_DSC4822

Dwight’s Winning Woody

While CooperRoadMini.com has been mostly dormanat over the summer, a number of interesting things have happened. We’ll have an update on our Moke project soon.

Yet in the meantime, my good friend Dwight Smith’s ’62 Traveler Woody won the Best of Show Award at the recent Portland British Field Meet. This was an astonishing achievement, as there were more than 800 fine British automobiles of MANY makes present. Check out who joined him in this elite group of show cars Click Here.

I’ve known Dwight for many years. Back in ’05 he ordered an engine from MiniMania. One our fabulous supercharged 1380cc units. If a customer was interested, I’d go over all sorts of details and make recommendations on how to best achieve the best power package for the car. Dwight was, and every detail was deliberate. The final drive, and transmission internal ratios, the drop gear options, the cylinder head, the cam, drive, timing, compression ratio, even the color of the engine, all of it well considered.  Dwight came down to Nevada City and we ran his engine at the Mini Mania open house in the spring of 2006. The howl from that engine always drew a crowd.

Many of us know the downside of being so detail oriented is that our projects can take FOR EVER! Sometimes years go by as we “decide how to proceed”!   By 2009 the bodyshell was as PERFECT as any England-sourced 60s metal object could possibly be!  By 2011, the stunning engine had collected some dust, on display in Dwight’s living room.

Late that summer, my technical writing gig at a General Dynamics company screeched to a halt. Dwight said he’d just been unable to start building the car, would I come up and assemble the big parts?

Hmm.  I’d built my 66 Cooper S from nuts and bolts. Over many years. Switching projects, slow progress here and there. Could I do it in a week or so?

It took 10 days. A couple spent helping Dwight “organize” his workspace, again this sometimes takes instigation by a third party with no attachment to debris that somehow fills any open space.  The car went together nicely.  Engine into subframe, body over it, front suspension, assembled rear subframe up to body, top notch brakes all around, dialed in the blower, clutch, radiator, ignition, and enough electrical to start the car with the key before heading home.

Dwight spent nearly two more years tending to details that he enjoys and does very well. The result was the spectacular green Woody seen by so many over the Labor Day weekend at the Portland All British Field Meet.

These are all photos I took at Dwight’s in September 2011 in Lake Oswego, Oregon.  You can click on any to see a full size image. Yep, those are my Crocks and I’m the one hanging through the windshield.

_DSC4823 _DSC4824

_DSC4825 _DSC4826 _DSC4827 _DSC4829 6221908348_9a42faf89a_o _DSC4833 _DSC4835 _DSC4836 _DSC4837 _DSC4844 _DSC4845 _DSC4846 _DSC4847 _DSC4848 _DSC4849 _DSC4850 _DSC4851 _DSC4852

_DSC4856 _DSC4858 _DSC4862 _DSC4863 _DSC4864 _DSC4865 _DSC4866 _DSC4867 _DSC4868 _DSC4869 _DSC4870 _DSC4871 _DSC4872 _DSC4873 _DSC4874 _DSC4875 _DSC4876 _DSC4877 _DSC4878 _DSC4879 _DSC4880 _DSC4881 _DSC4882 _DSC4883 _DSC4884 _DSC4885 _DSC4886 _DSC4887 _DSC4888 _DSC4889 _DSC4890 _DSC4891 _DSC4892 _DSC4893 _DSC4894 _DSC4895 _DSC4896 _DSC4897 _DSC4898 _DSC4899 _DSC4900 _DSC4901 _DSC4903 _DSC4909 _DSC4913

 

0 replies

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply