16th Annual Alpine Loop Run
First of all, thanks to all who participated and donated time and items to this worthy
event!
We had a record 32 cars show up Saturday August 16th. I am told that the only other time there may have been more was when the run was advertised in the paper, and a lot of non-club members showed up with various other sports cars. But this was a super turn out for the BMCU.
Also we raised a whopping $336.00 to help keep us going for a while longer.
We had a lot of new faces and cars to add to our humble group of enthusiasts. Even a beautifully restored Fiat (500L?), which was promptly fitted with a British flag!
We met in the usual places, navigated some rough construction sites. The weather and roads were idea for driving. We did get some thunder bumpers during the raffle drawing in Heber. Rob Green as Master of Ceremonies did his usual "Triumph Bashing" comedy routine, but it was worth it to see him win the "I'd rather push a Triumph than drive an MG" T-shirt! Which he quickly traded off to a faithful TR driver. As far as I know there were no mechanical problems.
In attendance were: (of those who signed the sheet) Jon & Susan Hermance, Bruce Schilling, Ken & Patrick Gleason, Steve Nelson & Kylin, Scott McAllister & Corbin, Clayton & Sharon Merchant, John Progess, Bob Johnke, Stan & Mary Ann Jenkins, Nick & Nicholas Nichols, Larry & Margaret Farrington, John Perry, Gary, Sandy & Margaux Lindstrom, Mike & Julie Schoonmaker, Mary & Larry Bishop, Brent Andersen, Mitch & Diane Johnson, Greg & Shelley Johnson, Mike & Becky Chambers, Bill & Julie Van Moorhem, Bob & Valerie Lux, J. & Kay Jennings, Rob & Nan Green, Kimberly & Dawn Owens, Todd & Connie Pixton.
Prize donors included: The Roadster Factory, Spitbits, K&N Filters, Eastwood Co., British Wiring, LBCar Co., Checker Auto of Kaysville, Apple Hydraulics, Union Jacs, HPC Coatings, Moss Motors, Westerner Club, The Nichols, Baileys Garage, British Field Day, Diane Johnson
Heber Valley Parade
The sky was darkening and the lightning was flashing in the distance as the BMCU
delegation formed up for the Heber Valley Parade on Saturday August 2. Sure enough,
the rain started and became steady as we began to roll, causing tops to be erected,
coupe drivers to gloat, and gull wings to levitate.
The crowd reception was warm nevertheless, and everyone enjoyed hot food at Don Pedro's restaurant after the parade. Attending were Gary and Sandy Lindstrom, Mark and Joyce Noeltner, Dan Kasha and Leigh Mercer, Floyd Inman, Doug and Ilene Wimer, Jon and Susan Hermance, Dan and Laura Maitzen, Dixie and Bob Jahnke, Clayton and Sharon Merchant, Steve Bender, Harold Call, Bill Walton, plus some folks from Midway driving a Midget, whose name we didn't catch.
Miner’s Day Parade
Park City - September 1, 2003
IT'S ALL DOWNHILL FROM HERE! ! ! ! !
The season is rapidly coming to an end and we have one of the truly fun events of the
year. It is the annual Miner's Day Parade DOWN Main Street, Park City.
This year we will meet around 10:00 AM in Swede Alley (Alley to East of Main Street). The parade will begin around 11:15 AM, as the Rotary Club will have a tennis ball roll down Main Street at 11:00 AM.
I have not had a confirmation as yet, but all appears to be in order for a "Mini" car show at City Park after the Parade. (This means reserved parking for the BMCU.) There will be burgers, dogs, soda and beer sold at the Park, so bring a picnic if you wish, but not necessary. There are also events for both kids and adults alike. And, of course, the annual "Drilling and Mucking" contest - Hermance's favorite.
Let's turn out in mass this year.
Any questions - call Floyd Inman 435-645-8460
State Street Cruise Night
Saturday, September 13th
It’s September, the evenings are getting cooler and it's once again time to Cruise State
Street. We will once again cruise State Street from north to south, ending up at Joe
Chou’s Dairy Queen in Sandy for treats.
We’ll start out at the parking lot behind the Capitol building. Meet there at about 6:30pm for a 7pm departure.
From the Capitol, we work our way down State Street past the hustle & bustle of downtown. We’ll attempt to survive the major construction on the south part of State (hey! it can't be all that bad on a Saturday night, can it?). When we get all the way down to 90th South, we’ll make a left and head east up the hill to 1300 East and the Dairy Queen. There we can order food and snacks. This is a great time for the whole family. We’ll probably wrap things up by 9 PM so you can move on to your next Saturday night activity. So, grab your favorite girl or your co-pilot and meet us on the 13th for the third annual BMCU State Street Cruise Night. Contact Mark Noeltner at 801-352-2743 for more information.
Mount Nebo Fall Color Run
Saturday September 27
We'll renew the BMCU tradition of circumnavigating Mt. Nebo to enjoy the brisk air
and fall color. This is a long (200 mile+) but very enjoyable tour and will treat
your eyes and clean your exhaust valves.
