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Exhaust Notes Newsletter of the St Louis Triumph Owners Association

Www.SLTOA.org Vol 14, Issue 7 July 2012

Greeting’s all! A big welcome to all the new members of the St. Louis Triumph Owners Association.

First off let me say thank you to everybody who a t t e nd ed l as t month’s meeting and 2012 summer BBQ. It was a lot of fun! And to eve-rybody that did not make it you really missed out on a great lobster and shrimp boil, Ha ha,

Discussions in-cluded member’s cars and summer destinations, not to mention the “All B r i t i s h C a r Show” (see the advert in the news letter for show date).

The featured marque will be the Triumph Spitfire, so calling ALL Spit o wn e r - k ee pe rs , let’s get 'em sorted

(Continued on page 6)

By Tony Panchot

By Kathy Kresser

A great collection of British cars gathered in Hot Springs for the first British Car Week National Show. This historic town of Hot Springs may be a bit faded in glory, but the stunning remnants of a fascinating period are on display. Several restored bathhouses are open for viewing. Quality craftsmanship is everywhere from the mosaic tiles to the elaborate friezes highlighting the art deco era. Hot Springs maintains the feel

(Continued on page 4)

Triumphs to Little Rock/Hot Springs:

British Car Week National Meet May 30-June 3, 2012

Gea

r Sh

ift

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Calendar

12-15 Jul 2012—The Hawk with Brian Redman, Road

America, Elkhart Lake, WI. Events include a race by the For-mu la 5000 Dr i ve rs Assoc ia t i on . Mo n i t o r www.roadamerica.com.

15 Jul 2012—Boeing Sports Car Club Autocross No. 4, Family Arena, St Charles. Contact Racer Steve at

sshab@yahoo.com for info.

15 Jul 2012—25th

Annual British Car Day, Harbin Park, 1800 Hunter Rd, Fairfield,

OH. Hosted by the British Car Club of Greater Cincinnati, info at www.bccgc.com.

21 Jul 2012—Classic Cars & Coffee, Starbucks at Manchester & McKnight, Rock Hill

Plaza (9616 Manchester), 8:30-11:30 AM.

27-28 Jul 2012—Annual Carthage Car Show, Carthage,

MO, sponsored by the Greater Ozarks British Motoring Club. Friday night tailgate party, car show on the square, fun drive

plus other activities including a banquet. Call up http://gobamc.org/ for details.

28 Jul 2012—Route 66 Car Show in Carlinville, 117 W

2nd South St, sponsored by the Carlinville Chamber of Com-merce on old US 66. For more information visit www.carlinvillechamber.com or call (217)854-2141.

2-4 Aug 2012—The Roadster Factory’s Annual Summer Party, Armagh, PA.

Registration available at www.the-roadster-f ac to r y . com /S p12% 20 Reg i s t ra t i on %20Form.pdf.

4-5 Aug 2012—25th

Heartland British AutoFest, East

Davenport, IA. Hosted by the Quad City British Auto Club, for i n f o e m a i l q c b a c @ m c h s i . c o m o r c a l l u p www.qcbac.home.mchsi/com/events%20calendar.htm.

11 Aug 2012—Saturday Evening Concert at Lafayette Park, hosted by the Jaguar Association of Greater St Louis’s

Karin Miller and Richard Haar. Arrive at 5 PM, concert begins at 6 PM; bring lawn chair and coolers with whatever you want to drink for the coolest spot in St Louis for music by The Big Bamou. Info at www.jcna.com/clubs/main.php?club=sc20&Vref=sc20.

17 Aug 2012—Third Friday Free Party at the Third De-

gree Glass Factory, 5200 Delmar Blvd (316)367-4527. 6-10 PM, watch glassblowers blow molten glass into art, see pho-tography of antique and classic cars by Larry Hassel. Chef Heidi serves up snacks, $2-$8, cash bar.

18 Aug 2012—Classic Cars & Coffee, Starbucks at Man-

chester & McKnight, Rock Hill Plaza (9616 Manchester), 8:30-11:30 AM.

26 Aug 2012—Boeing Sports Car Club Autocross No. 5, Family Arena, St Charles. Contact Racer Steve at

sshab@yahoo.com for info.

