Hi listers,
I know I'm really late with this but since everyone seems to be jumping in, I
might as well too.
My name is Bob Stahlbush. I'm 56 years young and have been married to wife
Fran for 35 years. Our son Bob, was born in 1965 and our daughter Deb was
born in 1966. Our daughter has 3 boys and our son has 1 girl......what a joy
they are.
I was raised on Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island in the small historic town
of East Greenwich. Those of us that grew up there have a deep appreciation
for all thing nautical.....we have salt water in our veins. While I remember
truly idyllic summer days cruising the bay islands in friends boats, I can't
remember being too mechanically inclined during those years.
I do remember, however, reading an article while in the 8th or 9th grade
about those sensational English sports cars the GI's were bringing back with
them from Europe. Other than the articles I'd read, I hadn't seen an LBC
until I went to Germany as a GI myself in 1960. There were plenty to see
there, though; the very first MGB's (Wow!, rollup windows), a host of MGA's
(including twin cams), TR-4's and Healey's......a cornucopia of LBC's.
I had my heart set on a brand new British racing green '62 Sprite, but just
couldn't arrange for shipping before I was scheduled to go back to the
states.....the desire would have to remain dormant for a while.
I got back to the states in '63, bought myself a '58 T-Bird ragtop and got
married to my long time pen pal ( that's another story). I had forgotten all
about LBC's until we set off to the beach with friends one beautiful summer
day in 1967. A friend of a friend offered up his '64 MGB for the hour ride
and I was hooked.
My '65 MGB was driven daily and for 6 years was the only transportation we
had. Eventually the little ones wouldn't fit in the shelf over the battery
box and I had to get legitimate FAMILY transportation.
As many of you will appreciate, those long dormant mechanical skills, somehow
re-energized by ownership of an LBC would serve me well as I took on my next
project in 1980.....a 1966 MGB (GHN3L78708). While I still have this car and
have restored it twice, the next project is our 1960 TR-3A (TS 81398L).
On the personal side: Although I did OK, I wasn't particularly interested in
school. I learned the value of an education while in the service. In
retrospect, it would have been easier to have bucked down early but I got my
engineering degree nights while working as a draftsman for Brown and Sharpe,
a local machine tool builder. I guess it runs in the family: Fran didn't
finish her teaching degree until after our kids were in the first
grade.....now she's an elementary/ special ed teacher in a local school
system and I'm a design engineer for a manufacturer of HVAC hardware and
application equipment.
Besides playing with my RC gliders, restoring my TR and chasing my grandkids
around, I spend my weekends sailing, (I own and have restored 2 boats; a 1972
glass/wood Blue Jay class dinghy #4710 and a 1965 all wood Lightning class
dinghy #9669.) What else would you expect from a guy with salt water in his
veins?
WE also drive our LBC every chance we get with British Motorcars of N. E. (
our LBC club).
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