[Chris Ford]

Dear Robert and others interest in the tapes finer details

I have 5 betamax tapes. All of them are L250 (that's the designation of tape length - back in the day they had L125, L250, L500, L750, and logically L830) The recording speed was Beta II - meaning middle of the road quality - which on beta was still quite good. The resultant length in minutes is therefore 60. That's right 5 - 1 hour tapes. Bonken Productions Inc. provided the editing facilities and it's their letterhead that appears on the outside of the tapes I have, so I gather it was issued directly from them. However my dad had a tendancy to print off formal looking things for his tapes so I can't be entirely sure.

The tapes are not just raw footage, editing of the seminar is evident, but how much was taken out, is unknown to me. My feeling is that not too much was cut from the talks. As well the producer (Bill Trbovich) also acts as the narrator and inserts some commentary accompanied by black and white photos from the war. I still haven't watched too much of the entire five hours, but the narration parts seem to be few in number. Photos are also periodically inserted while the panelists are speaking. Although this adds to the show, during the parts where the panelist is difficult to understand, it does render any lip reading during those segments impossible. Depending on the ability of technology to clean-up noise, lip reading may be the only way to understand what is being said for portions of the video - that and some intelligent deduction. From what I've seen so far, portions of the first and second video are tough to follow - it sort of depends on who was speaking and how closely they spoke into the mics and whether other mics were open while they were speaking. The last 3 tapes seemed better, from a quick glance, but more extensive viewing may reveal difficulties with those tapes as well.

As for the producer Bill Trbovich and his production company TRBojay, I found him on facebook and have sent him a letter telling him of our interest to make these tapes more widely available. I am not certain as to the legality of copying his work and sending it out to others, or even making the tapes available. I thought with the seminar being so far back, maybe copyrights might have expired - however from what I've looked up, copyrights for video in Canada last 50 years after the author passes away. I've asked him to provide his thoughts on the fair usage of this. Perhaps you guys, particularly Keith in the production industry, know more about this issue. I have not heard back from him yet, and if not soon, may try him at other contact addresses on the internet. As a small aside, the copyright symbol at the end of the tape looked not like a circled c but a circled b - is that symbol of ownership or was the video just playing games with me?


As to my truck issue:

First I'd like to really thank those who suggested some really practical ideas for improving its state. And yes, Colin there are a few open hectares of space in Saskatchewan, however I was looking for some indoor space and that costs mucho dinero every month. My prime concern, more powerful than a desire to keep it, is to see it preserved in good condition. I guess that's why I hoped for a museum. In my keep, with almost no knowledge of vehicle maintenance (sad but true) I see it leaking away, rusting away, wearing away only because I wanted to hang on to it. I don't want it to get to an irreparable state. I'd prefer to see it parading out in the streets, year after year on VE day, Remembrance Day (maybe too cold), for car shows and for Air shows (sadly we recently had our last one) - always inspiring the question - "What in the world is that thing?" and a number of other questions. The curiosity inspired by an impressive hunk of steel which leads to a greater understanding of history. All of this would require careful and vigilant maintenance from someone with the know-how. My dad figured mechanics out (to a degree) from taking apart and putting together Land Rovers. "Take it off ABC and put it back on CBA" he used to tell me. I grew up with Honda and Nissan - touch anything and the computer inside will chastise you. That hands-on motor savvy is another one of those things that seems to be going by the wayside with this generation.

Now don't get me wrong. I don't see the situation as hopeless. But just viewing things realistically, I don't think I'll be able to find the faulty piston by sticking a wooden spoon to the engine like my grandfather could - that is to say, mechanics scares me, especially the idea of learning on something so rare and valuable. Incidentally - Alex, when you said I could never find a vehicle like it - were you implying that my dad's truck was a particularly noteworthy example of a CMP or simply saying that I would never find any other CMP?

p.s. If you haven't noticed, I'm the king of short, succinct letters. I apologize for my extensive brevity.