1999 ISOA Event Articles

Last updated January 4, 2000

Here's a Quick Index of articles on some of the things we've done in 1999...

• Transmission / IRS Rear Hub Clinic - February 20, 1999
• The Game is Whirlyball - February 27, 1999
• ISOA Body Clinic Series - Part 2: Frame Repair - March 6, 1999
• ISOA Chili Party & Movie Night - March 20, 1999
• ISOA Tune-up Clinic Part 1 (social) - April 24, 1999
• ISOA Tune-up Clinic Part 2 (hardcore) - May 15, 1999
• Champagne British Car Festival - May 29-30, 1999
• Northern Indiana Gimmick Rallye - June 5, 1999
• The Great ISOA Campout - June 19-20, 1999
• Team ISOA's trek to VTR '99: Part 1 Part 2 - July 22 - August 2, 1999
• Potato Fest 1999 - September 5, 1999
• Chicagoland British Car Festival - September 12, 1999
• Cowbears and Trials '99 - September 1999
• The Last Trip of the Millennium - October 9, 1999
• Bump and Grind in Hampshire - November 13, 1999

Transmission / IRS Rear Hub Clinic

February 20, 1999

(with apologies to those whose names I didn't get or don't know yet - come on - WEAR THOSE STINKIN' BADGES!)

One nice thing about clinics is the sheer volume of work accomplished. As the experts teach the rest of us semi-skilled mechanics, we actually catch on pretty quick, as was evidenced at the Pyle Triumph and Tool Emporium in Itasca Saturday Feb. 20. By the end of the day, nine rear hubs were separated, Tim had a rebuilt six trans, now with overdrive, Joe's Spit OD was clean and running smooth, and Snake was assured his used trans as yet unrun did indeed run, and with overdrive to boot. When I left in the early afternoon, the first rear hub was rebuilt including a carefully measured .002 endplay.

Tim's TR6 non-OD trans had post position for transmissions. Billy directed the stripdown with Chuck doing much of the actual wrenching. I appreciated Billy's explanations and pointers. One typically pain in the butt part of disassembly is removing two thrust washers at either end of the mainshaft. A tab and keyway plus zero tolerance at the ends makes it particularly interesting. For this occasion we had George Loss's newly contributed dental tools including various sized hemostats and dental picks. Turned the job into something easy, if not downright pleasant! Thank you George!! Tim removed the rest of the guts and proceeded to clean the trans case.

At the workbench was the IRS rear hub disassembly team captained by Joe, wrenched by John and studiously observed by Peter. Phil Fox provided commentary. The hubs and halfshafts came in all states of readiness. Some were clean as a whistle all the way to the stubby little axle. (Did I hear bead blasted?) Some were totally rust coated. One was attached to the trailing arm complete with rear brake.

Time to try out the NEW HUB SEPARATING TOOL. Those familiar with Elwood's "magic twanger" will note this is the IRS version of said tool. (So much for my talking about Elwood's tool.) The disk and wheel studs bolt to the tool which is a same size disk with holes for the studs and a threaded center piece which pushes against the hub, thus forcing it to separate from the axle piece. Were talking a stout disk, about 3/8ths, and a head on the threaded piece of about 3/4ths. Stout. On the first hub, no amount of leaning on the breaker bar at full force, with simultaneous banging the back of the stud with a two pound sledge would separate the two pieces. Onto the second victim. This one "popped" with more force on the breaker bar than anyone thought healthy. What do we know? It did take a moment for the separator crew to realize that once it "popped" you still had to undo the nut at the end holding the hub and halfshaft together. DUH!!

By the third hub, the tool of the day switched from the hub separator to the five foot long piece of black pipe slid onto the 1/2 breaker bar. Couple this with not one but two guys leaning on it and you have some persuasion up in the four hundred pound range. Not one hub/axle stood up to this awesome display of leverage and one disk bit the dust.

Lunch offered a brief but tasty diversion with the usual storytelling and yarn spinning.

Back at the trans, reverse was reinstalled and the trans set aside. An overdrive was separated from a four and also removed was the shorter mainshaft. The OD unit was checked for piston operation, and the rebuild and reassembly began.

At about this point, Mike M. pulled up in his rewly redone and topless six. WOW! HOLY SH-T!! What a job!! A stunning yet understated Mercedez-Benz dark green exterior with tan interior. And the engine, geez - we all stood there listening to the engine idle, looked at each other - what was missing? The noise - where was the tappet jingle? Where was the clicking, less than even running we all know and love? Purring like a cat describes the sound of Mike's six pretty accurately. Mike said it took a year and a half, start to finish, frame off. Ooh ahhh.

Back to the hub bench once again. Old bearings and races removed using screwdrivers as levers and punches for persuasion. Enter Steve, 4A guy and former import car mechanic. Steve had all the answers and tricks to rebuilding the hubs. How to drift in the new bearing races? Slightly grind down one you just removed, put it over the new race and tap away. How do you know that the bearing is all the way seated? By the way it sounds when you hit it. Hear that? Yup. The hub bearing piece de'resistance featured Toolman's dial indicator gauge used to determine .002 - .004 endfloat. This is done by turning a nut at the end of the hub which in turn crushes a distance piece between the inner and outer bearings. The endplay started out at about .030 and ended at .002 with judicious quarter-turns of the nut. What Steve determined by feel, "...about the thickness of two sheets of paper..." , the dial indicator did with some degree of precision. It must be noted that the Stagmeister did an excellent job of jerry-rigging this precision instrument due to a critical piece of the tool being nowhere to be found. I left shorly thereafter and assume those with parts walked away with nicely rebuilt halfshaft assemblies.

The last thing I saw was Snake's trans hooked up to the Pyle-Built Trans and Overdrive Tester (formerly a snowblower). This baby worked like a charm in showing that the gearbox worked, and when stimulated er...energized, the OD worked as well. Nice tool Billy and nice score from Wasbeard, Snake.

Wrenchers wrenched and schmoozers schmoozed. The experts were indeed expert. The ladies did their duty and went shopping. (Part two of the welding clinic will be in Gurnee. A fairer enthusiasts bonding opportunity if ever there was one.) I swear I saw some people's confidence in their own mechanical abilities increase before my very eyes. Next stop, Gurnee.

Mike Blonder

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The Game is Whirlyball

February 27, 1999

February 20th was not just another Saturday but rather a new first in ISOA history. The location was the "Whirlydome" on Ill. 38 (Roosevelt Road) in Lombard, Illinois. A relative newcomer to the club, Ken "Whirlyman" Briegel came up with the brilliant idea of organizing an outing of tossing a whiffle ball around while simultaneously smashing into each other with bumper cars. While Whirlyman didn’t invent the sport, he did a great job of organizing the event, with a little help from a couple of board members. That Saturday night was a total riot and will become without hesitation a new ISOA annual event until some lawyer decides to shut it down. (No offense to our own legal eagles in the club, sometimes you just have to be accountable for your actions and take the pain without placing the blame.) Anyway, no one got hurt but I understand there were a few bruised legs and other body parts. We had the court for two hours. Each period lasted 10 minutes and we did a Chinese fire drill at the period change that kept rotating participants into the cars. There were two teams, the yellow team and the red team. For those who are color blind, there were the dark gray team and the light gray team. Each team did their best to scoop up a whiffle ball with a mangled racket all the while you are maneuvering the bumper car. If you were coordinated enough, passing to other teammates was encouraged although not always successful. Once you have the ball in racket, the idea was to put the ball in the goal. Much harder than you think, especially with a mangled racket. Believe it or not, after your ten-minute shift was up, you were breaking a sweat. The facility was excellent and had food and drinks available, including ones that contained alcohol.

We continued on with the evening by heading to Aurelio’s Pizza down the street. Here we had a bit more fun and filled up on eats as well. Things looked bad for a short time as a family having a nice pizza night out was in one of our reserved tables. How dare they! Didn’t they see the gang colors we displayed with our ISOA jackets? We did the only thing a vicious gang like ISOA would do. We planted Sheri "Big Mama" Pyle’s remote controlled fart machine near their table and let it rip (pun intended). The whole night was a lot of fun and it hit about the right time when winter was causing suicidal depression in many of us. Maybe next time we’ll pre-organize teams. I think the vote is unanimous, same time next year. Whirlyman.... you in charge!

Joe Pawlak

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ISOA Body Clinic Series

Part 2: Frame Repair

March 6, 1999

Sponsored by Joe Pawlak and Steve Yott

MIG welder - on your mark, get set, go melt some metal together. The happy theme of this clinic was TR4A and TR6 trailing arm box section replacement. The disintegration of this critical area is typical on these cars whether you are inclined to admit it or not. Our host was Steve "Drippy" Yott and his lovely wife Mary Yott (not of hotel fame). Several important items were made available to everyone, donuts and coffee in the morning and sloppy joes for lunch. Even if we didn’t touch the cars, we didn’t go home hungry. There was a decent turnout of members to witness the repair of Dave Varnhagen’s TR6 frame and Steve’s TR4A frame. We even had a potential new member show up from Wisconsin as a guest of Elwood. In typical ISOA fashion, we were obnoxious, yet friendly, boisterous, yet humble, slovenly, yet total pigs. Despite being on our best behavior, this guy may join the ISOA family anyway.

