July & An Austin August 2003 Volume 8, Issue 4 Cambridge Moment IN THIS ISSUE Walter Reynolds • British United Air Ferry . 5 A funny thing happened on • AirCare Update ............ 8 the way to an OECC Run • At the Wheel ................ 2 Living in Pitt Meadows, • Austin Healey Tour ....... 6 whenever I have to go into • Autojumble: Cars & Parts Langley I drive over to the For Sale & Wanted ..... 10 Albion Ferry for the sail • Cambridge Moment ..... 1 across the Fraser River and into Fort Langley. I’ve taken • Chair’s Ramblings........ 2 the Austin Cambridge on the • Events Coming Up ....... 2 ferry several times, but the • Ferguson Motors .......... 3 frequency of the trips does nothing to lower my level of Minter Gardens • Go-Kart Grand Prix ...... 8 anxiety as fingers grip the ig- Rachel Nelson • License to Drive ........... 4 nition key and the hand • Looking Back - Ferries . 5 turns the key to start the Can you think of a more interesting and amazing setting for a car show • Looking Back - Ladner . 3 engine. There’s never been a problem starting the Cam- than the beautiful Minter Gardens? • Minter Gardens ............ 1 bridge on the ferry, that is • Parts Discounts .......... 10 until I was on the way to Les • Vintage Car Races ....... 8 Heatherington’s OECC car run around Langley. I darned near did a very Don’t Forget: childish thing on that Sun- Aug. 5 Meeting 7:00 day when I turned the igni- Society of Railroad tion key to start the engine Engineers Clubhouse, and drive off the ferry. You Confederation Park, see, nothing happened: no July 20 was the date for the inaugural Burnaby sounds, no clicking, nothing! Concours Classic, put on by the Fraser Valley British Motor Club, Abbotsford Sept. 2 Meeting: 7:00 Neither Linda’s questions Vintage Car Club, and Brian and Faye Site to be announced! (what’s wrong?) nor the ferry Minter. As is often the case on the attendant’s urging helped. morning of a car event, the weather Best Calendar Online: After several more attempts www.vancouverminiclub.ca provided enough rain to keep the dust to start the car, including down, and to keep convertible tops up Other Branch Websites: bashing the battery terminal for the morning. South Island: connections and still noth- The traffic marshals looked sleepy www.oecc.ca ing, the ferry attendant said, when we arrived at 7 AM, but did a Central Island: “We’ll have to push you over fine job of directing us to our desig- members.shaw.ca/cioecc nated area. We arrived early enough Norhern Interior: there,” pointing to the side of to clean up the Mini, and enjoy the www.karlson.ca:8080/ the ferry. Unfortunately my breakfast special served in the Garden carpathia/nibac Continued on page 5 Continued on page 7 Vancouver Coast Branch Website: members.shaw.ca/oeccvancouver/ Ramblings from the Chair Upcoming Events Gerry Parkinson Plan ahead! Editor’s Note: This issue of the Roundabout 26th Annual LeMay Auto Museum Show was assembled in Iowa and Missouri us- When: Saturday, August 30 Start: 423 E. 152nd, Tacoma, Washington ing email, Internet and fax. Ah, modern Information: www.lemaymuseum.org technology. But it doesn’t always work. OECC Go-Kart Grand Prix Gerry sent his “Ramblings” four times, but When: Sunday, August 31, 10:45 AM an unknown cyber gremlin ate them every Where: 6631 Sidaway Road, Richmond time. The gremlin’s apologies to Gerry! Information: Les Hetherington (604-929-4105) The Last Meeting Highland Games Photos Photos by Chris Walker Les Hetherington At the Wheel Chairperson: Gerry Parkinson 604-943-3824 or [email protected] Vice-Chair: Fred Bennett 604-939-1773 or Fax: 604-939-1753 Treasurer: Elaine Lafontaine 604-591-3332 or [email protected] - Membership renewals: #73-8190 King George Highway, Surrey, BC V3W 5B7 Secretary: Owen Henry 604-581-1187 or [email protected] - New memberships and correspondence: 15178 98th Ave., Surrey, BC V3R 9N5 Events Coordinator: Steve Diggins 604-294-6031 or [email protected] Resource & Library Registrar: Ivan Fisher 604-270-1096 Phone Committee Chief: Paul Beenham 604-278-4140 Roundabout Editor: Steve Hutchens 360-733-3568 Send Articles & Ads to [email protected] or 2090 N Shore Road, Bellingham, WA 98226-7864 2 Looking Back In Photo 1, an older (1939?) Ford sedan can Ferguson Motors, Ladner, 1949 be seen at the far left and a prewar Ford truck Les Foster (Ladner Transfer) is visible on the far right. The staff appears to have turned out in force, Recently while “killing time” in Ladner Village too. In Photo 2, we see more of the old Ford waiting for the family van to be serviced, I sedan and now a non-Ford sedan of