I’ve had a couple of requests for an update on the restoration of the RHD BN2. I guess someone actually reads this blog after all!
Things are progressing nicely. We picked up the repaired and painted chassis last Tuesday (January 26). That was a long day since we picked up the enclosed trailer in Portland, drove to Eugene where we picked up the chassis, and then delivered the chassis to Hood River and returned the trailer to Portland. That’s roughly 350 miles.
Anyway, here it is in the trailer as we prepared to depart Eugene:
That’s as Carmine as Carmine Red can get, and yes, that’s the car’s original color.
Kent has begun the reassembly and I’ll be joining him in Hood River for a four-day visit soon to work on it together. We’re not planning to finish it in time for Conclave in May.
After the reassembly it will need to go back to the shop in Eugene (another 350-mile day) for installation of the outer body and final paint, and everything takes longer than you think.
I believe the operative saying is, “The first 90 of the project consumes 90 percent of the time and the budget, and the last 10 percent consumes the other 90 percent of the time and budget.”
We shall see, but either way I’m predicting a fabulous result.
… and other times, I’m sure.
I’ve been involved with Healey clubs as a club officer and magazine editor since 1984. During that time I’ve spent a lot of time analyzing the membership, trying to understand what they want in their club magazine, and beyond that, what they want from their club membership. It’s not as obvious as you might think.
The cover of the 2021 Austin-Healey Club of America calendar.
You see, most members never participate in any club activity or function, and by “most” I mean about 80 percent. I finally concluded that they just want the club magazine, they probably like just knowing that they’re in the club and could call on it for help, and maybe they have it in the back of their mind that someday, when the stars are all aligned, they’ll come to a club function.
Now in the case of the Austin-Healey Club of Oregon, which hasn’t published a newsletter in several years, you have to wonder why these people continue to pay dues at all. I guess the occasional email from one of the officers promoting an upcoming activity, and perhaps the other occasional email with a brief (very, very brief) report on the activity, gives them a feeling of security that the marque is alive and well and they could, if they really wanted to, participate. I guess that’s enough for 80 percent of the members.
But still, sometimes I wonder.
The Austin-Healey Club of Oregon’s 2021 activities schedule – tentative, so very tentative – is posted on the club website. Several familiar activities and a couple of new ones comprise the annual schedule with an activity scheduled – generally – on the second Saturday of each month.
This year there’s a bonus activity that may become a new annual tradition, and that is getting together with the Columbia Gorge MG Club and the Portland Triumph Owners Association to go on a 90-minute drive on New Year’s Day.
We’ll meet in a parking lot and say hello from six feet or more away – because the science has shown that the virus can’t reach over six feet, or something like that – then drive while obviously separated by at least six feet, and then conclude with a six-feet-apart farewell.
It’s going to be an “interesting” year, I’ll bet.
I “attended” two Zoom car club meetings, and skipped another, and Zoomed in on the AHCA Fall Delegates Meeting last weekend (total of nine hours Zoomed in over two days) all within the past seven days. I’m nearly Zoomed Out.
With so many events – nearly all – cancelled this year, the importance of other aspects of car clubs is heightened or at least highlighted. And what are those aspects? Well, if we’re not meeting and socializing and touring in person – and Zoom may be better than nothing, but it just ain’t the same – that doesn’t leave much … except, except … let’s see … oh, yes! Club publications.
And still some owners hold out. If you’re reading this and you still don’t get HEALEY MARQUE MAGAZINE and you’d be willing to take a look at one, email me and I’ll send you a PDF of the current 48-page issue. I’m right here: editor@healeyclub.org
What’s holding you back? I’ll wait.
Most events were canceled this year, but one that has continued – with an interruption, yes, and a change of venue, yes – is the Monday Breakfast in Vancouver. This regular weekly breakfast is something I started in 2015 when I still owned the shop, Commonwealth Classics Ltd. in Vancouver. All of us who worked there would meet at Christine’s Restaurant on Evergreen Blvd. every Monday at 8 a.m. and have breakfast together before opening the shop for the day.
Customers were also welcome to join us, and there were in fact about half a dozen who showed up anywhere from almost always to very seldom.
These breakfasts continued after I sold the shop in 2017, and then this year the city government in Vancouver closed down restaurants (and so much more) because of THE VIRUS, and we didn’t have any place to meet for some months.
Then THE VIRUS went away and the government let some restaurants open again (wait a minute, THE VIRUS didn’t go away, but somehow it became all right to reopen restaurants again). Now the problem was that Christine’s changed their schedule when they reopened, and they decided to be closed on Mondays.
