BONNEVILLE BANTER

Monthly Newsletter of the Bonneville Austin-Healey Club

CELEBRATING 30 YEARS May, 2013 www.bonnevillehealeyclub.org Vol. 30 No. 5

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PRESIDENT’S

MESSAGE: As you have probably read

on the website of our club’s

trip to Miller Motorsports

Park Museum arranged by

Craig Mossberg as being

quite successful. In Jon Hanson’s article he tells you

about the wonderful car museum, now I will tell you

about the wonderful lunch we had at the Bonneville

Brewpub in Tooele. There were six of us that went on to

lunch at the brewpub: Dave/Sandy Maxwell, Doug/Ann

Lewis, Craig Mossberg and Kevin Cowan. On weekends

the brewpub has only a brunch menu that actually is

quite extensive. I was delighted with my menu choice, a

poached salmon sandwich on toasted rye bread with

dilled cream cheese and topped with caraway/red

cabbage slaw. It was an excellent choice with the beer I

selected and was prepared to perfection. Each of us had

a different selection and each said the meal was very

good. Great choice, Craig. You planned an enjoyable

time for us all.

Last week we had “The Great Utah Shake Out.”

Everyone in the state was to conduct an earthquake drill.

You know “drop, cover, and hold on” exercises. All

businesses, offices, schools, and emergency responders

were to participate. From what I’ve read in the paper,

our state was not quite where they should be on

preparedness. Geologists say the Salt Lake area has a

large earthquake every 1300 years and the most recent

was 1400 years ago. I’m not real good with figures, but

this seems a bit scary.

The Big One is an area between the Wasatch and Sierra

Nevada mountain ranges. To be prepared is to “take

common sense measures.” Some recommendations are

storing food and water, and having medical emergency

kits and to have “clearly defined plans of exit.” Really?

To paraphrase the Robert Burns poem To A Mouse: The

best laid plans of mice and men. . . .and leave us nothing

but grief and pain. . .

Let’s live each day as though it is our last and have one

“hell of a good time” living.

Keep ’em rolling,

Ann

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ EDITOR’S COMMENTS: Travel time is here. Is your Healey ready? For a close event the UVU annual car show is at Thanksgiving Point on May 18th. The Club trip down south begins on May 31. If you are planning to go you need to make your reservations at the Victorian Inn by May 1 as the block will expire then. Speaking of reservations, for the trip to Sun Valley, the rooms at the Tamarack Inn will be released on May 25. If you are thinking of going call me and I will give you the confirmation number to reserve your room. Elsewhere in this issue you will find the information on the 30th Anniversary Sweat Shirts. June 12th I will be placing the order. It has been decided that we will only order the sweatshirts that are prepaid. The embroidery work on the logo is rather expensive, so

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in order to keep the cost as low as possible the more we order, the less it will cost per item. This month’s profile is by Keith Mott. I am sure you will enjoy it as much as I have. Finally, I have an article on brake fluid that is well worth your time to read. See you at Thanksgiving Point? Or in Ouray Colorado? Happy Healeying, Dave

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Bonneville Austin-Healey Club

2013 Activities Schedule

May 14: General Meeting, Red Robin, 13th S. and Foothill Dr, SLC, 7:30 pm. May 31-Jun. 2: Trip to Cortez, CO / Mesa Verde. Ann Lewis to organize. Please see information in the March Newsletter for information on this trip and lodging reservations (that must be made by May 1) Jun. 11: General Meeting, Joe Morley's BBQ, 7720 S, 100 W Center Street, Midvale, 7:30 pm Jun. 15: British Field Day, Liberty Park, SLC. June 24-28: Healey Rendezvous 2013, South Tahoe, CA, Hosted by the Golden Gate Austin Healey Club. Registration deadline is April 30, 2013. See link below for more info and registration form. June 30 - July 3: Sun Valley road trip (TBA), Dave Maxwell to organize. July 9: General Meeting, Red Robin, 13th S. and Foothill Drive, SLC, 7:30 p.m. July 26-28: Healey Days, Park City (TBA) Aug. 13, General Meeting, Joe Morley's, 7720 S, 100 W. Center St., Midvale, 7:30 pm. Aug (?): (TBA) Sept: 10, General Meeting, Red Robin, 13th S and Foothill Dr, SLC, 7:30 pm. Sept. 22: Pot luck/BBQ at Jon Hanson's place, SLC (TBA) Oct. 8, General Meeting, Joe Morley's, 7720 S, 100 W. Center St., Midvale, 7:30 pm. Oct 12: Fall Colour Tour, Logan Canyon (TBA)

