Viper Club of America/Ontario Region • Volume4 Issue 2 •August 2007

Editorial Staff: Editor in chief Sonny Stone • Graphics and layout Chris Vogel

• MEET OUR NEWEST CLUB DIRECTORS!
• Viper Club Member Tackles Tim Hortons Terrorists
• Euro-Cooking with the bestt
• THE TREK TO TATORTOGA!
• The Amazing Story of Dr. Jerry and Mr Hyde
• VCO Board Member Information
• Sponsors
  

Event Coordinator: Renso De Pellegrin
email: rdepell@rogers.com

A long-standing pillar of our club, Renso has always made a great effort to attend as many events as possible. This year, he was nominated to be a club director largely because of his dedication, but mainly because he threatened to shoot people if he wasn’t. But seriously, look at the expression on this man’s face - not only does he eat boy racers for breakfast, but he did our Ontario club proud at Vegas last September by winning at the drag strip at VOI! Amazing! Way to rock ‘em Renso!! When he’s not terrorizing radar cops and his beautiful wife Mary with his driving, Renso can often been found weeping about the lack of Zaino supplies at his local 7-11 store. Forlornly, he wrings his hands and asks to a god unknown: “What is Woodbridge coming to?” But, it’s all good, Mr. De Pellegrin. After all, you still have your loyal Viperados riding right beside you. Welcome aboard.

Event Coordinator: John Malatesta
email:jmalatesta@cogeco.ca

Although the rumour mill has it that John has actually been seen in public without his stunning wife Jennifer, legend has it they are actually joined at the hip. And since Jen brightens up every Viper event they attend, we’re just so incredibly pleased to have them both along. But back to John: Isn’t Jennifer a blast at parties??!! Great dresser and a fine chef to boot. Not only is she a Newfie of proud lineage, but you’ve got to hear her sing.
OK. Enough shenanigans. John’s a good enough guy to take all our jokes and that’s why he was acclaimed by popular vote to this directorship. So enjoy the drive, cause John will always help make a difference in the quality of our journeys!


Event Coordinator: Henny Verhaggen
email: henny@hastingsinc.ca

Ahhh yes. Henny, The Hennmeister, Henster, Henrietta, Hen in Black, Hen Wa or Hennifer, if you will, is long overdue as a director of this club. Voted in by popular demand, Henny’s appointment has got to be one of the best things to happen to this club. Were not sure why, but he told us so. And as a bonus, because of his unimpeachable Dutch heritage, we can finally get Heineken sponsorship and offer every member of the club an unlimited lifetime supply of free cold beer. Wow - Thanks Henny. Dude. Whoa.
By the way, if you haven’t met him or his lovely wife Carol, you must surely introduce yourself at the next club event. They will extend their fabulous friendship and offer you the best of our VCO camaraderie.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By Blair Sachs as told to Sonny Stone. Transcribed by Abby Zotz

SONNY: Blair, you have a great story to tell us.

BLAIR: Absolutely.

SONNY: Apparently, the Halton police have decorated you as a hero - We want to hear all about it.

BLAIR: (laughs) It was last year in June and it was the Tim Horton’s Kids’ Day Camp event. I was sitting in a Tim’s on Guelph Line in Burlington with a customer; we’d just had a meeting and had stopped for coffee at around 11:30 in the morning.

SONNY: What is the Camp event?

BLAIR: June 6th - yes - they have it every year. All the cash is donated and goes towards their camps and what not, so it’s their big special fundraising day.

So, that day the money jar was sitting on the counter, full of cash. We’re sitting there, I was facing the door and I notice four kids that came in - they’re kinda being a bit conspicuous. One of them held the door open, two left and suddenly the fourth kid grabbed the money bin and ran! So, without even thinking, I just jumped up and ran out, left my customer at his seat and the chase began. Down an alley, over a fence and I almost caught them but I was wearing my work boots so my running wasn’t as fast as it should’ve been and the little bastards - unnhh - the kids got away. Well, I came back over the fence and the owner of the Tim Horton’s was there with my customer. Everyone was in a panic - the owner was absolutely freaking that the money had been stolen. So I grabbed my customer and said, “C’mon let’s go.” We went and got in my car.

SONNY: That’s the uhhh, Viper car - right?

BLAIR: That’s the Viper.