The first frame to get worked on was Dave’s. I arrived a little late because of IDOT’s desire to literally have every light trigger red even though no cross traffic was present. Nonetheless we started right in on the project. Dave had started grinding some areas of the frame and I would have nothing of that. The plasma cutter was brought into action and quickly sliced through the frame sections faster than you can say "how much did this freakin’ thing cost". If you haven’t seen one of these beauties in action and you do a fair share of restoration work, it is quickly evident that it is worth every penny in time saved. The cutter makes precision cuts in tight areas and is able to take off any material you want to take off. Overall, the cutter saved a good two days of labor and time in quickly removing the box sections and performing clean up operations in the area. We will see some more of this tool in future clinics.

The next step was to fit the new box section. Dave came across a original NOS replacement box section. There was a little trimming that needed to be done. Once complete the new section was welded into place and looked much better than the completely rusted section that was removed. There were a lot of other frame repairs that Dave needed to have done but it was decided that the frame needed to be "dipped" first. The process of having the frame cleaned and dipped will reveal any additional frame problems and aid in the repair of the previous botched frame repairs. The cleaning also removes rust which creates major problems when welding.

Steve’s TR4A frame was going to get new trailing arm sections as well as a new frame section that supports the trunk section. These were the only areas of repair on a otherwise solid frame. The rear box sections were removed in much the same fashion as before. The exception is that the new box sections were formed in such a way that they had "ears" already present that allowed the box section to straddle the inner frame member much like the factory. We made a couple of simple slices into the breast plates with the plasma cutter and bent them back to allow us to remove remnants of the old boxes and give us room to weld in the new. The welding of the new box section proceeded with no problem.

While work was commencing on the box section, the fitting of the new rear frame member was also taking place. There needed to be some "squaring" up of the new section. This was accomplished in short order with a piece of angle iron tack welded into place to hold its shape while we fitted it to the frame. A couple of measurements and the "tool without a conscience" (Sawzall) was used to lop of the damaged rear section. The new section was "tacked in" and awaited final measurement checks before being fully welded at a later time.

Time, the enemy of spoiling a good time when you were really enjoying yourself. I had a fun time! The looks on everyone else’s face displayed enjoyment, but than could have been the influence of the donuts, sloppy joes and burnt retinas from the welding. (That last comment was only a joke as ALL safety practices were in force.) I could do this every weekend. Come to think of it, sometimes we do. Time ran out Saturday to completely finish the frame. I returned later on in the week and Steve and I finished the remaining pieces. The frame looks awesome and will soon receive a fresh coat of paint. Thanks go out all who helped. Mike Mueller gets a special "atta boy" for his invaluable input, skill and perspective.

Joe Pawlak

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1999 ISOA Chili Party & Movie Night

March 20, 1999

Well, this year's chili party concluded without too much indigestion. Our hosts, Tim & Ann Buja did a tremendous job! There was quite a crowd on hand and enough food to feed the ISOA and BBB armies. BBB is of course the Rockford British Boots and Bonnets which translates to Trunks and Hoods from England. A "horsey doovers" spread that covered two tables got everyone in the mood to get their mouths ready for the main chili course. There was about 8 different chili recipes on hand for everyone to try. You truly need to pace yourself in order to sample each of them. Votes were then tallied for the most favorite chili dish. I may not have the spelling right, but I believe Rick and Sandy Hamaker won from BBB. Since they are from the other club, who cares if the spelling is right, (just kiddin’ folks, we luv ya despite you owning the octagon cars).

About a third of the crowd retired to the Buja Multimedia wing of the estate, where two episodes of high-quality entertainment spewed from the VCR. Cartman, Stan, Kyle, Kenny and the rest of the South Park crew helped us to be sensitive to alternative lifestyles by taking us on Big Gay Al’s Big Gay Boat Ride. After munching down some cheesy poofs, the main feature, Something About Mary was shown. At one point we thought the whole video was advertisements and previews to movies no one would want to see.

During the movie, the final course of dessert was laid out. Between the appetizers, chili and dessert we were all ready to get laid out. The Bujas deserve a big thanks for a great party and hope they’ll let us do it again next year.

Joe Pawlak

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Tune Up Clinic Part 1

April 24, 1999

What a gorgeous day for a tune-up. The first tune-up clinic of the year was hosted by Dale Leigh of LaFox Automotive in South Elgin. Besides Triumphs, the Lotus Club was there as well as some members of the Chicagoland MG Club. There was a good showing from ISOA.

There was a combination of folks attending. Some looked at it as a purely social event. It is never a lack of a good time to stand around on a sunny day to look at sports cars and talk about driving them. The other group had intentions of taking advantage of the LaFox technical expertise by having the cars put on the analyzer and put through its paces. The technicians at LaFox were very knowledgeable and Dennis Tobin (former owner) was also on hand to lend his years of experience working on these cars. Dale Leigh and Robin Culver, who own LaFox, had the parts department opened up for those who needed some of those tune up parts. Yes, LaFox does stock Triumph parts.

The Lotus guys brought out some of their machines. I observed several Europas, Elans, an Esprit and a Caterham. There was the surprising visit (albeit illegal) of a brand new Lotus Elise which is not street legal in this country. I don’t know the particulars of why, since there are other cars with 200 M.P.H. top ends driving around. It did have a spot for a license plate. This was pure race car from the steering wheel you had to remove to get in and out of the car to the contortions you go through in crawling in and out of the car. It was a pretty piece of machinery. We were trying to get a match race between Mark Fisher's race car and the Elise but this was an exhibition not a competition, so no wagering was allowed.

Another notable machine was a TR7 that was converted to use a Triumph Dolomite Sprint head. This slick conversion turns the anemic 70 HP four-banger into a 150 HP plus "move your butt" machine. The Dolomite head had a pair of sidedraft Webers installed and looked pretty slick. The guys at LaFox helped the owner put this car together. Maybe this is something I can do to my Jenny’s TR7 Spider? Naw, I think I will continue with the plans to have a nice Mark Fisher fuel injection system installed.

ISOA members brought out their TR6’s, 4’s and 3’s. There were a few Spitfires as well. This Saturday was the inaugural run of my newly restored Sapphire Blue Stag. By the time I arrived at LaFox, I had a total of 43 miles on the new engine. This was also the first time the car had ventured beyond 1000 feet from the house. The Bujas met me at my house with their yellow Stag to escort me over. Not that I did not have confidence, but insurance is always a good thing. So a pair of rare Stags pulled up with the rumbling exhaust notes of the V8’s in the LaFox parking lot.

The service bays were dominated by our Triumphs. Dale allowed time on the ignition analyzer and it was extremely informative to see the voltage peaks and valleys of each of the cylinders. Several of the cars left much better than when they rolled in. There was a lot of work in isolating various air and vacuum leaks that cause lean conditions in these cars. Many of the carbs I see have the mixture needles "maxed" out to compensate for these air leaks. Everyone who wanted a chance to have the cars hooked up was accommodated by LaFox.

The folks at LaFox provided an excellent lunch on top of the "free" service and advice they gave the club for the day. Everyone was well behaved so we’ll see if we are invited back next year. In case you are in need of specific repairs or service on your Triumphs, give Dale a call and see if they can schedule you in. They do stock most of the common TR parts, so they are a local source for these items.

Joe Pawlak

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Tune Up Clinic Part 2

May 15, 1999

Okay, Snake did say they had a bowling banquet the night before, and we all know how that goes. Nevertheless the Shedors facilitated yet another successful tune up experience in which many plumbed the most intimate inner workings of their SU or Stromberg fuel mixture and metering contraptions otherwise known as carburetors. Every person drove away under their own power and as official test driver of the day, I’ll say the results were most moving.

I arrived at 9:00 and was surprised to see a crowd already in attendance. Did I read the article wrong? Evidently one newsletter article had the start time at 8:00 and another had it at 9:00. Surpriiiiiise Dave and Joan! Not to worry - the coffee was hot and the muffins and cookies quite tasty. Before you could say "pass the penetrating oil", Dave had the workbenches cleared and all tools available.

One side of the garage became the radio tune up, hosted by Billy Pyle and his Signal Field Strength meter. Using this in conjunction with making radio adjustments makes the final signal as strong and accurate as possible. Or something like that....

The other sides of the garage were occupied with carb strippers. Ryals had at his Six’s Strombergs with Joe assisting. The Kamholtz father and son team worked on David’s Four’s carbs (SUs). I also attacked my Four’s carbs, and Gloria yanked the SUs out of her Three. Snake found a portable parts washer, which when we figured out how to use the damn thing, proved to be an invaluable tool. My, the sludge left behind after cleaning the three sets of SUs!

I’m not sure exactly when Gerhardt brought out the (borrowed $6K) exhaust gas analyzer, but soon cars which weren’t participating in the tune-up were getting their tailpipes sniffed. This caused some adjustments and some consternation. A friend of Snake’s tried testing his tricked-out Corvette Sting Ray, but I’m not sure what they came up with.

