volume 37, issue 07 july 2021 the trumpet

Volume 37, Issue 07 July 2021

1

THE TRUMPET

The Official Publication of the Georgia Triumph Association

Upcoming GTA Events

5th Dart Night Thur., July 1, 7:00pm – 9:30pm At the Smith’s house

Southside Monthly GTA Meeting Thur., July. 1, 7:00pm – 8:30pm Partners II Pizza, Fayetteville, GA

PoBoys of Canton, GA Sat., July 17, 5:00pm – 8:00pm 2200 Riverston Blvd., Canton, GA

GTA Monthly Meeting Tue., July 20, 7:00pm - 8:30pm The Crossing Steakhouse, Norcross, GA

GTA Mountain Division Monthly Luncheon Tue., July 27, 11:30am - 1:30pm 19 Degrees North, Dahlonega, GA

Southside Monthly GTA Meeting Thur., Aug. 5, 7:00pm – 8:30pm Partners II Pizza, Fayetteville, GA

More info. & Other events Are listed starting on pages 6 & 40.

Membership Welcome New Members Philip & Catherine Preston Donagh & Sue Kelly Christian & Amanda Albertson Mike & Lynette Baker Dan & Marguerite Glennon Jose & Maria Esteras John & Susan Pulicare

Renewals 7 New members 7 Total Membership 171


From the Driver’s Seat

July 2021 by Jim Orr

Well, I’ve been “out of pocket” for much of the past two months doing repai rs and maintenance on our home near Toccoa Georgia. I’ve missed the first 4 dart matches and the AristoCraft drive which I badly wanted to participate in! This past Saturday, I was able to drive down to Cumming to join the “To Helen back” drive as lead-car navigator. I parked my truck and trailer near the bakery in Cumming and hopped into the passenger seat of Ashford Little’s TR6 and had a great time! It reminded me of why we love these cars and the people who drive them. Saturday’s Drive to Helen was amazingly cool – I mean it was a REALLY nice day for a top down drive – in late June no less!

We were joined by like-minded MG and VW enthusiasts – in keeping with our diversity efforts – I love to see other vintage cars along on these drives – keep them coming! This week I hope to make the final dart match of

the season at the Smith’s house – at least I’ll dust off the ol’ dart set for a day and have some fun with friends. I appreciate all of you who make the GTA a great club. Last I checked we were 156 strong! While we’re certainly heading toward super-hot days ahead, we’ll try to have some outings where we can gather – and enjoy our cars. IF however, your car needs some maintenance, July and August are good months for it because September is coming – and with that a couple of national gatherings, (The VTR Nationals and the 6-Pack trials. We also will have the Norcross British Car Fayre, and the Atlanta British Car Day all crammed into about 4 week’s time so get ready!

Get out and DRIVE!

Sincerely, Jim

2


Southside Report

The next Southside Monthly Meeting is scheduled for Thursday, July 1, 7:00pm – 8:30pm at Partners II Pizza, 834 Glynn St S #228, Fayetteville, GA 30214.

3


Mountain division Report

The next Mountain Division Monthly Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, July 27, 11:30am - 1:30pm at 19 Degrees North, 19 North Chestatee St., Dahlonega, GA

4


GTA Monthly Meeting

The next GTA Monthly Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, July 20, 7:00pm – 8:30pm at The Crossing Steakhouse, 40 S Peachtree St, Norcross, GA

5


Activities Report Be sure to check the GTA Calendar of events for the latest updates

https://gatriumph.com/calendar/

Southside Monthly GTA Meeting When Thursday, July 1, 7:00pm – 8:30pm Where Partners II Pizza, 834 Glynn St S #228, Fayetteville, GA 30214, United States (map)

5th and Final GTA Dart Night 2021 When Thursday, July 1, 7:00pm – 9:30pm Where At the Smith’s house, 2266 Howell Mill Rd. Atlanta, GA 30318

Grind 'N Gears Car Show When Saturday, July 3, 8:00am – 11:00am Where 6806-6908 North Point Cir, Alpharetta, GA 30022, USA Description The show will be the first Saturday of every month. Designed to not conflict with C&O, WORSHIP or people’s church services. Here is a link. Sign up to learn more as we role it out Grind "N Gears . Look forward to seeing y’all there.

Caffeine and Octane Cruise In When Sunday, July 4, 7:00am – 11:00am Where Perimeter Mall, 4400 Ashford Dunwoody Rd, Atlanta, GA 30346, USA (map) Description Modeled after a well-known California show, the event would be appropriately informal, with an automotively non-denominational approach. What was desired was a show that would display cars that were both new and old, foreign and domestic, bone stock and wildly modified all together in the same lot.

Sunday Car Worship When Sunday, July 4, 8:00am – 11:00am Where Target Shopping Center, at Panera Bread, 1135 Woodstock Rd, Roswell, GA 30075 Description Tired of the flashy, overpopulated C&C events? This is a quiet event with great folks who aren't afraid to drive their cars... even in the rain. Can you believe it? See you there. A reminder about this 1st Sunday gathering.

Join us and bring a friend to 'Worship' for some quiet fellowship. Worship!

6

https://gatriumph.com/calendar/

https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=Partners%20II%20Pizza%2C%20834%20Glynn%20St%20S%20%23228%2C%20Fayetteville%2C%20GA%2030214%2C%20United%20States

https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.grind-n-gears.com%2Fevent-details%2Fsoft-launch-of-grind-n-gears-june-5-2021&sa=D&ust=1622825065756000&usg=AOvVaw2V0z_szCrvj3u6Q7M2TbrC

https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=Perimeter%20Mall%2C%204400%20Ashford%20Dunwoody%20Rd%2C%20Atlanta%2C%20GA%2030346%2C%20USA


Atlanta Garage Party When Friday, July 16, 8:00pm – 11:00pm Where TBD Description http://atlgarageparty.com/attend.htm The Atlanta Garage Party is a monthly social event for people who own collectable or modified cars of any condition, and work on them themselves. It takes place somewhere in the larger metro-Atlanta area on every third Friday of the month, at ~8pm. Usually it lasts to between 11pm and midnight. It is not for people who only read car magazines and watch Top Gear, or collect cars that others work on. If you are one of those, please keep that a secret. If you would like to host one of these parties, then you need to be a person who attends them, and has gotten to know others in the group. Although exceptions are sometimes made, the intent is to have these parties in people's home garages, not at their businesses. If you, your spouse, children, and family pets spend more time at your place of business than at your house, or if the two have kinda merged, or if your business is just cool beyond words (Bryan Fuller), then you have a good chance of hosting there. We would like to meet your spouse and children and let them know that you have an enabling support group around you that you can fall back on when you are disowned by them.

Please feel free to invite any males that fit this descript ion, and any females whatsoever. Very closely-supervised

children can come also. Please do bring pictures of your current projects, or pieces of the project, or videos of your last track day, or business cards, party favors, or whatever to show off. If you have a 1929 Miller Indy car supercharger housing with a hairline crack in it that you are wondering how to repair, then just throw it in your trunk and bring it along. Unsolicited advice will be plentiful. But, dress to please the wenches, not to handle the wrenches.

PoBoys of Canton, GA When Saturday, July 17, 17:00 – 20:00 Where 2200 Riverston Blvd., Canton, GA 30114 Description Check the GTA Calendar and FaceBook page updates.

GTA Monthly Meeting When Tuesday July 20, 7:00pm - 8:30pm Where The Crossing Steakhouse, 40 S Peachtree St, Norcross, GA 30071 Description Monthly meetings offer a chance to share a meal with people who share your Triumph hobby. A great place to solicit advice and to learn tips and tricks from your fellow club members. We will review activities and announce upcoming events and report briefly on club finances. These meetings will be very informal. Arrive at

7


6:30 for dinner, and a brief business meeting will take place at 7:30.

The monthly meetings are the THIRD Tuesday of every month. All welcome. Triumph Owners, prospective owners, former owners and all supporters. PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDARS now!

GTA Mountain Division Monthly Luncheon When Thursday July 27, 11:30am - 1:30pm. Where

19 Degrees North, 19 North Chestatee St., Dahlonega, GA Description Meetings will be held on the last Tuesday of each Month at 19 North, Dahlonega, 11:30 AM. A great chance to get together with our membership in North Georgia.

Southside Monthly GTA Meeting When Thursday, August 5, 7:00pm – 8:30pm Where Partners II Pizza, 834 Glynn St S #228, Fayetteville, GA 30214, (map)

While attending events we ask that you: Stay home if you have been diagnosed with COVID-19 if you are waiting for COVID-19 test results, or may have been exposed to someone with COVID-19. While mask wearing is no longer mandated by the State of Georgia we encourage you to wear a mask and practice social distancing as you feel is necessary to protect your health and safety as well as that of others. Thank you.

8

https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=Partners%20II%20Pizza%2C%20834%20Glynn%20St%20S%20%23228%2C%20Fayetteville%2C%20GA%2030214%2C%20United%20States


Rubber, Lube, and Wieners What a difference a new rubber windshield seal can make

By Tom Brand

My 1962 TR4 is a great driver quality car. Actually, so great that it made a 2800-mile trip from Portland, OR (where the car was purchased) back to Peachtree Corners in September of 2019. My cousin Pat who lives in Portland (and a bit of a British car enthusiast himself) sourced the car and spent a few months putting some miles and maintenance on it before the trip to ATL. But… this weeklong journey is a story for another day.

My plan with this car is to keep it in a good running (no excuses) driver quality condition. Actually, if you step back 5 feet and blur your eyes just a bit, it actually

shows very well. And, besides, I have too many other TR projects at the moment, so it’s nice to have one that actually starts right up and drives with a simple turn of the key.

Even though I ’m not planning any restoration down time for this TR4, I do have that “never ending” punch list of items that I plan on addressing as time allows (beyond just the routine maintenance items).

One of these items was replacing the original dry-rotted and cracked rubber seal around the windshield. I just so happened to run into Mike Hurst a while back at the Sunday car worship event in Roswell and

9


mentioned it to Mike, asking if he had any experience with the job. Mike was very quick to offer to help. So, we planned to do the project on an upcoming Saturday morning.

I ordered up the seal and chrome trim from Moss Motors, and leading up to the scheduled Saturday, I got the following text message from Mike:

“Tom, go get a bottle of Astroglide, we'll need that for Saturday. The way these tech sessions work is the host feeds his team a simple lunch of Brats or Italian sausage and a side of maybe coleslaw.”

I’ll have to say... I did find that message quite humorous and yet, was slightly alarmed that I was about to have a few guys over (that’ I’ve only met on a few prior occasions) and was asked to pick up a bottle of personal lubricant and sausage. But my addiction to Triumph sports cars overruled normal reason and figured “what’s the worst that can happen here”?

So, on to the project.

Overall, the task took about 3 hours and can easily be done with 2 guys. But in our case, we had Mike, Neal Turner, and me. Both Mike and Neal had previous experience, so this was really a virgin learning moment for me while I watched the pros at work. The process involves the following steps:

1. Remove rearview mirror and sun visors. 2. Pullout the chrome finishing trim.

3. Using a box cutter knife cut away the old seal (outside and inside) until the windshield lifts out freely.

4. Carefully place the glass somewhere safe and scrape and clean the edges.

5. Prepare the windshield frame by cleaning and scraping away any seal remnants (some paint damage underneath the seal may occur, but the new seal covers that up on mine just fine).

