What a lovely turn out of FABAC members today at Daniel Nicholes’ service. It is heartening to see the way we support each other at difficult times.
Johanna and Bruce
Sad news
Dan Nicholes passed away last night April 21, at Hospice House.
Arrangements have been made for a gathering to give thanks at Killarney Lake Lodge. The date will be sorted soon. The plan is to have it live streamed and York Funeral Home is in care of the arrangements.Sharing for Susan Butterfield.
Dan Nicholes update
Susan Butterfield just let Johanna know that Dan is now in hospice. She wanted to let us in FABAC know that he is being well taken care however he is not able to receive visitors.
BruceNotes from April FABAC Meeting
So...
Last night started off looking like we were going to have to go hunting for someplace else to eat when our dinner reservations weren't. Sandy was able to twist an arm and get us in. Kudos to her.
As usual, Gary took the floor while dodging some new-fangled delivery robot (how long until it gets hacked and goes on a food flinging spree?).
- There wasn't much to report as it's been a quiet month, what with spring happening.
- Carol & John have some runs planned for later on and we have some BIG runs also happening later.
- There's an airshow and Windsor's field meet and the long awaited trip to Owl's head.
- We need something this month, just a short get-em-out of the garage trip with a nice little drive that involves food at some point. It doesn't have to be far or fancy. How about a picnic somewhere? We haven't done one of those in years and anybody can make a sandwich.
- Our next dinner will be at Dimitri's on the 15th of May—always a favourite with us.
Rob E.
GT6 Rear Discs
Everything‘s going great with the rear brakes. This is the final mock up. The bracket is on its way to the machine shop. Hoping to have it by Friday. I’m trying to have everything up and running by the end of April.
Cheers,
JOHN
Can a self-driving car be courteous?
Tesla owners have been given a month of free Full Self Driving (Supervised) to see for themselves how far the technology has come. We can use FSD (Supervised) as long as we give full attention to the road ahead (Yes, there is a camera in the car checking that.) and keeping hands on the steering wheel prepared to take over if the car does something unexpected. I truly have been enjoying having the car do all the driving, signalling, turning, stopping, avoiding pedestrians and bikers. Set a destination and watch the magic. On Friday, I was using FSD to take me to the Southside of Fredericton and the car did something that really surprised me. You will see in the short clip below that there is lots of traffic and an oncoming vehicle signalled for a left turn across my lane. The car ahead almost stopped to let him turn but not quite. My Tesla made a full stop to let him cross, even though it knew there was a green light a ways ahead—a true act of courtesy. I did nothing. It is what I would have done, and that is what people are experiencing with FSD—it is acting so humanlike.
If you are interested in such things, the version of software doing this 'magic' is based on Artificial Intelligence. Super computers are given millions of hours of videos showing good driving habits in countless situations. The computer learns how to drive from these. This replaces an older method which involved writing hundreds of thousands of lines of computer coding trying to explain how to drive. One of the advantages of FSD is that the Tesla has eight cameras and no distractions. Everything we do is recorded on a little jump drive in the car. It is only shared with Tesla if there is an accident or we report a problem. It is not perfect yet, but it is being improved every day. I have had three updated versions of the software in the past ten days. I have several things I would like to see changed—time will tell how that goes.
If you are really excited about all of this, let me know and I would be happy to give you a demonstration.
- David
Monthly FABAC Meeting Wednesday April 17
East Side Mario’s is booked for the car club on Wednesday evening for 5:30.
- Joe H.
Owl's Head Transportation Museum
There have been discussions at the Tuesday morning breakfast about a tour to the Owl’s Head Transportation Museum (https://owlshead.org/) for their Foreign Auto Rendezvous on Sept. 21st and 22nd. The tentative plan is to travel on Friday Sept. 20th to the Augusta/Waterville, ME area via Calais for lunch and to Brewer/Bangor via US Rt. 9 (The Airline for us old folks) and on to the Augusta area where we will overnight. The next morning (Saturday) will be an hour and fifteen minute drive to Owl’s Head. I did look at accommodations closer to Owl’s Head but could find nothing under $300 US in September.
The car show ends at 3:00 PM on Saturday after which will travel to Ellsworth, about a two hour drive, where we will overnight. Sunday morning we will travel to Campobello Island for a short tour of the island and lunch and then catch the ferry to Deer Island and on to St. George and Fredericton.
If you’re interested, chime in in the comment section and I’ll refine the trip details a bit further.