Nov. 12, General Meeting, Red Robin, 13th S. and Foothill Dr., SLC, 7:30 pm, nominations meeting Dec. 4, Christmas Party (TBA)

Tech Sessions will be scheduled throughout the year as needed. =======================================

MEMBER PROFILE

Keith and Liz Mott

I think I have always loved British sports cars. I can remember (vaguely, of course) lusting after TR4’s and MGB’s in high school. Like most high school boys, I lusted after a lot of things in those days, but this article is about British sports cars so I’ll try to stay on subject. Despite my fantasies about British sports cars, my first car was actually a 1965 Mustang. It was a beautiful car with wire wheel hubcaps that I bought from my dad for $600. I was on top of the world cruising around in that thing. Unfortunately, at my dad’s insistence, and against all my instincts, I sold the car when I went away for college --- for $425! I have never really forgiven my dad for that…

After that I drove the usual parade of unremarkable cars -- VW’s, Datsuns, and Toyotas-- until I was in graduate school in Tucson in the late 70’s. On my daily walk to school each day I passed a small, privately owned automotive repair shop. This place was the classic greasepit of the day, before the era of computerized everything, with old engines and derelict cars littering the periphery of the two main bay doors. It hardly inspired confidence, but somehow the place was always busy. And in addition to the normal assortment of vehicles, this particular shop seemed to have an unusually high proportion of British sports cars. It was a high-point of my day to go by see what new vehicles were in the bays or parked outside waiting their turn.

The Datsun I was driving at the time was running poorly, and the dealer I took it to couldn’t seem to fix it, so I decided to give the place a try. I stopped one day on my walk home and met Rick, who owned and operated the place with his brother. Rick was a rough-looking character, but he was friendly enough and said he’d be happy to

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take a look at it. When I got the car back the next day, Rick informed me that he had fixed several vacuum leaks, and that the work was guaranteed unless I drove over dirt. It took me a few minutes to realize that although most of the lot was paved, there was a narrow band of dirt across which I would have to drive to get out of the place!

To make a long story short, that Datsun ran better than it had ever run before, and I became friends with Rick, who had a nicely restored TR4 and was restoring another.

Rick was one of those guys who could fix anything, but he was happiest working on his TR4 with a beer in his hand. Before long I was helping around the shop on days when his brother wasn’t there and learning a lot about auto mechanics in the process. The best part was running parts because Rick always let me take his Triumph, which eventually increased my desire for a British sports car beyond the breaking point. I soon found a 1965 Sprite with a crunched front fender for $400 and then bought a 1966 model that was wrecked beyond repair to serve as a parts car. Rick and I spent many a Saturday in his shop working on our cars with beers in our hands.

Fast forward to 1984, through an uneventful (at least from the perspective of British sports cars) postdoc at Stanford and a job offer from Utah State University. I arrived in Logan in fall 1984 and promptly got divorced. I still had my Sprite, though, and I quickly discovered that it was, as the cliche goes, a chick magnet. My first date with

my lovely wife, Liz, was to a movie theater about 10 miles north of Logan. Needless to say, I drove the Sprite on that date, and the drive home on that warm moonlight night was quite memorable. I’m pretty sure it’s the only reason she married me; I’ve certainly never come up with any other plausible reason.

Sometime prior to that, though, I decided that if I didn’t have a wife, I might as well have some more British sports cars. I soon found a ‘59 Bugeye body that I purchased for $300. It was the perfect receptacle for the leftover parts from my first restoration. (It’s remarkable how little changed between ‘59 and ‘65/’66.)

Not long after that, I found a basket case ‘61 BT7 for sale and purchased it for $4K. I now had enough British sports cars to keep me busy for

the bugeye gathers an admiring crowd.

A British sports car always attracts the fair sex.

The BT7 in 1988. The woman behind the car is Liz (before we were married)

(before we were married)

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quite a while,

but rather than work on them, I got married, bought a historic home, renovated the home, and had kids. Although I kept the Sprite running, there just wasn’t the time or money to restore another car. I considered selling the bugeye and the BT7 several times during that period, but each time Liz convinced me otherwise. This may be the only time in history that a wife has prevented her husband from selling his British sports cars.

Fast forward again until 2007, when I decided that I finally had the time and money again to resume my hobby. The first decision was whether to continue the restoration of the bugeye, or begin a new restoration of the BT7. In the end I decided to restore the BT7 because the bugeye would be a similar-driving car to my existing Sprite, and I wanted the experience of driving the bigger, more powerful BT7. I started out thinking it would be a rolling restoration, as I did with the Sprite 25 years prior.

