This page contains material from the April 2000 newsletter.

MEETING TIME: First Wednesday of each month at 7:30 PM LOCATION: Galles Chevrolet, 1601 Lomas Boulevard NE, Albuquerque, NM 87110 PRESIDENT: Hurley Wilvert 281-1732 hurley.wilvert @ fmglobal.com VICE-PRES: Robert Gold 268-6878 beisbol30 @ hotmail.com SECRETARY: Charles Vertrees 299-0744 vertrees @ swcp.com TREASURER: Wendell Walker 892-8471 defarge505 @ aol.com MEMBERSHIP: Sylvan Zuercher 299-7577 zuerchero @ hubwest.com NEWSLETTER: Jim Pittman 275-2195 casa unm edu DUES: CNM: 12 months $15.00 or 26 months $ 30.00 CORSA: 12 months $35.00 or 26 months $ 70.00 BOTH: 12 months $50.00 or 26 months $100.00 ===== EDITOR: Jim Pittman NEXT MEETING: Wednesday April 5th, 7:30 PM Galles Chevrolet 1601 Lomas NE CONTENTS: THIS MONTH: Dues Due Sylvan Zuercher Billiken Mark Morgan March Meeting Chuck Vertrees Board Meeting Chuck Vertrees From the Driver's Seat Hurley Wilvert Cars and Parts For Sale Everybody Seven Years Ago Jim Pittman Coming Events Everybody Las Cruces Warbirds Museum Sylvan It's OK to Touch This Car Donna Cunningham COVER: from recent Club activities ===== As the sculptor Alexander Calder answered when asked if he'd be willing to make a mobile for the Guggenheim Museum out of solid gold, "Sure, why not? And then I'll paint it black." -- Tom Robbins (1976) Even Cowgirls Get the Blues Dues Expired or Due or Approaching Due: Carl Johnson 02/2000 Clayborne Souza 02/2000 Bob Carlson 03/2000 Tarmo Sutt 03/2000 Joel Craig 04/2000 Mark Domzalski 04/2000 Bill McClellan 04/2000 Stephen Parker 04/2000 David Patten 04/2000 Joe Ashton 05/2000 Bodean Belt 05/2000 Steve Gongora 05/2000 Terry Price 05/2000 Fred Edeskuty 06/2000 If your membership is due or has expired, please send your dues to: Wendell Walker, CNM Treasurer, 301 Utah Meadow, Rio Rancho, NM 87124 Note: the Club will mail in your National dues when you renew, but only if you send us the renewal form from CORSA Communique! While surfing the web, check out the CORSA Home Page: http://www.corvair.org A new site is CNM's home page, thanks to Dennis Pleau: http://corsa.skiblack.com/chapters/chapter871 ===== A POEM FOR SPRINGGE Sir Geoffrey Here bygynneth the Book of the Tales of Courvair Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote The droghte of March hath perced to the roote, And bathed every veyne in swich licour Of which vertu engendred is the flour; Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth Inspired hath in every holt and heeth The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne Hath in the Ram his halve cours yronne, And smale foweles maken melodye, That slepen al the nyght with open ye (So priketh hem nature in hir corages), Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages, And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes, To ferne halwes, kouthe in sondry londes; And specially from every shires ende Of Engelond to Courvairland they wende, The hooly blisful martir for to seke, That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke. A Knyght ther was, and that a worthy man, That fro the tyme that he first bigan To riden out, he loved the springgetyme air, And driveth ewerywhere in his Corvair, Yclept Sir Mark, he gallantly did strive To keepe the little orphaned car alyve. A merrye Clubbe then holpen he to found, All filled with goode mechanics all arounde. One of our members, true a Saint was there, By Fillips dubbed Sir Francis of Courvair. And gentyle Knyght Sir Sylvan, who, I ween, For carburetor work no peer hath seen. Sir Stephen of Gongora hadde a plan To purchase for his worke a Courvair van. Sir William Reeder woulde Corvairing bee, A sixty-nine convertible bought he. The Clubbes own scribe had Corvairs not a few, And writes his letteres with his Apple Two. Ladyes too we have whom we shoulde mention, For Debbie, Kim and Rita madde Convention. Sir Jerry woulld a versatile man be, His Corvairs share the roade with his MG. Sir Tarmo and his wyfe the Lady Kay Plan Aspencades for us near Santa Fe. Another Mark, a Knyght of merrye will His Rampsyde drives each day up to The Hill. Sir Charles for Secretarie we havve hadde, Inscribes our Minutes on his faithful pad. Sir Wendell seldome speakes to us in verse, But keeps our Treasure safely in his Purse. Sir Oliver woulde ugly roadsides fix, He holpes us keepen clean Route Sixty-Six. To bold LeRoy our thanks we have conveyed, For many fine garage tours we have made. Sir Robert is our Master of the Faire, His german Van hath power by Courvair. And so our Clubbes a jolly compaignye, We travel for and wyde Corvairs to see! ===== MARCH MEETING NOTES Chuck Vertrees The meeting was called to order at 7:30 PM at Galles Chevrolet. Vice President Bob Gold presided, because President