Drive Time

THE TUCSON BRITISH CAR

October 2016 Volume 22, Number 10

REGISTER Articles, opinions and

suggestions printed in the Register are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the official policy of TBCR, its officers or members unless duly noted.

Technical tips are for informational purposes only.

Inside Drive Time A Memorable Trip Calendar Pictures Made in Scotland

It's time to get ready to...PICNIC with TBCR. Chef Greg Welch will be grilling lunch for us and providing more over-the-top culinary delights! The picnic grill is provided by TBCR and we'd like you to bring something to share with the others and your own beverages. We have reserved a spot at Agua Caliente Park on the far-east side of town for Sunday, October 16. We can gather around 12 noon and check out the park and chat. Lunch will be ready about 1:00 PM. I would suggest that you bring some chairs, as I am sure there will not be enough seating for a group our size. Next issue...RSVP. I need to hear from you, so that Greg can purchase the correct amounts of meat to grill. RSVPs are open now and close on Thursday, October 13 at 6:00 PM. Let me know how many are coming in your party please. Looking forward to a nice day with cooler temperatures and some very cool cars.

Ben Also:

The Sonoran Hotdog Run will be held November 26th. This is the

perfect Thanksgiving weekend wrap-up activity. The drive is cool and

the parking lot becomes one of the best car shows in Tucson.

Plans are in the works for the Cowboy Cookout (November 12) and

the Holiday Party (December 11).

And of course, the monthly drives continue, with the October 5 BLAT

over Gates Pass and down to Green Valley for Breakfast (see the

calendar p.3).

Watch for emails. If you aren’t getting TBCR event emails please contact

the editor – tucsonbritish@gmail.com.

Editor

The Register Page 2 of 6

Member Chat A Memorable Trip in My LBC and Return

By Jack Harmon

In December, 1980 while driving down 22nd street in Tucson I drove past the World of Wheels

Automobile Dealer location and my attention was drawn to a number of little sports cars on display on the

lot. Having owned two MG TDs (1951 and 1953) and yearning for another sports car my interest was

piqued. I u-turned and found a number of 1979 Triumph Spitfires for sale. A carmine red stood up and told

me that it would be a perfect Christmas gift for my wife (she had loved the MGs). The degree of her surprise

Christmas morning is another story. She drove the car to law school classes and beyond until it needed an

overhaul in 1986. In 1987 for some insane reason we decided it would be a perfect fit for our young son

who was living in Philadelphia.

In March of 1987, I took off on a cross country trip (with the newly rebuilt engine) for Philadelphia, taking

all back roads possible and enjoying driving the LBC every mile (top down of course). I detoured to Chicago

to attend a national convention downtown. I parked in a multi-story parking garage across from the hotel.

Years later when I watched the movie, Ferris Buehler’s Day Off, I believed I recognized the garage and, I

believe, the same attendant that drove the Ferrari out of the garage was also my attendant. I am not

claiming he drove my car, I did not check the odometer, but when I returned for my car I was dismayed to

find that it wouldn’t start. Two problems: finding an alternator for a Triumph in the big strange city of

Chicago and secondly, installing it in the dark corner of the 3rd floor with limited tools. Mission

accomplished, I was off to Philadelphia enjoying the gray March skies and an occasional drizzle.

I left the perfect little British sports car for my son to enjoy and I flew home. About a month later I

received a call from my son that the car would not start (“has no compression dad”) and none of his friends

knew what the problem was. He could not locate anyone able or willing to work on it. I flew to Philadelphia

to fix it. Due to my lack of mechanical skills and virtually no tools or garage facility I went out into the vast

city of Philadelphia to contact a mechanic or locate a shop to diagnose and repair it. This, I thought would

take only a day or two. Wrong! I could find no one in Philadelphia who would agree to touch it. It was as if

it had a contagious and infectious disease. I was fortunate enough to hear that there was a British car

specialist across the river in Camden, New Jersey. Indeed, he said he would send a tow truck for it in the

next few days. He did so. There is another story relating to the characterization of the mechanic here, but

let it suffice to say that he was the direct and independent type. His lot and garage were full of little British

sports cars. He discovered that a wrong head gasket had been installed during the recent overhaul (the

work was done in Tucson, but not by Ernie). He told me in certain terms that he would not be able to get to

it for a few days, so I flew home to Tucson.

I decided that a Philadelphia home for the LBC was not in its best interest. My uncle who lived in

Oklahoma volunteered to pick it up but could only take it as far as Lawton, Oklahoma. Not being greatly

attentive to the little convertible he left it in the rain in his driveway, top down. Maybe because it is British

the “dampness” caused little damage, if any. Since I was busy and could not break away to retrieve it, my

brother offered to retrieve it for me. It was returned to my garage, never to leave home alone again. I

believe the little red British car was as relieved to be home as my wife and I were to have it home.