- Phil
Spitfire rear disc brakes
Well, here’s a mock up using secondhand parts. To see what my new rear brakes are going to look like. New parts on the way hopefully I’ll have it all done by mid April.
Cheers,
John
And here are the ones on Mark Colwell's MGB. Ernst is working on them right now hoping to have it done by mid May.
FABAC Meeting March 20th
Isaac's way is booked for 5:30 pm on the 20th March for twelve people. Not in the vault but they will set up tables in the main restaurant.
Special note: There is NO parking between their building and the old Service Canada building. It is now a tow away zone. Monitored 24 hours per day!
Thanks,
Al T.
Report on Dumfries Maple Run
Our first run of the season, to Dumfries maple in Dumfries (where else?) was another success with no one in our sizeable contingent getting lost. It was rainy and foggy out but the warm temps made for a pleasant break from the cold. We're forbidden from talking much about the unseasonable weather lest we jinx it so that's all that I'll say.
The place was packed and our table was ready. All 14 of us crowded in and ordered. Because we were early we had plenty of time to chat and catch up with each other. As the food arrived, the newbies to the place were relieved that they'd been forewarned and had only ordered one pancake. The cakes are huge, covering the plates, and thick enough to stand a fork up in them. I'm sure I'm not the only one who skipped supper once home.
***A note to me (Rob) for next year, it's only a 35 minute drive...don't leave so early (again).***
Thanks for all who attended.
Rob E.
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Rostyle Wheel
Here’s a bit of information that some folks might be interested in: the origin and history of the Rostyle wheel. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rostyle_wheel
Phil
Dumfries Maple Syrup Run! This Sunday (3rd March)
Depart at noon for a 1:00 PM rendezvous at Dumfries.
As always, the inaugural season run is to Dumfries Maple for pancakes and such.
Let's meet at Miller's Ice, just up the road from where Prospect and Woodstock Road meet. It's a blue metal building that has an ice cream shop there in the summer.
Weather is looking warm.
Rob E.
An interesting insurance item
Just information for anyone in the club insured with Hagerty Insurance. Or maybe other companies also.
I just paid the annual premiums. The agent asked me why I did not have the "cherished salvage endorsement". I said I was not aware of it.
This is what I was told. Basically you pay an additional premium if you choose, then in the case of a total loss, you can keep the vehicle as salvage.
Al T
Morris Minor
I know that many in this group like stock LBCs but I think that most can appreciate a well driven 300 HP Morris Minor (not your Grandad’s Morris!).
Phil
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmwc9yV0vYU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt2-bI2dPpA
FABAC February Meeting/Diner - Carnation Rose - Wed Feb 21 @ 5:30
Dianne has confirmed our February meeting/dinner at the Carnation Rose located at the Days Inn in Oromocto. That's Wednesday Feb 21st at 5:30. The reservation is under Robert Earl's name.
We hope to see many of you there with your exciting ideas for the coming season. Day trips are most welcome.
All the best,
Gary
John D. passed this along for your information:
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Land Rover Defender bolt-in electric conversion kit.
I thought the club might be interested in in this one and Calvin. https://youtu.be/HoqoL1EyAHk?si=aDKwDufJo0W_NDIz
Cheers,
John
Report on January Meeting
We started 2024 off with a dinner at Dimitri's Greek restaurant, an old favourite with everybody. Strangely, it was deserted except for our group. We realized that 'Dine around Freddy' was starting the next night, hence the lack of customers.
As always, Gary took the floor with a New Years greeting to all.
- Dianne E. was thanked for the Holiday party.
- Gary's yearly synopsis will be given at the March meeting to coincide with the club's anniversary.
- The team of Phil and John D. are planning a summer trip to Owl's Head in Maine.
- There's a trip to Greenwood in NS to the massive airshow for the 100th anniversary of the RCAF August 24th and 25th.
- Gary made a call for day runs.
- The next meeting will be at Carnations restaurant in Oromocto on the 21st of Feb. Watch for snow.
Rob E.
FABAC Dinner Meeting - Dimitri's Restaurant - Wednesday Jan.17/24
At our December Holiday meeting we decided to have our January meeting at the Carnation Rose restaurant in Oromocto. However, they are closed on our regular meeting date so I decided to reserve our January dinner meeting at Dimitri's restaurant, 347 Queen St., for on Wed Jan 17/24 at 5:30.
I hope to see you there.
Happy New Year to everyone,
Gary
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