From The Driver's Seat

By Joe Janssens

Early this month Dave and Dalene attended a very interesting Knysna Car Show. Let’s keep this in mind for next year.

The visit to Mrs O.D. Inggs and Neville Koch was one of the most interesting outings of this month.

Our party members Mike, Eden, Bruce and myself took off that Saturday morning in Eden’s car. As we passed the Air School Eden discovered that he didn’t have his driver's licence with him. Subsequently to this I was kindly told that it would be better that I drive on the way back to avoid any discussions with our friendly road traffic officers in case of a control. 10 minutes later as we entered Bathurst, Murphy’s Law came into action. A road block !!!!

Panic on board followed when a kind female Officer stopped us and asked Eden for his driver’s licence. After some brief friendly explanations, we told the officer that I would be driving, we were allowed to proceed with our journey with myself assigned as the chauffeur for the day. I must say that the drive was quite entertaining, with two of the party members throwing curved balls at each other during most the journey.

It was a interesting and entertaining day which ended at the Pig with a light lunch with Dave and Dalene.

This month’s bring and braai was well attended.

The visit of the Eastern Cape Museum Fraternity to our museum attracted about 50 people who made generous donations.

Good luck to all our members who have entered the Milligan Rally next month.

Cheers, Joe

Through The Windscreen

This is what lies ahead

Thursday 9 June - 5 to 8pm - Motoring DVD at the Noggin
Joe Janssens presents a motoring DVD

Thursday 16 June - 5 to 8pm - Supper night
Rob Wallis will be providing his famous hamburgers. Bring some cash for the roll and pattie etc. Bring your own salads.  

12 - 16 June - Milligan Vintage Trial and Tour
Mossel Bay area. 4 AVCMC teams have entered:
Lorraine and Cliff Reynolds
Dave and Daphne McNeill
Neville and Susan Kock (usually enter under the EPVCC flag)
Ron and Pam Gush
We wish them all the very best of rallying

Saturday 25 June - 9 to 12noon - AVCMC Museum
Bring your friends and old cars

Saturday to Sunday 25 / 26 June
Outing to Cintsa - about 30km beyond East London - and the Billy Nel Museum near Kei mouth. The museum is open from 9am to 2pm. 
Go straight to the museum from here. Have a picnic lunch somewhere nearby.
Bring your own picnic stuff. 
Check into Crawford Cabins at Cintsa by about 4pm to watch the rugby. The special rate for Crawford is R650 per person for dinner, bed, breakfast and sunday lunch. 
Make your own booking directly with Crawford Cabins. Phone 043 738 5000
Please RSVP to Dave Hawkins or 082 453 2618 or 046 648 2214 so that he has some idea of numbers. 

Thursday 21 July - 18h00 - AGM
Snacks, wine and fruit juice will be offered
You must be a paid up member to vote

Sunday 24 July - Visit to Derek Bowker at Alstonfield
About 25km short of Bedford, turn off to the left. The dirt road is ok for old cars. Go slowly.
Meet at our museum at 08h00 to leave a 08h30. 
Bring your own kit and food for a lunch braai.

Wednesday 3 August - Local Govt Elections
Vote. Make sure that you are on the voters roll in the area where you live. Some people have found that their address has been changed on the voters roll.

Birthday Congratulations - June

1  Johan Nel
19  Graham Samuel
24  David Dicken

My apologies to Daphne McNeill. It was her birthday on 29 May and somehow I omitted her from the Congrats list last month. If this happens again / to anyone else, please let me know. It is possible that I do not have your birth date in my records.

The Dashboard

(This is going on right now)

Social Concerns

Des Hill has had a bad turn and was treated very shabbily at Livingstone. He is now at home and under very caring treatment by the Grahamstown hospital staff and doctors.

Des has asked me to convey his heartfelt thanks to George, Charles, Bill and others for their support and assistance to him and Joy. They both hugely appreciate your visits and practical help.

The news from Pat Lee is not good. Fortunately she is with her family in Johannesburg.

Sue Darkes has who undergone a small op and is recovering at home.

Please remember these members of our AVCMC community, and their families, in your thoughts and prayers. 

