The Golden Gate Austin Healey Club Inc. Sunnyvale CA
Golden Gate
Healey Happenings
VOLUME 8, NUMBER 8 AUGUST 2006
In this issue:
Best of Show at
Tour PG, Monterey Best of Show at
OpenRoads.....….1 and Pebble Beach
Editor‘s Page…...2 OpenRoads 2006
Palo Alto Show....3
President’s Mes-
Friday August 18
sage……………...3
HEALEY EVENT Austin Healeys
SCHEDULE….....4
Thunder Hill Re- are the fea-
port….…………..5 tured marque at
OpenRoads 2006
Photos……..…….8 this year’s Pa-
OpenRoads Re- cific Grove Auto
port …………..…9
Rally—a tour of
President
Pacific Grove,
David Nock
209-824-1562
Pebble Beach
Healeydoc@sbcglobal,net and Monterey
VP Editor/Membership set for Friday
John Trifari
408-541-9608 August 18. Best of Show Award at the
jtrifari@comcast.net
Price: $50 to drive the wrap-up car show on Sunday
VP/Counsel and
Secretary route; $60 includes driver’s June 11 went to this beautiful
Lee Bardellini
510-582-6246 dinner at Chataugua Hall in Jaguar Mark IX saloon owned by
HeLeeEsq@aol.com
Pacific Grove. Additional Wes and Melissa Creswick of
VP/Events
Cyndy Nesheim
dinners are $20; $10 per Clovis CA. Car was a true
916-783-7762
nesheim@quiknet.com
child under 12. beauty and was admired by all.
More photos of OpenRoads
VP Emeritus Registration begins in down- 2006 at lake Tahoe are on page
Loren Cross
Continued on Page 7 8. Photo by Len Hartnett
Golden Gate Healey Happenings AUGUST 2006 Page 1
Editor’s Page and Club News ADVERTISING RATES
Rates effective January 1, 2006 (space only).
By
Full Page B&W (6 ½ ” by 8 ý”)üüüü..$350
John Trifari
Sunnyvale One-Half Page B&W Horizontal
(6 ½” wide by 4 1/4” highü...üüü...ü...$200
I have received a good number of telephone
One Half Page Vertical
calls and e-mails from Golden Gate members
(8 ½” high by 3 ý” wide)üüüüüüü..$200
concerning letters sent them by AHCA about
their memberships. These letters state that One Quarter Page B&W
the recipients have not paid their 2006 AHCA (4” high by 3/14” wide)üüüüüüüü.$120
dues. Golden Gate members can renew their
One Eight Page Horizontal (Business Card)
AHCA memberships through Golden Gate each 2” high by 3 ½” wideüüüüüüüüü..$80
fall, and we keep a list of their payments, the
date they were received and the date the check For advertising information, contact:
was sent to AHCA (with our check number). Steve Cloyes
925-935-9044 or at
I’ve contacted the Membership Chairman at
Stevesvoice@msn.com
AHCA concerning this matter and I am assured
that all is OK and that the members have paid Send artwork in JPG format to:
their 2006 AHCA dues. John Trifari at
jtrifari@comcast.net
Apparently there was a mix-up of some
sort at AHCA when the membership was trans- The Golden Gate Austin Healey Club
ferred over to the new Chairman earlier this is affiliated nationally with the
year. The result was the letters (I got one my-
self). I have been assured that the problem has
been resolved and that no more letters will be
sent. So if you receive or have already received For the latest Golden Gate news
one of these “Second Notice” letters from Visit our 2006 web site at
AHCA please ignore it. Mike Schneider, the www.GoldenGateHealeys.com
AHCA membership director, also told me that Editorial Staff
some Golden Gate members had inadvertently Editor John Trifari
Jtrifari@comcast.net
paid their 2006 dues again. Mike has notified 408-541-9608
these members that he will use the money to-
Valley Editor Cyndy Nesheim
wards their 2007 membership. He will send me nesheim@quiknet.com
a list of these members, and I will mark their 916-783-7762
2007 renewals in October as PAID—AHCA Production: George Henke
2007. If you have any additional questions of 707-226-5445
problems relating to this please contact me at
jtrifari@comcast.net. Please also contact me if Golden Gate Healey Happenings is the official publication of the
Golden Gate Austin Healey Club Inc. and is published for the bene-
you do not receive your current issue of Healey fit of its members. Material which appears in Golden Gate Healey
Happenings represents the opinion(s) of the author(s) and does
not express the position(s) of the Golden Gate Austin Healey Club
Inc. unless specifically noted. We do our best to insure accuracy,
Continued on Page 11 but cannot be held responsible for omissions or errors.