The Register

Page 3 of 6

Club News and Notes 2017 Club officers will be elected at the November 26 Hotdog Run. Nominations may be made at the event.

TBCR Mail Address (Including Regalia Orders)

Tucson British Car Registry PO Box 35748 Tucson, AZ 85740-5748

TBCR Website http://www.tucsonbritish.com

Featured Photos P4 Geo and staff. p. 5 Wikipedia and staff

Events Calendar Wednesday October 5 BLAT

Depart 5:30am El Con Mall Starbucks 3601 E Broadway (the one on the street, not in the mall) Breakfast 7:15am American Family Restaurant in Green Valley

Saturday October 8 Breakfast Run Saturday October 15 Tucson Classics Car Show

10am to 4pm The Gregory School 3231 N Craycroft rotarytccs.com Registration closes Oct. 5

Sunday Oct 16 TBCR Picnic 12:00pm Aqua Caliente Park RSVP to Ben Cohen by Oct 13 Saturday November 12 Cowboy Cookout Saturday November 26 Annual Hot Dog Run and Club Elections Sunday December 11 Holiday Dinner Saturday January 28 SCVCN Tubac Car Show And every Tuesday: BritCar Café 7:30 – 9:30AM NE corner of Grant & Swan.

PRESIDENT Kevin McCue kevin@themccuesonline.net VICE PRESIDENT Ron Furtak rfurtak@cox.net SECRETARY Open Contact Dave Germain dkgermain@aol.com TREASURER Brenda Johnson redsportscars@earthlink.net NEWSLETTER John Mead tucsonbritish@gmail.com DRIVING EVENTS COMMITTEE tbcrtours@aol.com REGALIA Len & Nancy Wheeler lenscats@comcast.net WEB SITE Harold Beekhuizen harold_beekhuizen@msn.com

The Register Page 4 of 6

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Summer 2016 A few more snapshots of a TBCR summer

The Register

Page 5 of 6

British Motoring History Made in Scotland* By John Mead An English acquaintance, knowing I was a member of a British car club asked me a question that I had

trouble answering on the spot: “why is it a British car club, should it not be an English car club?” I stammered

around a bit and weakly responded “well, ah… there’s the DeLorean?” Probably not wanting to probe too deeply

into definitions of “British”, the “British Isles”, “Great Britain”, “the Commonwealth” and so forth and perhaps

sensing that my knowledge was limited to reading the Moss Motors catalog, my friend let me off the hook, but it

left me wondering where else in Britain did they build cars?**

My wonderings led me happily to Scotland and one of my favorite cars: the Hillman Imp. Scotland of course

has a rich inventing, engineering and manufacturing history and it was no surprise that there were several

Scottish cars of the early automotive era including the Argyll, the Arrol-Johnson, the Galloway and the Albion

(later made lorries) and in more recent times there have been a few low production types. But in terms of

production volume none of these can touch the Imp.

The Hillman Imp was the Rootes Group’s effort to enter the modern economy car market in the early 60s.

They chose a layout that was somewhat trendy in those times – aluminum rear engine/rear drive. It must have

been seen as the way forward in compacts, that is if one trusted the likes of VW, Fiat, Renault, and of course

GM. The British competition was the front-drive Mini, along with many conventional front engine/rear drive

models. The engine ultimately tucked in the back at a 45 degree angle was an 875cc Coventry Climax. The

Rootes Group was on their way to a fresh look and they hoped a hot selling little car.

How does Scotland fit into this story? The British government was very interested in economic development

in areas that had lost industries so they co-funded the factory that would assemble the Imp and located it outside

of Glasgow.

1964 Dinky Toy Imp.

The Imp had utilitarian, but kind of cute styling.

The Imp hit the streets in 1963 and remained in production until 1976. There were a lot of reliability problems

in the early years, not surprising considering it was a new design that was a departure from British car traditions

and was built in a new factory that was far from the industry’s manufacturing centers. Given the reputation for

unreliability, coupled with Chrysler taking over the Rootes Group and the general funk that was settling on the

British car industry, a thirteen year run was not a bad record. 500,000 were produced, with a third sold in the first

three years. The Imp had some rally and club racing success and is still seen in historic rallies.

*References: The Scottish Motoring Museum Trust (www.motoringheritage.co.uk); 50 Years of the Hillman Imp, The

London Telegraph, 27 May 2013; Hillman Imp, Wikipedia. For more fun see the Imp Club, theimpclub.co.uk.

**Another good response (and a subject for a future article, if anyone wants to write one) might be the world-wide

assembling of British cars.

TBCR members may have a complimentary business

card ad on this page

For info contact the editor: tucsonbritish@gmail.com