THE CLUTCH CHATTER THE ART OF THE PART JANUARY 2016 CLUTCH CHATTER JANUARY 2016

Transcription

1 THE CLUTCH CHATTER The Monthly Newsletter of the Sacramento Regional Group Early Ford V8 Club of America CLUTCH CHATTER JANUARY 2016 THE ART OF THE PART 1

2 PRESIDENT S MESSAGE By Bruce Woodward Happy New Year! Time lies when you are having fun, the old saying goes. It seems hard to believe that our regional group is starting its 51st year as an organization. My goal is to have fun in 51 with our old Fords and our friends in the club. Thanks go to Alma Thompson, Gary Thompson, and Dave Peterson who are stepping down from the board of directors. Alma has served as our treasurer for many years and will be missed in this role. Dave has been tour director for the last two years. Dave has one more tour planned. The new year will start with a visit to the air museum at McClellan Field followed by a stop at Tim's Hot Rod Shop. Many great cars have been built at Tim s and it will be a fun way to see what is involved in the process of complete build ups of top notch cars. Dave promised that he knows a great Mexican Restaurant where we will have lunch. Save Saturday January 23rd for this tour. The next weekend is the date for the annual Turlock swap meet. This is the most noteworthy swap in Northern California. People from around the world make the trek to Turlock. There is always something to be found at this legendary swap. In February, 11 of our members will have cars on display at the Sacramento Autorama. This should be a good opportunity to showcase the club and recruit V 8 fans to join us. The 2016 board of directors consists of four people (we really need a couple of more people on the board). Bev Davis is secretary, Steve Walker is vice president; big thanks to Richard Heltzel who continues as Clutch Chatter editor as well as assuming the duties of treasurer, and I will serve as President. We will hold the board meetings a minimum of 6 times a year. To make it easier for the members to attend board meetings they will be held following the regular club meetings on the odd months of the year. Please join us if you can. The January 7th club meeting at the Arden Park Clubhouse will be devoted to planning the activities we want to have in Give some thought to what we can do next year at our meetings and on our tours and activities. I hope you have had a Merry Christmas and are ready for a great New V 8 year! Quote of the Month It has been my observation that most people get ahead during the time that others waste. Henry Ford 2 IN THIS ISSUE NEWS CAM Christmas Tree Decorating Party....3 New Of icers and Board for Proposed By Laws... 3 January Tour. 4 Bill Toensing Dies. 4 Christmas Party. 5 Membership Renewal.. 6 V8 Club Facebook Page. 7 Jerry Luthin s 40 Merc on Cover of V8 Time.. 8 P.S. on "Traveling in Style" (June 2015 CC).. 13 FEATURE ARTICLE The Art of the Part.. 9 REGULAR FEATURES The Back Forty..12 V8 Snapshots in Time Membership Renewal Form Event Announcements. 16 Calendar of Events 17

3 CAM CHRISTMAS TREE DECORATING PARTY AND POTLUCK By Alma and Gary Thompson Charlotte and the Everetts joined us at the C.A.M. on November 29th for the Annual Christmas Decorating Party and Potluck. It was a lot of fun. We saw a lot members of other car clubs that we see every year. The f o o d w a s g r e a t a n d they had lots. The museum currently is featuring a vintage trailer exhibition and our tree is next to a beautiful Airstream. If you have a chance go there and check out our tree and the trailer exhibit. The museum looks beautiful! MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR from Alma and Gary Thompson NEW BOARD AND OFFICERS SELECTED FOR 2016 At the Christmas Dinner, your new Board of Directors and Of icers were sworn in by Master of Ceremonies, Dan Schwartz. They are: Bruce Woodward, President Steve Walker, Vice President Bev Davis, Secretary Richard Heltzel, Treasurer/Clutch Chatter Editor PROPOSED CLUB BY LAWS BEING CONSIDERED BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS The Board of Directors are reviewing proposed club by laws, which will be presented to the membership for consideration at a future general meeting. Any member wishing an advanced copy may request one by sending an to: rgheltzel@gmail.com 3

