TThhee GGoolldd SSttaannddaarrdd A periodical of the Cadillac & LaSalle Club Hampton Roads Region www.hamptonroadsvaclc.org NEXT MEETING: Tuesday April 2, 2013 7 pm at Joe & Mimma's Italian Restaurant 694 J. Clyde Morris Blvd, Newport News, VA APRIL 2013 New Location: Joe and Mimma's! Real authentic Italian food, great people! Easy to find. MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR Yes, we will gather at Joe and Mimma's Italian Restaurant in Newport News. Joe and Mimma's is a great spot for Cadillac & LaSalle Club spirit. The food is authentic and the people are great. We can order whatever we want off the menu. The prices are good. The directions are at the top of the last page. I have been dealing with shingles for the last 2 weeks. It was on my face and extremely painful. Think of your worst toothache times ten and even your hair hurts! It comes from the chickenpox you had as a kid. It follows a nerve and erupts on the skin with the chickenpox sores and forms scabs, which heal with no scars usually. If you are over 50 and haven't gotten the shingles vaccine, please do it so you may avoid this pain. As you will see later in this newsletter, we are going to enjoy many day tours this spring. Bob Geiger has spent some time and effort to line up these events so we can enjoy things that are nearby to us. More members have sent in stories, thank you. Now it is your turn to let us know about your first car, your favorite car, or a story about a car event. A trip that you will never forget is good. See you at Joe and Mimma's Italian Restaurant, 7 p.m., Tuesday April 2nd. Your director, James Gregg CLC NATIONAL NEWS Exciting things are happening with our CLC Museum at Gilmore. So plan to visit Gilmore soon so you can see where our museum will be built with construction starting later this year. Your director is also your representative to the national board. MINUTES FROM MEETING MARCH 5th There were 16 members at the March dinner meeting. The minutes and treasurer's report were included in the March newsletter. James Gregg said that all members have been contacted for membership renewal. Michael Rankin spoke about his visit to Phantom Works on Hampton Blvd in Norfolk. They do high end restorations. The minimum charge for a paint job is 10 grand; however, if they use "good" paint the charge is 20 grand. Michael also mentioned that a reality show (Velocity) has been filmed there and will air soon. Art Midgette said he received an invitation and flyer for an upcoming fair. (Isle of Wight County in September) They invited our club to participate. Art will bring that information to a future meeting. Bob Geiger presented several options for club trips, tours, and shows for April and May. He gave a brief description for each of the tours. Bob will put out the information and dates in the next newsletter so that we can make decisions. 1 Bob also mentioned that our annual show at Suttle (September 14) has no other competing shows, so far. Don Baker has informed the Peninsula Car Club Council of our show and scheduled date. Art Midgette wants stories from our members about past car events, trips, tours to post on our club's website. James Gregg pointed out that the March issue of The Self Starter has a good synopsis of the winter board meeting in Denver. Since it was a dark and stormy night, he did not go over the notes that he took at the winter meeting. Submitted by Pamela Gregg, Secretary TREASURER"S REPORT Checking Acct: Bal. 2/1/2013.....$843.10 Income...$15.00 Expense...$285.60 and transfer to savings acct....$150.00 Bal. 2/28/2013....$422.50 Savings Acct: Bal. 2/1/2013...$750.13 Dep. from Ck Acct. $150.00 and Int....$.05 Bal 2/28/2013...$900.18 Total Assets 2/28/2013....$1322.68 Submitted by Viator Trudeau, Treasurer MEMBERSHIP REPORT Note: Region members must be current national CLC members. (According to the national club rules.) Be sure to let all your friends and Cadillac and LaSalle owners you meet know about our region. We use your valid CLC # for your CLCHRR membership. CLCHRR SHOW & TOUR REPORT Events coming up.... SATURDAY, APRIL 27, GLOUCESTER-MATHEWS HOUSE & GARDEN TOUR, 10 am to 5pm. The full tour ticket price of $30. includes nine locations, including Walter Reed's birthplace. No need to bring our show cars to this event - we can come in our "daily drivers". We will rendezvous for breakfast beforehand. We need to reserve tickets soon after our