January 2001

Another Year of the Sunbeam has passed, as we now enter 2001. And the Club has continued to mature and develop. Looking back on the year, there are some highlights worthy of mention. Early in 2000, the membership voted to make significant changes to the governance of TE/AE by updating and changing the By-Laws. This was a massive effort by the Board and Officers to develop the proposal that you voted on and I thank everyone for their help. We now have the election of our Board of Directors (as just completed; the results will be published in the next Rootes Review) and the ability for Elected Officers to serve up to four consecutive terms.

We developed and published a superb website (www.teae.org) with the tireless contributions of Donna and Jim D’ Amelio. To make the paying of our dues easier for all our members, we just recently implemented a system to allow for the payment of membership dues over the website. And there is more to come!

We had a seamless transition of Editors for the Rootes Review from John Webber to Jim Anderson, never missing an edition or even a publishing date. And we had another faultless transition of the membership duties from John Logan, Sr. to T. J. Higgins. My thanks to the outgoing and incoming folks for all their contributions.

TE/AE had absolutely the most outstanding events across the board. Topping the list has to be Tom Ehrhart’s Pennsylvania Region BASH. Drive-in movie, fireworks, car show, balloon rides and chase, and on and on. Truly spectacular! The SOS in Birmingham, the Crab Feast in the Chesapeake Region and all the other Regional events provided great opportunities for our members to get together, talk, drive and live Sunbeaming.

Our Annual United was, once again, a smashing success. Robert Jaarsma and a team of dedicated members put on one heck of a show in Portland, ME. Outstanding weather added to the great events and camaraderie. A good time was had by all! For this United, we developed a more formalized Concours procedure (as adapted from the SUNI III system) for more consistent judging and better feedback to the participants that was well received.

We saw our membership stay relatively flat for the year. The club membership held steady at about 700 members. We did have to implement a dues increase during the year as newsletter publishing costs had risen over a period of years. Our treasury is now strong and the Club is solid and stable entering 2001.

Looking forward into 2001, we are already well along in the planning for the United to be held October 4-7 in St. Louis, MO. Ranney Dohogne and Byron Golfin are planning the Co-Chairmen and are planning a full spectrum of interesting activities for all of us. Mark those calendars!

This month’s update on the 347-stroker motor and 5-speed project is pretty minimal. I continue to gather parts and will be starting the actual work soon. The salt and sand have already hit the highways here in New England and it will be April before the car leaves the garage again, so I have plenty of time. More next month.

May you and your families have a great 2001 !
Jim Morrison

February 2001

We have just completed the “biggest” voting process in TE/AE history! Biggest in the sense that we were electing not only the Officers, but, for the first time, the Board of Directors. And biggest, too, in the sense that we had 210 voters. By far a record turnout! (Who says we Americans don’t know how to vote.) The results of this unparalleled election are summarized in the article below.

This, as you can see, is the annual Membership Roster edition of the Rootes Review. The regular newsletter will be back next month.

This month’s update on the 347-stroker motor and 5-speed project is, unfortunately, stagnant. I continue to gather parts and will be starting the actual work soon & no really, I will & I promise. The good news is that my articles have motivated some folks to successfully go on the quest for the AMC tailshaft and get their own 5-speed projects going. More next month.

My thanks and that of the Club and the candidates goes to everyone who took the time to vote.
Think warm, think thaw, think Spring.

Election Results

The election of the Officers and Board of Directors for 2001 is complete. We had 210 ballots counted and the results are as follows:

As per our Bylaws, therefore, Tom Ehrhart, Eric Gibeaut, and Tom Calvert are elected to the Board for a period of three years. John Webber and Andrea Hellings are elected for a period of two years and Wally Swift and Stu Brennan are elected for a period of one year. Jim Morrison is the President for 2001, Bob Sharkey is the Vice President, Pat Morrison is the Secretary and Carl Moon is the Treasurer, all for a term of one year.

Congratulations to all the successful candidates and thanks to everyone who ran.

March 2001

My congratulations once again to the new Board and Officers for 2001. Tom Ehrhart, Eric Gibeaut, Tom Calvert, John Webber, Andrea Hellings, Wally Swift and Stu Brennan are the 2001 Board of Directors. The 2001 Elected Officers are Bob Sharkey as Vice President, Pat Morrison as Secretary, Carl Moon as Treasurer and me continuing as President. Congratulations to these Club Leaders and thanks to everyone who ran.
Things are pretty quiet in Sunbeam land & or at least in my Sunbeam land. The Winter months do seem to slow down the Club’s activity. But there is a lot of planning going on for coming events.

As mentioned in an earlier column, TE/AE’s United will be in St. Louis on 5-7 October, 2001. You can expect the usual high quality event with all the trimmings & Concours, autocross, parts room, tech sessions, banquet and plenty of camaraderie. And in the unique city of St. Louis.

The annual BASH is being put together for May 12, 2001. Come join fellow “beamers” for a tour of Gettysburg Battlefield in historic buses from the 30′s! Your day will include lunch, tour of the battlefield, snack and rally through the beautiful Gettysburg countryside. Some great driving areas!

This year, TE/AE is co-sponsoring an event on June 8-10, 2001 appropriately titled “The Sunbeam Invasion”. We are helping out the www.SunbeamAlpine.org folks for this joint event. Come join other Sunbeam owners for a weekend of fun! The event will be held north of Dayton, Ohio in historic Tipp City. There will be a poker rally, parts swapping, pig roast, some very special quests and a $500 Sunbeam Specialties gift certificate Grand Prize drawing. It looks to be a great event.

This month’s update on the 347-stroker motor and 5-speed project is that there is no progress. My time (and motivation) is being spread around and the Sunbeam is not getting much right now. I just bought (but have not even ridden due to ice and salt on the roads) a BMW K1200RS sport/touring motorcycle to add to my Harley Sportster 1200. With new mechanical things to diddle with, the Sunbeam is idle (pun intended).
Mark those calendars now for all the great events we have coming up and make those vacation plans to join your fellow TE/AE Sunbeamers at all the events this year!

April 2001

My congratulations once again to the new Board and Officers for 2001. Tom Ehrhart, Eric Gibeaut, Tom Calvert, John Webber, Andrea Hellings, Wally Swift and Stu Brennan are the 2001 Board of Directors. The 2001 Elected Officers are Bob Sharkey as Vice President, Pat Morrison as Secretary, Carl Moon as Treasurer and me continuing as President. Congratulations to these Club Leaders and thanks to everyone who ran.

Things are pretty quiet in Sunbeam land & or at least in my Sunbeam land. The Winter months do seem to slow down the Club’s activity. But there is a lot of planning going on for coming events.

As mentioned in an earlier column, TE/AE’s United will be in St. Louis on 5-7 October, 2001. You can expect the usual high quality event with all the trimmings & Concours, autocross, parts room, tech sessions, banquet and plenty of camaraderie. And in the unique city of St. Louis.

The annual BASH is being put together for May 12, 2001. Come join fellow “beamers” for a tour of Gettysburg Battlefield in historic buses from the 30′s! Your day will include lunch, tour of the battlefield, snack and rally through the beautiful Gettysburg countryside. Some great driving areas!

This year, TE/AE is co-sponsoring an event on June 8-10, 2001 appropriately titled “The Sunbeam Invasion”. We are helping out the www.SunbeamAlpine.org folks for this joint event. Come join other Sunbeam owners for a weekend of fun! The event will be held north of Dayton, Ohio in historic Tipp City. There will be a poker rally, parts swapping, pig roast, some very special quests and a $500 Sunbeam Specialties gift certificate Grand Prize drawing. It looks to be a great event.

This month’s update on the 347-stroker motor and 5-speed project is that there is no progress. My time (and motivation) is being spread around and the Sunbeam is not getting much right now. I just bought (but have not even ridden due to ice and salt on the roads) a BMW K1200RS sport/touring motorcycle to add to my Harley Sportster 1200. With new mechanical things to diddle with, the Sunbeam is idle (pun intended).

