December
2011
President’s Boot – Bill Scott
We are coming close to the end of the driving season for 2011 and by the
time you will be reading this in the British Marque
Marque, two important driving
events will have taken place. The Martha’s Vineyard Weekend and the
Freezin Fun Run 4 Kids. Both are important events as the MV weekend is for
club members to enjoy each other’s company in a relaxed beautiful setting
soaking up the last
ast breath of fresh air and beauty that this Cape and Islands
have to offer. The FFR4K’s is good and cold; good in that it raises money for
Independence House so the families served by them can enjoy the holidays
too, and cold…well running in mid November with the top down (as you know us British car diedie
hards do) can sometime be pretty darn cold. We’re up to it though, and feel warm inside for those
whom we make the Holidays a little brighter.
This time of year we think about taking care of our LBC’s and preparing them for the winter, and we
also begin thinking about taking care of our club and its business. Our annual elections will be on
May 5th, and to prepare for this we must start early. We will be looking to elect at least three new
BoG members, my two
wo terms as President will be complete, and due to circumstances we will be
looking to elect a new Vice President as well. We are establishing a nominating committee to find
candidate for these positions and we would like to actually have an election, i.e. have more
candidates than positions to fill. We’ll spare you any pre election public debates; there is enough of
that going on nationally without adding any more. However candidate will have an opportunity to
speak at the Annual meeting prior to the votin
voting.
Now is the time to step up. It is your club and you do have something to offer. Please call or e-mail
e
me: 508 896 9313 or a65jaguar@msn.com/ if you would like to put your hat in the ring, or better
yet, tell me who you would like to see in any of these positions. Put their hat in the ring, and I’ll call
them to encourage them to be on the ballot. I think it is good for the club to have an influx of fresh
people rotating through these opportunities. It brings fres
fresh
h thoughts and energy into the running of
this club. It is a great way to meet, get to know and work with other members and you can help
steer the club’s direction. Even those of you who are often riding rather than driving in these cars,
you can actually steer the club, so don’t be shy, call me.
Till then,
Bill Scott, President
Founded August 2000
December
2011
Upcoming Events
December -
No Monthly Meeting during December 2011
January Monthly Meeting
17 Jan 2012 7:00 PM • BBC Sandwich, MA
See the Website Calendar for future events later in the season.
Welcome New Members
The Cape Cod British Car Club is pleased to welcome the following new members:
•
Eric James – 74 MG MGB
British Car Encounters – Brian Nickerson
One might think that there would be a lot of classic British cars in Great Britain. There probably are,
but I didn’t see many on a trip there in September and October this year. I did see a few classic
Minis zoom by on occasion, usually too fast to allow me to grab the camera and snap a shot.
Oh, sure, I saw a few of the post 1980 MGs on the road, but those cars must not have sold all that
well over there since they weren’t a common sight. In fact, there really weren’t that many new
English-built cars on the road. A few aging Rovers, of course, since Rover stopped production a few
years ago. Some Land Rovers, but the roads are narrow in the rural areas we traversed and really
aren’t designed for the bigger Range Rovers. Vauxhall was present, but one never knows if they are
a GM Opel, rebadged over in Germany.
Plenty of EU cars, of course. But if you go to a rental car agency, as we did in England and Ireland,
they will want to set you up with a Pacific Rim car unless you specifically request a European car. At
least that was our experience. After the agents selected Korean cars for us, we asked for a European
car and were given a Renault in England and a Fiat in Ireland. I preferred the Fiat which, while
more bare-bones than the Renault, was more size-appropriate for Irish roads.
Here is a tip. If you can operate a manual transmission, make sure you rent a small car – the
smallest, if you can – in England and Ireland. Automatics in Europe are less common and virtually
non-existent in the compacts and sub-compacts. This was our second time driving in England and
our fourth in Ireland. If you get a car with an automatic, it will be a larger car and you will feel huge
on the narrow roads. Even our compact (maybe sub-compact) Renault felt too big for the back
roads of Cornwall and Devon. Our Fiat Punto, littler than the 500, was perfect for Ireland and
handled two adults with a month’s worth of luggage just fine.