SONNY: (laughing) Oh Jesus! This is gonna be wicked!

BLAIR: Yeah - good wicked! We got out onto Guelph Line and headed south. Just before the 407, I looked over and I could see that the kids were running parallel to us in the bush. I could just see one of them heading into the wooded area. So I pin the pedals, told my customer to hang on and spun around.

Unfortunately I pushed the car a little bit too much, clipped the curb and did a little damage to the front fascia and threw my alignment out.

SONNY: Oy Vay.

BLAIR: So now I’m mad.

SONNY: Now you’re mad.

BLAIR: Now I’m really mad.

SONNY: Stage two begins.

Ontario’s Viper hero poses with his police award and blazing golden crime fighting chariot.

Close up and personal. Only a handful of these awards are handed out to civilians each year.

BLAIR: Stage two. So we went back up a road running parallel to the 407 - a residential area - and there were a couple of people yelling that kids had gone through. They knew I was chasing them. A little further I could see them running behind the homes, behind a fence running parallel to the 407. So we got ahead of them, stopped at a home and asked if we could hop the fence, We got out and I really check the Viper damage at this point. Of course I’m even more pissed off! (laughs).

SONNY: And your client’s still with you?

BLAIR: Oh Yeah! So the two of us hopped over the fence and started running through the woods. The punks didn’t see us coming so we flanked them and converged on them and they ran like rabbits. They ran right across the 407 in mid-day traffic!

SONNY: Oh my God.

BLAIR: Fortunately no one was killed. Well, we went back, got in my car again and started driving. We could see them on the other side of the 407.

SONNY: So you decided not to run across the 407?

BLAIR: We wouldn’t run across the 407–that’s putting everything at risk. But back on the road, I stopped and asked a woman where the nearest high schools were. There are two in that area. So we just circled the high schools when I saw three of the kids in my rearview mirror. I threw the car in reverse, flew backwards - left the car in the middle of the street with the doors open - jumped out - chased the three of them - tackled the largest one and put him down.

SONNY: You tackled him?

BLAIR: Oh yeah. (laughs) And then the other two just sat down quietly and didn’t make any moves. So we phoned the police. They came a half hour later... My car was still sitting in the middle of the street with the doors open like the Batmobile. The police arrested all three of them and then from what I understand the fourth turned himself in shortly thereafter. I guess when he realized his buddies had been caught he turned himself in.

SONNY: What about the money?

BLAIR: As far as I know it wasn’t recovered. The fourth kid had the cash when they’d split up at the 407. They police recovered the empty plastic bin but he’d hidden the money and from what the police told me his parents couldn’t get the location out of him. Sadly it never got returned, but at least the kids were all caught and charged. Shortly thereafter we got a letter thanking us from the Halton Region and then in May we received the chief’s commendation award for getting involved.

SONNY: No doughnuts?

BLAIR: No, I got a plaque. The police gave out six civilian awards for this year, my customer got an award as well.

SONNY: We’re so proud of you guys. That’s great.

BLAIR: They really pumped the fact that we did get involved and that we did help out and they wish more citizens would do that.

SONNY: How much damage was done to your car?

BLAIR: I think it ended up costing me about a thousand bucks. There were a couple of things bent and the paint and the scratch on the rim.

SONNY: Ouchhh!.

BLAIR: (laughing) But you know, it’s all in the name of crime fighting!

Your editor encourages all Ontario club members to send a congratulatory email to Blair at blairs@hdspackaging.com

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Beam us upstate, Chucky…

Story and Photos by Sonny Stone & Caroline Barrett

Every year, I try to get down to visit Chuck Tator, the Viper Wizard of New York state. Renowned in the Viper community for honesty and in-depth knowledge, he has saved hundreds of Viperados hundreds of thousand of dollars in unnecessary repairs and poor workmanship - easily available at so many unscrupulous repair shops. For several years, Chuck has given some of the love back to his customers by throwing a big bad BBQ - fully catered with a live band, incredible eats and a good time guaranteed.

However, last year, his parents had some health problems and Chuck just couldn’t devote the time and resources to throw his party. No problem - the New York/Connecticut Region decided to hold it in Chuck’s honour at no less than the tony upstate Saratoga Springs Automobile Museum: a small but important collection and historical archive. The event has become reverently monikered as ‘Tatortoga’. Amen.

