ABCS Insignia

The September 2001 Newsletter






August 9 Meeting Highlights

Margaret Calcote


There were 23 members and 3 visitors present.

The annual drive and picnic at Grayson Highlands State Park is scheduled for August 18.

The annual GT picnic at Warrior’s Path State Park is scheduled for September 16 at 9:00 PM in Shelter One, same as last year.

A trip to Middlesboro is scheduled for October 6. It is expected that the P38 will be ready for the first taxi runs on that day.

The picnic at Panther Creek is planned for October 31.

Carl Floyd presented the program on MG-B V-8 conversions. He related the history of the MGV8, first built by Costello, to use the Buick-Oldsmobile 215 CI V8 engine. This engine was bought by Rover and used in many cars. A few were put in MGs. The rubber bumper MGs were designed to hold the V8 so conversion in these cars is relatively easy.


ABCS Name Tags

The following active members have not picked up their name tags.
They will be available at the next meeting, September 13 at Rush Street Grill in Kingsport.

Scott and Connie Bullock

Joe and Carl Drinnon

David and Charlyne Easterly

Steve Hightower

Bill and Debbie Wilson






Jaguar News

Jim Morton and Jane Ogle


Many of the best Jaguars in the Carolinas will join other classis European cars in Euro 2001, to be held at BMW’s Zentrum Visitor Center near Greenville, SC October 19-21, 2001. The Carolina Jaguar Club’s annual Concours d’Elegance, sanctioned by the JCNA, will be held in conjunction with Euro’s Saturday car show. This year marks the 40th anniversary of Jag uar’s famous E-Type sports car and Jaguar will be the featured marque at Euro2001. The goal is to host 40 E-Types on this milepost birthday. This will be the 6th annual celebration of motorcars organized by European car clubs and hosted by BMW Manufacturing Corp. under the “Euro” banner. Euro 2001 proceeds benefit the Red Cross. Awards for the CJC Jaguar concours will be sponsored by Jaguar of Greenville and the raffle car was donated by Bob Dunn Jaguar of Greensboro.

The weekend features numerous events: tours on Friday of BMW’s plant which makes the Z3 sports and Z5 SUV models; receptions Friday afternoon and evening; car show on Saturday; autocrosses on both Saturday and Sunday; driving skill event on Saturday; banquet on Saturday night with Jaguar racer Bob Tullius as speaker; fun rally Sunday morning; and, a special breakfast, with concours award ceremony, for Jaguar owners on Sunday morning.

Some Euro 2001 events are limited to pre-registrants only so please submit your registration early. Also, rooms at the Greenville Embassy Suite (864-676 9090) should be reserved early. You must mention the Euro 2001 block as all other rooms are taken. For more show information, phone 884-814-1078, e-mail to euro2001info@aol.com, or visit www.euroautofestival.com. If entering your Jaguar in the show, contact Jim Morton at 336-294-3436.

A new Jaguar Club has been successfully formed by Bob Reid and was approved by the JCNA as a club of the Jaguar Clubs of North America. To join, contact Bob at 865-692-8321 or rlreid@bellsouth.net. You can mail your $10 membership fee to him at 528 Fox Rd., Knoxville, TN 37911.

Plans are to hold drives, tech sessions, rallies, slaloms, concours events and social activities within the Upper East Tennessee area that will be convenient to most residents in the region.




Joe Bowman Remembered

Editor


This message came from Jackie Vogle to Al Bradley via e-mail and is as follows:

My brother, John, said to contact you guys. I ordered a tombstone for my brother, Joe Bowman. I gave up on ever hearing from the lawyers and am going to pay for it myself. Anyhow, thought you might like to know I had them put a race car with Joe’s number on top. It came in today and they say it looks real nice. I will see tomorrow when we go pick it up. I had to get the smallest possible since we will have to carry it up to the grave ourselves. Please pass this on to the car club guys. Thanks. 8/6/01




Another Blast from the Past

Al Bradley (circa May, 1999)


Some cars, you see, inspire us more than others. My Father’s 1960 Dodge with the rounded fins was not inspirational. It was transportation. I saw my first Jaguar E-Type in 1961. It came down Valley Street and was driven by Jack Trayer from Bristol. I’ll never forget that moment. Standing there in my baseball uniform, I dropped my bicycle to the ground and nearly cried because that was such a beautiful car! That long hood ending in those clear headlight covers; the short pointed and defined rear end treatment and gorgeous interior led me to think that Jaguar had created the perfect car.