6. Lube up the seal in all the crevasses and stretch it around the glass.

7. Continue applying lube “generously” and ensuring a thin rope is placed in slot that overlaps the frame.

10


8. Once in position, pull the rope from inside the car to force the seal lip around the inside frame.

9. After a little fine tuning and clean up, reinstall mirror and visors, and you’re good to go

Apparently, the lube is the key to getting this job done hassle free! Not sure who came up with the idea to try Astroglide to help the windshield slip into the seal and frame, but I heard it was a tip given by one Joe Earnest. I’ll leave that up to him to confirm or deny. And the good news...

I think between the left-over lube in my bottle and the left-over from Neal’s project, there might just be enough for the next club member to do their windshield seal (saving from the embarrassment of buying Astroglide at your local neighborhood Target).

Now, a few months later, I’m still noticing some seepage of the lube, it’s mostly all gone and wipes up very easily. But most importantly, the new rubber seal looks beautiful and was well worth the time and minimal expense.

A huge “Thank you” to Mike Hurst and Neal Turner for spending the morning slipping and sliding around my garage with me.

If you ever happen to walk by your Triumph and notice that the seal is unsightly or cracking, don’t just live with it! Within a few hours and a little help from your friends, it’s a very doable project and the results are worth it.

11


GTA Drives to Helenback June 26, 2021

By Ashford Little

The GTA drive to Helen, GA took place on a perfect day. Usually by now the weather gods have gotten a little bit hot under the collar, and everywhere else, and turned up the heat, but we strove to sneak in one more drive before they noticed our little British cars and do their best to put us on the side of the road with steam escaping from our radiators. On the last Saturday in June we had tremendous weather. I cannot thank the nameless person who put in a good word as it could not have been more pleasant or beautiful! Thank you, thank you!

Jim Orr, our fearless leader, and I had agreed to drive together in my TR6 and I was happy to have the company. Driving a Triumph is great, but it’s made even better with a friend or spouse to converse with along the way - so make sure you bring along one or the other on our drives.

We had arranged a new jumping off point a little further north than usual and not only did we avoid some traffic, but we had some club members notice the close proximity and decide to join us. Memo to self… this was a good idea. When I arrived several of our club members were

12


already there and chit-chatting. By my count we had about 17 members and friends on our drive, 18 if you count Mike Hurst who came to wish us off. As usual I forgot the sign-in sheet, so I hope we got everyone’s name correct and listed. The following folks came out: Ashford Little, Mike Hurst came to see us off, Chris Urban ’67 in a cool orange VW Squareback, Kerry Lebel ’77 Spit, Mike & Marie Bartliff - 74 TR6, Phil & Miriam Robertson - 71 TR6, Jim Orr - navigator, Mark Post - ’77 Spitfire, Tony & Gail Graham - 76 TR6, Glenn Stephens - ’64 Corvair, Chris & Kyla Weldon - brown TR6, Jim Doran, our webmaster in his new copy of a British car aka a Miata, and a very nice couple in a MGB.

GTA member Joe Earnest had mapped out the drive so we passed out the directions and took off with Jim and I leading the way. We managed to miss the first turn, but after that it was nothing but springlike weather, beautiful scenery and fun.

We cruised up through Dawsonville & Dahlonega en route through some awesome twisties making a brief pit stop in Dahlonega to regroup and a quick bathroom break. After that we also stopped at a beautiful overlook where everyone gathered for a group photo except Tony & Gail who were short on petrol and kept cruising along, priorities! From there it was downhill to Helen and our lunch stop. We pulled into Helen right at noon, but apparently we weren’t the only ones who thought that visiting Helen was a good idea as main street was packed, but we managed to make it without blowing off any steam. Our lunch destination was Monday’s Pub, which was at the other end of town and which appeared to be a good spot. Upon our arrival we apparently beat some of the folks who cooked and served, but after a little persuasion we were able to enter, rehydrate and order a tasty lunch.

There was only one small mishap along the way as Dan Washburn’s hub adaptors were a bit loose, but Glenn Stephens, our GA Tech engineer extraordinaire and several others fixed things up. This allowed everyone to enjoy lunch and then make their way home. Well, except for one, Mark Post, apparently lost his clutch

13


and got the special treat of riding home in style.

Well, British cars do occasionally give us an opportunity to turn a wrench or two. I’m sure Mark will be back in action shortly. Thanks everyone for coming out for a fantastic day for an equally fantastic drive. Thanks Joe Earnest, you missed a fun day.

See y’all soon.

Ashford

GTA DART NIGHT #4 By Glenn Stephens

Tony Graham, as winner of GTA Dart Night Round 3, was slated to host Round 4. What that really means is that Tony's wife Gail hosted Dart Night Round 4 at the home of Glenn and Julie Stephens. But Tony attended.

Ten intrepid dart flingers lined up on the Stephens' screened porch to try their luck but only one had a secret weapon. Before the match, Jeff Smith took a fortifying slug of Joe Earnest's corn mash moonshine whisky. This propelled Jeff to a fast and stylish victory. Others tried to match his whimsical leg flip dart delivery but none of us had the right pixie dust.

Meanwhile the rest of the snail darters tried in vain to double out. Finally sated with burgers, potato salad, watermelon, hummus, chicken wings, chips, cookies, beer, and margaritas, hostess "I Never Played Before" Gail and Moonshine Joe finished out the top 3. Along the way Stella Wissner won the First Bullseye trophy, an articulated dinosaur.

The rest of the places were settled by a random toss in the general direction of the dart board's center circle.

Since this soiree took place just south of Tennessee, there were fewer Triumphs in attendance. Joe Earnest gets the Iron Man award for driving his Herald on I-285 at rush hour. Tony Graham gets the Minimal Effort award for almost running his TR6 out of gas on a 2 mile trip. Honorable Mention goes to Glenn Stephens who managed to start one of his hoopties without actually moving it.

Other attendees were co-hostess Julie "Hell on Wheels" Stephens, Glenn "Jinxed Himself Drinking from the Champions Cup" Stephens, Marion "Who Are These People?" Hopkins, Mike "Ultimate Driving Machine" Hopkins, Stella "Bullseye" Wissner, Jack "Cobra Donut" Wissner, and Ashford "I Broke 100!!" Little.

14


Highlands Motoring Festival 2021 Highlands, NC

By Jim Doran

For the third time, this time as a spectator, my wife, Kathy, and I attended the Highlands Motoring Festival held on June

10-13, 2021. This is an ideal situation for me. Kathy and I love spending time in Highlands enjoying the many fine

15

https://highlandsmotoringfestival.com/


restaurants while experiencing some of the best roads for a driving enthusiast. And, to have a show of this caliber just 2 hours from home made it a slam dunk! Ev e n t s i n c l u d e d t w o “ l a p o f t h e mountains” 160+ drives, one Thursday and the second on Friday, various parties and charity events and then Saturday’s “cars in the park” car show. This year for the show, the organizers curated each potential entrant making a limited

selection of cars, around 100. Others who did not make the show were welcomed on the drives and all the other events. Here’s an event photo gallery. This was the show 14th year so plan to make the 15th in 2022 and book early.

Jim Doran [email protected]

Aristocraft Drive and Factory Tour By Jim Doran

On Saturday, June 19, 2021, I lead a 75-mile 2-hour drive from the Crabapple

Kroger to Dawsonville, GA with 5 other GTA members in tow. Aristocraft Drive If

16

https://jdoran.smugmug.com/Highlands-Motoring-Festival-2021

https://gatriumph.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Aristocraft-Drive-03.15.2020.pdf


you were not able to make it, save this drive for a nice day. Lots of turns would be an understatement! Once we arrived at Aristocraft, Scott Turner and his son, Owen, provided a factory tour and then let us loose in their museum adjacent to the manufacturing plant. Started by Scott’s grandfather and some buddies after WWII in Atlanta, today Scott and his father, Bill, t e n d t o t h e b o a t m a k i n g w h i l e apprenticing Owen. Each boat takes over

two months to produce, and Scott is quoting a 2-year lead-time on new orders. Aristocraft also refurbishes their earlier boats and a Chris-Craft on occasion. As you can see from the photo gallery, these gentlemen are pure artist. Aristocraft Boat Gallery

Jim Doran [email protected]

Inaugural Grind 'N Gears Meet Up June 5, 2021

By Mike Hurst

The Georgia Triumph Association was well represented. GTA attendees were: Abe Cheij Joe Garcia Jim Smith Guest- Scott Smith Jim Doran Donagh Kell

Philip Preston Mike and Marie Bartliff Kerry and Dug Lebel Mike Hurst

17

http://aristocraftboats.com/

https://jdoran.smugmug.com/Aristocraft-Boats-June-2021

https://jdoran.smugmug.com/Aristocraft-Boats-June-2021


Safety requirements (not just tips) when using floor jacks and jack stands

By Rob Siegel; 07 June 2021 Copied from the Hagerty Website and reformatted for this newsletter.

Rob Siegel

After a ratchet-and-socket set, box-end wrenches, and screwdrivers, the most commonly used automotive DIY tools are probably a floor jack and a set of jack stands. Whether you’re changing a flat tire, replacing brake pads and rotors, or performing work under the vehicle that requires it to be raised for clearance or comfort, it’s important to understand that the functions of floor jack and jack stands are tightly intertwined.

That is, you use a floor jack to lift the nose or tail of a car (or, possibly, just one wheel),

then you set it on jack stands to keep it safely in the air.

Last year, low-priced tool giant Harbor Freight recalled several of its jack stands due to instances of the stands slipping under a shifting load. It pushed the issue of jack stand safety to the automotive media’s front burner, which is certainly a positive thing. I thought I’d give you my common-sense perspective on floor jack and jack stand safety.

18


The old stamped metal-pinned tubular jack stand design Before I delve into the mechanics of the slippage of the Harbor Freight stands, we need to jump into the Wayback Machine. If you wrenched 30 years ago, the jack stands you likely used had a design consisting of two sliding stamped metal tubes like the ones pictured below. The bottom of the outer tube was slit in three places, and the resulting sections were bent outward to create three legs which had metal bands welded to the bottoms to secure them against splaying apart further under load.

The inner height-adjustable tube had a cradle on the top to hold whatever part of the car it was under, as well as several holes that could be aligned with a hole in the outer tube and locked with a metal pin that was the diameter of a pencil. Stands like this were inexpensive and lightweight, but the stamped metal was fairly thin, the increment of height adjustment with the holes was usually pretty coarse, and using the stands meant putting them under your jacked-up car, raising the inner tubes, lowering them until one hole aligned with the hole in the outer tubes, and manually sliding the pins through. The pins actually performed three separate functions—selecting a height, locking that height in place, and supporting the weight of the car—but this wasn’t really trumpeted as an advantage.

This is what we all used back in the day. Courtesy thebirminghamlister

The newer ratcheting jack stand design The stamped metal-pinned tubular jack stand was gradually replaced by a welded ratcheting design. Instead of having two sliding stamped-metal tubes with their location fixed by a pin, the ratcheting design has a post with teeth, which slides up and out of the middle. This ratchet works like the familiar ratchet in a wrench, except it’s linear instead of circular. Teeth on the post are a right-triangle sawtooth shape with the short edge parallel to the ground. As the post is lifted up, a “pawl”—a curved eyebrow-shaped bar—has one end that pivots, and another end that slides under the part of the tooth that’s parallel to the ground, making it so the post can be pulled upward but can’t be lowered without flipping the release bracket. It’s a bit quicker to deploy beneath a jacked-up car than a pinned stand.

