WEST COAST STREET ROD CLUB BRINGS HOPE AND JOY TO DOWN-AND-OUT SANTA. Malaga. WA December 2008.

December is a wonderful month for most peo-ple. Well at least after the Christmas shopping is done. It is a time when we look forward to the good times of the Christmas break. A time of giving and receiving. The spreading of joy and of eating like a pig. But it is not the same for everyone. For many less fortunate souls it is just another day. Another battle to get through. Either in sickness, war, loneliness or poverty. It is an opportunity for the the more fortunate of us to give a helping hand. It costs very little, even nothing, to improve the the day or self esteem of the sad and lonely. WC-SRC did their part this year in giving the Father Christmas “gig” to such a person. Nicholas was found in a starving condition after not having eaten properly for many

months and having spent the previous night in a skip bin at a waste transfer station. The economic down turn had made it impossible for him to pick up any jobs at his most recent employers, including Boans, BiLo, Tom the Cheap, Freecorns and Charlie Carters. This left his self worth in serious doubt. His self esteem was shattered. It was a tear jerking moment, when he appeared once again in his sparkling costume to hand out teeth rotting lollies at the West Coast Christmas Cruise function. The photo still brings tears to my eyes.

January 2009 No. 179

Santa Claus at the WCSRC Xmas Cruise.

Address: Unit 1, 12 Cusack Rd, MALAGA. WA. Ph (08)9249 9632General meetings: 3rd Sunday of each month at 7.30pm. Visitors wel-come.President: Kevan Best Ph. 9571 0025.. Vice Presidents: Brian French 9377 7837 Alan Barton 9448 0110 . Secretary: Mel Broun 9447 1975 Treasurer: Alan Rossi 0402 43 1938ASRF Delegate: Jeff Ewence 9339 4337TAC Delegate: Ken MyersWAHRP Delegate: vacant, representative required.Management Committee: Executive committee (above) and B. French, Dave Krause. All members welcome to meetings. Get in-volved or get left behind.Social Committee: D. Krause, A.Lawrence , Maurie Searle, Ian Swin-bourne, Jim CandidoStrata Committee: Neil Gibb, Jeff Ewence, .Eric Warren Klaxon Editor: Eric Warren 9574 6440 or fax 9444 3299 or email on rodder@gidgenet.com.au Deadline is 7 days before the meeting. Klaxon Distribution: Peter Hunter 9445 2493.Contributors:: Mel Broun, Allan RossiCover: Father Xmas (Allan Rossi) at the Xmas lights cruise.

Club Merchandise. Phone 9249-8553.

Call

Mr. Cool Andy Lawrence

to procure your hip club threads!

Please contact us using the details below.

Hi Klaxon readers,

Welcome back. Most of us have had a few days off for the Christmas and New Year break. Now it is time to knuckle down and get on with the rest of our lives. Sit back and ease your way into 2009 with this month’s mind tingling and heart pounding edition of the Klaxon.

In this edition we have another intrusion of privacy “Shed Inva-sion” as the Clive Ankle crew head for the hills to check out Blossom’s steel 34 roadster .The Invasion team have recovered well after their leader was pulled from a skip bin at the local waste transfer station.. Apparently, they did a night time invasion armed with infrared equipment, at Spankys Hot Rod Shop, got lost in the shed mess, and were accidentally thrown out by the cleaners the next morning. .

Also we have a report on the West Coast Christmas Lights Cruise. The report covers the first part of the night only, due to hot weather teething problems in the editorial staff car.

Mel’s Minutes are back again for those without a life. They will provide some wonderful historical reading......one day.

The Editor’s hot rod is having some changes made, after some weaknesses were exposed at the Christmas lights cruise. You can read all about it in the article within. It is fractionally more exciting than the minutes.

Dave and Sharon’s Kraus’s 34 coupe has been sold as part of their down- sizing operations, while building their new home. Clive Titchener has sold his 32 coupe (that’s the power of advertising in the Klaxon). Clive is embarking on an FC ute project now.