A more genteel era

Saratoga Springs, known as the “Queen of Spas” is a showcase of well-preserved gentility. The well-kept town streets are lined with examples of Victorian, Queen Anne, Gothic, Italianate and Second Empire-inspired homes built in the 19th and early 20th century. The sidewalks on the very pretty main street, Broadway, are lined with cast metal sculptures of horses—the motto of the City is Health, History and Horses—and the Adelphi Hotel with its gleaming, bay-coloured façade, is the crowning glory of the town centre.

Gentility personified. Debbie & Jim Runge relax at the rustic Log Jam restaurant the night before Tatortoga.

Yes it’s true. Chuck Tator nose a few intimate things about Sonny’s Viper.

The pristine Saratoga Spa State Park is the summer home of the NYC Ballet & the Philadelphia Orchestra and the compact Automobile Museum also resides on the grounds. Our car was among those 30 Vipers parked on the lush green lawn. And we were in good company; surrounded by a vintage Auburn boatail roadster (Decorated with several Best-in-show awards), a 1955 Porsche Speedster, a new Ford GT, a Jaguar XK120 Convertible from ‘52 and many restored beauties from the 60’s and 70’s.

Effie Hotchkiss’s Harley-Davidson: From New York to LA with Mom riding shotgun.

This interior is from a cool little convertible called “The Playboy” made in NY state in the ‘40s. Or, it could be a candid photo of the inner sanctum of club Vice president Mike Buchanan’s boudoir...

Inside the museum, there were race cars from historic US and Euro Grand Prix’s. I was most taken with the sweet little motorcycle and side-car of one Effie Hotchkiss, who, in 1915, at the age of 20, crossed the United States—with her mother riding in the sidecar!

In fact, the museum had a special motorcycle tribute display with hardware from the Evel Knievel, Easy Rider, Steve McQueen, Von Dutch and Elvis eras. There was also an incredibly rare Vincent and an Indian of the exact model that “Erwin Cannonball” Baker rode on his famous Coast to Coast record run.

Now, you should also know that Brock Yates - THE Brock Yates of Car & Driver and Cannon Ball Run/Smokey & The Bandit Fame - is a Patron and member of the Board of Directors of the museum. (See previous newsletter about our journey to Brock’s former pub, The Cannonball Run.) Although he wasn’t in attendance this weekend, I did buy an autographed copy of “CANNONBALL! World’s Greatest Outlaw Road Race”, his amazing book recounting the 4 legendary runnings of the Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash. If you don’t know about this, it’s a long story. But a great one - for all the right reasons.

Our First Dr. Jerry Tracy Feature

Jerry Tracy Video (requires Apple Quicktime)

Jerry, in his second Viper - an ‘06 Blue & White Coupe. He’s hammering down the 15 miles from our hotel to the Saratoga Museum grounds.

As a frequent joke, I often loudly and publicly accuse Jerry in the following manner: “You sir, drive like a goat herder” - for no other reason than I like the sound of the words goat herder. I ask you, dear reader to judge for yourself. This video, by the way was not speeded up or edited in any way. It’s short and sweet. Or at least short and fast!

Vipers & Cobras. Cobras?

At the show we had about a dozen of our confrères from the Québec on hand. They stormed down from Montreal the same morning. Our good friend Andras led the charge, with wife and baby in hand. There was also a nice showing from the NY/Conn club. And New Jersey... but what’s it to you.
Then I saw it. Could it be? One of the mythological Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupes? Only 6 built? Designed by Pete Brock! Autographed by Brock Yates! The car that took the war to Ferrari and won?

Is it or isn’t a real Cobra Coupe? Only Chuck Tator knows for sure... Read on.

Well I hauled Chuck Tator over and blurted out that it sure looked real. Gorgeous condition but not too perfect or fussy. The slight and pleasant patina of 40 years. It could have been part of the museum’s collection brought outside for the party.
Chuck ducked underneath and came back out in second. “Nope, Ford Thunderbird rear end. And some other stuff.” Yikes, we had chuckle, but truly a cool replica. And the Brock Yates autograph was legit.
Dinner that night in Lake George, by the water with Jim and Debbie Runge and Peter and Mary Cox from the UK Viper Club.