meeting. SATURDAY, MAY 18 TO MURFEESBORO, NC & the 12th Annual Porkfest at the Jefcoat Museum of Americana. We did this one several years ago, and it was great fun. They'd like us to bring and display our show cars from 10 am to 3 pm at a discounted admission price of only $7.00. This includes a BBQ meal as well as a tour of the museum. I have promised them that I would give them a count of how many cars are coming, right after our meeting, so they can plan. SATURDAY, APRIL 13, DAFFOIL CAR SHOW IN GLOUCESTER, 10 am - 3 pm, $15 per person. SUNDAY, MAY 5th, GREENBELT, MD, CLC POTOMAC REGION SPRING SHOW, 10 am - 3 pm, with lots of nice Cadillacs and LaSalles, and lots of trophies for each class. A not to miss event! Come join us Tuesday evening and we will make plans to be "on the road again". Don't forget our CLCHRR Motto, "No one goes hungry when touring with us." HUMOR CORNER....."Things your mother said..." She taught me to appreciate a job well done..."If going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning in the house." She taught me religion..."You better pray that stain will come out of the carpet." She taught me about time travel..."If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into next week." 2 She taught me logic...."Because I said so, that's why." She taught me more logic...."If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me." She taught me foresight...."Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you get in an accident." She taught me irony...."Keep crying, and I'll really give you something to cry about." She taught me about the science of osmosis..."Shut your mouth and eat your supper." (More of this humor continued below on page 5 ) CLCHRR has a new website....go to www.hamptonroadsvaclc.org......we want your input...... Thanks to the generous efforts from Art Midgette, we now have our CLCHRR website up and running. Please let Art know how you like it, he is asking for feedback and articles etc at [email protected] . He is looking for information about the history of our Hampton Roads Region. He also wants pictures of your Cadillac and LaSalle. Send them in JPEG format to the same e-mail. MY THIRD CAR by Chris Harris-Evans My third car was a 1949 Bristol 400. At the time I was a student at Southampton University on the south coast of England, about 130 miles from my home in Leicester. At the University I really didn’t need a car as everything was accessible on foot or by bus. I had a friend, whose home was close to mine, who owned a modern car so he gave me a ride to and from college for the vacations but I had caught the bug of car ownership so I was always looking for cheap interesting vehicles. I found the Bristol in the classified ads in Motor Sport magazine and it fascinated me as I had never seen, or even heard of one before. The Bristol Aeroplane Company, founded in 1910, was a major military aircraft and engine manufacturer. After the second world war Bristol obtained the rights to the highly successful BMW range of prewar models through wartime reparations. Bristol started manufacturing cars in 1947 with the model 400 with the engine and chassis design developed from the BMW328 which had dominated prewar sports car racing. The 400 was a luxury two door coupe with leather upholstery, walnut dash and elegant aerodynamic lines but it is best known for its 2litre 6 cylinder engine with hemispherical combustion chambers. It looked like a twin overhead cam engine but in reality it used a complex arrangement of pushrods to operate two sets of rockers for the 45deg angle between the valves to create the hemi-chamber. With three downdraft carburetors the engine produced 85bhp at 4500rpm. Higher power versions of this engine were developed for the Frazer Nash and AC sports cars and for Formula Two in the Cooper-Bristol. The ultimate version, used in the Bristol 450 Le Mans car in 1955, produced 170hp at 7000rpm. I really enjoyed this Bristol 400. It had a maximum speed of around 90mph and would cruise at 75 very happily. It was much more comfortable than my previous cars and consequently I kept it for nearly two years. It was generally reliable although I remember having to address some overheating and bearing problems, probably due to my enjoying the performance too enthusiastically. I passed it on to an old high school friend eventually and shortly after, it was stolen and when recovered it had been stripped, which was a shame.