Hurley Wilvert was out of town on business. All other officers were present. The meeting was started by a presentation by Russell Trujillo of the Classic Chevy Club of Albuquerque. He and several other members explained that they will be having the Albuquerque 2000 Western National Classic Chevy Convention locally on August 24, 25, 26, 27, 2000. This will cover Chevrolets up through 1972, and Corvairs are welcome. They have an extensive organization for the convention already in place, and could use some CNM assistance in some areas. They will have the top cars on display in the convention center, and a "cruiser" class display set up outside. They expect between 50,000 and 60,000 public attendance. Cars must qualify to be on display, so that there will be a limit to only the nicest cars available. Galles is also the sponsor of the Classic Chevy Club of Albuquerque. The type of assistance CNM can give was deferred to the board meeting After this pre-meeting, the regular meeting started at 8:15 PM. New members Steve and Fran Leshner were introduced. There were no guests, other than the members of CCCA. The minutes of the last two meetings were approved as printed in the Newsletter, although Debbie Pleau noted that her name was misspelled in OTHER than the minutes. Treasurer Wendell Walker reported that CNM had $324.17 in cash and checking account and $5,737.33 in the money market account for a total worth of $6,061.50. A sign up sheet was passed for those planing to go on the garage tour so LeRoy could tell the restaurant how many to expect for lunch. Several members mentioned Corvairs that were for sale. Jerry Goffe told us that Coronado Towing had a forward control van that they would like to get rid of. They would donate it to CNM and tow it to where ever we wanted. It was decided to have it towed to Mark's so it could be used for parts on the library van. Debbie Pleau has the registration form ready for the Tri-State, except for the T-shirt prices. We do not know how much it will cost to print the entries for the photo rally. This needs to be checked to get best price. Mark is working on the Saturday night Bar-B-Q. The Cooperage will cater the Sunday night banquet at the hotel. Price is $20.00 per plate, adult or child. We have to pay half by May 1st. There have been 24 rooms booked at the hotel so far. Ruth Boydston showed the quilt that will be a raffle item. Ruth and Rita Gongora are making three aprons for door prizes. We need more door prizes and goodie bag items. There was a long discussion about having a hospitality room, however we cannot bring outside food to the hotel room. Mark is looking into getting the CORSA display for the show. Registration will be Friday from 3:00 to 9:00 PM and Saturday from early until about 3:00 PM. The rally will be from 10:00 until 2:00 on Saturday. We will need to meet EARLY at the hotel on Sunday to go to the Museum show together. Debbie Pleau expressed thanks to everyone who helped with the progressive dinner. Debbie Deck said the camping trip is set for August 4-5-5 at Ruth Boydston's in the Pecos. We will need a porta-potty and there may be problems with having a campfire. There will be an area for both R.V.s and tents. A map will be printed before we are to go. Sylvan Zuercher brought up the overnight tour to the War Eagles Museum scheduled for April 15-16. We will leave at 8:00 AM on Saturday and tour some places in El Paso or surrounding areas, then tour the War Eagle Museum on Sunday morning. Saturday night is open at this time. Details will be in the Newsletter. Wendell Walker has tickets for the items to be raffled at the Tri-State. He also has a video of the rescue of a P-38 from the Arctic. We will show it at a meeting, possibly in June. Members were reminded of the Route 66 cleanup scheduled for 9:00 AM on March 11th. Mark Domzalski gave a report on CORSA. The International Convention in Daytona is coming right along. The hotel is filling up and arrangements have been made to have the Autocross at the Daytona International Speedway. Mark also reported that board elections are coming shortly. Seth Emerson will run in the West, and Sarah Jones of the convention host chapter will run in the East. There is still nobody running for the Central district. Flagstaff has put in a bid for the 2002 convention. Mark has checked and the University can handle the banquet, and there are adequate sites for the other events. CNM is committed to assist with the convention, and CORSA is looking semi favorably at the bid. Mark Martinek reported on the Car Council meeting on February 23rd. The C.C. is solvent according to the treasurer's report. (CNM secretary has a detailed copy of the report if anyone would like to see it.) The lack of clubs manning booths