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MiataTudes

SACRAMENTO AREA MIATA OWNERS ASSOCIATION 2011 MAY

Robins Nest by Robin George

What a great time… If you were there you know what I’m talking about. We had our

annual Autocross Club Championships at the old Mather AFB. The weather was beautiful,

dry and warm. The Sports Car Club of America has a regular circuit they run each year.

The circuit consists of monthly autocrosses at venues in Northern California. This month

was run at the old Mather AFB with as a benefit for the Shriners

Hospital. This is a highly attended event by many drivers of all different

types of vehicles. Roughly 150 drivers were there. Besides our group

of Miata’s there were muscle cars, corvettes, mustangs, open-wheeled,

go-karts, and lots of fun driving vehicles. Club member Jack Parker,

also SCCA member, organized for us to race in the morning. He set

everything up and made the day go nice and smooth. Kudos to Jack.

Winners of the various run classes will be announced at May’s General Meeting on May

12th.

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Besides driving our

Miatas around a bunch

of orange cones really

fast, this was also an

opportunity to learn

how to drive your fun

loving car without

hurting yourself or

others. (pic 3 was the

only victim.) Believe it

or not you never get

out of second gear.

And honestly, what

damage could you do in

second gear?

Maybe next

time…

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Treasure Trove News by Jeanne George We welcome our Newest Members Paul and Jean Y’Barra Christy Barden Sue and Bob Carter Joe and Paula Douglas Memberships renewed in April Long, Ed and Chris Allen Carlson, Bob and Donna Neville, Doug and Susan Gust, Steve and Susan Pike, Gary and Lynda Mackey, Neal and Elaine Souza, Shelia and John Parrish, Bruce and Lee Ann Bechthold, Gary and Gundi Memberships Expiring May 1

st

Battimarco, Alan Burgess, Jim and Lori Thomas Cowan, Clay and Barbara Cummings, Stan and Judy Falconer, Bob Jensen, Dee and Bob Larson, Dennis and Susan Loo, Diana O’Dell, Amanda Revo, Ama SAMOA stats: 138 Memberships, 219 members, 147 Miatas

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Events for May and June by Diana Loo May 7, 2011 – Martin Griffin Preserve near Stinson Beach – Contact Skip at (916) 863-1336 for more information and RSVP

Join kip Noyes on a run to Bolinas to the Audubon Canyon Ranch to view the Snowy Egret and Heron nesting site on May 7th. Meet at the McDonalds in Davis at 9 am. Bring a picinic lunch and enjoy the beautiful drive to Marin County. The 1,000-acre Martin Griffin Preserve near Stinson Beach is open to the public annually Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from mid-March to mid-July, following the annual return of Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets to one of the most significant and well-studied nesting sites on the West Coast. Created following a successful effort to stop development of a freeway and a marina in West Marin, the preserve offers visitors several hiking trails to explore the canyons and their diverse ecosystems, including forests of Douglas fir, coast redwood and California bay. Open hillsides support grasslands and coastal scrub, while chaparral, streams, ponds and freshwater marsh habitats nestle in the canyon floors. Martin Griffin Preserve serves as ACR’s headquarters and is home to resource anagement, conservation-based research and environmental education programs that are conducted throughout the year. For over 40 years, the Martin Griffin Preserve was known as the Bolinas Lagoon Preserve of Audubon Canyon Ranch. In July 2010, The ACR Board of Directors formally renamed the preserve the Martin Griffin Preserve in honor of L. Martin "Marty" Griffin’s lifelong commitment to the environment and in recognition of the critical role he played in permanently protecting this unique section of the Marin County coastline. June 18, 2011 – Run to Upper Clear Lake – RSVP to Adi Damania at abdamania@gmail.com

Meet at 8:00 AM at McDONALDS on Chiles Road in Davis. Depart McDonalds at 8:30 AM after sign-up, introductions, and Run Leader’s description of the run. Route will go through Esparto and Capay with a quick stop at Cache Creek Casino gas station. Then heading through Brooks and Gunida. There will be time to visit antique stores in Upper Clearlake before meeting for lunch at the Blue Wing Café and Salon. June 25, 2011 – Show and Shoot – Mike Wilson (916) 331-3670

The run will take us down to the Murphy's/Volcano area. After some scenic roads heading down to that area, we will be checking out Murphy's fourth annual Classic Car Show. Make sure to bring your cameras because after the run, we will ask us to send us your best photo for a chance to win a great prize. This run is just in it's beginning planning stage so more information will be coming soon.

