Exhaust
Notes
Newsletter of the St. Louis Triumph Owners Association
www.SLTOA.org May 2006
May meeting to be held at Chuckaburger in St. Charles, MO
at 7 pm. Be there or be square!
3150 Elm Pointe Industrial
Dr. --
St. Charles, MO 63301 -- 636-916-1957
Presidential Ramblings, By Craig Madsen
TRIUMPHS RULE - NEXT STOP CHAMPAGNE! for me anyway. But don't let me be your tour
guide - check out the events list secretly lurking on a different page of this
newsletter. Just because the "whole gang" might not DO an event
doesn't mean you can't call your bud & enjoy any of the events listed.
I received a personal phone call from Ben
Hillicker (Horseless Carriage Club) Thanking us for our contribution at the
Easter Car Show. Even though the dark clouds ran some of us off early, lots of
folks enjoyed what we brought to the table. We had 21 cars signed up, purchased
20 spaces & had 18 cars in attendance. Triumph, may have been the largest
group of "Brits" represented...Well Done!
I didn't make it to the Regional VTR in
Oklahoma, so we'll have to ask Dave Massey how that was. I had the four days
off and spent two of them doing housework... what's wrong with THAT picture?!
I AM excited about Champagne (could you tell?). It's a fairly heavily
attended event by our club. The three day weekend, (May 26th-28th) makes
it a conflict for some, but I'm looking forward to it because I've never
attended before. Traditionally it's been a theme show, and this year the theme
is Camelot - Kings, Queens, Knights, beggars (not the Kennedys). So dress up,
grab a turkey leg & head down the road. It's approximately 200 miles away
& good exercise for your Triumph! I need to spend some time with the
carburetors on the Spitfire & will wish I had different rear end gearing,
so it may take me longer than some to get there but, Oh Well!
The April Meeting was held at the home of Tom
Stark and I think I can speak for the group that we all had a really nice time.
I can't remember being that relaxed recently, (maybe I'm just finally learning
how to relax!) Anne Wippold was Toms' right hand squeeze - talk about
added value! Anne also issued an invitation to visit her at her Alton home and
attend an old fashioned concert in the park - See New Business, Invitation in
the minutes or the Events Listing for June 1st drive. Did someone say
Ice Cream Run?!
The May meeting will be held at the St. Charles
Chuck-A-Burger, I always enjoyed the previous meetings at the old location
because we were all in close proximity to the vehicles. Hopefully this too will
become one of our favorite haunts. Dr. John "Lombard" will be
presiding as I'm being required to attend a "Team Meeting" at Bush
Stadium that evening. I promise not to make a habit of this, but, ya kinda gotta
go when the tickets are available! Hopefully some of the folks we contacted at
the Easter Car Show will find their way this month & we can incorporate
them into the group. I wonder if the restaurant venues are a better draw for
potential new members? I know we handed out a fair amount of membership
applications, hopefully we'll see some results from that.
I want to say Thanks again, and an awesome JOB
WELL DONE to everyone that contributed to the April newsletter, several
comments were made at the meeting as to how much they enjoyed reading it.
I seem to be short winded comparatively, to last
month. All I can say is - Enjoy It! Have a ball at the next meeting, Keep
those cards, letters, (& new members) comin' in!
Craig
April, 2006 Minutes
- Meeting called to order at 7:50 pm at the home of Tom Stark in Ladue, MO.
- Opening remarks from President Craig Madsen:
o Thanks were given by the membership to Tom Stark and the lovely Anne Wippold for their generous hospitality while hosting April’s SLTOA meeting.
o Thanks were given by the membership to Creig Houghtaling (editor-in-chief and production), Kathy Kressler (freelance journalist), Matt Gossett and, the other contributors regarding the March Exhaust Notes Newsletter. Great job team!
o The reading of the minutes from last meeting were waived and, approved as written.
- Treasurer’s Report from Bonnie David:
- As of 3/21/06, the Chapter has a total of $3,053.23
in its account.
§
Report from Chris Kessler:
- VTR
South Central Regional Convention: April 20-22 in
Jenks, Oklahoma. Get more information at www.greencountytriumphs.com.