Founded August 2000
December
2011
Our first British car encounter was in
Falmouth Cornwall. Yes the town that where I
live on the Cape was named after. Mary and I
thought it would be interesting to compare
the two towns and booked a few nights there.
Subsequently, we found out that Falmouth UK
and Falmouth MA were planning a joint
celebration in October for their 350th and
325th anniversaries, respectively. We
connected with the planning group and
became semi-official ambassadors to
Falmouth UK in September. One of the
members in UK, Chris Smith, has British cars
and gave us a tour in his Rolls Royce. The next
day, I attended a Falmouth UK Rotary Club
meeting and Chris showed up in his pre-war
Austin 7.
On our last day in England we saw two classic British cars. We were in Minehead, a coastal resort
town in Somerset County, a few hours south of Bristol where we would catch a plane to Cork in
Ireland later that day. We stayed in a nice older hotel, not too far from the seaside, that reminded
us a little of Fawlty Towers. Even in our mid to late 60s, we felt we were at the lower end of the age
demographic of the patrons. Surprisingly, the hotel had WiFi. Actually, free WiFi is pretty common
in England and Ireland nowadays.
After the hotel’s traditional English breakfast, which would morph the next days to a traditional
Irish breakfast with the same combinations, we headed off for a casual stroll along the Irish
Sea/Bristol Channel and the nearby neighborhoods. Within a block of the hotel, parked along the
street was a beautiful old Rover convertible. I
didn’t know it was a Rover until I squinted at
the badge, of course. It was a driver. Great
looking in photos and from about 10 feet but,
when looking closer, you could tell it was used
regularly and well-maintained.
After we returned from the trip, I sent photos
of the car to Dave LaChance, editor of
Hemmings Sports & Exotic Cars magazine.
Dave is no stranger to CCBCC, having attended
a few of our events and also having been a
member. Dave is also a Rover fan, currently
owning two. Here is what Dave told me in a
reply email. “The Rover you spotted is a very interesting car: It's a 1947 Rover 12 Tourer, one of
just 200 made. Rover was best known for making saloons, but they branched out into these open
cars immediately after the war, with the intention of selling them in the U.S. How serious they were
I don't know, because all 200 chassis were right-hand drive! There's a 1.5-liter four under the
hood.”
Founded August 2000
December
2011
Mary and I continued our walk to the sea. A few blocks later, we saw what looked like a Land Rover
Defender, or whatever it was called in earlier iterations. It was decked out in military colors (or
colours, I guess) so it could be either a former British military car or restored to look like one.
Maybe some of the Land Rover guys will recognize it.
That was it for classic British cars in England, but we had a surprise waiting for us in Ireland. We
landed at Cork that same day and drove our Fiat to Cobh (pronounced Cove) that had been called
Queenstown during part of the British occupation of Ireland. During the next week, we would enjoy
some of our favorite places (Galway, Connemara) and some that were new (the Kilkee area of
County Clare). Our last four nights were planned for one of our favorites, the Dingle Peninsula. At
one time, National Geographic had called the Dingle Peninsula the most beautiful place on earth.
Maybe hyperbole, but it fits. Too many people, on their first trip to Ireland, bypass Dingle and go to
the Iveragh Peninsula, the famed Ring of Kerry. Too bad; they missed the best part.
Mary and I got to know the Dingle Peninsula quite well on our trip there in 2001. We had only
planned a few days in Dingle before we were to drive to Shannon Airport on September 12, 2001
for a flight to Boston. Of course, events that occurred the day before our planned departure
resulted in us spending another week in Dingle before we could get on a flight home.
We checked into Castlewood House and immediately jumped back into the car and drove out to
Sleigh Head, the end of the Dingle Peninsula and the most western point in Europe, with beautiful
views of the Blasket Islands and the Skelligs under a sunny sky. We were glad we did because our
remaining days before we flew home were cloudy and rainy. We took a back road we had used
before over the hump of the peninsula to Dingle from the north side and joined the main road in
Ventry. That’s where we saw a sign promoting a classic car rally the next day.