There is a quiz for you on the opposite page., and a heap of events to attend on the Events page ..back cover. The next event is the annual Mandurah Rod and Custom Club run. It is always good. Maybe call Steve 9581 6024 for some details. Have you been to Jimbo’s and Brian’s breakfast yet? Plenty of enter-tainment there. Last week was the idiot hot footing it across the roof in smoking bare feet to retrieve a dead crow. How could you miss it? How often do you not use your rod. Check out my slant on unused street rods later in this edition. Well that’s about it for this holiday-mode edition of the Klaxon . I can go and put the coupe back together now, ready for cruising on the weekend. Take care, go and flash your vintage. Extreme E.

Continued....................

Official photographic evidence is now available proving to all the cretins and non-believers that Santa is alive and well although getting very thin. Santa embarked on a massive weight loss program to fit down the West Coast toilet flue to enthral all the good boys and girls at the Club rooms

“Christmas Lights Cruise. Santa’s helper Lindy did a fabulous job to prepare all the presents in time for the festivities with only one day’s notice. Santa has now retired back to the North Pole to cool off and prepare for the 2009 celebrations.

Santa After eating all of Lindy’s lollysBefore

THE END!

Do you know whose rod this is? Thanks to the owner for going on the anonymous ego trip and sharing the photos with us. It’s progressing well . Keep at it.

Clue: He/she has club connections and is younger than the average club age of 104.

Jugular rear end!

Sensible steering position

motor Flawed

Shed Invasion II Mr Garry Blossom Bryant

Owing to pre-com-mitments, well known Santa’s help-er Clive Anckle (world’s leading au-thority in reindeer poo), expert on health and environ-ment issues, trav-elled to the North Pole to ensure a safe trip for Santa on Christmas Day, Clive assigned up and coming sub-edi-tors BL1 and BL2 to extract riveting in-depth information, to

satisfy loyal Klaxon fans, from home and away club member Garry Bryant. Garry resides in the mountainous country around Gooseberry Hill, when in Perth. It was just another job for our intrepid pair who can smell a beer or two anywhere.

SHED INVASIONS Starring Vic Rossi & Allan Morrow & Kirby Searle

Property of Lars

Blossom day dreaming with his mint roadster

Of course BL2 the expert map interpreter suggested driving the scenic route via Armadale (there goes the fuel allowance again) but BL1’s in-built GPS in the ever reliable 32 roadster saved the day, finally arriving on a rocky outcrop overlooking Perth.

G’day Bloss, not a bad view of Perth, got any altitude pills, if not, a beer will do!!!

Klaxon fans will note how grueling expert pressure is applied at the early stages by our fearless journos.

With the formalities over, Gary’s partner Liz left to prepare home-made

SHED INVASIONS

Above: Blossom poses with his 33 roadster, just to irritate Lars.

pizza while we headed for the shed to peruse the remains of a once magnificent 1933 roadster.

Dear readers, picture in your minds a shed open at the front, two cars-wide sunken in solid rock, a vertical rock wall with internal drainage on the north side, the roadster length ways against a fabricated rear wall. The rear escarp-ment again rising nearly ver-tically over the building with the south wall partly inte-grated with the house, the roof more in a carport style. This shed certainly puts a new meaning to self-drain-ing air conditioned garages.

BL1: Tell our loyal readers the history behind the 33.Garry: How’s your beer.BL1: Yeah, it’s gonna be a long story.Garry: Getting the roadster took me 15 years of ne-gotiating and bad-gering, hounding and pestering to obtain it from a work colleague, all

SHED INVASIONS

Above: Garry with MS (BL2) posing too.. don’t know why, but note the Y-block with triples. (Editor’s Memories flood back, of going to the 77 Nats in Frank the Plank’s Y-blocked 33 roadster..!)

The garage’s scenic winter waterfall wall

original, except for the deck lid. I brought the car home in a dissembled state, then put it together to see what ot looked loke. It has now been stripped into more parts than the original build . All of the running gear has been put into storage (Lars taught me not to sell anything). �he chassis rebuild was carried out by Neville Marney, hindered by myself and Les Baldy Ryan. I split the rails, Neville boxed them, fitted another dropped cross member, fitted the 312 Y block and fordomatic auto and a nine inch diff with 3.25 centre. We then fabricated a new centre cross member, parallel springs to the rear axle and a dropped front axle located on 39 radius rods and a transverse front spring. (that’s a lot of radius rods..ha ha.. I love that gag.. Ed) We fitted XF brakes and rotors to 39 stub axles, a stock HQ steering box and a Gemini booster. I intend to use the original fuel tank, steer-ing wheel and hood. It will run fully fendered.The car is an Australian body #26. In the USA only 101 standard and 107 deluxe 1933 roadsters were produced. I don’t know the Austra-lian numbers.