Mark those calendars now for all the great events we have coming up and make those vacation plans to join your fellow TE/AE Sunbeamers at all the events this year!

May 2001

The little things are the ones that get you. While this may not be a truism in life, it is in auto restoration. My Tiger looks great, if I do say so myself, and I get lots of comments on how “perfect” it is. But if they only knew! No matter how hard one (at least I) tried and no matter how careful one is, there are the “mess ups”. Here is a brief recap of those little things that got me.

Having had the problem of radiator hoses sticking to the radiator inlet and outlet, I cleverly put a small amount of lubricant on them to ease disassembly. Bad idea! Having returned from my first drive in the freshly assembled car back in 1994, the upper radiator hose blew off, soaking the engine, the car and the wall in coolant. Luckily not me. What a mess.

After the cleanup, subsequent drives produced a large puff of smoke from the left side of the engine (not the exhaust, but the engine) on acceleration & not on steady driving or on deceleration. After lots of testing and head scratching, I found that because I had a later 302 block, it had a dipstick hole in the drivers side of the block and it had not been plugged when the dipstick was moved to the front passenger’s side. It was completely blocked from view by the headers. When I would accelerate, oil would slosh out the hole and onto the headers! A small threaded pipe plug and I was back to smokeless driving.

If you have a new aftermarket wiring harness, check it out carefully to be sure it is wired like the original. Even though mine seemed to have all the right wires in all the correct colors coming out in all the right places, it was not correct internally. To save costs, I guess, the manufacturer had decided to not run two brown wires over to the positive terminal on the solenoid, instead shortcutting one directly from the voltage regulator to the fuse box. What this caused was an erroneous ammeter reading. I have subsequently fixed it and have all the electrics running through the ammeter for an accurate reading.

The car had never cranked as fast as I thought it should, given that everything was new. And I had had a problem on two occasions with melted insulation on the ground wire connected to the generator. I beefed up the gauge of this wire and all was okay for a while. But it happened again! The problem (as diagnosed by Tiger Tom) was a poorly connected ground strap from the engine to the frame under the car. Even though everything was new, it was not making good connections and the cranking current was forced to look for other paths & like the ground wire for the generator.

I also learned that the windshield wiper motor can be wired so that it has a high, low and off and be wired incorrectly. The symptom was that the motor got real hot with the wipers off! Correctly connecting the wires at the switch fixed that one.

The old 302 motor is (finally) out of the car and parts are getting cleaned and painted and swapped to the 347 motor. Scraping gasket material off sure is fun. I am taking this occasion to refresh all the seals in the brake and clutch systems too. The 5-speed gets mated to the new motor today. Hopefully by my next column, I can report on the first drive. By the way, have I mentioned that the 302 is for sale to a good home & .. or a bad one & cheap?

There are a bunch of Sunbeam and other British car events coming up. Be there!

June 2001

The premiere event for Tigers East / Alpines East every year is the United. It is held at various venues around the East and Central parts of the US. This year it is in St. Louis for the first time. It promises to be one hack of an event, as they all are. Concours, autocross, tech sessions, banquet, camaraderie at the hospitality suite & all with the local color of the Mid West. We will also have some unique St. Louis tours and visits to local points of interest. It is on October 4-7, 2001. Be sure to mark your calendar and register early. More information is available on our website (TEAE.org) under the Events tab. The location is a bit far for some of us, but don’t let that discourage you. Drive that Sunbeam and see you in St. Louis.

Also coming up is the Annual Chesapeake Region Crab Feast on Saturday, 8 September. It will be at the ten-acre waterfront property of our Regional Rep and Board Member, Tom Calvert. There is plenty of room for the cars and other activities and overnight camping as well. If you haven’t tried crab this way, fresh out of the steamer, you need to. It is one good time!

Progress on the 347 stroker motor and 5-speed installation has been going well. I took a bit of time off to go on a motorcycle tour from Boston to Key West & . but that is another story. Only a couple of glitches in an otherwise smooth installation. The first problem was that the engine builder installed a main cap girdle to make the bottom end stronger and an oil pan with a windage tray. Both good things. Unfortunately, even though I had told him a number of times that the Tiger had a front dipstick, these parts were designed for a side dipstick. Hence, the dipstick hit the girdle and windage tray. Off came the oil pan and a little machine work made a pathway for the oil dipstick to be able to actually make it to the oil!

I transferred the water pump, intake manifold, distributor and ancillary pieces to the stroker off of the old 302, added a new clutch and mated up the new 5-speed. I then took the opportunity to rebuild the brake and clutch master cylinders, the brake booster and the clutch slave cylinder. I have also been working on the steering assemblies to see why I have a “sticky” section of the steering just off center. Everything appears fine except the steering u-joints are a bit tight, so new ones are coming.

I have always had an electric fan to augment the cooling at idle. I got a great tip from John Webber about mounting the fan on brackets that bolt to the threaded holes next to each of the four radiator/shroud mounting holes. Previously, the fan was mounted directly to the front of the radiator. What a great idea and it makes taking the radiator out much easier.

As of the writing of this column, the engine and trans are in the car awaiting the installation of the carbs, headers, generator, starter, radiator, and the connecting of the fuel, electrics, exhaust, speedo, etc. The first drive is close at hand. By the way, have I mentioned that the 302 is for sale?

There are a bunch of Sunbeam and other British car events coming up. Be there!

July 2001

Pat and I were not able to make it to the Sunbeam Invasion put on by Ian Spencer and his team. A bunch of folks did go and report that it was a great event. It was especially strong in the focus on and attendance of Alpines. I commend Ian and everyone who worked on it and attended it for a great event. Sorry I missed it.

The 347 stroker and 5-speed project has been consuming every possible moment I can give to it. You know the old saying “Difficult things are never easy.” Well you know, simple things are never easy either!

As I was rebuilding all the hydraulics, I noticed that the one of the axle seals was leaking and I had differential oil all over the brakes. I ordered the parts and proceeded with getting the engine running.

I got the engine and trans in and it was time to fire it up. I statically set the timing and all was ready. It fired a bit, backfired through the carb and would not run. I had just taken the distributor from the 302 so everything should have been fine. But wait a minute. What if the engine builder used the 351W firing order when he did the cam? He never sent me any paperwork on the engine (it was the last one he did before going out of business), so I was flying blind in a few areas. Turns out he did use the 351W firing order and my 302 used the 289 firing order. Easy to fix, just move four plug wires. It started then but did not run right. It turned out that the builder had put the timing tape on the harmonic balancer backwards so when it showed 12 degrees Before TDC, it was really 12 degrees AFTER TDC. Again, once I realized it, it was easily fixed and we had a running engine.

I took it for a 40 mile trial drive and all went very well. The engine ran perfectly and the car had lots of power and torque. Break-in considerations prevented me from really seeing what the car will do, but that time will come. The 5-speed was butter smooth and dropped the cruising rpm’s to an acceptable level.

Got the car home and checked it over. All was okay except for a leak around the speedo cable attachment to the trans. A little silicon was added and it looks like that one is licked. After the parts arrived, I rented an axle puller and pulled both axles and replaced both oil seals. The old ones (from a 1993 rebuild) used leather seals that were brittle and cracked. The new ones were rubber and looked like they should work better.
In that short drive, it looked like the stroker would be running hotter than the 302, so I ordered a Griffin aluminum radiator. I will do a before and after on this radiator to report to you on the results.

I had gotten the hots for a set of larger wheels and, after a bunch of information gathering, decided on the 16 inch Panasports. That was a project in itself. I will have more info on it in a future column.

By the way, have I mentioned that the 302 is for sale?

Let’s get out there and show the world what a beautiful car the Sunbeam is. Drive it!

Pat and I have made our plans and hotel reservations to attend the United in St. Louis in October and the “Return to Your Rootes” event in Luray, VA in September. Both promise to be grand events with great drives getting there and back and a fun time seeing all of the old and new friends. Unfortunately, we will unable to make it down to the Chesapeake Region’s Crab Feast in Maryland in early September. If you have not already signed up for these events, you really need to! They will be a blast. Heading down to Virginia will be the first time the new motor and transmission are on an extended trip.