4 JANUARY TOUR TO AIR MUSEUM Be sure to mark your calendar and don t miss the club s January tour to visit the McClellan Air Museum, scheduled for Saturday, January 23rd. The Museum has on display a wide range of aircraft, both military and civilian, featuring everything from biplanes to Russian MIGs. It s ourchance to view thrilling jets like a US Navy Blue Angels ighter, A 10 Thunderbolt, or a famous Top Gun F 14 Tomcat just like the movie! The Air Park features ighters, trainers, transport and specialized aircraft lown by the United States Air Force (USAF) and Navy during the 60 year period from 1940 to Many of the aircraft are on loan from the National Museum of the USAF and National Museum of Naval Aviation. Following the tour of the museum, Dave Peterson will lead the tour group to Rio Linda to enjoy lunch at a Mexican restaurant. Details on meeting time and place will be provided by separate . BILL TOENSING DIES On Friday, November 13th, longtime club member William (Bill) James Toensing died. Bill was born on May 7, 1933, a son of Ben and Agnes (Anderson) Toensing, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was raised and educated in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, graduating from Eden Prairie High School in He then graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1955 with a Bachelors Degree. Even though Bill lived in Grass Valley, he was a frequent participant in club events, usually driving his trusty 41 Ford. At swap meets, he could often be seen towing a small red wagon. Bill s friendly nature and dedication to the club will be missed. 4

5 CHRISTMAS PARTY A BIG SUCCESS One of the best things about the Sacramento Regional Group is the fellowship that comes about from our social events, and there have been none more successful in recent memory t h a n t h e C l u b s Christmas Party. It was held for the second year in a row at Aviator s Restaurant, located a t t h e o l d S a c r a m e n t o Municipal Airport, now known as Sacramento Executive. The food was delicious and dinner was topped off with a special cake provided by our esteemed soon to be retired Treasurer, Alma Thompson, and her husband Gary. Continuing a SRG4 tradition, Dan Schwartz served as Master of Ceremony, swearing in the new 2016 Board of Directors and Of icers. The evening put everyone in a Holiday frame of mind and all in attendance had a good time. 5

6 TIME TO RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP!!! It s time to renew your Sacramento Regional Group membership for 2016! If you haven t already, please print out and complete the application for renewal on page 14, and submit with your check made in the amount of $30 to Richard Heltzel, Treasurer, 711 Coronado Blvd., Sacramento CA Please note that the only prerequisite for membership in the Regional Group is active membership in the national club. Wow, Dad!! This new Ford V8 is so special, I bet someday there will be a club dedicated to it! 6

7 SACRAMENTO REGIONAL GROUP ESTABLISHES A FACEBOOK PRESENCE BY STEVE WALKER We re on Facebook! The Sacramento Regional Group #4 now has its own Facebook Group: / It was decided at the last board meeting that we should have a Facebook Group to help get out the word about The Sacramento Regional Group and to give our members and other like minded V 8ers a place to get together online to share photos, videos, tech tips and everything else one can dream up. This is also the place where anyone can go to see what activities we have coming up. Our Facebook Group has been in existence a very short time and already the response has been phenomenal. It is one of only a small handful of Facebook Groups dedicated to Early Fords. We have members from all over. Many of our members are local, but not all by any stretch. We have past members who have since left the area but are still very interested in what we are doing. We also have members from everywhere imaginable including Texas, Holland and Australia! With the great posts we re getting from all over the world, there is something new to see all the time. Some of us posted to our group page during the Christmas Party and we had responses from around the world immediately. Lots of pictures from the party have been posted. Take a look. The board decided to establish a group on Facebook with the full knowledge that the old latheads are still out there, but the owners have changed and the new owners are younger. Where do young people, or anyone for that matter, look for anything these days? The Internet of course. Well then. That s where we need to be, and now that s where we are. It s too early to tell, but if the early results are any indication, I think our Facebook Group is going to bene it The Sacramento Regional Group #4 in a big way. If you haven t joined yet, do it now. You ll be glad you did and Regional Group #4 will be better for it. 7

8 J E R R Y L U T H I N S 4 0 M E R C M A K E S C O V E R O F V 8 T I M E S!! Our own Jerry Luthin s 1940 Mercury Convertible made the cover of the November/December V8 Times! Inside the issue is a feature story on Jerry s car, which was also the subject of a recent Clutch Chatter article (July/August 2015 Clutch Chatter). It s great to see one of our Regional Group members get some much deserved recognition for his beautifully restored car. Way to go, Jerry!! 8

