The Abingdon Oiler

July 6th, 2003

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Lost and Confused Americans?

What happened to the American members at the Canadian tour? Ten members of MBMGCC lost there way by going to the wrong border crossing. We were all disappointed we missed out on a fine MG Canadian tour hosted by the K&K tour group. I hope the Canadian crew just went on and enjoyed an afternoon of motoring without us! On behalf of the American members I would like to apologize to the Canadians members for the confusion. We hope the Canadian members will understand and continue to host another tour next year. The Americans made the most of the situation had a good time anyway. We finished up the day with lunch at the nut house.

July 20th Picnic by the Lake Tour!

July 20th will be the annual Picnic by the Lake Tour! This should be another exciting tour full of adventure and top down motoring. We will start the tour at 9am at Burlington Edison High School. From there we will tour around the back roads of Skagit County and end at the lakeside residence of Bryce and Donna Cook. . Bring a picnic lunch and Bryce and Donna will provide the coffee, dessert and provide a Bar-B-Q so bring those juicy steaks! This year the tour will be a bit shorter and is expected to finish around 2pm. This should allow enough time for those who would like to attend the Burlington Car Show or your welcome to stay and enjoy good conversation and the pristine waters of Big Lake.

Little Known Facts and Trivia About the Automobile

Chronological evolution:

1782 James Watt builds the first engine crank.
1792 The first U.S. toll roads opened in PA and CT.
1860 Jean Lenoir invents the spark plug.
1887 The Benz became the first car offered for sale.
1896 The Duryea became the first production motor vehicle in the U.S.
1897 The first auto insurance policy is purchased in Westfield, MA.
1900 The first Guide Michelin published mostly containing a list of gas stations in France.
1901 The first Grand Prix race was won with an average speed of 46 mph.
1901 The first American car manufactured in any quantity, the “Curved Dash”
Olds is offered for $650.
1913 More than one million cars registered in the U.S.
1914 The Chevrolet bow-tie emblem first appears.
1914 The first electric traffic light was installed in Cleveland.
1923 Powered windshield wipers became standard equipment on many cars.
1923 A radio was first offered as an accessory.
1939 Buick introduces turn signals as standard equipment.
1946 The first power windows were introduced.
1948 Harley Earl introduces the tail fin on the Cadillac. Fins don’t go away for over a decade.
1953 Chevrolet introduces its Harley Earl-designed Corvette.
1954 Padded dashboards introduced for safety.
1956 Electric door locks introduced on several luxury models.
1958 The first remote adjusted side view mirror.
1958 Ford introduces the first electric trunk release.
1958 Chrysler introduces the day-night rearview mirror.
1960 All-weather antifreeze plus coolant introduced.
1963 Seat belts first offered as standard equipment.
1965 Rear seat belts became standard on most cars.
1974 National 55 mph speed limit enacted after oil shortages.
1984 Chrysler introduces the Dodge Caravan and Plymouth voyager minivans.
1972 Cars traveled along LA freeways at an average speed of 60 mph. In 1982 the average was only 17 mph!
1974 The average American family spent 33 percent of their yearly income for a new car. In 1995 the average was 50 percent.
1995 The Big Three sold a whopping 97,000 cars in Japan.

Mt. Baker MG Car Club events*

The schedule of events for the year is as follows:

July 4th 5th. 6th. Rally In The Valley, B.C.
July 14th. To 18th. NAMGAR GT-28 at Mt. Hood, OR.
* July 20th. Sun. Tour and picnic by the lake, Bryce Cook.
July 20th Burlington Car Show
July, 21st. .To 24th. GOF at Queen Mary Calif.
* August 2&3rd. Sat & Sun. Mt. Baker tour with the NWMGCC. & Wayne Musselman
* Sept. 1st. Mon. Labor day tour.
Sept. Whistler Run, B.C.
Oct. Fall color tour with the NWMGCC.
* Oct. Pumpkin Run Tour

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