We often hear a lot about stalled restorations, or the stressful race in getting the car ready for the Spring Thaw, so here are some tips to help you get it done on time…

Partner with your parts guy.
In this day and age most of us buy our parts online, but it’s high time we all went back to a local parts source. Through the Spring Thaw I met a VW parts supplier, and he’s really become a partner on this project. He’s seen far more restorations then I have, and often suggests parts or order of assembly that I hadn’t thought of.  And while his business is selling parts, with me he allows returns and works hard to be competitive at price. It’s refreshing to be able to pickup the phone and say “it’s rear brakes time, can you order in the stuff” and not have to click through 18 pages, only to find out when the parts arrive I totally forgot I would need flex lines. How do you find a good parts guy? First, ask around…and then commit. Make a series of orders with him, and show you’re a ‘return’ customer. If he starts to ask about how your project is going, and shows genuine interest…you’ve found one.

Post a build thread.
Stop wasting hours surfing other peoples threads and questions, and instead start a build thread. Every time you get frustrated or burn out, it’s great to go back and witness all the things you’ve succeeded at. Keeping the story going, also helps to keep you going on your project. And the best part? Build threads with regular post counts attract those experts who surf forums regularly. Stuck on a problem, a simple post about it will result in answers being directed right at your project. Lastly, the encouragement from other enthusiasts on your posts is a huge boost after a tonne of work.

Implement “The Harrison rule”
Years ago I was burnt out on a rally car project which had sat for a long time. My buddy Harrison finally snapped me into it, by implementing what became known as “The Harrison Rule”. The rule is simple: Spend a minimum of one hour each day in the garage. You are allowed to work more hours in a day, but you can’t “bank” or miss any hours. Thus, two hours tonight doesn’t mean I can skip tomorrow. During your one hour a day, you don’t even have to touch your project! You might clean the work bench, sweep the floor, I’ve even just sat looking at the car for an hour. After a few nights, however, you get bored and touch the project. You might just turn a few bolts. Soon you find yourself excited to get back in the garage because you can once again seeprogress on the project. Eliminate the TV. the internet surfing, the sitting back on the couch, and suddenly an hour a day becomes available. The Harrison Rule has saved me from more projects then I could count.

Hopefully these ideas keep you from having the perpetual “project” sitting in your garage!

-Dave

Sitting in the CCA garage right now is a bare Volkswagen Beetle pan. So far in the first two months I’ve managed to strip the car down, repair the body, and prep the pan. The last month has been quite a bit slower though, as I’ve accomplished nothing more then mounting the transmission, shift rod and shifter. True, I did manage to squeeze a Porsche 5 speed into the Volkswagen floorpan, but the entire job was nothing but frustration. Two transmission rebuilds, plenty of cutting and welding and then finally 39 hours to setup the shift linkage so I could get all five gears and reverse while using the stock Beetle shifter.

While I have a mountain of things to do ahead of me, the experience has taught me just how insane some of you are each year. There are a few things I just don’t understand about this restoration thing  though. Like….

Where did all the parts go?! 
When I tore the car down, I put every nut, bolt and part into a ziplock bag, labelled it and placed the bag into one of three plastic bins. Now, as I go to rebuild the car, I can never find the bag I need. And why does the “front suspension” bag contain both the left and right side bolts, but the “rear suspension” bag only has 1-side? To make matters even worse, I tore down two other parts cars, labelling the parts as well. Why is it when I can’t find “rear suspension bolts” for my car, none of the parts car bins have them either!?!

Where does all the money go?
Back when I had a running, driving, car, the finances were simple. I needed something, I bought it. If I needed something big, I saved and I bought it. Most importantly, though, once I bought something there was a appreciable difference. Silent bearings, good brakes, new cosmetics. Now I just have boxes of parts, a floorpan…and no money. I’m working, I’m getting paid every two weeks but the car remains just a floorpan and there is no money. I knew restorations were bad, but this is black-hole suction!

Why doesn’t this fit!?!
Seriously, did an evil elf sneak in here with a hammer? Parts that came off the car were cleaned up, restored and painted…you’d think they’d fit. None of that seems to fit without grinding, drilling, modifying or dancing an ancient ritual found on the internet. I suppose, in hindsight, I should have just built a stock restoration…maybe then things would go together?

(this one is for Warwick) When will the mess stop?!
I think its about once a week that I announce I’m finally done with the grinding, cutting, drilling, welding and spilling. “Don’t worry Warwick,” I tell him, “it’s all clean bolt-together stuff now.” Um, I started in September…it’s the end of November. I mean, it has to stop before the car is driving, right?