SHED INVASIONS

Surrounding 3 exciting photos: BL1 gets so excited when his camera has got charged batteries..................Barcelona!

BL1: There is bit of a story to ob-taining a deck lid from Lars.Garry: Yeah, Lars brought back from the states, 2-3 deck lids and in a moment of weak-ness offered to sell me one. Not taking any chances, I swooped before he changed his mind. I gave Judith the money before he knew what happened. I think Neville is still trying to figure it out.BL1: How on earth did you get the nickname Blossom?Garry: Contrary to common belief, it come from antics at the last Sand-groper National when 3 fords and one Willys bunked into one small four

The Pizza and Beer lounge

SHED INVASIONS

Roadster views

berth caravan. Nooo, my nick name was bestowed upon me by a good mate while walking the Cape to Cape track with my wife Liz and friends, Peter and Mary. One night while setting up camp on the cliff tops of Margaret River, I dressed up in rather colourful attire of long johns and cap. My mate referred to me as “Blossom” and “Blossom” it still is..BL1: Great Bloss, it seems like you have a fetish for high rocky places. Sounds like Liz has the Pizza ready, better grab another couple of beers.Well, thanks for the hospitality, Liz’s pizza was great. BL2 ate most of it. We better head home. We can’t get lost, it is down hill all the way.

Footnote: Garry is still very active in West Coast having done a three year stint as secretary. Work wise he has moved to Broome overseeing the reconstruction of the Broome hospital for Doric. He has arranged many improvements to the club including replacing the double exit doors at zero cost. He was also instrumental as procuring the Master Builders Association as a major rentee of the club rooms for Blue Card instruction. Bloss expects that work in Broome will take another 12 months plus, so the 33 roadster is on hold. His next task is to steel out the body and set it up on the chassis. Until then, the roadster sits in a unique shed looking over magnificent views of Perth. BL1.======================================================

Clives new project. ‘58 FC ute.

SHED INVASIONS

Trad Y-Block with triples.Cool!

West Coast Street Rod Club Minutes of General Meeting 16/11/08

Meeting opened - 7.40pm

Apologies – Kim Broun, Gary Bryant, Ken Myers, Shane Osborne. Visitors - Ennio, Steve Coleman

Previous Minutes read - Approved Bob Mulder, sec Eric Warren. Correspondence in Geelong Streetrodders Newsletter. American Car Club Cruise News Falcon GT Club of WA magazine WAHRP Speed flyer. Rod Bods flyer and promotional material. ASRF Membership application form. ASRF insurance

Correspondence out - Klaxon Letter to Falcon Gt Club of WA re- use of storage area. Treasurer's Report - read by Allan Rossi accepted by Ian Swinbourne and Jim Candido. ASRF Report - Insurance has arrived Goodfellas have applied for a sanction for the 2009 Yanchep run. UWA looking for cars for an event on the 14th Jan 2009 Patches for the Golburn Nationals were incorrect and will be replaced. Duty statement from National Secretary needed Controversy continues re- lack of annual inspections in Victoria. Insurance for vehicle inspectors still being sorted out. A petition is being circulated to allow left hand drive hotrods to remain as is for registration.

TAC Report - Nil to report.

Social Report- Xmas pageant was successful.

Xmas Lights Cruise was also successful with approx 50 cars attending. It has been suggested that the 2009 cruise be south of the river. Decision to be made next year. 2009 Easter run to be through York and Beverley. Numbers are needed so that we can apply for a sanction.

Unfinished Business - Regarding the storage of the Falcon Gt Club trailer in our Storage area. It was put to the general meeting for a final decision and it was voted that the offer be rescinded. Secretary to inform the GT Club. Raffle tickets to be returned as soon as possible.

New Business - Busy Bee to be held on the 22nd February. Parking bays need painting and the main gates need sandblasting and painting Rodder of the Year nominee for December is Joe Carbone..

