|
|
|
|
AVCMC FanMail
May 2018
|
|
From The Driver's
Seat
By Joe Janssens
The
annual Bathurst Agricultural Show attracts an important number of
visitors both local and from outlying areas. This is the main
event that gives us the opportunity to show-off our classics. A
meagre 11 cars were on show. The bad condition of the road was
the reason for the East London Mercedes Benz Club members, who
promised to join us, to pull out.
Last
week’s picnic at Norbert Drager’s home was well attended by our
local as well as numerous Grahamstown members. Many thanks to
Norbert for organising this.
Our
event organising members put in a lot of effort in planning these
shows and other outings. I once again appeal to all our members
to show them that we appreciate their efforts by attending those
events in great numbers. Your suggestions are also needed. Some
of the future events which are planned are another bowling day,
the Bathurst Country Affaire, Bonnets UP…
Congratulations
to Peter Viner who completed the restoration of his 1946
Wolseley. Well done.
Ron
Gush has under taken to update the members car register,
let's help him to complete this task by supplying him with the
info required.
Cheers
Joe
|
|
|
Through The Windscreen
(This
is what lies ahead)
|
|
|
For Your Diary
Local Events
Thursday
3 May - 5 to 8pm - Supper at the noggin
Food will be sold on the first Thursday of each month
It might be hot dogs or hamburgers.
Thursday
10 May - 5 to 8pm - Motoring DVD during the noggin
Thursday
17 May - 5 to 8pm - Supper Night
Lasagne supper will be offered at R30 / head at 6pm.
Please bring your own plates and cutlery.
Saturday
26 May - 9am to noon - AVCMC Museum
May
- Bowls / Croquet
Watch your phone - details will follow by SMS
Sunday
10 June - Bonnets Up
Diarise the date. The event will count towards the Restoration of
the Year.
See the Criteria below
Thursday
19 July - AGM and Supper Night
Nominations for committee members are called for. See the note
below
Saturday
11 August - Bathurst Country Affaire
Events Further Afield
10
- 14 June - Milligan - run by EPVCC - Oudtshoorn area
8
- 11 August - Magnum Rally - Mpumalanga area
This will be the SAVVA National Rally - the 50th anniversary.
|
|
|
Birthday Congratulations
May
1 Gerda Kartenberg
18 Bruce Yendall
22 George Galbraith
24 Neville Koch
27 Mike Webber
29 Daphne McNeill
|
|
|
Nominations For
Committee - AGM on Thursday 19 July
Please consider possible candidates.
The following committee members will be standing down and are not
available for re-election:
Ron Gush, Rob Wallis and Keith Schroeder
Standing down but available for re-election are:
Shirley Martin and Joe Janssens (from Chairman but available as a
committee member).
Standing for re-election:
Norbert Drager, Peter Viner and Roger Darkes.
Scribe.
Edits / writes the newsletter. The job does require a little
computer savvy. Guidance will be given in the use of MailChimp,
but the new scribe might choose a different format.
(As
agreed at the last AGM, it is time for me to step down. The Club
needs fresh ideas and I'm running on empty. It has been a fun
portfolio which I have enjoyed for nearly 7 years. Long enough!
Many thanks to past committees and all those who have
supplied articles and photos, covered events and generally made
the FanMail editors job a pleasure. Ron)
|
|
|
Restoration of the Year Criteria
Restoration
has to be completed AFTER July the previous year and BEFORE the
Bonnets Up of the present year.
The
car or motorcycle must be on display at the Bonnets-Up venue.
The
vehicle must be kept as original as possible for that period. If
a Ford product has a pre-cross flow engine, the restorer must
stick to it.
Wheels
and other accessories must also stick to the period.
Is
it a “Nuts and Bolts” restoration or a partial restoration like a
re-spray or a good clean-up?
Photographs
of the vehicle’s progress must be produced.
The
vehicle must be licensed.
50%
of the work done has to be personal hands-on.
The
Chairman’s Committee has final say in choosing the Restoration of
the Year winner.
|
|
|
The Dashboard
(This is
going on right now)
|
|
|
Inspiration
"Here with whitened hair, he drank to Life, to all it had
been, to what it would be."
Sean O'Casey
|
|
|
Bank Charges
If you deposit cash or a cheque directly to our bank account,
please add R50 to cover the bank charges. You can pay cash
directly to our Treasurer, Shirley, at no extra cost. But not to
the bank. The Club can not afford the bank charges for cash or
cheque deposits.