Peter drove his Six into the garage, sans the pep he thought it should have. Someone diagnosed it as no mechanical advance, and new weights were found and installed in the distributor. WALAH!! Advance and pep. Hoo-ah!! I imagine that was one fun ride home for Peter...

Ed M.’s Six must have tested funny because before long a ring of experts circled the car, compression tests were made, valves adjusted and heads scratched. Why was there so little compression in that one cylinder? They were still working on it as the major SU rebuild began.

Six carbs, six piles of all new parts (though the Kamholtzs had all new wrong parts), six people. David and Bob K, Gloria and Mike K, Pat L and me. Just as Billy and Pat began directing us novices, lunch was announced. Knowing we’d need all the fortitude (and beer) possible, we chowed down on great burgers, dogs, salads and sweets (ooh, those brownies).

Back at the bench (or table, as it were), the SU rebuild began in earnest. Bill and Pat remembered the right arrangement of jet packings (diagrams don’t hurt). Pat pointed out a broken retainer washer and burrs needing filing, which I probably wouldn’t have caught on my own. Retainer washers were set right side up, jets centered, floats set, new needles installed and mixture adjustment nuts roughly set. Man those babies looked niiiiiice with those new parts and clean exteriors! The tool of the day was your ear, listening for that nice soft metallic click of a piston hitting the carb bridge. Sweet...

Time to reinstall. The Kamholtzes got the checkered flag only to end up with leakers. Geez! A little tightening here, a twist there - look ma! No leaks, and doesn’t that sound fine?! Bob’s finicky Unisyn got the carbs balanced, and David’s Four was ready for a test run. David insisted I drive it, and well, shucks, how could I say no? Now I know my Four has plenty of guts, but David’s with that mild cam, really pulllllls and puuullllls and pulls.

Gloria had no trouble putting the SUs back on her Three, only to also end up with leakers. Seems the jet locking nuts hadn’t been sufficiently tightened - problem solved. Whizmo set Gloria’s mixture and balanced the carbs, and she fired up sounding happy. I was coerced into another test drive, and that Three had plenty of pep! My SUs went into a box, feeling well taken care of.

Sometime during the day, I managed to drop enough hints to Joe that he asked if I’d like to take his Stag for a spin. I think I really said, "I thought you’d never ask". Let me put it in two words: V-8 Power. My my my. Did I say torque? Did I say it gets up there and goes? Yes, I thought so... Now, if we could do something with that waaay too light power steering... (Sorry Mike, that’s the way it is. JP)

Although the turnout was moderate, I’d say all participants had a good time and those who worked on cars ended up leaving in better shape than when they arrived. It was particularly enjoyable watching the two generations of Kamholtzes working together - "Dad - what do you think....", "David let’s try it this way...", "Dad, let’s try it this way..." And hats off to Gloria. She attacked with the big dogs, did not have anyone else do her work (any more than the rest of us) and really got down and dirty. Did she start out wearing rubber gloves to protect her nails? I think so, but they were certainly nowhere to be seen well before the end of the day...

Mike Blonder

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Champagne British Car Festival

May 29-30, 1999

The Champagne British Car Festival is always the first show of the season, at least in the surrounding midwest area. ISOA had quite a nice gathering of members and their cars. A small caravan of ISOA Triumph drivers met in Yorkville on Rt 47 on the way down to Champagne. Tim Smith and his TR250, Bob Crowley, his lovely wife and thier TR8, Steve Yezo and Sue Hopson in another TR250 and Kathy and me in the Stag. This was the first major trip in the newly completed 73' Stag. Prior to this the further it has ventured from home was 20 miles. So this was the first major test as we will now be driving for 3 hours. With about 500 miles under its belt, this was going to be the first big test. I do have to say it passed the test very well not to mention many cars very well. Steve mentioned that when I pulled around to pass someone, before you knew it all you saw was the tail end of the Stag in the far distant. She's a cruiser, but more about that in another story sometime.

On the way down, we did a quick biological break and grabbed additional fluids to replenish what we just discarded. The four Triumphs were all in a row and attracted many stares in the McDonalds parking lot. I'm sure the stares were because of the sheer impracticality of these cars in a central Illinois town. Can't get much more than a bale of hay in these darn things.

We arrived in Champagne within 10 minutes of our planned time to be there. There was already a pretty good crowd gathered in the Jumers parking lot. Well we checked in, gabbed with a few folks and got ready to go on the ill-fated driving tour. I learned a valuable lesson. If a MG is leading the tour, forget about it. Geez, these guys got lost, not once, not twice but three times. I suppose we were dumb enough to follow them. At the third screw up we decided we had enough. I signalled to the black Lotus behind us and we roared around the waiting line of MGs with the Stag's V8 giving them the twin exhaust phooey to you and the Lotus showed what twin turbos can do. Quite a impressive showing of real British exotics.

We met up with everyone later that afternoon for dinner at the Outback Steak House. A bloomin' onion and some beverages with vast amounts of alcohol were calling for team ISOA. Tim, Ann, Jake and Donna were warming the seats for us at the restaurant. Tim Smith, Ryals, Kathy, Jenny, Steve, Sue and me showed up minutes later. Tragedy struck. It seems that some bearings decided to destroy themselves in Steve's TR250. A nasty sound in all gears but 4th. We finished dinner, tried a few parking lot repairs but it was not to be repaired. We were able to limp the car back to the hotel. We were able to arrange to have the car stay with Mark Joslyn (a central Illinois honorary ISOA member) until Steve could return with his own rescue vehicle. We missed the Pub Crawl, but managed to do our own version and still had a great time. Can't keep an ISOA'er down.

Sunday was the big car show. Nice bunch of cars managed to show up. The weather up to this time was perfect. Even the sun was shining. If you have ever been to the Champagne show, it ain't Champagne unless it rains. We eventually ventured into the mall where the awards ceremony took place. ISOA kicked butt and came away with trophies in almost every class. Jake in TR3, Tim Smith in TR250, Tim and Ann in TR8, new member Franciso in TR6 and Joe and Kathy with the Stag in the "other" TR class. Joe Kaplon and his daughter should have taken the Spitfire class but it's real tough to go up against a trailer queen.

The story continues with Steve and Sue packing their stuff into the Stag, where the four of us sailed into the sunset, sans Steve's 250. The Stag has a halfway decent back seat and can carry four. I never rode back there, but they said it wasn't that bad. Always good karma to help out, never know since the next time it could be you. I highly encourage everyone to plan the trip down here next year. It's a nice overnight stay and a nice weekend to start the Triumph season.

Joe Pawlak

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The Northern Indiana Gimmick Rallye

June 5, 1999

This event was organized and hosted by Pat Lobdell, Tim Mantel, and Marilyn Muniz, with a little help along the way from their friends in their local ski club. They must be good friends, since they're the people who actually wore the antique ISOA T-shirts.

The event started at Festival Park in Hobart at 9am. Unfortunately, only four ISOA rallye teams made it: Jerry and Sandy Hurst in their TR3, Rick and Linda Hartmann in their TR6, Jake and Donna Jaquet in their Spitfire, along with Ann, Megan and myself in our Stag.

As we lined up our Triumphs in the parking lot, a local couple came up and asked what was going on. Upon learning that we were running a rallye, they asked if they could join us as they had a sports car themselves. Pat, Tim and Marilyn had planned the event for 20 cars and had lots of instruction sets left, so they told them they could join us if they could get their car back before the rest of us left. They were back in seven minutes with a brand new blue Mazda Me-too-a, and became the fifth rallye team.

Pat, Tim and Marilyn ran a short drivers' meeting and gave us our general instructions. We learned that there were multiple ways to "win" the rallye - closest time, closest mileage, or best poker hand.

After the drivers' meeting broke up, we got back in our cars and were given five cards. We would be able to substitute one or two cards at the checkpoints along the way to try and assemble a better poker hand.

We received our detailed route instructions and "panic pack" at the starting line and were released every three minutes. The instructions had virtually no street names listed, so it was a real challenge to stay on course. What we didn't know at first was that they had prepared two different sets of instructions for odd and even numbered cars. The instructions were written to have the various rallye teams run some of the same roads together for a while but turn off at different points, or run on the same road but in opposite directions. You really had to pay attention to the instructions and ignore the other rallye teams around you or you would surely get lost!

Two poker card checkpoints were written into the rallye. The first was conveniently located at a gas station, where you could either fill your Triumph with gas if needed, or yourself with a cool drink to beat the heat. This stop was manned by the ski team members. The second checkpoint was in the parking lot at Marilyn's apartment, where Marilyn took your picture and let you pick a card or two.

There were a couple of cute "tricks" written into the rallye. For example, one instruction had us drive into a golf course, ask them "What time is tee time?", and write down the answer. Who could guess that the answer would be given in "ISOA time"? Another instruction directed us to stop at a Dairy Queen and tell the girl behind the counter "The ISOA rallye is a real dilly!" She would then give you a Dilly Bar, which you'd have to eat in order to read the next instruction that was written on the stick.