Early morning May 24 Monday run back home - through the Adirondacks - convoy with Jim and Deb. Man are these mountains gorgeous - and roads to die for. May I suggest that in 2008, we get a real contingent of Ontario Vipers down to pay homage to Chuck Tator. After all, I think I’m still the only Ontarian who’s Viper has been officially Tatorized by The Wizard. It’s worth the trip.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By Dan Lesser
Photos by Pat Chapin and Dan Lesser
Photo captions by Sonny Stone

Mostly everyone in our Viper Club knows the affable Dr. Jerry “2 Vipers” Tracy, MD. And most everyone knows that unfortunately, last year on his way back from VOI 9 in Nevada, Jerry fell asleep at the wheel and woke up to find himself driving under an 18 wheeler on interstate 90. Happily, Jerry escaped with a few bangs. Not so happily, his twin-turbo red SRT-10 convertible was, as they say, a little messed up. See photos 1, 2 and 3!

This is what Jerry saw when he went to pick up his Viper from the Towing company. Even Sonny Stone wouldn’t make a joke…

Welcome to hell. Ready for its close up.

Is it possible it could be salvaged? This is in Dan’s garage. Already looks a bit better than photo 1. Dan has assessed the damage and has started to work his magic!

We started the repair project in November. Jerry and I agreed on the work to be done, which at that time included the main repair, as well as extras such as chroming his HRE wheels, StopTech Brakes, Hennessey Front Bumper, and an Autoform Comp Coupe style hood. These upgrades were carefully costed into the overall project cost, and equated to a boat-load of virtually free upgrades for Jerry. All work was to be performed by myself and myself only, with the exception of the paint work which I sub out to a local paint shop.

The fun begins

The first thing was to strip the car down to a point where there was no damage. This included removing the remaining parts of the hood, fender, bumper, driver door, driver side sill, etc. Taking care to retain as many usable parts as possible such as the innards of the driver door, fasteners and so on. The 3 remaining wheels were sent back to HRE for chroming, and a new 4th was ordered. The driver front wheel was ripped clean off the car and tossed a few hundred feet from the accident. Then the driver side suspension, inner fender, Twin Turbo Piping and all of the front cooling system was removed - much of it having to be cut away, as it was crushed in place from the accident. Finally, the damaged sections of frame were cut away, from the front of the driver side suspension to the passenger headlight, as well as the jack-point beam directly behind the driver front wheel.

At this point, all that was remaining was a generally good condition platform to build on, with the exception of a slightly out of alignment front frame section, and a few other odds and ends that needed to be straightened out. At this point, a number of hydraulic frame-straightening tools were needed to push/pull the frame back into a rough alignment by going over the frontal measurements one by one. The new frame sections, acquired from a donor car were then cut to size, and TIG welded in place. After this, a final adjustment of the frame sections was done. NOTE: I prefer to wait until after welding for final adjustments, as the high heat has a tendency to change the angle of the beams ever so slightly, especially on butt-welds. I also prefer to TIG weld as the strength compared to MIG or Stick welding is exponentially greater and much more controlled.

Finally, the frame sections were put to the test to expose any potential weak spots (which aren’t expected when TIGing, but worth the check). This includes pushing/pulling the rails hydraulically, as well as lifting the car from the rails outermost points, and even bouncing the car to attempt to show a weakness. 100%+ of the frontal car weight was successfully supported by both the jack-beam, as well as the front headlight beam - both which would never see these stress levels in normal use. After everything passed QC, the frame sections were roughed up sanded if needed, and painted.

After the frame, I straightened out Jerry!

Well, Dodge Viper screaming red is just a little calm for Dr. J - so it was about at this point that I helped him decide to change the color of the car - screaming Lamborghini orange! As well, we chose to replace some slightly damaged paneling with new parts instead of repairing them. As such, all remaining body panels were stripped from the car and dropped off to the paint shop along with the new ones. It was determined it was best to paint the car while it was completely apart: this also allowed me to repair the car at the same time the painting was being done, speeding up the progress. Aside from a few holdups due to back-ordered panels, it went pretty smoothly considering the scale of the rebuild.