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Just Miatas of Riverbankby Terese Mac Davis

I‟m enjoying my retirement from the Miata restoring endeavors. Unlike my friends, I didn‟t

exactly know I was going to retire…just happened. Kinda like getting laid off. We‟ve all seen a

lot of that. When the economy tanked, I was left with eight beautiful, finished Miatas,,,for ten

months. And paying insurance on them.

My run actually outlasted the dealership by almost a year. In the last year before the very last

year, people needed to park their no-mileage monsters and find a smarter way to commute.

They needed Miatas! The last year was pretty good, and then bam! All those commuters lost

their jobs, the Miata only holds two people and becomes the third car.

I waited it out til the summer and then started moving them out. I was losing so much on

insurance, I had to give super deals and was lucky to find the right people for the cars.

At the same time, Jimmy‟s mom moved in with us and we went a new direction. I had

eventually needed to retire anyway, and threatened to occasionally. I knew what I wanted to

retire with,,, at least two of my most favorite Miatas! I

After spending six weeks in Wales with my grandson, I started my projects. The BlueBerry is a

94 automatic A package (I know, automatics!! Wait til you‟re my age…and can have a 5-speed,

too).

I found a complete power window assembly on craigslist, got Jimmy to promise to put it in, and

bought it. I had bought a chrome style bar for it the year before. And I wanted air horns!!! Just

like my Fiat had.

So Jimmy put in the power windows (just as easy as everyone says), and my mechanic, Jeff put

in the air horn. Jimmy and I are going to put on the stylebar before our weekend run. It‟s also

getting a cold air induction K&L. Why not? Give the old AT a little extra vroom!

The Tequila Sunrise was also to get a cold air induction (which I thought it already had, but

didn‟t) and an air horn. Jeff calls me and says, “Terese, did you know it already has an air horn?”

What? I can‟t believe I‟ve had that car for two years and never honked the horn! And it sounds

just like the Fiat! It now also got the cold air induction and roars like a proper beast now, when I

floor it….my favorite postion.

I mentioned our weekend run. We have our own little unofficial Miata Club, Just Miatas of

Riverbank, which consists of all our Miata friends and family and lots of people who have gotten

Miatas from me and live locally.

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So, most of the cars in the run are my babies! This weekend we‟re going to Daffodil Hill. Jeff,

our Mazda mechanic, says his hot rod club is going there, too. Might be a few car and bike clubs

there.

We do three or four runs a year with our little group. No newsletter or dues, just „ya wanna go‟?

This year will be our 5th Annual Twaine Harte Street Faire run and our 4th Annual Garre Winery

run. We usually have between 5 and 13 cars…one year Garre was 6 red Miatas and one

Montego Blue!

This was one of our first Twaine Harte runs.

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It‟s so much fun to see all these people again, and my cars, too, of course. We trade Miata stuff,

as well as lies.

This year, I‟ll be able to compete in „the most done to the car since you’ve had it’ contest. I‟ve

added all kinds of goodies, and both my cars are going. Some good friends who used to have a

Miata are going to drive the Tequila and I‟m going to drive the BlueBerry with Jimmy as my co-

pilot.

I‟m hoping to launch my Miata book this year. It‟s called “All These Flippin’ Miatas” and is

submitted to two publishers so far and I‟m just waiting. Wish me luck. If I get it published, I‟ll

donate some to SAMOA for gifts. You‟ll be surprised who of you (and your cars) are in the book!

We don‟t get up to Sac very often for your events (you‟re welcome to come down here for

ours!) but we hope to do the Vintage Car Races Corral this year, and maybe bring some of our

little club!

Jimmy and I are finally members of SAMOA again. We let our membership lapse for awhile, but

we‟re baack! I still read your newsletter and enjoy hearing what you folks are up to. I know how

much work it is to run a club the size of SAMOA … it needs the support of „us‟ members.

The events we have done with SAMOA have been wonderful and we‟ve gotten a few

ideas…very small ones. I don‟t want to get into a lot of work again.