Club contact: Dave Massey. - “Third
Time’s the Charm MG Rally”: April
23rd meeting
at the Bentley dealership in Chesterfield Valley and leaving at 1 pm
sharp. A good turn out from the SLTOA
membership is strongly encouraged at future MG events because of the MG
Club’s willingness to alter their events according to SLTOA calendar
discrepancies.
- Annual
Swap Meet: April 30th at
Riverport in Earth City from 6 am to 4 pm.
- May
SLTOA Meeting: May 16th at the
Chuckaburger in St. Charles County (located off of I-370 at Elm).
- SLTOA
Summer Picnic: June 6th at Des
Peres Park. Club contact: Joe
Mueller.
- Frontenac Plaza Car Show: June 11th.
Chris
reminds the membership that all of the SLTOA’s events for 2006 are posted on
the chapter’s website, www.sltoa.org.
Old Business:
- The Easter Car Show at Forest Park on 4/16/06 was a good venue for the SLTOA membership to showcase their Triumphs. A total of 18 Triumph vehicles were represented. Thanks to everyone that participated!
New Business:
- INVITATION: Anne Wippold, our gracious co-host for the March SLTOA meeting, has invited the membership to her home located at 400 Prospect Street in Alton, IL for an annual concert event. Arrival time is 5 to 7 pm on June 1st with the concert performance starting at 8 pm. For more information, call Anne at 314-993-5314 or 618-463-4721. Thanks Anne!
§
SLTOA Car Magnets: Matt Gossett has volunteered to research prices for SLTOA logo
magnets for vehicles participating in club events.
§
Upcoming events: Dave Massey has kindly sifted through all the flyers from the
Easter Car Show and has produced a comprehensive list of events for the
SLTOA. Look for that list of updated
events of the SLTOA website, www.sltoa.org!
Thanks Dave!
Meeting adjourned at 8:15 pm.
Dues are Due
Time to renew your membership!! Maintain your membership by making out a check to St. Louis Triumph Owners Association (or SLTOA) in the amount of either $10 or $20 and mail it to Bonnie David 500 Marie Dr, St. Charles, MO 63301. Ten gets you an e-mail note with a link to the monthly newsletter and $20 gets a hard copy in your mailbox. If you have any questions you can call Bonnie at (636) 949-0825. Please renew today!
The following 2006 members have not renewed yet. We’d hate to see you go!
Steve & Kim Bruzek, Jason Buchek, John F. Bush, Thomas M & Gayle T. Culbertson, Byford & Kay Gullett, William Hoss, Patrick & Rebecca Hughes, Karl & Margaret Kenkel, Charlie & Paula Key, Katherine Cuba/Michael Mason, Mark, Lucas & Ashley Schmidt, Paul M. Schuessler, Ron Spiegelman, John & Joan Strowbridge, Michael & Andrea Thomas, Allan & Sandy Tomey, Jeff Weintrop
Stories about Those Little British Cars -By Kathy Kresser
Linda, when did you and David acquire the
TR3?
Kathy, I
honestly didn't remember the year we got it. I had to ask David. He
said it was in 1998. But if you want a good chuckle, HOW we got it is
funnier. We had two TR6's. Arlie' King’s wife, Linda, LOVED our
blue 1998 TR6, so we wound up trading the 1974 TR6 for the 1957 TR3.
At what point was the TR3 considered your
car?
He!
(evil snicker) Some years ago, David
bought a TR7 coupe (that horrid mustard yellow) that was SUPPOSED to be
"my" car. He was going to put a V6 engine in it and it would be
my everyday driver. He never did. Instead, it sat for some years
and got rusty. He bought the TR8 and
cannibalized parts off the “7”. "My" car was then sold for
scrap. Sooooooooooooooo.....when we acquired
the TR3, I *immediately* began calling it "MY" car.
Tell me about the restoration work that is
underway?
Ummmmmmmm....what's
to tell? There's this naked frame in the back of the garage. The
engine is on a spit. The transmission is lying crosswise on the
frame. The body is sitting on saw horses and I'm not sure where the other
bits are....but I'm sure David does!
David sent
the fenders, hood, and trunk lid to be dipped to remove the paint. Okay, if we are gonna be “British” here, I
suppose I should use the terms “wings,” “bonnet,” and ”boot lid.” He is leery about sending the doors because
of the wooden frame.