Lost

Rob Wallis has lent his car polishing machine / kit to a member but regrets that he can't remember who it was. He would like it back, please.                                                 2/3
Contact Rob on 082 334 0354

Thought For The Day

A young couple were enjoying a romantic dinner in a candle lit restaurant. Soft music and good wine complemented the warm glow of the evening. They had eyes only for each other. Suddenly, during the main course, the lady slipped silently under the table. Unperturbed, her partner continued his meal as if nothing had happened. Perplexed, their waiter shimmied over, "Excuse me sir, um, your wife has just slipped under the table." 
"My good man, you are mistaken, my wife has just walked in the door."

The Rear View Mirror

(Past Events)

Outing to Mrs Mary Inggs and Neville Koch - Sat 21 May

by Ron Gush

An Indian Summer. Cool when we left Kenton but unseasonably hot in Grahamstown. Pam and I did not meet the group at the Museum but drove straight up to Grahamstown via Salem.

Found Neville and Susan Koch's home at 52 Market Street and parked the Triumph inside the gates. The Port Alfred contingent arrived shortly - only one in an old car, that was Dave and Dalene in their maroon MG Magnette. Peter and Di Benyon also arrived in their Morris Minor. Later Mike Webber also arrived in his very comfortable 1957 De Soto.
Only 4 oldies....

It was nice to see some of the guys that we seldom see on outings - Graham Samuel, Mike Webber, Peter and Di, George Guest, even Mike Legg who often plays golf on Saturdays. I hope I have not offended anyone, either by inclusion or exclusion.

Neville opened his garages and showed us his 1939 Chev Opera. This is work in (interrupted) progress. Everyone was very impressed by the nice paint job, done some years ago by Alex Smith at Bushmans Industrial area. He also has, amongst others, a Riley One Point Five which is very similar to one that he owned in his youth. We were fascinated. He said that the first Riley had a fitted record player. It played 7 Singles (you know what those are?) while driving on gravel roads and never skipped a groove.

Neville then showed us shelves of old parts, which he had recently repacked and not yet categorised, and offered to let us look through and take any parts that we might need. Anyone looking for something specific might do well to give Neville a call.

In his "museum" Neville showed us his collection of model vehicles and lots of fascinating stuff. He sat on the floor for half an hour and showed and talked about items that he had collected over the years. We were spell bound.

Susan served a most welcome tea, coffee and delicious eats in their home and we enjoyed chatting on the stoep or in the lounge.

Then off down the road to Mrs Inggs. Unfortunately I didn't get around to going inside her home and thus did not see the horse drawn hearse and other memorabilia. Next time perhaps. But the collection of old cars gathering dust in the various sheds was amazing. 

Somebody said he was dying for a ride in the old hearse parked outside. And a reply shot back that they probably won't sit you in the front seat. That hearse was used yesterday.

We took our leave from there and went our separate ways to lunch and home. A very interesting morning. Many thanks to Mrs Inggs for opening her home to us. Many thanks also to Dave, Neville and Susan for making the arrangements. A pity in some ways that only 17 people pitched.

Here are some pictures:
 

In The Boot

(Useful Baggage and Tools that we need for the trip)

Our Website

by Ron Gush

A library of information - it is of value to our members:

Our history is on the home page.

Fanmail copies go back to April 2011

Articles page is under utilised. We could have more articles out there.

UID is there - Useful Info Database, but you knew that hey?

Links to other clubs - when I look for another club, I start here

Our contact details - if a prospective member wants to join he/she can talk to someone

Our location

Membership application forms

Museum pictures and a good article

Gallery - pictures of our cars

Stats - might indicate value to outsiders:

In the month of April we had:

- 176 unique visitors (first visit for the that month)

- 203 visits (total visits, some visitors visited more than once)

- 691 pages were viewed

- 3123 hits (hits are files sent to a visitor)

These stats are fairly constant over the previous few months

Most visits are by robots, Google, Yahoo etc. These robots trawl the web for info and thus know where to find it fast. If you google something the answer might be offered in our website.