-Dave

P.S. Stop in tomorrow to see my four tips for making it through a major restoration…

Eric Horst (WA) & Stephen Mats Mats (WA) carve through the snow on their way to 2nd place Historic, 5th Overall. Photo: Tony Latham

Snow is a four letter word. It was also the dominant factor that shaped the 2010 running of the Totem Rally. With 17 crews gathering from BC, Alberta, Oregon, Washington, The Yukon and Arizona, everyone involved knew the competition was going to be tough.  Organized by the West Coast Rally Association, the event started in Cache Creek, BC on Saturday morning with an overnight stop in 100 Mile House before returning to Cache Creek on Sunday. Up to 20 cm of fresh snow in the area added to the challenge.

While most crews arrived with modern all-wheel-drive Subarus or BMWs, a select group choose a different path, the Historic class. Open to cars 25 years old or older, the Historic class honours the 50-plus year history of the event by encouraging owners to actively use their cars over 800 kms of the best back roads BC has to offer.

Gary Webb (AZ) and John Kisela (WA) won Historic Class in their Toyota Celica GT. Photo: Tony Latham

Top placed historic for 2010 was the 1983 Toyota Celica GT of Gary Webb and John Kisela, only seven points clear of Eric Horst and Stephen Mats Mats in their 1983 Audi Quattro. Both teams finished top-5 overall. Full results can be found at www.rallybc.com.

Words & Photos by Tony Latham

By Nigel Matthews

When Porsche introduced the Cayenne SUV in 2002, a number of Porsche purists and even automotive journalists felt that the company was making a big mistake entering the luxury high-street SUV market.

If they had done their homework, they would have known that this was not Porsche’s first four-wheeler capable of tackling muddy fields. Dr. Ferdinand Porsche built three prototype-tractors in 1934.

The success of these well-built and typically Porsche “over-engineered” machines led to the production of a range of tractors fitted with one- to-four-cylinder engines.

The one-cylinder model was called the Junior, the two-cylinder the Standard, the three-cylinder the Super and the four-cylinder the Master.

There was a model suited to every farmer’s needs. Porsche partnered with the tractor manufacturer Allgaier Brothers; they built 35,000 Porsche tractors until Mannesmann (now owned by Vodafone in a $185 billion US takeover in 2000) took control of building the Porsche tractor in 1956. Mannesmann continued production until 1963 at which time a total of 125,000 units had been built.

A Porsche "Coffee Train" tractor's smooth lines were not for aerodynamics, but to prevent damage to the coffee plants. Photo: PorscheTractors.com

Approximately 1,000 made their way to North America. One beautifully restored, 1959 one-cylinder, 82-cc. Junior, producing 14 h.p, was offered for sale at RM Auctions annual Monterey event. The estimated sale price was $16,000 to $20,000 US. The hammer fell at $28,600 and included the 10-per-cent buyer’s premium.

The new owner has a magnificent example in a condition better than the day it came off the production line. The air-cooled diesel engines were cooled by a fan-duct system that was driven by the crankshaft-driven generator.

If you have ever worked on a type one Beetle or a Porsche 356, this will sound very familiar.

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld is a huge Porsche collector and attended the 59th annual Pebble Beach Concours, bringing two Porsche racing cars; he achieved a second-in-class win with his 1970 Porsche 908/03 race car. The (slightly slower) one-cylinder Porsche model 108 Junior would make a nice addition to his or any other serious Porsche collection.

Photo: John Colley/Goodwood Revival

Ask anyone who has been to the Goodwood Revival, and you’ll likely hear glowing reviews and wonderful stories. It is certainly #1 on our “must see” list. The annual highlights show on UK television does a great job of showing the hard-fought race action mixed with the vintage atmosphere. I think its safe to say that the on-track racing is some of the most intense historic racing you’re bound to see anywhere. Insanely rare and expensive automobiles going wheel to wheel on one of the fastest circuits is a sight to behold.

Photo: John Colley/Goodwood Revival

We’ve found portions of ITV’s 45-minute show online, along with some other videos that capture the sights and sounds of this event. The full ITV show is available for download via several ‘torrent’ websites if you are so inclined.

Here’s the Tourist Trophy portion of the ITV show, featuring GT cars from the early sixties. Luckily this year’s event had a clean start, but Bobby Rahal’s off-track excursion in F1-designer Adrian Newey’s lightweight e-type will make you cringe! Incredible racing.

Starting life as a perimeter road around the WWII airfield, the track is hellishly fast and must be quite a thrill in a historic car. Not to mention, you need to have an immaculately prepared motor and car to withstand these revs and forces!  To get an idea of the speeds, ride along with Tony Dron as he battles with Anthony Reid in the St. Mary’s Trophy! Dron is in a Ford Zodiac and Reid in a Jag Mk1, drafting and sliding their way around the track. Sadly, it ends with Dron breaking a front hub and retiring. (Skip to 1:30min for the start.)

