Ontario Section Newsletter January 2017

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Gavin Golden
5 years ago
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1 Ontario Section Newsletter January 2017 G76 Kick Starter Aha! Now that I have your attention First and foremost, all the best of everything to Ontario Section Vincent Owners in My apologies for being so silent over recent months. No excuses. Sometimes a Section Organizer needs to take a break. The creative writing juices were just not flowing, so best to just give it a rest. But, there are plenty of things in the works to get us all cranked up in As you ll see, I ve been in the mood to change things up a bit. I ve spoken to many of you over this time and it seems we all agree. Its time to try some new things! Ever thought about our Section name? Ontario? Actually this newsletter goes to pretty well everyone who is active in the Vincent game in this side of Canada. We have people with us from Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec. Perhaps we should call ourselves the Eastern Canadian Section. Let me know if this sounds like a good idea.

2 2017 Calendar Highlights Please note these key dates of the big Vincent events this year. Event details Follow in this newsletter Are attached, or Will be ed shortly February 18, Chicago St. Valentines Massacre annual winter party, new location. Details in Chicago Section newsletter to follow. March 25 26, Toronto Motorcycle SpringShow, Section AGM, International Centre. August 4, 5, 6 CVMG Montreal Section Rally Vincent is the feature marque. Note: This will be our regional rally this year. September 21, 22, 23 North American Rally, Red Wing, Minnesota, entry form and details attached. Sign up soon. There are deadlines! All Change Before getting into the details of the above events, let me share some of the thinking behind local events. First, we are going to give Bellville a miss for at least this year. Yes, it has been our signature event for a few years now and has been fine. But, It has to be said that it did not attract many US patrons except for the 40 th Anniversary of Shadow Lake. So? It also has to be acknowledged that last year the service at the host hotel left a lot to be desired. The front desk and management staff were all new and had no clue as to our contract and what we were entitled to. Many of you had encountered problems at check in. Worse, the food and restaurant service was not even close to prior years standards. Incidentally, that particular Travelodge has a long history of management and ownership instability. In 2016, we suffered for it. Frankly, I want better for you. So, instead of this, we will go to the fabulous Montreal Section Rally. The Spring Show will again host our AGM. We will also put up a Vincent display. An idea that has been tossed about is having a dinner as well on this weekend. I am happy to book something for us if there is enough interest. What I have in mind is holding the AGM on Saturday afternoon rather than Sunday. Then it would be dinner that Saturday evening. Please write to me directly if you think you might be interested.

Montreal Rally- August 4, 5, 6 Three summers ago I attending this rally and wrote about it in glowing terms. Since then, it has experienced explosive growth.

3 Montreal Rally- August 4, 5, 6 Three summers ago I attending this rally and wrote about it in glowing terms. Since then, it has experienced explosive growth. Last year there were over 100 concours entries and over 1,000 day visitors. Those kinds of numbers are challenging the CVMG national rally in Paris Ontario. A key player in the Montreal CVMG is our own Bill Magnussen. Bill has prevailed upon the group to make Vincent the marque of the 2017 event. They have invited us formally and I have gratefully accepted. One key advantage of this event is that it is much closer to the North East US. It already is attracting big numbers of US visitors who are both vintage and Vincent owners. Many of our prominent members already have this on their calendars. In addition, the CVMG invite two other Quebec-based vintage clubs. I can tell you that quality of the bikes that appear is tops. Even the flea market boasts plenty of interesting junk to browse through. The Rally Location GORE ROAD (RR 3) ORMSTOWN, QC, J0S 1K0 is an estate farm in the country south east of Montreal. From Ontario, you won t have to go anywhere near Montreal s traffic. The area is a pretty vacation spot. The closest village is Ormstown, and the nearest major centre is Salaberry-Valleyfield (hotels, restaurants, shopping). The Site is the 275-acre farm of Eric and Ariane Pritchard. Eric is an uber vintage bike, trials, and road racing enthusiast. He even has a vintage-friendly trials course on site. Much of the beautiful farm is gentle rolling, groomed grassland bordered by trees and a small creek. There is a pool open for cooling off. There is lots of shade under extensive pole sheds and plenty of picnic tables. The site has unlimited parking and rustic camping. RVs are welcome but there are no hookups. If you are not camping, Local Accommodation is plentiful. 3 recommended options are: o Hotel modern hotel and restaurant o Cottages possibly for families or groups o B&B -

4 More Montreal Rally Details The CVMG Schedule: The rally is very Saturday-centric. Everything happens on Saturday including the concours, awards, etc. Friday is for arrival and pitching camp. We recommend that you arrive Friday and get set up in your accommodation of choice so that you can at the very least take in all of the action on site the next day. The CVMG encouraging people to stick around Sunday for rides. The Vincent Schedule Details are TBA, but Bill has suggested that that we arrive early Friday so that we can have a group ride around the local countryside. Bill says these roads are not only gorgeous, but virtually empty. He lives only a stone s throw from the Pritchard farm and says he often encounters absolutely no traffic on these roads. Finally, on Friday, we are thinking of having dinner at a pub or restaurant in Salaberry-Valleyfield. Stay tuned. On Saturday, after things settle down, we may have a Vincent gathering on the site. Many of us are camping or RVing. Perhaps we can order in a ton of pizza, or BBQ whatever you choose to bring. We ll sort out all of these details in due course and get all that to you. We hope that this gives you enough for now to plan your participation. One final note, in the past there has been a Lions Club food truck on site serving a nice variety of eats all day. They even sell beer. Hey, this is Quebec. It s all very decent, civilized, and adult. You ll love it. Vincent Display We are hoping to have a display that features one machine from each of the Series (ABCD) complete with informative material. Aside from that, there will probably be an area designated for us so that people can see most of our bikes in one spot. We ll have a canopy and gathering spot. For the concours, the club organizes award classes by decade. At the appropriate time, you wheel your machine over to the area flagged off for your time period and judging starts. Entry There is no pre-entry. It is $15 or $20 at the gate to cover costs. T-Shirts and pins extra, All extra proceeds go to local charities. Get there Friday to avoid line-ups.

5 Harvey and Marcus Bowden tackle Route 66 on Series A Twins Last Autumn, starting in Chicago the adventure started... The boys pose with their brace of A Rapides. Note the Route 66 sign overhead. The plan was to ride all the remaining parts of that classic American road from Chicago to Los Angeles. PS: They made it!!

6 Howdy Neighbors! In a terrific development, the Ontario Section has a new neighbor the freshly minted Manitoba Section. Actually they are really just old, long-time neighbors. Most of the members have been at this as long as any of us. The difference is they decided to join forces. Welcome lads and ladies. We hope your forming a section helps you all have even more fun and laughs with your hobby. North American Rally Final words go out as a call to attend the North American Rally in Minnesota. No matter what we may do locally, our support for the North American is unconditional. This year, the Minnesota Section stepped into the breach when the initial Lone Star proposal had to be withdrawn. So let s support these brave souls. First of all, being located in the centre of the continent, the event promises to attract a very large entry. You really don t want to miss too many of these. Last year s do in Missoula was gigantic. This promises to be at least as big. It really is the only chance to meet and talk to all those people that we only hear of in MPH. Every year it seems that the machines on hand are ever more interesting and historic. The location is a resort/casino/hotel on an island in the Mississippi River. Local attractions abound. It promises something for everyone and is a great base for a vacation. The attached entry form is crammed with details. Check it out closely. Our Minnesota brothers have covered all the bases. Read it carefully. There is some urgency around rally entry and hotel booking, so don t let this sit too long. Cheers, Phil Mahood, Ontario Section Organizer,

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