at the SuperNational Car Show was discussed. An opportunity to disseminate information and attract new members was overlooked by the majority of the clubs. Free space was available for clubs to set up a booth. The lack of Car Council brochures was also noted. Brochures will be prepared and made available for future shows and dissemination to the various car clubs and visitor centers. It was noted that the Antique RV Tour would overnight in Albuquerque, but no date was given for this event. A spirited discussion was held in regard to a meeting that was held, without the knowledge of all council members, in regards to the Museum Car Show. The majority of the council members present felt the meeting was not proper and binding on the council. After further discussion a motion was made, seconded, and approved by a vote of 14-4, that the Car Council would fund the car show in its entirety and the show would be conducted as usual, i.e., no entry fee. The registration packets would clearly indicate that the year 2000 car show was being funded by the Car Council without financial support of the City and that an entry fee, to be specified, would be collected in year 2001. Donations will be accepted at this year's car show to help defer expenses. A $1500.00 CD maturing May 1st had been earmarked for the car show. This would leave a projected deficiency of about $1700.00. In order to cut expenses less expensive trophies will be given. Ribbons may be used in lieu of trophies for certain place winners. Dash plaques will be given to all entered cars. The Model Car Club stated that they did not need trophies and could provide their own ribbons. It was noted that the Wheels Museum group has reached an agreement with the Railroad and would be acquiring the old railroad property. The council voiced its support of the Wheels Museum and agreed to work with the Wheels Museum. It was noted that memberships in the Wheels Museum are still available. More information on these memberships will be made available at the next meeting. Mark also presented to the CNM Secretary a schedule of events as made known to the Car Council. It is noted that although this list is almost two full pages of single space typing, there are no Corvairs of New Mexico events listed. If we wish to be listed, we will need to supply the Car Council a list of our events that we wish to publicize so they may be printed in the Car Council newsletter. This is something CNM needs to decide on. If anyone is interested, the CNM Secretary has this list and will bring it to meetings with him in case anyone would like to see the upcoming events. I was surprised at the number of events that are happening in this area. The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 PM. ===== MARCH BOARD NOTES by Chuck Vertrees The meeting was called to order at 5:30 PM at House of Covers. Present were Hurley Wilvert, Steve Gongora, Robert Gold, Sylvan Zuercher, Jim Pittman, "Lube" Lubert, Debbie Pleau, Wendell Walker and Chuck Vertrees. Treasurer Wendell Walker reported that as of 3/15/00 CNM had $267.17 in cash and checking account, and $5,761.26 in the money market, for a total worth of $6,028.43. The first item of discussion was the participation of CNM in the "Western National, Classic Chevy Convention." At the regular March meeting a presentation on the convention was made to CNM and our participation and assistance was invited. It was decided that CNM would, besides displaying some of our cars, offer our assistance in parking and transportation driving. Sylvan will survey the material he has on parking and find out just what they need. It was moved and approved that CNM will give our sponsor, Joe Trujillo, a 26-month membership in CORSA. He has been a great help to us with our new meeting place, and a very active sponsor. It was moved and approved that CNM would give a $50.00 donation to The American Cancer Society, in honor of Sylvia Vertrees, mother of CNM's long time Secretary. Sylvia passed away recently at the age of 94. There was extended discussion of the soon to come Tri-State and Museum show. CNM will not supply dash plaques, but the car council will supply them. Debbie is getting many requests for registration forms. She passed around a sample she has generated and is ready to send it as soon as she gets the T-shirt prices from Jerry Goffe. He should have them in a day or two. A tentative itinerary was also circulated. It will be sent out with the registration. They will both also be on the CNM web page. We need as many pre-registrations as possible so the we can assure that there will be enough parking space at the Museum how. It is estimated that there will be probably 40 Corvairs to display. We also need to get copies of the registration for the