Speaking of the 347 stroker and 5-speed project, it has come a long way. The car is a dream to drive with the stroker and 5-speed and a dream to look at with the new 16″ Panasports. But other items are making it a better car too.

I first built this car with a 302 engine while I lived in Florida. The climate and my obsessive desire to keep the engine compartment uncluttered, led me to remove the manual choke hardware from both carbs. It was never an easy starting arrangement & . particularly when it was really cold here in Massachusetts. I have now added electric chokes to both Edelbrock carbs. What a difference! One push of the throttle to set the fast idle cams and it starts instantly every time. The wiring for the chokes can be mostly hidden. I could not recommend the electric chokes more highly.

I learned that my 347 has a billet roller cam that requires a steel gear on the distributor. After much research and discussions with Mallory, I am told that my Unilite was originally built with a steel gear and that no new gear is necessary. Whew! I was told that if you do not have the correct gear material, that you will need engine rebuilds every 5000 miles. I do not know if this is true, but it did inspire me to be sure I had the correct one.

I have one small leak at the rear seal on the T-5 where the drive shaft goes in. I have purchased a new one and it will be going in soon. It looks like the stroker will be running hotter than the 302, so I bought a Griffin aluminum radiator. The radiator has arrived but I am waiting to put it in. I want to do a “before and after” on this radiator and to report to you on the results. Our summer here in New England has been quite cool and not really stressing on the cooling system yet. That and getting a few more miles on the new engine for a fair comparison have caused me to wait on the new radiator installation.

With the new engine & trans, I decided to add 16″ wheels for the handling and visual impact. I had never been a fan of anything but the 13″ wheels on Tigers, feeling that they just did not look right. But I changed my mind and I have to admit the 16 inchers look fantastic. I will explain all about the process of buying and fitting them next month. It was not a simple bolt on installation.

By the way, have I mentioned that the 302 is for sale & .really cheap?

‘Tis the season of car shows and drive in restaurants. Show them what you’ve got.

September 2001

Well, the 347 stroker and 5-speed project winds down, now having completed everything with the exception of new mufflers and the new aluminum radiator. I had loved the sound of the Flowmaster mufflers I had heard at the Tiger get-togethers and put a pair on last year. They sound great at idle but are just too darn loud under acceleration and deceleration. They scream, “Ticket me!” I have a set of Borla’s on order and should get them soon.

I decided to add 16-inch Panasport wheels for the handling and visual impact. I had never been a fan of anything but the 13-inch wheels on Tigers, feeling that they just did not look right. But I changed my mind and I have to admit the 16 inchers look fantastic & .. but it was not just a bolt on installation.

I ordered the wheels from Dale’s Restorations. He knows what fits Tigers and has lots of experience fitting them. I got 16 x 7′s with a 30mm offset for the front and 16 x 7′s with a 15mm offset for the rear, at Dale’s recommendation. He told me that owners of the 16-inch wheels usually used 205/45′s on the front and 225/45′s on the rear. I had some discussions with other folks who had 16-inch wheels and decided to go with those sizes.

The tires and wheels arrived and I had them mounted and balanced. They looked great. I bolted the fronts on and turned the wheels lock-to-lock. The tires did not hit the front valence, as it had been trimmed long ago. No problem there. But both rims did hit the upper A-arms at full lock. I called Dale to see what was up. He said that that should not happen. The great part of the 16-inch wheels was that they were so large in diameter that they should fit over the upper A-arm. After more discussion, he offered that my upper ball joints might be from a batch (they are 8 years old) that had the tapered part that fits into the spindle manufactured a bit too large, preventing the shaft from going in as far as it should. This would result in the A-arm sitting higher than it should and hence, hit the rim. I cautiously ground just a bit of metal off of the offending parts of the A-arm and it now clears.

I trimmed the lips of the rear fender wells as much as I thought I safely could. Even with that, the 225/45′s do not fit up inside the wheel well. Had I opted for the 205/45′s in the rear also, it looks like they would have fit completely inside. But the 225′s look much better to me. I popped the rear springs off and arched them to raise the car an inch or so. It looks fine and has not hit the lip even going over large bumps.

The ride and handling are much improved with a much tighter feel and less tire squirm, and they really add to the look of the car. I am glad I did it. Pat and I are going down to Luray in September and we will see what everyone else thinks.

On really hot (90 degree plus) days, the car is running at 210 degrees on the highway. Even though the engine only has a few hundred miles on it, this is a bit warmer than I would like. So, in goes the aluminum radiator. I should have a report on the difference for you next month.

By the way, have I mentioned that the old 302 is for sale & .really cheap? 10:1 compression, roller rockers, 280/280 Competition Cams cam, Dart Windsor Jr. large valve heads, etc.

I hope to see all of you at Luray and at St. Louis. Make those reservations now!

October 2001

It will have been a few weeks since September 11, 2001 that you are reading this, but I am writing this column nine days after the attack on America. It has stunned and impacted all of us. We were riveted to the television sets watching and re-watching the unthinkable destruction and loss of American lives. There are many schools of thought out there as to what we should do and how we should react and behave. I feel strongly that the most important message we, as the American public, can send to the terrorists that did this is that we will go on with our lives. We need to mourn the dead and to praise the heroism that has been shown by our firemen, our policemen and many others. To show our strength, we should make the societal statement of “normalcy”. The terrorist attacks have changed the country and the people in many ways, but let’s not let them obtain their objective of taking away our way of life. With this thought, the Club and this column go forward.

Pat and I just returned from the Virginia regional event in Luray, VA. Jim D’Amelio, Russ Eshelman and their team put on a fun event with the right mix of driving, talking and looking at cars. We were all still a bit shell-shocked from the attacks just a few days before and it muted us a bit, but the “show went on.” We drove the Tiger down & about a 1400 mile round trip & and the new engine and trans did great. We got 16-17 miles per gallon much to my surprise, given we had 347 cubic inches being fed by 1000 cfm of dual four barrels.

Another positive surprise was that the speedometer was spot on! We timed it along the Interstate mile markers and it was as close as we could measure. New trans, new wheels and a new speedometer gear and luck. With the old top loader, a 3.31 rear end and 13 inch wheels, I was turning about 4000 rpm at 80 mph. Now it is 3000. A much more civilized ride.

Before we left, I was chasing a transmission fluid leak. It turned out that it was leaking through the drive shaft yolk that slides in the back of the transmission. There is a plate pressed in the end toward the u-joint and it was leaking around it. Some judiciously placed sealer and it was fixed. Strange.

On really hot (90 degrees) days, the car was running at 210 degrees on the highway with the old radiator. This was 20 plus degrees hotter than the 302 ran with the same radiator. Even though the engine is new, this is a bit warmer than I would like. So, I put in a Griffin aluminum radiator. It dropped the road temperature about 10-12 degrees. Not as much as I had hoped but still better. It does not heat up much at idle and I have an electric fan to switch on when stopped. The installation of the radiator had a few complications, which I will tell you about next month.

This is the last time I will force my advertising on you about my old 302. I have said that it is real cheap meaning no reasonable or possibly unreasonable offer will be refused. As a reminder, it has 10:1 compression, roller rockers, 280/280 Competition Cams cam, Dart Windsor Jr. large valve heads, etc.

We leave for the United (driving the Tiger 1200 miles each way) in less than two weeks. Hope to see all of you there.

Jim Morrison, President

January, 2000

I hope everyone had a Happy Holiday and didn’t overdo the Y2K celebration! And now the slow winter months are upon us & car-wise. While we have yet to receive any snow here in Boston as of the date of this writing, I have already put the Tiger up for the winter. But this provides more time to attend to other matters & like administrative and governance items for the Club, of course.

Our election of Officers for 2000 is now complete. Your elected Officers for this year will be myself as President, Rande Bellman as Vice President, Pat Morrison as Secretary and Mariet Jaarsma as Treasurer. I want to offer my congratulations and thanks to these folks for their past and future contributions to TE/AE. I also want to thank all of you who voted. Even though we had only one candidate per office on the ballot, you took the time to vote and demonstrate your involvement in TE/AE.