Buy Sell and Swap - 4 x sports mufflers Mel 9447 1975 2 mexican blankets 1x large, 1x medium Ian Swinbourne 1x Billet steering wheel 1x set Victor Junior suit SBC 0450258548 1x 308 motor Bob Mulder Wanted - F and R XM Falcon bumpers John Longman 46 Mercury sedan trim moulds Gary C 0410 616115 Wiper motor for a 59 Chev Jim 0413 011761

Meeting Closed at 8.35pm

While we have been a bit hot,

past member Mike Bida has had lots

of snow in Canada recently. Brrrr!

WCSRC CHRISTMAS LIGHTS CRUISE ‘Twas the weekend before Christmas, and all was still. The weather bureau forecasted rain, but the brave still came. Though numbers were down there was not a frown as every one gathered for the annual WCSRC Chrismas lights cruise. Some came early to cook up a BBQ dinner and have a chit chat. Others arrived as guests and were billeted out (not aluminiumed) with rides in hot rods that had spare seats. About 40 - 50 vehicles took part in the cruise. Back in the olden days, before the cruise commenced, Father Xmas arrived and gave pre-arranged presents to all the little dar-lings. These days the kids are big and Father Xmas (the dentists’ friend) just wanders around trying his luck with older darlings, still using tooth decaying lollies as a lure. The cruise took off from the WCSRC club rooms as darkness grew close. The first part was a cruise to some shopping car park in the northern suburbs. It could have been Joondalup or Dongarra, I’m not sure where, I just followed Mel’s 39 Chevy, as I figured out

Charlie FeralorroEric Warren

Nev Anderson 1928 (?) Chevy

that he probably knew where to go. Hot on my tail was country bumpkin, Duke of York, Joe Carbone who was as far out of his territory as me. At the shopping centre we regrouped and joined another bunch of rodders that were waiting for us. It was dark enough now and the procession moved on. I don’t have a map or GPS in the coupe so I stuck like glue to Mel again. Pretty soon we were heading into thick crowds in suburbia and crawling at idle speed up and down cul de sacs, wowing the spectators with our rods and being wowed by the unbelievable lighting displays put together by these groups of neigh-bours. It was a true cooling system testing environment. I was a reluctant starter for this reason and this is where I bailed out... not boiling (yet), but depleted of electricity that was gobbled up by the new monster electric fan. The coupe died when the LP Gas brains and solenoids shut down.. After a short rest, it restarted and we got out of there while more rods were still coming in. It was time to go home on higher cruising revs to try and revive the battery. After finding Marmion Ave, the best route home, I turned the wrong way and saw more of the northern suburbs than I planned to see that night.. I can get lost by myself, I don’t don’t need typed instructions to do that. Historically the cruise organisers have used the same street directory as Big Al does when plotting his Poker Run, so the chances

WCSRC CHRISTMAS LIGHTS CRUISE

Eric’s 39 Willys, Mel Broun’s 39 Chev and Jeff Hitchen’s A coupe.

WCSRC CHRISTMAS LIGHTS CRUISEof losing a few participants along the way is a good bet. The talk about some sooks not attend-ing this year be-cause they got lost year, is just hear say. Surely everyone expects to get lost by now! This year The Boss Kevan Best and Mel Broun with help from the girls did the directions and double checked the route to make sure it was cor-rect. For the length of the Editor’s participa-tion, before with-drawing, it was

Brian French’s ‘57 Belair

L’il lilly green A Model

Noddy Prendegast’s drag altered inspired Fiat Topolino with Quad valve Lexus V8

fantastic. I haven’t heard a complaint yet.The lighting displays were spectacular. Most were whole cul de sacs with all neighbours getting involved, but there was a singular house that had a huge crowd assembled in awe. There was so much lighting, the outline of the house could barely be distinguished. The crowd was waiting for the half hourly display when the lights were synchronised with a sound track. We moved on before this occurred unfortunately. I found that watching Mel and the amp and temperature gauges like a hawk and trying to drive all at the same time made photographing the displays quite awkward, so I didn’t.. Sorry, but you should have gone along and looked for yourself.. Although my night and thus this report finished prematurely, it was still a good evening and a good run for the coupe under testing conditions. This run has always been the scene of problems for the most reliable rods. This year it was Ian Swinborne’s 32 tourer that melted

a head light wiring sock-et, that sent him home blind, but it was fixed the next morning. AB’s road-ster, a veteran at this stuff, surrendered its starter motor the week before to save the em-barrassment on the night. E.W.

