The Squamidian Report – June 18 / 16
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The Ontarion
Hi All,
June-uary. Thats what they call it and for good reason. It can often be
as warm here on the coast in January as it is in June. Or, to put it
the other way, it can often be as cold here in June as it is in
January. And yes, it can be hot at times too, just like it was a week
or so ago when we set some new heat records. Then, the weather went
totally the other way and out came the winter jackets again. On Tuesday
there was fresh snow falling in the mountains. On Tuesday night the
snow line came right down to the highway in West Van and on all the
mountain passes of course. We could see fresh snow on the trees above
us up in the hills. There were thunder storms as well that did a good
job of drenching everything is site.
Good thing it didn't snow last Sunday. We did our usual motorcycle
chapter BBQ here and it would have been a bummer to hold a bike event
if everyone had to car pool. It had been cold and wet the day before
and cold and wet the day after but that day worked out well. It was
overcast and cool but certainly very ride-able. Well, the sky did scare
off a couple of rides who decided to sit it out but for the rest it was
a good day. I rode down to the Bay in order to meet with the group at
9am so we could stage for a 9:30 KSU and head for Squamish. I had pre
arranged with the local mini-golf place here in town for our group to
hold a little fun 'tournament'. We've done that before and had a hoot.
The local mini-golf place even gives a group discount for small groups
like us and seems to like it when we come. They don't seem to mind a
dozen big old motorcycles parked there or the silly laughter that emits
from our members as they golf very poorly.
We rolled in and parked the bikes and as usual, several campers from
the adjacent camp grounds wandered over to check out the bikes. Once we
had our clubs and balls we split into two groups and away we went. Once
we had played our 18 holes we saddled back up and headed to our place,
a short 10 minute ride away. 'The Wife' had most of the food ready when
we got there and once the BBQ was warmed up we had our BBQ. And a lot
of fun. Our riding group is a 'social' riding group and we enjoy doing
stuff together as much as riding together. We've got riding couples,
single men, single women, wives that ride there own bikes and wives
that ride as passengers. Funny, we don't have any men that ride as
passengers. Strange how that works.
A cool thing about having the biking group over is that we must rumble
up the hill from the valley, and through the Highlands in order to get
here. That always give the neighborhood something to look at. Then we
park all the bikes in a nice neat row along the street. That gives the
local kids something to check out, and a few of their fathers of
course. By late afternoon the party ended and the bikes all headed out.
It was a good day.
Several of our members like taking pictures, and one of them was taking
video. Not sure if this link works but if it does, you can see some of
us in action. Well, perhaps 'action' is not the best description.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYuUoOnHyvc&feature=youtu.be
If you watch it all the way to the end, you will notice that none of us
are very good at mini-golf, not very good at all. And, you will see
that the reason I had the best score is because I was the one keeping
score. Or at least thats what I was told.
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
Once again it’s the end of the week and time for another Ontarion adventure!
Well, I guess it must run in the family! My love for Little British
Cars or LBC’s as they are known in Sports Car circles has finally
surfaced right here in our own family. I know that I’ve told you about
our son Adam having driven a “modern” Mini Cooper from 2003 to2013 in
past issues of The Ontarion. Well, he finally jumped on the LBC
bandwagon and went out and purchased a “classic” 1977 Mini Cooper!
That’s right, it’s a real “little” Mini from the 70’s and it’s a beauty
indeed! He’s wanted to purchase a true Mini since he was a young
teenager or even earlier. I started my car buying life by purchasing a
Morris 850 as the second car I ever owned and it was a junkie little
1962. It was red and had a black plastic interior. I loved that little
car even though it was almost worn out when I bought it from Heffner
Motors on King St in Kitchener. That’s right, the very same Heffner
Motors that is now a Lexus/Toyota dealer in east end Kitchener. I
bought my ’62 direct from John Heffner Sr himself and it reaffirmed my
love of LBC’s. Even though it was a bit of a mess, it lasted me a
couple of years until I could afford a better one. I went from that
Mini 850 to a 1959 Volvo B-544 and it really was a mistake. I ended up
trading that Volvo to Heffner’s for a brand-new 1967 Austin Cooper
998cc. It was red with a black roof and was the envy of all my friends.
It cost me a whopping $1800.00 and had to be ordered direct from the
factory in England and I had to wait two months to take delivery. It
was a load of fun and I’ve never outgrown my love of LBC’s. I’ve told
Adam so many stories about my Mini owning days that I guess I am guilty
of getting him hooked on the fun little cars too!