Rendezvous at the R. C. Willey Clearance Outlet, 9010 S. Redwood Road, at 8:30am. Our route will take us south on Redwood Road (route 68) to Lehi, along the west shore of Utah Lake to Elberta, east on route 141 to Goshen, south through Goshen Canyon (a sports car treat), along the west shore of Mona Lake, to the Walker Bros. Phillips 66 / Wendy's truck stop at route 132 in Nephi, whence east and north on the Mt. Nebo Loop road, emerging via Santaquin Canyon.
Bring warm clothes and lunch, which we'll eat at a picnic area along the Loop. Logistics minimalists can pick up the latter at Walkers.
Organizers are Gary, Sandy and Margaux Lindstrom, 532-1259, gary@cs.utah.edu. If you plan to join in along they way, e.g. in Lehi or Elberta, please let us know.
The Lucas Calendar
This calendar works about as well as its namesake, so use it with care. All events are
subject to change. Check our web site for the latest information. www.britishmotorclub.org/
September 1 Miner’s Day Parade in Park City. Floyd Inman. 435-645-8460
September 13 State Street Cruise night. Mark Noeltner. 801-352-2743
September 26 Rendezvous in Las Vegas, NM.
September 27 Fall Color Tour. Gary Lindstrom. 532-1259
October 11 50th Birthday Party..... for those cars in the club that are turning 50 years
old.
October 18 End of the Season Dinner. Gregg Smith.
November 11 Tech Session.
Report From The UK
Since moving from Utah to unbelievable California, I have been in the UK 3 times
and am about to return in a couple weeks. Naturally, I am keen to notice what is going on the
local auto industry at least as far as what is to be seen on the streets.
The auto market for new and used cars has changed dramatically in the European Union countries. Now that there is no duty between EU member states, automakers have ventured far form the traditional arrangements we have all been used to. Brands are disappearing or being consolidated. As an example, Ford no longer makes cars in the UK, except their Jaguar brand. They have moved other operations to Spain where labor is much cheaper. They do still make some things in Germany. But the old thing about English Ford and German Ford is now just Ford. Vauxhall is all but gone. Another result of the no duty thing is that there are an awful lot of brands to choose from. Just about anywhere in the UK you can buy cars from England, Germany, France, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Czech Republic, all the Japanese brands (also made in the EU) and even the odd American car.
On a recent trip to the south coast, I had a rare treat. Never a prolific car but always a driving force in British styling and performance (we’ll talk about reliability later) is the TVR. This is a hand built car that still exists and, in fact, is quite an expensive and high status marquee. I had the real treat to get a ride in a brand new, hand built TVR. The person I was meeting with there picked me up in it and we drove about 25 miles to our destination at speeds that no Bugeye has ever seen. This car has extremely beautiful lines inside and out. The power comes from a 4.5 liter Rover V8. Very fast and very thirsty. The short wheelbase and light weight make it a rocket that is hard to keep on the ground. The coachwork is flawless and is well thought out. The interior was absolutely stunning. Even the convertible top was something to marvel at. I should have such a nice overcoat! The cabriolet I rode in has a huge boot that will hold an incredible amount of stuff. However, like most roadsters, there isn't even room for a woman's purse on the inside if there are two riders.
The car sports some interesting gadgets. There were no outside door locks. One touches a hidden button on the rear view mirror to trip the latches. Inside on the console, there is a little round ball type of knob that one twists to the left or right to open the doors. My colleague told me that once the knob came off whilst driving and, indeed, he was unable to get out of the car from the inside. He had to get the window down and push the outside button. The car had a megawatt sound system. It needed it. Although a new car, it was full of rattles and rides like a truck. You have to shout to be heard over the big V8 when driving at roadway speeds. An interesting twist is that as the car has proven to be less than reliable, the maker offers a maintenance contract on it like you would buy for a photocopier in order to keep it on the street. For a monthly fee, everything is covered – even the tires, which wear out in a hurry due to the extremely low profile and, of course, the driving habits such a car inspires. But holy cow, what a ride! Indeed, this was definitely the highlight of my visit to the UK. It’s one thing to see such exotics on the street, but to ride in them is a rare treat.
Bill Robinson
NAMGAR GT-28
Welches, Oregon July 13-19, 2003
Clayton Merchant & Kay Jennings
[Editor's note: this is a condensation of a detailed and entertaining report which can be
fully enjoyed on the 2003 Memories section of the BMCU website.]
The North American MGA Register (NAMGAR) held its annual get together (GT) on July 13th-19th at the beautiful resort of Welches, Oregon near the base of Mt. Hood this year.
