Pacific Tiger Club Newsletter Nov/Dec 2009
Rootes of the Pacific NorthwestPacific Tiger Club Newsletter Nov/Dec 2009
In this issue:
President’s report…page 1
Calendar of Events…page 2&3
Next PTC Meeting…page 7
Tech Tip…page 9&10
Common Rootes
Sunbeam is the featured marque. We have learned that Sunbeam will be the featured marque at the Maryhill Hill Climb next fall. Dates are October 2 & 3, 2010. Each year they feature a special marque and this is our year. All Sunbeams, and for that matter all Rootes cars, are welcome. There is a car show at the MaryhillMuseum on Saturday, and the hill climb is on Sunday. The whole weekend is a party. For those that haven’t been there, Maryhill is in the Goldendale area, and is best known for its replica Stonehenge. I suspect that our own Starke Shelby and Rodger Flescher will be running the hill climb so we have some locals to root (OK I had to work for that one) for. This event looks like a natural for the club. We have the opportunity to have a three day weekend event, much like a Sunbeam Northwest, without much work on our part. Put the dates on your calendar and we will plan to have a big contingent of PTC members at Maryhill next Fall. More details will be in following newsletters.
Craig Burlingame led the few of us that braved the elements on the Last Dash tour in October. I thank Craig for continuing to do this even with the relatively light turnout. I remember one year where I was huddled under the hand dryer in the rest room trying to get warm. This year was far better, with mild weather, nice roads and good companions. We finished in Black Diamond at the bakery with a fine dinner. Three Tigers, two Hillmans, and one regular car turned out. Not a single Alpine to be found; not our usual mix of vehicles for this type event. The tour was in honor of Craig’s late wife, Nancy, and was a fitting tribute to Nancy, who left us way too young. You had to be there to understand, but if the music from Deliverance had been playing during part of the tour, it would not have been inappropriate.
Our holiday party will be the next official club activity. I hope that you will come out for this. I know those of us that were at the September BBQ had a great time, and isn’t that why we all joined PTC? Look elsewhere in the newsletter for the details for the holiday party. The hosts expend a lot of effort for our party, so let’s show them that we care.
Again, I talked about it last month, but my goal for the coming year is to get us out driving our cars more often. I told you that every year I set the trip odometer of my Tiger. Well, in 2009 I am already well past my mileage in 2008. I hope that 2010 will be even higher.
We have a few events already planned for 2010. Know of something not on our list? Then simply let us know. We recognize that not everyone can make every event, but our goal is to give you enough events not to be ashamed of the yearly mileage on your Rootes vehicle.
See you on the road.
Kevin Jewell
2009-2010 Executive and Officers
President:Kevin Jewell
12120 – 202nd Ave. SE
Woodinville, WA 98077-5639
425-885-0103
VP/NewsletterKathryn Fitzgerald/Mike Clark
4723 Woodside Place
West Vancouver, BC V7S 2X5
Secretary:Jim Clark
17711 – 10th Ave. NW
Shoreline, WA 98177
206-533-1187
Treasurer:Bob Bennion
37904 Fawn Rd NE.
Hansville, WA 98340
360-638-1992
Chairpersons
Activities: Larry & Eileen Ingersoll
29206 61st Ave S
Auburn, WA 98001
253-946-0762
Membership: Budd Bennion
14720 30th NE
Seattle, WA 98155
206-364-8478
Historian: Brett Simpson
10005 SE 267th St.
Kent, WA 98031
253-859-5096
Are you buying, selling or trading? Email us at
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
December 2009
Sun / Mon / Tues1 / Wed
2 / Thurs
3 / Fri
4 / Sat
5
6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12
13 / 14 / 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 / 19
20 / 21 / 22 / 23 / 24 / 25 / 26
27 / 28 / 29 / 30 / 31
January 2009
Sun / Mon / Tues / Wed / Thurs / Fri1 / Sat
2
3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9
10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 16
17
PTC
Mtg / 18 / 19 / 20 / 21 / 22 / 23
24 / 25 / 26 / 27 / 28 / 29 / 30
31
February 2009
Sun / Mon1 / Tues
2 / Wed
3 / Thurs
4 / Fri
5 / Sat
6
7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13
14 / 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 / 19 / 20
21 / 22 / 23 / 24 / 25 / 26 / 27
28
Laps from the Past
The intent of this column is to report on what the club was doing in past years. Is it no surprise that not much has changed, after all we are a car club.
Feb, 1991: Event chair Brian Doan reports that PTC is the sponsor the Sunbeam Northwest this year. Brian also gave us a follow up the Leavenworth rally planned by Ken and Vicky Neiman with Dick Sanders. Eight cars from PYC participated last fall including Norm Stone from Canada and Bill and Sharon Smith from Oregon.
Feb, 1996: Dave Dunn is president and Anita Dunn is secretary. Are they related? Once again PTC is looking forward to sponsoring Sunbeam Northwest. This year it will be in Centralia. The Bennion brothers are the main planners. Dave puts out the plea for a concours chair. The host hotel is the Travelodge at the ridiculous cost of $48/night. Larry Atkisson has a tech tip in the newsletter regarding the Tiger electrical system. There is some implication that the electrical system was a bit primitive, although the switch to an alternator was promoted.