That instruction directed you to a bar across the street where we gathered for a late lunch and some more cool drinks. Lots of goodies were given out, both to the winners in the various categories and to the "losers". Along with their other goodies, the "loser" usually got a bottle of Triumph cologne with the comment, "You really stink!" (in Tim Mantel's words). As I recall, just about everyone went home with something.

After the late lunch, we went back to the Dairy Queen across the street to retrieve the remaining Dilly Bars. We then went back to where the Stag had died along the route. After too many hours of searching for carb problems, we found the ignition condenser to be bad. I jury-rigged another condenser in place (thanks to Pat Lobdell for lending me a condenser from his spare TR4 distributor), and the Stag was running again. By this time, the Door Prairie Auto Museum had already closed, so the Hursts and Hartmanns headed for home and the Jaquets and Bujas headed east to Laporte for an overnight stay before the Michiana British Car Show in South Bend.

If you weren't able to participate in the rallye, you missed out on a great event. I hope that Pat, Tim and Marilyn will consider organizing another rallye next year.

Tim Buja

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The Great ISOA Campout

June 19-20, 1999

The club's annual camping trip began on June 19th with everyone gathering at Tim and Ann Buja's home. After greetings all around and a quick replacement of an engine wire in my mom's (Kathy's) Stag, we were off on a scenic drive to the camp site. We traveled the great flatlands of Illinois without car trouble and were able to enjoy the drive and the sunny weather. I'm sure almost everyone could hear some of the music booming from the Stag. I brought a few of my CD's and my mom insisted on playing them loud. After about an hour through the countryside we reached the Winnebago Forest Preserve and set up tents in the sites that Ann and Donna claimed the previous night. (I did notice that almost all the tents were nearly identical, must be an ISOA thing.) Once the tents were up, we were rounded up and herded to the Rockton Inn. There, we enjoyed a delicious meal while talking about cars, cars, and more cars.

After lunch, some went across the street for ice cream, and the rest of us went to the Blackhawk Race Track. After the time trials, we drove to the inside of the two-and-a-half mile track and found a spot on the rail to watch the cars speed by. Among the racers was our very own Irv with his TR-4. The other races featured Mini Coopers, Sprites, and Formula Vees, as well as many different Triumphs and "other" cars.

Following a day at the races, we returned to camp for beer and brats, accompanied by salads and munchies. Our "meat" chefs for the night were Victor and Eric, who only lost a couple of the brats and hot dogs to the flames. Ann (Mrs. Bean Lady) and Donna cooked and prepared the remaining essentials. Once everyone was sprawled around the campfire, the kids ran orders for S'mores. We had our options of "lightly" burnt, "medium" burnt, and "burnt" burnt. By the end of the night, there was more marshmallow on the kids than in them. We sat around the fire in our "gang colors" and swatted the few mosquitoes that broke through the smoke screen of the kids' fire.

The next morning, most of the campers were awakened by the beautiful song of the fighting crows. After packing up the campsite, we went on a countryside tour, led by Tim Buja, and only suffered one casualty. Eric Yate's car pulled over with a problem in the accelerator linkage. Eventually the situation was under control, and my dad (Joe) got to show off the Spitfire's hairpin turn for nothing when he was selected to go see what was holding up the rescue attempt. We took off for brunch with the Stag's hazard lights and Sheri's right blinker still flashing.

We reached the Hometown Buffet during the busy hour and got to admire the outside of the restaurant while we waited in line. After brunch, the group disbanded and we returned home. I'm looking forward to next year's trip. Thanks to Ann Buja the weekend was successful and everyone had a good time.

Note: Even Tyler, my sister Sandy's Corvette-loving boyfriend, had fun, and we plan on sucking him into the Triumph group.

Jenny Pawlak

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Team ISOA's Trip to VTR '99

July 22 - August 2, 1999
Part 1

Team ISOA coverage by Kathy "Stagmistress" Pawlak and Tim Buja

Ann and I were towing half of the Jabu Creations wares in a small trailer behind the TR8. Ann had left on Wednesday to visit her relatives in Fort Wayne. On Thursday, I drove the TR8 and trailer to work, since I was planning on leaving at noon to get a head start on the traffic heading east on I-80 out of Chicago. Things went crazy at work, so I didn't get out until 2pm. The late start put me right into the thick of an I-80/94 traffic jam that lasted until I got into Indiana. The TR8 handled the heat quite well, with the temperature gauge just barely above the 1/2 mark. With the top up and the back window zipped out, the breeze through the car helped to counteract the summer heat. A few cold drinks helped, too.

The drive to Fort Wayne was pretty uneventful. Jake and Donna met us in after we finished dinner with Ann's family. Megan was thrilled to be spending a whole week with her Grandma Pat while we were away, so we didn't get too many complaints when we said our good-byes and got back on the road for points east. We had decided to make the eastbound trip the scenic route, with the return trip to be a speed run. Since we were planning on spending a lot of time in the Amish areas of east central Ohio on Friday, we set our Thursday destination for Lima, Ohio. This would give us another two hours to drive the back roads and see the sights on Friday.

Jenny had arrived home from college to stay with Sandy while Joe and I were gone on our little holiday. Sandy did not want to stay home alone for the week and a half. I arrived home from work to find Jeff and Karen already there. Good old Chick-N-Dip provided the mainstay for dinner while Jeff and Karen brought side dishes to complete the feast. As soon as we finished dinner, we were off! The kids were nice enough to "offer" doing dishes and clean-up. The Triumph Twosome headed out to pick up Mike and Diane. Upon our arrival, Mike informed us that he had just completed some repair work on his car late that afternoon. Nothing like making sure the vehicles are in working order well in advance! (Joe had put new trailing arm box sections on the Stag four days prior to our departure). After a quick pit stop at Mike and Diane's we were off. Little did we know that not far ahead on I-294 we would be caught in a major traffic jam. Traffic was moving slower than a crawl. That's when we were actually moving. Jeff and Karen pushed the TR6 a couple of times in order to let their engine cool down. We came close to doing the same with the Stag. Mike and Diane's car seemed to be staying cooler. Once in the clear, the rest of the trip to Indiana was uneventful. Almost. Mike and Diane lost their CB antenna. They were going so fast, it blew right off the car! Upon arrival to the hotel, Diane noticed something sticking out from the rear section of the car. It was the CB antenna, wrapped around the rear axle! The tip was broken off and the wiring was a little frayed, but it was salvageable. We decided to deal with it in the morning, we opted for sleep for the time being since we wanted to get an early start.

Jake likes big breakfasts, so we had to stop at the Shoney's just outside our motel in Lima, Ohio. We ate our fill, then got back on the road again. It didn't take long to miss our first turn. Only five miles out of Lima, I blew right by the I-75 interchange marked "To US 30". The Tripmaker software we used didn't show this exit, so we didn't know to even look for it until we passed under the bridge marked US 30 - with no exits! We exited at the next interchange and made our way back to US 30 on a couple of back roads.

Jake was surfing the web before we left and found a number of places that we decided to visit. The first was the huge Lehman’s Hardware store in Kidron. This was a really neat place, specializing in tools and equipment for those without electricity. Like any decent hardware store, it also had the full complement of knick-knacks which some of us (names will be withheld) couldn't do without.

Donna had brought along a quilt she'd been working on and wanted to drop it off at a shop in Berlin to be quilted. We didn't mind going a few miles out of the way since the roads were perfect for Triumphs. Hilly, curvy, scenic - top down motoring at its best! After lunch at the Dutch Diner, we wandered down to one of the antique stores and found a slightly tattered Dinky Triumph 1300. Of course, this didn't stay in the display case for very long…

We drove out of Berlin and headed for a big flea market. This one was very clean and attractive, with everything inside instead of out in the hot sun. Jake's TR6 decided to begin dripping coolant from the lower radiator hose, so we spent a few minutes there getting the hose tightened up before we left. Jake took the lead, and we noticed that his trailer had no brake lights. At the next gas stop, we found that the brake lights on the trailer had never worked since we left the day before, so we re-wired the connector and made things right.

Our next destination was a huge outdoor flea market in Rogers. It was truly a sight to behold. I've never seen as much junk and counterfeit merchandise for sale as I did that night. I've also never seen that many strange people in all my life. Maybe it was the close proximity to the hills of West Virginia…

After being thoroughly entertained at the Rogers flea market, we got back on the road. Our destination that night was Youngstown, and sunset was fast approaching. After three hundred miles of driving, the bed felt very nice!

This day would be the killer day of the trip, as we had almost 500 miles to go to meet up with the other half of Team ISOA in Troy, NY. As we left Youngstown, the skies opened up with a torrential downpour. This helped to relieve the high temperatures of the day before. The rain continued as we drove into Pennsylvania, then the skies cleared once again. We got off of I-80 to take US 62 and US 6 on a very scenic route through the Allegheny National Forest in northwestern Pennsylvania. If you're in this area of the country and have the time to drive these roads, take advantage of them. You won't regret it!