For the past 5 years since he’s been living in his own house he’s
gotten serious about finding and purchasing his own LBC. He loved his
BMW Cooper but it just wasn’t the “Real McCoy” and only served to wet
his appetite for a classic British version. Over the past few years
he’s been sending me ads for Mini’s for sale and we’ve been assessing
each one as if it was to be purchased tomorrow! Finally over the past
few weeks he’s been very serious about buying one to have as a hobby
vehicle. We’ve checked out several over the past year or two but have
found none that was worth a poop getting serious about. However, over
the last month or more we’ve seen quite a few that were very
interesting and were worth taking a drive to look at! We’ve checked out
several that looked great until they were seen in person and turned out
to be a lot rougher than their touted condition! How people can out
rightly lie about how their vehicle is in showroom condition when they
know once shown in person to a prospective buyer they’ll be found out
to be an obvious piece of crap is beyond me! Several of our prospective
Mini sellers are lucky that we drove away leaving them with a full set
of teeth after wasting our valuable time spent driving sometimes hours
to see their supposed Show Room vehicle! Sheesh! Of all the nerve!
Oh well, those are the breaks when you’re car shopping I guess! We just
had to keep on plugging away and I told Adam that eventually a beauty
would turn up at the right price! We were contemplating driving to
Oshawa area and further on Friday afternoon to view a Mini that was
supposed to be in pretty good condition with no rust and just the right
features to satisfy Adams desires in a hobby Mini. Late Wednesday
evening I was about to turn in for the night when I took one last look
at Kijiji “Mini’s for Sale” ads. There at the top of the list was a
Mini Cooper that hadn’t been listed earlier. I quickly sent Adam a text
and he wrote back saying he’d just spotted the ad five minutes prior to
receiving my message. He had already sent the owner a request to view
the Mini the next day and was awaiting a reply. The following day he
received a reply and asked for a viewing time. The owner didn’t answer
and after a few more tries to contact him through Kijiji we had almost
given up. Since the Mini was located in Guelph, I suggested on Thursday
evening around supper that we take a run over to Guelph to the
indicated location that was shown on the Kijiji ad and see if we might
find it sitting in the owner’s driveway. I said we could just go knock
on his door and ask to take a look at it! So off we went and searched
the wrong area of Guelph. I guess the owner didn’t give his proper
postal code in the ad, likely to avoid anybody bothering him in just
the same manner we tried! Oh well, we sent him one more text telling
him we were in Guelph on other business and could we take a quick look
at his Mini that evening. After another ½ hr of no reply, we headed
home to Kitchener. We were home about a half hour when Adam showed up
at our place once again and told me he’d received a reply and that we
were welcome to come over to see the car right then. We hopped in his
Jeep and headed back to Guelph! Sheesh! Another hour spent figuring we
were likely going to be disappointed with another junker once we got to
the Mini.
We arrived in Guelph late in the evening and to our surprise, the guy
had a little beauty of a Mini Cooper in a portable garage. It was a
shiny little metallic green ’77 Mini Cooper with a light tan coloured
cloth interior. It had a burled walnut dash, no rust, the larger Cooper
S engine and a lovely set of Mini-Lite mag wheels. It ran like a clock
and from what we could tell after a short drive and a good looking
over, it was well worth the asking price. He said he had too many toys
and was selling the Mini because it had not been driven in two years.
He had it in storage and decided to sell it to gain some room in his
garage. Adam made him and offer on the LBC and he accepted without any
haggling.
Adam was surprised and quite pleased that he’d finally found a
“real” British Mini Cooper! We went back on Friday afternoon and after
completing the business of payment and ownership change, we were able
to bring the Little Beauty home! Of course it’s unusual to see someone
Adam’s size (6’ 4” tall) get out of one of the worlds smallest cars but
the interior is actually quite roomy. Adam loved the drive home and is
very happy with his choice. I drove it around a few blocks once we were
back at our house and it brought back a flood of memories from the last
Mini that Carole and I owned back in 1974 when we were only married one
year! I’m sure that we’ll get to drive Adam’s Mini often and relive all
the fun times we enjoyed when we owned our last 1973 Mini 1000. We
actually still had that very Mini when Adam was born back in 1976 and
he had many rides in that Mini sleeping in his bassinette strapped in
the back seat! I guess that experience even as a baby must have
instilled in him a love for those great Little British Cars! I’m sure
he’ll have many fun times and drives in his own LBC over the next who
knows how many years! With the three of us having LBC’s, our MGB and
Adam’s Mini Cooper, we’ll have loads of fun taking good weather drives
in the country and city together in the future!
That’s about enough for this week folks!
Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now… Greg
PS: Something To Think About>
I find it ironic that the colours red, white and blue stand for freedom until they are flashing behind you!
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Have a good one..
the doug
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