If you pay by EFT or bank deposit, please remember to reference your
payment with your name.
|
|
|
MGB GT For Sale
Contact Ricky Cooper at ricky@cyberperk.co.za.
Asking R65 000. Thought to be a 1972 model
1/3
|
|
|
|
|
The Rear View Mirror
(Past
Events)
|
|
|
Bathurst Agricultural
Show - Saturday 7 April
by David Dicken
Good weather for a 9.30 a.m. start from the Club House
car park.
Eventually 13 cars were assembled in the designated area. A fair
amount of interest was shown in our static display, and the
procession of cars certainly sparked a lively response from the
young and old as we drove through the show ground both before and
after lunch. The Morgan Roadstar attracted a lot of interest and
the owner, Charles Castle, gave a very knowledgeable account of
its history, albeit a recent 2005 model.
The Bathurst Show certainly demonstrates the real depth and
expertise of South African agriculture and related industries and
was well supported by an appreciative public.
Certain Club members were waylaid by the delights of the
"Pig and Whitsle" on the return journey. A good
outgoing for the faithful few !
(Many
thanks to David and Christiane for covering this event in my
absence. Ron)
|
|
|
Picnic at Norbert
Dragers Home, Grahamstown - Sunday 22 April
by Ron Gush
8 cars assembled at the Civic Centre for departure at 11h30. A
few more must have caught up with the convoy on the way to
Grahamstown. Bill and Shirley led the way in their Morris Eight
and that made it a very enjoyable trundle - the tar road from
Blaaukrantz to Stones Hill is very rough and broken up. We won't
speak about the pot holes in Grahamstown save to say that the
Port Alfred residents must now think quite highly of Ndlambe.
On arrival at 6 St Aidans Avenue we were directed to a vacant
plot some 20 metres further on where we parked. Norbert had very
kindly employed his gardener to look after our cars for the day.
Already parked there were 4 Grahamstown cars:
MG TC belonging to Peter Benyon
MG TC belonging to George Euvrard - Norberts neighbour
Citroen Light Fifteen belonging to Graham Samuel
Toyota Corolla (1986 model so it counts) which Neville and Sue
Koch have owned from new.
And some modern cars too.
It was a perfect day for a picnic in Norbert's beautiful garden
and verandah. Norbert supplied several platters of snacks which
were devoured hungrily by the intrepid travelers from the coast.
It was great to re-connect with members from Grahamstown as well
as visitors and the party soon settled into groups on the lawn
and the long verandah.
Later Norbert took some of us round to Johan Nel's home to see
his collection of vintage fuel and oil pumps, spark plugs, bumper
badges, fire extinguishers, air pressure gauges and hand tyre
pumps. All beautifully displayed and all restored to working
order. A truly amazing collection of motoring memorabilia.
Other members visited Graham Samuel's home where he is restoring
a car for Bruce Yendall.
Many thanks to Norbert for arranging the visit and for preparing
and opening his home to receive the 35 or so guests that were
present. It was a most enjoyable outing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Neville Koch, Peter Benyon, Graham Samuel and Daphne
McNeill.
|
|
|
|
|
Classic &
Sports Car Insurance Placements
“We
Drive Classic Cars”
We
insure them with Great Care.
Approved
Broker: Mercedes-Benz Club South Africa
Tel: 031 701 0226 l Cell: 082 781 4410
Email: pat@smythebros.com
A Division of Smythe Financial Services cc
Authorised FSP No. 16054
|
|
In The Boot
(Useful
Baggage and Tools for the trip. And some accumulated junk)
|
|
|
SAVVA Technical Tip
No 131 – Over fuelling (part2)
As discussed previously, over fuelling appears to be a common
problem with many early cars, especially where replacement or
more modern fuel pumps and/or carburettors have been
fitted.
Recently
we had two examples:
Firstly,
a chap had a piston which was badly scored and he was wondering
what caused it.
We
have a suspicion the problem was with the carburettor which was
seriously over fuelling and basically washing the oil off the
piston. Could this be more prevalent with the older long stroke
engines?
Secondly,
another club member had recently purchased a very early Chrysler
6 and was complaining about its poor fuel consumption, something
like 30 litres 100 kilos. Looking at his car we found it was
fitted with a later model Ball & Ball carb with an adjustable
main jet which was wide open. Where and when possible one should
use an exhaust analyser to set these carbs up properly. The
danger is not only the high fuel consumption, but the damage to
the pistons and the dilution of the oil through over fuelling.
