VOLUME 22, NUMBER 3 May-June 2017 INSIDE THIS ISSUE UPCOMING EVENTS Chairman’s Welcome 2 Tuesday, Aug. 6th Tuesday, Sept. 5th Thames 150 3 at 6:30pm Fall Fish and Chips Cars of Branch Members 8 ABFM Winners 10 Annual Stewart Farm Run—Location to be Two Lions Show 11 Picnic and Drive, announced at a later Rear View Mirror / At The 13723 Crescent date. Wheel 13 Road, Surrey, B.C. Photo: Lorna Calla and her granddaughters take the Thames for a “drive” at this year’s ABFM. Looks like we might have a few future members here! (photo: Les Foster) “I wonder if they’ll take the Thames as a trade in?” VCBSee visitsthis year’sthe Vancouver ABFM Tesla Class Dealership winning (story Branch page 2) members on page 10 and the saga of Les Fosters Thames E83W Pickup restoration on page 3. Chairman’s Welcome By Walter Reynolds Hello everyone, and welcome to Summer. This is my third ‘Chairman’s Welcome’ and one could say that I’m half-way through my one-year term. We’ve had a few things happen since my last message, some of them good, some not-so-good. In early May we were not able to go to the scheduled supper at the 50s Din- er due to renovations and a change in ownership. Thanks to Alan Inglis we were able to visit Brodie Bikes, a bike manufacturer in Langley to visit owner Paul Brodie’s one-man shop. Here we spent a very informative even- ing learning everything there is to know about restoring and re-creating old bicycles and motorbikes. A full report can be found elsewhere in this Roundabout. Also in early May, Mike Speke resigned from the Club so we no longer have a regalia person at the Club level or the VCB level. As such, the new system for regalia purchasing is stalled. This means that until we have a Regalia Coordinator and a source for new regalia items, we won’t be able to take advantage of the Club’s financial credit for regalia purchases nor will we be utilizing the ‘up to $500.00 from VCB finances for regalia purchases’ voted on and approved by the membership at the May 2 nd event . May 20 th was the Vancouver ABFM; yet another spectacular weather day which saw several VCB members taking home a plaque. More about this elsewhere in this Roundabout. The 4 th annual ‘British Invasion Car Show’ was held last Sunday, June 4 th at the Two Lions pub in North Vancouver. Expecting around 50 or so cars we made up 70 packages but only 23 cars showed. What a disappointment! The saving grace of sorts was that enough people showed who hadn’t regis- tered which compensated for those who had registered but didn’t show. Perhaps it’s ‘intuitive fore- sight’ that at the 2016 Branch AGM, the membership approved a committee to investigate alternate locations for the 2018 Car Show. A second trophy tied to the Fort Langley Run was recently found by Steve Hutchens. This trophy, the Fawlty Towers Trophy is presented to the person who has the worst time on that year’s run. The last time it was awarded was in 2011 and Steve was the winner. The Fawlty Towers Trophy has been res- urrected starting from 2017 and this year’s lucky recipient is John Rennie for his tale of woe of try- ing to get to the run. And now, volunteers: Tom Popovich recently volunteered to be the third member of the 2017 London to Brighton organizing committee, assisting Malcolm Tate and Tony Cox. Ken Miles recruited volun- teers for both the ABFM tent and the Two Lions car show and thanks have already been sent to all those volunteers, including members who just showed up and helped. Volunteers are always needed for short term projects like car shows and runs but also for the longer term as in the case of Execu- tive and appointed positions. A decision was made at the April 6, 2017 VCB Executive meeting to again hold the Christmas Social at the Eaglequest Golf Club on 152 nd Street, Surrey. Don’t forget that the Club AGM occurs over the weekend of July 7, 8 and 9 ending with the Brits on the Beach at Transfer Beach, Ladysmith. There will be no Branch event for July that is unless some- one organizes something. Enough from me so till the next Roundabout, “Drive just fast enough to stay ahead of the rust”. Walter Reynolds, Chairman, OECC-VCB. VOLUME 22,NUMBER 3 THE ROUNDABOUT PAGE 2 Thames 150 By les Foster While it only feels like one hundred and fifty years since I began to restore a Thames, there is a his- toric connection. In 