Emery Aboard. Miller s Stuff for Sale Abstract Classic Mini Mckenzie s 2 Pence Brian s Gathering Mary s Minutes The Last Page

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1 Join us on Facebook. Lawrence All British Car Club Emery Aboard. Club member Gary Emery aboard his 1957 Arnold Special at Amelia Island event. This one of a kind aluminum, hand-made, Triumph TR-3 powered racer was built in Surrey, British Columbia. Gary and Molly presented it well! Enjoy the featured story. Bill In this month s issue: Amelia Island Arnold Story Emery photos Spring Boot Sale Victoria British British National, Arkansas Prospero s Garage Wiring Miller s Stuff for Sale Abstract Classic Mini Mckenzie s 2 Pence Brian s Gathering Mary s Minutes The Last Page! Page 1

2 Amelia James McKenzie Island Arnold offers forth. Enjoyment. More of By his Gary mini Emery reconstruction. The trip to The Amelia Island Concours d Elegance did not begin auspiciously. I had to leave Norman towing the Arnold Special on Monday, March 9 but Molly stayed in Norman until Wednesday when our granddaughter Kylie s spring break began. This left me to make the three day, 1230 mile drive while she flew to Jacksonville Florida where I picked her up at the airport. Molly thought this was a great arrangement and thinks she should travel to future long-distance concours and races this way. Besides that, it rained almost continuously from Norman to the Florida panhandle. We left the Arnold Special in the trailer next to our hotel Thursday morning and drove to the Ritz Carlton Hotel to register. On the way, we passed the small Amelia Island airport where private jets were already landing to bring their owners to the concours and auctions. At registration, we received the usual conference gift bag which, in this case, was a wheeled carry-on bag filled with Meguiar s products, a die-cast Porsche model, various badges and license plates, hats and a large assortment of magazines. Had we known, we would have visited the auction preview area before picking up these goodies. A photo of Molly and one of my favorite sale cars, an alloy Jaguar XK-120, is nearby. It later sold for $346,000. Friday morning, we drove the Arnold Special from our hotel to the Ritz Carlton before dawn where we met up with about 60 other cars from the concours to participate in the Eight Flags Road Tour of the island. I wasn t sure of the distance or how far the car could go on its five gallon fuel cell so we carried an extra two gallons of 110 octane racing fuel in a container in the foot-well on Molly s side of the car. Fortunately, we didn t need it. We drove about 40 miles along Amelia Island s Atlantic coast with lots of spectators along the route to watch and film the procession. It rained on us twice during the tour; we stayed reasonably dry but did accumulate some water in the foot-wells. The tour ended on Center Street of Fernandina Beach which was blocked off to display the cars during and after a special lunch arranged for the participants. Saturday, Austin Texas friends Eddie Dick (a fellow Spec Sprite racer) and his wife Lou Ann, joined us for the rest of the weekend. That morning, Eddie and I attended the Car Guys Television Seminar featuring Barry Meguiar (Car Crazy), Wayne Carini (Chasing Classic Cars), Dale Walksler (What s in the Barn), Ray Evernham (AmeriCarna) and Peter Klutt (Legendary Motor Cars). All the panelists had great stories, both hilarious and touching. One of the better ones was told by a producer of Velocity Channel car shows. He was in the broadcast trailer at a race running a live-feed over the network when one of his interviewers spoke to a driver whose car caught fire the previous day. Asked if he was OK the driver replied in a strong German accent, My fire suit saved my life but the zipper got so hot it burned my d**k. This producer received the loudest applause of the morning when he said he did not believe in adding contrived conflict to make his shows more exciting. The concours itself took place Sunday. Some cars were placed on the field Saturday night but I drove the Arnold Special from our hotel to the Ritz Carlton early Sunday morning. A photo I found on Hagerty s web-site of the car arriving on the field is nearby. I was still wiping dew from the car when our class s three judges came by. They only asked a few questions, a crucial one apparently being Did the car originally have Mini-lite wheels? I saw them make a notation on their score sheets when I replied no. I m sure this wasn t the only reason we didn t win an award but it couldn t have helped. The reception the car received from the spectators was more favorable; they asked lots of questions and took lots of photos. This was very fortunate because the only photo I have of the car on the field was taken by Bill and Tiffany Hayes, a couple from Texas we met that day. The private jets were taking off from the small airport in quick succession as I drove the Arnold Special back to our hotel. The guy who paid $6.38 million for a 1960 Ferrari 400 Superamerica SWB Cabriolet was probably on one of those planes. When I was considering whether to purchase the Arnold Special, Molly asked if it would be accepted at national historic races and concours. When I said I thought so she unhesitatingly replied, You better buy it. Now, less than two years later, we ve had some great experiences at Lime Rock, Watkins Glen and Amelia Island with more to come at Monterey in August. (Gary has been accepted to the Monterey Historic races! Big kudos) - Bill! Page 2

