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September 2018

From The Driver's Seat

By Peter Viner

We were delighted to hold two motoring events this month in what is generally a quiet month for the club. Both events are reported upon in this newsletter but I would like to express my sincere thanks to all our ladies who worked so hard to make the visit by the residents of Damant Lodge to the Albany Car Museum such a huge success. It was a glorious sunny day and the museum took on a real party atmosphere with the tables overflowing with food. The residents of Damant Lodge who were able to attend were thrilled with the reception we gave them and it was a marvellous opportunity for our club to do something for the community.

I would certainly like to see us repeat this next year and I would urge members to identify other possibilities where we can do something worthwhile for the community. Please contact me or other members of the committee with your suggestions – in particular I would urge our members in Grahamstown to put their thinking caps on – our members in Port Alfred would be more than happy to drive up to Grahamstown to support a similar event.

This coming month we are especially fortunate to have been invited by Bruce Yendall to visit his home at Riet River for a Bring and Brai – further details are below – please try to support this event – it’s a wonderful location.

Through The Windscreen

A reminder to all members who have not yet paid their 2018 - 19 subs to please do so as they are now overdue.

Full member                    R 350
Country member             R 250
Associate member          R 150

For Your Diary

Local Events

Thursday 13 September
- 5 to 8pm - Motoring DVD during the noggin

Thursday 20 September
- Supper Night
A meal will be provided  for a small charge.

Sunday 30 September
Bring and Braai at Bruce's Riet River cottage - meet at Civic Centre at 11am

16-17 March 2019 OD Inggs - An appeal to all members to enter next year's Inggs.
We have struggled get a decent field for the last few years and would dearly love to have more entrants next year. Please reserve the dates and enter.

Events Further Afield

11 to 14 November 2018 - Fairest Cape Tour.  Entries close 15 October. Please contact Shirley Martin or George Armstrong for more info and entry forms.

9 - 14 June 2019 - 50th Milligan Rally

Birthday Congratulations

September

Mike Newlands       2nd September
Derek Bowker      6 September
Des Hill           10 September
Sue Darkes      16 September
Bob Duggan      16 September
Myrna Pellew       17 September
Joy Hill          24 September

Best Wishes

Mrs Bettine Hattingh, who suffered a serious stroke last month, is making making good progress in a rehabilitation unit and we wish her all the best.

The Rear View Mirror

Bathurst Country Affair

The Country Affair was held in the showgrounds this year and we were invited to put on a display of old cars. About 11 cars were displayed and drew quite a lot of interest from the public, especially the engine of Dave's Rolls Royce. Another interesting side to the show was racing of oldish moto cross bikes which made for an interesting spectacle.

Damant Lodge Residents visit to the Albany Car Museum

Our second event in August was an opportunity for some of the residents from Damant Lodge to visit the Albany Car Museum. A huge turnout by our members and our ladies saw 17 vintage and classic cars visit Damant Lodge where the cars were put on display for the residents. Some 30 residents were given an opportunity to choose which car they would ride in to visit the museum. The weather was glorious and there was some competition amongst the residents as to who would get to ride in the two open topped cars driven by Delene Hawkins and Ron Gush. Equally appealing was the Rolls Royce Silver Cloud driven by Dave Hawkins.

We took a drive along the West Beach Drive and stopped for a quick photo opportunity at Kelly’s Beach.

It was then on to the Albany Motor Museum where a fantastic spread of food, coffee and tea had been prepared by our ladies – not forgetting the carrot cake cooked by George Armstrong!

The museum has never looked like this before – it was a real party atmosphere and everyone appeared to have enjoyed themselves. There was so much food left over that we were able to provide Damant Lodge with enough cakes for their afternoon tea.

For Sale 

Austin 10, 1934 Chrome Rad for sale.
Restoration project. With majority of the parts. Engine, gearbox and all body parts present. Priced at R55000. The car can be viewed in Port Elizabeth. Please contact for more photos and information.

Russell Moore 

0828108704 
russellurezia@hotmail.com                                     1/3

 1968 Volkswagen 1600A Sedan

Only one owner - late member Sigrid Drewes
Serviced regularly
Recent roadworthy certificate
In good running order
Twin carburettors
5 good tyres
Odometer shows 48000 miles, but might have been around the clock once
Original paint job and no visible rust - for most of its life it was based in Pretoria
The heating system is not functional
The car can be viewed in Port Alfred
 Asking price: R49000                                                         3/3

Contact Roy Bengis by email at roybengis@mweb.co.za or phone 082 788 9135

Yamaha and Honda Motorcycles for sale

R59 000.00 each.  We live in Chintsa East, just outside East London.
Contact Edwin on 0829629520                                                   3/3

For Sale :  Collectable Citroens and Peugeots
All enquires to be directed to John Pringle.  Vehicles are in East London. All offers will be considered. His contact details are:-
Cell Phone : 082 718 580, or e-mail bereamotorsel@gmail.com
1972 Citroen GS Station Wagon – Reasonable condition: R20000-00
1958 Peugeot 403 Sedan – Good running condition with spares: R60000-00
1960 Peugeot Station Wagon (Project vehicle): R20000-00
1958 Citroen ID 19  2^nd owner. Sought after car with spares: R75000-00
Citroen D23 Pallas: Rust needs attention. Any offer considered.           1/3

Regalia

Roger Darkes has found a supplier of very nice caps, embroidered with our AVCMC logo which we are offering for R100. Exceptionally good value. Numbers are limited.
Place your orders with Shirley Martin.
No cash (or preferably eft) No cap.