Museum show, so they can be prepared beforehand. We need to arrive at the show early and together, because of the poor parking organization in the past. Bill Reider has a trophy which will be used for best of show in Corvairs. Corvair people will vote on this. The discussion then came up as to how many cars will it take to make a class! It was decided that it would take three to make a class. If there are not three entries in a class they will be rolled into the next nearest class. There will be six classes with a trophy for each class. It was decided that the Corvair trophies will be given out at the banquet an Sunday night. Wendell is checking on trophies. He will look into the possibility of a New Mexico-shaped trophy or a trophy with the convention logo on it. There will not be a charge to register for the Tri-State or for the Museum show. Sylvan reported on the April overnight trip. The plan is to leave Albuquerque about 8:00 AM and arrive in Las Cruces about noon. Besides the air museum there is a Farm & Ranch Museum and other things to see. Specific details will be in the newsletter. The plan is to stay at the Comfort Inn at the Mesa exit on I-25. Sylvan also reported that the press has raised the price for printing the newsletter from 3.5 cents per sheet to 5 cents per sheet. Jim reported that the Sticklers are going to sell the Corvair parts business that they bought from Frances Boydston. They have several thousand in inventory, so keep them in mind if you want to get into the parts business. Ilva Walker saw an article in Newsweek about car shows which she thought would be worth re-printing in the newsletter. She checked with Newsweek and they will let us reprint it for a fee of $25.00. This was approved by the board. The meeting was adjourned at 6:57 PM. ===== CLUB HOLDS FIRST 2000 CLEANUP Oliver Scheflow We held our first cleanup of 2000 on March 11. We were lucky that the winds of Friday were gone and we had a warm sunny day. (We were also lucky the big winter storm waited until March 20th to hit.) We picked up 25 bags of trash and several large pieces of cardboard and a highway sign that had been run over. Participating were Larry Blair, Debbie Deck, Mark Domzalski, Steve Gongora, Del Patten, Mark Martinek, Bill Reider, Ollie Scheflow and Wendell Walker. Thanks to the participants and see you next time. -- Ollie ===== FOR SALE, TRADE OR WANTED FOR SALE: We are going to sell our parts business. Call Brenda or Mike for inventory and price. We will not be advertising out of state until May. Mike or Brenda Stickler 344-2039 FOR SALE: 1962 Greenbrier van, 4-speed, 110-HP. $1200.00 1959 Chevy 6-cyl, 235, rebuilt. $1000.00 Mike or Brenda Stickler 344-2039 WANTED: Full set of wheel well trim for 1966 coupe, good / excellent condition. Lee Olsen 527 w. 4th Street, Larned, KS 67550 WANTED: Early radio antenna. Geoff Johnson 720-1484 WANTED: Tinted glass for 1966 Corvair convertible. Vent, door, quarter, both sides. Prefer NOS or real nice condition. WANTED: 1966 trunk deck. Tarmo Sutt 505-471-1153 tarmo @ juno.com FOR SALE: Early windshield, tinted, New Mexico style, i.e., lightly sand blasted. Cheap! Larry Blair 505-821-1386 CNM ADS ARE FREE TO CNM MEMBERS, $5.00 TO NON-CNM MEMBERS ===== SEVEN YEARS AGO IN C.N.M. April 1993 Volume 19 Number 4 The cover said "Many people laugh when I tell them that carburetors have feelings too" and naturally referred to Sylvan. Our meeting was held at the Three-R Museum AKA the Tool Museum. We had $1012 in the bank. Plans for future events included a picnic at Cochiti Lake, a car show at the Albuquerque Museum and the Tri-State at Alamosa, Colorado. Last month's late sedan cover car had the following "wrong" features: no steering wheel, no exhaust pipe, no seat backs, gas door on the wrong side. Mark Morgan was working as a park ranger at the Vicksburg National Military Park and gave us a great article on Driving in Mississippi. Rather to his surprise, he liked living (and driving) there, even if he never saw any Corvairs. For those who like crossword puzzles, we had a nice big Corvair Crossword: 41 definitions across and 35 down. Tech tips this months included how to get rusted pipes off your exhaust system, how to store engine parts, and getting good used transmission parts from Saginaw gearboxes from '66 or later Chevy IIs, Novas, Chevelles or Camaros. Cartoons included Otto Mechanic reading to his son from "Pintonocchio" as follows: "... and every time the little Ford told a lie his nose grew and grew and grew until he looked just like a '74 Monte Carlo!" FOURTEEN YEARS AGO The April 1986 cover was "backwards" as an April Fool's joke with Mark Morgan driving a huge Greenbrier next to a tiny Diahatsu, to illustrate his "Driving in Japan" article. At