3 Lawrence All British Car Club Lawrence, Kansas April 7, 2015 Gary & Molly Emery s Arnold Photos. Well, looks like Gary & Molly had as much fun as they deserved. Wish we were all able to attend events such as Amelia Island. Some day, some day - right?! Page 3

4 2nd Annual Spring Boot Sale. By Bill Fisher This year s Boot Sale included beautiful weather, Brit club members from K.C. to Topeka and of course car parts! It started at A+ Collision in Topeka at 9:00 and ended too early around 1:00. The weather was too nice for some to stay very long, maybe next year we ll pray for rain instead! But we had a great turn-out anyway.! Page 4

5 Lawrence All British Car Club Lawrence, Kansas April 7, 2015 British Motor Trade Association 3/30/15; Photos from Joe Alexander, Iowa That s a wrap! The 2015 British Motor Trade Association conference in Kansas City is behind us and we re looking forward to next year. We d like to thank our gracious host Victoria British Ltd. and our sponsors Classic Motorsport Magazine, Engel Imports, Hagerty Insurance and Moss Motors for their support. This from the BMTA website. - Bill Kent Prather: The world's fastest road racing MGA. Prather s MGA was the hit of the event. Final day gathering of all those who attended.! Page 5

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7 James McKenzie offers forth. More of his mini reconstruction. Buy these wiring diagrams. by Bill Fisher Dear Mr. Fisher, My name is Jim Lykas and I am writing to you as a new member of the Prospero's Garage team. We create and sell hard copy laminated wiring diagrams for classic cars in factory wiring colors. We have helped many classic car owners make their projects less painful with our color wiring diagrams. I'm really excited about our product and I would love to send you one for free in the hope that you would appreciate it as much as our past customers have and possibly feature our product in your news letter. Our average diagram is under $20 and even looks great on the wall when not in use. Each diagram is 11" x 17" and laminated to keep off grease and dirt. Every classic car owner should have one just in case. For example below is a combined and simplified list of the MG models we have diagrams for today and I have also attached a promotional sample. On our site you will also find Triumph, Austin Healy, Land Rover, Sunbeam, Jaguar, Mini, Alfa Romeo, VW, Mercedes and more. We currently sell our products on our own website (link below), Amazon and ebay (UK & US sites). Our ratings on ebay and Amazon are excellent. Please let me know which diagram you would like and I will mail one out to you. Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions as I feel our product will be very helpful to your members. Regards, Jim. Page 7

8 Alan Miller s Stuff for Sale. Thanks Bill, and can you ask the club if anyone knows what the apron shaped tarp might be used for. I found it in a previous BugEye that I owned. I'd think it IS an apron, but the material is heavy, like that of a convertible top. Factory Hardtop for MG-B for sale. Let's look it over well and see if it works for you and then I'll price it accordingly. $350. Alan Miller home cell Radiation shield? Or Robot Bikini?! Page 8

9 Lawrence All British Car Club Lawrence, Kansas April 7, 2015 For all of you Classic Mini Freaks, like me! Well, since I m in the early stages of restoring my classic 1963 Austin Mini, I d like some club input. Does this image above make you wish 4-cylinders were not enough? If so, what color should it be? Please let me know within the next 2 years so I can decide. Bill Fisher! Page 9

