From the Archives

 Notes submitted by Gary Arsenault for the meeting held on April 26th, 2001:

Three LBC's showed up. The keeners were:
Jim Woodford - 74 MGB
Bob Constable - 81 Spitfire
Gary Wood - 77 MGB

We agreed to get some things moving on the touring front:
The current tour schedule:

• May 20/01- St Andrews day trip - John Dewitt and Mike Hines volunteered to be tour directors. Please call them for details.
  John - 357-5820
  Mike - 472-8064
• May 24/01 @7 pm - Lunar Rogue* meeting to discuss how St Andrews tour went and to discuss next event. If Lunar Rogue is unavailable then Beaverbrook or Sheraton would be next on list. John Dewitt agreed to be point person on this.
• June ????/01 - Arnold Boer agreed to organize a day tour.
• July 13/01 - PEI British Car Day. Jim Woodford and Mark Jones obtained loads of information on the event. This was passed out to everyone. A reminder for anyone attending to book their accomodations right away...or be prepared to bring a tent.... which is OK too! Jim Woodford and Gary Arsenault volunteered to organize a local contingent to convey our way over there. Stay tuned.
  Jim - 363-4697
  Gary - 454-4546

Other issues:

• There was some discussion on showing cars at the local Fton car shows. Jim McKeown is going to talk to those folks to see if there was any interest in having our group attend.
• Gary Hetherington offered to have folks visit him at his large open area in Rusagonis. Sounds like a good sport for a get together.
• Gary Arsenault is planning on having the group over for a barbeque sometime this summer.
• We need a name! A brief discussion on a name for the group was had but no name came forward. It was agreed to bring final suggestions to the next meeting.
• Everyone at this meeting was given a current list of folks who have attended the last meeting.
• There was some discussions and interest in rallying. Hopefully those interested will put something together to see this happen. Sounds like a lot of fun.
• David Nielsen is developing a web page for us and has that done a remarkable job at putting our information together. Everyone recognized the need for a common communications tool to help us get our message out or in as the case may be. This page will be instrumental in getting our group up and rolling and then more important..... sustaining it. Thank-you David from all of us. This is much appreciated and welcomed!

* It was decided later that we should consider choosing a meeting place that allows us to have a view of the parking lot for security and peace-of-mind reasons. Quite a valuable collection of cars when we are all together.

I BOUGHT A WRECKED ASTON MARTIN DB12 THEN REBUILT IT IN 24 HOURS - YouTube

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=LySKmMpWsQY

(Passed along by John D.)

The Who? What? and How? of FABAC

Back at the turn of the century, there lived a man with a notion that British car owners should drive their cars, help others get theirs running, and enjoy traveling together, and meeting and eating together. Gary was that man who jump-started the club by connecting with as many LBC owners as he could find. Lots of interest at that first meeting at Odell Park.

What grew out of that first meeting back in 2001 was a club that had no dues, had no officers, had no elections, had no constitution, and had no idea how successful it would be. Fifty members turned out to our 20th anniversary get-together! 

• We had no expenses that weren't covered anonymously by club members.
• We had no elections as people volunteered to officiate at meetings, organize tours/runs, suggest events, track memberships, take minutes of meetings and post articles and announcements.
• We have one constitution that is too unwieldy to publish. Not unlike the Indigenous people, we collectively hold in our memories the many discussions we have had on every imaginable topic over the years. That becomes our constitution. (By the way, we had the last discussion re name change in April to August 2008. A quote from the August minutes: "David N has suggested that the club be henceforth known as FABFAC (Fredericton Area British and Foreign Automobile Club) in recognition of the multi-national nature of its members’ cars.) (As the volunteer "Information Officer" since 2001, I have emails, posts, photographs and records that go waaaay back.)

So, here we are—people interested in British cars, in a club with a British name and a British logo.