So the next day after breakfast, Irish this time, we headed out again to Ventry and found a group of
about 20 classic European cars parked around the village’s most popular pub. Ed Healey from the
Blarney Vintage Car Club seemed to be the leader, or at least the most vocal. It’s probably the
Blarney. We chatted with Ed for a time around his car. You might expect it to be an Austin Healey,
but it was a Singer. Ed was the only Healey present. Ed’s was one of the few British cars at the
event. Maybe it’s how the Irish regard England that resulted in the low numbers.
What surprised us was that there were more classic
European Fords at the event than any other marque.
There were two or three classic Minis, one decked out
very similarly to the Mini owned by our Vince
Tamburo. A few VW Golfs, a Land Rover, some old
Volvos and a Morris. Might have missed a few. Lots of
Fords. Also, a wedding party at the pub getting “ready”
for the ceremony later that day.
We left in our not-so-classic Fiat, glad we weren’t
driving an Asian car. The rest of the weekend, we saw
the rally group buzzing around the peninsula and
parked at some of the pubs in Dingle town. It sure is
fun having a classic car, isn’t it? Even if it’s a Ford.
Founded August 2000
December
2011
Freezin Fun For Kids Run 2011 – Richard Finlay
Cape Cod British Car Club
held its Seventh Annual
Holiday Charity Tour to
Benefit the Independence
House in Hyannis Ma. on
Sunday November 13th.
The road tour started in
Buzzards Bay and rolled
though quiet cranberry bogs,
hardwood stands still bearing
autumn colors and the quiet
ponds and mighty white pines
at Myles Standish Reserve.
Twisting back roads to
challenge the drivers and the
best weather in seven years
meant forty vintage and
modern British sports cars roared across the Cape Cod Canal and settled in to an afternoon of lunch
and camaraderie at the classic
Sagamore Inn.
Rally Masters Rick Johnson and
Rich Finlay salute the
extraordinary generosity of the
participants with record
contributions in excess of
seventeen hundred dollars
($1,700). Many members who
could not join us for the fun still
did not forget the drive towards
the finish line.
Special thanks to my bugeye
brother Rick Johnson and his wife
Gini for great route planning.
Charlie Bohm for his graphics and
printing for the event. Bob Vogel for his assistance at registration. Mike and June Daley for starting
point facilities and photography. The Hemmings Motor News for their generous raffle support and
Mike and Sue Bilodeau publicans of the Sagamore Inn for their kind use of the house.
In closing, we wish you the best for the Holidays!
Rick and Rich
Founded August 2000
December
2011
Another Boooooring November Weekend on Martha’s Vineyard – Brian
Nickerson
“We all know everything's going to be picture perfect. Just like always. Blah, blah. This trip is
always fantastic. Yadda, yadda. No drama. Yawn. No worries. Boooooring. Maybe that's the point!
You could probably do this in your sleep with one arm tied behind your back. Having said that, is it
too soon to start planning for this again next year, too? Huh? Huh?”
That was posted by one of our members, whose name will be reported here as anonymous (Art
Cox) in reply to a posting I placed on the club’s web site. A few days before our club’s annual
November weekend trip traditionally on Martha’s Vineyard, I had posted predictions for good
weather on November 5th and 6th.
As it turned out, the predictions were correct and we still have a continued unbroken chain of great
weather every time we have crossed Vineyard Sound for our road trip. Yes, no hurricanes, no rain,
no nothing. Nothing except clear sunny skies and moderate temperatures for top down driving on
virtually abandoned roadways. According to he who will remain anonymous (Art Cox),
“Boooooring.”
As tradition dictates, we had a great high cholesterol
breakfast at Betsy’s diner in Falmouth before we
drove along the mainland side of Vineyard Sound on
twisty roads to Woods Hole where we boarded the
ferry.