What is the color scheme?
I would like
to keep it that baby blue color. To the
best of my knowledge, there was only one other TR3 in the club with the same
color.
As for the
interior, I have been tossing around the idea of doing a two-tone gray. I am tired of frying my lower end on the
hot, black vinyl. However, David has
been sending me photos of cars with various color options.
What influenced your color choices?
The baby blue
color is unusual in the club; most are red, black or British racing green. Also, I like the fact that the pale blue is
an original color for a TR3.
What horror stories can you share about
restoration or repair work?
Nothing...........yet.
Keep your fingers crossed that there aren't any! I promise I will let you know should something come up. To be honest, David has been very good, so
far! All the car parts have remained in
the garage. However, something may
suddenly pop up in the dishwasher later…who knows.
How often did you drive the car?
Well, I drove
the car fairly frequently, but the creaks and groans that kept coming from it
made me nervous. Then the synchromesh went out on the transmission, so it
just was getting to the point where the poor baby NEEDED to be restored.
Is there a target date for the TR3 to be
up and running?
The “goal” is
to have the car finished and ready to go for the 2007 VTR Annual Meet (Vintage
Triumph Register) in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. I like the target of a 2007
finish as it coincides with the car being 50 years old -- time for a
restoration.
Linda, I know you enjoy horse back riding
and training with your horse, Ace. How
long have you had a horse in your life?
Yes, my horse
is a Morgan. You probably remember
because Ace’s photo won the “best photo” contest at the 2005 Champagne car show
as a “1992 Morgan.”
How long have
there been horses in my life??? My parents could never afford to even give me
riding lessons when I was a kid. After
acquiring a job and saving money, I bought a horse. That was in 1974, over 30 years ago.
I have had
three horses. My first horse died
prematurely and broke my heart. The
second horse named Jackson was 28 years old when I purchased him. Usually the life span of a horse is 25 to 30
years. Amazingly, Jackson lived 23 more
years. Ace, my current horse, has been
with me for a little over five years.
Any other comments or stories you would
like to share?
Here is a
cute story I can tell you about both my grandmother AND a Triumph. The
first Triumph David bought was a '63 TR4. It was primer red. We
never got around to getting it painted for some reason. Anyway, one day I
drove the TR4 down to the barn where I had my old horse, Jackson. My
parents were coming down with my grandmother (who was then in her 80s), because
Grandma wanted to see this new barn where I had my horse ....and to give her
approval! My grandmother is just that way. She ALWAYS had to know
where I kept my horse and just how good of care was he gonna be getting?
I met my
family at the barn. We did the horsie thing and, in fact, my friend
Jeanne gave my mother and grandmother a carriage ride with the new cart she had
bought. Jeanne's mare was broken to drive and they went all over the
pasture and my grandmother had a great time.
As we were
departing for our house, Grandma saw the sports car and said, "How's it
ride? I never rode in a convertible like that." So she tied a
bandana around her hat to hold it on and we drove up I-44 to I-270 in the
TR4....top down...my grandmother holding onto her hat with one hand and
grinning from ear to ear as we sailed up the roads!
This is the
same grandmother who is now 100 and a bit under the weather these days.
Thank you, Linda, for sharing your thoughts. I trust when the TR3 is roadworthy you will be grinning from ear to ear as you cruise around town.
Linda and Dave
Massey -- 1957 TR3 -- 1971 TR6
-- 1980 TR8
DAVE
SCHULZ INTERVIEW
David Schulz was nice
enough to let all of us in on a little part of his life so, without further
adieu… Mr. David Schulz!
Tell us about your
car…
My car is a 1980 Spitfire, orange with black and white
houndstooth seats and the factory hardtop.
I have owned it since 1994 and purchased it from the second owner with
about 42,000 miles on the clock. It had
been “garaged” since 1990 and was not running when I bought it, so I trailered
it home. It has always been a rolling
restoration and was “complete” (at least in my mind) when on a summer night in
1998 my oldest daughter had the misfortune of driving it when the #3 cylinder
connecting rod bearing cap FELL OFF!
