Martyn and Graeme Harvey Attack "The Dragon" Together
In The Driver's Seat (Volume XIV, Issue 1 - January 2006)
by: James JewellWell, the winter holidays have come and gone, and Santa didn't bring me that shiny 'new' V8 MGB that I requested, and requested last year, and the year before that, and the year before that and so on and so forth. So it looks like I'll have to keep building one myself. I just don't know when I'll have the time. The funny thing is that I've been doing this newsletter for two years now, and I've still never ridden in a British V8. Imagine if Hugh Heffner had never ever... oh well, you get the idea. It just seems weird, that's all I'm trying to say.
I think I spent most of 2005 on an airplane. If any of you are frequent fliers, you'll understand what it means when I tell you that I've put nearly 200,000 miles on my arse in the past 12 months. On the plus side, I didn't got shot at (which is a lot more than many of my brothers in arms can say), and I never found a dead hooker under my mattress (which is surprising, considering some of the places I had to stay), but on the down side, I wasn't at home MIG welding suspension components. Which reminds me: Don't wear synthetic fleece while gas-welding a hand-rail for your dad, no matter how cold it is in upstate NY! Fortunately the hole in my arm is smaller than a dime now, but it took me weeks of showering before the wound stopped smelling like Bingo-Nite at the St.Thomas annex prior to the indoor smoking laws!
So how is the Newsletter doing, you ask? Well, the bad news first: we're down to about 100
subscribers, which is a little over half of our peak subscription. Reminds me of the joke:
How do you get a Welshman started in a small business? Well, first you give him a large
business, and then you just wait.......(Yes, I'm Welsh, which means that I have a legally
protected right in the U.S. to mock my own people, but don't ever let me hear you saying a
cross word about my chicken-thieving brethren.)
I suspect that many have just gotten fed up with my oh-so-exceptional-and-prompt customer service, while some others just lost interest for one reason or another. So please help get the word out, and try to bring in some new members. If the subscriber base gets down to 50 or 60, I'm just going to take that as a sign and close shop.
"But James", I hear you asking, "Isn't there any good news???" Well, I haven't saved anything on my car insurance, but yes, there is some good news! First, I have a new volunteer to take over interfacing with the advertisers. Many thanks are due to Howard Fitzcharles for taking this load off of me. You can contact him (longez8@bellsouth.net) with any leads on new potential advertisers, including British car clubs.
Finally, we have a new and improved web site. Our new webmaster has been working to make our website the most complete and authoritative online resource for British sports car engine conversions. You'll want to visit the new website often because it has a huge and rapidly growing photo and link library.
The website has been completely redesigned as a volunteer project by Curtis Jacobson (who incidentally drives a Buick 215 powered '71 BGT). Curtis needs your help to make the British V8 website even larger and more complete! Please send your photos and other comments to Curtis at webmaster@britishv8.org.
Do you need a high-performance website that's fast loading, reliable, meticulously detailed, and easy to maintain? Curtis offers remarkably affordable freelance web design, with emphasis on superior graphic design, simple intuitive site navigation, and search engine optimization. Ask for Curtis at 866-668-8697 (toll free) or at the e-mail address provided above.
We'll, until next time...
I suspect that many have just gotten fed up with my oh-so-exceptional-and-prompt customer service, while some others just lost interest for one reason or another. So please help get the word out, and try to bring in some new members. If the subscriber base gets down to 50 or 60, I'm just going to take that as a sign and close shop.
"But James", I hear you asking, "Isn't there any good news???" Well, I haven't saved anything on my car insurance, but yes, there is some good news! First, I have a new volunteer to take over interfacing with the advertisers. Many thanks are due to Howard Fitzcharles for taking this load off of me. You can contact him (longez8@bellsouth.net) with any leads on new potential advertisers, including British car clubs.
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Finally, we have a new and improved web site. Our new webmaster has been working to make our website the most complete and authoritative online resource for British sports car engine conversions. You'll want to visit the new website often because it has a huge and rapidly growing photo and link library.
The website has been completely redesigned as a volunteer project by Curtis Jacobson (who incidentally drives a Buick 215 powered '71 BGT). Curtis needs your help to make the British V8 website even larger and more complete! Please send your photos and other comments to Curtis at webmaster@britishv8.org.
Do you need a high-performance website that's fast loading, reliable, meticulously detailed, and easy to maintain? Curtis offers remarkably affordable freelance web design, with emphasis on superior graphic design, simple intuitive site navigation, and search engine optimization. Ask for Curtis at 866-668-8697 (toll free) or at the e-mail address provided above.
We'll, until next time...
Where is the Canadian Corner?
You may be wondering where our usual Canadian Corner installment is. Well, if you've been following the news, you may have noticed that Canadian-American relations have been strained as of late. This is due, in large part, to two particular issues: First, the Canadian government has recently discovered that as late as 1939, the U.S. Department of War had a contingency plan to invade Canada, which has stoked the fires of Anti-Americanism, with many Canadians claiming that the border should be defended in case the U.S. Decides to attack and claim Canada's natural resources. All this, despite the fact that the U.S. has no known shortages of beer and ill-tempered French speakers... The Canadian Ministry of Defense has also refused to comment on the fact that it maintained its contingency plans to invade the U.S. well into the 1950's.
The second bone of contention is that Canada claims a certain arctic passageway that the rest of the free world and Indonesia maintain is actually international waters. Apparently, the presence of U.S. Submarines (which can neither be seen nor heard) is quite disturbing to Parliament. So much so, that they have sent out the entire Canadian Navy to intercept these rogue vessels (that also happen to be defending Canada as part of several mutual defense treaties). However, as of last week, neither of the two canoes nor the P.T. Boat have had any luck deterring American aggression, although they did shoot one moose that they believe was spying for the Yankee pigs. As a result of this tension, and the resulting Canadian embargo on British car related materials going into the U.S., we have, alas, no Canadian Corner this issue.
You may be wondering where our usual Canadian Corner installment is. Well, if you've been following the news, you may have noticed that Canadian-American relations have been strained as of late. This is due, in large part, to two particular issues: First, the Canadian government has recently discovered that as late as 1939, the U.S. Department of War had a contingency plan to invade Canada, which has stoked the fires of Anti-Americanism, with many Canadians claiming that the border should be defended in case the U.S. Decides to attack and claim Canada's natural resources. All this, despite the fact that the U.S. has no known shortages of beer and ill-tempered French speakers... The Canadian Ministry of Defense has also refused to comment on the fact that it maintained its contingency plans to invade the U.S. well into the 1950's.
The second bone of contention is that Canada claims a certain arctic passageway that the rest of the free world and Indonesia maintain is actually international waters. Apparently, the presence of U.S. Submarines (which can neither be seen nor heard) is quite disturbing to Parliament. So much so, that they have sent out the entire Canadian Navy to intercept these rogue vessels (that also happen to be defending Canada as part of several mutual defense treaties). However, as of last week, neither of the two canoes nor the P.T. Boat have had any luck deterring American aggression, although they did shoot one moose that they believe was spying for the Yankee pigs. As a result of this tension, and the resulting Canadian embargo on British car related materials going into the U.S., we have, alas, no Canadian Corner this issue.
