Two recent events are worthy of reporting in this column, the first was a tour of the manufacturing plant of Performance Alloy Wheels at North Plympton, where approximately 25 club members took the opportunity to learn more about the process of making Alloy wheels.

During the visit we witnessed the manufacturing process from the melting of the alloy in the furnace, the pouring of the molten metal into the forming moulds the subsequent heat treatment and quenching process that prepared the cast wheels ready for the machining and pressure testing after this the wheels were moved to the painting / clear lacquering process in the spray booths, all processes were working during our visit and members found them most interesting. Our tour was guided by Ed Sanders the owner of the business who was willing to discuss and answer all questions put forward.  I believe we all left with a better understanding of manufacturing process and how the wheels are made ready for the showroom.

We are most grateful to Ed who has kindly donated a set of Performance Alloy Wheels and these  will be our major prize for the raffle at the TSOA nationals next year.  My thanks to Bob Farrell and John Tuohy for organising the visit.

The other event held during November was a combined run with the Healey Sprite club to the Greenock Aviation Museum, the event was very well attended with a total of 60 people meeting at Civic part opposite TTP for a pleasant Sunday run through Gumeracha, Williamstown, Springton and then to Angaston for a coffee break. We then travelled on through Nuriootpa to the Greenock museum where we set up a display of our cars prior to enjoying a BBQ lunch and visiting the aviation display.

The museum was a unanimous success with the display of many planes, aero engines and memorabilia along with a collection of Commer trucks, farm equipment and other miscellaneous items. Some of us stopped for more coffee and shopping on the way home at the Virginia Nursery.   All in all a very full and successful day, and I thank all who attended from both clubs.

The last event for the year will be our traditional mid week run between Christmas and New Year, so give some thought to attending, for details please refer later in this Mag.

Our January meeting is normally an informal get together at the club rooms with the ladies leaving us for a period to partake in gelato and or coffee, with the men discussing cars and old times.  This year we are trying something different and I will be presenting a talk on brake line material and hopefully a simple flaring and tube bending demonstration if I can acquire the tooling. So if you have heard of BUNDY TUBE and know it is the material to use for brake lines, but do not know why, I will try and explain the difference between BUNDY and other tube types.

Other topics to be covered on the night will be a brief history and description of the manufacturing processes, tube coatings, types of flares and tube nuts. Come along bring your questions and I will try and answer them.

Your committee has recently reviewed the point structure for the Clubman Trophy and has made revisions to points awarded for attending, planning and reporting on club events. New points as follows –

3 points for organising a club run
3 points for attending a TSOA event
3 points for attending a run in a Triumph
1 point for attending a run in other vehicle
3 points for an original article of substance in TRak
1 point for a monthly article of information
3 points for a letter of substance published in TRak
10 points for attending the National Rally

We have introduced this revision to encourage the promotion and use of our special vehicles, and in an effort to encourage a closer more even competition for the Clubman trophy.

I look forward to seeing you all at the Presentation Dinner on the 4th December at the Royal Adelaide Golf Club.

On behalf of Barb and myself I would like to wish everyone a very happy Christmas and New Year.

Drive safely over the festive season and hope to see you soon . . . . .

John Sampson