Contributing Editor: Bill Moseley
President: John Barber
PBCA and Ivan the
Terrible
Bill Moseley
Pensacola, FL -
Next meeting - November 15. Hurricane Ivan hit the
Pensacola area hard on Sept. 15 -- So bad that it was impossible to
get an article to British Marque, even by U.S. Mail. About half of the
PBCA members attended our first meeting since Ivan on October 18.
President, John Barber, asked everyone to tell their IVAN horror stories.
One member at the meeting, Frank Hubbard, reported that two feet of water
covered the bottom of his TR-8. Regretfully, word came that Page and Janet
Simonson and Dick and Mitzi Maddux were hit very hard. Page and Janet, who
live on the water at Milton, Florida, lost all five of their British cars
under a six-foot storm surge -- Three Jaguar XKE's, his XK-140 and
TR-7. He also lost his motor home, his other two cars and most of his
home. Dick Maddux, an airline pilot with Continental, had his TR-3 and his
lovely vintage biplane parked in his hanger at the Chumuckla private
airport. Everything blew away. The annual PBCA Chumuckla Airport
Picnic was cancelled indefinitely. Lloyd Stagg, who is also a member
of the Pensacola Yacht Club, reported that his sailboat and Hatteras
motorboat were extensively damaged.
Special
note: If you haven't been contacted by PBCA by this
time, it's probably because you can't be contacted. If you
haven't been contacted by phone or email, please try to call or email Tom
Schmitz. Also, if you have a good IVAN story you want to share in the
British Marque, just email it to me.
At this writing, PBCA's Christmas
Party is TBA. The Pensacola Beach location that we have used isn't
functioning for an indefinite period of time. You will be informed by
email and PBCA website of the time and location. As of this writing,
the Lillian Christmas Parade is still on. It will be on Sat.,
Dec.11. Always check to see if any email with the subject line beginning
with PBCA is on your computer. As I said in the meeting, Cox Cable
suggested that I download the freeware SpywareBlaster. I recommend
it. It eliminated 99.9% of my hated SPAM mail without interfering with any
other email. Any good sixth grader could use it.
Sunday, November 21 --
The Third Annual PBCA Poker Rally, our first post-Ivan
event.
No entry fee - PBCA covers
it. You will receive (or have received) details by email. Check the
PBCA website for event details and for photos from the last two
years. For those who don't already know, this event is not a
true competitive rally. It could be better named "Steak Dinner with a Nice
Tour " but the name Poker Rally fits best. The Poker Rally will again begin and
end at Mesquite Charlie's Steak House. As Rallymaster,
I will plan an approximately 45-50
mile course over scenic roads that you probably haven't seen before.
Winners will be the holders of the highest poker
hands. There will be a "people's choice" award as well
as an optional enroute questionnaire award. Awards will be
given at a sit down meal following the tour. As usual, other
clubs such as South Alabama British Car Club, the Volkswagen club,
Mustang Club, and Corvette clubs will be invited. After signing in and
reading over instructions, you start at your convenience..
Lou Goldstein's
Jaguar at Mesquite Charlie's
(photo: Bill
Moseley)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Featured PBCA Members - Bill
and Melissa Silhan
Dr.
William Silhan, Professor of Art, “Dr. Bill”, as his students at the University
of West Florida call him, has been a PBCA member since it’s beginning. One
of his first contributions was creating the PBCA logo. He has created many
works of art for British car shows T-shirts. He owns many “very
interesting” British Cars, each of which a proven show winner, He also maintains
some other historic cars including a beautiful supercharged Cord. Bill
keeps them in his large “Winged Wheel Garage”, named for the wings that
appear in several British car logos (ie Aston-Martin, Morgan) and inspired
his sign. The garage is also located on Blue Angel Parkway.. As an artist,
Bill appreciates British cars for their unique beauty. He calls them “rolling
sculpture”. Bill and his wife, Melissa, have hosted delightful salons at his
Winged Wheel Garage for PBCA and SABCC (South Alabama British Car Club), our
sister club. His Winged Wheel Garage is a showplace, complete with many
automobile related items such as vintage gasoline pumps and signs. Bill
periodically takes each of his cars for a drive to keep them
“exercised”.
Bill’s first car in high school was a MGTD which was followed
by an Austin-Healey 100-6 that carried him through college. After Bill and
Melissa moved to Pensacola in 1972, his interest in British cars continued to
grow as did his British car collection. Bill’s most famous car is a lovely,
restored 1967 Aston-Martin DB-6 that he bought from the movie company that
featured it. In the movie “Excess Baggage”. He said that it was
“pretty beaten up” and had a cracked windshield. His cars, among others,
include a 1949 Triumph 2000 Roadster, 1951 Morgan Plus-4, 1965 XKE Coupe, and a
1970 Triumph GT-6, complete with a flame paint job! There is another most
interesting car that is in restoration that is guaranteed to turn heads
everywhere… more on that one later.
Hurricane IVAN , which
blew through Pensacola on September 15, blew the large door and 20 feet of wall
off his Winged Wheel Garage, but the building fortunately stood. Bill said
that the hurricane force wind pulled out the door and made a mess of his
garage interior, but his cars were covered and escaped damage. Bill
immediately gathered up his tools and car parts and locked them up wherever they
would fit. This created a problem because Bill had everything laid out in
an organized way and now it all had to be reorganized and cleaned.
Bill parked his motor home across the entrance to keep out potential
souvenir hunters and spent several nights in it to provide additional
security. It took four weeks to replace his garage door and walls but, on
the outside at least, it is as good as new.
Bill
lives on the water at Innerarity Island and PBCA has enjoyed parties at his
home. Luckily, his home withstood, for most part, the fierce hurricane,
but his wooden deck, pier, and boathouse were destroyed and tons of debris was
left everywhere. Bill is a first class British car enthusiast and a good
friend.
(Montage: Bill Moseley --photos by
Bill Moseley, Vince Cooke, and Mike Japp)
Winged Wheel Garage after
IVAN
(photos - Bill Moseley)