WCSRC CHRISTMAS LIGHTS CRUISE

Brian French’s ‘35 coupe

West Coast Street Rod Club has pro-moted the Christ-mas lights cruise for about 15 years. It has gained a fol-lowing of regulars, many are mem-bers’ friends and families. It is open

to all rods and other forms of enthusiasts vehicles, so there is always a good collec-tion of classics and muscle cars to look at before it gets dark..

WCSRC CHRISTMAS LIGHTS CRUISE

WCSRC CHRISTMAS LIGHTS CRUISE

Polk Salad Pavicic’s water melon truck

Above: A stock looking ford pilot, until a view under the bonnet reveals a blue oval OHV V8

Mel’s ‘39 Chevy

Inside the head of the Chief Rod Designer at Spanky’s Hot Rod Shop.

The evolution of a daily driven hot rod.

There are many types of rod and rodders, ranging from drag racers, show ponies, event attendees, regular drivers and owners that do nothing with their rods. There are many reasons why we do our own thing, but I am surprised that I don’t see more rods on the streets during a normal day. Several rodders over the years have driven their rods daily over different periods of time. Lars when working in Morley, Joe Vadala for ever, AB, Vince Berriman, Mick Johnson, Neville Marney and a few more that I am sure I don’t know about or have forgotten and of course, there is yours truly. Why aren’t more rods driven daily? Perhaps, they are not suitable for work, have to be left in unsafe parking areas, a work car is provided, not practical (eg Buckets), not as comfy as a new car, no roof, scared of damage, too powerful / thirsty, too clean and shiny? Maybe, we can take a lot of these rods out of the pool due to these reasons and for usage during the week. What about the others and the weekends?I believe that many rods are either not built with enough forethought or purchased without sufficient knowledge or testing. Far more rods are built for looks than for practicality. I believe many unused rods are simply too piggish or poggish to use regularly. Problems with tuning, handling, and comfort would top the list. Many of

these are solvable without a huge rebuild, yet remain a problem and the hot rod gathers dust. Sure, not everyone has the knowledge, skill or facilities to fix such problems them-selves, but there are plenty around who can help. It seems such a waste to me! I personally believe that building a rod to be extremely good at all things, ie shows, drags, the salt and for regular street use, is pretty much a fantasy for the average rod-der. Often two facets are pos-sible but a third makes it hard. To succeed as an all round rod, the drag capability would probably be lowered while

still having a show winner that you don’t mind getting chipped and redetailing regularly... So you see, it aint easy to be an all rounder. The joys I get from rodding is the building, the driving and the people. The regular driving means that shows, drags and the salt, are for another time with another car/s. It’s a goer, not a show-er. Now the building is completed, it is time for the driving. To be successful at this “street” facet of the sport, it has to drive well and be reliable, or its purpose is lost. I would have failed in my goals and expectations. My coupe has done 4500kms in 3 months. Many things have been changed in the recent rebuild to make it a better street car for today’s conditions. Eg LPGas conversion, 2.75 rear end, better wipers, modern CD player, repositioned seat belt anchors, repositioned brake pedal, IFS with new steering etc etcTwo changes now need modifying because they cause inconvenience in hotter weather. They are the alternator and the cooling system.The new alternator is smaller due reduced room in the old location. The radiator is narrower, but thicker to better fit in its position. I have been making changes to the cooling system since the day it was licensed. They include: changing fans, adding and changing shrouds, adding scoops, adding an electric fan. On the Xmas lights cruise, the motor was running hot and the electric fan was running continuously. The fan is a 16” Craig Davies monster that uses a lot of electrons. Being night time and also having the lights on, the alternator could not keep up and eventually the LP-Gas system closed down and we came to an annoy-ing halt. The starter motor also showed its dissapointment.

The radiator has since had a triple bypass operation and the 40Amp al-ternator has been reposi-

tioned and replaced with a 110Amp unit, along with its welder cable sized wiring. At the time of writing, the changes are still to be repackaged and tested. That is part of the evolution of a good street rod. It has already done more kms than most rods do in a year. Add that to its previous go anywhere 135,000 kms and you can see why it isn’t built as a show car, just for fun and functionality. So if you have a rod that is wasting away for any of the above reasons and you want to have some fun with it..... Ask questions, get answers and just fix it. Go on then...What midlife crisis? I’ve had this problem since I was a teenager! EW Footnote: All parts were purchased with good discount from AutoOne Ellenbrook.