1-2 Sept 2012—Kansas City All British Car & Cycle Show. Sponsored by Victoria British, Ltd., will celebrate the

50th anniversary of the MGB, Spitfire, Lotus Elan and AC Co-bra. Details to follow at kcallbritish.com.

9 Sept 2012—Boeing Sports Car Club Autocross No. 6, Family Arena, St Charles. Contact Racer Steve at

sshab@yahoo.com for info.

9 Sept 2012—British Car Festival, Harper College,

Palatine, IL, hosted by British Car Union. BIG event, details at www.britishcarunion.com/.

5-6 Oct 2012—Memphis Euro Auto Fest, hosted by the

British Sports Car Club, held on the grounds of Youth Villages. F e a t u r e d m a r q u e i s t h e M G B , i n f o a t www.memphisbritishcars.org/eurofest.htm.

13 Oct 2012—2nd

Annual JAGSL “Jaguars at the Kemp,” Kemp Auto Museum, 16955 Chesterfield Ariport Rd.

For details and other information, monitor www.jcna.com/clubs/main.php?club=sc20&Vref=sc20.

Full listing at www.sltoa.org/events/2012/events12.htm

17 July 2012—Monthly SLTOA meeting,

the annual burger burn/SweatFest/LBCs in the Back Yard (“The biggest thing since Woodstock!” - Rolling Stone) at John Lamberg’s, 14148 Cross Trails Dr, Chesterfield. Pot luck, show around

5:30-6 PM, we’ll get a meeting in at some point during the proceedings.

21 Aug 2012—SLTOA monthly meeting

6-9 Sept 2012—2012 TRials, “Go With the Flow,” Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, sponsored by 6-Pack and the Ontario/Quebec Chapter. Tours, BBQ, concours, partipant’s choice car show, info/details at http://401-pack.com/.

15 Sept 2012—31st

Annual All British Car & Cycle

Show, Creve Coeur Lake Park, http://allbritishcarshow.com/.

27-30 Sept 2012—Triumphest 2012, hosted by Desert

Centre TRA in Flagstaff, AZ. Host hotel is the Little America, participating clubs include Southern California Triumph Own-ers Association, Triumph Register of Southern California, Tri-umph Sports Car Club of San Diego and Triumph Travelers Sports Car Club. More information including registration ma-terials at www.triumphest.com.

Oct 2012—Tentative/in planning: Fall Color Tour, Mark Twain National Forest in the vicinity of Poplar Bluff and Van Buren MO. Joint event with the British Motor-ing Club of Arkansas (Little Rock), all LBCs invited.

21-25 Oct 2012—VTR National Convention, Galves-

ton, TX. The Texas Triumph Register is hosting, event hotel is the San Luis Resort. Info at http://kingswayrc.com/txtr/

VTR2012/index.shtml.

10 Nov 2012—SLTOA Veteran’s Day Run. Back road drive to some location for

lunch, proceeds benefit The Wounded War-rior Project. Will be open to all St Louis area LBC/sports car clubs, details to follow.

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Start getting ready:

31st Annual St Louis

All-British Car & Cycle Show

Saturday, 15 September 2012

Sign up now!

Info and registration at:

www.allbritishcarshow.com

Showcasing the

Spitfire and GT6

Host hotel is the Marriott Gateway on the Falls; 100 rooms reserved at the special 6-Pack rate, cut-off is 7 August, don’t delay! Info/details at http://401-pack.com/.

You’re Invited to Canada, eh? A Northern Arizona Adventure

Events include funkhana, FunCours car show, tech sessions, vendors, model/photo contest, banquet and awards cere-mony and plenty of opportunities for scenic drives.

Info: www.triumphest.com or call Registrar Kathy at (480)983-3945

Up and online:

http://kingswayrc.com/txtr/VTR2012/index.shtml.

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of a small town with wide avenues dotted with shops and restau-rants. The host hotel, The Arlington, certainly tells a story of grandness with great entry areas, a veranda nearly surrounding the hotel and spacious public rooms. Although the Hotel is not as glorious as it obviously was in the heyday, it retains richness.

How neat it was to see LBCs parked on the streets, in the National Forest parking areas, clustered in the hotel garage, and driven down the street! It did not matter if you were an MG, Triumph or Jaguar owner; everyone mixed and celebrated their cars. These British cars fit naturally into the old town.