It‟s such a pleasure seeing my two babies out the kitchen window every time I pass and

know….I don’t have to do anything on them!

I‟m getting ready to submit this to Michelle Thomas and took a look at Miatatudes and read the

Inspiration article. I‟ve been considering doing more specialized cars, custom stuff. „Course,

nothing like these, but, hmmm. I feel a little inspiration coming on.

2008 Miata Corral, Vintage Car

Races

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I‟ve thought of something more along these lines… this is a guy in Switzerland who sent me a

picture of his car. It is so, I hesitate to use the word „cute‟ on a guy‟s car, but, what? Cool?

Yeah, that‟s it. This is the kind of thing I‟d like to play with next time, maybe.

See the little alp to

the right, below?

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5th Annual SAMOA Autocross Championships The day started with a beautiful clear morning and ten SAMOAns showing up bright eyed and bushy-tailed for their chance to be the 2011 top dog the Club Autocross Championships. The organizer, not being a morning person was less than bright eyed and left his bushy tail at home. A meeting was held and several questions and answers were exchanged. Tire pressures were checked, wheel caps were removed, cars emptied of all manner of stuff and the cars were placed on grid. Since the members were all in the same class this year their times could be compared almost as they happened and the competition was fierce. Each driver was given four chances to run the course and hopefully improved as the event unfolded. And improve they did. The first run was a little slower as expected as each driver "reconned" the course and discovered the ins, outs, straights, corners and braking zones. In the Novice Class, Chuck Garvin was the fastest after the first round with Martin Neft a close second and Justin Lakin (driving his $800 Miata) and Dennis Strassburger battling for the next position. In Class II, Ken Johnson showed that his PRHT was not going to be slowed with all that extra metal he was dragging around and would up with the first round lead. Bab Bacon and John Walsh were next. In Class III, Rod Gonzalez took the early lead with Robin George and Rich Kelly, in that order next in line. After round 1, Rod had the early overall lead. Round 2 showed Chuck in Class I (Novice) was catching on very quickly as he improved his time by a whopping 5 seconds. Those of you not familiar with the sport will be advised that this improvement is remarkable. In fact, all the drivers in Novice improved with Martin holding onto second and Dennis and Justin swapping positions. Chucks second run was a very commendable 64.1. Class II showed Ken still in first with a 63.3 with John and Bob swapping positions. Class III had Rod with a 62.3 holding onto first in class and the overall lead with Rich and Robin swapping positions. So after two rounds the overall leader was Rod by just under a full second over Ken Here is where it got really close. In Novice Class, Chuck looked like he was going to run away and hide with another improvement of .2 seconds. Martin, Dennis and Justin continued to improve with Dennis gaining a second and Justin almost two seconds. Class II had Ken turn in a 62.3 to take a little of a 2 second lead over Bob and a 3 second lead over John. Here is where it got interesting in Class III. Rod could not improve his time and had to stand on his previous 62.4 that held the lead over Robin and Rich but fell to .035 seconds behind Ken for overall. As Rod finished I informed him of what Ken had just done and you could see the tension and determination building in his face.

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So the last run was upon us. With Ken holding a very slim overall lead it looked like that the class leaders were going to hold as they all had commanding leads. Off go the final runs. Novice class showed Chuck with a very large lead of nearly 5 seconds over Dennis with Martin and Justin following in that order. I think Justin was ready to run all day as he seemed to be hooked and ready to change everything on the car to make it go faster. It is great to see younger people enjoying the cars as they were meant to be driven. Class II is where the tension was mounting. Ken seemed to have a bit of a problem as his uncharacteristic 3 second loss of time was unexpected. Bob had the fastest time of the fourth round but couldn't catch Ken. The order of finish was Ken, Bob and John. But with Ken's time slowing, and having to stand on his 3rd round run of 62.3 the door was open. Rod took off with an aggressive start and he just looked faster than before on the course. He finished with very quick 61.2 (and a whoop) to take the overall lead from Ken at the very last moment. That gave Rich the Class III win over Robin who is determined to ditch his hard rubber tires and was heard trying to convince everyone that he needed better tires for "safety" reasons. Jeanne I think bought it and we will be seeing new rubber on the TOBARR mobile soon. I think everyone learned something this day as they observed others in the large run group with all sorts of race rubber and various kinds of mods on their cars. But I think the most important aspect is they explored limits of their cars that they could not do on the streets of Sacramento or anywhere else legally. Thanks to all who participated. It was fun keeping track of times with Jeanne George our designated time keeper. Many thanks to Jeanne for her continued support of this event. She is a real Miata supporter. And congratulations to the class winners and our new Overall Champion, Rod Gonzalez. See, there is something else Rod is good at beside counting fish. Trophies will be given out to the winners at the May meeting by our official time keeper so don't forget to come and congratulate the big winners.