Anyway, I remembered an old time downtown cafe in Vancouver and we started meeting there. Actually it’s just me and Pete and David, but if you’d like to join us, please do. That’s Mondays at 8 a.m. at Joe Brown’s Cafe on Main Street in downtown Vancouver. Here’s a pic of David’s Healey there a few weeks ago:
As you can see, parking is not a problem. Remember to bring your facemask though. You’ll need it to walk in. You can take it off after you sit down, because as the science shows, THE VIRUS is very contagious when walking, but not at all when sitting.
Last week I got an email asking if I would sell my Portland-based Bugeye. I don’t drive it much (although that applies to all my cars this year) and I own a second Bugeye garaged in Louisville, Kentucky, and I should probably go get it and bring it to Portland. Therefore I named a price for the “Portland Bugeye” and the potential buyer is considering it.
I was meticulously detailed in describing all of the faults and less-than-great things about the car. I know that goes completely against the culture of selling a car and that you’re supposed to withhold knowledge of faults – “under-disclose” them – and then after you’ve got the buyer’s money safely in your bank account and he complains, you’re supposed to pretend like you didn’t know about any imperfections. At least that’s how it seems to work when I’m the buyer.
In photographing the car to show the potential buyer I was reminded of what a wonderful example it is. The specs are great, too: 1275, 5-speed, factory hardtop, alternator, negative-ground, electric fuel pump, front discs.
The disclosure items are mostly the weird rasping noise that the gearbox makes for a moment when taking off in first gear, one leaf is broken on the driver’s side quarter elliptic spring, and the windscreen glass is only good. After that, it’s pretty hard to fault.
In fully and accurately revealing the car’s faults I realize I have lost any chance of being inducted into the Lying Car Seller Club – I’ve dealt with plenty of them on cars I’ve bought – but I’ve been plagued with a conscience my whole life. It’s a burden.
The 48-page November 2020 issue of HEALEY MARQUE magazine is in the mail and you will soon receive yours…
… assuming you’re a member of the Austin-Healey Club of America. And what Healey enthusiast could resist this line-up of fresh features:
Memberships are still available! Inquire within:
The Austin-Healey Club of Oregon conducts an annual beach trip in October, and we had one even in this most unusual year. That said, the event was a little different in being smaller and we didn’t reserve a suite at the destination lodging – the Agate Beach Inn in Newport – with catered food, as we usually do, due to the anticipated small turnout. In the end we had about 18 folks participate.
The weekend included a short scenic tour on Saturday morning. The tour concluded at Devil’s Punchbowl Arch, certainly one of the most photographed sights on the Oregon coast. Who could resist?
There were actually two Healeys driven on the trip, so despite the iffy weather forecast, we still looked like a Healey club, or at least like a British car club because there was also an MGB and an Aston Martin among the chariots of choice.
The other tip-off that it was a Healey club, or at least a British car club, were the frequent adult beverage opportunities. Margaritas aren’t just for breakfast anymore!
Among the many BMC/Austin factory publications I have collected over the decades there are some binders with technical service bulletins issued by BMC and/or Austin and/or Hambro, the US distributor.
Some include solutions to recurring problems and some provide company policy on how to react to certain customer claims, or to curb excessive replacement of parts that were apparently cutting into profits a little too deeply. One such “confidential” bulletin dated July 17, 1967, plainly stated, “It is obvious that shock absorbers are being quite needlessly changed under Warranty.”
It’s all just another fascinating insight into the world of sports car ownership and dealership operations in a simpler time. Oh, and if you’re curious, here’s the guidance that Hambro provided regarding shock absorber replacement:
“Bounce car until noise disappears” is clearly an operation that only a factory-trained mechanic should attempt.
One of the more fun duties of being editor of HEALEY MARQUE magazine is producing the annual Austin-Healey wall calendar. You may not yet be thinking about a 2021 calendar, but I’ve been working on the Austin-Healey version of one for some time and it’s 99 percent ready to go to press. Here’s a look at the cover:
The calendar replaces a December issue of the magazine. We publish 11 monthly issues plus the calendar each year.
If you’re not a member and would still like to get a copy of the calendar for your home, office and/or garage, they may be purchased for $10 each with a check made payable to AHCA and mailed to:
Mike Schneider, 3416 Barbour Lane, Louisville KY 40241
But frankly it would just be a lot easier if you joined the AHCA, of which the Austin-Healey Club of Oregon is a chapter. You can join online at:
And you can thank me later!