To this end, I did some work on the brakes, added a generator and an exhaust system (which were missing from the car) and got it started. Unfortunately, it smoked horrendously, and nothing I did with the carburetors could make it stop. Faced with the prospect of rebuilding the engine, I decided to contact a bodyshop and see

about getting a little body work done while the engine was out. After some phoning around, I found a body guy, Todd, who was willing to do the

work for something less than the national debt, provided that he only worked on the car when he didn’t have “real” work to do.

Initially, my plan was to have Todd patch things up a little, straighten out the dents, and uncrumple the front fender before giving it a new paint job.

But like most of my plans, it was not to be. Instead, I contracted a very bad case of shipwrights disease from my discussions with Todd, and I decided to do a complete off-frame restoration. I spent the next 6 months disassembling the car, carefully photographing every step and bagging and labeling all components. I sent the completely stripped body to Todd, who, over the next 2 years worked his magic on the body. Everything was sand blasted, rusty areas (and there were a lot) were cut out and replaced, and the entire body was sealed with modern rust-proofing. While Todd was resurrecting the body, I cleaned and rebuilt everything I had taken off the car, including the engine.

Finally, the body came home, and I began the long process of putting everything back together. (For more pictures see the web site at the end of this article.) The interior was especially difficult because the car had no interior when I bought it, so I had no idea what it was supposed to look like. I am especially indebted to Jim Thornton for helping me with that aspect of the car. I am also indebted to Dave Maxwell, who healed my ailing overdrive by laying hands on it, and who has provided invaluable technical expertise as I have

My son Matt pumping the brakes while I bleed them at the start of the restoration

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slowly worked the bugs out of the car. I look forward to many excursions with BAHC over the coming years, and I’ll be starting on the bugeye soon!

Keith Mott

pictures: https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/100928264363269111754/albums/5653345984219871841

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BONNEVILLE AUSTIN-HEALEY CLUB

2013 OFFICERS President: Ann Lewis: 801-255-8161 8226 Bryce Dr., Sandy, UT 84070 CorrigA9@msn.com

Vice President: Don Colman: 801-942-5259 6866 Pine Rock Drive, S.L.C., UT 84121 oldnamloc@msn.com Activities Chairman: Jim Revel: 435-640-3347 2040 Mahre Drive, Park City, UT 84060 jimrevel@aol.com Treasurer: Sandy Maxwell: 801-943-4803 1752 Paulista Way, Sandy, UT 84093 sanddmax@gmail.com Secretary/Historian: Craig Mossberg: 801-942-0750

2026 Brady Creek Dr. Sandy, UT 84093 cmossberg@comcast.net Membership: Jim Thornton: 801-485-9404 3503 Millcreek Cir. SLC, UT 84106 jimt@secten.com Newsletter Editor: Dave Maxwell: 801-943-4803 1752 Paulista Way, Sandy, UT.84093 sanddmax@gmail.com

Webmaster: Jon Hanson: 801-583-7512

1375 Roxbury Rd. S.L.C., UT 84108

jmh-consulting@earthlink.net

AHCA Delegate: Dave Maxwell: 801-943-4803

The southern trip

The upcoming trip for May 31-June 3 to Ouray, Durango, Cortez, Colorado; onto Moab, and Green River, Utah, is as follows: May 31 Ouray Victorian Inn 800-846-8729 $115 plus tax

June 1 Turquoise Inn & Suites 970-565-3778 $119 or perhaps $99 plus tax June 2 River Terrace Inn 435-564-3401 $104.35 plus tax I’ve set aside a block of rooms at each location under the name of the Bonneville Austin-Healey Club. I’m still working with the Turquoise Inn on rates, and hope to have it resolved by our March meeting. Please call and reserve your room with your own card sometime before May 1. The first day’s drive (May 31) is a long day (6 ½ hours), but the other days are leisurely (3 hours). Mesa Verde National Park is about 10 minutes off the highway; some of you may not want to go there so you can go straight into Cortez to the Turquoise Inn, although it is an interesting Park.

SUN VALLEY TRIP

June 30 – July 3

Current plans for the trip are to leave Sunday morning around but, no later than 8:30 A.M. From the Salt Lake area we will travel to Logan UT and follow US-91 to Virginia ID. Then we will travel I-15 to Pocatello and have a lunch break.

We then will continue on I-15 to Blackfoot and turn onto US-26 until Arco. Turning then onto ID-20 to the Craters of the Moon National Monument. Time permitting we may take a break at the monument to take a look at the “Devils Vomit”. Our next road of travel will be ID-75 through Hailey and into Ketchum.

I have reserved rooms at the Tamarack Inn in Ketchum. The rate including taxes for the 3 nights is $445.00. The rooms are either King non-smoking, or two Queens also non-smoking. The Hotel is within walking distance to downtown and all that Ketchum offers.