The wind was on our backs as we steamed east to
Vineyard Haven, so standing out on the deck
enjoying the trip was quite comfortable. Off the ship
and rolling out to the Tashmoo Overlook, we joined
Kevin Thompson and Frank Frett who had come out
in their TR6s a day earlier.
A nice surprise was finding member and Martha’s
Vineyard resident Glen Provost in his beautiful Jaguar Mark II. Glen stayed with us until early
afternoon when the commitments of daily
life
dragged him away.
The “plan” was for us to lazily traverse
Lambert’s Cove Road to enjoy the late fall
colors and then connect with Middle Road
that makes you think you are in Vermont –
except for the added ocean views. Only
three cars – all Jaguars – made it to Middle
Road.
Traffic had interfered between car three
and four and the rest of the group
paralleled the west-bound route on North
Road instead. Nothing serious because we
connected back up in Menemsha with a lot
kidding around about mutiny and getting lost.
Founded August 2000
of
December
2011
Then off to Aquinnah and
the Gay Head Bluffs that
some of us noted seemed
to be eroding. Too bad for
such a beautiful scene. The
visibility was quite clear,
but we couldn’t see the
uprights of the NewportJamestown Bridge this
time.
Quite a lot of shopping was
accomplished at the shops
and we were off again.
We whizzed by both West
Chop and East Chop
lighthouses and then rolled
into Oak Bluffs for lunch
and a casual stroll around
the village. And maybe
another kind of whiz. Then to the wonderful Harborview Hotel and Resort in historic Edgartown.
What could be better? Not only do we get moderate fall temperatures under sunny skies and
clutter-free roads. We also get one of the island’s premier hotels at Motel 6 prices!! If we showed
up in August, we would be bumper-to-bumper with all the tourists and we would have paid
probably 3 to 4 times what we paid at the Harborview this early November weekend.
Dennis and Karen Sokol coordinated a great
group dinner in our own dedicated room at The
Wharf restaurant on Edgartown Harbor. Lots of
stories and lies told, of course, as well as some
esoteric discussion about MG engines as they
transitioned from the MGTD to the MGA via the
MGTF. Ya gotta love it! Of course, Art Cox was
involved, so it was “Boooooring.”
Sunday arrived with cloud-free skies and a
beautiful view from the hotel down to
Edgartown Light. The hotel and other
restaurants were used for morning sustenance
and then we lazily got ready for activities.
Founded August 2000
December
2011
Many of our members took their cars out to
Chappaquiddick Island ($16 round trip on
the ferry including car and passengers) and
others wandered over the vacant roads to
their favorite island spots.
A few of us climbed up Prospect Hill in the
Menemsha Hills Reservation and then
wandered the trails down to the water and
back through copses of the unique
Beetlebung oak trees that are special to this
area of the island. Prospect Hill is ten feet
higher above sea level than any place on
Cape Cod and the view from the top is
unobstructed and spectacular. The
Beetlebung tree was used during the days of
wooden ships because nature of the wood was perfect for the construction of hull joints.
Ah, but reality had its ways with us. We had to leave this island paradise Sunday afternoon to go
back to America, as Philip Craig called it in his mystery books. Some of us who were on the 2:30
ferry, the Island Home, had our cars on an elevated lift above the rest of the cars below inside the
ship. Interesting, but even though we were the first on, we were the last off because all the cars
below us had to exit first. That’s OK. It made the weekend just a little bit more interesting and
enjoyable. Bringing us back to the first paragraph of this article by the anonymous writer (Art Cox),
“Is it too soon to start planning for this again next year, too? Huh? Huh?”
BUSINESS CLASSIFIEDS
For the club newsletter that we maintain on line and, occasionally, have available at meetings, we
will be including a listing of members who have businesses or professions to serve the British
automobile owner. Listings will be kept simple and will be in order of the member’s club number.
If you have a business that relates to British automobiles, please send an email to the editor at
mdaley3333@comcast.net.