Another
problem with early carbs is the needle and seat. Often more
modern fuel pumps, even electric ones are fitted that run at a
higher pressure than the originals. We also tend to set the float
level whilst the car is standing still or idling, however, once
on the road with road vibrations a higher pressure fuel pump
tends to push the fuel passed the needle and seat allowing
copious amounts of fuel into the fuel bowl. This could be the
cause of serious over fuelling.
In
the US it is common practise to fit a fuel line pressure
regulator between the pump and carburettor especially when an
older carb is used with a modern electric pump. Unfortunately I
haven’t been able to find a local source of these regulators and
they are expensive to import. Can anyone help with a supplier?
|
|
|
Mission Impossible
Sent in byJoe
Janssens
An 80-year-old man is having his annual check-up. The doctor asks
him how he's feeling. "I've never been better!" he
replies. "I've got an 18-year-old bride who's pregnant and
having my child! What do you think about that?" The doctor
considers this for a moment, then says, "Well, let me tell
you a story. I know a guy who's an avid hunter. He never misses a
season. But one day he's in a bit of a hurry and he accidentally
grabs his umbrella instead of his gun. "So, he's in the
woods, and suddenly a grizzly bear appears in front of him! He
raises up his umbrella, points it at the bear, and squeezes the
handle. The bear drops dead in front of him."
"That's impossible! Someone else must have shot that
bear" says the old man.
"Exactly."
|
|
|
Diesel car polish
by Ron Gush
Some of you might know of the difficulty I've had polishing my
1934 Austin. Some parts polish up very nicely using modern liquid
car polish. But there are some maroon areas which always end up
with a whitish haze, which no amount of buffing will remove. No
one seemed to have an answer / solution. Until now.
Last December I got chatting to an guy in Alexandria. Regrettably
I never caught his name. The car was there and the subject of
"whitening car polish" came up. He looked at it and
said, "Meneer" (Sir - this was all in Afrikaans) you
probably won't believe me, but try this. I said, I'm listening.
He said that old car paint is oil based and you need to feed it.
Try using a thin oil, like diesel. I was still listening. He said:
Wash the car normally, dry it and then wipe it down with a cloth
soaked lightly in diesel. Leave it overnight and then wash it
again with Sunlight liquid solution, rinse and dry. You will be
amazed. He went on, perhaps I was looking skeptical, to say that
modern polish takes some paint off - the cloth comes away with
some colour from the paint. I agreed, it does. With diesel it
won't, he said. I agreed to try a small patch. He had worked for
a panel beater for over 20 years, he said, and that was where he
learned the trick. We chatted some more then I had to go.
Well, I did try a smallish patch and it looked good. No colour
came off on the cloth.
Now I have done the whole car and it looks stunning! I didn't use
Sunlight soap. This was my procedure:
Wash 'n dry
Wipe with diesel - all paint and chrome, not rubber components.
(There is no plastic on that car)
Leave it for an hour or two - 50ppm diesel is not smelly and
evaporates slowly.
Wipe down with a damp cloth soaked in car wash solution. (The
surfaces remained faintly streaky)
Next day, lightly buff with a dry micro-fibre cloth.
Amazing result! (And far less effort than car polish)
Then I had to polish the wire wheels because they looked so dull!
|
|
|
Committee
Chairman:
Joe Janssens 083 235 1101
Vice-Chairman:
& Clubhouse Manager
Peter Viner
046 624 3552 or 072 825 9258
Events:
Roger Darkes
046 624 2874 or 082 373 8181
Secretary / Treasurer:
Shirley Martin
071 675 4570
Grahamstown Rep:
Norbert Drager
046 622 6282 or 072 765 6448
Fanmail Editor:
Ron Gush
046 648 3186 or 083 272 1961
Members:
Keith Schroeder 046 624 4114 or 082 412 3378
Rob Wallis
082 334 0354
Other portfolio holders:
OD Inggs Co-ordinator:
Peter Viner
046 624 3552 or 072 825 9258
SAVVA rep and Vehicle Dating: Dave Hawkins
046 624 2214 or 082 453 2618
Webmaster:
John Austin-Williams
(contact via Ron Gush for web content)
|
|
|
|
|
Disclaimer
Opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the authors or
contributors and are not necessarily those of the AVCMC nor
it's committee nor officials nor of any affiliated club.
|
|
|
Tailpipe - How to tell the time?
sent in by Jen Hume
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