19


A standard circular toothed ratchet. The “pawl” (#2) slides below the flat part of the tooth and prevents it from twisting backward. Rob Siegel

The toothed post, pawl, and release lever on a ratcheting jack stand. Rob Siegel

In addition to the ratchet itself, the construction of a ratcheting stand is heavier and thicker than the pinned stamped-metal tubular one. Typically, a thick metal plate is bent into a four-legged shape, welded onto itself at a seam, and welded at the top to the central body that receives the toothed post. I f you accidentally run over a stamped-metal tubular stand, odds are you’ll flatten it, or at least bend the legs. In contrast, if you accidentally run over a ratcheting jack stand, odds are you’ll damage the undercarriage of the car.

The welded seam (bottom arrow) and attachment point to the body (upper arrow) on a ratcheting stand. Rob Siegel

The weld on the seam is clearly visible on the underside of the stand. Rob Siegel

And with that background, let’s talk about … The Harbor Freight jack stand recall In May 2020, low-priced tool giant Harbor Freight recalled 1.7 million of its Pittsburg-brand three-ton jack stands (items 56371) and six-ton stands (items 61196 and 61197) due to reported instances of the stands slipping while under load. You can find videos on YouTube where people

20


demonstrate this under controlled conditions. This video of a disassembled jack stand does a pretty good job of showing the mechanics of the problem—the end of the pawl not fitting as securely under the teeth as it should. And on this website, you can see photos in which someone put white paint on the pawl, and a surprisingly small amount of paint transferred onto one of the teeth on the shaft, which demonstrates the small amount of overlap of the pawl under the teeth. The root cause of the problem was reportedly traced to aging tooling at one

factory run by the manufacturer, the Jiaxang Golden Roc Tool Company, affecting reportedly about 5 percent of the jack stands manufactured there. There were reportedly 11 injuries caused by the problem, none of them life threatening.

U n f o r t u n a t e l y , H a r b o r F r e i g h t ’ s replacements for the recalled three-ton stands (item 56373) had a different problem—instances of the seam weld cracking when under load. These were recalled as well. You can find videos of this “zipper failure” of the seam weld on YouTube. Together, the recalls created the impression that any Harbor Freight jack stand was going to kill you.

The reaction An unintended but completely reasonable response to the Harbor Freight jack stand debacle was a sharp resurgence in interest in tubular jack stands, where a thick and

plainly-visible pin is used to set the height, lock the stand, and support the car’s weight. Although the cheap lightweight stamped metal design is a thing of the past (and rightly so), sales of pinned-design jack stands such as this Torin T43004, with two sliding aluminum tubes and a screw-on aluminum base, soared. In addition to having a locking pin instead of a pawl, the screw-on base means that this particular design is even free of the kind of weld that failed in the second Harbor Freight recall.

One of a recent generation of pinned tubular jack stands. Rob Siegel

Ratcheting jack stands, however, have not gone away. Far from it. In fact, many if not most new ratcheting stands have had a makeover, receiving a manually-insertable safety pin that provides redundant load bearing to the ratchet pawl. If you want to buy new ratcheting stands, you’d probably

21

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_Fque3gsPM&ab_channel=mikehanyimikehanyi

https://www.thedrive.com/news/33679/scary-photos-of-recalled-harbor-freight-jackstands-show-just-how-dangerous-they-are

https://www.thedrive.com/news/33679/scary-photos-of-recalled-harbor-freight-jackstands-show-just-how-dangerous-they-are


need to go out of your way to find one that doesn’t have this “double-locking” feature.

An example of a recent “double-locking” ratchet-style jack stand with a safety pin. This is a Torin T43002A, but you can find many others. Rob Siegel

The REAL safety issues Obviously, the Harbor Freight jack stand recalls are a very serious issue, and if you have Harbor Freight jack stands from one of the recalled batches, you should return them. But should you toss your current ratcheting jack stands in the recycle bin and pony up for one of the newer pinned-tubular stands or a ratcheting stand with a redundant pin? If you’ll never feel safe working under a car unless you do, sure. But if that’s all you do, you still won’t be as safe as you could be.

With that said, I’ve been wrenching on my own cars for 40 years and writing about it for 35, and in my Hack Mechanic opinion, the dominant safety issues working under a car are these, and they remain these,

even after you’ve exchanged your Harbor Freight jack stands:

Always, always, “double-jack” the car. I can’t write this often enough or say it strongly enough. The single most important thing you can do to make working beneath a car as safe as possible is that, after you’ve used your floor jack to raise the car and set it down on jack stands, leave the floor jack in place as a back-up. This is literally zero extra work, and it costs you nothing. I realize that, at times, the floor jack may then be in the way, but consider approaching the part you need to work on from another angle.

This is “double-jacking” the car—leaving the floor jack in place after you let the car settle on the stands. Do it. Every single time. Rob Siegel

Always jack up the car on a level surface, never on an incline. You’d think you need to be suicidal or an idiot or both to jack up a car on a hill, but people sometimes make poor choices in the heat of the moment. I was a physics major in college and had a mechanics professor—that’s “mechanics” as in the study of the forces on moving and stationary objects—who died when his car fell on him. Months

22


after it happened, I looked at his driveway and was astonished at its steepness. What caused him to do it, I don’t know. The best, smoothest, most level, safest place to jack up a car is usually your concrete garage floor. Maybe there was already a car in his garage and all he wanted was a quick oil change. Who knows. That a mechanics professor could get this wrong enough to get himself killed haunts me to this day.

Don’t jack up a car on asphalt, especially on a hot day. Asphalt is never as hard as concrete, and as its temperature increases, it can get soft enough that a floor jack and jack stands can sink right in, causing a car to topple. Combine it with a surface that isn’t laser level and things can go sideways very quickly. I’ll never forget checking out a car I was thinking about buying. I met the seller in a CVS parking lot in July. I’d brought an aluminum floor jack and used it to put the nose of the car in the air to quickly wiggle the front wheels and check for front-end play. I didn’t “double-jack” the car because I wasn’t even pulling the wheels. I didn’t perceive the parking lot as slanted, but it was, and the slant was at a right angle to both the car and the jack, and that—combined with the hot temperature and the soft asphalt—caused the jack to sink and the car to topple, with the nose abruptly jumping one foot toward me. My body was never under the car, but it scared the bejesus out of both me and the seller, and I’ve never forgotten it. If you have no place other than asphalt to jack up a car and have absolutely no other choice, I strongly advise making sure it’s dead flat and

putting metal plates beneath the floor jack and all jack stands.

Once settled, check the jack stands. Once you’ve released pressure on the floor jack and let the car down on the jack stands, check the stands both top and bottom. Make sure that the part of the car the cradle (at the top of the stand) is touching is in the middle and is sitting flat, and verify that all four legs of the base of the jack stands are sitting securely on the ground. This is especially crucial if you’re trying to put all four wheels of the car in the air, as the act of jacking up one end of a car can easily cause stands already at the other end to tip forward.

Don’t overload the jack or the stands. I’ll talk about load ratings below, but basically, don’t be an idiot and jack up a truck with a little jack and then set it on little stands.

Don’t rock the cradle. Once the car is up on stands, give it a few good shoves from all four sides. Any motion should be barely perceptible. It certainly shouldn’t sway. (Note, however, that some owners of pinned jack stands report that, due to that circular pin, they do sway more than ratcheting stands, where the pawl rests on a squared-off tooth). However, once you’re under the car, do not rock it. It can be surprisingly easy to set up a resonant harmonic motion if you’re doing a lot of shoving, such as while installing a transmission and trying to line up the splines and seat the input shaft in the pilot bearing.

23


Jack stand load ratings Jack stands manufactured after 2015 should be rated in pairs. That is, a pair of three-ton jack stands should together safely support 6000 pounds. The ratings come from the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). You may see the standards referred to as ASME PALD (Portable Automotive Lifting Devices) and ANSI PASE (Portable Automotive Service Equipment). Stands manufactured to these standards are tested to 200 percent of their rated load for 10 minutes and experience less than 1/8-inch of deformation. However, note that testing is by the manufacturer, not by ANSI or SAME, and merely allows the manufacturer to claim certification of the product line. It is not assembly-line testing of each set of stands.

If you look up your vehicle’s weight in the owner’s manual or online and divide that by two, in theory that’s the minimum load rating you need for a pair of jack stands to support the front or rear of the vehicle. However: 1) for both safety and peace of mind, you probably don’t want to use the minimum, and 2) weight is just one factor. Jack stands also need to reach the underside of the vehicle and support the load in a stable manner, and the higher the stands are extended, the more the vehicle can rock. For example, half the weight of a 6000-pound truck is 3000 pounds, and on paper, even a little pair of two-ton (4000-pound) jack stands exceeds that, but two-ton jack stands are typically

short and may not reach the frame rails of the truck even when fully extended.

So, apply some common sense and use the little two-ton jack stands for small passenger cars, three-ton stands for medium to large cars or mid-sized SUVs, and real five- or six-ton truck jack stands for a full-sized truck or SUV.

Floor jack load ratings There are a few ways to think about floor jack load ratings. A floor jack that is ASME PASE 2014-certified should have been tested by the manufacturer to 150 percent of its rating, so as with jack stands, there is a built-in safety factor. It also should have a bypass valve that prevents you from continuing to lift if it’s overloaded. (Safety tip: If it’s getting really hard to keep pumping up the jack, you’re probably close to overloading it.) However, as is the case with jack stands, if you look at the load ratings the wrong way, you can fool yourself into doing things that aren’t safe. It’s important to understand that the physical size of the jack is probably just as important as the numerical load rating, since a big jack is simply more stable than a small one.

Case in point: If you’re only ever using a jack to lift one wheel to change a flat and want to factor in that the wheel could be on the heavy end of the car where the engine is, assume the jack has to safely lift 33 percent of the weight of the car. For a big vehicle like a 6000-pound truck, one-third the weight is 2000 pounds, so, on paper, even the smallest 1.5-ton (3000-

24


pound) trolley jack has an adequate rating. But, as with the jack stand calculation above, this is so misleading that it’s unsafe, as the jack needs to reach the lift point, get the vehicle high enough in the air to lift the tire off the ground and allow a stand to be put under the frame, and do all this in a stable fashion. I simply don’t believe that a little trolley jack with a narrow base can do that repeatably and safely on a big vehicle, no matter what the load rating says.

For this reason, an oft-quoted rule of thumb, cited by Tom and Ray Magliozzi (“Click and Clack” of Car Talk fame) is that a right-sized floor jack should be rated to at least 75 percent of the vehicle’s weight. So, 6000-pound vehicle à 4500-pound (2 1/4-ton) jack. That still feels a little light to me, but the recommendation does say “at least.”

My option is that, as with jack stands, you should use a good dose of common sense and only ever use a narrow little trolley jack to lift one wheel of a small car, use at least a two-ton jack for repeated in-garage lifting of most cars, use at least a three-ton jack for SUVs, and use a real truck jack to lift a real truck.

