912. Continuing West for another 15 miles, we turned off to go up to the Keller Peak Fire Lookout Tower. We started climbing immediately and for the next 5 miles, the road got steeper and more narrow. As we neared the top, the road leveled off and provided a spectacular view to the South. It was so steep it appeared you could throw a rock and hit Redlands! At 7900 foot elevation, the lookout tower was open with an extremely steep set of steps and a very knowledgeable volunteer host. The 360 degree views were a little hypnotizing. We couldn’t stop looking! The trip back down the mountain was equally daunting until we hit the highway and headed back to the village for lunch.

In the late afternoon, we boarded the Big Bear Queen for a 90 minute narrated tour of the lake with Captain Chris. Lots of history, nature, houses from shacks to mansions made for a very enjoyable boat ride.

Thursday morning we drove part way around the lake to the Big Bear Discovery Center which had lots of information on the local natural history, a terrific exhibit on the CCC and a 1/2 mile nature walk.

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We headed up what seemed like a steep dirt road (that is until we came back down the other side!)leading to Holcomb Valley. This valley is the site of Southern California’s biggest gold rush in the 1860’s. There is not much left other a few piles of metal and wood and some holes in the ground. But the scenery was beautiful with lush meadows, big stands of trees and wildflowers. We stopped at most of the sites and had a lunch of make your own sandwiches, etc. near the Metzger Mine. We then headed down the rest of the 12 mile dirt road which was quite steep, rocky and very slow going. A true Model T road! After returning to the motel, a few of us headed off in the Ts for an optional tour to the Champion Lodgepole Pine, one of the world’s biggest Lodgepole pines. This involved an even rougher 5 miles of dirt road and a beautiful 1/2 mile hike into the spectacular tree.

All of us went to a delicious dinner at the 572 Social Restaurant where we had a large room all to ourselves. Very enjoyable evening! Friday morning, we all packed up and headed home. We gambled a little and ran without a trouble truck and it turned out we didn’t need one. No breakdowns, no flats! There was quite a lot of discussion about which road was worse, Titus Canyon in Death Valley or this tour. Guess we’ll just have to compare them when we tour Death Valley next March!

Only 4 people completed all of this tour including the 2 options of Big Falls and Champion Lodgepole. Can you guess who?

A word of appreciation to Janna Laughon who has just recently got her 1911 Touring running and has had little practice driving after no Model T driving for the past 30 years. This trip was a little bit of an “initiation by fire” but she handled it like a pro!

We will finish with one more quote from a participant: “I don’t want this tour to end!” So, for better or worse, hopefully this tour will be remembered for a while.

Kirby and Tony

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Minutes for HVMTC General Meeting August 7, 2019 Held at Charlie’s, Escondido

Attendees: Mac & Diane MacPherson, John & Karen Pepe, Tony Bowker, Craig & Barbara French, Dale & Eleanor Stanfield, Ken & Merleen Magers, Virgil & Sharon White, Les & Barbara Von Nordheim, John & Jane Ailing, Vic Terrell, Anne Tunnell, Dell Pound (20)

Start Time: 7:02p.m. Craig started the meeting, Tony led the pledge of allegiance.

President and General News Report: Dell Pound purchased a 1924 Touring that belonged to Lee Chase. It will be up and on tour soon. Congratulations! Hope to see you soon on tour! Tony went on the Billings/Yosemite tour (which did not go to Yosemite) and gave us a recap of his tour there. There were long tours each day, and the country is beautiful. It sounded like an interesting few days, with a wide variety of tours, including the Little Big Horn battlefield, and a stop at someone who buys and sells Model Ts. Total mileage on the official tour of three days traveled about 620 miles. He then visited Yellowstone, but lots of traffic especially for a Model T at the peak of the tourist season. Howard Gingrich’s (long time Model T participant) wife passed away. He is wanting to sell his Model T.

Secretary’s report: The minutes were approved. There will not be a formal newsletter in September as our editor is heading to vacation in London. Safe travels!

Treasurer’s Report: Diane reported we had $1,400.58 in the bank.

Tours Report:

There will not be a tour in August for this club.

There will be a San Diego Model T club tour September 17th- 21st and tour for two days, some dirt roads, boat trip, to Big Bear, trailering there on a Tuesday and home on Friday and driving around there for 2 or 3 days.

Also another San Diego tour to Death Valley in March of 2020 is in the planning stages.

For future tours, please let Craig know if you have any ideas or would like to plan a tour yourself. We all have interests that others might want to learn about. Saturdays are better days to tour rather than Sunday, and keep in mind we all like to eat lunch out!

Also keep us posted if you have a T that needs work and you need an assist or need to borrow tools to do the work.

The raffle of $28.00 was won by John & Jane. See you at the next meeting September 4, 2019!

The meeting was adjourned at 7:29.

