| President's Corner |
by Larry Magaw
| January/February 2010 |
As promised in the last issue, the winner of the Sparkplug award is Dusty Seifert. She serves
the club as Secretary and Web site administrator. She volunteers her time and talents to her
church, cares for her family and works part time. Dusty's efforts have been instrumental in
the growth and health of the club. It is with great satisfaction that I was able to present this
honor at our annual Christmas party.
Just received an email from my sister who lives near our childhood home. It was recently put up
for sale. The basic structure has not changed although some interior remodeling has been done.
The realtor is asking $110,000 for the same property our parents bought for $2500. It has
been well maintained with a new roof and the interior is nicely painted and floors refinished,
heating and air updated. Just goes to show real estate values continue to appreciate in total
dollars, but nearly a century has passed. I wonder if it wins the race with inflation.
Recently the Discovery Channel aired a Mythbusters episode where they tested the scenario of
an expensive mid-engined sports car skipping across the surface of water. Their calculations
estimated it was done at 50 miles per hour and the puddle to be 100 feet long. They used two
different Fieros to test the myth. The initial full sized test used a short ramp and of course it
caused an end over end rotation of the Fiero. After some small scale testing they tried another
Fiero without a ramp and nearly 100 MPH. They had also modified this one with some sheet
metal under the nose. It not only was successful but carried a lot of extra speed and after the
skip it was flipped up by the opposite bank and nosed into the dirt. After the experiment was
concluded, the two cars were shown driving away under their own power. It certainly proved the
toughness of these over 20 year old cars. The video is available on the Discovery Channel
website.
An excellent guide to preserving historic motor vehicles can be found on The Henry Ford
museum web site at http://www.thehenryford.org/research/caring/vehicles.aspx.
the club as Secretary and Web site administrator. She volunteers her time and talents to her
church, cares for her family and works part time. Dusty's efforts have been instrumental in
the growth and health of the club. It is with great satisfaction that I was able to present this
honor at our annual Christmas party.
Just received an email from my sister who lives near our childhood home. It was recently put up
for sale. The basic structure has not changed although some interior remodeling has been done.
The realtor is asking $110,000 for the same property our parents bought for $2500. It has
been well maintained with a new roof and the interior is nicely painted and floors refinished,
heating and air updated. Just goes to show real estate values continue to appreciate in total
dollars, but nearly a century has passed. I wonder if it wins the race with inflation.
Recently the Discovery Channel aired a Mythbusters episode where they tested the scenario of
an expensive mid-engined sports car skipping across the surface of water. Their calculations
estimated it was done at 50 miles per hour and the puddle to be 100 feet long. They used two
different Fieros to test the myth. The initial full sized test used a short ramp and of course it
caused an end over end rotation of the Fiero. After some small scale testing they tried another
Fiero without a ramp and nearly 100 MPH. They had also modified this one with some sheet
metal under the nose. It not only was successful but carried a lot of extra speed and after the
skip it was flipped up by the opposite bank and nosed into the dirt. After the experiment was
concluded, the two cars were shown driving away under their own power. It certainly proved the
toughness of these over 20 year old cars. The video is available on the Discovery Channel
website.
An excellent guide to preserving historic motor vehicles can be found on The Henry Ford
museum web site at http://www.thehenryford.org/research/caring/vehicles.aspx.