Creig Houghtaling, member of SLTOA, said, “I had a wonder-ful time. This was the first time I have attended a non-local car show. The Hot Springs area of Arkansas is absolutely beautiful! The most fun I had was the drive to Mount Magazine. All kinds of British cars made the brisk run up the mountain. We had lunch at a resort at the top; we then enjoyed a quick and cool drive back down. I had the special privilege of following a Cali-fornia custom Jaguar XK 120 for most of the drive. That has got to be the most elegant art in action EVER!”

Ac t i v i t i es a b o u n d e d from sight-seeing, re-laxing on the v e r a n d a , partaking in the 100-mile (each way) or 60-mile drives into the lus-cious countryside, enjoying the ice cream social or the concert in the park.

The British car circle com-posed in the circular drive front and center at the Clinton Presi-dential Library drew the atten-tion of those attending the li-brary as well as others. After lunch, Carmel Roberts, Vice President and Chief Counsel for the Historic Vehicle Asso-ciation (HVA) spoke about the HVA activities. She is passionate about preserving, driving and recognizing vintage cars partly because they tell stories about our past.

Visit the HVA website at www.historicvehicles.org for more information about the organization and details on “Why this car matters.” Ultimately, HVA would like to register historic vehicles similar to National Register of Historical Places.

Two points Roberts made which were striking. One was that only six percent of those adults under age 35 could drive a standard shift. The second was

British National Meet (Continued from page 1) The SLTOA caravan, downbound, US 67

Creig’s TR8, Jim’s ‘64 FIA Cobra and an Allard Palm Beach

Jim and Nancy Kelley’s immaculate TR2

Little Rock: LBC club representatives flank Car-

mel Roberts; Gary Brierton, President, Austin

Healey Club of America; and Barrett Harrison,

BMCA, who served as event organizer.

The Mayflower. Creig Houghtaling photo

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skilled mechanics and other artisans including car owners who repair and main-tain their cars are declining. Who will replace these valuable resources?

I missed the car show, but those attending told me the show field at the Ponce de Leon Center in Hot Springs Village included interesting cars such as the Tri-umph Mayflower, two pre-war MGs, a Bristol Saloon and an automatic Jaguar fixed head XK 140. A 1960 Jaguar owned by James Clark took Best of Show in the All Things British Concours. The Popular Vote Best of Show was the Tri-umph Mayflower owned by Leland Felix.

A member of SLTOA, John Maneke, shared the following:

A man from Texas drove his brand new $300,000+ McLaren to the show. I have only seen this car in pictures. I would have been scared to death of road debris hitting the car. Someone said there were 127 cars and numer-ous motorcycles. My favorite has to be the Triumph TR3. It was my first car and my first love. There were many on the show field. I spotted one Tri-umph TR5 and talked with the owner. He said the car originally sold to a person in Switzerland and then went to Germany. I have not seen new cars looking as good as this TR5. There were two brand new luxury cars on dis-play – a Rolls Royce and a Bentley. Both cars were extremely heavy and had huge brakes on the front plus big engines.

This was my first out-of-town car show and I had fun. The entire week was fun especially the road drives. One tour went to the highest point in Arkan-sas on a road you would not believe -- lots of sharp curves and switchbacks.

This show was an easy drive from St. Louis down US 67. Several Triumph owners caravanned to the show. If you did not attend, you missed a big show, which was relatively close to home.

The o rgan i ze rs worked hard and the attendees appreciated their efforts. A gigantic thank you goes to Barry Harrison; Harrison spearheaded the effort with several British car clubs sponsoring various events.

Proofread by Anice Etz

Above, Bristol 403, down from Iowa. Below,

1933 MG J-Type. Photos by Rich Berger via

the St Louis MG Metro Gazette.

And, at the end of the day, LBC owners always willingly help other LBC owners (Creig rendered assistance to the

owner of an MG TC)

The SLTOA contingent consisted of Jim Dooley, 1964 AC Cobra FIA 289; Creig Houghtaling, 1980 TR8; Jeff and Nancy Kel-

ley, down from Michigan (and honorary SLTOA members), 1954 TR2; Kathy and Chris Kresser; John Maneke, 1980 TR8; and Mark Morgan.