Respectfully submitted, Karen

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Minutes for HVMTC Meeting Sept 4, 2019 Held at Charlie’s, Escondido Attendees: Mac & Diane MacPherson, John & Karen Pepe, Craig & Barbara French, Dale & Eleanor Stanfield, Virgil & Sharon White, Les Von Nordheim, Anne Tunnell, Rich Seymour, Vic & Stephanie Terrell, Lou Schweizer (16)

Start Time: 7:00 p.m. Craig started the meeting, Tony led the pledge of allegiance.

President and General News Report: Craig put together a list of tools he has that are available to members to borrow. That list should show up in our newsletter, and if you have tools or are in need of a tool, please ask. He then asked how many of us only belong to the HVMTC club. There are 75 car clubs in this area, not all Model T clubs, but his point was that if this is the only club you belong to, maybe our club needs to be in touch with other clubs and see what other activities are out there.

Les toured to Tennessee since we last saw him, there were 145 Model T’s on the tour, and he said it was a well organized and beautiful tour. You had to pay close attention, as many of the roads were unmarked. It was hot, but we’ve seen our share of heat for sure this summer. Back roads, lots of trees forming canopies over the roads, and a friendly group of tour hosts. If you want to see a video, one has been posted up on youtube, but I couldn’t bring it up on my internet, so will not publish an address here.

Secretary’s report: There was not a newsletter in August so there are minutes, but none were seen to approve. Next month maybe two sets!

Treasurer’s Report: Diane reported we had $1,447.58 in the bank.

Tours Report:

There will be a San Diego Model T club tour September 17th- 20th to Big Bear, Karen brought a summary of the tour for the members that attended the 9/4 meeting.

We are hoping to have an October tour for this club, TBD at the next meeting.

Also another San Diego tour to Death Valley in March of 2020 is in the planning stages.

Keep us posted if you have a T that needs work and you need an assist or need to borrow tools to do the work.

The raffle of $25.00 was won by Rich. See you at the next meeting October 2, 2019!

The meeting was adjourned at 7:24. There were two additional prizes for members, won by Vic and Virgil.

Respectfully submitted, Karen

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For Sale

Trailer FREE This trailer was built specifically to haul a T or an A. It will need an overhaul (tires, wiring, brakes rebuilt & paint). It is offered for free to anyone who will pick it up at my house in Valley Center.

Rich Seymour 760-803-4785 valleycenterC\[email protected]

Wanted Lost my Wood Wheel Press

I have lost track of my Model T Wood Wheel spoke press. I'm sure some one borrowed it and it's now sat on a shelf somewhere. Please let me know as I have some wheels to repair in the shop. [email protected] 619-922-3954

FOR SALE: Norman Rockwell's picture of 1929 Model T 4-seated convertible {Ed note, The picture is a 1912 Model T, no front doors} known as "Boss of the Road". It is custom matted and quality framed with no-glare UV glass, and wired for immediate hanging. Picture measures 21" x 21" and with frame measures 22 1/2" x 22 1/2 ". Asking $140.00 or best offer. Call (760) 941-9508. CAROL LONG

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Tools an Equipment available to borrow

Here is a list of some tools that club members can use if needed. Anybody in the club can borrow these tools to work on their cars. I only ask that they return the tools when finished and that the condition be the same as when they were borrowed. Craig French 760-727-5046

Equipment

Engine Hoist Engine Stands Engine/Trans Cradle 40 Ton Hydraulic Press Hand Crank Coil Tester Inspection Camera Oil Pressure Test Gauge Valve Seat Cutting Equipment Rear Axle/Drive Shaft Stand Rear Frame Support Stand Precision Scale Press Lathe Mill Air Compressor Bead Blast Cabinet Paint Booth. . Battery Chargers Axle Stands Hydraulic Jacks Wire Feed Welder Oxy/Act Gas Welder Electric Stick Welder Low Pressure/High Volume Paint Sprayer In Ground Hydraulic Car Lift

Tools

Ring Compressor Ring Expander Valve Spring Compressor Band Tool U-Joint Holder Trans Drum Reamers Exhaust Pipe Pack Nut Wrench Timer Cover Alignment Tool Head Bolt Remover Tool Head Bolt Thread Repair Kit Cam Gear Nut Wrench Main Bearing Cap Wrench Hub Cap Wrench Trans Clutch Adjustment Spacer Numerous T Wrenches Flywheel Lifting Sling Various Gear Pullers Bench Grinder Bench Metal Polishing Buffer Hand Grinders Bore Gauge Dial Indicator Micrometers Calipers Rear Axle Bearing Sleeve Remover All the above are courtesy of Craig

Front Axle king Pin Reamer (Tony/Phil) Driven Gear Puller (Tony)

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32nd Annual Speedster Endurance Run October 26-27, 2019

The San Diego Model T Club will hold the 32nd consecutive Speedster endurance run in the hills of Riverside and of San Diego Counties, this year out of Fallbrook, CA

For information and reservations check the web site at http://www.mtfcsd.com or contact: Speedster Run Coordinator P.O. Box 23324 San Diego, CA 92193-3324 Phone: (619) 922-3954 e-mail:[email protected]

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