Category: Monthly News

May 13, 2024 • By John Pritchard In an effort to encourage more young students to get involved in automotive careers, The Roamin Angels sponsored a visit to the auto shop by three experienced mechanics. They made presentations to four automotive classes led by their teacher, George Woodward. Robert Brocke, owner of Foothill Car Care on E. Main St. was the first speaker. He talked to the students about how he managed to start in the automotive field as a cleanup kid in the shop, he learned everything he could,…

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Nearly all of our older cars have a single coil unless there has been an engine swap. Years ago we could get higher RPM’s by using an expensive dual-ignition system, but why is that? We’ll answer that question later.  Have you noticed on your new car, each cylinder has it’s own coil mounted on top of the engine? These are coil packs. Let’s examine exactly what an automotive “coil” is, electrically speaking.  It’s not really a coil at all, but a step-up auto-transformer where the primary and secondary are intertwined….

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There was a good crowd at cars and coffee and the sun was shining bright! More and more people and all types of cars are showing up on Saturday morning. Cars and Coffee is Saturday from 7am to about 10am at the McKnight Crossing shopping center where Target and SPD Market is. Check out the April vehicles. Gorgeous!  Happy Motoring! – Your Roving Reporter, Don

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Wow! We had 31 wonderful friends at Trailblazers. What good Food and visiting we did. Had to close the door as we were all talking at one time. Gary Blum had a short meeting with updates on coming events. Maybe for May’s get together we can sit out on the Patio. Also the surprise $$ event starts. Come have some FUN and get to know our members. Diane and Pat thank you for attending.  See you in May 21st at 5pm Mark your calendar.

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Anyone that has built a hot rod or restored a classic car knows that it is a lot of hard work. For the most part it is enjoyable, but some of the jobs are just dirty and repetitive. One that comes to mind is the rust repair and the bodywork. We decided to pay someone to come to the shop and strip the old paint from the body and misc. parts. For $800 he blasted both the outside and the inside leaving a nice clean finish ready for body work…

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A slicked back pompidore and a pack of Pall Malls rolled up in the sleeve of a white t- shirt is common attire for us to cruise in. Worn Levies with motorcycle boots and Ray Ban Wayfairers is also quite acceptable.  Club members Ed and Nancy J. have come  a couple  of times. The Cool Gang from Cool has some members that are also regulars. A few from the Grass Valley Cars and Coffee show up like Marty and his brother Craig. Some are not affiliated with any club. It…

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There was a good crowd at cars and coffee as everone I talked to was anxious to get out and motor after a long winter and rain! Maybe 50 or 60 cars and the weather was good. I dusted off the camera lens and got a few shots. Happy Motoring!  – Your Roving Reporter, Don

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We all know of car shows that have been around for a long time. Hot August Nights, Monterey, and Sacramento Autorama are but a few. Who would have thought that Grass Valley’s Downtown Car show is one of the oldest – getting ready for 37 years worth. Without COVID, it would be 39 years.  Grass Valley’s show owes a large part of its’ success to the Roamin Angels. My recollection is our John Klein worked on Mill St. back in the day. He was involved with the Chamber and City…

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Well, the decision to go ahead and finish the build on the ‘31 Ford was made. Where do we start? We pulled the body off of the frame, that was easy since it was really just sitting there, not fastened. We set the body aside and concentrated on the frame and running gear. I have had an old aluminum dual 4-barrel manifold hanging on my shop wall for many years. It was intended for a later model engine than mine, but I was able to machine it to fit. We…

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Chromium (Cr); Greek word for color. The metal is so hard that they use it to line the inside of gun barrels. Once you polish it, it will stay shiny and not oxidize for decades. Chrome! It’s pleasant to look at, but as most of us know, car manufacturers haven’t used chrome plating on metal for years. But what is that stuff the car manufacturers and salesman refer to as ‘bright trim’? It’s basically just a spray that they apply to plastic. First, they spray a special paint to the…

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