The Kelleys won the Triumph class with their TR2; Charles Hutchison (Arkansas) took the popular vote TR3; Charles White

(Ohio), Popular Vote TR$; and James Clark (Arkansas), Popular Vote TR6. Leland Felix’s Mayflower won Best in Show.

Jaguar XK-120, Creig Houghtaling photo

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TR Tech

My Experience with E-10 Gasoline

By Karl Schmitt

Late in the summer of 2010 I shut down and placed in garage storage my 1980 Spitfire in anticipation of the major renovation I had to do to the drive train and running gear. At that time the fuel tank was about three quarters full of standard E-10 fuel, to which no additives had been added.

This spring, some 18 months later and during the course of my work, it was time for me to drain the fuel, pull the tank and change out the fuel sender with which I had an issue. The gasoline was allowed to drain into a clean plastic bucket, of which I collected about 4 gallons, which meant that some 2 or 3 gallons had evaporated since storage began. Then I pulled the tank (relatively easy) and fuel lines. After the gasoline set-tled a bit, I decanted it into a second bucket and while doing so looked for signs water, of which I did not see any. The gaso-line was quite fluid, with no sign of jell, it had a dark brown color and with a disagreeable odor. Subsequently, it ran quite well in my big lawn mower.

From the tank I pulled the fuel level sending unit, vented it a bit and then with the aid of an inspection light, I looked inside. Well, what did I see? Nothing, absolutely nothing; other than a bit of sand and the discolored bare metal walls of the tank.

The original fuel lines were of a clear dark plastic, stiff, but still somewhat pliable and perhaps serviceable. But, they are some 32 years old, were made before the days of E-10 gaso-line and will be replaced with modern fuel line hose.

What I found was not what I expected to find, or was led to believe I would find by the many articles I have read or com-

ments that I have heard. To be sure the gas chemists of today tell us that modern E-10 gasoline has a “shelf life” measured in months, is subject to phase separation (the water alcohol mix-ture tends to settle towards the bottom) is hygroscopic and will absorb moisture from the air, which in turn condenses into wa-ter. The water absorption I will attests to as I have to drain the fuel/water separator on my diesel tractor and equipment like my log splitter, which sits idle and outside most of the year, and must have the water and fuel drained at the beginning of each season before it will even start.

However, it is of my very own personal opinion that this fuel storage problem is a bit over blown, especially so as it applies to our little toy cars, to which some storage considerations have been applied. Just be sure to fill the tank brim full before you park it, (which will reduce the surface area exposed to air), insure that there is a good seal under the cap to reduce the atmospheric migration of moist air and store her in a protected area, like a dry garage. Then when spring comes, top off the tank with fresh fuel and drive the little bugger.

On the other hand, park her outside, exposed to the ele-ments and come spring a fuel problem you will have, just like all the “experts” said you will have.

Thank you

- Karl Schmitt, SLTOA

PS—in the near future I will drain and remove the fuel tank from my 52-MGTD, which has been in storage for years, did have E-10 fuel in it, and when last run, would quickly clog the fuel filter. Stay tuned to hear what I find.

for the show as this year’s presentation is front and center just for the Spit! Side note: if you need help let me know and I’ll arrange the flying circus assistance group.

Next up will be another annual event, The Great John Lam-berg SweatFest. That’s right folks, if history repeats itself, and with the current temps it believe it will it’s going to be a hot event! With that said I hope to see everybody there.

- Tony

mall, or driving to the movies. Why do that, when you can Skype, shop Amazon and download movies from Netflix or TV from Hulu. While the authors note that use of public transpor-tation, cycling and walking have increased in 16 to 35 year olds during the last decade, another strong reason for the decline is the economic environment. With job losses and difficulty in finding employment, many young adult are living with their families. Why buy a car, if you “…have access to the parental fleet?” But don’t fear for automakers just yet. They have changed their marketing to include social media outlets and have been incorporating interactive technology into their new models.

Will the car culture fade away? No one knows at this point; however, I think it can be said that the dream of getting that license, and driving your first car, may be less important to the current crop of teenagers. When they have to get a car (going off to college, getting married and having kids) will they be more interested in the car as a common transportation appliance or as an object of desire and source of pride?