Where to lift, where to support This could be a whole column in and of itself. Consulting an owner’s manual doesn’t always help, as it’ll probably only tell you where the factory jack points are for the flimsy little jack that comes with the car. An enthusiast web forum is probably the best place to look. The nose of an older car is typically lifted from the middle

of the front subframe, and jack stands are typically placed either under the subframe or the frame rails, but on a newer car, these locations may be hidden under cladding, and the plastic jack pads on or under the rocker panels may be best. Be hyper-aware of the rust situation on your car, as the car world is filled with stories of jacks puncturing rusty frame rails.

You own more than one screwdriver, right? To a certain extent, with both floor jacks and stands, bigger is better, as bigger generally means a larger load rating, more stability, and higher lift, but it also means heavier, and that’s at odds with portability. If you’re looking for just-in-case floor jack and stands to have in the trunk for a road trip, you want them light and right-sized. One wildcard is that, if you have a very low car with a jacking point that is far underneath and difficult to reach, you need a low-rise, long-reach floor jack, but the quirky tradeoff is that even though these are big and heavy to have the structural rigidity necessary to achieve the long reach, that very design means they don’t have as high a load rating as an equally-heavy truck jack would have.

I currently own four floor jacks. The biggest is an AC Hydraulics DK13HLQ, which was and still is the cream-of-the-crop of low-rise long-reach floor jacks and has an insanely low 3.15-inch profile. They’re very expensive, but about 10 years back I found a used one locally and treated myself. For reaching the jack point of my BMW M Coupe or playing limbo

25


with the front sway bar of my lowered Lotus Europa, nothing else I own will work. However, due to its long reach, it’s only rated at 2900 pounds. The Harbor Freight 2 1/4-ton jack has been kicking around the garage since it was still called “Harbor Freight and Salvage.” The Pittsburgh 1.5-ton aluminum floor jack gets thrown in the trunk for road trips. It’s a little bigger than the little yellow trolley jack that used to perform that function, but that makes it more stable. I don’t currently have a real truck jack, but then again, I don’t currently have a real truck.

My rogue’s gallery of floor jacks. Rob Siegel

Limbo lower … how low can you go … Rob Siegel

Stand-wise, there are three sets, all of which are ratcheting stands. There’s a set of tall six-ton truck stands that I bought nearly 20 years ago when I needed to put the back of the Porsche 911SC way up in the air to drop the engine. There’s an old set of Harbor Freight three-ton stands that still see the most use. And there’s a set of aluminum stands that get thrown in the trunk along with the aluminum floor jack for road trips. These are all old enough that none have the new “double-locking” redundant safety pin, but since I always “double-jack” the car, I don’t lose sleep over it. I do check the welds on all three sets for any signs of cracking.

And their jack stand brethren. Rob Siegel

If you won’t feel safe working under a car until you have the best most expensive jack stands available, by all means have a look at the D41609 from US Jacks or the ESCO 10498 stands. But once you have them, please remember everything I said above—always double-jack the car, work only on a level concrete surface, do not overload the stands, and do not rock the car. Lift safely, my friends!

26

https://www.amazon.com/US-JACK-D-41609-Garage-Stands/dp/B00P248OZC

https://www.amazon.com/ESCO-10498-Jack-Stand-Capacity/dp/B0019JVIPM


7 underappreciated 1970s cars By Andrew Newton; 18 June 2021

Copied from the Hagerty Website and reformatted for this newsletter.

Aaron McKenzie

The ’70s were a great time for music, film, and (arguably) fashion. For cars, though? Not so much. It was a turbulent time for the automobile. Engine performance couldn’t keep up with the pace of ever-stricter emissions laws, and insurance rates were making muscle cars increasingly hard to own. Crash regulations saw cars sprouting big, ungainly bumpers and nameplates that had been bywords for performance got fatter, softer, and more cruiser-y. There were oil crises and gas lines, and the influx of cheap, well-built little cars from Japan changed the car market forever.

All that has led to 1970s cars getting overlooked in the classic car market. Of course, some vehicles from the era have become extremely valuable, but more attention goes to cars from the golden age of the 1960s, which will always be cool, and to fast-appreciating cars from the 1980s and 1990s, which are popular among young enthusiasts with new money and come with the reliability of a modern car. For value-conscious buyers, though, there are some hidden gems from the 1970s that still aren’t as pricey as they could be. Here are seven of our picks.

27

https://www.hagerty.com/apps/valuationtools/1973-Porsche-911-Carrera_RS_2.7


Dodge Lil’ Red Express

Mecum

Wel l over a decade before Ford Lightnings were smoking their tires and GMC Syclones were dusting Ferraris, Dodge had its own sporty pickup in the showroom. And during the strange time that was the late 1970s, few contemporary performance cars could keep up with this cartoonish-looking pickup. When it was new, the Lil’ Red Express was the fastest domestic automobile to 100 miles per hour.

In building it, Dodge found an emissions loophole and drove straight through it, fitting its standard D150 pickup with a tuned 225-hp version of its hi-po 360-cubic-inch V-8. A 3.55 Sure Grip axle and Canyon Red paint rounded out the package, and this truck is about as far from a sleeper as you can get thanks to the gold graphics and those ridiculous exhaust stacks. Dodge sold about 2000 examples in 1978. For 1979, Dodge was forced to add a catalytic converter and run a milder cam, but nevertheless sold another 5000 Lil’ Red Expresses in the model’s second and final year.

Chart: Andrew Newton Source: Hagerty Get the data Created with Datawrapper

There is absolutely no missing one of these things on the road, so it's odd that they've flown under the radar on the collector vehicle market, especially compared to other vintage trucks. Median condition #2 (excellent) values for first-gen (1966-77) Ford Broncos are up 128 percent over the past five years . 1973-91 Chevy C/K Blazers are up 82 percent, and the equivalent C/K Pickups are up 76 percent. 1973–79 Ford F-Series shot up 121 percent, while even 1969-75 International Harvester pickups are up 36 percent. And the Dodge? Just 13 percent over the same period, to $28,800 for a 1978 model and $26,900 for a '79. It's not nothing, but as people shell out more and more for shabby old Broncos and C10s, we're surprised that the Lil' Red Express has moved so ... lil’.

Triumph TR8

28

https://www.hagerty.com/apps/valuationtools/search/Auto/Dodge/Lil'_Red_Express/Base

https://www.hagerty.com/apps/valuationtools/1993-Ford-F~150-SVT_Lightning

https://www.hagerty.com/apps/valuationtools/1993-Ford-F~150-SVT_Lightning

https://www.hagerty.com/apps/valuationtools/1991-GMC-Syclone-1!2_Ton

https://www.hagerty.com/apps/valuationtools/search/Auto/Dodge/D150/1!2_Ton_H~D/1977

https://www.datawrapper.de/_/rXpx1

https://www.hagerty.com/apps/valuationtools/search/Auto/Ford/Bronco/Base/1970

https://www.hagerty.com/apps/valuationtools/search/Auto/1975/Chevrolet/K10_Blazer

https://www.hagerty.com/apps/valuationtools/search/Auto/1975/Ford/F~100/1!2_Ton

https://www.hagerty.com/apps/valuationtools/search/Auto/1975/Ford/F~100/1!2_Ton

https://www.hagerty.com/apps/valuationtools/search/Auto/1970/International_(IHC)

https://www.hagerty.com/apps/valuationtools/search/Auto/Triumph/TR8/Base


RM Sotheby's/Darin Schnabel We're stretching the dates a bit here since most TR8s carry a 1980 or '81 model year, but technically this car debuted in 1978. It's also based on a mid-1970s design, and although the TR8 was intended to hit the road not long after, things just moved at a famously glacial pace at British Leyland back then. OK, now that we've established the TR8 as a '70s car, let's look at why it's underappreciated.

The Triumph TR7, with its polarizing Harris Mann-penned wedge shape debuted in 1975. Reviews were mixed, with plenty of critiques pointed at the underpowered 2.0-liter slant-four borrowed from the Triumph Dolomite. The TR8 was Triumph's late but great answer, with the wedge now powered by the lightweight and eminently tunable 3.5- l i ter Rover V-8. Some California TR8s got a slightly more powerful fuel-injected engine, while most got dual Zenith-Stromberg carbs and an output of 133 bhp and 168 lb-ft of torque—plenty of grunt for a little '70s two-seater. A five-speed was standard, with an auto also available. After testing a new TR8, often dubbed the "English Corvette," Road & Track concluded that "the only other thing we could ask for is good looks.”

Time (with some help from Radwood and the like) has been kind to those looks. Although the TR8 lacked some of the classic Triumph TR touches like a solid wood dash and thin doors, the TR8 is roomier and more practical. Many cars have very cool (and very '70s) plaid seats. It's also considerably faster than its

predecessors—TR8s were winning SCCA races long after Triumph went bust. Finally, TR8s are quite rare. There aren't exact production figures, but total worldwide production was probably fewer than 3000.


And yet the #2 value for a TR8 is just $20,000. An earlier TR6 in the same condition comes in at $25,400 and that other V-8-powered British roadster—the Sunbeam Tiger (aka the "poor" man's Cobra) is worth 75 grand or more. Granted, the Tiger is a bit apples to oranges and the TR6 is a much prettier car than its younger cousin, but we still think the TR8 offers a lot more than its current price suggests.

AMC Javelin

Mecum

29

https://www.hagerty.com/apps/valuationtools/1975-Triumph-TR7

https://www.hagerty.com/media/hagerty-magazine/buicks-little-aluminum-v-8/

https://www.datawrapper.de/_/Jk7cK

https://www.hagerty.com/apps/valuationtools/1970-Triumph-TR6

https://www.hagerty.com/apps/valuationtools/1964-Sunbeam-Tiger-Mk_I

https://www.hagerty.com/apps/valuationtools/search/Auto/American_Motors/Javelin


American Motors was a bit behind the Big Three in entering the pony car wars, but the 1968 Javelin gave AMC a serious contender even if sales were always a fraction of Ford's Mustang and Chevrolet's Camaro. The Javelin got redesigned in 1971, getting a little bigger and sprouting exaggerated wheel arches—the Javelin's most recognizable feature. The two-seat AMX body style was also retired, with the AMX name now joining the Javelin lineup as a trim level. Engines ranged from economical six-cylinders to 304, 360, or 401-cubic-inch V-8s, and on track the Javelin won the Trans Am championship in 1971, 1972, and 1976.


Lots of owners channeled their inner Mark Donohue and drove their cars hard—fewer Javelins seem to have gotten pampered to the same degree as many Firebirds, Camaros, and Cudas. And for the most part, Javelins haven't been worth enough money to receive the kind of high-dollar restorations we see elsewhere in the muscle and pony car market. It doesn't help that parts can be difficult to find, a l though bas ic maintenance isn ' t particularly expensive.

Another factor working against the Javelin is that its badge just doesn't have the staying power and name recognition of the Big Three pony cars. This comes through in our insurance quote data. For Javelins, 52 percent of quotes come from baby boomers, who make up just 37 percent of the market as a whole and between 34 and 36 percent of quotes for the equivalent Mustangs and Camaros. Blame the fact that AMC had been all but absorbed into Chrysler by the time most millennials were being exposed to cars. So despite their good looks, race-winning ways and relative rarity, the median #2-condition (Excellent) value has hovered around 20 grand for years now, and these cars from Kenosha are still a tempting choice for somebody who wants both muscle on a budget and something a little out of the ordinary.