Golden Gate Healey Happenings AUGUST 2006 Page 2
PALO ALTO BRITISH CAR President’s Letter
MEET TO BE HELD
by
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 10 Dave Nock
British Car Specialists
The annual Palo Alto British Car meet Stockton CA
will be held Sunday September 10 at
El Camino Park—just Across From Well for those of you that missed it,
Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto. the OpenRoads meet in Lake Tahoe was a
great success. We had about 70 cars from all
Show runs from 9 AM to 5 PM. sides of the motherland. MG’s, Triumph’s,
Jaguar’s, Morgan, Ford Anglia, a Jamaican
The registration fee is $25 per Healey as well as a bunch of Healey’s. Dan
Wing had just finished the Jamaican Healey
car at the gate. There will be no pre- the week before. This is a unique car that is a
registration and all entrants will re- 100/6 with a fiberglass GT body. So with any
ceive a commemorative gift. luck we can get him to bring it out so we all
can get an up-close look.
For those interested in a bit of We got lots of input from those attend-
touring, the event sponsors will host a ing and they all had a great time and wanted
to know when it was going to be next year.
Backwoods Tour on Saturday Septem-
This was a first for the British Car World, all
ber 9. The tour starts at El Camino these marques in one place for more than an
Park in Palo Alto—site of the Sunday afternoon in the park and all had fun. So now
show—and is a no-cost option for peo- the big question should we do it again. I do
have tentative dates reserved at the Horizon
ple who like to drive their cars as well for next year if we decide to go ahead with
as show them. plans for a repeat.
We also are in need of your assis-
Cars participating in the tour tance with the club. The officers of the club
will be sent off starting at 9 AM and have been doing this now since we started
until 11 AM. A map will be provided. planning for Open Road 2002 in early 99, and
some are getting tired. So we are looking for
The tour ends at Cameron's Pub in some help. We need someone to help out is
Half Moon Bay. a couple of positions. We will be looking for a
Treasurer, and an Events Coordinator. So if
you are able to help out let us know.
For more information on the
meet contact Rick Feibush at Lastly we have the annual Rendez-
310-392-6605 or at vous coming up in Nelson Canada and it is
rfeibusch1@earthlink.net. looking like it is going to be a good event.
There are about 160 registrations according
Continued on page 10
Golden Gate Healey Happenings AUGUST 2006 Page 3
October 7 and 8: British Car
Golden Gate 2006
Roundup, Clovis. For more info go to
Event Schedule www.ValleyBritish.org
The following events have been
scheduled for 2006. If you are plan- October 14-15. Russian River
ning an event and wish to have it Safari. Contact Dave or Jerri Nock
listed, contact Cyndy Nesheim at at healeydoc@sbcglobal.net.
916-783-7762 or at
nesheim@quiknet.com. Day events October 21-22: Autumn Classic
are on Sundays unless specified. San Juan Bautista. Tour Saturday
October 21; show Sunday October
August 12: Weekend in Nevada City. 22. For more information go to
Contact Dave Nock at www.autumnclassic.100mregistry.
healeydoc@scbglobal.net. com or contact Bill Meade at
831-722-3253.
August 18 (Friday): 12th Annual Pa-
cific Grove Concours Auto Ralley and November tour:
dinner. Tour PG, Pebble Beach and Details to come
Monterey for charity. Go to
www.pgautorally.org or contact December 10: Christmas party.
JCByrneAIA@aol.com. See page 1 Details/location to come.
for more details.
For Healey Events Nationwide, go
August 27: National Ice Cream So- to the the Austin Healey Club of
cial. Details to come. America at http://www.serve.com/
AHCA/ahcaevnt.htm
September 10: Palo Alto British
car Show. Tour Saturday Sept. 9.
2006 Racing Schedule
See page 3 for more info
August 18-20: Monterey Historics
at Laguna Seca.
September 23 (Saturday): Iron-
stone Concours at the Kautz Winery October 13-15: CSRG Race Weekend
in Murphys. Contact Dave Nock at at Sears Point.
healeydoc@sbcglobal.net. Info also
at www.ironstoneconcours.org. November 3-5: CSRG race Week-
end at Thunderhill.
Golden Gate Healey Happenings AUGUST 2006 Page 4
loudspeakers—only announcements for the
Rolling Thunder drivers in the next race to enter the starting
area. The spectator entry fee is $5, and
by Loren Parks there was no charge for my grandson who was
Chico CA identified as a car enthusiast in training.
