Exhaust Notes 
Newsletter of the St. Louis Triumph Owners
Association
www.SLTOA.org November 2000
November Meeting
The November meeting will be Tuesday evening at 7:00, November 21st,
2000 at McNulty's, Westport Plaza.
October 17
Meeting at McNulty’s, Minutes By Creig Houghtaling (CH)
The primary topic of discussion was the decision to pay for on-line server space so that The St. Louis Triumph Owners Association could have its own domain name, www.SLTOA.org. The cost will be $20 per month plus a minor fee to register the name. Our new member Gary Allgood very generously offered to do the web site development for the club. A vote was taken to fund the site for one year. After one year we will decide if we want to continue.
SLTOA Christmas Party at Bevo Mill, Sunday December 17, 5:00 PM, CH
Christmas has snuck up on us. The party was not discussed last meeting, but Mel Parentin managed to get us reservations for Bevo again this year. Several thought it would be more fun to have a Christmas party in December rather than January, so reservations were made for the 17th. If you plan to come, I am sure that our trash and treasure auction tradition will be continued. (I wonder who will get the Rambler shocks this year?) For new members, party attendees (individual or couple) usually bring two wrapped gifts, one nice gift (bottle of wine etc., nothing expensive) and one trash gift (a used spark plug or something else that fell off your Triumph that is cluttering up your garage floor). Sometimes something trivial (but nice like a small bag of peanuts) will be added to the trash gift just to be nice. After eating we will have an auction where everyone will bid on the gifts with SLTOA money that will be provided.
Reservations must be made.
Plan to mail payment (a check made to SLTOA) to our treasurer Bonnie
David, 500 Marie Drive, St. Charles, MO 63301-0500. The amount to be paid per person or per couple will be determined
at the next meeting. If you cannot make
the next meeting, a note will be sent out via e-mail on the SLTOA mailing
list. If you are not on the list and
cannot make the meeting, call Bonnie David at (636) 949-0825 after the November
21st meeting. (Or you can
call myself, (636) 305-1143, Mel Parentin, (314) 961-8567. Arlie King, (636)
677-0545, or any other member who might know.)
Please make your reservations as early as possible so that a final count
can be given to the restaurant.
December Meeting, December Newsletter, and the Polar Bear Run, CH
Because the Christmas party is only 2 days ahead of when our December meeting would be scheduled, we may not have a Tuesday night meeting in December. That decision will be made at our November meeting. A December newsletter will be published to promote the Polar Bear Run that will be in late January or early February. Hopefully we can give the other British car clubs early enough notice to get good participation by them too! Kay and I have volunteered to have the run end at our house this year. We have very little table space so we thought we could make it a pizza party. Pizza can be held and eaten without a table. Details will be discussed at the November meeting. Would somebody like to map a drive?
SLTOA Web Site, CH
At the top of the newsletter you will note that SLTOA has a new web site address. It should be easy to remember. Our new member, Gary Allgood has set us up with our own domain name www.SLTOA.org and has provided some new services along with it. Please read Gary’s submission “Digital Bits” below for a discussion of some of what is going on. In an effort to allow members who find the web site useful and enjoyable to pay for the site, we will be accepting donations at the next club meeting. Bring your checkbook. I will have mine. I have been one of the strongest proponents to have the site, so I plan to put my money where my mouth is. The reason we would like to collect voluntary donations is so that the people who support the site can pay for it and those who do not will not have to pay. (At least not now.)
Digital Bits, by Gary Allgood
The SLTOA web site has officially moved, you can find it at http://www.sltoa.org
The direction of the web site was discussed at the October meeting at McNulty’s Pub. Among the items discussed was the creation and use of an SLTOA e-mail mailing list. Used properly, the mailing list can greatly speed communications between members. Members who miss a meeting, or can’t make the drive from home for any reason can keep up to date by mailing list discussions.
The list is operational and has been in testing since the October meeting. After working out a few bugs, I believe we have a great start on quick, efficient, and private communications. The list is not moderated, but to join the list you must send an e-mail to the list manager. Directions for using the list are on our web site at… (Check with Gary Allgood) Note that there is no link on the web site to this instruction page. This list is for SLTOA members only, and is not intended as a replacement for the many fine Triumph lists found on the Internet today.
The current SLTOA Member list shows 72 members, of which 33
have listed e-mail addresses. If you
have an e-mail address, and would like to be included in the mailing list send
an e-mail to the list manager at gallgoodATlvsDOTnet.
We also discussed ideas of how to help defray costs associated with the web site. The idea of a donation, to show your TR on the front page of the SLTOA web site was agreed upon. We call this the SLTOA Triumph Spotlight. Front and center on the SLTOA Home Page. There will be a Triumph Spotlight Archives page also, this is where all former spotlighted TR’s will be archived.
To put your TR in the Triumph Spotlight, bring it to one of the club meetings and have a few digital pictures taken of it. I have a digital camera, and would be happy to take pictures of your Triumph. E-mail me to set up an appointment, or bring it up to me at a meeting. gallgoodATlvsDOTnet.
The John Strowbridge family, and their excellent 1974 TR6 are the first to
donate to the SLTOA and have become the November 2000 Triumph Spotlight feature.