Chevrolet Chevelle Laguna Type S-3

Mecum

The Chevelle was all new for 1973, and while the glory days of roaring LS6s were already starting to look like a distant memory, performance wasn't totally gone. The Laguna S-3 carried the Chevelle's sporty torch for three years. Introduced in 1974, the S-3 did have those typical '70s

30

https://www.datawrapper.de/_/XEVX9

https://www.hagerty.com/apps/valuationtools/search/Auto/Chevrolet/Chevelle/Laguna_Type_S~3


flourishes, such as a vinyl half-roof, opera-type rear quarter windows with available rib coverings, and body side striping. But the S-3 also came with stiffer suspension, a front stabilizer bar, and Rally wheels with radial tires. Engines started with a 350/145-hp two-barrel, but a 454/235-hp four-barrel was available along with a 400/150-hp two-barrel and a 400/175-hp four-barrel. For 1975, the Laguna S-3 added a slanted urethane-covered aero-style nose designed for NASCAR, where the Chevelle Laguna was particularly successful. But after 1976, Chevrolet dropped the Laguna and after 1977 dropped the Chevelle altogether, leaving the Malibu as Chevy's midsize offering.

It was a short run, then, and the mid-'70s Chevelles will always live in the shadow of their predecessors. Fair enough. But even the most expensive Chevelle S-3 Laguna 454 carries a $24,300 #2 value—a pittance for a Chevy muscle car with unique looks, race pedigree, and enough performance to have fun with.

Opel GT

RM Sotheby’s

Opel is one of the world's oldest, largest carmakers and it sold about 70,000 GTs in this country from 1968–73. Maxwell Smart

even drove one in the final season of Get Smart. Yet if you ask the average American what they know about "Opel" they'll probably talk about jewelry. For decades, Opel GTs have been some of the absolute cheapest vintage two-seaters around. That's still the case, with GTs offering the look and feel of a shrunken C3 Corvette at a fraction of the price.

Opel, based in Germany, became General Motors' main European subsidiary in 1929 and for most of the 1960s made bland commuter cars. It was therefore a surprise when boring old Opel unveiled a sharp-looking concept coupe at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 1965. The first production versions hit the road in 1968, and sold in the U.S. through Buick dealerships.

Thanks to wind tunnel testing at the University of Stuttgart, the Opel GT was one of the most aerodynamic cars you could buy at the time. Most GTs got a 1.9-liter, 102-hp "cam-in-head" engine with the camshaft placed over the combustion chamber, but the valves operated by tappets and rocker arms. Performance wasn't earth-shattering, but the Opel could keep up with an MGB GT all day long, and a period ad probably summed it up best: "Our car may not win at Le Mans or Sebring, but it's great if you just want to have some fun.”

Ever stricter emissions laws, plus the arrival of the Datsun 240Z, spelled the end for the Opel GT, and it quietly disappeared after 1973. Father Time and rust haven't been too kind to these oddballs, but there

31

https://www.hagerty.com/apps/valuationtools/search/Auto/Opel/GT/Base

https://www.hagerty.com/media/hagerty-magazine/opel-gt-is-perfect-budget-head-turner/

https://insider.hagerty.com/trends/is-the-nissan-z-the-next-911/


are still a lot of GTs out there, and although their #2 value is up 7 percent over the past five years, it still sits at just $17,500, and condition #3 (Good) cars are still four-figure classics.

Oldsmobile Toronado

Mecum

The original 1966 Toronado was a groundbreaking car. A 1971 redesign made it more of a luxury car on par with the Cadillac Eldorado and Buick Riviera. These days, though, it's worth less than both of its GM E-Body cousins. Part of what's holding the Toronado back may be name recognition (Olds was a defunct brand after 2004) as well as some stigma around its front-drive layout. It also looks bloated and over-styled compared to the original Toronado, a 1960s design icon. Whatever the reason, the most expensive second-generation (1971–78) Toronados in our data pool carry a #2 value of just $12,500, and Excellent examples can still be had for four figures.


In the purely physical sense, it's hard to think of anything that offers more car for the money. The engine is a 455-cubic-inch V-8 (or 403 after 1976). It weighs nearly 5000 pounds, and it's over 18 feet long. Many have air conditioning, an 8-track stereo, and power windows/locks/seats. The only thing small about a Toronado is its fuel economy—expect around 10 mpg.

Pontiac Grand Am

Flickr/Greg Gjerdingen

For most of its life, the Grand Am was an overstyled and generally underwhelming front-drive car, synonymous with Pontiac's decline and, more generally, GM's failure to compete with Japan's best commuter cars. It didn't start that way. The 1973 Grand Am was supposed to be a perfect mix of the qualities that had made Pontiac

32

https://www.hagerty.com/apps/valuationtools/1974-Oldsmobile-Toronado

https://www.datawrapper.de/_/9l2zq

https://www.hagerty.com/apps/valuationtools/search/Auto/Pontiac/Grand_Am


a dominant brand in the 1960s. The very name hinted at the luxury of the Grand Prix and the performance of a Trans Am. A per iod brochure touted "Fore ign Intrigue ... American Ingenuity." Built on the rear-drive A-body platform shared with the LeMans, Chevelle, Malibu, Monte Carlo, and 442, the Grand Am was available as a two-door "Colonnade" or a four-door pillared hardtop with the unmistakable Pontiac beak up front. Grand Ams came standard with a 400-cubic-inch V-8 but a 455/250hp was available. Radial tires, sport-tuned suspension, bucket seats, front and rear sway bars, and variable-ratio power steering were standard.

Although it sold well at first, the fuel crisis hit big cars like the Grand Am hard, plus the Grand Prix was a more prestigious car at an only marginally higher price, so Pontiac axed this iteration of the Grand Am after 1975. Most people didn't pamper the cars, and their Endura noses tended to dis integrate (fiberglass replacements are now available). They're a rare sight these days. When one does pop up, though, it's hard to miss that sloping rear deck and the pointy Pontiac face, but even as other vintage Pontiacs have appreciated in recent years, the Grand Am has stayed somewhat steady and currently carries a #2-condition value of just $16,800.

On This Day Source 365 Days of Motoring

Monday 1st July 1935 85 years ago Lord Nuffield (Sir William Norris) sold the MG Car Company Ltd and Wolseley Motors Ltd to the public corporation Morris Motors Ltd.

Wednesday 5th July 1865 155 years ago Speed limits of just 2 mph in towns and 4 mph in the country were imposed in Britain under the Locomotives on Highways Act to improve the safety of horse-drawn vehicles against the steam-engined vehicles that were becoming increasingly popular on the roads. It was known as the ‘Red Flag’ Act because it also required three drivers for each vehicle, two on the vehicle and one to walk ahead carrying a red flag. It was eventually repealed in 1896, after nearly three decades of strong support from horse interests.

Monday 9th July 1956 64 years ago Mettoy introduced Corgi Toys model cars, manufactured in South Wales. The name 'Corgi Toys' was chosen by Philip Ullmann in honour of the company's new home, taken from the Welsh breed of dog, the Corgi, and the iconic Corgi dog logo branded the new range. The name was short and easy to remember, further aligning the range

33


with their rival Dinky Toys. Corgi Toys also included plastic glazing,[4] which lent the models a greater authenticity, and they carried the advertising slogan "the ones with windows". The 1956 releases were all familiar British vehicles. Six family saloon cars; Ford Consul (200/200M), Austin A50 Ca m b r i d g e ( 2 0 1 / 2 0 1 M ) , M o r r i s C o w l e y (202/202M), Vauxhall Velox (203/203M), Rover 90 (204/204M), Riley Pathfinder (205/205M) and Hillman Husky (206/206M),[4] and two sports cars; Austin-Healey 100 (300) and Triumph TR2 (301). Initially, all models were issued in free-rolling form, or with friction drive motors, with the exception of the heavy commercials which would have been too bulky and the sports cars whose low slung bodies would not be able to accommodate the motors. The Mechanical versions, as they were known, were indicated by an 'M' suffix to the model number and were available in different colour schemes. They were issued with tougher die-cast bases to support the extra weight of the motor, and in far fewer numbers. Mechanical versions did not sell particularly well, partly due to a significantly higher purchase price, and were phased out in 1960 with Ford Thunderbird (214M) the last of the line. The die-cast baseplates were expanded across the range to replace the original tin plate at the same time. Today they are considered more collectable because of their relative rarity.

Wednesday 10th July 1957 63 years ago Driver Stirling Moss and project manager George Eyston sailed on board the Queen Mary from

England to the US, where they would attempt class Land Speed Record runs for MG.

Sunday 11th July 1847 173 years ago Georg Lankensperger (67) , the German wheelwright who invented the steering mechanism that is today known as Ackermann steering geometry, died He patented the invention in Germany, but his agent Rudolph Ackermann filed for the patent in the U.K.

Ackermann steering geometry

Monday 11th July 1966 54 years ago British Motor Corporation (BMC) and Jaguar announced they were to merge as British Motor Holdings.

34


GTA 10 Years Ago

The Georgia TrumpetAn Official Publication of the Georgia Triumph Association

Page 7

The Stag has had poor compression on number 5 cylinder for maybe the last two years and dueto the stories I’ve heard about the horrors of removing cylinder heads, I sort of hoped it would justgo away. The engine ran fine, stayed cool, used no oil, why mess with a good thing? Its problembecame evident when idling and presented itself as a lope. Sometime ago I began gathering allthe pieces I figured I would need to accomplish the task such as gaskets etc and one recentSaturday Russell Sanders and I ganged up on it beginning at 8.30 and having the engine andgearbox out by 2 PM. I wish I had taken a picture of the unit coming out as it resembled a spacerocket going straight up. Now Stags are by no means an easy car to work on and to simply getaccess to the engine mounting bolts one has to remove the exhaust manifolds, take the nuts offthe bolts, reinstall the manifolds as they are where the lifting eyes pull from.

With the engine out and on a stand the task of removing the suspect head began and it came offwith a minimum of drama. For those of you not familiar with the Stag or TR7 engine, the“engineers” used 5 bolts of two lengths that go perpendicular to the block. The upper row offasteners are 5 studs that enter the block on about a 30 degree angle. In so doing they managedto keep the cam covers very narrow as all the fasteners are external. Where the fun begins isthat while the bolts come out with ease, the studs have a habit of seizing to the head, being ofdissimilar materials. In some cases the studs also seize in the block as we will soon see.

The left cylinder head presented a challenge as I don’t believe it has ever been off the engineunlike the right head whose studs sported vice grip bites. I removed all the bolts and two studs,broke one stud off flush with the head and wisely quit before I broke any more studs. I conferredwith Mr. Stag, Joe Pawlak in Illinois and Tony Fox in Canada and they both said I would have topush the offending head off the block deck and hacksaw the studs to get the head off so I went toa local machine shop with an old scrap head as a template and had them cut two lengths of 3”angle iron and drill to match the bolt pattern on the intake sides of the heads. The alreadyremoved head went back on the engine, was reasonably torqued down and a 12 ton bottle jackwas placed between the sections of angle iron. The set of pictures attached show the sequenceof removal.