The Thunderhill Raceway
near Willows, CA hosted the
“Rolling Thunder” weekend
sponsored by the Classic
Sports Racing Group (CSRG)
on May 13-14. For those of
you who have not had the op-
portunity to visit the SCCA’s
Thunderhill, it is character-
ized by isolation and sparse
infrastructure.
Every time I re-
turn, however, I find that
something new has been
added—this time two new
bleachers (making a total
of 3) and a shade struc-
ture covering about a
dozen entrant cars and ac-
companying gear in the pit
area.
The Thunderhill
Grill is the only food ven-
dor. I always find it pru-
dent to take the food and
beverages I want, a portable chair, sunscreen, The only program of events is a photo-
and an arsenal of antihistamines for the Spring copied 4-page document listing the cars, driv-
event. This is more of a participant event than a ers and race times, but you have to go to the
spectator event; it seems that there are few Thunderhill Raceway office to get one unless
spectators who aren’t involved with a race car you are a participant. Parking is plentiful and
as pit crew or family. For those who have at- unrestricted—just find a comfy space and take
tended events like the Rolex Historic Car Races it. Vendors are absent except for a small SCCA
at Laguna Seca this event seems a bit eerie. building which sells a few SCCA souvenirs, but
There is no narration of events over the Continued on next page
Golden Gate Healey Happenings AUGUST 2006 Page 5
Rolling Thunder—continued sulted in cars spread out around the track in
short order. I especially enjoyed watching a
the assortment of products is sparse. Sunbeam Tiger with a Ford 289 engine modi-
fied to nearly 400hp blow away the competi-
Approximately 135 cars were entered tion, including some fast Corvettes.
including the fea-
tured formula cars—
F1, F2, Formula Jun-
ior and Formula Vee.
Practice occurred on
Saturday and Sunday
mornings, and races
took place in the af-
ternoons. Just be-
fore I arrived on
Sunday the well-
known Shadow CanAm
car crashed during
practice. I have seen
this car race several
times, and it goes like
stink. Fortunately
the driver was not
hurt, but the car was
a mess. It report-
edly hit a concrete
barrier but did not
turn over.
British pro-
duction car repre-
sentation included a
gaggle of MGBs, sev-
eral each of MGA,
MG Midget, Elva, Tri-
umph, Ford Cortina
GT, Sunbeam and Lo-
tus 7, plus one Austin Healey Sprite (MG The next CSRG race at Thunderhill
Midget variety). No Austin Healey 100s or will take place November 4-5. There are
3000s were present. Porsches and Alfa Romeos other races set for Laguna Seca and there
were well represented. Due to the small num- are other events scheduled at Sears Point and
bers of cars in some classes the classes were Laguna Seca before that. For more informa-
merged in order to make a race of it, which re- tion go to: http://www.csrgracing.org/.
Golden Gate Healey Happenings AUGUST 2006 Page 6
Delta Tour and Brunch June 18
12 Healeys took part in the club’s
annual brunch at the Ryde Hotel,
followed by a tour of the Delta
down to Rio Vista. The day was
bright and warm, and traffic to a
minimum on the levee roads.
Tour crossed two delta ferries
during the tour, the first at the
Grand Island Slough west of
Ryde at Howard Landing; the sec-
ond over the Sacramento River
above Rio Vista. Cars line up
waiting to board the first ferry,
lead by Jim and Maurita Walton’s
immaculate Nash Healey.
August Rally—continued
town Pacific Grove at 1 PM.
Cars will be staged along Light-
house Avenue until 5:30 PM.
The drive starts at 5:45. The
barbeque dinner at the Cha-
tagua is at 7 PM. Deadline for
entries is August 4. There will
be a $15 late fee for those en-
tering after that date. If you
plan to participate let me know
at jtrifari@comcast.net and
we’ll see about setting up a
Golden Gate paddock.
For more info on the Fri-
day eve tour, go to www.
pgautorally.org or contact
JCByrneAIA@aol.com.
Golden Gate Healey Happenings AUGUST 2006 Page 7
OpenRoads 2006 at Tahoe—June 9-11
Left: John Soderling from Walnut
Creek parked his BN4 Erika the Red
next to George Henke’s beautiful BN1.
George is the original owner of the car
and drove it up from Napa. Hot rod-
ded Anglia is in the background Photo
by Lee Bardellini
Below: BRG BN2 owned by Sue and
Phil Foster of Wheatland sits next to
100M of Roger and Marjorie Swales
of Half Moon Bay. Photo by Lee Bar-
dellini
Don Newman
of South Lake
Tahoe won
first place
with his BJ8 .