Your faithful servant,

David

May, 2001:

2020 Jaguar E-type is back! Will leave you speechless

 https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/jaguar-builds-new-e-types-50-years-after-gts-retirement

(Passed along by John D.)

Octoberfest Run Report

       Despite cool and windy weather, it was a wonderful drive to Knightville on Sunday for our annual Octoberfest dinner and meet-up with the folks from the Moncton area.   The sky was dotted with clouds that added interest to the scenery and even the bare trees offered an interesting setting.
      And the meet-up you ask?  We were flabbergasted at the turnout with over 20 folks from Moncton.  Ovide was grinning like the Cheshire cat as we surveyed the sea of familiar and new faces.  After shaking all the hands (and a few hugs), we sat down to dine and chat.
      Ovide and I had a long chat about our (both of our) club's continuing evolution and challenges. We're slowly losing members to age and changing interests. Many who remain, trade in their LBCs or other interesting car for something that's still fun but more reliable and comfortable (and warmer, with trunk space). The parking lot at the gasthof was a sea of Miatas with a few older Volvos and one lonely vintage Mustang. Moncton has a large group of loosely organized (kinda like us) folks who love to drive and eat (sound familiar?). We're going to plan more combined trips next year as there's lots to do in between the two cities that are an easy drive for both groups. The Sussex balloon fest and car show is an obvious gathering that we used to frequent. Maybe we should again? The Fundy coast is another great spot to meet up.
     The drive home saw us introduced to a new route around Sussex that eliminated that screwy section of Roachville road.  It was wonderfully scenic, devoid of other traffic, and quite twisty.  We'll be doing that one again.
     Hats off to Ovide for dragging that huge group out in the cold and wind.

    Rob E.

Three Ferry Run

I would like to thank Chris and Beth Daigle, Mark Caldwell and Ernst for joining me on a great day of driving. We found a great little restaurant just by the Westfield ferry then went onto Hatfield point ferry, then onto Gagetown ferry. What a wonderful fall day and yes, the top is up on my car. It was cold. 

Cheers, 

John

 

Alternate Trip suggestion for this Sunday

Here is the trip that I’m thinking of doing—meeting at Princess Auto leaving at 10:30am. Drive to Fredericton Junction on Hoyt then to Saint John finding something to eat. Then take the Romeo and Juliet ferry over to Bell Bay Drive to the Kingston Peninsula. Then onto the Gagetown ferry and home on Rte 102.

- John D.

FABAC name change discussion

To help with this healthy discussion, I thought it would be useful to give some background on our club's current name and how it relates to our constitution.

Membership: The Founders of our Club (a list is available) were wise in ensuring that our Club would be inclusive, hence the language in our Constitution that states that anyone "who owns or is interested in British automobiles may apply for membership". Since the beginning, we have not turned anyone away, We have had everything imaginable driving with us from a Maserati Chrysler to odds and ends of Japanese, German, French, NA and Italian vehicles. Interestingly, even 'Fredericton Area' shows the original plan for the club to be not too restrictive re membership. We even have members living in the Saint John area.

The part of the Constitution regarding name changes is quite interesting:

"The name 'Fredericton Area British Automobile Club' reflects the original mandate and must contain the word 'British' and shall not have any additional restrictive language applied." 

So, one cannot add Electric Vehicles or Vintage, or Internal Combustion Engines or Sports Cars. These appear to restrict membership and do not reflect the intent of the Founders.

So, a change like 'Fredericton Area Mostly British Automobile Club' would be allowed.

However, 'Fredericton Unique Cars Klub' would not be allowed by the guidelines.

Finally, any name that makes it to the final decision must be approved by either:

- a majority of the surviving Founders

or

- a majority of active members ('Active' is described in our constitution as any registered person who has participated in at least one Club activity in the past twelve months. This can be tours, runs, meetings, breakfasts, or posts on our site.

I hope this has been helpful.

Your faithful servant,

David N.