*Please be sure and check the SAMOA WEB PAGE for a complete collage of PHOTOS from our

club Autocross Championships!

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SAMOA’s First Annual Easter Egg Hunt by Ron Petrich What with Easter egg hunts limited only to the little ones taking place last weekend, we decided that us big kids ought to be allowed to share in the fun. So we have created a virtual Easter egg hunt at www.sacramentoareamiata.org. Twelve eggs are tucked away safely in the four corners of our website. Find them all, or more than your fellow eggsterminators, and you will win a nice prize at the May 12th club meeting. In the case of ties, we will have something for all winners. You have until May 11th to submit your entry. And of course, in order to win a prize, you must be present at the meeting. The eggs are all small – approximately ½” by ½” in size. They can be hidden anywhere on our site, but are not on any other site that we link to. And the image on our home page (similar to the large image above) is also not one of the hidden eggs. So far six members have submitted entries, and although no one has yet found all of the eggs, one member has come very close. So that perfect score is still out there. Come May 12th we’ll bring a big screen and a PC to the meeting to show everyone where the eggs are hidden. As that famous Revolutionary War traitor “Eggs” Benedict Arnold once said, if you don’t participate the yolks on you. So come out of your shell, scramble your brains, and if you don’t find them all right away keep your sunny side up and do your search over [nice and] easy. Doesn’t this little hunt just crack you up?

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Whale Watching in Bodega Bay It was a beautiful Saturday morning. The weather prediction for the day was in the mid 60’s. The RSVPs were

coming in all week long. The list of attendees was ever changing. The final count on Saturday was 10 Miatias and

18 people. It was my first run and I wanted it to be perfect.

I had struggled with the

route and directions since

it’s conception. I consulted

with other members to plan

a run that was fun and

hopefully was new for some.

I now know the importance

of having a test run before

the actual event. I was

typing the directions on the

Sunday before the run. This

was my weekend to stay in

town because I was on call (yes, as a manager for the Department of Consumer Affairs in the information

technology division, I am on call 3 weekends a year. This means no drinking alcohol and I have to be in the area if

I need to go into the office.) I thought this was the perfect weekend to work on the directions for the run.

For some reason, I wanted to verify the mileage with Google. To my surprise, the mileage that I had and Googled

showed was about 5 to 10 miles off. Needless to say, I was a little distressed with this finding. The last thing that I

wanted to do was to hand out directions with incorrect directions. I just could not understand how I could have

been that far off. Seeing my distress, Chris suggested that we do the run one last time to verify the mileage at 4:00

p.m. The end result was I was right and Google was wrong. The good thing about doing a run a third time was

that I knew the route realty well. I did not get lost or had to do any U-turns.

The beginning of the run was the route around Lake Berryassa with a stop at the Oakville Grocery Store. This store

has all sorts of goodies from wines to preserves, tapnades, to wonderful things to eat. Also, there was a guy selling

organic produce. Since it is only April, most of the fruit trees and grapevines were barren, but the sun was shinning

and it was a beautiful day in Sonama and Napa valley. After a short stop it time to hit the Oakville Grade, this is s

almost 2 line road (at one spot there is a stop sign because part of the road has washed away and there is only one

lane). The Oakville Grade is only 12 miles, but 12 miles of twisty roads that is perfect for the Miatas.

The day was obviously a good day to head towards the coast because a Corvette club was at Valley Ford and so was

a group of Alfa Romero owners. And, there was a lot more traffic on the highways than on the test runs. The

traffic was an issue because of the left turns that we had to make but thankfully there were areas for us to regroup

so it was not to bad.

After having lunch at the Tides Inn, we head to the Bodega Head to go whale watching. We all had on our winter

wear and was still finding that it was very cold and windy. We were all having a hard time standing still because of

the wind. After about 2 minutes, we decided to leave. So much for whale watching for 2011. The run was almost

perfect. Maybe next time.