Don is parked
next to Jorge
Quintero’s tri-
carb.
Photo by Lee
Bardellini
Above: Oldest Brit car at Tahoe was Bill
Webb’s blower-equipped TC. Bill drove
the car up to Tahoe from Soquel. Right:
Dave Nock takes Horizon Sales Director
Ruby Turner for a spin around the auto-
cross track. Both Photos by Lee Bardellini
All British Open Roads 2006 Saturday, participants had the
choice of three "open roads" self-guided
Lake Tahoe ~ June 9-11 tours: one for the 72-mile around the Lake
Tahoe drive, another to Genoa, NV (49.3
by miles) which took the cars over the Kings-
Gloria Fisher bury Grade into the Carson valley, and
Austin Healey Association of Southern Cali- lastly, an 112-mile full-day trip to Virginia
fornia City. The last tour was wonderfully laid out
Encino CA on paper by the Reno MG-All British Car
Club. Did you know that Nevada is the most
The All British Open Roads 2006, mountainous state in the nation with 314
sponsored by the Golden Gate Austin Healey individual ranges? With all that kind of infor-
Club, was held June 9-11 in the beautiful mation and detailed directions, Don and I
area of Lake Tahoe. Thanks goes to Dave have saved our instructions for future use.
Nock, John Trifari, Lee Bardellini and Len
Hartnett for their hard work and advanced Saturday morning, an autocross, de-
planning which resulted in a wonderful week- signed and presented by the Competition
end. Ruby Turner, Director of Sales for the Sports Car Club of Sacramento, was held in
Horizon, was again there to provide us with the Horizon parking lot. Many cars partici-
anything we needed. What a gal. The top pated. Drivers could do as many runs as
down weather was perfect and the area was they wanted. Don and I thoroughly enjoyed
pollen free...no yellowish/green cars this time watching Davana Valentino's joy ride in
around. Roger and Jan Daniells' Sprite (Stockton
CA). We think all four tires were on the
This year's Open Roads was a gather- pavement most of the time. Roger won first
ing of British sports cars rather than a Healey place for Sprites in the autocross.
meet. There were 139 people registered. The
marques we saw were Austin Healey Since we wanted to see the auto-
(including Sprites), Jaguars, Range Rover, cross and had done the Virginia City tour at
MG, TR, and an Anglia for a total of 66 cars. a previous meeting, the Southern California
It was very low keyed and not over sched- contingency (which was the Fishers and
uled, yet each one of us had an opportunity to Valentinos) chose to take part in the drive
select many activities in which to participate. around Lake Tahoe.
Friday night's opening reception af- Not too long before we approached
forded us a chance to renew friendships and the Emerald Bay overlook, we felt like we
meet some new people. Don and I especially were in a parade when we drove through
enjoyed seeing Len Hartnett, whom we met the middle of a Renaissance Faire. We
for the first time in 1979 at an Oregon State were mobbed by costumed participants,
campground on our way to the Austin who quickly changed out of character from
Healeys West Meet in Bend, Oregon. It was their 16th century mode, leaving their po-
because of those funny cars that we landed ems and sackbuts behind. Davana and I
at the same picnic table. Twenty-seven years were wondering if Domenic and Don were
later, Len still remembers us sharing our pea- smiling at the praise they were getting for
nut butter sandwiches with him. Of course, their cars from the guys or because of the
neither we nor Len has changed in all those "Renaissance" women with their well en-
years. Continued on Next Page
Golden Gate Healey Happenings AUGUST 2006 Page 9
OpenRoads 2006—continued couple of hours right next to each other.
There was a lot of Car Talk, but not from Bos-
dowed bustiers . ton this time.
Around a few more turns in the road, Only one vote was allowed for each
we met several Open Road British cars com- marque. Ballots were quickly tallied. Tro-
ing the opposite way. That and Lake Tahoe phies were given out just before our 12 Noon
made for splendid scenery. departure. Don and Cathy Newman came
from their Tahoe home on Sunday with their
Saturday night's gourmet banquet adorable grandson won First Place in the
was overseen by Ruby Turner, even though Healey class. (they also would have won the
it was her night off. What class. The auto- Short Distance Trophy, if there was one).