Feb 2001: Newsletter is actually for both January and February. The meeting is hosted at President Budd Bennion’s garage. PTC hosted an evening with Tiger GT-2 racer and Solo II National Champion Barry Schoenberger at the 125th Street Grill. Dick Sanders continues to submit his “Fill ‘er Up column.
FALL TOUR
Some photos of the fall tour, organized by Craig Burlingame;
PTC Holiday Party
Our thanks go to Max & Kathryn Pahmeier for once again hosting the annual PTC holiday party on Dec 12. They have the perfect host house, with a large kitchen & dining area, as it seems we as a culture seem to congregate in those areas. Hollie Sanders led our white elephant exchange. It is always amazing to see that some of our “Don’t Wants” can be coveted by someone else. For all his efforts on the past SUNI events, Dick Sanders presented Max with a framed Amtrak poster that just happened to feature a Sunbeam. Perhaps only coincidently, Sunbeam was named passenger train that operated between Houston and Dallas from 1925 to 1955, by the Texas and New Orleans Railroad. Some years ago, I remember being in a railroad memorabilia store in Leavenworth and picking up a Sunbeam script for my PTC jacket.
PTC Newsletter - by E-Mail?
Do you wish you got your newsletter earlier? Well, we can solve that very easily. If you are willing to receive your newsletter via email, we can probably save at least a week in the time it takes for you to get the newsletter. That week is what it takes us to print the newsletter, collate, and mail. Sound good? Simply confirm with our newsletter editors your current email address to (). Not only will you get the info earlier, but you will help the club control our costs. Don’t forget that if you didn’t get the email reminders about the fall tour organized by Craig Burlingame, that you should also forward your new email address to and kevin&.
Remember that we promise not to spam you, we only want to be sure you get the club notices…Kevin
SAPHIRE IN THE ROUGH
All of the features of a Tiger that make it so thrilling to drive also contribute to the rarity of finding one unmolested and unmodified. So much power in such a small package with no shortage of add-on mods together with biasply tires makes it rare to see a Tiger in all its original wares! Thankfully there are still a few of these around.
As I sat on my couch one Saturday morning in January of 1991, the phone rang and it was Larry Atkisson. He had phoned to tell me something about my '65 Tiger that was in the early stages of restoration in his garage. As our conversation progressed he mentioned that he had received a call from an Allan Bryant who had a '66 Tiger and was interested in possibly selling it. Larry went on to say the car sounded very original, he thought he knew the car from seeing it quite awhile ago but he wasn't sure if it was the same one. At any rate he wondered if I knew anyone who would be interested and if I did he would give them Allan's phone number. I said I didn’t but I would keep my ears open. As I hung up the phone I began to recall two very original Tigers that for various reasons I hadn't purchased and for that I had always kicked myself. I called Larry back and said I knew someone interested in the original Tiger - me!
I reached Allan the next day and struck up a friendly conversation with him. He explained to me that he was the original owner and had bought the car with his business partner as a weekend driver. The two of them had owned a restaurant together named, The Fishbowl. The car had only traveled 43,000 miles since new and was mostly driven around town and a couple of times to California for vacation. His partner had recently passed away and he was getting married, for the first time, and was going to be traveling in a motor home, not a Tiger. He felt the time had come for the car to pass on to someone who would spend the time necessary to maintain and enjoy the car. He was concerned that the car would go to someone who knew and appreciated these rare beasts. I assured him I didn't have any interest in modifying or molesting an original Tiger. I made arrangements to meet him during my lunch hour the next day.
When I arrived at Allan's home, the BRG Tiger was sitting in the driveway as Al was wiping it down from giving it a fresh wash. I introduced myself and proceeded around the car. It didn't take long to see just how original this car was! Original paint, original soft top, original wood steering wheel, original upholstery, original spare tire! Under the hood found more authenticity. All original hoses, air cleaner and element(dirty of course), intake manifold, carburetor, distributor, oil filter assembly, radiator, generator, exhaust manifolds (with bolt keepers) it was very apparent that the engine had not been out of the car. I couldn't believe my eyes; this was truly an original car. I had prepared myself for another one of those, "all original," complete disasters and needless to say was quite impressed and excited. Allan didn't know what price he wanted for the car, he said he needed to do a little research first and would get back to me with a number. Three or four days went by with no call from Allan, the anticipation was growing intensely. Had he forgotten me or had he sold the car to someone else? A few days seemed like weeks. I wasn't going to relax if I didn't call him. When I reached Allan he hadn't had time to do any research yet but wouldn't sell to anyone without talking to me first. I at least got some comfort for awhile. Al finally called me and we struck a deal, without much negotiation. I felt his price was fair considering the originality of the car.