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SAMOA Forum by Webmaster Some interesting statistics about the SAMOA forum raise some interesting questions. Our forum currently has 276 registered members. Members do not have to be SAMOA members, nor do they necessarily have to be Miata owners or enthusiasts. But we hope that they are car folks interested in some of the same things that we are interested in, and that they joined the forum in order to participate (or at least become aware of) in our discussions. However… Although forum membership has grown steadily in the 5 years of its existence, participation has not. For example, 226 members have not logged in to the forum in the last 6 months, 183 for a year. 161 members have never posted, and just 88 members have more than 1 post. The Forum currently has no rules regarding inactive accounts, and I suggest that we don’t impose any now. But many forum members may simply have forgotten their user name and/or password and cannot log in. If that is the case, please send me an email and I will let you know your user name, and reset your password. You can then go in and change the password yourself. If you are no longer interested in forum membership at all, let me know and I can go in and delete your account for you. But I won’t take any action unless I am specifically instructed to do so by you.

Remember that posting to the SAMOA forum is like earning airline miles with a credit card. For every post, SAMOA chips in toward your next new Miata purchase. We’re not saying how much we chip in, but you might be surprised, if and when you buy that new MX-5, how much SAMOA chips in.

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WHAT’S IN A NAME? – WHAT’S IN AN EXHAUST NOTE? By Adi Damania

Almost everything, if you ask me. The Japanese, Korean, German and British sports automakers still don‟t

get it. But the Italians do! I just love a rorty exhaust note. My 1991 Honda Prelude did not have it. But it

did have a heat shield rattle that came on at 2000 RPM and when on till about 3500 RPM and I enjoyed it

so much I never got it fixed all those 5 years that I owned the car!

The other day, I had nothing better to do so I logged on to a website that had exhaust notes of all the

exotics from Lamborghinis to Bugattis, incl. the 16.4L Veyron. They ALL had a lovely sounding, music to

the ears of an autoficiando, exhaust note!

Our Miatas could be great candidates for a nice sounding exhaust note. Some call is the “tragic Achilles

heel of the Miata”. Has anyone in our club fine-tuned the exhaust to sound like a Ferrari? Why didn‟t the

Japanese copy that one aspect so dear to my heart from the Alfa Romeo spyder?! Even the 650 cc FIAT

belonging to a British secretary (since deceased) at my first job with the FAO in Rome, had a lovely

exhaust note. You do not need cylinders in multiples of 4 (or 5) to produce an exotic‟s exhaust note. All

you need is a suitable number of baffles and a clever welder with a blow torch to do the job.

Miatistas offer all sorts of crazy ideas admitting that the Mazda engineers did a very poor job when

designing the MX-5 exhaust. One worthy said “have you tried adding sound damping material under the

trunk liner? It is indeed resonating like a standing wave back there with the hollow trunk and thin sheet

metal. I cut down the drone quite a bit by adding mass to the sheet metal by sticking on tar strips and vinyl

flooring tiles.” Vinyl tiles in the Miata trunk??!! Another said “In the grand scheme of things, a 'better'

exhaust note doesn't make the car look, handle, brake or accelerate any better.” I beg to differ. Another tip

“Remove the secondary (rear) catalytic converter and build a Helmholtz resonator to cancel the offending

low frequencies.” How come all those 4 into 1 exhausts on mutli-cylinder motorcycles sound so good??!!

Shall I source out a Honda motorcycle re-cycler?

Has anyone tried to fix a “Borla” exhaust on a Miata? Can anyone give me pointers? One blogger

mentioned that if the „resonator‟ of a Miata MX-5 is removed a great improvement can be achieved in the

exhaust note. Has anyone tried that? BTW what is a resonator? Doesn‟t resonate with me. MAZDA are

you listening?

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And finally,

[When driving the Mercedes SLR McLaren through a tunnel]

When they debate as to what the sound of the SLR exhaust was akin to, the British engineers from

McLaren said it sounded like a Spitfire.

But the German engineers from Mercedes at Stuttgart said „Nein! Nein! Sounds like a Messerschmitt!‟

They were both wrong. I say it sounds like the God of Thunder, gargling with nails.