We are asking you to again cast your votes in this issue. In my column of December, I let you know that we were going to be proposing a number of changes to the club’s Articles of Incorporation and By-Laws. The list of fourteen areas appears later in this issue. Most of the proposals are to make the By-Laws more clear, to conform to already established practices or minor procedural items. I would put all but Amendments 4 and 5 in this category. Items 4 and 5 are more substantive. Let me give you my view of the reasons for each of these.

Amendment 4 proposes to allow Elected Officers to serve up to four consecutive terms. The current limit is two. My feeling here is that if an individual is willing to continue in Office and the membership wants to have this Officer continue supporting the Club and demonstrates it through the election process, then the Club rules should not be as restrictive as they are now in allowing this.

Amendment 5 proposes to provide for an elected Board of Directors, separating the function of Board member and Regional Representative. The logic here is multi-fold. First, the traits we want in a Regional Rep and the traits we want in a Board Member are not necessarily the same thing, even though currently they are the same people; and second, it currently only takes five member’s signatures to name a Regional Rep (and therefore, Board Member & this is the area of Amendment 9) but an election across the entire Club is used for selecting the Officers. This needs a more balanced and consistent approach. I believe that the election of the Board will provide the best policy and fiscal leadership for the Club while maintaining a strong cadre of enthusiastic and hard working Regional Reps, as we have always had.

I ask for your support for these changes. I have worked them extensively with the Regional Reps/Board Members and have their support and encouragement to go forward. Later in this edition, you will find a list of these proposed amendments and a ballot for your vote. Please read the proposed changes over carefully and vote.

Out next issue (February) of Rootes Review will be the Roster Edition and will not have any columns, articles or the like. So I will be back in March. Until then!

Jim Morrison

March 2000

Greetings all! It’s been a couple of months since you have had a newsletter because our annual Roster took the place of the February edition of the Rootes Review. But we are back on the monthly newsletter schedule again.

Since my last column, we have had a very important vote on a significant set of revisions to our ByLaws. I am pleased to report that all proposed amendments passed by a wide margin. Every amendment passed with at least 90% of the votes cast being in favor, some passing unanimously! There were 75 total votes cast. Although only representing about 10% of our membership, I believe this was a record voter turnout. Thanks to the Officers, the Board and all of you for your interest and help in this major endeavor. I believe it will have a very positive impact on the future of the Club.

One of the major items amended in the By-Laws revision was to have, going forward, the direct election of our Board of Directors by the membership. To align the process for electing the Board with that for the election of Officers, the election of the Directors will take place in parallel with the election of the Officers later in the year. Nominations and elections for both Officers and Directors will be held during the last part of the year with terms of office starting at the beginning of 2001.

As published last year in the newsletter, at the Board meeting in October 1998, the Board approved an increase in the TE/AE annual dues from $26 per year to $33 per year for domestic (single or joint) memberships and an increase from$28 per year to $36 per year for International (single or joint) memberships. This was also approved by the general membership at the 1998 General Meeting. This is the first dues increase since 1991 ! It was contingent on our getting back on a regular schedule with a quality newsletter …a goal we have met. We have held off implementing the increase as long as possible to see if it could be avoided. But, increases in the printing costs of our newsletter have mandated that we implement it now. So, we will have a dues increase effective for all memberships received by the Membership Chairman after May 1, 2000. We will allow renewals/extensions for everyone, even those whose memberships don’t expire until later, to renew/extend at the old rates up until the May 1st deadline. In addition, we are now offering two-year membership options. More details are given in the adjacent article.

On the subject of membership, TE/AE offers joint memberships at no additional cost to a single membership! In this way you can have your spouse, significant other or other family member (minimum age 16) be a member with you. Joint members have the full privileges of membership, including voting. TE/AE is a family club and I think this helps reach out to the family members and lets them know that this is not for the car person in the family alone. And just in case you were wondering, when TE/AE publishes its total membership figures, it uses the total number of households, counting joint memberships as one household. This was felt to be the most representative method and consistentwith how other clubs handle it.

TE/AE has a great set of events planned this year. From the overthe-top BASH, to the Crab Feast, to the SOS, to the Spring Thing, to the New England United and much more. Tiger Tom Ehrhart and the BASH Team are planning one heck of an event. Hot air balloon rides, helicopter rides, pig roast, drive-in movies and, of course, a bunch of Sunbeam stuff! Over 200 folks expected. Make your plans now for May 19th – 21 st!

As we here in New England wait for the spring thaw, y’all drive careful, hear?

Jim Morrison

May 2000

This issue is your first from our new editor, Jim Anderson. I hope you continue to support Jim as you did our outgoing editor, John Webber, in the submission of articles and the like. Welcome again, Jim.

Around the Morrison household, things have been pretty quiet. . . particularly around tax time. It is truly amazing how much time, energy, money and fretting go into filing this nation’s state and Federal taxes. Can anyone say “Flat Tax” or “Value Added Tax”? But enough of that.

I just received my 5-speed transmission “kit” from Dale’s Restorations in San Bernardino, CA. I have heard nothing but great things about having a 5 speed in a Tiger and, in particular, about Dale’s kit. The objective of the kit is to have a 5-speed installation that looks absolutely stock in the cockpit and is a complete bolt-in installation with no metal cutting. The key component is, unfortunately, virtually impossible to find anymore. It is a tail shaft housing from a T-5 from a 1982-1983 two-wheel drive AMC Concord or Spirit. There weren’t that many of those to begin with and there has been a run on them to go into Tigers and other British cars that used other British cars that used Ford V-8s for the five-speed conversion. I truly lucked onto the one I found. The tail shaft is machined to accept the Tiger speedo cable and Dale even provides a speedometer gear based on your tire size and rear end ratio. In addition to that piece is a new T-5 transmission (modified by converting the stock 0.63 ratio fifth gear to a 0.8 ratio), a spacer for the driver shaft and a modified shifter assembly from an S-10 pickup. Who ever figures this out?

Lastly an adapter plate is made to rotate the transmission assembly about 30 degrees so that the shifter comes up through the stock hole in the tunnel. Slick! Of course, the shifter is modified to be straight up and down and looks exactly like the short Tiger lever, even down to the reverse T-bar (now not functional). A new transmission to-frame bracket completes the kit. All you do is add a shift knob, trans fluid and labor!

The transmission is not in the car yet and will now go in until June. I have ordered a 347 cubic inch stroker motor from Dan Nowak in Orange, CA that will go in at the same
time. Similar motors from Nowak have dyno’ed at about 385 hp and 415 ft-lbs of torque. That should be sufficient in the 2500-lb Tiger! I worried about the power of the motor versus the torque rating of the transmission but I have been assured by everyone that it will not be a problem …that long before the transmission suffers from too much torque, the tires will go up in smoke.

Jim Morrison

June 2000

Spring has sprung in sunny New England and thoughts turn to Sunbeams. I have gotten mine back up to snuff after the winter storage and it is doing very well. It’s all spruced up and ready to go.

Last month, I wrote about the 5-speed T-5 transmission that will be going in my Tiger soon and described the super-rare AMC tailshaft housing that is needed to effect the conversion. Well there are still more of those tailshafts out there. I got an email from a TE/AE member letting me know that he had found one through an Internet search in 20 minutes and is having a kit built. The message & perseverance pays off. So, if you want a slick 5-speed conversion, don’t loose hope and keep trying to find that piece.

The transmission is not in the car yet and will not go in until June along with a 347 stroker motor. In looking into the motor options, my preference was to get a completely built long block. Ford Motorsports sells stroker kits and are working on offering a full motor, but it is not yet available and I was unable to find out when it would be. So I asked the Ford Motorsports folks whom they would recommend for the complete motor. The listed Nowak, DSS, Probe and Coast as candidates. I asked around and got very good words about Nowak. He built a stroker for Ken Mattice’s Tiger and Ken is very happy with it. So based on Motorsports’ recommendation and Ken’s personal experience, I have ordered a 347 cubic inch stroker motor from Dan Nowak in Orange, CA.

