CADILLAC LaSALLE CLUB OF CANADA

Well, We are back after a brief break in routine and enjoying the sunshine of the Caribbean and Florida. The only disappointing thing about the trip was that there were very few Cadillacs to admire along the way. In Florida the ones that we saw were modern ones, many of which were Escalades. With fuel priced at $2.70/U.S. Gal, they could afford to drive these SUVs. The Caribbean roads are mainly narrow, winding trails that are reminiscent of the horse and carriage days, not at all wide enough for larger vehicles. They are what keep the Islands at the slower pace and the more relaxed driving attitude.

Reality has now set in!! The next item is the Brentwood Bay Festival Car Display on June 3^Rd./2006. It is hoped that all of the members have been phoned and are coming for at least part of the day. It will begin at around 9A.M. and finish at around 3P.M.. I hope to have as many members as possible there at around 11 A.M. so we can have a short meeting, as there are a few things to consider. We realize that get togethers have not been as frequent recently and will likely continue to remain that way although they will increase in the fall with luncheons, brunches, tours and the like. Should you wish to attend shows during the summer as a group, please let us know at the Brentwood Bay Display.

Club Windshield Decals – HAVE ARRIVED! Our club decals are now available and will be issued at the Brentwood Bay Display – June 3^Rd. These decals have been purchased at a first time cost of around $2.00 each and the next ones will be around $1.10. They look just like the one pictured at the beginning of this newsletter. It will be up to the membership in attendance at that meeting as to how they will be disbursed. Some of the following suggestions have been proposed:

One free decal for every member then $1.00 each thereafter.
One free decal for each of the members cars.
All decals go at a cost of $1.00, $2.00 or $3.00.
Decals provided free with membership dues.

Also a motion to pay the bill for this will be put forward. If you have other items to be discussed, please either e-mail them to me or (preferably) bring them out on June 3R. to the Brentwood Bay Festival Car Display.

The main portion of this newsletter will be dedicated to a proposed e-mail discussion from the Squeaky Wheel. This comes under the "Future Technology department and is meant as food for thought. The original e-mail article is available as an e-mail sent to you along with this newsletter and we hope it will be accessible to everyone. It will be sent out to all of you after this e-mail Newsletter has gone. Please watch the video clip.

"GAS FROM THE SQUEAKY WHEEL – ??? Better Days Ahead for Fuel Thirsty Cadillacs ??? Have you watched the Video Clip in the other e-mail yet? (Water As Fuel)

Another Address that may interest you is that of the Ballard power system. It is located at www.ballard.com/ , click on Airgen Fuel cell generator. Go to the bottom where it says" Click here to see how a fuel cell works". This gives a description of the function and shows the principles behind the Ballard system. You can understand after watching the Ballard system and the Water as Fuel system clips, some of the differences. It would seem that the HHO system has developed a method of separating the water into Hydrogen and Oxygen right on the vehicle, eliminating the storage of Hydrogen on board. If this is the case, it will be a large step forward in this process and would eliminate the need for a pipeline or transportation to all the service stations that will carry the Hydrogen.

The above is not going to happen right away but is this very far off in the future? With the price of gasoline aiming for $1.50 by the end of summer, lets hope something like this happens soon. Without too much change, some Cadillacs were converted to propane with good results so a conversion to Hydrogen shouldn’t hurt either. It depends on the cost of the change as to whether it is viable or not. You can buy a lot of gas for the price of some of these conversions.

Car of the Month

1966 Cadillac Sedan DeVille 4dr. Ht.

There are some days that just turn out to be lucky ones such as the day a friend of mine suggested that there was a tow vehicle available that would pull my camper trailer very nicely. After a good check-over, the 1966 Sedan Deville hard top was purchased for this purpose. After a further and more detailed inspection, it was found that its impeccable condition lent it more towards a show car than a worker. We sold the camper trailer. This Cadillac had been kept in a garage all its life, never driven in winter conditions and only driven to California by the chauffeur twice who then purchased the car from the original owner’s estate. It was passed on to his elderly son upon his demise and after a few years of life in that garage and little use it was put up for sale as he didn’t wish to drive anymore and it was too much car for his wife. In it’s last nine years in my garage it has been maintained and driven almost three thousand trouble free and very pleasurable miles. It’s 429 Cu.In engine jumps to life at the turn of the key and more than holds its own in any traffic. It has almost all the specialty items with the exception if a/c and with it’s 62K miles it is hoped that with our tender use that it will be passed on to one of our daughters when we don’t require it any longer. There were over 45,000 of these made so it may one day receive a trailer hitch in order to pull a trailer with Lady Victoria aboard.

Well, I suppose I have rattled on long enough and hopefully given you something to think about. Please consider the BRENTWOOD BAY FESTIVAL Classical Car Display June 3^Rd. We hope to see you all there at least for an hour or two around 11 A.M. if not before, with all your ideas. We would also like your thoughts on Wayne’s Gas idea, not that we could do anything about it but it is interesting to hear peoples thoughts on such matters. Must go as the clock has just rung 6 times and dinner is ready. All the best and I hope to see you all soon.

Lorne Scott