The Germans are coming!

B

Bill Connelly

Guest
Subscribers to this list may recall David Chapman's having recently
mentioned that a few of the German Club's members might possibly be
attending the BIG Celina Swim-In. Plans are still being made and the exact
number of euro-visitors and euro-Amphis that might attend are still vague,
but it seems clear that at least a couple-few members of the Amphicar Club
Berlin e.V., Germany's Amphicar Club, WILL be coming over in July...perhaps
even bringing their Amphis! This would clearly qualify the Celina shindig
as a true "World Amphicar Event."

By way of introduction of our fun-loving european counterparts, below ais
translation of their latest newsletter, the December "ACB-Rundbrief." I
believe it is a pretty fair rendering of a fairly quirkily-written document
(imagine trying to translate Amphipoda's sundry manifestos), and I am sure
that Ren? Pohl, member of both this List and the German Club could offer a
few improvements.

[Rod Serling voice on] for your consideration...imagine a club




ACB-Newsletter 5/00

Berlin, December 2000

Dear Club Friends:

We wish you untroubled, joyful and stimulating Holidays and great motoring
throughout 2001. For the latter, you?ll have to do something yourself: Use
the lousy sailing season! It?s bad enough that there are ?Sunday Drivers?
and ?Casper Milquetoasts??you don?t want to become dual bilge pump users in
the bargain!

We had a great time during all the Meets of the Year 2000, but the best food
was at the Main Gathering. It was really just like ?LuSthansa?. Given
wings by the rising scent of barbequing turkey legs, we flew rapidly and
frictionless through the agenda:

- All Board Members were confirmed in their offices

- The dates and locations for the official Meets were agreed upon:
-- Easter in Schriesheim / Organizer: Bernhard Schatt
-- Whitsuntide in Terkaple, Friesland / Organizers: The K?nig-Heinrich
family
-- Autumn in Namberg, Saale / Organizer: Didi M?ller
-- Main Meeting on the 20th of October in Veckerhagen on the Weser River

- Ren? Pohl, who has so glowingly described the Internet (a source of
trepidation for some), also made reference to a couple of other events:
1. The last week of June will find a meeting of amphibian motorists of all
stripes in Brittany (France).
2. Billi Connelli, Chief of the US-Amphicar Club, whom we have to thank for
our free-of-charge Internet presence until now, has invited us to attend the
3 to 4 day Meet to be held around the 20th of July in Celina in the U.S.
State of New York. Europeans need not bring their Amphi to attend. Ride
sharing and accommodations with guest families might be possibilities. Ren?
will be organizing the group travel. Those interested should contact Ren?
directly: Email: amphicar@gmx.de or www.schwimmauto.de, Tel. 02262-5555.
Deadline is the 15th of January.

Once more it is stressed that ALL attendees to the Meets must register. It
is depressing for the organizer or organizers when nary a tail wags with an
intention to come, nor is it a wise use of resources when the leftovers,
laid up just in case, have to be dumped.

It is resolved that we will henceforth use only Channel 10 AM to communicate
with each other over CB-Radio.



-Page 2-

That?s Rebecca Englert, the daughter of Hardy and Helen, born on September
13, 2000 at 9:02 AM, 50 cm tall, weighing 3600 grams.

[baby picture]

And this is Annika Wadle, daughter of Bernhard and Annette, born on November
11, 2000 at 11:08 AM, 50 cm tall, weighing 2980 grams.

[baby picture]

Both pairs of parents are said to be doing well, the two girls also. The
latter still voice their approval of the Amphicar rather unclearly.

Little Red Riding Hood goes curious into the forest, wishing to get to know
the animals and their origins. First she meets a Wolfhound, who explains
that his mother was a wolf, his father a sheep dog. This causes a light to
go off in Little Red Riding Hood?s head. At the next animal, which
introduces itself as a stag beetle, Little Red Riding Hood says doubtingly,
?Yeah? Mother really a stag-cow and father really a beetle, huh?? And by
the third animal the clever child calls out immediately, ?I just don?t
believe it! Mother an ant, father a bear!? [TRANSLATOR?S NOTE: ?Ameisenb?r?
, literally means ?Ant-bear?, in English: ?anteater?] Herbert and Elke
Volkmann believe it though. They now live at Ameisenb?r Way 14, 167
B?renklau, Tel. 03304-555555. Handy is unchanged: 0170-5555555.

Packrat Wolf Fullmann, Tel 06421-555555, has a mobile home for sale: Triton
BS, 750 kg, new inspection, new tires, DM3900 or best offer.

Naturally, a lighter hood (original is 15 kg, fiberglass about half that)
and a distribution of more weight aft will lead to less ?hood dunking?. It
now appears that still more improvement in this respect can be had through
modifications to the bumper (setting it higher, changing its angle and
reducing its distance from the body).



-Page 3-

Bernhard Wadle and Andreas Scheffler have had a fiberglass front hood
shipped to them from Gordon. They find its fabrication VERY GOOD (?paint,
screw it on, done?). Only the cost is somewhat breathtaking: from the 600
dollars it costs in California, the total cost becomes 1800 Marks [about
$870. ?bc] before the hood makes it to an orderer in Germany. Hannes H?ll
offers a fiberglass hood from the blessed Horst Kelling?s first production
series, recognized as being ?good?. Pick up price: DM650 [about $350].

Get up Little Guy. The frog was very sick for three months, but now, thank
God, he?s here with a commentary on spare parts. Detlef R?pke thinks that
with the Volvo brake lines for the front, which the Club has obtained as an
alternative, one should not tighten the ?mother?, which was possibly placed
on the long threaded end for its protection, against the base of the
threaded member, since leakage could result.
About the clutch-assembly that Detlef bought for DM 140 after the
Whitsuntide (Summer) Meet, he is not completely convinced. Sure it?ll fit,
but Detlef fears that it will slip under strain, since it has one spring
fewer per segment.

Travel writer. Multitalented Detlef has compiled a page of tips for people
who would like to cruise via Denmark to Norway or Sweden. Copies supplied
on demand from the Publications Chief.

AMPHICAR AHOY!

For the Board:

Publications Chief Hannes
 
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