9 THE ART OF THE PART By Bruce Woodward No one can deny the visual appeal of an Early Ford V 8. The classic simplicity of the 1932 models is recognized as a high point of late 1920's and early 1930's styling. The graceful lines of the 1933 and 1934 Fords set the standard for cars in the low price and mid price ields. They were actually superior in appearance than most of the big classics. The 1937 line incorporated the streamline look into a successful package when most other car manufacturers fumbled with ungainly attempts to modernize their vehicles. The classic pro ile of the 1940 Ford coupe is forever enshrined in the pantheon of American design success. But beyond this is the visual delight of the parts that make up these cars. The elegant beauty of a 35 s V8 hood ornament and the graceful sweep of a 34 s skirted fenders are obvious examples, but as one works on a V 8 Ford, a close look at even the simplest parts brings rewards. The fasteners used to hold these cars together seem to be little sculpted jewels. Each one is made to a speci ic size and tolerance. For instance, observe the head of an intake manifold bolt. These are not just a lat uninspired bolt like you buy in a hardware store, but an intricate and interesting shape. The shoulders on the bolts that fasten the transmission shift cover are inely machined and are almost pretty. The motor mount bolts have a sculpted head, a shaft that ends in a graceful taper, capped with threads with a hole drilled crossways at the end for a split key to secure the attaching nut. Even though I hate them for the trouble they pose when disassembling a Ford, the castle nuts with their square shoulders give the image of strength and security, they stand strong keeping the Ford from falling apart. 9

10 A while back I restored a cut away V 8 engine (see May and June 2014 Clutch Chatters). This was a display engine used to show the public the inner secrets of a Ford lathead. This engine had been sliced and diced so that all of the internal parts were visible. Because this was a showpiece, all of the parts were decorated with chrome, nickel, and cadmium plating, highlighted with detail painting in multiple colors. As I worked on each part it was obvious that many of them had interesting shapes, born out of the intersection of form and function. Before the engine was assembled I could not help but make arrangements of these parts in all of their polished glory and take pictures of them. There are a few creative types who are using car parts to create art or sculpture or whatever you may call it. They visualize an object and take random gears, valves, connecting rods, bolts, washers, and whatever else is at hand to create imaginative representation of it. These were found at the L.A. Roadster Club swap meet. The artist had welded together various car parts to make a bird, a robot head, and a machine gun. What is not obvious is that each had moving parts that added to the appeal of the pieces. But what can happen when real artists and craftsmen encounter Ford parts? Such an event occurred in the mid1930s. In 1923 glassware artist Jean Perzel started his company. He was fascinated with light and glass and began to produce high end Art 10 John Perzel, 1938

11 Deco lighting ixtures. The designs for the products offered were all the work of Perzel. The Paris, France headquarters of his establishment was in an Art Deco building designed by one of the world's foremost architects. The lamps that the irm created were elegant and sophisticated in high Art Deco style. Perzel pieces were bought for the inest of interiors, including embassies, the steamship Normandy, and the residences of sophisticated clients. The company is still in business. Responsibility for creation and production has continued under the direction of successive generations of the founder's family. The line of light ixtures is still of the highest quality, made in limited numbers, and still in luenced by timeless Art Deco design. It is said that Henry Ford had light ixtures from Perzel in his mansion. But the real intersection between the Perzel irm and Ford came in Ford Motor Company reached the milestone of the 25,000,000th Ford automobile. There was worldwide celebration by Ford to mark this accomplishment. In France there was a Matford exposition, or as the French put it, a Jubile Ford. As part of the decorative setting, Ford commissioned Perzel to produce 21 decorative light ixtures. They were to incorporate engine and drive line parts from the Ford V 8. In less than 2 days, the craftsmen at Perzel d e s i g n e d a n d a s s e m b l e d t h e s e f a n t a s t i c p i e c e s. Several lighted globes were made as well as table lamps. Brightly plated Ford parts such as ring gears, pinion gears, and lywheel gears were a r t f u l l y u s e d t o create the special Jubile ixtures. It must have been quite a grand celebration for Ford to have gone to the expense of having these unique art pieces custom made. One can i m a g i n e t h e glamorous setting in a Paris salon with 1937 Fords basking in the light from Jean P e r z e l A r t D e c o masterpieces. 11

