Dublin Meet

[Jay Wolf]

Just back from the Dublin Meet;

We had beautiful weather, the quality of cars were second to none.

Everything was great except the catering at the motel had several problems and

you couldn?t get the NASCAR race on the cable in your room and the one in the lobby the reception was poor.

It was good seeing all the National Directors and being assured AACA is in good hands.

Earl and Judy were there doing their usual excellent job as AACA Spokespersons.

Many thanks to Tom Sulphen for his excellent hospitality; he has quite a place there.

I found the manufacturing of fire trucks and interesting as his collection and really enjoyed talking with Tom.

We had several participants in the Youth Chips program and participation in that is really looking up for the future as the word gets out. I would have to check with Myron but I think we awarded close to 30 chips.

My photos of the meet are at

http://beaver.vinu.edu/09-11-2004%20Dublin/index.html

[R W Burgess]

Good pictures Jay! I think I saw Pedro Heizsmann's Triumph sitting beside the red MG(?). Thanks, Wayne

[Jay Wolf]

It is a small PC I am using as a server it is kind of being swapped right now.

if you have trouble getting in just try again later.

[Peter J.Heizmann]

Jay...nice Thunderbird, bud. I took a good gander and it sure is a nice one.

Likewise, had a great time at Dublin. Beautiful field location with plenty of room.

Have to express this to you folks. What a trip home!!

Heading to Reading, PA, I took I-70 to the PA Turnpike at New Stanton. Got onto the turnpike, driving along with no cares in the world. Stopped at the Somerset Plaza for gas & grub. When I accelerated to blend into traffic I heard one heck of a vibration. Pulled over along the on-ramp. Thought transmission immediately. Accelerated about 20' and no, it wasn't the tranny.

Backed the trailer onto a grass area, waited about 30 minutes until I saw no one on the on-ramp. I drove the opposite way back to the truck parking area then heard a "bang".

The drive shaft sheared off at the universal joint. Of course, this was the down side.

Immediately, the up side and blessings. For one, I was at a service plaza. The tow truck guy was great. Made a deal with me. I knew I could put it into 4-wheel drive and let the front wheels power it. The tow truck guy said instead of going 46 miles to the next interchange and back, I could follow him out the rear service entrance gate provided I give him my turnpike ticket for him to dispose. Sounded good. He also wanted my AAA Card to at least get the tow credit. We went out the gate, drove 2 miles on a country road, lost little if any fluid out of the transfer case, got a room at the Somerset Holiday Inn (only 3 blocks from the Saylor Dodge dealership).

Called the wife, Saylor Dodge got a used driveshaft this morning, replaced the chopped up yoke, and, arrived home today, about 19 hours overdue, but, all of this could have been a lot worse if I was in the construction zone with no pull over area at all around the service plaza. <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Regards, Peter J.

[Peter J.Heizmann]

Howdy, Wayne...

Yep, that was my TR-6 next to the MG.

Folks, take a look at the photos Jay graciously took the time to post.

Of note, is the yellow cycle with large, off road tires that has what looks like hubcaps, but, are in fact sealed drum with the tires affixed around them. It is a Rokon cycle.

Quite a story. The Rokon's were used on the Alaska Pipeline work. The sealed wheels served 2 purposes. 1. Additional gas could be stored in them, thus, extending its range to 400 miles. 2. When empty, the wheels would become floatation devices when fording a river, or, stream.

Regards, Peter J.

[Jay Wolf]

The Rokon is mine and my 12 year old Daughter?s

She is a AACA Junior member and a story about her rebuilding the Rokon?s carburetor is on the AACA junior site at

http://www.aaca.org/junior/spotlight/haley/haley.htm

The junior site is even fun for us older kids.

She rode it on the field but with all the people and cars she asked me to ride it off the field.

The king pins on it are a little tight and the bars stick if turned sharp and after having it out in the rain at Metropolis it was kind of sticky.

I have new kingpins and bushings. I hope to find time with her this week to replace them,

She is showing it this weekend at the Hoosier in Indianapolis IN

T-bird ran flawless 730 miles at 65-70 most of the time it average 17mpg pulling the trailer. I was within 5 minutes of having it in the garage when it rained.