Later, while in college, I discovered the Morgan sports car with its distinctively Thirties appearance and decided that this car, especially the Triumph engined version, had to be the coolest thing going. Well, that and the Porsche 911 that had recently been introduced. Those two cars alternated as favorites with the occasional Lotus up until the time when I was well into my already checkered Air Force career. I was stationed (‘confined’ might be a better word) in Okinawa when the Datsun 240Z was released. That was the Jaguar all over again in some respects for me. Long sweeping hood, but strangely styled or unstyled (as I came to think of it) rear treatment – almost as if the designers used up their supply of good ideas somewhere behind the doors and just ended it. It wasn’t the overall perfect design like the Jaguar had been, but it was a remarkable car for its time.

Along about this time I saw a James Bond movie with the Toyota 1000GT in it. This became a favorite car until I discovered that so very few examples of this car had ever been made and I wouldn’t stand a Chinaman’s chance of ever seeing one, much less owning one. To this day, I haven’t seen a real one.

By the mid-70s, when I had a job and a life, fewer of the new cars seemed to inspire me like those previously mentioned. That was when I discovered that older cars seemed to hold my attention more than the latest econoboxes that were coming from Detroit and Japan during the energy crisis.

One day I passed by Ralph Price’s gas station and saw his Austin-Healey 3000 there. I was reminded of how much I had always appreciated this car and decided to find my own.

So there you have it. Yes, there have been other cars that I found to be lustworthy. Maybe they will be the subject of a later column.

Thanks, Al.





Ten Reasons To Go To Work Naked

Author Unknown (no wonder!)


10. No one ever steals your chair

9. Gives “bad hair day” a whole new meaning

8. Diverts attention from the fact that you also came to work drunk

7. People stop stealing your pens after they’ve seen where you keep them

6. You want to see if it’s like the dream

5. To stop those creepy programmer guys from looking down your blouse

4. “I’d love to chip in…but I left my wallet in my pants”

3. Inventive way to finally meet that ‘special’ person in Human Resources

2. Can take advantage of your computer monitor radiation to work on your tan


And…drum roll…the Number 1 reason to go to work naked:


1. Your boss will never say, “I wanna see your ass in here by 8:00!” ever again…

(Sorry, sometimes I just get carried away. Ed.)





ABCS Officers & Committee Chairs


President: Carl Floyd, 423-477-7757, cmfloyd@chartertn.net

Vice-President: Mitchell Byerley, 423-247-4730, msbyerley@aol.com

Secretary: Margaret Calcote, 423-288-2297, alcandmmc@chartertn.net

Treasurer: Al Bradley, 540-628-4763, bradal@naxs.com

Newsletter: Jane Ogle, 423-282-5687, jogle@johnsoncitytn.org

Driving Events: Dick Williams, 865-993-2710

Programs: Richard Williams, 423-990-6994, williams@3wave.com

Webpage: Herren Floyd, 423-239-5455, hhfloyd@chartertn.net



DON’T FORGET THE ANNUAL ABCS PICNIC AT WARRIOR’S PATH STATE PARK, SEPT. 16 AT 1 PM IN SHELTER 1. BRING A COVERED DISH. THE CLUB WILL FURISH DRINKS, HAMBURGERS AND ALL THE FIXIN’S! BRING YOUR BRITISH CAR!!



Past Newsletters


August 2001

July 2001

Jun 2001

May 2001

April 2001

March 2001

February 2001

January 2001

December 2000

November 2000

October 2000

September 2000

August 2000

July 2000

June 2000

May 2000

April 2000

March 2000

February 2000

January 2000





Past Meetings


May 2000

April 2000

March 2000

February 2000

January 2000

December '99

November '99

October '99

September '99

August '99

July '99

June '99

May '99

April '99

March '99

February '99

January '99

December '98

November '98

October '98

September '98

August '98

July '98

June '98

May '98

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