We continued on US 6 all the way to US 220, then headed north into New York. Our last gas stop in Pennsylvania even brought out a few Triumph admirers among the local kids. The rest of the roads that day were Interstates, so the speeds significantly improved but the drive was boring. We arrived at the Super 8 in Troy after making a couple more wrong turns around the Albany airport (my fault, not the navigator's). When we checked in, we found a message waiting for us stating that the other part of Team ISOA (Pat Lobdell, Diane and Mike Mueller, Jeff Rust, Karen Reilly, and Kathy and Joe Pawlak) was enjoying themselves at the bar across the street. Of course, we had to check the place out!

We woke up thinking that it was an hour later than usual; we had turned our watches ahead the night before due to the change in time zones. The only thing that got me going was the thought of that hot cup of complimentary coffee waiting for me in the lobby. Nobody messes with me until I've had at least one cup of coffee! I raced (stumbled) to the lobby where a pudgy, crabby hotel clerk went about his morning routine behind the desk. NO COFFEE!!! Joe started some coffee before I went into convulsions. The clerk asked if he could help. We mentioned that we thought the coffee would have been ready. He informed us, after a brief, tercid interlude, that we were still in the same time zone as at home! This was a moot point in regards to not having the coffee ready. He didn't make coffee an hour later either. Oh well, we had ours! The boys worked on Mike and Diane's CB antenna so that we could maintain communication. Once that was done we were off to pick up Pat Lobdell in Ohio. As soon as we pulled off of the interstate 80 to meet Pat, we noticed that there was no entrance ramp to get back on. We picked up Triumph number 4 in our convoy and refueled. About a block down Pat said he thought he might have an ignition problem. The problem was soon solved. His keys were so heavy that they were turning the ignition off. If only all Triumph problems were so easily solved! We headed east by getting on I-90. We zipped through the rest of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and part of New York averaging approximately 70-80 mph. What fun! We did hit a slow spot at a tollbooth in Pennsylvania. Jeff and Karen pushed the TR6 again due to the high engine heat. We almost followed suit with our gauge reading 3/4. We expected to meet up with Tim and Ann, and Jake and Donna at a hotel in New York. After several tries I finally managed to turn into the right entrance for the hotel. Our entourage had managed to arrive before the others. We were worried. We all assumed that the Bujas and Jaquets would be there well ahead of us! Since we were hot and hungry, we decided to wait for the rest of the group at a restaurant across the street called "Castaway". Cold beer never tasted so good! A note had been left at the hotel regarding our whereabouts. It didn't take long for Tim, Ann, Jake, and Donna to meet up with us. We ordered appetizers, and of course more beer to sustain us through the night.

After distributing Team ISOA hats to everyone in attendance, we left Troy, headed for Bennington, Vermont. This was a very scenic drive with lots of long hills that were unfortunately filled with lumbering RVs. Most of us were able to get by the land yachts, but Jake got stuck behind one for several miles. We stopped in at the Hemmings Motor News filling station in Bennington and gawked at the neat stuff they had. To me, the neatest thing there was the Russian motorcycle that had a sidecar with a driven wheel. That must be interesting to drive around corners!

Team ISOA continued on to the Sky Top Restaurant, located at the summit of Hogback Mountain west of Marlboro, VT. It was time for brunch, so we decided to stop in enjoy the view. When we emerged from the restaurant, we found that we had picked up a stray Triumph. Sue Kistler of the Central PA Triumph Club had parked their green TR8 next to our line of Triumphs and joined us in our drive for the next few miles. We lost them at the next town when they got stuck at a long traffic light. Shortly thereafter, we encountered our first rotary intersection on the trip. This one was being completely reconstructed. All the pavement had been removed and what was left of the remaining roadbed was extremely bumpy. One of our more experience New England drivers (no names, but some of us call him Stalker) managed to take a couple of laps around it after missing the turn he wanted.

We continued up the scenic route on US 202 toward Concord, NH, then went around the city on the Interstates. Once again, the clouds opened up and the temperature came down. Our original plan was to take US 202 all the way into Portland, but we missed a turn somewhere and ended up on US 4 headed for Portsmouth, NH. We decided it would be quicker to continue on this route and get on I-95 instead of heading back to US 202. We took note of the seven mile long southbound traffic jam approaching the Maine Turnpike tollbooth, and vowed not to put ourselves in it on our trip home the following Sunday. The rest of the drive was uneventful, and we met Jerry and Sandy Hurst at the Portland Holiday Inn only a few minutes after our scheduled arrival time. Jerry and Sandy had flown to Boston and rented a gold Chrysler Sebring convertible, which we promptly nicknamed The Golden Retriever. Team ISOA antenna flags were distributed to everyone.

We had set time aside for mechanical problems but experienced no trouble along the way, so we arrived in Portland several hours before our ferry to Nova Scotia was to leave. This meant that we had to go exploring. We made our way to the Portland Visitors Center, where we found all sorts of information about the city and the region. Among all the souvenirs, Ann and Donna even found some lobster headbands that fit quite nicely on their Team ISOA hats. The staff at the visitors center directed us to a nearby brewpub for dinner, where some of us got to enjoy their first lobster dinner in many years. The rest of us got to enjoy seeing the novice lobster diners learn how to crack things open! Dining on lobster became one of the few times that ISOA could say YES! to crack, as several Team members would attempt to eat lobster at least once a day on this trip.

We didn't have enough time to explore all the interesting spots, such as Condom Sense and Fore Play Sports Pub.

After dinner, we drove to a nearby gas station to top off our tanks, then headed for the ferry terminal. Ted and Doris Schumacher had advised us that bringing commercial goods back through US customs was not pleasant, so we dropped the Jabu Creations trailers in the ferry terminal parking lot and joined everyone else in line. The loss of 300 pounds from the back of the TR8 was very noticeable, even at low speed in the parking lot. All of the Team ISOA cars were directed into lane #8 (out of ten) in the lot, right behind Tom and Marilyn Schuld in their Ford Contour. The number of people in SUVs astounded us. At least seven of the ten lanes were filled with "high" vehicles. With at least an hour to wait before the ferry arrived, people got out of their cars and started socializing. Lots of people came over to talk to us about our Triumphs and recall the experiences they had with their own Triumphs. The atmosphere was very similar to what we experienced last year just before showtime at the McHenry Drive-In Theatre. The only obvious difference was the number of uniformed US Customs officers looking things over.

Finally, the MS Scotia Prince arrived in port. Everyone got back in their cars and waited. We were the last row of cars to drive on board. The crew started closing the three sets of bow hatches before we got out of our cars, and we were under way before we had the luggage out of the trunk. Announcements on the PA system told us that the cargo hold doors would be locked for the duration of the trip, so we had to get everything we’d need before we left the hold. We were directed to our cabins on deck five and dropped off our luggage, then headed outside to enjoy the view as we headed out to sea. Jackets were required, as the temperature had dropped considerably and it had become quite breezy..

Shortly after leaving port, the casino opened up, so several of us took advantage of the opportunity to drop a few dollars while the rest of Team ISOA enjoyed the cool temperatures on deck. Things began to quiet down at eleven, with just about everyone heading for their cabins by midnight. It took us a while to get used to the small bunk beds in the tiny cabin, but they were a lot better than sleeping in a chair out on deck. There was a bit of rocking motion, even though the seas were calm. I slept like a rock...

Joe and I tried our luck at the slot machines. We lost $10 in less than 10 minutes. That was the end of that! We met up with Mike and Diane who reported that they had hit the $40 jackpot. We strolled around the deck and toured around the inside of the ship. All was fine until later that evening when I had a slight bout of nausea, nothing severe. The night passed uneventfully.

Joe and I met up with the group for breakfast. Karen was very green, with Jeff a lighter shade. They insisted that they would drive back instead of enduring another ride on the ship. But as you learn later on, they stuck it out. How could you leave a loving group like ours?

We awoke in a fog. We were alert, but the visibility was nil. We met everyone else just outside the dining room, then proceeded in for a big breakfast buffet. Shortly after we finished, the cargo gold doors were unlocked and we made our way to our cars with our luggage. Luckily for us, the ferry was unloaded in reverse order, so we were the first cars off and the first to get in line for Canadian Customs. We were also the first to arrive at the Yarmouth Visitors Center and Currency Exchange, where we met up with more people who couldn’t wait to tell us their stories of driving Triumphs in their youth. One woman asked us if we had any TR3s in the group, then related the story "I took my second TR3, the best car I ever owned, into the dealer for a clutch job. I saw a TR4 on the showroom floor. I just had to have it, so I promptly traded in my TR3 for the TR4. It turned out to be the worst car I ever owned." Even so, she was still very pumped up about seeing all of us as she left in her van...

We asked the staff at the Visitor’s Center about where to go and what to see along the way to Halifax and back. They gave us several brochures and map books and we began our trek along the Lighthouse Route. Ann and I were designated at the "Tour Directors", so she started looking through the brochures for interesting places to stop along the way.