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

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.

An interesting bit of mechanical history

All who like to tinker with petrol engines are familiar with the inlet and exhaust valves that are located in the cylinder head or in the engine block, if the engine is of the older side valve type. These valves are properly termed poppet valves. However there was once another type of valve called a sleeve valve which gained some acceptance in the first half of the last century.
The system was invented by an American, Mr Charles Y Knight in 1904 and consisted of two thin walled sleeves, one inside the other, inside the cylinder bore. The piston was located inside the inner sleeve and worked in the usual manner. The two sleeves were driven up and down by a small crankshaft geared to the main crankshaft and had ports which lined up with ports in the engine block to allow the fuel mixture and exhaust gases to flow at the appropriate points in the four stroke cycle.
It was mechanically much quieter than the poppet valve systems and Mr Knight constructed several engines and a car named the Silent Knight but does not seem to have achieved commercial success, nor could he interest any other American manufacturers in the idea. However the design was adopted by the British Daimler car company. Despite the name this company was not associated with the German manufacturer except that their very early cars used licence built copies of the German engines and they apparently felt that use of the name was a good marketing strategy. The cars themselves ranged from medium sized saloons to large limousines which were rivals to Rolls Royce (and supplied to the British royal family) until the demise of the original company in the early 1960s. Their first cars were made in 1897 and used poppet valves but from 1909 until 1932 all their engines were of the Knight sleeve valve type. Thereafter they reverted to poppet valves. The largest engines were V12  monsters of 7,136 cc capacity.

A Scottish car maker called Argyll Motors also produced Sleeve valve engine cars from 1912 to 1927. Their engines were of a slightly different design in that they used only one sleeve which rotated in the cylinder bore as opposed to the up-and-down motion in the Knight engine. This design was by Messrs Burt and MacCallum, two directors of the company, and resulted in costly legal actions with the holders of the Knight patents but that need not concern us here.
The Willys company in America later produced vehicles using sleeve valves. Several European companies, including Mercedes Benz, also seem to have experimented with the system but it is not known if any vehicles were actually produced.

Early poppet valve systems suffered from breakages of the valves and valve springs and overheating of the exhaust valves in addition to the mechanical clattering of the mechanism and sleeve valves were intended to cure these ills. Other advantages are the ability to open larger port areas, allowing the spark plug to be centrally placed and a power saving through not having to continually compress the valve springs but attaining a really good gas tight seal was always difficult.
Improved materials and the use of sodium cooled exhaust valves have solved the breakage and overheating problems of poppet valves but the mechanical noise persists, however it does not seem too intrusive these days and the sleeve valve has disappeared.

The sleeve valve system, in its single sleeve form, was used in aero engines manufactured in the 1930s and 40s probably the best known of which were the Bristol range of radial engines. The largest in the range was the Centaurus 18 cylinder radial engine which produced in the region of 2,500 horsepower. An example of this engine is on view in the PE aircraft museum and is cut away so the internal workings, including valve operation, can be seen.   Sleeve valves can also be used in two stroke engines and Rolls Royce started development of a V12 two stroke aero engine called the Crecy to replace the famous Merlin engine. This never reached production as the progress of the jet engine spelled the end for large piston aero engines.

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.

Committee

Chairman:                                  Peter Viner           046 624 3552 or 072 825 9258
Vice chairman                           Bill Martin              071 509 0169           
Clubhouse Manager                  Rob Houston        046 624 2530  078 112 5435
Secretary / Treasurer:                Shirley Martin       071 675 4570
Grahamstown Rep:                    Norbert Drager     046 622 6282 or 072 765 6448
Fanmail Editor:                          George Armstrong 072 347 0924
Events                                       Alf Steck              046 624 2639  083 265 8381
Members:                                   Keith Schroeder   046 624 4114 or 082 412 3378 Joe Janssens       083 235 1101 
OD Inggs Co-ordinator:             Bill Martin assisted by Peter Viner
Other portfolio holders: 
SAVVA rep and Vehicle Dating:  Dave Hawkins     046 624 2214 or 082 453 2618
Webmaster:                                John Austin-Williams
                                                   (contact via George Armstrong for web content)

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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