Again, try and find a copy or download of the ITV show, because the St. Mary’s race was immensely entertaining. Watching ex-F1 driver Martin Brundle in a little A35 duke it out with multi-time Le Mans winner, Tom Kristensen, in the bigger Austin Westminster is not to be missed!

Photo: Matt Sills/Goodwood Revival

Here’s an amateur video of the Whitsun Trophy race that really gives you a sense of the raw sound of the ground-pounding sportscars that the television coverage doesn’t capture.

Thanks to Motorsport Retro for pointing to the ITV TT segment.
Goodwood Photographs are from the Revival website.

Defying all weather forecasts, a surprise clear and sunny morning greeted 50 cars at Park Royal Monday morning for the second annual Sea to Sky Thanksgiving Run. As the sun crested the horizon to provide a bit of warmth, an eclectic mix of British, German, American and French machinery rumbled down the on-ramp to Taylor Way towards Britannia Beach. It is a heart-warming sight to see a huge gaggle of vintage metal keeling over through turns in unison!

Once again, we were amazed at all the new cars we had never seen before – Vancouver is proving itself to be a hotbed of low-key classic car enthusiasts. The BMW, Datsun, and VW crews were out in force, plus a few minis, a Renault R8 holding down the French side, and a great group of American landyachts and hotrods. Heads turned to watch a Rolls Royce and pre-war Talbot roll into the parking lot at Galileo Coffee too. The spotless Talbot was fresh off a 10-year restoration and Pebble Beach Concours appearance this summer. Personally, I’m impatient after 1-year of restoration on my Mini – I can’t imagine ten years!

Thanks again to everyone who came out and made it another special day behind the wheel. We are excited about the great community of enthusiasts that is getting to know each other! Thanks also to Lance and the staff at Galileo Coffee who we tend to overwhelm every year! We’ll leave you with images from the day. If you have photos you would like to share, please post a link in the discussion forum (you may need to host them on flickr or photobucket first if you don’t have hosting).

[Thanks to your generosity, we will be delivering a full car-load of food and cash for Squamish Helping Hands and Food Bank - thank you!]

Sea to Sky Run 2010 - Dave & Warwick Photos

100 Photos

Sea to Sky Run 2010 - Anthony Latham Photos

54 Photos

Racing was an entirely different world back in the 60′s. This 8mm film, complete with its clacketing projector reel soundtrack, really has a neat feel to it. Just a bunch of people hanging out by the bay in NorCal, watching a stream of SCCA Production A/B/C warriors battle and bump it out on the streets of Candlestick Park in 1965. The 1.9 mile temporary road course was used from 1963 until 1965, using the parking lots and roads surrounding the relatively new San Francisco Giants stadium. Frantic flagmen, haybales for safety (kinda), and lots of excitement! Keep your eye out for the #7 Cobra driven by legendary Phil Hill, and the chequered flag taken by Don Wester in his yellow Porsche 904(?).  [Video link via The Chicane]

“]The track layout as it was in the 1960′s.

By Nigel Matthews

The Russian car Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod — translated from Russian, “Gorky Automobile Plant,” or simply known as a GAZ — was a product of a joint venture between Ford and the Soviet Union which became the largest auto plant in Europe.

The first model off the line was based on Ford’s new Model A, and was called the GAZ-A. The Canadian equivalent likely would have been the GAZ-EH.

The first GAZ I encountered was in 2006 at a Barrett-Jackson auction. It was a 1974 Gaz-13 “Chaika” Limousine used by a Kremlin official. That car surprisingly sold for $43,200 at this all-American show.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a photo of a smaller version cross my desk and wondered how this car, which looked almost brand-new, ended up in Canada. What was the story?

The only way to find out was to call the owner, Mikhail Molchanov. He told me he had owned the 1959 GAZ-Volga in Russia for many years. He left it behind when he immigrated to Canada but planned to have it shipped at a later date.

He purchased two other Volgas to provide a sufficient supply of parts so the car could be restored in Russia, which took three years. When completed, it was shipped to B.C.

This second-generation model has a different grille, with horizontal bars and a large star in the centre. The story goes that one of the Russian generals disapproved of the first-generation grille.

So the designer thought that, if he placed a big star in the centre, the general could hardly disapprove of that and they got away with it. The third-generation cars had the leaping deer removed from the hood, because it was not very pedestrian-friendly. Not many cars are.

If you see this magnificent car — which looks like a cross between a Studebaker and a Ford — on the streets or at a car show somewhere in British Columbia, take a good look at it, because I doubt you will ever see another one in Canada.