The travel brochure authors must have been religious lighthouse fans because we kept seeing big flowing paragraphs about the beautiful churches and lighthouses that were along the route. We took the bait and stopped in at several of both. The descriptions of the churches were right on the money - they were beautifully built and well maintained. We were disappointed in the lighthouses, though. Most of the lighthouses mentioned turned out to be small, one or two story harbor lights instead of the towering coastal lights that we expected to see. One exception was the Seal Island Lighthouse Museum in Barrington. This was a two story wood structure that held the original light mechanism from the Seal Island coastal light, which had been modernized several years earlier with an automated (unattended) light. The original clockwork mechanism that turned the lens was missing, but we were able to get a close-up look at the Fresnel lens and the supporting structure, along with several original blueprints.

Ever since we had left Troy, I had been noticing that the TR8 seemed to be down in power. I had first attributed it to the extra weight of the trailer, but it was still noticeable even without the trailer. Now, the temperature was going up, the idle speed had dropped to only 500 rpm, and the engine was starting to miss over 3000 rpm, so it was time to take action. We had stopped at one of the many ice cream stands along the road, so I decided it was time to take a look at the distributor. The previous owner had replaced the Lucas electronic ignition distributor with a Mallory dual point unit, and as I suspected, the breaker point rubbing blocks had worn to the point where the points were barely opening. This retarded the spark timing, which resulted in the high temperature and poor idle. I guessed at a new point gap setting, then tightened everything up. The TR8 fired right up and we got back on the road to Halifax – with considerably more power!

Our next stop was in Shelburne. After selling out the Willydog hotdog stand, we split up into a couple of groups - one to check out all of the curio shoppes, and the other to check out the historic buildings along the waterfront. One of these housed the only remaining privately owned cooperage in Canada, and had hundreds of barrel staves stacked up to dry in the sun. The doors were wide open and we were able to see the big drum saw that cut the lumber into the curved staves and a few partially assembled barrels, but there was nobody around to explain anything. We continued down the Dock Street waterfront park, then made our way back downtown to meet the other half of our group.

The sun had just about burned through the overcast skies and it was turning into a really nice day. We made our way to Lockeport, which had one of the few sandy beaches along the route. Of course, this meant that we’d have to stop and get our feet wet in the Atlantic Ocean. We noticed that while there were a lot of people on the beach, no one was in the water. We soon found out why - it was freezing! It only took a couple of minutes in the surf before our toes were numb.

Even if the water had been warmer, I don't think it would have been a very good swimming spot since we had noticed two jellyfish up on the shore.

Jeff Rust had made arrangements to meet with a few people from the British Automobile Touring Association of Nova Scotia (BATANS) in Halifax that night, so we decided to pick up the pace a bit since our current rate of speed would put us in Halifax around midnight. After a couple of wrong turns (the maps didn’t agree with the road signs), we made our way inland to the highway. Shortly thereafter, the rear muffler bracket broke on Mike and Diane Mueller’s TR6. Mike made the proverbial "baling wire" fix, and we were back on the road in minutes.

Jeff, Karen, Joe, and I got separated from the group while getting "back on the trail". It didn't take long for us to catch up at a leisurely cruising speed of 100 mph.

After the long flowing paragraphs about all the beautiful churches and lighthouses, we found a simple, one-sentence description of a lighthouse at Peggy’s Cove. The name sounded familiar, but we couldn’t remember where we’d heard of it before. On a hunch, we took the turn toward the coast and were quickly rewarded with a great view of the most photographed lighthouse in Canada. Once we got there, we learned that the crowds were starting to return now that the debris had stopped washing up on shore from the Swissair plane that had crashed six miles offshore the previous September. As we were preparing to leave, one of the local residents noticed our Triumphs and told us that we’d have a good time on the road from Peggy’s Cove to Halifax since it was curvy, hilly, and "free of cops". We didn’t have to worry about the cops, since it just wasn’t possible to exceed the (reasonable) speed limit while leading several six other cars on an unfamiliar twisty and hilly road at sunset. Even so, it still was a fun drive!

We ended up in Halifax just after dark. It appeared that the traffic light timing would break us up into several groups, but the CB radios let us tell everyone else where we where. We arrived at the hotel and found that the parking lot was completely full. Luckily, Joe and Kathy found a very cooperative member of the hotel staff that managed to squeeze all seven of us into the bus parking area. Jeff had a message waiting for him inviting us to meet with several BATANS members, but we had arrived too late to be able to join them at a reasonable hour. After unloading our luggage, a number of us ventured out and stuffed ourselves at The Keg Restaurant. The walk back along the hilly streets of Halifax helped to burn off the late meal.

As we reorganized our trunk, we found a spare CB and antenna for the Hursts to use. The problem came in attaching it to the Golden Retriever - the magnetic mount antenna wouldn't stick to the hood or trunk lid, which appeared to be aluminum. We finally found a spot on the convertible top frame that would hold the antenna, and we got underway. We stopped at McDonalds, but found that their McLobster sandwich wasn't on the breakfast menu. As we left, Jake's TR6 decided to mark its territory with coolant once again. Of course, we couldn't let a good photo opportunity go to waste!

We got back on the road and followed the signs for the Evangeline Trail, which follows the southern edge of the Bay of Fundy. Our tops were remained down, even in a light rain. The rain kept getting heavier, and the traffic speed kept going down, so we were finally forced to pull over and put them up in Windsor. The skies cleared shortly before we arrived in Annapolis Royal. We found a place to park and started exploring. One of the local residents gave us a complete "tour guide" description of the various things to see and do as we walked down the streets of the earliest European settlement in Canada. After a lunch break, we broke up into several groups to see the sights. There was a very interesting museum at Fort Anne that showed how the area was originally settled and how it was defended. It seems that the area was traded back and forth several times between the French and the British. It turned out that every time, the British fought a battle to get control of the area while the French only had to sign a treaty to get it back. The original gunpowder magazine dating back to 1708 and most of the earthwork fortifications have been preserved.

The tides in this area are amazing, typically sixteen feet from low tide to high tide. We happened to be there just after low tide, and could see a significant change in the water level in the short time we were there. We were told that the level changes up to a foot in a little as fifteen minutes!

Part 2

Tuesday, August 27 (continued)

After lunch, sight-seeing, and a photo opportunity (September Snic-Braaapp cover) in Annapolis Royal, we got back on the road headed for Yarmouth. We took a side road, halfway out on the peninsula, when we encountered a pier overlooking an expansive sand beach. Since the tide was still out, several of us walked waaaaay out to the waterline while the rest of us examined a curious piece of off-road machinery left abandoned on the pier. This "truck" seemed to be cobbled together out of bits of whatever military surplus equipment that the owner happened to find laying around. It had the strangest "cheddar orange" paint job, too.

After losing interest, we headed back toward the main road toward Yarmouth. We were running behind schedule again, so Jeff and Karen split off from us since they had made arrangements to meet up with the folks from BATANS at their motel in Yarmouth. We continued on along the Evangeline Trail coast road and spotted a beautiful church along the way. Of course, we just had to stop. (Some of us had relief needs to address, as well.)

We continued on, and pulled off a short time later at a small restaurant. As we were deciding if we want to eat there, a group of TR2s and TR3s go roaring by. We waved them down, and found that they were the BATANS group that we were supposed to meet the night before. They were running late since one of their members had lost an engine bearing in his newly rebuilt Stag.

We decided to continue on to Yarmouth with our new friends from Halifax. The temperature started to drop, and the fog started to roll in from the Bay of Fundy. Even in the late afternoon sun, we could only see about two cars ahead of us. During one of our exchanges on the CB, we heard Jeff and Karen, who were waiting to meet the BATANS group at the motel. We just couldn't resist jabbing Jeff with "You'll never guess who we ran into along the way!"

We continued on and checked into our hotel in Yarmouth, then met for dinner at a local brewpub. This turned out to be the local hotspot that night, since the Progressive Conservative Party politicians held a rowdy victory party there after winning the provincial elections that were held earlier that day.

Wednesday, August 28

Yarmouth remained socked in with heavy fog as we checked out of the hotel and headed for the ferry terminal. Once again, we were put into a single line and found ourselves the center of attention of all the other people in line around us. Boarding the ferry went faster since there were significantly fewer people in line for the return trip to Portland. The fog lifted shortly after we left Yarmouth, and most of us gathered on the sundeck to enjoy the sun and the view. We saw a lot more sea life than I had expected, with a lot of whales, dolphins, and sharks breaking the surface. Back inside, a very talented staff put on a nice musical revue, with the "cruise director" doing a pretty good Elvis. We were pleasantly surprised.

We encountered lots of people on board who saw our "gang colors" (ISOA jackets) and kept asking if we were the group they saw "with all those Triumphs" driving through Yarmouth the night before. It's nice to be recognized...

The eleven-hour cruise went faster than I thought it would. The Maine coastline gradually came into view and we entered the harbor at Portland at sunset. The doors to the cargo hold were unlocked and we made our way down to our Triumphs. Most of us waited patiently for the three sets of forward cargo bay doors to be opened so we could disembark – except for the two TR6 owners who enjoyed the sound of their Supertrapps in close quarters. Finally, the doors were opened and we drove off the ship. As we headed for Customs, the a few members of the ship's crew followed close behind us with buckets of oil-dry and huge brooms.

