Founded 1967 Newsletter of the Traditional Car Club of Doncaster APRIL/MAY 2021 Print and Email special due to Covid 19 virus 1 Editorial They think it’s all over, sadly not. The light may well be shining down the tunnel now but we are still restricted for our own good and there have been a number of shows that are being cancelled still. Mainly be- cause the planning has to start now for events in a few months time. Rodger is keeping up with this and the events list is cur- rent up to 29th March, other changes will be reported via members only Facebook page, club website and the event themselves. It is still fairly unclear when things can get going again, depends on the sensibility or stupidity of our popula- tion and politicians. It is getting better, vaccination seems to be going very well so it does look like we will be able to start planning a bit soon. Fingers crossed. The cold and gloom of winter, although impressive in it’s own right, is giving way to spring. Things are warming up, even though some days are a bit dodgy, and the usual heralds of the new year are the early bulbs brightening up the gardens. Birds are in and out of my hedge nesting and arguing, seeds are popping up in the greenhouse and I have made a start on the cars. I plan to build up slowly after my partial hibernation so have been out and changed the rear brake shoes on the Herald. One brake cylinder was stuck solid so that was replaced as well. Just need to bleed them and they are ready, probably an idea to push all of the old brake fluid out while bleeding. There is a small patch of welding to do inside the bonnet but that’s not structural, either way, needs doing. Underneath looks solid but the Hammerite paint protection is wearing a bit after 6 years driv- ing so need to check that and do another coat. Upside down, paint dripping down my arm, can’t wait. I realised that I hadn’t washed the Herald since last summer and it lives outdoors so was rain streaked with small areas of moss along the chrome trim. So, out with the soap and polish. Then the T cut be- cause it was that bad. An old toothbrush cleared the grime along the chrome trims and it doesn’t look too bad now. As always, a good clean provoked a list of little jobs that will need looking at and I might even go mad and fit the new carpets that I bought at least two years ago. As for the others, the van has been doing the main shopping run so does about 5 miles a week, nearly used the half a tank of fuel I put in some months ago and I have finally changed the second CD since lockdown began as it had got to the end. No direct work on the Zodiac yet but I have begun a major shed sort out to find the bits that are inevitably at the back and under other things safely in crates and boxes. My new shed is helping with the storage of things that I cannot throw away, they might be useful one day. I can now meet up with family in gardens so that is to look forward to, I reckon Cusworth is big enough to meet and keep a distance. Couple of camping trips later in the year are booked, hopefully nothing goes wrong. Keep safe everyone, no safe driving, you are not supposed to be going anywhere. Andy Campbell Editor. 3 The new Beetle- early models now hitting the 20 year classic definition. This one typifies the horror of change. We all have our favourite era of motoring and face the challenge of times moving on, for some it is the MINI that draws comment and the obvious degrading compari- son. For me, it is when the grace of the Mk3 Zodiac morphed into the less than pretty Mk4 with it’s huge bonnet and funny cut off back. On tv, I watched a Fiat 500 getting an electric motor, interesting times. A hark back to when the rounded shapes of 1950s Austins became the sharp lines of the Farinas. It’s a terrible world if you choose to have that attitude. The Volkswagen New Beetle is a compact car, introduced by Volkswagen in 1997, drawing heavy inspiration from the exterior design of the original Beetle. Un- like the original Beetle, the New Beetle has its engine in the front, driving the front wheels, with lug- gage storage in the rear. Many spe- cial editions have been released, such as the Malibu Barbie New Beetle. 2001 VW new Beetle RSi At the 1994 North American International Auto Show, Volkswagen un- veiled the Concept One, a "retro"-themed concept car with a resemblance to the original Volkswagen Beetle. Designed by J Mays and Freeman Thomas at the compa- ny's California design studio, the concept car was based on the platform of the Volkswagen Polo. A red cabriolet concept was featured at the Geneva Motor Show, also in 1994. Production design approval was reached in mid-1995, with a design freeze resulting in 22 months of development time for production. In October 1995, the Volkswagen Concept Two was shown at the Tokyo Motor Show, essentially an early preview of the production model due in early 1998. Strong public reaction to the Concept One convinced the company that it should develop a production version which was launched as the New Beetle in 1997 for the 1998 model-year, based on the Golf IV's larger PQ34 platform. The New Beetle is related to the original only in name and appearance (including the absence of a car emblem script with the exception of the VW logo). For the 1998 model year, only the TDI compression-ignition engine was turbocharged; the spark- ignition engines were only naturally aspirated. In June 1999, Volkswagen introduced the 1.8T, which was the first turbocharged spark-ignition engine offered for the New Beetle. Volkswagen created a web site dedicated specifically to the 1.8T. A convertible was added for the 2003 model-year to replace the Volkswagen Cabrio. However, the New Beetle Convertible was never offered with a compression- ignition engine in North America. The third-generation Beetle Convertible, the successor to the New Beetle Convertible, was offered with the TDI compression-ignition engine in the USA but not in Cana- da, though, making it possibly the only diesel convertible car offered in North America. The New Beetle carries many design similarities with the original VW Beetle: separate bumpers, vestig- ial running boards, sloping headlamps, and large round taillights, as well as a high rounded roofline. It was assembled in VW's Puebla factory in Mexico. Now, breathe gently and embrace the changing times. Can it ever be wrong if people love their cars whatever they are? If adverse symptoms persist, have someone give you a good rub down with a Classic Car Weekly. Aaah, that’s better. 4 Hello Club Members Well looks like spring is just poking up out of the ground in yellows, whites and purples (or at least in our garden anyway), at this time we would normally be getting ready for Drive It Day but for the second year not running it will have to remain memories of previous years’ runs. With the roll out of the vaccine, fingers crossed 2022 will be the year things get going for our classic car community. So onto Club news. Since my last article we held our A.G.M virtually using the Zoom soft- ware platform. We had to do this because our Club rules tell us that we must hold a meet- ing in February (this was of course written before Covid was even a thing). The main reason behind this, as a rule, is to prevent the same Committee rolling on year af- ter year without holding a vote to elect them. Unfortunately the rules also state that we must have a Quorum of 30 members present at an A.G.M for it to be upheld. I can tell you that we came close with 25 members at the A.G.M but not enough to form a quorum. So what does this mean? It means that by our own Club rules the A.G.M was not official so an E.G.M (Extraordinary General Meeting) will have to be held in its place when we have sufficient members present to form the quorum of 30 members—essentially once we are al- lowed to meet once again in person. As for keeping things ticking over I am pleased to announce that all the current Committee members have expressed that they are prepared to carry on in their roles until we are able to hold an E.G.M, where a new Committee can be voted in. Some of you may have noticed that our Club website has not quite been itself recently. Our current provider had to move our website to a new supplier and has been unable to get it working with the new supplier. After much discussion via e-mail the Committee decided that we needed to change our provider and get our website working again. I have literally this morning put the wheels into motion to move to a new provider so fingers crossed before long we will have a working website once more.