At this point, the underbody assembly began. The new inner fender was fitted and glued to the frame, and all components which are fitted to that panel were reattached. Some modifications were also performed at this point, such as powder-coating of the intake manifold, and changing out some of the hoses on the car with Stainless Steel lines (the lines supplied by RSI, the turbo installers, were already falling apart.) The front cooling system was also replaced in its entirety, as well as any damaged lines, we added a new hydraulic fan and shroud. The new headlight, ABS Hydraulic Unit and PCM were attached, and all the wiring was repaired. About this time, the interior of the car was also stripped out. Jerry first opted to have the seats recovered in Canadian beaver pelts, but we talked him into leather. As well, we replaced the interior bulkhead panel behind the seats as the fitment of the Autoform panel was very poor. I modified an OEM panel to work with the roll bar, as well as corrected the seatbelt corner anchors to the belts so they retraced correctly, fabricating and TIG welding new brackets onto the roll bar.

How to get out of tickets while driving other people’s cars!

The freshly painted panels started coming back soon after, and the car was assembled from the rear moving forward up to the rear of the doors. The front suspension was then completely replaced, the Stoptech brakes/EBC Red Pads were installed, and the rear wheels which had just come back from HRE were put on, giving us the first glimpse of a "Viper" again... or at least the back of one! The orange color, ‘Arancio Atlas’, gave its first sneak peak the next day when the sun came out - and WOW what a color! The Turbo Piping and the re-cored intercooler were also installed soon after. Lastly, the doors & seats were reassembled and installed, and the front fenders and side sills were fitted after repairing the side-sill bolt holes which were all ripped apart during the accident. At this point, the car was driveable, but without a hood and bumper, which were being finished up at paint and were too big to transport after paint as they could not be crated or moved without fear of scratching. In the mean time, the car was aligned, inspected, computers were reprogrammed, and the driveability of the car was double checked. The car performed so well... that I got a damn ticket in it within 1 mile of getting on the highway. Luckily, being in my position and driving a car that was unfinished made it easy to plea the fact that the speedometer wasn't functioning correctly, and I get let off with a "fix-it" ticket. (Phew!!!)

Finally, after everything else was worked out, the car was brought to the paint shop, where the details were touched up, the hood, bumper and decals were installed, and the car was finish buffed. It was at the paint shop where we got our first good look at the new car- and what a sight it was, almost hard to believe it looked like it did 6 months before! Aside from a few small details that were still backordered, the car was complete and ready for Jerry to take possession of it. Short of a couple lingering issues from before the accident which were long forgotten about and since repaired, the car has performed at 100% and hitch free since it was reacquired... I am not surprised, but most are when they see what the car used to look like!

Jerry and I have since been talking about taking this car to the next level and get the most out of his Twin Turbo system. I look forward to sending you another write-up next year!

Hennessey’s SRT fascia. Most Ontarians think Nabil has a better looking face.

Super clean work in the engine bay.

Pat Chapin’s heroic overhead shot of Jerry and Gail and their beloved Vipers. After months of worry, Jerry found his gold (or at least his screamin’ honkin’ orange) at the end of the rainbow.

EDITOR’S NOTE: I hope you readers enjoyed the story of Dan’s detailed repair and restoration. I have had Dan do a few things on my Viper as well, and I encourage our club members to patronize his business. It’s an easy drive down to Buffalo. Besides major repairs and custom works like Jerry’s car described here, Dan is particularly good at fixing and adjusting minor bugs that often dealers just can’t offer the resources to fix. You can reach him at 716-912-5336. The name of his company is Viper Specialty Performance and he’ll always be glad to answer your questions and to talk Vipers.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION

President: Nabil Arafat. Email:narafat@cogeco.ca

Vice President:Mike Buchanan Email: buchananmike1@rogers.com

Event Coordinator:Neil McLeod Email:tmcleod@cogeco.ca

Event Coordinator: Henny Verhaggen Email: henny@hastingsinc.ca

Event Coordinator: Paolo Rossi Email: paolorossi@rogers.com

VCO Councilor : Jason August Email: jason@visible-assets.com

Treasurer: Eda Vanderveen: Email: Eda Vanderveen

Technical Advisor: Daniel Lesser: Email: finalgts@aol.com

Social Director : Mary De Francesco : Email:sesco@globalservice.net

Financial Director : Pat Difiore: Email:concordinsulation@sympatico.ca

Event Coordinator: Renso De Pellegrin Email: rdepell@rogers.com

Event Coordinator: John Malatesta Email: jmalatesta@cogeco.ca

"Miss Molson Indy Canada" photo: Sylvia Pecota