Seven intrepid members of your BMCU attended the event and had a wonderful time. Making the trip to Welches were J. & Kay Jennings in their 1957 MG Magnette, hereafter known as `Maggie', John & Barbara Progess in their freshly restored and very nice 1960 MGA 1600 Coupe' & Dodge Durango pulling an empty trailer, just in case. (It gave great piece of mind and would come in handy.) Clayton & Sharon Merchant in their 1958 MGA 1500 Roadster & Steve Nelson who made the trip to Welches and then drove down to L.A. for the GoF West immediately following the NAMGAR event in his comfy Ford Explorer, (Smart guy, Steve). Also with us in spirit were Bill & Julie Van Moorhem who had done much of the organization of this trip only to not be able to attend at the last minute due to some health issues with Julie's mother. You were both greatly missed, and Bill, it was your spare ignition wire set that got me there and back, couldn't have done it without you!
The weeks activities were many and varied and the NAMGAR host club, The Columbia River Gorge MGA club did a wonderful job. There were many tours of the local area around Welches including trips to Mt. Hood, Mt. Saint Helens, (incredible to see the devastation even after 23 years) a region wine tour that turned out to be more like a rally than a tour (keep up if you can, if you get lost, here is a map! Good Luck.) a rally, and a fantastic car show that exhibited some 200 MGA's among other fine LBC's. There were also some great tech sessions for us gear heads that were well attended and very informative.
Our trip home was fairly uneventful as far as the cars were concerned other than some heat related issues and a rock thrown up by a truck that put a nice bulls eye in my MGA's windshield that we repaired that evening. The Jennings' Magnette boiled over a couple of times climbing hills and my MGA tried to vapor lock a couple of times but other than the heat it was a very smooth ride home. A bank sign in John Day, Oregon read 107 degrees and the heat was miserable once we left heavily wooded areas of western Oregon.
In Burley on the way home we celebrated Barbara's birthday and we pulled into Salt Lake about 5pm on the evening of July 20th . We could have called this the Birthday Tour as coincidentally we celebrated 2 of them during the week which no one had prior knowledge of.
We had totaled 2201 miles on our MGA and had only a bad plug wire and relentless heat to complain about. We all had a wonderful time and have vowed to do the next GT in the western portion of the U.S. again in the near future.
Tremendous thanks have to go out to John & Barbara Progess for dragging the trailer and hauling luggage & spares. Also to Bill & Julie Van Moorhem for the planning and organizing + the dinner meetings and spare parts and J. & Kay for hauling our luggage home. (Sharon greatly appreciated it and a luggage rack will be my next accessory purchase, I'm told.)
Autojumble
Two 1967 Sunbeam Alpines. One was a parts car that has been fairly well picked over
but still has things like axles, brakes, and wheels. I am about to send it to scrap, but
want to offer it to any club members who are interested, before I do so. Who ever wants
it has to take the whole deal, not just parts! They must also arrange to tow it away
promptly. I can be contacted at 364-4427. The car is up by the University of Utah.
1970 MGB-GT $300 wire wheels, engine, transmission. the body is rough, and is restorable, and requires work. will sell complete car, and will not part out. please contact me at 801-773-6095 or jbauern@xmission.com John "Barney" B
1979 Triumph Spitfire 1500 Parts or project. Already on trailer ready for delivery. Originally Yellow, was sprayed with light blue paint. Usual rusty areas in body. Need to get this one to a good home. Has a title. No overdrive or webers. $250.00 or best offer. Can be seen on BMCU website or write to spitfiresrule@msn.com or call 801-547-1087. Mitch D. Johnson
68 Triumph Spitfire MK3 and 64 Spitfire MK4. Parting out. Call Josh 801-631-4371 for available parts and dirt cheap prices. joshuaengle@yahoo.com
MG Midget (or Sprite) parts. For example: front fenders, hood, doors, top with bows, trunk lid, rear axle with differential and brakes, front calipers, dash (not cracked), steering column with wheel, etc. I can't remember all I have. Most are from a '73 Midget. Call Bill Van Moorhem, 582-9223, and let me check if I have what you need.
Board of Governors:
Governor General: Gary Lindstrom 801-532-1259 gary@cs.utah.edu
Board Member: Jim “Pugs” Pivirotto 801-486-0547 jimp@corp.firstindustrial.com
Chancellor of the Exchequer: Marty VanNood 801-467-0525, vannood@intergate.com
Newsletter Editor: Jeff Porter 801-466-9839 porterjeff@comcast.net
Webmaster: Mark Noeltner 801-352-2743, mark@buffalochips.org
Membership director: Bruce Schilling, 801-486-0425, partsmaster4@sisna.com
This Newsletter is published by the British Motor Club of Utah, Ltd., a non-profit
corporation of British automobile owners. The group holds monthly events such as
drives, picnics, technical sessions, and more. We welcome owners (or potential owners) of British cars, in any condition, to the group. Membership is free, but we ask
for a donation at events to support the Newsletter and other activities. If you would like
to join the group, send your name, address, and a list of British cars owned to:
Bruce Schilling
917 East Mill Creek Way
Salt Lake City, Utah 84106
or to Bruce’s email address shown above.