Mike Contemplates an Italian Car (...okay not really)submitted by Mike Hurst

July 2011

(continued on page 9)

35



Page 9

I got the head up off the block about three inches and began sawing away at the studs. Finally, thehead is off with no damage to anything except one of the very stout angle iron sections is now bentfrom the placement of the jack’s foot. The broken stud turned out by hand but the two studs ateach end of the block required some coaxing with the “gas axe”.

July 2011

Mike Contemplates an Italian Car (...okay maybe...just ask him)(continued from page 7)

At this point the engine is full of swarf from thestud cutting so it’s coming all the way down. Myfirst observation is that the pistons have neverbeen hit by the valves and that they arestandard in size. What’s more the bores exhibitabsolutely no turn around ridge at the top. Valveto piston collisions are common on Stagengines if you allow the chains to wear out sothis old lady appears to have been taken care ofby her POs. Further disassembly of the bottomend reveals standard bearings from the factoryand they are in great shape. There is about.003” movement at the thrust washers and thatis also well within specs.

The jackshaft hasn’t wallowed out the bore at the front of the block, again a good indication. Theengine has certainly received regular oil changes throughout its life.

(continued on next page)

36



Page 10

I toted everything over to the machine shop, they mic’d everything relevant and yes the crank willonly be polished and the bore will get gentle treatment with a dingleberry hone. Now I begin tocontribute mightily to Great Britain’s economic recovery in the form of new engine bearings, rings,chain guide rails and new chains. The chains I bought are the most expensive on the market andare produced by IWIS in Germany. IWIS is OE to Mercedes. They are said to never requirereplacement. Triumph says to replace Stag chains at 25,000 miles. The chains on a Stag engineare known as simplex chains when they really should have been duplex chains like the Dolomitesuse. Mercedes also use a simplex chain so maybe these IWIS chains are the way to go, time willtell.

July 2011

Mike Contemplates an Italian Car(come to think of it, he never mentioned it....oh well, hope you enjoyed this article instead. ed.)

I now have all my new parts rounded up thanks to The Roadster Factory, LD Parts, and RimmerBros, herein after referred to as Reamer Bros. The clutch was remanned as was the water pump,starter and alternator so all I need now is some engine major components and some coolerweather. More later.

-Mike Hurst

37


GTA 40 Years Ago

COOLING IT

' Running cars produoe heat. A lot of heat. ' Maybe you've pqticed in your Triumph? In handling this heat, engineers had two choices: sophisticated and expensive design and materials to stand to the temperatures or make the heat go away. Since this ig not :a ' suspense thriller, I tm sure you already know that all the engineers who are still employed chose the latter. Their most common technique to make the heat go sway is the liquid cooling system.

The idea is simple. It's hot out a,nd you pour a glass of water over your head. A small glass and you've gotten the off your back. A large glass and your reaching for a 11' that water were allowed to sit in the running engine, it would shortly be at block so a water pump and radiator were necessary. The radiator takes that hot wB,ter from the hot engine and blows outside air across it to coml the water. The ,water pump moves the water around the engine, where the water heats ' up, pumps it through the radiator, where the water is cooled, and back to your engine to start the process over again.

To follow through with my earlier analogy, a little water cools a Ii ttle ,_and a lot of water cools more. Keep your cooling system topped up. This same principle holds true with the air that cools the water; the more a,ir tha.t travels across the radiator, the cooler the water can become before it rushes back into the engine. So one can normally run at ' highwa y speeds coolly without a cooling fan(if you have one, keep just the same). Still, a cooling fan pushes more of that cooling air through the radiator. Around town, that's essential. It makes sense that when you are dealing with volume of moving air, aerodynamic design makes a difference; a proper fan cowl extends the maximum efficiency of a fan.

At this point, a lot of water is running through the engine and on to the radiator. The cooling is air into its cowl, which, in'its turn, is directing cooling air through that radiator. Now, back to my glasses '·, of water, if, instead of pouring that water over your head, you simply sat the full glasses there, you wouli not be ' able' to l:!ense 'much temperature aifference them. The large glass would not get you much cooler than the .sms,l.l one. So :volume ' needs help. .. ,:"<. : need l _ spread the the glasses) over Increa.se the surface area. Volume determines the limits of the system and. surface area affects how close the system actually comes to its limits.

As I said e,arlier, if the water simplY sits in the it will not cool for long. If the water does not move quickly enough, it will reach full engine temperature before it has run all the way through the engine, not cooling those last sections of the engine. So volume determines the potential of the system and surface area and rate of ciraulation .' affect how close the system actually comes to its limits.

The variables in a cooling system are volume of coolant, (surface area) of the coolant rate of circula.tion

38


for the heater(engine) compared wi ththose for On the cooling side of the equation is the rate of air flow through the cooler. ' Armed with an understanding of the total system and its parts, you ought to have an easier time main-taining it and tracking down problems.!

CAUTION Before taking any action, remind yourself of the dangers

you can encounter. Be in a cautious state of mind. fan carr cut your fingers off. The hot water can be above boiling and will scorch your skin. The fan and fan belt can catch your clothing, pulling you into them or ' even strangling you. When removing a cap from a hot radiator, keep your body and face away and wrap your hand in a towel. -Remove the cap slowly, in steps.

Next month I will go into maintenance and' serv1c1ng of the cooling system. In the mean time, I hve a problem you ean think over. Some people claim that during the summer, your car will run more coolly with the ' proper thermostat than with nD thermostat at all. Other people take the opposite position. What is the physics behind the correct position?

I hope to see you at the next event at Calloway Garden.

39


40


Videos (Click on image)

WIX vs Fram Ultra vs WIX XP vs Walmart Supertech Oil Filters Review - CUT OPEN AND WEIGHED!

Thanks to Mike Hurst for the recommendation.

41

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx_4oN54qlU


Georgia Triumph Association Newsletter:

The Trumpet is published monthly for the members of the Georgia Triumph Association. Members are encouraged to submit articles, photographs or other materials of interest by mailing them to [email protected] or the club mailbox address. The newsletter editors reserve the right to change any material to suit the needs of the space allowed for the newsletter. For non electronic submissions, please enclose a self addressed stamped envelope for any items you would like returned. The GTA newsletter its representatives, affiliates and editors cannot be held responsible for any items that may be lost, damaged, destroyed or otherwise rendered unusable.

The Trumpet is a publication of Georgia Triumph Association, and the content herein is not officially endorsed by the officers or members of Georgia Triumph Association, their families or atorneys. If you decide to follow the advice of anything inside this newsletter, you do so at your own risk.

Advertising: Classified advertising is available free to members, $5.00 per ad for nonmembers. Classified ads run for one month. Commercial advertising is available at the published rate. GTA neither endorses nor warrants any product, service or method of service written or advertised in the newsletter.

One year commercial advertising rates (12 issues) are: Half page $100.00 Full page $ 150.00

Contact [email protected]. Georgia Triumph Association mailing address:

The Georgia Triumph Association Post Office Box 3198 Cumming, GA 30028-6516

The GTA Website is the best way to keep up with what’s going on for Triumphs in Georgia. Mark it as a favorite and keep on coming back. http://www.gatriumph.com.

42

http://www.gatriumph.com


2021 GTA Board Members

President: Jim Orr [email protected]

Member at Large: Ashford Little [email protected]

Activities Director: Mark Post [email protected]

Secretary: Lori Smith [email protected]

Treasurer: Sue Hurst [email protected]

Membership Director: Mike Hurst [email protected]

Webmaster: Jim Doran [email protected]

Newsletter Editor: Howard Orr [email protected]

Media Czar: Glenn Bell

43

mailto:[email protected]









Membership Update

Total Membership 171 157 Active 14 Up for renewal

Last Months Renewals 7 • Tom Kostensky • David Newman • Walter Upton • Doug Fry • Glenn Bell • Michael Warshal • Chris Weldon

New members 7 • Philip and Catherine Preston, Atlanta, not yet • Donagh and Sue Kelly, Suwanee, 72 TR6 • Christian and Amanda Albertson, Guyton, 68

Spitfire • Mike and Lynette Baker, Johns Creek, 74 TR6 • Dan and Marguerite Glennon, Atlanta, 72

TR6 • Jose and Maria Esteras, Newnan, 72 TR6 • John and Susan Pulicare, Newnan, 75 TR6

Membership Car Count 203 • TR2 1 • TR3 27 • TR4 15 • TR250 8 • TR6 85 • TR7 2 • TR8 5 • GT6 7 • SPITFIRE 34 • HERALD 6 • 1800 2 • STAG 6 • TOLEDO 1 • VITESSE 4

MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL Dear valued Georgia Triumph Association member. Is there a chance that your membership has lapsed? Please visit www.gatriumph.com where under Membership and Member Login, enter your email address and password and it will take you directly to the main page where you may see when your membership is due. Add/Renew subscription is your next tab where you may pay with PayPal or if you would rather simply mail your check: Georgia Triumph Association, 2940 Cobblestone Dr., Cumming 30041

44

http://www.gatriumph.com


Member Monthly Meetings

The monthly meetings are the THIRD Tuesday of every month. All welcome. Triumph Owners, prospective owners, former owners and all supporters. We meet at 6:30.

On odd numbered months we meet at: The Crossing Steakhouse.

40 S Peachtree St Norcross, GA 30062, (map)

On even numbered months we meet at: Mazzy’s Sports Bar and Grill

2217 Roswell Road Marietta, GA 30062, (map)

Members on the Southside have a regular meeting the FIRST Thursday of every month at:

Partners Pizza II. 834 Glynn St S

Fayetteville, GA 30214 (Directions)

Call Tom Freeman; 678-725-4937 with questions on Southside Meetings

Members Mountain Division holds meetings on the THIRD Tuesday of each month, during the lunch hour at:

19 Degrees North 19 North Chestatee St. Dahlonega, GA 30533

The times and locations listed above may have changed due to COVID 19 and CDC guidelines. Please look for updated and current information on the GTA online calendar as well as page 1 of this newsletter.

45

https://goo.gl/maps/LbYKdkxd17UZr9dT8

https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=2217%20Roswell%20Rd%2C%20Marietta%2C%20GA%2030062%2C%20USA

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Partners+II+Pizza/@33.4321935,-84.4578117,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x88f4ee3f1406adb9:0xf06ba97359f6ccff?hl=en


National Triumph Clubs and Organizations

Members Mountain Division holds meetings on the THIRD Tuesday of each month, during the lunch hour at:

THE VINTAGE TRIUMPH REGISTERWebsite: https://vintagetriumphregister.org FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/109119715780413/ Contact: https://vintagetriumphregister.org/vtr-contact/ Join: https://www.vintagetriumphregister.org/secure/signup

6-Pack Car Club Website: https://6-pack.org/ FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/138914579533033/ Contact: [email protected] Join: [email protected]

Triumph Register of America Website: http://triumphregister.com/ FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/293124650824834/ Contact: http://triumphregister.com/national-officers/ Join: http://triumphregister.com/membership/

46

https://vintagetriumphregister.org

https://www.facebook.com/groups/109119715780413/

https://6-pack.org/


tellusmuseum.org

All makes, models, and years of British cars and motorcycles are welcome.Show starts at 10am. FREE admission for spectators.