Ken’s motor, set up about the same as mine will be, dyno’ed at about 385 hp and 415 ft-lbs of torque. Dan is a former Ford engineer. He appears very knowledgeable and particular about all aspects of the engine. He has his own pistons forged and grinds his own cams. I told him that I wanted a good lumpy idle so it sounds as mean as it is. He says, “No problem & we will just move the lobe centers a bit to get what you want.” Pretty thorough.

It will be a 9.8 to 1 compression motor with Edelbrock aluminum heads, roller rockers, roller lifters, custom grind cam and all the goodies for making it bulletproof.

One of the concerns I had heard about 347 strokers was oil consumption. This was due to the 3.4 inch stroke and 5.4 inch rod placing the wrist pin hole far enough up on the piston to overlap the oil ring land. But with Nowak’s motor, he utilizes a wider (taller) than normal oil ring groove so that, in addition to the oil ring, there can be a full circle “support band” under the oil ring, giving the oil ring a full circumference of support. Neat! Ken tells me that his motor does not use oil and runs as cool as any Tiger engine he has had.

Dan is very accommodating about working all the Tiger-specific issues of front sump for the oil pump, front dipstick, 3-bolt harmonic balancer with the proper alignment for the pulley, etc. I even sent him a pair of old Tiger valve covers to be sure that the roller rockers would clear them. I should get the motor towards the end of June and will write again on the installation and the performance.

Pat and I just returned from the BASH at Tiger Tom’s. It was great seeing some of you there. Talk about “Over The Top”! Tom, Joanne and the entire BASH team did an outstanding job. Fireworks, drive-in movies, great food, hi-tech audio/video, balloon ride, helicopter rides, tech sessions, car show, tours, balloon chase, auction, parts sales, cruises, and on and on. Fantastic job!

Jim Morrison

July 2000

The registration for our 2000 United in Portland is underway! Just a reminder & get those registration forms in and make your hotel reservations early. The hotel only has so many rooms held for us and they can start releasing them by July 25^th and the room rates may go up if you reserve after that. Also, getting your registration form in before August 10^th avoids the late registration penalty!

I want to take this opportunity to publicly thank Donna D’Amelio who has taken over as lead Webmaster (Webmistress?, Webperson?) and is working hard to get our new website completed and available. Malcolm McDonald, our previous Webmaster, had put a lot of work into getting a new site going, but the pressures of a new job and all have consumed his time. They will now work together as a team with Donna doing the content and maintenance and Malcolm hosting the site. Thanks to both of you. I will let you all know when the site is up.

At our General Meeting held at the United in August, we will start the process of a first for this Club & the nominations for the election of the Board of Directors. Obviously this is a very important process. Currently, the Board is made up of the Regional Reps. Starting in 2001, the Board will be elected from and by the membership, as approved in our By-Laws changes approved earlier this year. We will be discussing this whole new era of the Club at the Meeting and in subsequent President’s Columns so you can decide and vote on an informed basis.

I just got Christmas in June, and man was it neat. I had received for Christmas a three day “Introduction to Racing School” put on by Skip Barber at New Hampshire Speedway and just got back. It was a Blast! Monday through Wednesday, 8:00 am to 5:00pm. A little classroom instruction but mostly driving or watching others drive and learning. The cars are formula Dodge, identical to the ones used in the race series. They are open wheel, tube frame, rear engine cars that weigh 1040 pounds and have 135 hp Neon engines. They are pretty peppy, handle great (1.2 g’s) and brake hard. It was amazing the amount of learning and confidence one gained from Monday to Wednesday. We were really flying & .or so it seemed to my inexperienced butt & getting to 100 mph at the end of the long straight. I have never autocrossed before will be giving it a shot at the United this year. Maybe my schooling will pay off.

A correction for the description of the solution for oil usage in the 347 engine I mentioned last month: The solution being used in the motor I am getting is not the “plug” in the wrist pin hole as I described. It is actually a wider (taller) than normal oil ring groove so that, in addition to the oil ring, there can be a full circle “support band” under the oil ring, giving the oil ring a full circumference of support. Sorry for the bum info.

The British car show season is here and a lot of our Reps and members are making good showings for the Sunbeam Marque. Let’s all get out, show off our numbers and support them.

Jim Morrison

September 2000

Pat and I just got back from the United in Portland, ME and we really enjoyed seeing everyone there. It was a great, memorable event. The chance to see old friends and make some new ones. To spend hours on end with our collective heads under the hoods of cars learning, evaluating, planning. A great drive in the Maine woods to see a fabulous auto collection. A Concours by the ocean and a fun Autocross.

At the United, Ed Esslinger was awarded our Club’s highest honor, the Lord Rootes Trophy, for his dedication and tireless energy benefiting the Club. My congratulations and thanks to Ed for a well deserved recognition.

These Uniteds don’t just happen. It takes a lot of time and energy from a number of dedicated members to make it all come together. I want to say thank you to the team that worked so hard in putting this United together David Kellogg (Autocross), Stu Brennan (Awards), Rande Bellman (Concours), Phil Perron (Parts Room), Pat Morrison (Registration), Steve and Janet Towle (heavily involved in the early planning but had to slow down due to a health issue . . . . we wish you the best) and to all the others who contributed. And a special, extra big thanks for the man who took charge of the entire operation and did a marvelous job as Event Chairman, Robert Jaarsma. Robert had many things going on, including other duties for TE/AE helping his wife as Treasurer, during the time when he was in charge of this United and was stretched pretty thin. He worked many late nights and long hours to be sure all was in order for your United. He deserves our thanks . . . and a long rest! A tip of the Sunbeam cap to you, Robert.

At this United, we tried out a new method for the Concours similar to what was used during SUNI III. My thanks to the SUNI folks for allowing us to use their system as a point of departure for ours. The new method has a more consistent system for what gets judged on each car, varying by class. It also allows each participant to receive a copy of their judging sheets, with quite a bit of detail, to see the strengths and weaknesses of their car. No system is ever perfect, but I believe that this will be a step forward for our Club in defining how our Sunbeam Concours should be done. We have posted the information on this new system on our website wwwteae.org under the “Concours” tab. Take a look and let us know what you think. Each month I have been giving you an update on my 347 stroker motor and 5-speed installation. Once again, there is no update this month. The engine builder is still running way behind schedule. My goal now is to have it in and debugged in time to drive it to the SOS event in Birmingham, AL on the 6t’ through the 8′ of October, but that looks increasingly unlikely as each day without a new engine passes. Hope to see you there!

Jim Morrison

October 2000

I am going to take this opportunity of my column to talk about the upcoming election of the TE/ AE Board of Directors. This is an historic first for our Club, having the members at large directly choose who governs TE/AE. We have a number of great candidates nominated. Now you, as the electorate, must choose. But what is it that you should look for in a Director?

In my view, it is someone who has been in the Club for a good long while and, therefore, knows what our membership wants and needs. He or she has seen what has worked well and what hasn’t. He or she has demonstrated their commitment to the Club by holding office, sponsoring regional events and/or running Uniteds. They love the Marque. They have the desire and time to serve as one of only seven top leaders of the Club. They possess the knowledge and judgment to provide oversight and leadership to the Elected Officers, who may not be familiar with the Club’s history and ways. We need people who do not hesitate to speak up, to challenge, to question. And, I believe we need people who can lead the Club into the future as our membership demographics change and as the influence of the Internet on our Club continues to unfold.

qualified people. Your job is to pick the best seven men and women for leading this Club. I ask you to all take this responsibility very seriously, to do your homework and to vote.

If there are any further nominations for Officers or Board members, please let me know via telephone or email before 15 October, 2000. In the November edition of the Rootes Review, we will publish the bios of all candidates for Director and Elected Officer and will have the ballot in the December edition. The voting deadline will be shortly after the first of the year.