Nigel Matthews is the sales and marketing executive for Hagerty Canada

By Budd Stanley

Who could forget the classic opening to The Italian Job? No, not Marky Mark walking through a Venetian piazza. The one from 1969 starring Michael Cain that opened with  Rossano Brazzi carving his way up an Italian Alp in a classic Lamborghini Miura to the musical mixture of a Lamborghini V-12 and the song “On days like these” performed by Matt Monro. Well, that special bit of road that Brazzi was enjoying until his untimely run-in with an ill placed bulldozer, was the Grand-Saint-Bernard Pass. After my adventures on the Col de Turini (see story), I travelled north to experience the Grand-Saint-Bernard (lets call it the GSB) and ironically hit Turino at the hight of rush hour. Like Minis full of gold loot, I too struggled to get my Z4 through the endless maze of traffic filled streets, for on the other side of the city lay the alps and the town of Aosta which leads to the hidden jewel.

Linking Aosta, Italy, to Martigny, Switzerland, the pass is a much more interesting alternative to the toll tunnel that goes through the mountain. Experience has taught me when new roads are built under old ones, it’s a good sign that traffic will be light on the long road, and this was the case when I made the climb into the alpine border lands that mark the Swiss-Italian territories. Taken mid-evening on a weekday, I nearly had the entire pass all to myself, even the motorbikes and cyclists were few and far between, a trait the GSB is known for.

The route starts in the mountain valley leading north from Aosta, Italy, and begins as a winding country two-lane road. At the base of the Valais Alps, the road narrows to a single lane through a heavy wood, with rock barriers, so careful anticipation of oncoming is required. However, it all got interesting once I punched through the tree line and out into the alpine, a spectacular manmade line that traverses the side of the mountain four times before loping over the rocky crest. The expanse of the valley heeds a great view of any impeding traffic, while the narrow winding lane is littered with only a few sharp hairpins to give the driver an abundance of challenges.

Over the first crest, and I was greeted with a feast of meandering corners slowly making their way up to the famous tunnel of death just below the first peak. It is in this magnificent bowl that all the filming took place for the original Italian Job. No wonder, as this road is by far the most beautiful I’ve ever seen in terms of cosmetics, the route is a constant joyful challenge and the landscape is breathtaking. As I carved my way through the natural obstructions, I couldn’t help but whistle the iconic song to myself, with a disappointed look coming from my girlfriend from across the cabin. Yeah, it’s a cheese ball song, but at this particular moment in time, and in this particular place, no other song seemed worthy.

I have to hand it to the Italians, the condition of the road was immaculate. It looked as though it just had a complete makeover prior to my arrival. The tarmac had that fresh black color with bright white lines, and the entire route up to the peak had clean, stained-timber Armco barriers that would act more for decoration than as a savior if anyone were to leave the road. Rightly so, several pullouts have been created for drivers to take a break from sweaty palm driving, and to enjoy the rocky outcroppings, alpine meadows and brooks that make this place just that much more special. At the peak lies a mountain top lake, still half covered in ice, as well as the usual touristy kiosks, hotels and restaurants.The peak of this Alp represents the Swiss-Italian boarder, manned by two uniformed agents and a sharp looking Land Rover Defender. With a nod, I was waved through and began the decent down the Swiss side of the pass.

The Swiss side is a stark contrast to that of the Italian, as the road was very narrow and bumpy. Nerves are tested with much larger drop offs and nothing more than a few stones planted on the side of the road to keep you alive – maybe.

Arriving in Martingy, Switzerland, the end point of the pass, I had time to reflect on this beautiful stretch of road. While it may not have been the greatest driving road in the series, it still made for a truly special driving experience. Breath taking views, great road construction, history, and a great mix of aggressive and challenging driving conditions all make the GSB is a must if you find yourself in northwestern Italy, or southwestern Switzerland.

Total Distance: 74.8 km
Altitude: 2,469 m

Best time to go: Pass is only open between June and September.

Places To Stop: Pullout just over the tunnel entrance for spectacular views (27 km), Swiss Border, kiosks and Inns at the top of the Col (33 km), Pullout near tunnel ventilation shaft with a history lesson of Napoleon’s expedition and great views (36 km).

Starting Point: Coordinates 45°44′28″N – 7°18′51″E. Beginning in Aosta, Italy, take the E27/SS27 (Ave Grand-Saint-Bernard) north into the Alps. At 19 km, leave the tunnel route and follow SS27 over the pass. At 33 km is the summit as well as the Swiss border, the route then tracks down the Swiss side joining back up with the new route  and continues on to Martigny, Switzerland.

Finishing Point: Coordinates 46°5′16″N – 7°3′19″E, Martigny, Switzerland.

Road Type: Smooth flowing two lane alpine road on Italian side that turns into a rough and narrow lane that slows due to terrain.

Warnings: Due to altitude and snowfall the pass is only open during summer months. The Swiss side of the pass has large drops with only the occasional stone to prevent long drops off the road.