While the rod flailing about buggered the crankshaft, the real damage
was caused by the non-combusted fuel-air mixture being siphoned through the #3
cylinder and into the catalyst which must have been glowing like a log at the
base of a nice fire. She was on the
highway when it happened, took the next exit because of the racket and when she
came to a stop some onlookers raised the bonnet. Poof; instant car fire!
The fire department graciously coated the entire car in whatever
chemical mess they use to douse petroleum fires and we called a flatbed to
bring it home. Needless to say, Rachel
didn’t get to the drive-in that night.
Convinced that I could resurrect it, I purchased the car back from the
insurance company which had declared the car a total loss and put it in the
back of my garage for a couple of years.
In 2002 I decided to tackle the restoration again, set about looking for
another engine and all of the assorted underhood parts that were destroyed in
the fire. It took until 2004 to
complete the collection of parts and get it running again. I was intent on keeping the car stock as
delivered, and tracking down all of the various emissions related parts was
very difficult. I ran it most of that
summer and fall and in the following spring of 2005 it developed a vacuum leak
that was extremely difficult to track down.
I put it away for the bulk of 2005 and in January of this year decided
to take one last run at it and put it back in shape or part with it in search
of a TR6. This time, after prepping a
non-air injection head and losing most of the emissions plumbing, it went back
together and has been running well. If
we make it through the summer I plan to have the body painted so I no longer
will be so easily recognized by the massive scorch mark on the bonnet directly
above the manifolds!
How did you learn
about SLTOA and why did you join?
Learned about the
SLTOA when I went to the show at Creve Coeur Park in 2005. Met Dave Massey there and as we were talking
he handed me a beer followed up with a club application. I thought “hmm, this group just might be
ok”. I travel a bit in my work, so I
wasn’t really able to join the meetings until January of this year. I joined for the obvious reasons; to
socialize with people who share a common interest, to gain the benefit of the
collective knowledge and experience, and to have some fun with my car.
Why did you buy a
Triumph?
I knew of this car through a woman I worked with and she
wanted it to go to a good home. I had
looked at “B’s” and TR6’s and this particular car was a very economical way to
get my feet wet with a British car again.
I had a Ford Cortina in college days (the Lotus version with the Weber,
full gauges, and the suspension tweaks) and it was a gas, I loved that
car. Also the Spitfire is just a cool
little vehicle, very simple and straightforward to work on and with the flip-up
bonnet, really accessible.
Is the car a daily
driver? How many miles do you drive a
year?
It is a daily driver.
I’m also not against loaning it out to my kids or my girlfriend’s kids
so it gets quite a bit of routine use.
It probably gets 3 to 4,000 miles per year (in the years that it is
running).
What do you consider
to be a fun car experience?
My favorite car experiences are usually discovery drives,
meaning that I take the most interesting roads I can find from point A to point
B. Last year we went to a jazz festival
in Davenport Iowa and took 2-lane and county roads the whole way, 8 hours to
make what could have been a 3-4 hour drive.
Tell me about
yourself
I’m the 4th of 5 kids, parents were both in
education, been in St. Louis most of my life.
My first career was in health care as a medical technologist and my
second was in health care information systems.
I’m currently in a role of an applications architect in the mortgage
industry. I like to travel, snow ski, I
also own two (almost) vintage BMW motorcycles and two mopeds and I spend quite
a bit of time riding them (daily-driver competition!). I like to spend my free time building or
repairing almost anything. As an
example, for Christmas I gave to my girlfriend Carol a built-in wood burning
fireplace which I installed the 2 weeks between Christmas and New Years. I like to learn and feel that any new
project is an opportunity to buy another tool.
I have three lovely daughters Rachel, Leah, and Lois (26,
24, and 14) who are straight out of Lake Wobegon (above average and beautiful
to boot!) and also the aforementioned very special partner, who has been
keeping me company and putting up with me for the last 7 years.
Lastly, for the club members’ information; I have had pretty
severe bilateral hearing loss since I was 4 years old and wear two of the
biggest hearing aids the audiologists can fit.
If I don’t respond to you when you think I should be, throw something at
me to get my attention!
Great stories
David! Thanks for being a good
sport.
SLTOA Events Calendar -- Compiled by Chris Kesser and Dave Massey.