Each month I have been giving you an update on my 347-stroker motor and 5-speed project. The engine builder is still running way behind schedule. My goal of having it in and debugged in time to drive it to the SOS event in Birmingham is not possible. If all goes as promised, I will get the engine four days before leaving for the SOS. I had toyed with the thought of replacing only the transmission for this trip but as I got into it and realized how much of the work would have to be duplicated just to get the 5speed in, I abandoned that path. The trip will be made with the toploader and 302 in it.

Jim Morrison

November 2000

Election time is coming up! Later in this issue, you will find the bios of all the candidates who have been nominated (and who have accepted the nomination) for election to our Board of Directors. We will elect seven Directors when we vote later this year. In the December Rootes Review, you will get the bios of those nominated and running for the Elected Offices and a ballot to vote for both the Board Members and the Officers. Balloting may be by U.S. mail or email. As I will again next month, I encourage you to vote. This election of Officers and Directors is important to the Club and to you. TE/AE and its stellar website have reached yet another milestone. We now accept credit cards and bankcards for the payment of dues through our website. Both new memberships and renewals can be handled. You can find this area of the website at www.teae.org/ club_info/members.html#Join. Please give it a try. I am sure you will find it a fast and easy way to keep your membership up-to-date. My thanks to Gary Schotland, Donna D’Amelio, T. J. Higgins and Robert Jaarsma for helping to get this system in place and tested out.

Each month, I have been giving you an update on my 347-stroker motor and 5-speed project. Well, the new engine arrived today! I uncrated it and have it on the engine stand ready for the project to begin. My current 302 motor is getting tired. I just returned from a 2700-mile trip down South to the SOS in Birmingham, AL. The drive was great, with the first 1400 miles being top down. It then got so cold (I drove through areas where it had snowed, for gosh sake), that I had to put it up and keep it up. The car went through a quart of oil every 300 miles, so it is time for a little freshening up. The car and 302 engine performed flawlessly as it buzzed down the highway at 3800 – 4000 rpm (thanks to 3.31 gears and 13 inch tires). I can’t wait for the leisure of the 5speed. By the way, the 302 is for sale.

The SOS was a great event as always with about 30 cars there. It is always so nice to see everyone, poke our collective heads under all the hoods and to talk Sunbeam. It is what the Club is all about.

Jim Morrison

December 2000

Election time is here! Later in this issue, you will find a brief biography of all the candidates who have been nominated (and who have accepted the nomination) for an Elected Officer of TE/AE. In the November Rootes Review, you received the biographies of those nominated and running for the Board of Directors. The ballot to vote for both the Board Members and the Officers is included with this issue. There are ten candidates for the Board. You will be voting for seven people and the seven candidates getting the most votes will be elected to the Board. In addition, there are four Elected Officer positions to be voted on. Balloting may be by U.S. mail, fax or email. See the ballot for instructions on each of these methods. We will announce the successful candidates in the next issue of the Rootes Review following the tallying of the votes. I encourage you to vote. This election of Officers and Directors is important to the Club and to you.

Just another reminder that we now accept credit cards and bankcards for the payment of dues through our website. Both new memberships and renewals can be handled there. Please give it a try. I am sure you will find it a fast and easy way to keep your membership up-to-date.

This month’s update on the 347-stroker motor and 5-speed project is that I have painted the engine and almost finished the process of gathering parts. I have decided to rebuild all the brake and clutch hydraulics while the car is down for the winter. I am a firm believer in silicon fluid, mainly because it won’t take your paint off if you accidentally drip it onto your fender! The downside is that it slowly softens and swells the seals, requiring replacing them every 5 – 10 years, as they eventually turn to gum. It has been 7 years since I rebuilt mine, so better to be safe than sorry and go ahead and replace them now before any performance is lost. As is always the case when putting in a 302-like engine, the pulley that goes on the four bolt harmonic balancer and the water pump flange position must be addressed. I am researching the best path for me in these areas. I plan to keep the two four-barrel manifold and carbs, the distributor, starter, etc. from the current engine. I will keep you posted.

Have a Happy Holiday and stay warm.

Jim Morrison

July 1999: Change

Change & it’s happenin’ all the time. And it’s happening here at TE/AE in a number of ways. You have read about some of the changes and initiatives towards change previously in this column. In this issue I wanted to present some changes that I hope you will agree will make TE/AE a stronger club.

First, in an article later in this edition, you will find an announcement from Tiger Tom Ehrhart concerning his and Joanne’s parts business. I am pleased to announce that Tiger Tom’s will be offering exclusive discounts and early NOS parts availability to TE/AE members ONLY! We will have first shot at his prized NOS collection at below market prices and monthly specials from his catalog items. It won’t take many purchases to more than make up for the price of TE/AE membership. Everyone buying parts for their Sunbeam should join TE/AE & it’s cost effective! I think you will be as excited as I am at this exclusive arrangement we have with Tiger Tom. Also, I wanted to say a special thanks to Tom for his willingness to enter into this with TE/AE. It is going to cost him money offering the discounts but it sure does make membership in TE/AE more desirable. Thanks, Tom.

A while back, the board of TE/AE approved advertising in the newsletter but for various reasons, we have never solicited any. Well, that’s another change coming. Starting soon, we will have ads in the Rootes Review. Not only will it bring a few dollars into our treasury, but it will also provide members, particularly those new to the Marque, with sources for Sunbeam and other auto related parts and services.

TE/AE now has a new Publicity Chairman in Gary Schotland. Gary is a past President of TE/AE and has many ideas and much enthusiasm to promote the club. Under his leadership as President, the club’s membership expanded significantly and now we can once again benefit from his energies in this area. I would also like to say thanks to our outgoing Publicity Chairperson Mary Sue Baum. Thank you for all of your efforts during your time in this office.

We currently mail the newsletter by first class mail. This is expensive relative to other mailing classes available to us. We are going to start mailing the newsletter using bulk mailing at significantly reduced rates on a trial basis. It will add a couple of days to the time in transit in the mail, but we hope to make this up by mailing earlier. As I mentioned earlier, it is on a trial basis. We will be monitoring the effects of the new mailing class and would ask for your feedback too. Please contact one of the editors or officers if you have any problems whatsoever caused by this bulk rate experiment. If all goes well, it will become our standard, freeing up some funds for other purposes.

This past Sunday (June 6, 1999) The New England Region, headed by Stu Brennan, hosted their Spring Regional get together at my house in Concord, Mass. We had almost 20 people and 7 Sunbeams made it & some coming over 100 miles just to be with fellow Beamers for an afternoon. It was a very enjoyable time, swapping tips, stories and getting to know a few new people. There is a more complete write up on the event later in this edition.

I am putting the finishing touches on the Tiger to get ready for SUNI. Pat and I are going to tow it out. It was never built as a long haul road car what with the 3.31 gearing and the four speed so it gets trailered to the really far away events. 2400 miles each way to Big Sky, but we will see a lot of new places on the trip and, most importantly, have the car at SUNI. Hope to see many of you there.

September 1999

As was mentioned in the last newsletter, my car received the first place award in the Concours Personalized class at SUNI. I am quite proud to have accomplished this against some extremely nice cars. But it is even sweeter because of what I am about to tell you about the car and how it came to be. What Paul Harvey would call “The rest of the story.”

Dan Cameron, our current club Vice President, and I used to go to the TE/AE Uniteds together when we both lived in Alabama in the 80′s. His car never seemed to be quite ready to take to a United, so we would take my Tiger. It was a Silver ’66 Mk1a with a 289 and it was a nice car but not as nice as I wanted it to be. We would kill time by conceiving of our “ultimate Tiger.” We would plan the car in detail & the color, the engine, the transmission, the rear end, the interior & even the undercoating. It was these discussions that formed the basis for my current black Tiger.

Skip ahead a few years to 1992. John Webber, our current Newsletter Editor, mentioned to me that he had gotten a little burned out on a Tiger restoration he was performing. Coincidently, I was just getting in the frame to mind to tackle another one at that same time. So I bought John’s project car. It was a bare metal shell (no engine, drive train, interior & completely bare). John had replaced the needed sheetmetal. Along with it came some new parts and all the rest of it was in boxes.