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History Of Why We Drive On Left and Right Side Of The Road by Adi Damania

China, 1100 B.C.

Australian historian M. G. Lay traced the first regulation of one-side-or-the-

other to the Chinese bureaucracy of 1100 B.C. The Book of Rites stated: "The

right side of the road is for men, the left side for women and the center for

carriages." This Western Zhou dynasty rule applied only to the dynasty's wide

official roads and was "more concerned with protocol than avoiding head-on

collisions."

Ancient Rome

Bryn Walters determined Romans drove on the left.

Walters found a track into the old Roman quarry at Blunsdon Ridge. The

track was only used for bringing stone from the quarry to a major Roman

temple being built on the nearby ridge (near Swindon in England), and then

fell out of use, so it is very well preserved. And since the carts went in empty

and came out laden with stone, the ruts on one side of the road are much

deeper than they are on the other. The conclusion: Romans drove on the left.

Middle Ages

Seven hundred years ago, everybody used the English system. In the Middle

Ages you kept to the left for the simple reason that you never knew who

you'd meet on the road in those days; you wanted to make sure that a stranger

passed on the right so you could go for your sword in case he proved

unfriendly.

Pilgrims, 1300s

This custom was given official sanction in 1300 A.D., when Pope Boniface

VIII invented the modern science of traffic control by declaring that pilgrims

headed to Rome should keep left.

Travel Library disputes this, saying that Kincaid found no records of this

decree. Instead, he found evidence that in 1300, Pope Boniface VIII ordered

pilgrims on the Bridge of St. Angelo en route to and from St. Peter's Basilica

to keep to the right. [Parvin and I have both gone across this bridge many

times during our stay in Rome]

U.S., France, 1700s

The papal system prevailed until the late 1700s, when teamsters in the United

States and France began hauling farm products in big wagons pulled by

several pairs of horses. These wagons had no driver's seat; instead the driver

sat on the left rear horse, so he could keep his right arm free to lash the team.

Since you were sitting on the left, naturally you wanted everybody to pass on

the left so you could look down and make sure you kept clear of the other

guy's wheels. Ergo, you kept to the right side of the road.

England, 1700s

In small-is-beautiful England, though, they didn't use monster wagons that

required the driver to ride a horse; instead the guy sat on a seat mounted on

the wagon. What's more, he usually sat on the right side of the seat so the

whip wouldn't hang up on the load behind him when he flogged the horses.

(Then, as now, most people did their flogging right-handed.) So the English

continued to drive on the left... Keeping left first entered English law in 1756,

with the enactment of an ordinance governing traffic on the London Bridge,

and ultimately became the rule throughout the British Empire. It extended the

rule in 1772 to towns in Scotland. The penalty for disobeying the law was 20

shillings (£1).

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According to Amphicars the UK Government introduced the General

Highways Act of 1773, containing a keep left recommendation to regulate

horse traffic. This became law as part of the Highways Bill in 1835.

North America,

1800s

The first known keep-right law in the United States was enacted in

Pennsylvania in 1792, and in the ensuing years many states and Canadian

provinces followed suit. In 1792, Pennsylvania adopted legislation to

establish a turnpike from Lancaster to Philadelphia. The charter legislation

provided that travel would be on the right hand side of the turnpike. New

York, in 1804, became the first State to prescribe right hand travel on all

public highways. By the Civil War, right hand travel was followed in every

State. Drivers tended to sit on the right so they could ensure their buggy,

wagon, or other vehicle didn't run into a roadside ditch.

France, 1800s and

it's influence

In France, before the revolution the aristocracy traveled quickly on the left,

forcing the peasantry over to the right. According to Amphicars after the

revolution aristocrats joined the peasants on the right. A keep right rule was

introduced in Paris in 1794.

Later Napoleon enforced the keep-right rule in all countries occupied by his

armies, and the custom endured long after the empire was destroyed. The

revolutionary wars and Napoleon's subsequent conquests spread the new

rightism to the Low Countries, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Poland and

Spain.

Europe, Russia

1800s

The states that had resisted Napoleon kept broadly left - Britain, the Austro-

Hungarian Empire, Russia and Portugal. Of these independent states, only

Denmark converted to driving on the right (in 1793). This European division,

between the left- and right-hand nations remained fixed for more than 100

years, until after the First World War.