Monday and Tuesday we can explore the countryside in our Healeys. Returning to home on Wednesday, I plan on the straight line method, south to I-84, onto I-15 and home.

Contact Dave Maxwell for the number to confirm your reservation at the hotel.

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Craters of the Moon

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BRAKE FLUID

Earlier in April I was browsing through the Saturday

“Utah Rides” section of the Salt Lake Tribune and an

article caught my eye. The article was on changing

your brake fluid.

Wheelbasemedia.com was doing a test on what

effect larger, heavier tires and wheels would do to

stopping distance. When they were setting the

baseline for their test they did repeated back to

back stops until the distance became longer due to

heat. Their test vehicle was a 2000 Ford Lightning

SVR width 27,000 miles on the clock. The first stops

were in the 120-130 foot range, but after eight

stops the distance increased to 180 feet.

After changing the brake fluid the initial distance

was slightly better, but after 15 hard braking events

the distance had only climbed to about 150 feet.

They also did some test on replacement brake pads

and found that the “economy” pads had worse

stopping power than the old brake fluid.

Next service on Sandy’s car will also include a brake

fluid change. As for the Healeys, I have been

changing fluid at 3 year intervals for the protection

of the seals, but that may now become a shorter

interval.

Enough Said?

Dave

30th ANNIVERSARY SWEAT SHIRTS At the March meeting it was decided to have a sweatshirt to commemorate the 30th year of

The Bonneville Austin Healey Club. The logo that was chosen was the club logo with 1983-2013 and 30 years embroidered on the front. A full zippered, hooded, and pocketed sweat shirt was selected. They are available in Adult Sizes S—4XL.

Here is a look at the sweatshirts and the logo.

As mentioned in my column, we plan on only ordering once as the 19,900 stitches are very expensive if done in smaller numbers. We will have the sample of the sweatshirts at the meetings so you can check the size to order. Running the three sizes for samples cost a tad over $45.00 each. The selling price of the sweatshirts will be $40.00 each including sales tax, with the club covering any additional costs. The order will be placed on June 12th. All orders need to be pre-paid. You can bring your order to the general meeting in May, or in June, OR you can send the order and money to: Sandy Maxwell 1752 E Paulista Way Sandy, UT 84093

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BONNEVILLE AUSTIN HEALEY CLUB- APRIL 9, 2013

MEETING MINUTES

Ann Lewis called the meeting to order at 7:30 PM. The

meeting was held at Joe Morley’s.

In Attendance: Ann and Doug Lewis, Dave and

Sandy Maxwell, Jon Hanson, Don Colman, Jim Revel,

Ernie Reno, Don Hughes, Joe Morley, Jim Thornton, Dil

Strasser and Craig and Carol Mossberg.

Treasurer’s Report: The current balance is

adequate for all club needs.

Membership: There are 48 paid members. Only

2 of last year’s members have not renewed for 2013.

Activities: The Miller Motorsports Park Museum

tour is Saturday, April 13th at 10:00 AM. For those

wishing to drive out as a group, we will leave from the

Home Depot parking lot at 21st South and I-15 at 9:00

AM. Lunch is planned at the Bonneville Brewery, 1641 N.

Main, Tooele at around noon. Craig Mossberg will

arrange.

The next meeting is on May 14th at Red Robin at 7:30

PM.

The Ouray/Cortez/Green River trip is scheduled for May

31st through June 3rd. Contact Ann Lewis for details.

The June meeting is on June 11th at Joe Morley’s.

British Field Day is Saturday, June 15th at Liberty Park in

Salt Lake City.

The Sun Valley trip is scheduled for June 30th through

July 3rd. Contact Dave Maxwell for details.

The July meeting is on July 9th at Red Robin.

Healey Days are July 26th through July 28th in Park City.

The Classic Car Show is Saturday the 27th. Jim Revel will

confirm the Wasatch Jaguar Club’s participation.

The August meeting is scheduled for August 13th at Joe

Morley.

Jon Hanson will coordinate a day drive to Brighton in

August. Details to follow.

Later activities are per the previously published

schedule.

Other Business: The club will order zip-up

hooded sweatshirts with the BAHC club logo to

commemorate the 30th Anniversary. The sweatshirts will

be in charcoal. Dave Maxwell brought samples of

various sizes to try on. Cost for the sweatshirts will be

approximately $40.00 to $45.00/each depending on the

actual order quantity. Orders can be placed at any time

but absolutely no later than June 11th with Dave

Maxwell.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:05 PM.

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BONNEVILLE BANTER Dave Maxwell, Editor 1752 Paulista Way Sandy, UT 84093