My goal from the outset was to build a car along the lines of my ultimate Tiger and take it to SUNI II in 1994 and win the Personalized Concours. It was to be perfect. My time and money were no object. This was going to be a car I kept the rest of my life and I was going to do it all the way.

Well, as those of you who have done a restoration know, it takes longer than you can even imagine at the start. And costs more too. Kind of like the baseball manager, who, when hired, was given an unlimited budget and then fired later for overrunning it! The painter, who I looked long and hard for, said he would have the car back to me in 90 days. He had it for 18 months! When SUNI II rolled around, the car was not yet finished and, a bit dejected, I skipped the event knowing that my window of opportunity had passed. While I had built what I thought was a great car, it was five more years until the next SUNI and by then, the car would be an aging restoration. Not much chance against the superb cars coming out today. Fortunately, I was wrong.

I decided to fix what had become a major oil leak (3 quarts in 800 miles) ten days or so before we were to leave for SUNI. It appeared to be the rear main seal or something else on the back of the block having dumped all the oil inside the bellhousing and on the clutch! This involved taking out the engine, finding the leak, fixing it, replacing the clutch, etc. Well, various unforeseen complications and other time demands ensued and I just got it back together at 3 pm the day before we left for Montana. Whew!

So to win this year and accomplish my goal was even better than just winning itself & even if was five years later than I had anticipated! My thanks to Dan Cameron for his contributions to the concept and to John Webber for his hard work in getting the car to the point of my purchasing it.

Enjoy what is left of your summer months and get out and drive those Sunbeams.

October 1999

As you may notice from the list of Officers and Regional Representatives on the inside cover of this newsletter, TE/AE now has nine Reps rather than eleven as we have had for a while. Henry Ward (Rep for central New York) and George Coleman (Rep for The Carolinas) have resigned their positions. They both served long terms in these positions of service to the club (Henry was a Rep from the beginning of the club in 1976) but found it necessary to step down at this time. I thank them for their years of dedication and hard work and look forward to their continued membership in the club.

The Board will soon be reviewing the entire area of Regions and Representatives, trying to better define our regions and the best roles for the Reps and Board members. I will keep you posted on this as it solidifies.

When John Webber took on the heavy lifting of the Editorship again, it was with the agreement that it be for only one year. That time will be upon us before we know it. We need to find a skilled and motivated volunteer to pick up the reins from John early next year. As some of you may know, Kirk Even was planning to be the next Editor but his change to a new job (and career) and the addition of their new daughter Shannon has overtaken his spare time and he has had to forego the position & for now. So if you know of someone or are that someone that can take on this critical club responsibility, please contact John Webber or me.

Pat and I leave in a couple of days for our longest trip ever in the Tiger & both in miles and days. We leave from here (near Boston) down to Pasadena, Maryland for the Chesapeake Region’s Clam Feast on Sunday, September 12. Tom Calvert and his team putting on the event anticipate a great turnout and wonderful time.

From there, we head down to Raleigh, North Carolina for a few days and from there, to Dillard, Georgia for the 1999 S. O. S. event on the 17^th – 19^th of September. Over 25 cars and 75 people are expected for this event. Ed Esslinger, Eric Gibeaut, Jim D’Amelio and the crew seem to have found a winning combination of location and timing for this event. That is, as long as we don’t get a hurricane coming through at the wrong time!

I have checked the car over from end-to-end for a safe trip and hope for good weather. A tops-down trip sure beats a rainy, foggy (on the inside), wet (on the inside) trip. Better for marital harmony too. We look forward to seeing everyone at these two great TE/AE events.

November 1999

First, let me add my congratulations to all the others that Tom Patton and Barry Schonberger are receiving for their superb performances at the run-offs at Mid-Ohio. Tom’s first place finish and Barry’s fifth place finish really let the world know that “Sunbeams Rule!!” (as the younger generation would say).

As you may notice from the list of Officers and Regional Representatives on the inside cover of this newsletter, TE/AE now has two new Regional Representatives: Eric Gibeaut for the Carolinas and Bob Wegner for New Jersey. This brings us back to eleven Reps as we have had for a while. Eric has been in Sunbeams and the Club for quite a while, has worked very actively in its support and is currently Regalia Chairperson. Bob has not been into the cars that long but has made up for it with a tremendous amount of enthusiasm and time spent promoting the Marque. I thank them for their commitment to the Regional leadership of TE/AE and look forward to working together.

Let me slide in here with another plea for someone stepping up to be our next Editor. While they are big shoes to fill, we do have some training time to bring the next volunteer up to speed. So if you know of someone or are that someone that can take on this critical club responsibility, please contact John Webber or me.

Elections are coming up soon. Elsewhere in this issue you will find the slate of Officers as put forth by the Board. You will be asked so submit any other nominations so that we may prepare the ballots for the next edition of the
Rootes Review.

Kicking off next month, I have introduced a new (what I hope will become a regular) column in the Rootes Review. It is entitled ” I Thought It Was Only Me.” As I have worked on my cars over the past 17 years, I have done a number of dumb things. Some by inexperience, some by bad judgment and some by forgetfulness. This new column is dedicated to these screw-ups. A place for us to air our automotive faux pas so that others may avoid them, realizing that if we could do them, then others probably will too! I will start out this month airing my dirty laundry but I don’t want to be alone in this. Stand up and be counted!

Pat and I just got back from out longest trip ever in the Tiger. We went down to Pasadena, Maryland for the Chesapeake Region’s Clam Feast on Sunday, September 12. From there, we headed down to Raleigh, North Carolina for a few days (where we sat out Hurricane Floyd) and then on to Dillard, Georgia for the 1999 S. O. S. event on the 17th – 19th of September. Both events were great and a credit to the hard work put into each one. A good time was had by all.

2500 miles of driving with 2000 of it with the top down! Glorious! From interstate driving, to twisty mountain roads to 105 miles of 35 mph speeds on Skyline Drive in Virginia (extension of the Blue Ridge Parkway).

Chased down a few minor electrical gremlins and water leaks so the car is better than ever. But, my voluminous oil leak through the rear main seal reared its ugly head again. This is the forth seal and second oil soaked clutch in it so I have decided the engine is cursed (or maybe something is really wrong down there) so I am going to put in a built-up 347 stroker motor (while retaining my dual four barrel setup) and while I am at it, a T-5 five-speed. I have located the super rare tail shaft from an ’82-83 AMC Concord or Spirit that makes the five-speed kit go together so I will be on my way! I have looked into stroker motors but no decision on which one yet. I hear that they are awesome … like 370-380 hp with over 400 ft lbs. of torque. Some say you don’t even need first or second gear any more … hmmm, we will see.

Jim Morrison

December 1999

Governance: “The method or system of management. The exercise of authority”. This term boils down to how an organization is run by its Board of Directors and its Officers. It is an important issue in any organization and the topic of my column this month.

After I had been President of TE/AE for a few months and had become more familiar with how the Board and Regional Representatives work, I thought there might be a better way of governance for the Club’s future. The two main things that struck me were: 1) the traits we want in a Regional Rep and the traits we want in a Board Member as not necessarily the same thing, even though currently they are the same people; and 2) it only takes five member’s signatures to name a Regional Rep (and therefore, Board Member) but an election across the entire Club is used for selecting the Officers.

With these thoughts as a starting point, I have proposed to the Board a significant modification to the Club’s By-Laws. Our current By-Laws were put in place in 1977 when our founders started TE/AE and incorporated in Virginia. They were a great way to start the Club and to guide it all these years, but the Club has grown and times have changed since then. The method of governance of the Club needed to reflect that change.

TE/AE currently has eleven Regional Representatives and, as such, eleven members of the Board of Directors. Our Regional Reps are regional activities leaders, conducting regional Tigers East/Alpines East events, acting as focal points for the Club and the Marque and promoting Club membership. Our Board Members, as put simply in our By-Laws, “shall have final authority to act in all matters concerning the Organization, subject to law.” In practice, this means policy and fiscal guidance of the Club. We want the best Regional Reps we can find and the Best Board Members for the Club.