Will they yearn for the sound of a 4.6L Mustang or Chevy LS1? Will they be able to tell you what model of car you’re looking at, like people could with a 1955 versus a 1957 Chevy? Or will they likely be able to tell you where the near-est charging station is for your Leaf or Volt? Teach the next generation about Triumphs, before they simply become a footnote on Wikipedia.

End of An Era? (Continued from page 10)

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Sun 3 Jun 12, Family Arena, St Charles

Driver Car Class Overall Indexed

Finish Time

Houghtaling, C TR6 H Stock 31st 51.961

Ingraham, C. Solstice GXP B Stock 42nd 54.966

Team Standings (total events: 3)

Driver/points:

Houghtaling, C, 24

Kresser, C. 15

Ingraham, C. 6

Fox 4

Maneke 4

Lamberg 4

Panchot 3

Morgan 2

Houghtaling, J. 2

Kelley 1

Mentioned in Despatches

Slow Roller Racing Team results: BSCC Autocross No. 3

5th

Annual Lawrence All British Car Show

The Lawrence, KS, club held its 5th annual Brit car show on 10 June at Bambino’s Italian Restaurant in Lawrence; as the club stated, “no prizes, no judging, just British fun!” (they also noted the host restaurant had a great bar. Hmmm…sounds like an SLTOA event). Thanks to Bill Fisher of LABCC for the info and photos.

2012 Goodwood Festival of Speed

This year’s Festival, held over 28 June-1 July at Goodwood House and the Goodwood hillclimb course in West Sussex, saw over 185,000 attendees. The event saluted the 60th anniversary of Lotus Engineering and as usual, the field included a wide range of wildly disparate vehicles. It doesn’t look like any Tri-umph race cars took place but there were plenty of other LBCs, including Group 44’s Jaguar E-Type V-12 and XJS.

Former British Touring Car Championship, er, champion Andy Reid took the top time up the 1.6 mile hill climb: 46.46 seconds, 131 mph in a Chevron GT3. Jaguar XJR9 driver Justin Law re-corded the fastest speed across the finishing line: 142 mph. De-tails are at www.sportscardigest.com/goodwood-festival-of-speed-2012-photo-gallery/ (photos by Tim Scott/Sports Car Digest).

Phil Leonard’s 1992 Rover/MG RV8 GT-2 car

1912 Sunbeam

TWR 1986 Rover 3500

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St Louis Triumph Owners Association

Member, St Louis Sports Car Council

Www.stlscc.org

SLTOA’s on Facebook!

Www.facebook.com/home.php?

sk=group_134416839926824&ap=1

Negative Camber

By the Editor

The next major local event—the All British Car & Cycle Show—is just about two months off as this issue of Notes goes to press and while there are plenty of other local activities, car shows, club events, cruises and the like, we’ve got a few peri-ods coming up where it’d be A Very Good Thing to get out as a club and hit the trails.

One possibility: South. A few months ago John Lamberg, Donna and Mel and Gale Parentin went down to De Soto to look at the restored 1930s Texaco gas station on Main Street. As the photo indicates, the station makes a great location for group or individual car shots and the roads down that way are a hoot. If anyone’s willing to gin up a club drive for some Sat-urday between now and the ABCCS, please contact Prez Tony, Veep Creig or even yr fthfl ed.

Finally, yours truly is looking at a couple of routes more to the west and north, one of which will get tried out on or around 10 November in honor of Veterans Day in support of the Wounded Warrior Project. Let’s talk about the possibilities of a drive/meal at the next meeting.

More next month.

Over the past few months a couple of interesting articles hit the web which may (or may not) foretell the future of driving in this country...and, in particular, the ownership and driving of enthusiast/historic vehicles, such as our Triumphs.

Here’s the first column, from MSN Autos. We’ll run the sec-ond article in the next issue of Notes.

Where’s My Flying Car?

Self-driving cars will be cruising

Nevada roadways

By Rich Maloof

Ordinarily, we wouldn’t be writing about the Department of Motor Vehicles unless we had something new to say about the unique brand of torment we’ve all sustained at a local branch. But there’s actually something progressive going on at the DMV offices in Nevada. The state has just issued Google a license to test three self-driving cars on public roadways.

Google has been lobbying hard to test their autonomous cars, and the Silver State, home to Las Vegas, is primed to roll the dice. As the Washington Post notes, the Vegas strip is just the kind of place where a robotic car could be a great idea, keeping everyone on the street a little safer as one less car swerves hard to the left as its driver gapes at the neon and nakedness and countless Godzilla-sized distractions.