After we got the once-over from the US Customs officers, we picked up the trailers from the parking lot and made our way to the Holiday Inn. The kind folks of New England Triumphs had arranged with the City of Portland to set aside the entire block in front of the hotel exclusively for Triumph parking. There was a separate lot for trailers, so we quickly dropped them off and parked our Triumphs out front. The welcome party was already underway, so we quickly checked in and joined the festivities. Somehow, our Team ISOA hats made a big impression, and those of us who had turned them into "Lobster Hats" got even more attention.

Joe and I were worried when a twin of our Stag pulled in beside us. It looked nice! Joe went to work sizing up the other Stags. There were 6 total in the concours class plus two in the peoples choice class! One Stag was the almost identical twin of ours. The judging went rather well except for one tiny problem. This judge told us that we had the wrong top! Imagine that! He obviously had no idea what he was talking about! Oh, yes he did! Mk II Stags are only supposed to have one back window, not three! (I had to say that, you know-all in good fun). Me, too! Now back to the story. I had the impression that Maine did not have weather as hot as Illinois, but it was sure hot while we were there. We were told by some individuals who had transplanted themselves from Inverness, Illinois to Maine 10 years ago that this was the hottest summer they had ever endured on the east coast. Could the show have been scheduled any more timely? We still had a great time. Joe and I took a nice walk along the coast where a nice ocean breeze was blowing. We ran into the Billimacks who were also taking in some of the local sites. I will not go into the results of the show since they were already noted in a previous newsletter.

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Potato Fest 1999

September 5, 1999

Labor Day weekend means only one thing for ISOA and BBB: POTATO FEST! Once again, Donna and Jake Jaquet hosted the 5th annual event at their home just southwest of Byron. Approximately 95 people from both ISOA and BBB joined in the festivities. The Jaquet's front yard was filled with lots of Triumphs, a bunch of MGs, a Jaquar, and even a Me-too-a. The weather was much improved over last year's event, with only a threat of rain in the forecast.

A few weeks before the event, Jeff Lathrop of BBB drew a caricature of Jake driving a potato gun-equipped TR3. We decided this drawing had to be put to good use. So, with the help of Joe Pawlak and his accessible computer technology, Ann made a barbecuing apron, framed drawing, and a very large target. These were presented to both Donna and Jake as the festivities got under way.

Ready, aim, fire in the hole! Danger - Potato Shooting Range. Several targets were set up on the range this year: plastic water jugs, MG octagon and the Jake TR3 caricature. The famous potato guns were brought out early and fired quite often. Bill Pyle brought back the potato howitzer that was first fired at last year's Potato Fest. Two of the potato guns retired early due to ignition problems, but one of them returned to action retrofitted with a Pyle rotary flint spark control. Several of the water jugs sustained direct hits. The MG octagon target was soon knocked off its perch. The unofficial potato count was a mere 240 pounds! Should this become an Olympic sport?

Little kids as well as big kids filled the swimming pool from the very beginning. The 100+ water balloons that Megan had filled earlier that day did not last long. So much for the water balloon toss event!

As the clock approached 1:00 pm the designated cooks, Jake, Bill Pyle and Ann slaved over their barbecue grilles. Once again, Jake, sporting his new Potato Fest apron, was assigned to the hamburgers due to his ability to cook everything well done in a cloud of smoke! The request for a "dish to pass" resulted in a nice variety of munchies, salads, fruits, vegetables and desserts. It is amazing how much food 90+ people can consume!

After lunch, Jake brought out "Big John", his newest acquisition. This 1950 John Deere model "A" tractor was used to pull a hay wagon around the neighborhood. So many people wanted a ride that two trips were needed. We sure hope this will be an annual part of Potato Fest.

A brief shower cleared most of the MGs out of the yard. The rest of us just put up our tops and returned to the festivities.

The Pinewood Derby track returned again this year, with lots of entrants in both the "Official Cub Scout" and "Vintage Racer" classes. Once again, Ken Kendzy did a great job of keeping track of all the entries and determining the winners.

Later in the afternoon, the bocce ball and croquet tournaments began. Both were complicated by a slight incline to the playing fields. Please note that these games have been played by women only for the past two years, so next year there may have to be a "shirts vs. skins" challenge!

As the sun was setting, the 20+ people still hanging around decided it would be a good time to EAT! The grills were fired up again. After dinner the fire pit was lit and the kids cooked marshmallows to order for those who were left.

Another great Potato Fest has ended. Each year we leave with fond memories of a day shared with good friends. Isn't that what being a part of a car club is all about? We sure think so!

Ann and Tim Buja

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Chicagoland British Car Festival

September 12, 1999

Another great turnout of cars with more Triumphs than at many regional Triumph events. Most of the day was great. Much cooler than last year and we all really appreciated it. Unfortunately, some liquid sunshine appeared about an hour too early and sent many attendees scurrying. Many of us stayed to the very end as we were charged with the awards tallying and presentation. Several members capped off the day at Photo's Hot Dogs for food and beverages — a great way to phase down and relax.

Our show is believed to be the largest club-sponsored British car show in the country, with almost 800 cars and cycles registered this year. Several years ago, the British Car Union planning group asked ISOA to handle the entire awards process as it requires a number of people to give a significant amount of their time on the day of the event. Only a large, active club can devote as much "people power" as we can. Being able to count hundreds of ballots in just over an hour is no easy task. But, once again, we (ISOA plus a couple of MGB people) were ready to present the awards at 3:00 PM as scheduled.

A number of ISOA members received People's Choice awards. Unofficial results indicate club members took plaques in these classes:

Spitfire:
Tom & Pat Morgan
Kathy & Joe Pawlak

TR-4
Pat Lobdell

TR-6 (early):
Diane & Mike Mueller

TR-6 (late):
Ken Briegel
Tom & Pat Morgan

Other Triumphs:
Bill & Sheri Pyle

No, none of us won the British Airways tickets this year. Both sets were won by XKE owners.

If you have any suggestions for the year Y2K show, please let Sheri or Jack (our BCU representatives) know before October 12 ( the BCU wrap-up meeting). If anyone took any pictures that might be considered for next year's brochure, please let them know.

Thanks to all who helped out, from directing cars early in the day to staffing the club table, to tallying and presenting the awards at the end. Our extra effort is really appreciated by the BCU.

Jack "Spuds" Billimack

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Cowbears and Trials '99

Little Switzerland, NC
September 25, 1999

So I look at my trusty AAA map (circa 1990) and it shows only one road leading through the Great Smokey Mountain National Park and that road connects right into the beginning of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Just follow signs to the "GSMNP" and take that road. You know the one that goes into the GSMNP which we, of course, find without any trouble at all.

"Boy, a lot of people driving into the park today", I say as we drive up to the entrance. Then, just as we drive in, I catch a sign out the corner of my eye, "Eleven Mile Loop". At the same time I notice we are on a ONE LANE ROAD to MiniVan Hell!!!! There is obviously more than one road through the GSMNP and this is NOT the one we want. No room to turn around and hundreds of nature loving leafers behind and in front of us.

I also quickly realize that we are moving at MiniVan Idle Speed which coincidently enough is the same as TR6 OVERHEAT SPEED. Now the speed would have been alright if not for the CONSTANT STOPPING TO LOOK AT YET ANOTHER TREE! "GET OUT OF MY WAY!!!! IT'S JUST ANOTHER TREE!!!!!!" We are the "Illinois Tourist Nazi's" and you will get out of our way because WE ARE ON VACATION AND TRYING TO ENJOY OURSELVES!!!! Perhaps the car is not the only thing getting overheated.

Suddenly all traffic comes to a complete stop as inexperienced itty bitty minivan drivers jockey for parking position on this one lane road then start leaping from their T.A.V.'s (traffic annoyance vehicle). The rubber necking, squealing and pointing directs everyones attention to something moving in the woods. "YOU PEOPLE NEVER SEEN A LIVE ANIMAL BEFORE??? HELLO, WE HAVE A NATIONAL TR6 CONVENTION TO GET TO!!!!" and I grab for more caffeine in yet another Mountain Dew.

The TAV's and SUV's are scattering off on the sides of the road as we zigzag our way through the traffic. As we get closer I see it and start uncontrollably screaming "IT'S A COW! YOU PEOPLE NEVER SEEN A COW BEFORE????? GO TO THE ZOO............". Oops. It's a bear. It's a very large, very black, people eating bear and it's galloping towards the road.

Did I mention we have the top down?

"WHOA, PEOPLE IN A CONVERTIBLE HERE. PEOPLE IN A CONVERTIBLE HERE."

Now, of course, with all the screaming and horn blowing and swerving back and forth and cursing over the past 500 feet or so they justifiably had little concern for the Chicago Vacation Nazi's in the open car.

A marshmallow lands in my lap.