12 of the above visits were over 5 minutes length - one might assume that these were real people

Click here to have a look

1934 Dodge/Plymouth engine wanted

to complete the restoration of my Dodge DR.
Please contact Tom Manser on his cell - 072 554 5316                                       1/3
or email ThomasMa@avi.co.za

Wire Wheels Wanted

Mike Leisegang is looking for 3-4 1929 Chevrolet wire wheels                                1/3
Please contact Mike on 082 857 8733
or click here to send him an email

Parts for a 1936 Morris offered

Complete engine, gearbox and diff. Don't know condition.

Also various suspension parts as only the body will be used to build a Radrod.

 Contact owner directly on 0823769708, Gerrie.                                   1/3

Committee

Chairman:                                 Joe Janssens      083 235 1101
Vice Chairman:                         Rob Wallis           082 334 0354
Secretary / Treasurer:               Shirley Martin      071 675 4570
Grahamstown Rep:                   Norbert Drager    046 622 6282 or 072 765 6448
Events Co-ordinator:                 Dave Hawkins     046 624 2214 or 082 453 2618
OD Inggs Co-ordinator:             Bill Martin            071 509 0169
Fanmail Editor:                          Ron Gush            046 648 3186 or 083 272 1961
Member:                                    Keith Schroeder  046 624 4114 or 082 412 3778

Other portfolio holders:
SAVVA rep and Vehicle Dating: Des Hill               083 228 6774
assisted by:                                Dave Hawkins    046 624 2215 or 082 453 2618
Webmaster:                               John Austin Williams

Classic & Sports Car Insurance Placements
“We Drive Classic Cars”
We insure them with Great Care.
Tel: 031 701 0226 l Cell: 082 781 4410
Email: pat@smythebros.com
A Division of Smythe Financial Services cc Authorised FSP No. 16054

MGA / B Starter Motor for sale

Brand new, still in it's box. High torque starter motor to fit MGA or B with 3 speed synchro gearbox. Made in the UK by Powerlite, West Midlands. Any reasonable offer will be considered. (Paid R5000 for it!)
Contact Rob Wallis on 082 334 0354                                                    2/3

Tailpipe - 

by Ron Gush

Here is another Triumph(ant) story. You'll all be thinking that I must be scraping the bottom of the barrel, and you are right. But some of you might find this useful.

Late last year I decided to repack my Spitfire front wheel bearings - I suppose there was nothing interesting on TV at the time. What I found was rather surprising. The oil seals were missing! Well, where one should have found oil seals, there were only some bits of felt cut into rings and rather greasy / messy. Hmmm. My 1934 Austin has leather oil seals which work perfectly well, but in a 1966 Triumph I had kind of expected conventional rubber seals. Not having a sample, I meticulously measured the gap to be sealed and trundled off to PE to look for oil seals to fit. Nobody could help. Never seen an oil seal to fit those dimensions. Nothing like that available. Forget it. Heyns manual wasn't much help either.

So I resorted to ordering the oil seals from the UK. At a cost of around R350 the two seals were duly delivered to my door. Opened the packet. What??? Felt rings!!! 

Thought about this for a bit. The new seals had a metal backing ring to locate the felt. Methinks I could reuse that into the future. What I need is the felt rings. Googled and phoned felt suppliers in SA. Found one that was prepared to deal with Joe Soap (aka Ron Gush) in small quantities. Measured the nice new felt rings supplied from the UK and ordered from the local guys. A few days later 10 oil seals were delivered to my door for the princely sum of R150 + courier fee R80 + vat = R262.

I think my Spittie is set up for front wheel oil seals into the foreseeable future.

The felt supplier is:
Custom Seal Components cc
Tel 011 674 1093
1155 Eitemal Ave
Florida Ext 11 

For the Spittie oil seals I ordered felt rings 39 x 51 x 9mm
Here is a picture of the new, genuine part:
Look carefully for the metal backing ring
 

Our contact details are:
Email: club@avcmc.co.za
Website: www.avcmc.co.za
PO Box 2057, Port Alfred 6170
We are affiliated to SOUTH AFRICAN VETERAN & VINTAGE ASSOCIATION.

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