According to Google and other makers of autonomous cars, safety and efficiency are the drivers of the technology. Given that human error is the cause of most car accidents, and given the world’s desperate need to be more fuel-efficient, automated cars like Google’s modified Prius could go a long way toward reducing injuries and air pollution.

With these acknowledgments, can we be forgiven for saying that it just doesn’t seem—what’s the right expression—fun? Sure, nothing says good times like a Prius, and several—shall we say geeky?—test-drivers have been delighted on a closed track as the tires squeal at a breathtaking 43 mph. But, jeez, is this what the future was supposed to look like? Isn’t it here yet? We figured we’d be in hovercrafts by now. We were counting on traveling to the mall by air and beaming our new gravity sneakers back home. Even this band name lodges a complaint.

Nonetheless, there’s a laundry list of significant potential benefits in a car that can (when laws allow) drop you off and park itself, drop the kids off at school, and transport passen-gers in various stages of incapacity, whether handicapped or just inebriated. Given, there other remarkable modes of trans-portation that can actually carry many passengers who don’t need to drive or control the vehicle; perhaps you’ve heard of such advances as “the bus” and “the train.” But autonomous cars hold great promise to save lives and Mother Earth when they become publicly available, which could be within three or five years.

Moving right along, how ‘bout some club drives/runs around the local area? The opportunities are out there...

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SLTOA Classifieds

60 TR3A—Family project that we

never quite completed, drove well when parked about 18 years ago. Comes with an additional front end assembly and a crate of parts, asking $3450. In Kirkwood, call for info, (314)249-3883 (Craigslist) (1207)

62 TR3A—Blue with red interior, photos available, $16,000.

Bentley Studio, 10403 Clayton Rd, St Louis; call (314)991-2502 (Hemmings) (1207)

64 TR4A—In St Louis, white with double blue racing stripes.

Upgrades include a roll bar, Panasports, stainless steel head-ers and exhaust, tonneau cover, fog light bar and small adjust-able windshields. $7500, call with questions or for more infor-mation (314)520-1994 (Craigslist) (1207)

71 Spitfire MkIV—Hillsboro, MO. BRG with black interior,

overdrive, 67,668 miles on the odometer, has tonneau cover and hardtop. Includes 1973 Spit parts car, $8500 for all, call Jim at (636)948-3003 (Craigslist) (1207)

71 TR6—As seen at the 2011 ABCCS,

outstanding condition, $12,500 firm. New aluminum radiator, new water pump, thermostat, switched to 13-blade fan. Call Julie Madsen (314)494-7054 (1110)

72 Spitfire MkIV—Odometer reads 69,xxx, comes with hard

top. Engine overhauled in 2012, hydraulics recently rebuilt, carb rebuilt, all new hoses and belts, newer battery, converted to electric fuel pump. Body could use respray but looks good, upholstery original with few tears. On factory alloy rims, comes with original steel rims, extra engine and a like new clutch as-sembly. Belleville, IL, $5200, cash only. Call (618)660-6146 (Craigslist) (1207)

74 Spitfire MkIV—New starter and

solenoid; paint, top and interior about five years old. Neat little car that runs great. In DeSoto, asking $2800 OBO, call Jesse at (636)633-6672, leave message if necessary

and I will call you back (Craigslist) (1207)

76 TR6—Project or parts car, $2800. Was going to fix it up

but I don’t have time for the project, call either (636)937-1370 or (636)208-3825 for details, can send photos (Craigslist) (1207)

76 TR7—Coupe/DHC, green “Victory Edition,” with extra en-

gine and gearbox, other parts. Pretty much completely rebuilt but has been sitting for a while, no longer have the room and want to find the car a good home. $150, Steve Vohsen (314)620-5206 or stevevohsen@hotmail.com (1205)

76 TR7—Coupe/DHC, blue,

has only 46,998 miles. Some surface rust on the suspension pieces and one tiny spot of surface rust on the rear tail panel. Has sportier later-model steering wheel, re-

placed non-working clock with a mechanical oil pressure gage, added a small dash trim piece from a 1980 TR7, now has a rear spoiler. Probably needs new tie rod ends, buyer will also get boxes and boxes of TR7 parts I’ve accumulated along with repair manual. In Chesterfield, $4500 cash, (314)308-1810 (Craigslist) (1207)

79 Spitfire 1500—Cuba, MO, has 60K miles, everything

works. Like new tires and brakes, new radiator and convertible top, always garaged. No. 3 rod bearing has spun, crankshaft mic’d .016 under on that journal, crank worth saving but needs grinding. Asking $2250 OBO, may trade, call (573)8850-4055 (Craigslist) (1207).