12 From the January/February 1976 V8 Times 12

13 A P.S. TO TRAVELING IN STYLE (JUNE 2015 CLUTCH CHATTER) (Top) St. Louis Southwestern RR (aka The Cotton Belt, a Southern Paci ic Railroad subsidiary) Business Car Fair Lane in 1982, behind Amtrak s Texas Eagle, headed for the Henry Ford Museum. (Bottom) Restored to near original condition 1, as built in 1921 by the Pullman Company for Henry Ford 1 Note that the original clerestory windows were eliminated in an effort to streamline the car s appearance, probably sometime in the 1940 s following its sale by Henry Ford, and were not restored by the museum, most likely due to cost issues 13

14 V8 SNAPSHOTS-IN-TIME Through the Eyes of a Man A wife was curious when she found two old negatives in a drawer and had them made into prints. She was pleasantly surprised to see that they were of her at a much younger, slimmer time, taken many years ago on one of her irst dates with her husband. When she showed him the photos, his face lit up. Wow, look at that!, he said with appreciation That s my old Ford!! Thanks to Bill Cox for sharing this V8 Snapshot in Time. 14

15 YOU RE INVITED TO JOIN THE SACRAMENTO REGIONAL GROUP OF THE EARLY FORD V8 CLUB OF AMERICA DEDICATED TO THE PRESERVATION, RESTORATION, AND ENJOYMENT OF FORDS INTRODUCTION AND INVITATION: The Early Ford V8 Club of America is a non-profit corporation of California dedicated to the restoration, preservation, and enjoyment of Ford Motor Company vehicles made from 1932 through These cars are often referred to as Early Ford V8 s, however the club recognizes all Ford Motor Company vehicles made between 1932 and 1953, including Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, commercial vehicles, tractors and other Ford powered vehicles built around the world utilizing the 4, 6, 8, and 12 cylinder engines produced by Ford Motor Company. Although the basic interest of the club is the the Early Ford V8, ownership of one or more of these cars is not a prerequisite for membership. Your interest in the Early Ford V8 is all we require. Please consider this an invitation to join us in this fun-filled and historically significant hobby. REGIONAL GROUPS: The only requirement for membership in the Regional Group is that you pay the modest annual dues to both the National Club and the Regional Group. National membership application may be made at Regional Group annual dues are $30. Your officers and board of directors work hard to plan interesting, informative, and fun meetings, activities, and tours. As a member, you are invited to participate in all club activities, including tours, whether you drive an Early V8 or a modern car. ACTIVITIES: TOURS SWAP MEETS PARTIES PICNICS SHOWS Treat the entire family to the full scope of old car ownership. Unlike many vintage automobiles, the Early Ford V8 is as much at home on today s roads and highways as it was on the roads of yesterday. Why sit back and Watch the Fords Go By? Join the Early Ford V8 Club of America and the Sacramento Regional Group and discover how much fun the old car hobby can be. APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP SACRAMENTO REGIONAL GROUP EARLY FORD V8 CLUB OF AMERICA DATE NATIONAL CLUB MEMBER NUMBER [ ] RENEWAL [ ] NEW MEMBER NAME SPOUSE ADDRESS CITY STATE ZIP PHONE ( ) OCCUPATION CARS OWNED WHEN COMPLETED, SUBMIT THIS APPLICATION ALONG WITH A CHECK FOR ANNUAL DUES IN THE AMOUNT OF $30, MADE OUT TO: EARLY FORD V8 CLUB RG #4, AND MAIL TO: EARLY FORD V8 CLUB RG #4 RICHARD HELTZEL, TREASURER 711 CORONADO BLVD. SACRAMENTO, CA

16 E V E N T A N N O U N C E M E N T S 16

17 WHEN WHERE WHAT January 7:30pm Arden Park Community Center 1000 La Sierra Dr., Sacramento Monthly General Meeting January 23* Air Museum, McClellan Field Tour and Lunch February 7:30pm March 7:30pm Arden Park Community Center 1000 La Sierra Dr., Sacramento Arden Park Community Center 1000 La Sierra Dr., Sacramento Monthly General Meeting Monthly General Meeting March 26* Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta Delta Tour April 7:30pm May 7:30pm Arden Park Community Center 1000 La Sierra Dr., Sacramento Arden Park Community Center 1000 La Sierra Dr., Sacramento Monthly General Meeting Monthly General Meeting June 7:30pm * Details to be provided by separate at a later date. Arden Park Community Center 1000 La Sierra Dr., Sacramento Monthly General Meeting 17