Anita and I arrived on the weekend to complete the transaction. Allan had pulled out his file on the car and showed me the original registration certificate. They had bought the car on April 4, 1967 for a total of $3,690 from Koler Motors. (…the local dealer in Seattle at the time) In the folder I found the original sales brochure, the original warranty book and owners handbook, a Lucas, "World Service Organization 1966" brochure along with most of the service records. He also had kept a number of the expired yearly registration certificates. In addition they had installed a Craig radio in 1976 and the owners’ manual and receipt were also in the file along with the keys that locked the radio into a mounting bracket(the radio could be removed from the car and would run on batteries! great for picnics). Obviously, they had taken great care of their, "weekend toy", and had all their receipts to prove it. Before we left, Al asked if he could take the Tiger around the block one last time. I'm sure he wanted to be alone to say his goodbye's as this car had obviously contained many fond memories for him.
It was a clear and cold winter day, as I drove home there was a hard pull to the right and the car was all over the road. During the test drive we hadn't driven on the highway. At first I thought the road was slick but soon realized that was not the cause. I began to think I had bought a lemon, or lime in this case. After I settled down I remembered there were still Firestone 500 biasply tires on! This explained the, "all over the road" handling. The hard pull hopefully was just the alignment.
After transferring the title, the first stop was the tire store. I put some new rubber on, had the front end aligned which cured all the problems. The car winds out so smooth, the gear changes are like butter and it has that smell. It's hard to explain, but it has the smell that these cars had when new. I don't know if it is from the jute backing on the carpets or what.
Thanks to: Dave Dunn
Next PTC meeting: Sunday, January 17 at 12:00 -2:00. We’ll present the Boards’ plans for 2010 with Turkey Chili and Cornbread and maybe a tech session. It will be at the Jewell home at 12120 202nd Ave NE, Woodinville, WA 98077
Fill ‘er Up!
By: Dick Sanders
A couple of months ago I wrote about the 19 known current and former PTC members who’d attended Seattle’s Queen Anne High School. Make it an even 20, apologies to Beryl Carpenter, whom I really should have remembered. Beryl and husband Rob recently moved to Spain for a year.
Auction Action: The long-planned LeMay auto museum, to be built next to the Tacoma Dome, is inching closer to reality. A fall auction of surplus cars in their collection raised $1.1 million towards their goal. Three Rootes vehicles were on the block. A restorable ’48 Phase II Minx went for $3,744 and a decent-condition ’65 Series IV Alpine fetched $5,850. Top dollar was paid for a very straight 1938 Humber Pullman, long a part of LeMay’s Parkland, Wash. estate display, at $22,230.
Xmas ideas- Looking for a 2010 calendar, featuring 12 of your favorite Rootes-mobiles? A good one is available at Lulu.com. Quality photographs throughout, including one of PTC member Craig Burlingame’s Mk VIII Minx convertible.
Last summer, three rare Rootes 16mm films went up for auction on eBay. All from 1959, they each promoted a separate car in Rootes’ line-up: the Hillman Minx, Sunbeam Rapier, and the all-new Sunbeam Alpine. The three films, in good or very good condition, sold for a total of around $700. The films could easily have been stashed away in a private collection and never seen again except to a select few. Instead, the buyer, who is an enthusiast of “orphan cars,” digitized the films and is now making DVD’s available through his company website at Though the Alpine introduction film is available on a VHS compilation tape from Sunbeam Specialties, the Minx and Rapier promos have long been out of circulation. Unlike many old tapes, the transfer quality here is exceptional.
Fans of the pre-Audax-bodied line of Sunbeams will cheer the arrival of a new book devoted solely to their cars. Sunbeam-Talbot and Alpines in Detail – 1938-57, by Anders Ditley Clausager, is now available for pre-order at Amazon.com for $37.99+frt.
A Sunbeam Tiger just showed up on a piece of modern national advertising. No, not the rear overhead photo of the couple riding in a Tiger, which has been used in magazine ads over the past three years to sell everything from insurance to credit unions to GPS devices. A new art poster from Amtrak, advertising their auto carrier service between Washington, DC and Orlando, Florida, features a vivid red Tiger in the foreground. I wrote to the well-known artist, Michael Schwab, asking why he chose the Tiger for the subject. Schwab replied:
I was originally asked to portray a ‘generic’ sports car for the AMTRAK ‘Auto Train’ ad campaign a couple of years ago.
In addition to the fact that I am a Tiger fan, I thought a Tiger would be obscure and unrecognizable - so I used my friend’s car as the model.
I revised a few bumper details to make it more generic . . . but, I obviously didn’t fool you guys!
There were originally two backgrounds: Washington DC architecture and Florida palm trees.
We would be willing to print and ship unique, fine art quality, signed 12 x 16” prints of either version on archival art paper for you and your group for $125 each.
Sincerely,
Michael.
MICHAEL SCHWAB STUDIO
415/ 257-5792
Good-quality posters on thick stock are also available through Amtrak’s website:
We need your help! If you know of any Sunbeam Events, please contact your Activities Co-coordinator and we’ll get it in the newsletter.
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