Colonization

The trend among nations over the years has been toward driving on the right,

but Britain has done its best to stave off global homogenization. Its former

colony India remains a hotbed of leftist sentiment, as does Indonesia, which

was occupied by the British in the early nineteenth century. They say the

Dutch influenced Indonesia to go left before the British. Thanks to the Brits,

Australasia and Africa also go left, with the exception of Egypt. Egypt had

been conquered by Napoleon before becoming a British dependency, and its

traffic goes to the right.

Japan mid-1800s

The English minister to Japan achieved the coup of his career in 1839 when

he persuaded his hosts to make keep-left the law in the future home of Toyota

and Mitsubishi.

Interestingly, Amphicars says it happened in the 1850's. "... in the 1850's

Gunboat diplomacy forced the Japanese to open their ports to the British and

Sir Rutherford Alcock, who was Queen Victoria's man in the Japanese court

persuaded them to adopt the keep left rule." According to other sites, Alcock

didn't go to Japan until his appointment in 1858. I believe Adams meant 1859

not 1839.

Until the Meiji Restoration (1867/1868), people traveled mainly on foot or

horseback and did not use wheeled traffic.

U.S., 1900s When inventors began building "automobiles" in the 1890's, they thought of

them as motorized wagons. As a result, many early cars had the steering

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mechanism-a rudder (or tiller), not a wheel-in the center position where the

side of the road didn't make any difference. Lay points out that technical

innovation created the configuration we are familiar with in the United States:

"However, with the introduction of the steering wheel in 1898, a central

location was no longer technically possible. Car makers usually copied

existing practice and placed the driver on the curbside. Thus, most American

cars produced before 1910 were made with right-side driver seating,

although intended for right-side driving. Such vehicles remained in common

use until 1915, and the 1908 Model T was the first of Ford's cars to feature a

left-side driving position."

By 1915, the Model T had become so popular that the rest of the automakers

followed Ford's lead.

Russia, Portugal,

1900s

Russia switched to driving on the right in the last days of the Tsars. Portugal

changed to the right in the 1920s.

Austro-Hungarian

Empire, 1900s

The break up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire caused no change;

Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Hungary continued to drive on the left.

Austria itself was something of a curiosity. Half the country drove on the left

and half on the right. The dividing line was precisely the area affected by

Napoleon's conquests in 1805. Napoleon gave the Tyrol, the Western

province of Austria, to Bavaria. It continued to keep to the right, although the

bulk of Austrians drove on the left.

Japan, 1900s In 1924, Japan passed a left-side driving law.

Austria,

Czechoslvakia,

Hungary, After

1938-1939

Nonetheless, the power of the right has been growing steadily. When

Germany annexed Austria in 1938, it brutally suppressed the latter's keep-

left rights, and much the same happened in Czechoslovakia in 1939.

On 12 March 1938 Hitler invaded Austria, and the next day proclaimed

Anschluss, the absorption of Austria into Germany. He ordered that the traffic

should change from the left to the right side of the road, overnight. The

change threw the driving public into turmoil, because motorists were unable

to see most road signs. In Vienna it proved impossible to change the trams

overnight, so while all other traffic took to the right hand side of the road, the

trams continued to run on the left for several weeks. Czechoslovakia and

Hungary, the last two states on the mainland of Europe to keep left, changed

to the right after being invaded by Germany in 1939.

Okinawa 1945-1972 During U.S. occupation, Okinawa, Japan drove on the right side. Okinawa

changed back to left side when it was returned to Japan.

China, 1946+ China changed to the right in 1946.

Korea After WW II

Korea now drives right, but only because it passed directly from Japanese

colonial rule to American (and Russian) influence at the end of the Second

World War.

Pakistan, 1900s

Pakistan also considered changing to the right in the 1960's. The main

argument against the shift was that camel trains often drove through the night

while their drivers dozed. The difficulty in teaching old camels new tricks

was decisive in forcing Pakistan to reject the change.

Canada

New Brunswick,

"Since 1 December 1922 there had been a problem for automobile drivers

who crossed the border between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick - on that

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1922-12-01+

Nova Scotia,

1923-04-15+

date New Brunswick had switched to driving on the right-hand side of the

road, while Nova Scotia remained with the left-side rule. For four and a half

months, drivers crossing the border in both directions had to remember to

change to the other side of the road, and even with the relatively low traffic

levels of that day there were some near- misses resulting from this conflict."