Fun with the latest Tesla Full Self Driving (Supervised)

First day with free FSD (Supervised) 12.5.4.1. Pretty incredible. Three clips for your viewing pleasure:

Rude red Corolla coming out of Fredericton Northside into traffic. My Tesla slowed and forgave her for butting in after the truck.
Actual Smart Summoning at Northside Shopper's Drug—I purposely drove into a parking spot so that the Tesla would have to back up to come and get me. You'll see it slowing and moving more to the right as the truck comes into view. You'll see me standing waiting center screen.
Navigating the construction on the Mactaquac Dam with no problem.

I did not need to interfere with any of the driving. My only complaint is that the speed zone data is very flawed—something that hopefully will improve soon. Not the car's fault—just incorrect mapping data. And you know what happens if you drive the speed limit!

October Meeting Report

      A boisterous but well behaved group met at Dimitri's restaurant for October's dinner and not-a-meeting.  We all noticed that the inside has again changed colour. Are they doing this just for us?

      Gary took the reins and chatted about the Owl's Head run recently.  There's been some fun stories from the trip with Ernst emerging as the hero...sorta.

• There was some discussion on the sl-o-o-w-ly progressing name change for the club.  We chatted amicably about the reasons for this and even agreed (mostly) to charge ahead.  I've already gathered a few suggestions and am inviting more. The end goal is to be more inclusive (of car ownership, we already welcome everybody) and grow the membership.  I'll put what I have together and post it all soon.
• The Octoberfest run is on...again!  See the post a little ways down.  Remember to call or email them and add your name to the list.
•  Gary went wildly off-topic and promoted his seniors swim club.  It's a good cause so we didn't mind.
•  Phil-n-Pam are leading a fall leaf tour on Saturday coming (the 19th).  See details here.
•  Dianne will arrange the holiday party (around the 11th of Dec) at the Freddy Inn.
•  The next meeting will be at the Carnation Restaurant on Nov 20th.

   Rob E.

Fall Colour Run

Pam and I are planning a drive somewhere upriver Saturday.  The driving season is getting short and the weather folks are predicting a sunny day with no chance of rain.  Anyone interesting in going with us, chime in on the site or get in touch with me to arrange where to meet.

Thanks,

Phil

FABAC Meeting October 16th

Dinner at Dimitri’s Souvlaki 

Booked for 16 people on Wednesday October 16th at 5:30 pm under FABAC, or Johanna Bertin.

Octoberfest run

 Oct run to Adolf's Gasthoff Old Bavarian Restaurant Oct. 27th

1130 Knightville Road

Menu http://www.oldbavarian.ca/menu.html
They now accept modern payment methods.

Contact the restaurant (1-506-433-4735) NOW if you plan on attending.

Tell them that you are with FABAC.  The reservation is under my name.

      Gather at Ramada Inn parking lot (north side) on Sunday, Oct 27th at 11:45 noon, rain or ...it's gonna rain of course so there's no contingency plan for sunshine.

The route:

• Depart the parking lot at 12:15 sharp along the scenic 105. A short detour along the boring Trans Canada to avoid the partially demolished bridge. 
• Regain the 105 after Jemseg and turn left onto the 695 heading towards Cambridge Narrows. 
• After Crossing the bridge at Cambridge Narrows we turn left onto the lovely and relaxing 710. 
• The 710 makes a right turn somewhere after someplace named 'Cody's'. 
• Join up with the straight and boring (but thankfully short) highway 10, 
• Just before Sussex, turn left onto Roachville Rd.  I don't remember if there's much of a sign there but if we/you miss it, you/we can pick it up soon after at the interchange. 
• Follow Roachville Rd a while until you see the right hand turn onto Knightville Rd....which is on the right. At some point the restaurant will appear on the right.

     Maps or GPSs are well advised.  I no longer get lost and lead folks astray, but we may become separated. We hope to get there around 2:00. We hope that some of our old friends from Moncton join us. 
- Bob E.