Member 1: KEVIN THOMPSON
Used Triumph Parts 31 STANHOPE RD E. FALMOUTH, MA 02536 508-540-7401 ktnkt@comcast.net
Member 2: ROBERT GREENE
Cape Cod Powder Coating 22 BRIGGS RD BOURNE, MA 02532 508-292-7200 trsick@aol.com
Member 10: ARTHUR CALFEE
Classic Car Automotive Insurance 336 Gifford Street (Homeport) Falmouth, MA 02540-2967 (800) 479-2601 art@calfeeinsurance.com
Member 26: DOUG DEXTER
Austin Engine Repair and Rebuild 25 TARRAGON DRIVE EAST SANDWICH, MA 02537 508-833-3109 austnworks@aol.com
Member 31: SCOTT McNAMARA
SPORTS IMPORTS OF CAPE COD PO Box 137 NORTH FALMOUTH, MA 02556 508-563-3848 mcnamara@cape.com
Founded August 2000
December
2011
BUSINESS CLASSIFIEDS (Continued)
Member 60: SAM SMITH
BRIT BITS – British Car Sales & Service 14 SAGAMORE ROAD RYE, NH 03870 603
603-433-0001 sam@britbits.com
Member 63: GARY SIMON & HARRY GNONG
BRITISH BEER COMPANY 2294 STATE RD, 2ND FLR PLYMOUTH, MA 02360 508
508-833-9590 www.britishbeer.com
Member 76: BILL PUTMAN, JR
B&B and Car Museum 288 SCUDDER AVENUE HYANNISPORT, MA 02647 508
508-775-3439 billputman@aol.com
Member 106: JOHN ERIC LITTLE
Little Foreign Car Garage 2 HUETTNER ROAD WOODS HOLE, MA 02543 508
508-540-7897
Member 131: DUANE MERSEREAU
Power Sports Clothing PO Box 354 Humarock, MA 02047 866
866-477-4700
Member 170: JOHN SANDS
Birkin of Cape Cod PO BOX 73 CATAUMET, MA 02534 508
508-563-1946 nauti.dog@verizon.net
Member 174: MICHAEL DALLAIRE
Automotive Photography and Graphic Art 15 WEEKS POND DR FORESTDALE, MA 02644 508
508-477-2173
2173 mdallaire@capecod.edu
Member 304: RICHARD WALTERS
Automotive Repairs PO BOX 1027 E ORLEANS, MA 02643 508
508-398-0571 re.walters@verizon.net
Member 316: JEFF ZORN
Little British Car Co, Ltd. / Vintage Motors, Ltd. 29311 ARANEL Farmington Hills, MI 48334
48334-2815 800-637-9640
9640 LBCarCo@LBCarCo.com
Member 343: PETER BACHAND
Kustom & Restoration 65 LACOMBE ST, UNIT 13 MARLBOROUGH, MA 01752 508-281-6171 krs@conversent.net
Member 392: ERIK NYGAARD
Her Majesty's Auto Service 2264 GAR Highway Swansea, MA 02777 508
508-379-9789...http:// www.hermajestysservice.com
Member 416: GREG COWELLl
Walter's Quick Lube 84 Main Street W.Yarmouth, MA 02673 508
508-778-2522 gcowell@globalbusinessexchange.com
Member 421: MATT RIBIS
All Marque Restorative British Car Repair Service 19 Village Brook Road South Yarmouth, MA 02664 508
508-398-9358
morris4door@yahoo.com
Member 432: STACE AMES
AtoZTowing 406 WAREHAM STREET MIDDLEBORO, MA 02346 508
508-946-9570 www.atoztowing.net
Member 442: DAVID COLASURDO
Auto Broker - Repairs & Restoration 27 Spinnaker Drive West Mashpee MA 02649 508 539 3155 d2c1949@comcast.net
Member 479: DAVID & JEAN ICAZA
D&J Car Care Center 405 Main Street Manchester, CT 06040 860
860-649-5533 http://users.ntplx.net/ ~djauto/index.htm
Founded August 2000