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TOW Community News  Event Pictures

 

2008 FALL BRIGADE RALLY

 

The first Fall Brigade Rally was held the weekend of Oct 10 in Oregon City, OR.  Reports are that it was a great campout!  This is a photo of all the attendees.

 

 

2008 VINTAGE TRAILER RALLY

The Vintage Trailer Rally in Deming, WA was a success.  Above is a photo of Ken and Marty Madsen's 1936 Oldsmobile convertible sedan.  It pulled the 1935 Masterbilt trailer just restored this year, shown in the background.  See the story of this event in TOWLine #25.

 

VIDEO OF DEMING EVENT

Here is a link to YouTube for a video clip by Doug Keister of the Deming Event:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SREnr9v1bQo

If you are interested in an autographed copy - check out Doug's site http://www.douglaskeister.com/id28.html

 

GREAT TOUR OF KEN AUSTIN’S COLLECTION

On April 19th, TOW partnered with Trick n’ Racy Car Club for a joint tour of Ken’s collection.  Despite the terrible cold weather, we had a caravan of 12 to 15 cars leaving Tualatin.  Upon arriving in Newberg, we were met by Ken and were escorted onto the display floor.  What a sight!  Before us were 20 – 25 cars and trucks in show condition.  All had a personal meaning to Ken and his family.  The 30 or so of us were briefed by Ken and encouraged to view the cars – even sit in them.  All, that is, except the 1905 Ford touring car.  It was bone stock and at 103 years old had fragile leather seats.  It was the only “No Touch” car on display.

As we all gathered in a group, Ken pointed out the beautifully restored 1939 Ford four-door convertible.  We were told that the convertible was the parade car used for the 1939 Rose Festival Queen’s Court.  Ken told us that he bought the car years later after it had been used as a Rose Festival staff car.  Ken was interrupted at this time as TOW presented him with an original, authentic program for the 1939 Rose Festival.  Ken was very surprised and delighted with the program as it featured a photo of the Queen’s Court riding in the car.  TOW also presented Ken with a plaque “In Appreciation to Ken Austin for Collection Tour - April 19th, 2008”.  The TOW logo patch was illustrated on the plaque.

It was great to talk to Ken personally.  He is so very knowledgeable about cars, especially the early V-8’s.  Ken’s mechanical genius was demonstrated by many of the motors, speed equipment as well as an experimental fuel injection system that pumped fuel directly upstream of the intake valves.  An actual cut-away display showed how it worked.

Ken commented on his staff, especially his machinist that’s worked for him for 30 years.  That man’s machine shop was to die for!  Ken is a great gentleman, very unassuming and easy to visit with and happily answered everyone’s questions.

A side note:  Ken had just returned from a visit to President Bush’s Texas ranch.  It was interesting to get an insiders viewpoint of this casual jeans and boots visit.

We had an interesting mix of people.  Many Trick n’ Racy folks and about 10 from the TOW group..  TOW got lots of thanks from all for arranging the tour.