10 McKenzie s 2 Pence Worth... by V.P. James McKenzie Made a new heater valve for the mini. Its like the one for the Sprite. Simple, and it does't leak. Much quicker with the quarter turn valve. Plasma cut out a piece of 3/8's thick steel, ground it down, drilled it, tapped the center for pipe thread, powder coated it and put it together. Powder coating is so easy, wish I would have done this decades ago. This is a small bracket for the mini, it holds a brake line and union. It was of course rusty. Even though it was pitted you can't tell that now. Won't have to worry about brake fluid knocking off the new paint either. Pictures: a 1959 General Electric large toaster oven, it works perfect! Goes to 450 degrees, has a timer. So I can hang the piece inside or put it on a tray. Pre heat the oven, then set the timer for 20 minutes. Come back after a half hour and pull it out and I can bolt it right on the car. After wiring brushing the rust off or beadblasting it, I use the 3M cleaner as the final step to make sure the bracket is clean. Lots of parts are powder coated on the mini and bolted on with stainless steel bolts. Better than brand new. My favorite parts that came out awesome were the brake pedal, clutch pedal accelerator pedal and the box they attach to. Check them out when I get the car going.! Page 10

11 Brian s Country Tire Kickin Gathering. Brian Kelley s Tire Kickin gathering will be from 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. Sunday April 19th Featuring Bagels & Cream Cheese, Coffee & Coffee Cake. Bring yourselves and British cars and enjoy the space! 1844 E. 950 Rd. Lawrence, Ks ph Everyone is welcome! Brian will give you the full property tour, Seth s dog may be there for entertainment. Terry Melton says: It s finally on a Sunday!! Page 11

12 Club Minutes by Mary Donovan. Minutes from LABCC Club Meeting Conroy s Pub March 3 rd, 2015 We had 22 members attending. All members were grumbling about the fact that IT IS STILL COLD OUT. Supposedly the Ground Hog came up and ran away, no shadow was even seen. On March 15 th there will be a Cars and Bagels event at Einstein Bagels at 10am. On Saturday March 21 st, the first Spring day ( according to the calendar,) Bill will be sponsoring the Boot Sale, from 9-3:30 at A+ Collision in N. Topeka. Our treasurer, Chuck Fisher, is still collecting dues $20 a year. No Walk of Shame has been posted...yet. Three new members gave us their car information: John Styers Cooper Mini 2003 Caterham 1975 Jensen Healey Ken Smiley Jaguar XK Porsche Cayman S Dave Willer S4 Lotus Elan-1969 It was noted that Mary Kane Donavan is not mentally pregnant. James Mckenzie reported that he is determined to get his mini running by March 30 th so that he can give his son and grandson a ride. We wish him speed on the project. People were commenting on some wonderful cars posted recently on EBAY. A motion was made but not seconded that the secretary of the club be given a car for the year. Brian will be sponsoring an event on the 3 rd Sunday in April..too late for an Easter Egg Hunt but maybe a rabbit shooting. Strictly conceal and carry. Bring air rifles! On March 13, 14, and 15 th the Kansas City Mini Car Club is sponsoring an Ozark Run. John said the roads there are fun. Submitted by Your Secretary, Mary.! Page 12

13 Lawrence All British Car Club Feb. 3, 2015 LABCC Officers: President - Charles Linn Vice President - James McKenzie Secretary/Membership - Mary Donovan Treasurer - Chuck Fisher Newsletter Editor - Bill Fisher Events Director- Alan Miller Movie/TV Critic - Mary Donovan FUTURE EVENTS: Jan 24th- April 26 Lotus - The Art of Lightness Hershey, PA April 7th LABCC Conroyʼs Pub 6:30 May 5th LABCC Conroyʼs Pub 6:30 May 5th Bill Fisherʼs Birthday - be there! May Carlisle, Pa. Import nationals & Swap meet May British National Meet Hot Springs, Arkansas June 2nd LABCC Conroyʼs Pub 6:30 June 28 Art of the Kansas City Art Institute 10-4:00 The End. From Moss Motors...We will soon be offering a conversion kit to turn your MGA into this bespoke shooting brake that offers an order of magnitude improvement over the utility of the standard Abingdon product and results in a much better looking car to boot. We will soon have further details on our website and will be forming a waiting list for the expected influx of orders. Thanks to those contributing to this newsletter. Other members need to share in the future... Bill Fisher, Newsletter Editor. bfisher1951@gmail.com Follow us on Facebook.com Lawrence All British Car Club Page 13