80 TR8—900 miles since 2005

restoration, has many perform-ance upgrades, visit http://mytr8.weebly.com/ for more de-tails. The car must go, serious offers only, asking $16,500. Ger-m a n t o w n , T N , e m a i l

hshepardjr@netscape.net (Hemmings) (1207)

For Sale—72-80 Spitfire MkIV/1500 parts, large assort-

ment included 2 transmissions, bumpers (front and rear), doors, windshields and window glass, 1 full hood with fenders/lights/brackets, box of electrical parts (speedometers, gauges, turn signals, etc). Contact K Tibbs for details, tibbsk@yahoo.com (1112).

For Sale—Two air (Crossland No. 855) and one oil

(Crossland 676) for the TR6. I would also love to sell several items for a TR3A because we’re moving to Florida: spare tire on narrow rim, made for trunk; heater core; hub caps in VG condition with rims; gas tank sender; oil, speedometer, temp, electric gauges; starter button; original oil filter container; plus a few other items. Best offer for all, Rick Greaves, Jerseyville, IL (618)639-4978 (1205)

Refurbished by Blount British Cars, Ltd, as a fundraiser for the Blount County Children’s Home at May’s 25th Anniversary “Springtime in the Smokies” British car gathering.

Frame sandblasted, primed and painted, rusty body re-paired and painted Old English White, all new seals and gas-kets for body and hardtop. Suspension rebuilt, new wheels, tires and brakes (GT6 up front). Engine rebuilt, bored 60 over, new wiring system. New red interior with white piping, new carpets, NOS soft top.

Photos and documentation at www.blountbritishcars.org, for additional info or to purchase, contact Jim Watson at spridget@charter.net or (865)599-4305. The first $8000 takes “Ilene” home.

For Sale: 1966 Spitfire MkII “Ilene”

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SLTOA

Monthly

Meeting

Tues 17 Jul 12

Yes, it’s that time again:

The Annual Burger Burn

& Sweatfest

John Lamberg’s

14148 Cross Trails Dr

Chesterfield, MO 63017

Show after 5:30-6 PM or thereabouts, meeting at some

point, BRING FOOD!

And Finally….

Here it is, the latest from the SLTOA Skunk Works (reputedly located in Area 51 off Gravois): some unneeded Spit-fire parts, an old bicycle and you have a Triumphant personal commuting vehi-cle with great gas mileage and great exposure to the elements!

That’s Chief Test Driver Joe, BTW...

1910 Edison-Puton Monowheel, Cholmondeley, June 2012

Via Sports Car Digest

The End of an Era?

Ed Note: Kathy Kresser in her article on the British National Car Week National Meet cited speaker Carmel Walker’s statement that only 6 percent of adults under age 35 can drive a stick. We figured it appropriate to reprint the following by Fred Wagner of the Texas Triumph Register (Houston), originally published in June 2012 edition of The Bluebonnet.

Is this the end of the driving culture as we know it? For most of us, the one thing we all looked forward to in our teenaged years was getting our driver’s license. You got your learner’s permit, usually at 15, and then got that first license at or immediately after turning 16. Now it seems, the urgency and desire to get that license may be fading.

According to an article in The Financial Times, entitled “Young Americans Turn Away from Driving”, authors Shannon Bond and Jason Abbruzzese note that, according to a Federal Highway Administration study, the number of 14 to 34 year olds has risen to 26 percent in 2010; up 5 percent from the previous decade. They cite another study from the University of Michigan that found the number of drivers under thirty fell from 30% to 22%.

Are we falling out of love with the automobile? Perhaps not entirely, but due to the rise of social media and the internet, many young people have access to friends, shopping and entertainment at home. No more driving to a friend’s house, driving to the

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