Also discussed was the creation of a “Members Pages”, where you can post a picture and a link to your home page. Home pages can be made for free on many ISP sites. We will try to develop a list of free home page sites in a future newsletter. Cheers
Snap Fastener Tool, by Karl J. Schmitt
Recently, when I replaced the convertible top on my Spitfire, I needed to install a dozen snaps or so in very inconvenient locations. The tools available to me were a simple anvil / punch and hammer, a typical inexpensive tool kit. However, their use endangered the finish on my car.
This encouraged me
to build an installation tool based on a heavy duty C-clamp which I had on
hand. With it, the installation of a
snap fastener is quite easy, and made more so if a second pair of hands is
available when working in the more difficult locations. The tool is
available to fellow club members who plan to replace a convertible top or
install a fabric cover over the “boot” or “cockpit” (tonneau cover). And yes, I could have purchased a similar
tool for twenty five bucks or so, but that’s no fun, especially if you are
retired and have the means to make it yourself.
Triumph "Local" Resources
We would like to add all the resources possible to our Local Resource Database on the SLTOA Web Site. The idea is to have a web enabled, and easily manageable database of local Triumph related resources. What we need are Triumph friendly Mechanics, Body Shops, Welders, Alignment Shops, Painters, Leather/Vinyl seat and interior repair, Parts Houses, or anyone you have had good work of any Triumph kind done by. You can add these resources simply by filling out a Web form on the SLTOA.ORG web site at: http://www.sltoa.org/resources/default.htm.
Classified Ads Contact Creig Houghtaling
at the address listed below, or CreigKay@aol.com or 636-305-1143 to place a
free ad in this newsletter.
1977 Triumph TR7, White and black with sunroof,
5-Speed, A/C, Beautiful Original Red Plaid Interior, Radio, Itemized List and
Receipts of Mechanical restoration work done in past 3 ˝ years available
prior and at Auction. This car has had TLC and has been in our family for about 20
years. Great Collector or hobbyist car.
Complete service manual comes with it, along with some spare parts.
(St Louis Triumph Club Members Car.)
Call (314) 772-1306 or Email StLouisRains@hotmail.com
The above car to be auctioned Monday, NOVEMBER 27, 5 p.m. to
8 p.m., Mascoutah, Illinois Sportsmans Club
DIRECTIONS:From St. Louis, Take, Highway 64 to the Mid America Airport exit (sign also states Mascoutah, Lebanon Rt. 4) GO RIGHT. Go Straight towards the airport. The next RED LIGHT is 161, GO RIGHT. Go about 1.5 miles until you see a small LAKE on the left then a ROAD INTERSECTS, GO LEFT TO THE SPORTSMANS CLUB.
Editors note:
Go to http://www.sltoa.org/Members/Rains to see some photographs of this beautiful car.
St. Louis Triumph Owners Association
Creig Houghtaling
36 Copper Mountain Court
Fenton, MO 63026-5682
The
Road to Nowhere
October 22nd was going to be an excellent day. My wife Joan and I had plans to go on the
SLTOA “Fall Colour” Tour. We had the
shrimp ready along with some French Bread and Gouda cheese. We were looking forward to spending a mellow
day together on the trip to the winery.
So much for that idea . . . When I went to walk the new puppy at 6:00
a.m. it was
already raining profusely. The
forecast was for increasing cloudiness and heavier
rain. We were hoping to make it
out in the morning and if we got wet on the way
back, so be it. I didn’t see
the point in riding hours with the top up (sacrilege) and
had wished we could get some nice 35mm shots of the foliage. This did not appear to be the case and I
reluctantly decided not to go. We had
our picnic, complete with
blanket, in our living room that afternoon with our daughter attending.
By the following weekend I had decided that we could go on our own
little jaunt sans club. My wife has not
spent too much time in the TR and I thought it would be mutually relaxing to go
on a little tour of our own. Our route
included leaving our
home in Glen Carbon, Illinois and traveling up the “Great River Road”
along the
Mississippi to Hardin, Illinois.
We then transversed Calhoun County North to South
so that we could cross the river on the return trip via the free
ferry. The Lord provided an excellent
day and we enjoyed decent foliage along the river bluffs.
A stop in Grafton, Illinois on the way back included a visit to the
Piasa Winery.
The “Winery” is a deceptively small building which houses over four
hundred varieties of wine, mostly from local (Missouri and Illinois)
vintners. If you taste a wine you like,
you can have a bottle to go relax with.
There is a room with a fireplace
downstairs, or you can go outside and enjoy the deck. This was a perfect end to a day spent
together. The TR 6 proved a spirited,
noble steed for the entire 130 mile trip.
With the TR providing a flawless performance, the relaxation of the
winery
led to discussions between my wife and I as to whether it might be
considered as a
final destination for a club drive in the future (Spring). The winery provides plenty of parking off
the street behind the building and the town contains quite a few nice
shops and restaurants.
We even saw a TR 3 buzz through town while we were walking between
shops!
I haven’t been in the club long and maybe this has been “done” already.
If I get some positive feedback regarding this, I could arrange a route
of whatever mileage would be favorable and have Grafton at the end of the
drive.
John Strowbridge