The switch had an interesting effect on the beef industry: "In Lunenburg

County, 1923 is still known as The Year of Free Beef; the price of beef

dropped precipitously because oxen which had been trained to keep to the left

could not be retrained — oxen are notoriously slow-witted — and many

teamsters had to replace their oxen with new ones trained to keep to the right;

the displaced oxen were sent to slaughter."

Sweden,

1967-09-03+

The last holdouts in mainland Europe, the Swedes, finally switched to the

right in 1967 because most of the countries they sold Saabs and Volvos to

were righties and they got tired of having to make different versions for

domestic use and export.

'...Swedish government felt increasing pressure to change sides to conform

with the rest of Europe. Anders Hanquist writes, "The problem with left-hand

driving in Sweden was, of course, that all our neighbors already drove on the

right side. There are a lot of small roads, without border guards, leading into

Norway so you had to remember in which country you were. Another

curiosity was that most of the cars running in Sweden were built for right-

hand driving. That means that the steering wheel was on the left side. Even

cars imported from Britain were built that way.'

At the same time as cars switched, the Trams had to also:

"By 1962, there were 405 trams in Stockholm but Stockholm Tramways

decided to withdraw all city's trams and almost 400 older buses rather than

convert them to the standard Continental right-hand drive. On the 2nd of

September 1967 the last tram ran in Stockholm‟s inner city and only a few

hours later the rule of the road was changed from the left to the right."

Perhaps not causal, but along with the road change, Sweden began large scale

road safety work. For example, instead of unrestricted highways, speed limits

were imposed.

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May Birthdays by Ron Petrich May is an historic month, and those born in May ought to feel honored to share their birth month with some of these famous events…

In 1631 John Winthrop is elected 1st governor of Massachusetts

In 1803 Britain declares war on France after Napoleon Bonaparte continues interfering in Italy and Switzerland

In 1860 the Republican Party nominates Abraham Lincoln for president

In 1945 the Tigers and A's both have 7 straight games postponed due to rain In 1960 Eillen Fulton begins playing Lisa on As the World Turn (for > 30 yrs) In 1961 Alan Shepard became the first American in space In 1980 Mount St. Helens blows its top In 1990 Cubs Ryne Sandberg sets 2nd baseman record 123 errorless game streak

In 2011 Rod Gonzalez celebrates his birthday on Mother’s Day – how sweet is that? Tak Auyeung – May 32nd Christy Barden – May 32nd VJ Dozier – May 3rd Cathy Dugan – May 4th Mike Dugan – May 26th Robin George – May 14th Kristen Gingrich – May 22nd Rod Gonzalez – May 8th Susie Hahn – May 1st Doug Hoffman – May 21st Dee Jensen – May 28th Kathleen McCarthy – May 19th Linda Moe – May 29th Gary Nelson – May 15th Skip Noyes – May 13th Sally Parker – May 32nd Lee Ann Parrish – May 23rd Corky Phillips – May 19th Denise Russell – May 32nd Richard Russell – May 32nd Chuck Selman – May 20th Jennifer Sipe – May 23rd Sandra Stewart-Stewart – May 14th Don Updegraff – May 3rd John Walsh – May 1st Alan Westfall – May 19th Paula Zicker – May 32nd Wes Zicker – May 32nd

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*Etcetera Pages : *fractured but funny submissions from our members

“Sharpie” Miata

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California Dreamin’ My lungs heave as I run to the mailbox naked ...on a dare It must be over with the postman because I just realized ...he doesn't care Beauty is fleeting but Victoria's Secret ...makes amazing underwear Donning the first pair out of the package I strut back to my home ...with flair It's time to get ready for work so I run a comb ...through my hair My Miata greets me in the garage and I'm dressed perfectly because ...it has no air As I'm driving around topless I get a sudden craving for ...an eclair When the sun starts melting the chocolate I park in the shade ...over there I notice a gymnast doing headstands ...on a chair With one stealth move I capture him and return him to ...the state fair The alarm clock rings and I realize my dream has been quite ...a scare!! Poem by Michelle Thomas