Now that every one else has posted their Bio's I thought I had better also.
They make for interesting reading. It seems that the Canuck's are last the
last to jump in.
My name is Chris Davies. 42 years old. Worked my whole life (so far) at an
auto parts store. Not much for roadster parts in the aftermarket. I've been
married for 11 years (this time). My wife's name is Dora and we have two
boy,s. Nicholas is 8 and Thomas is 6. We live in northern British Columbia
in a town called Kitimat. The town was built in 1953 when an aluminum
producer like the idea of a deep water port and lots of water to make it's
own electricity. Bang! Three years later a complete town. Any way if you
look at a map you'll see that we can be in Alaska in less than four
hours(well that little pointy bit that hangs down the side of the province).
My first encounter with Roadsters was in 1977 when I spent $50.00 on a 1964
PL312 four door sedan. Nice little car. To bad I sent it off to the crusher.
If only I had hind-sight. If anyone remembers page 218 of the Chilton 61-72
manual, that's my first roadster sighting. I often thought of the cars
through the early eighties as they would periodically appear in the for sale
ads in the Vancouver newspapers(900 miles south). In 1985 I took a trip to
Calgary Alberta with my first wife and our new Chevy Sprint. While there I
browsed through a newspaper and saw an ad for a roadster for sale. I called
up and arranged to view the car. It was just average and a pain to drive as
the steering wheel was on the wrong side. If I could turn back time.Turns
out that I had been driving a Japanese import SR311, 1967.5 vintage with the
solex equipped engine. Again with the hind-sight. I should have told my then
wife to take her Sprint and leave. Instead she got a newer Turbo Sprint two
year later then left and I still didn't get the car. If I could only kick
myself in the ass.
The roadster bug went away for a few years until I hit 40. The mid life
crisis hit and I thought a roadster was a better idea than say a corvette
and a mistress like other people we knew. My wife Dora heartily agreed. Now
the hunt was on. I found Ross through the web. He had one that sold before I
could get to it to see. Not to be discouraged I kept bothering him. He came
up with a 67.5 2000 solex that belonged to a customer of his. The price
scared me butI finnally convinced my wife that I had to have it and promised
not to do any more than spark plus and oil changes on it for the next 5
years. I called to tell Ross it was going to be mine only to find that it
was someone else's as of that day. You know who you are Dr Evil. Oh well,
you snooze-you lose.
Going further south I came across a car owned by Mike Young. That almost
happened until I potruded a disc in my back. I spent my 40th birthday off
work and at home on my back. A 45 hour drive each way was out of the
question. I finally found my car in Feb. 2001. It came from a fellow named
Gerry in The Dalles, Oregon. It was a 2 day trip each way and well worth it.
I now have 67.5 1600 SPL-14313 numbers matching car. Really solid little gem
that doesn't appear to have any real bad rust problems. I haven't started
the body part of the project yet so I'm still keeping my fingers crossed. I
stopped in to see Ross on my way haome with it so he could give his stamp of
approval. We saw Tim Corcoran's car at Ross's in the final stages. I can
only wish mine looks close.
I'm busy collecting parts for my eventual resto. Ross being a buddy now and
my main vendor is just great. You can't imagine the costs involved having
having to ship across the border. I'm glad he lives on my side.
I only drive the car on sunny day for six months a year and hate the rest
of you that never see snow up to your knees in your driveway three time a
week for 3 of the 6 months that we have it on the ground. I've taken my son
to school in the car in April with the top down because it's easier to pull
out of the garage rather than scrape the frost off the Geo Tracker. Up north
we take the good day any way we can. I hope to have the car somewhat done
and be brave enough to take it to Shasta in two years. What the hell, it's
only 48 hours of driving time.
If you've read this far, thanks for listening. I'm glad I found the list and
have e-mailed and spoken to a few people so far. If you have a roadster then
it seems your family.
Chris Davies
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