1967, when I was 16 and sporting a fresh new driver’s licence, it was Cana- da’s 100th Birthday and national pride was at an all time high. I was no exception and I decided to mark the event by refurbishing my first vehicle, a 1951 Ford Thames E83W van. My brother had purchased two of them along with a friend with the abortive plan of building a hot rod from them. The best of the two, a blueberry farm truck which The Thames at the Vancouver ABFM this year cost $40 was all original and ran very nicely. I cov- eted it and one night, when my brother was short of money to attend a dance, I saw my chance. I struck a hard bargain at $15 and his signature on a set of Transfer Papers which I just happened to have ready, and the Thames was mine. Despite his seller’s remorse and remonstrations the following day, I held firm and a life-long association with the marque was born. Along the way I picked up the moniker, “Mr. E83W” and have become something of an authority in this very narrow field often help- ing others, all over the world, with advice or parts for their restorations. During the 1967 Centennial Year I sanded my van down to bare metal with an electric drill and sand- ing disc in our carport, coating it nightly to prevent rusting with a film of stove oil borrowed from the barrel of heating fuel in our “oil shed”. I filled a few minor dents and a bit of rust behind the rear wheels with bondo, carefully sanded the repairs and by summer’s end it was ready for primer and paint. My brother got me a deal on the materials from his employer, an auto body supply company, and a local body shop sprayed it for $80. It looked good in 1966 Studebaker Mount Royal Red (how was I to know Studebaker would go out of business soon after!). The finishing touch was a Canada Centennial decal on the windscreen and a red and white Centennial plate bolted above the BC licence. I was proud of the job and despite an engine fire a few months later that damaged the bonnet finish and returned that area to primer, I loved that truck. We were inseparable and to drive the rural roads of Richmond with the windscreen open and the instrument needles dancing in the dark of evening was pure joy and freedom! That was 50 years ago…my God, can it really be that long? Now it is Canada 150, and finally my goal of truly restoring a Thames has been realized. Between that first Thames and now there have been many Thames, whole or in parts, but never a running driving one. Over the years I collected vans, pickups, and even an Estate E83W. Eventually all of these acquisitions were to contribute in some way to my final project- restoration of my present Thames pickup. Before I go into that, a quick history lesson is in order. The Ford E83W was introduced in March, 1938 as a purpose-built commercial vehicle that offered larger carrying capacity and greater perfor- mance and maneuverability than many of its contemporaries. Originally badged as a “Fordson” in Britain, the Thames name was reserved for export until 1952 when all E83W’s became “Thames”. De- scending from the original British Ford in mechanical design (the 1932 Model Y was designed for the British by Ford in Dearborn), the E83W used the same 10 HP (RAC) engine as the Prefect car but had much more robust axles and suspension much like the full size U.S models. The E83W in fact shares many smaller components as well as general design features with American Fords of the mid-1930’s. It gets its styling cues from the 1937 U.S. Ford truck (the grille), and the 1935-36 U.S. Ford cars (the door and door window shape and belt line pressing, flat windscreen and generally streamlined look). Under the then-new Ford coding system E=England, 8=1938 (year of introduction), 3= 10 Hp “C” en- VOLUME 22,NUMBER 3 THE ROUNDABOUT PAGE 3 gine, and W indicated short front or forward control (the E83W engine and drivetrain is offset 4’’ from the centreline to allow the driver’s footwell to be alongside the engine giving a short front and more load carrying space. The passenger has no footwell and thus the optional passenger seat was raised higher to compen- sate). The E83W was the only civilian model Ford produced all through WWII at the Dagenham, Essex, factory and was widely used by civil defence organizations and by government ministries and the military in support roles.