The basis of my proposal is to separate the functions of Regional Rep and Board Member. Currently, when one becomes a Rep, he or she is automatically on the Board. My proposal is to elect a seven member Board (independent of the process for naming Regional Reps) through Club-wide elections. By electing the Board, we can get the people on our Board that have the best experience and judgment to oversee the club. These individuals will be responsible for those duties and authorities of the Board of Directors as delineated in our By-Laws. The proposal would continue with the Regional Rep system that we have now, with the Reps being responsible for Club events and the promotion of the Marque in their regions. Reps would be also be able to be elected to the Board. The Regional Reps would be invited to all Board meetings and would be involved in all planning and governing discussions, as they are now. In this way, we can get the best people in the right jobs.

I ask for your support for these changes. I have worked them extensively with the Regional Reps/Board Members and have their encouragement to go forward. In an edition of the Rootes Review early next year, you will find a list of these and other changes to the By-Laws that are being proposed for your vote, along with an explanation of why each is beneficial to the Club. When you receive the proposed changes, please read them over carefully and vote. It is your Club.

Later in this issue, you will find the ballot for the 2000 Officers. The slate, as put forward by the Board, is shown as well as any other nominations, if any. I encourage you to vote.

Jim Morrison

United X – 1986

This correspondence is to your entire group in care of the United X at Indianapolis. That was an outstanding event that was put together. So many times it is so easy to be critical and say that so & so could have been improved–nothing is perfect, but I will say you came as close as possible to achieving that perfection. All of your officers and directors conducted themselves in the most professional way in putting this event together. There was something going on at all times as well as adding things like the golf and tours downtown was terrific.

The conversation in care of a National United in ’89 certainly attracted the attention of all the people that I came in contact with you sure have my vote. If I can be of any assistance in any way, please do not hesitate to let me know.
A very satisfied member,
Darrell G. Brunn

Renewing my membership.

The newsletters have been excellent. The United at Indy was even better!

What could be better than riding around the Indy track at 100 MPH, snapping pictures with

Wally Swift as the driver in his autocross Alpine!?!

The tech sessions on racing Sunbeams (old and new), concours and, of course, the awards banquet were great. I finally got my Alpine back together with an overdrive trance; it works great, and we’re ready for next year’s United!

John West

From Rootes Review
Vol. 10, #7, July 1985

The following is a fictitious story written for the TE/AE membership.

by Ted McClintock

This was a mission of mercy for Alan Davidson and his 1967 Sunbeam Tiger. He bounded through the side door of the Bedford Hospital with his keys in one hand and the little vial of serum in the other. There wasn’t a second to waste. He leaped behind the wheel and instantly brought the Weber carburated 289 to life.

It was just past 10:00 p.m. that August 4, 1969 as he gunned the Tiger down the exit lane of the parking lot and out on to Rt. 30. Heading west from the hospital his destination was the White Star Hotel in Jennerstown some 41 miles away. Between here and Jennerstown the “old Lincoln Highway” (as Rt. 30 is also known) contains more challenges and driving dangers than any Grand Prix race course. A1 would be able to make good time from the hospital to Schellsburg. A four lane by-pass had just been completed around the town of Bedford and Schellsburg itself had only one traffic light. West of Sehellsburg, though, the road starts winding up over the mountains. There is about an 8 mile stretch of steep grades, hair pin turns and twisting pavement. Once you get about 3 miles past the “Ship Hotel” you are up on the “Allegheny Plateau,” and a piece of the old Lincoln known as the “Seven Mile Stretch.” Then on through a couple of cross roads-”Reels’ Corner,” “Buckstown”–and on toward Jennerstown.

Dr. John B. Morton was nervously awaiting Al’s arrival. He knew that time was the most critical factor in saving the boy’s life. He hoped he had made the right decision to have Al bring the medicine here–there just seemed to be no other way. To take his patient, Douglas Chamberlain, to the nearest hospital would do little good without the anti-venom serum. Young Douglas had taken three severe strikes from a large Timber Rattlesnake, and he was becoming more delirious with the passing of every moment. The doctor strode across the room and peered out the window looking down at the street toward the east end of town. He wondered aloud to himself if A1 could get here in time. The boy’s chances for survival were swiftly diminishing.

It was a crystal clear moon lit summer night. The temperature was 60º and dropping with just a wisp of fog hanging in the dips. The Tiger’s tach was red lined at 7200 and A1 kept it pinned across the Bedford by-pass. Traveling faster than the speedometer could register, the car was dividing the heavy night air like a guided missile. Easing off the throttle now to prepare for the end of the by-pass–the reflections of the warning signs were shooting towards him like phazer bursts in a video game. The quiet of the sleepy Pennsylvania country side was shattered by the Tiger’s thundering V8. Soon he was past the entrance to Shawnee State Park. Then rocketing up the hill out of Schellsburg a glance in the mirror showed the town was falling away behind him into the black like a stone quickly sinking out of sight in a merky pond.

A1 felt good about the traffic signal being green in Schellsburg. He was determined to make it to Jennerstown in time to save the boy’s life. There was very little traffic this night and he debated with himself if he would have even slowed down let alone stopped if the signal had been red. Enough debate, he thought, I have to get psyched up for the challenges ahead. The nice straight road would soon turn into a slithering, undulating ribbon of pavement that would test every driving skill and ability that he could muster. He would have to push the Tiger to the limits if he were to make it in time.

A couple thoughts of gloom started to descend on A1–sort of like when fear starts to overcome caution and the hair on the back of your neck starts to bristle up. What if a deer were to jump down from the bank in front of him? No need to answer that one. Then what if he were to come shooting out of a curve at this kind of speed into the back end of, a slow moving tractor trailer? No answer for that one either. His physical sensations were heightening to a peak and then suddenly there it was: the sharpest curve on this road. He thought, I couldn’t be here already but I am. They call this the “Sweetest spot on the mountain” because there’s a candy shop down inside this curve. It is more like a U turn than a curve. Only plenty of experience at this highly elevated level of speed and performance can give a person the kind of subconscious reflexes that will bring you through a situation like this. Heel and toe, flick it into third gear, again second, ease on the power right through the curve. Reality began creeping back into his mind as he glanced at the speedometer while coming off the apex. It read 60 mph. He made it look so easy even at four times the safe posted speed for this curve. Now grabbing a big hand full of third and blasting from the right berm to the left berm and straightening out the S’s below the “Ship Hotel.” A few more curves left before reaching the plateau on top. One hundred miles per hour, one hundred ten, then tweak the stick back into 4th gear. The acceleration curve for this car was near vertical to past 140 mph.

Suddenly his heart about stopped–right in front of him were three tractor trailers. They were all in a row plugging up the mountain like a slow freight train. He could do nothing but swing around them. Luck being with him, no traffic was coming down as the Tiger screamed past the lead truck and back into the west bound lane. Then on to the Allegheny Plateau. The slow rollers of the seven mile stretch would be a breeze. A1 could tack it up again in 4th gear and Jennerstown would just be minutes away!

Meanwhile, Dr. Morton was pacing back and forth–each passing moment seemed like an hour. He agonized over Doug’s condition. He thought he heard the sound of a car coming. He raced over to the window. He could see the headlights of a car coming fast into town,. A1 screeched up to the entrance of the White Star Hotel with his delivery. The clock on the bank across the street flashed 10:19.

A1 was an intern at the Bedford Hospital and a good friend of Dr. Morton. They pondered the strange chain of events that had led them both into this dramatic situation. No anti-venom serum close by except at the Bedford Hospital. No helicopters available immediately and A1 being right there when the doctor called.

Some weeks later Doc Morton was talking with young Doug Chamberlain who was just about completely recovered. The doctor was making arrangements for Doug to meet A1 and go for a ride in Al’s Tiger. A1 had become Doug’s hero after the doctor had told him of Al’s drive to save his life. Doug could hardly wait to meet A1 and go for a ride in that Tiger.