cross winners were presented their awards. Dominic and Davana Valentino won Third
Jamie Cavenaugh and his partner, Dan, Place in the Other class. Obviously, some of
the non-Healey marque folks didn't know that
a Sprite is a Healey, but still voted for the Va-
lentino's beautifully restored car under the
“...that and Lake Tahoe "Other" category. (As a sidebar, the Valenti-
made for splendid scenery.” nos entered their Sprite the very next week-
end in the San Bernardino Route 66 Meet
and won Best of Show over 80 cars. Great for
commemorated the 40th birthday of their car them and our marque).
by sharing a cake with all of us. According to
the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust Ar- Don and I enjoyed two more days of
chive, their BJ8 was manufactured in Abing- top down driving on Hwy 49, through the Cali-
ton on the same dates as the Open Roads fornia Gold Rush country. Our State of Cali-
meet. fornia has such beautiful golden mountains
dotted with stately oak trees. We especially
In the tradition of the early 20th cen- enjoyed the town of Murphys (thanks, David
tury concours, cars were driven on their Nock, for the tip). There were very steep
tours, picnics, and other activities, ending 4,000 feet climbs and descents in a matter of
with the showing of the cars, with mud, bugs minutes and our good ol' 1962 BT7 took it all
and all. So it was with Open Roads 2006. in stride. Thanks, Donald Mitchell Healey.
Because of regulations to preserve Lake Ta-
hoe from run-off into the lake, washing cars
President’s Letter—continued
was not permitted at the Horizon. Most of us
just spritzed our cars down. The cars had to their committee. I have had to cancel on
been used all weekend long, including many the trip since my mother in-law is in the hospi-
of us driving hundreds of miles to get to Ta- tal recovering from open heart surgery along
hoe. Many cars were already packed and with complications from MS.
ready to roll home.
And for the good news we have a new
On Sunday morning, before we de- Healeyite in the family our first grandson was
parted for home, the cars were driven onto born on May 11 his name is Dylan James
the show area in total random order. What Matthews I will now have to figure a way to
fun it was to have a MG, TR, Jag, Healey or put that car seat in the Healey so he can
other marque being proudly displayed for a make a trip once in a while.
Golden Gate Healey Happenings AUGUST 2006 Page 10
Editor’s Page and Club News—
continued
Healey Classi-
Marque. Thanks. fieds
PARTS FOR SALE
This issue of the newsletter will be deliv- Black carpet (59”x 2 yd) Victoria
ered a little early because Steve Cloyes and I
British 16-479 $20;
are leaving at the end of the month for the Ren-
dezvous meet in Nelson, British Columbia. We’ll AH horns Hi/Lo Victoria British
Back in early August. 2-561/8-562 $20 total;
Long handle knock off wrench Moss
OpenRoads rundown: We started off
386-120 $25;
small and ended up with 72 registrations and 66
cars. We kept expenses to a minimum and the
Steering wheel lock bar $50;
club made a little money. The idea of an All- Driving gloves extra large Moss
British Meet seemed to appeal to many people 228-830 $15,
and we were asked on several occasions about Sony 10 disc CD changer with in-dash
our plans for next year (2007). To which we re-
tuner changer (excd-2) AM/FM
sponded in the classic manner “We have not
reached a decision on that matter at this time.”
tuner/player/controller (cdx-c5750)
Of course the fact that we had not even thought $100;
about a 2007 meet when the questions were Cold weather garage exhaust sys-
asked was immaterial. The idea seems to have tem—goes through the garage door,
some appeal and we wonder if the membership
dual exhaust $100. Have pictures of
had any thoughts on the matter.
all.
All told, the weather was beautiful, the
weekend event was very manageable and we all
had a good time. There were a few things that
Advertiser Web Sites
If you are interested in more information
could have been improved upon, but we’ll keep on our advertisers visit the following web sites:
those a secret. Anyway, please let me or Dave
Nock know your thoughts on a 2007 meet in June British Car Specialists
www.britishcarspecialists.com/
at Tahoe. I’m at jtrifari@comcast.net. Dave’s
at healeydoc@sbcglobal.com. British Wire Wheel
www.britishwirewheel.com/
Windshield stickers: We still have a
O’Connor Classics
good slug of windshield stickers bearing the club www.occonnorlcassics.com
logo. If you need another one for your car or
Shadetree Motors
for some reason you never got one, let me know
http://www.shadetreemotors.com/
at jtrifari@comcast.net or at 408-541-9608.
Victoria British
See you later, John www.victoriabritish.com/
Golden Gate Healey Happenings
1160B La Rochelle Terrace
Sunnyvale CA 94089
FIRST CLASS
AUGUST 2006