47


Showcasing cars and motorcycle brands “manufactured” in the British Isles and Europe and featuring the 60th Anniversary of the E-type Jaguar.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2021, 9:00am-3:30pm

Mills River Brewing Co., 336 Banner Farm Rd., Mills River, NC 28759

This show supports the 2 local Meals on Wheels organizations.REGISTRATION OPENS HERE ON JULY 15, 2021

• $25 for the first car; $20 for each additional car ($30 after September 10)• $15 per motorcycle ($20 after September 10)

Preliminary InformationClasses are: British; Italian; German; Other European; E-type Jaguar; MotorcycleBritish car classes will be based on preregistrations. The featured marque of E-type Jaguars will have separate classes for Series 1, 1.5/2, and 3. (More details will be added later regarding the E-type display)Event parking will be organized by make (marque/brand)3 cars make a class, 1st & 2nd place awards per class, peer judging for awards, “Best of Show” will also be awarded. The featured marque of E-type Jaguars will have separate awards for Series 1, 1.5/2, and 3.Food service will be available from JuJu’s Craft Cookery fixed food truckBreakfast from 10.00am, regular menu from 12 noon. The brewery building opens at 11:30am.Google Maps Location of Mills River Brewing Co.Google shows brewery during construction. Show field is on the north side of the construction and accessed across a bridge from the brewery parking area.

Schedule of Event48

https://www.google.com/maps/@35.3813376,-82.5639449,2581m/data=!3m1!1e3


*Preliminary – subject to change as the event approachesSaturday, September 257:30am: Vendor Set-up Open8:30am: Pre-registered Participant Parking Opens9:00am: On-site Registration Opens / Event Open to the Public9:30am: Welcome and Donor Recognition10:00am: Prize Raffle Opens2:00pm: Prize Raffle Closes2:00pm: Automobile & Motorcycle Class Voting Closes2– 3pm: Prize Raffle Winners Announced (must be present to win)2:30pm: 50-50 Raffle Award Winner Announced (must be present to win)3:00pm: Awards Ceremony

Photographs of cars and entrants will be available for download on our website 2 weeks after the event.QUESTIONS? Email us on [email protected]

Recommended Hotels near the Asheville Airport at I-26 and NC 280Approximately 6 miles from the Mills River Brewing (336 Banner Farm Road, Mills River, NC 28759)Hampton Inn & Suites18 Rockwood Rd, Fletcher, NC 28732 • (828) 687-0806Comfort Inn15 Rockwood Rd, Fletcher, NC 28732 • (828) 687-9199Courtyard by Marriott Asheville Airport360 Rockwood Road, Arden, NC 28704 • (828) 684-5000Home2 Suites by Hilton Asheville Airport390 Airport Rd, Arden, NC 28704 • (828) 676-1776Holiday Inn & Suites Arden-Asheville Airport9 Brian Blvd, Arden, NC 28704 • (828) 684-6000Fairfield Inn & Suites Asheville Airport 155 Underwood Rd, Fletcher, NC 28732 • (828) 684-1144

49



6-PACK TRIALS 2021 - RICHMOND VIRGINIASEPT. 30 - OCTOBER 3, 2021

Founded on the Falls of the James in the mid-18th century, Richmond and its surrounding environs are rich in history, dating from the early exploits of John Smith in the 1600’s to the Revolutionary and Civil wars in succeeding centuries.

TRials 2021 will be headquartered in Colonial Heights, a suburb located approximately 20 minutes south of Richmond and close to Moss Motors Eastern Showroom in Petersburg, VA. Moss will be the site of the car show on Saturday.

The following is the current schedule of activities (subject to change):

50


Trials 2021 Schedule at a Glance

Thursday, Sept 30th Registration: Hilton Garden Inn Lobby, 800 Southpark Blvd, Colonial Heights, VA 23834, 3 - 6 pm

Welcome Reception: James River Room, Heavy Appetizers 6:00 pm-10:00 pm, Cash Bar

Friday, Oct 1st Registration/Hospitality Room: James River Room, open 8:00 am to 11 pm Officers meeting: James River Room, 8:30 am to 9:00 am Members meeting: James River Room, 9:00 am to 9:45 am, Open to all participants Tech Session 1: James River Room, 10:00 am to 10:45 am, Open to all participants (TBD) Tech Session 2: James River Room, 11:00 am to 11:45 am, Open to all participants (TBD) Options:

• Drives/Activities (on your own):

o Driving Tour to 3 distinct breweries (Dancing Kilt, Molly’s Blind Dog, Trapezium), foodavailable.

o Driving Tour to Upper Shirley Vineyards and Shirley Plantation ending at Indian FieldsTavern for dinner

o Scavenger Hunt in Historic Petersburgo Driving tour of Richmondo Visit to Pamplin Historical Parko Drive to Three Bros. Distillery (Saturday only)o Drive to Haley’s Honey Meadery, ending at the Boathouse for dinnero Driving tour to Historic Williamsburgo Driving tour to Wakefield Diner for lunch or dinner

Dinner on Your Own. (see suggestions in the detailed booklet) Join us afterwards in the Hospitality Room for dessert and coffee.

Saturday, Oct 2nd Car Show: Moss Motors, 26561 Simpson Dr, Petersburg, VA 23803, 8:30 am to 11:00 am – Leave at 8:00 am for a 20-minute drive to Moss Motors,. There will tours of the Moss facility during and after the car show. Options:

• Drives/Activities (on your own) - See list above.

Awards Banquet/Dinner: Keystone Truck & Tractor Museum - Happy Hour – 6:00 pm, Dinner – 6:30 pm , Awards – 8:00 pm, Cash Bar

Sunday, Oct 3rd

Farewells & Goodbyes – Hotel Lobby: See you next year in …?

51


HOST HOTEL: HILTON GARDEN INN RICHMOND SOUTH SOUTHPARK

COLONIAL HEIGHTS

Rooms Make yourself at home in one of the 155 air-conditioned rooms featuring refrigerators and

microwaves. Complimentary wireless Internet access and cable programming is available for your entertainment. Conveniences include desks and coffee/tea makers.

Amenities Be sure to enjoy recreational amenities, including an indoor pool, a spa tub, and a fitness center.

Address: 800 Southpark Boulevard, Colonial Heights, VA, 23834, US Phone: (866) 238-4218

Hotel Room Rates: King or Double Room (without breakfast) - $109 (taxes not included) King or Double Room (with breakfast) - $129 (taxes not included)

Please see booking link below for guests who would like to book without breakfast included.

The guests who would like breakfast included should call hotel to book room and give the group code SIXPAC2

Booking Link: https://www.hilton.com/en/book/reservation/deeplink/?&ctyhocn=RICSPGI&groupCode=Sixpac&arrival=20210928&departure=20211004&cid=OM,WW,HILTONLINK,en,DirectLink&fromId=HILTONLINKDIRECT

Please note, the entire URL must be copied and pasted for it to work properly.

Hotel: Hilton Garden Inn Richmond South/Southpark Group Name: Six Pack Trials Group Rate is good for these dates: Arrival: 28-Sep-2021, Departure: 04-Oct-2021

52


2021 6-Pack TRials Richmond, VA Sept. 30 – Oct. 3

Registration Form

Name TR Model and Year:

Address Phone

Email 6-Pack Forum Name

Names for additional badges

Participants’ Choice: TR6 69-71 TR6 72-73 TR6 74-76 TR250 Modified 69-72 Modified 73-76 Other British

Concours: TR6 69-72 TR6 73-76 TR6-250 Modified Legends

$ Registration before August 1 per car $75

$ Registration after August 1 per car $85

$ Welcome party per person $25 x people

$ Awards banquet per person $45 x people

$ Event T-shirts S-XL per shirt $22 x shirts

$ Event T-shirts 2XL per shirts $24 x shirts 3XL $26 x shirts 4XL $28 x shirts

$ TOTAL T-shirt size & quantity: S M L XL 2XL 3XL 4XL

Deadline for registrations is September 15, 2021 Make checks payable to “Michael Roe” and mail this registration form with check to:

Michael Roe 280 Petersburg Rd. Powhatan, VA 23139

WAIVER OF LIABILITY (Must be signed by the owner(s) of each car to participate.)

Neither I nor my heirs or assigns will hold harmless the Triumph TR250/TR6 Owners Club, known as a 6-Pack and/or its volunteer workers or members liable for any damage or injuries done to me or by me or my vehicle while engaged in, traveling to or from this event.

Names(s) Signature(s) Date Please print

Register for your hotel separately using the link provided. 6-Pack Trials Room Rate is $109 per night plus tax. (excluding breakfast), $129 per night plus tax (including breakfast), both double occupancy.

53


Cars on Kiawah 2021, presented by Ally Bank, will be held on Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the beautiful Ocean Park on Kiawah Island, 30 miles south of Charleston. The event, now in its fifth year, will showcase the evolution of the automobile from the early 1900s through the present day. Over 250 “cars with character” from multiple countries of origin make up the display including eye-catching concours-level cars, sleek supercars, and classic muscle cars. There is even a separate display of cars interesting to kids, complete with hands-on activities. Registration begins April 1, 2021. Each of the automobile registrations is reviewed by the com-mittee, with acceptance based on presenting a balanced show field that represents the history and evolution of the automobile. Registration is $40 per automobile and a photo is required. The show is held rain or shine. There are no refunds unless your automobile is not accepted by the committee. Food and drink vendors are onsite. A laid-back awards ceremony takes place at 2 p.m. To learn more about the show and to register, go to <www.carsonkiawah.com> Spectator admission is free. Parking is $20 cash per car. Millie Horton Cars on Kiawah Recruitment Coordinator [email protected] (843) 367-7250

54


In the Pits with Barry Rosenberg

Want to keep your car running a long and healthy time? DO NOT LET IT RUN HOT!!!!

I have another overheated car in the shop. How many times over the past 47 years have I said if something goes wrong with your car while you are driving it, STOP!!! Low oil pressure; stop! Temp gauge showing high; stop! Amp or volt gauge showing no charge; stop! It may cause some inconvenience such as a tow home; but, it could save a lot of money.

This car’s problem could have been a very minor one but was allowed to escalate into a blown head gasket. So let us look at what could cause a car to run hot. Loss of coolant; radiator blocked (internal or external); fan belt broken; timing too high; compression too high; stuck thermostat; blown head gasket (could be the cause or caused by running hot) or carb mixture way off.

Most old British cars have a temp gauge so watch it, do not ignore it. If yours does not work, fix it. Some are cheap to fix needing only a new sending unit while others require a new gauge. A blown fuse could cause the gauge to not work but you should notice other things, such as turn signals, not working. On most of our LBCs, if your temp gauge and turn signals don’t work, neither do your brake lights so stop and check it out if the gauge quits while you are driving.

Now, back to the causes. A slow leak can be as bad as a blown hose as they both cause a coolant loss. On some of the LBCs, if a hose

blows and you loose all your coolant rapidly, your temp gauge may spike toward hot and then return back to the normal range. MGBs are bad about this. And MGBs have a ridiculous lower hose with a small hose “spliced and glued” into it for the heater.