WARNING — MattressesFor real ! If you ever you run over a mattress , always check that it comes out from the back of your car completely in tact. If at night and you cannot see it, it is best to stop and look under your vehicle. It is known that several cars have been burnt out by the exhaust setting fire to material ripped from or still attached to a mattress dragged along. (one on Toodyay Rd a few years ago).Pictures below show another scenario. In this in-stance, all the mattress metal frame and springing is wrapped around the tail shaft. The driver must have been deaf, stupid or pissed.. Apparently took it in for a check up because it had developed a vibration.. Can you believe that? EW

Above: tail shaft and diff.Left: Bags not removing it from the tailshaft!

TAC CONTACT INFO >>> watac@asrf.org.au This is the address that will be used in future for build application correspondence etc, Paul Walsh

—---------------------------------------------------Special discounts for Club and ASRF members at Auto One Ellen-

brook .The crew at will look after you. Lars, Aaron and Glen can also offer great advice, gath-ered with years of experience.The problem with a lot of Auto stores is they are full of fluff and crystals and often don’t stock hard core rodder requirements. Ellenbrook Auto One will order almost anything you could need for your rod. And still give you some discount, if they can get discount themselves.

Who about a day up in Northam, the week before Easter? Following is an email received at Klaxon WA head quarters. It could a good day out. Any takers? Hi I hope there is still time to get the date 5th April 2009 onto your club calendar. This years Northam flying 50 starts on Sat 4th April with the Mt Ommaney hill climb, & Sunday 5th round the houses flying 50, plus town centre family fun day, extra demonstrations this year, sprint cars, Hurricane Go Kart racing (town centre separate track), river demo. Lots to see & do. Why not come along & join us at Bernard Park, a grassed area with some tree cover close to the river & close to the action. BBQ, & perhaps use the Time & Place to run your own Concourse, Show & Shine, or a meeting place after an early morning run! You will be among friends & like minded people, Bring the family. I will be sending out more details later, but if you want to contact me earlier email at benntoo@iinet.net.au . Best Regards, John Bennington

Coming EventsJanuary 25, 2009 9th Annual Picnic Cruise Mandurah RCC 06-08January 26, 2009 Australia Day Fireworks display. Langley ParkFebruary 8: Rodder Of The Year Picnic ASRF Steve 9581 6024 To be advised Feb14, 2009: Big Al’s Poker Run.February 18:SummerSun Twilight Cruise Al Erdman 0414 551 928, 9349 4865 Cruise to Rockingham as per 2008 Feb 27 – March 2: Busselton Drive-in Weekend Radiators Matthew Clarke9751 1401 Same format as previous years. March 8: Pipeline Picnic Cranksters 02/09 Craig Clements9371 2005 Cruise to Mundaring March 8: Iggy Memorial Run Conrodders 03/09 Dean Hollwarth9523 1932 Cruise to Cemetery and Winery (TBA) for lunch March 15: Sunset Coast Cruise WAHRP 07/09 Les Smith 9446 7368 Sor-rento SLSC car park from 5pm, R ‘n’ R concert, departing 7:50pm for Southbound cruise.November 15, 2009 Yanchep Cruise Goodfellas Regular :Wanderer’s Pizza night. Mark Gryska 9418 3668. At Brandi Pizza, Rockingham Rd , Munster. 6.00pm. Second Thursday each Month.Regular: Frenchy and Jimbo’s Rodders breakfast at WCSRC at 8.30 every Saturday morning. Spread the word...Regular: Radiators Monthly Bunbury Cruise. Tony 9721 4386TAC Inspections. 3rd Saturday of month. Call Mike if you need an inspection to make an appointment 0411 709 599

STOP PRESS BOX Sponsored by: Lindy’s Lolly Wrapping Services and C.Anckle Secretarial Service.

CLASSIFIEDS Wanted: Neil Gibb- Mudguard for a CustomlineFor sale:FC and FB ute –need restoring EK needs some mechanical work. Ken Myers 0417 910 356-47 Chev truck Mike Flett 0402 632 51348 fibreglass pickup guards Steven Best 9571 0025