I remember Tuesday night "Dateline NBC". Just two nights before. A special on a couple attacked and killed by a bear in Colorado. Well, actually the woman was killed when the man went for help.

I toss the marshmallow on Karen's lap.

"PEOPLE IN A CONVERTIBLE HERE. PEOPLE IN A CONVERTIBLE HERE"

As the CowBear careens down the embankment the level of my voice increases in direct proportion to the wail of the supertrap mufflers as I prepare to launch over the Minivan in front of us. This luckily attracts the attention of not only the CowBear but also all occupants of the Minivan in the way and they decide to pull off and let us by.

At this point, I can assure you, there isn't an animal in the woods for miles and leafers everywhere are wondering what the hell has just landed in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. I love these "Supertrapps".

Further down the road, say EIGHT OR NINE MILES or so we come upon what looks like a parking lot at a nearby Chrysler dealership. TAV's and SUV's for as far as the eye can see. As we work our way down the line we see a crowd of naturalist, some with children, out in the field pointing, photographing and looking up into a tree. As a man is helping his daughter negotiate back over the BARBWIRE FENCE I ask, "what's out there?" He turns to me and excitedly says, "There's a MOTHER BEAR AND IT'S CUBS up in the tree. You should go see it."

"EXCUSE ME, PEOPLE IN A CONVERTIBLE HERE. GET OUT OF THE WAY. PEOPLE IN A CONVERTIBLE HERE, EXCUSE ME!"

Jeff "Stalker" Rust

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The Last Trip of the Millennium

or
Oh, My Aching Back!!
October 9, 1999

The weather forecast was mediocre at best, but I figured the meteorologists don't really know if it's going to rain unless they're in the middle of a hurricane. So I packed my rain poncho, tent and other camping necessities and headed for the house of Buja, where a surprise 40th birthday party/barbecue for club member Karen Reilly was scheduled as the beginning of the fall camping trip. Billy was hunting and would meet for camping later in the day. Ann and Tim, Barb and Jack, Arlene and Ken, Donna and Jack, Bob Steele and son, Jeff and Karen and myself were in attendance for the cookout. Even though it was a small group, we had an enjoyable time and Karen was completely surprised. Donna supplied the male anatomy birthday cake...not something the guys were thrilled to watch being cut, but Karen had a good time licking the frosting!

Time to leave for Lowden State Park and the Turkey Testicle Festival! What's that, Jake? You left your lights on??? Battery dead? BOOMER!!! After jumping Jake's car, Tim, Ann, Jake and Donna, Bob Steele and myself head out. Barb and Jack were wussing out and going to the Fall Diddly craft show and Jeff and Karen were alone for the weekend… we know what THEY were going to be doing! It was turning into a beautiful fall day. The sun came out and burned off the earlier fog, which also brought the temperature up, which also caused a breakdown in my TR3. Pulling over to the side of the road, we lifted the hood, wiggled a few wires, Tim manually primed the fuel, the car restarted and off we went again…. For about six blocks. Up went the hood for a second time. We bypassed the secondary electrical line for the coil and again the car was running okay. Okay folks, let's get going… for about 5 miles. This is getting stale!!! This time we rigged a parallel condenser. I decided at this point that if the car broke down again, I would send Jake for his trailer and tow it home. Apparently this was all I had needed to do in the first place because this ultimately scared the car into working properly and we had no more visits to the side of the road. But we had spent so much time playing around with the car, we needed to go directly to the campground so we could set up the tents in the daylight. Bob Steele turned off in Byron and went back home. I don't think he even stopped for a quick bite at the Testicle Festival. I noticed as we drove past the Festival that this year they had blocked off the whole street in front of the tavern. It looked like there were hundreds of motorcycles there.

Ann was good enough to go early to reserve our campsite but when we got there, someone had already set up a tent on our site. Never let it be said that we ISOA people let others take what's ours. We promptly picked up the tent and moved it to the next site. Later we found out that the tent belonged to Steve Yezo and Sue Hobson. Ooops! Ryals Cheek also showed up after having a few brews at the TT Festival. Billy finally showed up with a truckload of firewood. I'm not kidding, he had about a cord of wood in the back of the truck. The poor axles were dragging ground! We had decided earlier to forgo the Pizza Hut dinner and just grill hot dogs on the fire. Ann had gone through a Girl Scout training course the day before and we played games and learned how to keep our pots from turning black. Then we made Dough Boys, or what I like to call Biscuits on a Stick. It's basically biscuit mix formed on the end of a dowel rod and cooked slowly over the fire. Then you spread butter and sprinkle cinnamon-sugar on it and enjoy!

Top it all off with Peppermint Schnapps and cocoa, roasted marshmallows and some stories around the fire and it's a perfect evening.

Bedtime came sooner than I expected. Maybe it was the Schnapps. This year Bill and I had bought a new air mattress after having the old one leak all night the last time we used it. I guess it stretches the first time you fill it up, because by morning it was only about two-thirds filled with air. I couldn't get up without assistance. It's pathetic when you have to have someone else put your shoes on your feet because you can't bend over far enough to do it yourself! Talk about feeling old!!

Breakfast was fantastic. Everyone did his or her part. Ann made pancakes, Donna and I did bacon, Sue made French toast, Jake and Billy did eggs (omelets, sunnyside up and scrambled). Ryals kept the fire going by chopping wood, and Arlene, Ken, Tim and Steve helped where needed. I want to say a special Thank You to Ann for coordinating the event, getting all the food and bringing the utensils, games and alcohol.

I end this report by telling all the ISOA people that didn't come this year that you missed another great camping trip. This was your final opportunity this century to take part in an ISOA tradition. I hope that you'll join us in the next century for vittles, libation and camaraderie.

Sheri "Big Mama" Pyle

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Bump and Grind in Hampshire

November 13, 1999

The spirits of Coventry smiled on Saturday November 13, and delivered a beautiful day for sunny driving plus valuable learning and fun. Joe got us started on a TR3 fender by showing how to cut out bad sheet metal with a plasma cutter - the proverbial hot knife through butter. A repair panel was then tack welded on with the wire feed welder. It was soon discovered the flange with the bolt holes on the repair panel was a quarter inch out of place, so Mr. Plasma was called back into action. Incredible! That plasma cutter removed the thin sheet metal flange from the inner fender without disturbing the sheet metal it was welded to underneath! Imagine a welding tool cutting a piece out of the jeans you're wearing without disturbing your skin...Verrrry precise!

That accomplished, the repair panel was also found to be about a sixteenth too short on one side, so the wire core of a welding rod was used to make up the difference. One look at Joe's face clearly showed he was as pleased with his creative solution as much as his technical skill. We all agreed.

By this time, Karl, Mike and Steve were busily banging away on Steve's 4A trunklid (or do you say bootlid?) with the thought that they could hammer it perfect or die trying. After about an hour Karl was heard to say: "Am I moving this thing or am I just getting used to seeing it this way?" At about this same time, Chuck was working out the DA (dual action not duck-ass) sander on the Spitfire door that was to be an after lunch project.

The group then moved outside for lessons in body filler. Coats of "mud" were applied and then sanding tecniques demonstrated. In the end it's a "touch" thing, and said touch not too difficult to acquire. New layers of mud were skimmed on and left to dry while we broke for lunch.

Do not let it be said food bargains are not to be found in the Hampshire area. After a pleasant Triumph and truck caravan from Joe's, we arrived at Motts Lounge in Burlington. For me, it was a tasty patty melt with chips for the princely sum of $2.50 - like here's $3 and keep the change! The staff at Motts were also first rate - they just handed out the food, trusting us to settle up honestly. Didn't they know who they were dealing with?

Several photo-ops later, it was back to Joe's. A cool tool was used on the dented Spit door which could not be pounded out because hammers and dollies were not usable due to structural interference. This tool essentially welds a rivet-like spike onto different spots of the dent surface - ending up looking quite porcupine-like. A slide hammer is used, one spike at a time and in succession, to pull the dent out. After about three passes with the slide hammer the dent is almost gone. The spikes are cut off with a side cutter and all that's left is the small dot where the rod was welded. The dots are ground, a small amount of filler added, and a perfect repair accomplished. It was announced the club had just purchased one of these tools - a fine investment indeed.

At this point Mike M decided to use Mr. Plasma to cut out holes for license plate lamps in his new TR6 rear apron. Like a kid with a new toy, (you'd better believe it!), Mike operated that cutter like an Exacto knife cutting balsa wood.

Back outside for more practice using filler and shaping tools, and learning "the touch". No one was denied a chance to try his hand. By the time I left (early), Jack had two very usable TR3 fenders, the Spit door was good to go, and by God, Steve's trunk lid was damn near perfect!

Throughout the day, our host the Stagmeister, like a fine chef, went from station to station - cutting out and welding repair panels here, body bumping there, applying, shaping and sanding, and then priming and fine sanding. Many basics and many many tips were traded throughout the day, and it's now much easier to understand why getting the LBC painted is a $4000 job! It has precious little to do with paint - much more to do with prep and creativity. It was fun watching other experts such as Mike Mueller, Karl and Steve Yott.

Mike Blonder

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