On a lot of the new hoses, this little hose can break off and loose all the water in seconds. Your gauge will go to hot and then drop back to normal as the sender does not read accurately off of steam. And steam does not cool an engine. If you get a new hose with this small attachment, grab the small hose and shake like crazy for few minutes. If it stays attached, you may be good to use it. I have had one break off after 10 minutes running time as it sat in the shop. What would have happened if it lasted 30 minutes and the car made it to the interstate? That would be Ok because my supplier would have given me another new $18 dollar hose. No, they would not pay for any engine damage! None of them do.

You may have noticed and/or questioned why I did not mention a bad fan if your car has electric fans. Most cars do not need a fan while driving down the road, only at stops. They removed the engine driven fans from most cars to improve fuel mileage and emissions. Once a car reaches about 20 MPH, the air rushing thru the radiator is enough to keep the car in the normal range. If your temp increases at a stop and lowers once under way, all is normal. If the temp does not lower after driving a few minutes, there may be a problem. STOP if the temp continues to climb.

55


If a fan belt breaks on most LBCs, your water pump will cease spinning and pumping water thru the engine. Notice, I said most of the cars, Triumph TR7 and Stags have a cam driven water pump (with its own list of problems). You should notice a bad fan belt when your amp or volt meter shows no charge and/or your ignition light shows bright red. Again, STOP!

There used to be a problem with some aftermarket water pumps that were made with a plastic impeller. Water corrosion or electrolysis would slowly dissolve the impeller and the pump would still look good from the outside but push no water thru the engine. This took a little bit to discover at first but is something I always think about. Especially if your pump has an aluminum housing. I think most suppliers have stopped selling the plastic impeller pumps by now.

If you have watched any racing, you should know that a blocked radiator will cause an engine to run hot. In racing, the blockage is almost always something in front of the radiator opening or stuck to the core like a sheet of paper or plastic. If the car was running normal and you suddenly notice a rise in engine temp, you could have picked up some plastic bag from the road so; STOP, and check it out.

An internal blockage is a little harder to detect. Most of our radiators have brass cooling tube and fins. I know some of you have gone to aluminum radiators, but those that haven’t, your tubes become clogged from age, corrosion or junk in the cooling system like rust. It has gotten harder to find a radiator shop that will “rod” out an old radiator but they do still exist. You take the radiator to

them and they unsolder (why is there an L in this word?) the top and bottom and run a rod thru the tubes.

You could buy a new radiator for less but a lot of the new “China” radiators have been known to not cool very well. Be cautious of where you buy one. And while on the topic of radiators, what about coolant? I like a 25% antifreeze mix. Water cools best. 25% will be enough to keep your engine from freezing in most southern states and it will keep the inside of the engine from rusting. Water pump lubrication is a myth in coolants. If any of the coolant got to the seals and bearings, you would have a leak. And, as the impeller does not touch anything in the engine as it spins, it needs no lubrication.

Thermostats, a very misunderstood item, are prone to failure and most fail in the closed position. A thermostat is a small part that blocks the coolant flow thru the engine, on purpose. It allows the engine to warm up a little quicker and when at some optimum preselected temp, opens and lets the coolant flow. Unless it is extremely cold where you are driving, the thermostat does not regulate the temp of your engine. It does however, provide some heat to the passengers.

Thermostats come in several temp ranges, 160, 180, 190, and a few more. Once your engine reaches the temp of the thermostat, it remains open until the engine cools down below that temp; usually after you shut it off and let it sit a few hours. If you have a 160 inserted in your engine, your engine will not run 160 degrees because of the thermostat. It will run warmer just because engines run hotter than 160. This is perfectly normal. A lot of times, I have had customers say their engine is running over 180 and they want a

56


cooler thermostat. Sorry, once the temp passes 160, the thermostat has no effect of temp.

I like to take an old thermostat and cut out the center section leaving the outer ring. This is a blanking sleeve. It allows coolant to circulate but with a little resistance so it does not circulate too fast. There is a huge science behind coolant circulating in engines so I won’t go into it very much.

But, if coolant circulates too fast, it may not pick up enough heat from the internals of the engine to cool things down. And when the coolant flows too fast, it can leave little pockets of coolant in tight corners (of which there are many in a cast block) that do not get circulated into the flow. These little pockets can become steam and cause overheating and cracked heads and blocks. Also, coolant needs to spend enough time in the radiator to dissipate its heat to the air. I install blanking sleeves in most of my engines so they do not overheat, of which two has failed to follow my theory. But one was a bad thermostat in a car with a bad temp gauge.

Now to what caused the other and my latest problem: timing way too high. A car seemed to stop running after traveling a long time running very well. There was no overheating or any problem that seemed obvious as to the cause of the stoppage. Several people stopped to help and a determination was made the points had closed. Simple enough; get out a screwdriver and a feeler gauge and set the points.

No one had a feeler gauge so they guessed at a gap and the car started. Unfortunately, the gap was way too big and upon testing at the shop, it advanced the timing 17 degrees. This

is the difference between a .015” gap and a .035” gap. The car was set to run at 32 degrees BTDC at 3,000 rpm. Now, it was running at 49 degrees BTDC. This meant the fuel/air mixture was igniting way before the pistons reached the top of the cylinders. They were trying to compress the fuel mixture while it was trying to explode and expand.

The science behind this says it will make the car run hot. After driving just fine for 30 or 40 miles before it stopped, it ran hot in less than 3 miles. It was blowing water out of the overflow tank like crazy, lots of water. The engine could have been saved at this point if they had let it cool and added water and set the timing. But, no, they did none of that. They continued to drive it until it ran hot again and started making odd noises. Then they stopped it.

Upon arrival at the shop on a wrecker; after waiting several hours for said wrecker because the wrecker company has only 2 of it’s 5 trucks running due to no workers showing up to work because they said they made more money not working due to government handout, we found the head gasket blown and water in the oil pan. We replaced the gasket after checking the head and block for warpage of which none was found. We drained the water and oil from the pan and replaced the oil filter.

In this case, it was acting like a water filter as there was very little oil in the filter; it was all water. And we know water does not lubricate very well. I think the noise was only a dry rocker shaft squeaking and the engine ran quietly after oil pressure was returned. It had good oil pressure after only a few seconds of running. The small amount of water left

57


throughout the engine will evaporate the first long drive and do no harm.

We cut open the filter and poured the old oil thru a paint filter to make sure there was no bearing material in them. All looked good, the owner dodged a big bullet. A compression check showed 2 cylinders a little low, 135 and 145 where the rest were around 155 to 160. I think the rings will seat them selves and be OK.

So, in summation, if your gauge shows the temp rising at an alarming rate, be alarmed and stop to check it out. This car will live to run many thousands of miles giving

enjoyment to the owners. And maybe, just maybe, they will carry a feeler gauge and extra water in the future.

This turned into a much longer article than I intended so I stop now. As the pandemic appears to be over, I really hope to see y’all somewhere soon.

Barry Rosenberg British Car Service 568 Bent Tree Dr. Jasper, Ga. 30143 [email protected] [email protected] 770-689-7573 .

58




GTA CLASSIFIEDS

FOR SALE - GTA REGALIA

Dilly Dilly Mug Bottle Zippered Coozie Classic Foam Coozie $3.00 each or 4/$10.00 $3.00 each or 4/$10.00 $1.00 each

Heavy Foam Coozie 6-pack Triumph Coolers GTA Tote $2.00 each $2.00 each $15.00 each

59


Lady’s Tee Shirts Men’s Polo Shirt $12.00 each $25.00 each

Caps and Driving Hats Make Driving Great Again Tee $12.00 each or 2/$20.00 $12.00 each

Folks, anyone requiring name tags for yourself or your significant other please contact me, they are $ 10.00 each. Please also review GTA clothing available in this and other newsletters and let me know what you might like. Our offerings are not limited to what we indicate in the newsletter, tell us what you would like.

Interested party should contact Mike Hurst [email protected]

60



LOOKING FOR A GOOD HOME - TR PARTS. I have some Triumph parts that I will give away just to get out of my basement:

TR250-6 radiator TR 250 carbs, manifold, heat shield. Perfect TR6 ‘74 steering wheel complete. Misc. other small stuff.

Doug Fry [email protected]

WANTED - TR3/TR4 WHEEL I'm looking for a TR3/TR4 steel wheel with or without a tire to use as a spare on my 1959 TR3A.

John Cork [email protected]

61




62


For What Its Worth Bring a Trailer Auction results from last month.

1969 Triumph TR6 Race Car Auction Ended on BaT

1969 Triumph TR6 Race Car The high bid was $7,600, but the reserve was not met.

Modified 1974 Triumph TR6 5-Speed Auction Ended on BaT

Modified 1974 Triumph TR6 5-Speed The high bid was $19,000, but the reserve was not met.

1968 Triumph TR4A IRS Sold on BaT

1968 Triumph TR4A IRS The winning bid was $33,500.

1974 Triumph TR6 Sold on BaT

1974 Triumph TR6 The winning bid was $27,500.





63


1969 Triumph TR6 Auction Ended on BaT

1969 Triumph TR6The high bid was $14,000, but the reserve was not met.

1968 Triumph TR4A IRS Sold on BaT

1968 Triumph TR4A IRS The winning bid was $24,000.



Original-Owner 1957 Triumph TR3 Sold on BaT

Original-Owner 1957 Triumph TR3 The winning bid was $21,000.



24-Years-Owned 1957 Triumph TR3 2.1L Auction Ended on BaT

24-Years-Owned 1957 Triumph TR3 2.1L The high bid was $8,000, but the reserve was not met.

25-Years-Owned 1975 Triumph TR6 Sold on BaT

25-Years-Owned 1975 Triumph TR6 The winning bid was $22,000.



64



1973 Triumph TR6The winning bid was $18,250.

1961 Triumph TR3A Sold on BaT

961 Triumph TR3A The winning bid was $36,000.

1980 Triumph TR8 Convertible Sold on BaT


65


Georgia Triumph Associa1on (GTA) Membership Applica1on Fill out this form or register online at h1p://www.gatriumph.com/amember/signup.php

New ❑ Renewal ❑ GTA Member Number: ______VTR Member ❑ VTR Number: ________

Last Name: ____________________ First Name, MI: ____________ Birthday: __/___/____

Spouse/Partner’s Name: ____________________________ His/Her Birthday: __/___/____

Cell Phone: ______________ Night Phone: _____________ Email: ___________________

BriMsh Cars (model/year): __________________________ OccupaMon: ________________

Interests: Tech Sessions Rally’s Volunteer Driving Tours Car Shows Autocross Social Events Other: _____________________________________________________________

I would like to help the GTA leadership with: _________________________________________

As a member of the Georgia Triumph AssociaMon (GTA), I agree to hold the GTA, its Board of Directors, officers and organizers of events free from all liability for any accident or injury which occurs in connecMon with club events.

Signature: ____________________________________________Date: _____________

Your name, address and phone number will be published in the GTA membership directory. This informaMon would only be available to GTA members. Put a check mark here ❑ if you DO NOT wish to have your informaMon listed in the GTA directory.

Mail this applicaMon and $30.00 to The Georgia Triumph AssociaMon, Post Office Box 3198, Cumming, GA 30028-6516

or get your applicaMon processed online using PayPal at the club website located at h1p://www.gatriumph.com/amember/signup.php

66

http://www.gatriumph.com/amember/signup.php




)

67

volume 37, issue 07 july 2021 the trumpet

Documents