prewar wandered over to the local museum and dis- vintage on the right. The staff is hiding and covered the photo archives. Amongst the vari- the poster on the board is different. One pe- ous photos on file were two shots of a now riod note in both photos is the reference to defunct local Ford dealership. Ferguson Mo- Monarch on the dealer sign. Monarchs were a uniquely Canadian Photo 1 model, a Mercury with different badging and trim to give Ford dealers something more up- scale to sell. Like- wise, Mercury dealers got a tarted-up ver- sion of the Ford to market to poorer cus- tomers as a Meteor. Market coverage was tors was located on what was then Westham important as loyalty to a brand was especially Street and is now known as 48 Avenue in the intense in those days and a “Ford Man” could Village of Ladner. hold up his head in almost any price range. Ladner was, and still is, the centre of a pros- The Anglia was compared in contemporary perous agricultural area, hence the mention newspaper articles to the Model A Ford, a strat- of tractors on the dealership’s sign. The dealership is long Photo 2 gone and a restaurant sits on the site now. The photos are in- teresting as they illustrate how many English Ford products were marketed in Canada in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The domestic Ford cars date these pictures as 1949 - the year of Ford’s first completely new and radically changed postwar model. Contrast the prewar styling of the Anglia to its American egy no doubt intended to reassure the public cousin. that this was a true Ford and trade on the Model A’s legendary reputation. Of course they The ratio of domestic to imported vehicles is really did share a general mechanical similar- probably typical as rumours abound of the ity to the Model A and other pre-1949 Fords dealers being coerced into handling the im- and their styling was entirely recognizable as ports in order to get their quota of new domes- prewar U.S. Ford in miniature. These similari- tic models. True or not, the Anglias, Prefects ties helped to bolster sales to a market unfa- and Thames models sold well and filled a low- miliar with overseas imports. priced niche in an almost unquenchable mar- ket. Often these dealers were associates or af- These are great period pictures that hearken filiates of larger dealerships in the city. I don’t back to wonderfully optimistic and consider- know if Ferguson Motors fell into this category ably slower-paced time. or not. 3 License to Drive would help our members shops that others hate, you cannot complete all of and visitors from out of but it still helps to have the details, we can follow- Dennis Nelson province travel with a member references. up by email or phone with little more peace of mind. the shop owner. Some of us think most old By setting this example, Listing of service shops on British Cars are meant to we may also be able to en- our website in no way Below is a sample form be driven daily in our courage clubs in the Pa- constitutes any sort of and a blank form. When great climate, and even on cific Northwest to provide recommendation or war- filling the form in please long trips. What stands in similar information for ranty on the part of the note: the way for many enthu- our trips south. Old English Car Club; 1) If the company does not siasts is the uncertainty they are only a member generally service vehicles about finding a reliable I’ve heard a lot of stories referencess. These refer- but sells parts, please service shop in case about how people have ences are screened to en- note “parts only” in the something happens when called Len Drake, Rod sure that someone has sections under new or we are out of our own city. Berg, or Octagon Motors had a good experience used parts; Others would say it’s and they’ve bailed them with the company, but we 2) Under “parts stocked,” tough enough to find a out by shipping parts. But have no way of assessing please answer yes ONLY good shop where you live. whom do you get to do the the average customer’s if the shop carries most What I’d really like in my repair work if you are as perspective. We request common, operational car when I set off for the mechanically inept as I that members let others parts; interior of the Province, or am? And who carries share their good experi- 3) Please identify what to the Island, is a list of parts? OECC executives ences with repair shops model or models of ve- the possible repair shops, have expressed support by filling in these forms for hicles you have had suc- some idea of what type of for asking members to the good ones.