our meeting we had a raffle for heirloom coffee mugs that added $22.50 to the $658 in the bank. Bill Reider was still working on our "daily driver" list; he said half our members drove a Corvair every day. We talked about lining up all our cars to spell "CORSA" and photograph them from a hot-air balloon. This year's Tri-State in Montrose, Colorado was talked up. We planned a flea market sale to get rid of junk, er, treasures and make money for the Club. Our speaker was Chuck Rumschlag of "The Color Works" in Los Lunas who talked about car restoration as an investment. President Clayborne suggested we take our Corvairs to the mini-convention in Phoenix. Bill Hector previewed our Blue and Gray Rally and invited members to come out to his place in Tijeras Canyon where the skies were dark to look for Halley's Comet on April 26th. Bill Reider gave us a letter from Larry Claypool with additional information on steering box rebuilding. An article from the San Diego club advocated adding convertible weights to the front of a hardtop or sedan to make the car better balanced; our editor disagreed, saying that a front air dam or "spoiler" was worth far more to gain stability at highway speeds. Other tips were: twist a fan belt into a small triple loop so it will take up less space in the trunk; enlarge stock small exhaust manifolds so they can be used on 140-HP heads; adjust your carb floats slightly high or low to fine-tune your gasoline mixture. TWENTY-ONE YEARS AGO The April 1979 cover was another Mark Morgan drawing: a race-prepared late coupe. Meeting minutes: we had $384 in the bank (but that was real money back then) and we were planning a Winrock Mall car show. A guest speaker, George Brazil, told about driving his slightly modified Spyder against unsuspecting Mustangs, Corvettes and various muscle cars and more often then not, beating them. Secretary Les Campbell wrote about how to get a good but inexpensive paint job for your Corvair by doing a thorough preparation and taking your car to a good shop. An article on Spring Cleaning by Ike Meissner told how to get rid of the oil, dust and grime in the engine compartment. Tech tips: be sure the jam nut on your fuel pump is tight so the pump can't move up and down; getting 3.89 gears in a late differential; checking for a stuck choke or an inoperative choke pull-off; tools to use to remove fin flash. ============================================================================ C O R V A I R S o f N E W M E X I C O C O M I N G E V E N T S ============================================================================ | A p r i l | M a y | J u n e | | : : : : : : 1 | : 1 2 3 4 5 6 | : : : : 1 2 3 | | 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 | 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 | 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 | | 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 | 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 | 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 | | 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 | 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 | 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 | | 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 | 28 29 30 31 : : : | 25 26 27 28 29 30 : | | 30 : : : : : : | : : : : : : : | : : : : : : : | ============================================================================ Wed 5th Apr 7:30 PM Regular Meeting - GALLES CHEVROLET 1601 Lomas NE Sat 8th Apr 1:00 PM CNM Ladies at Kay Sutt's, Santa Fe (1:00 to 4:00) Sat-Sun 15-16 April Trip to Las Cruces and War Birds Museum Wed 19th Apr 5:00 PM Board Meeting - House of Covers Fri 21st Apr 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman Wed 3rd May 7:30 PM Regular Meeting - GALLES CHEVROLET 1601 Lomas NE Wed 17th May 5:00 PM Board Meeting - House of Covers Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon 19-22 May Tri-State Meet and Albuquerque Museum Car Show Fri 26th May 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman Wed 7th Jun 7:30 PM Regular Meeting - GALLES CHEVROLET 1601 Lomas NE Sat 10th Jun 1:00 PM CNM Ladies at ..... (1:00 to 4:00) Wed 21st Jun 5:00 PM Board Meeting - House of Covers Fri 23rd Jun 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=++=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= CNM LADIES TO KAY SUTT'S Anne Mae Gold Hello to one and all! The last get together at Debbie Pleau's was a great success. It sure is nice to see you, chat with you, work with you and just spend time with you! The next meeting will be the 8th of April from 1:00 to 4:00 more or less. We will have our reunion at Kay and Tarmo's house... I've tried to contact them a few times in the evening but the phone is busy... must be a teenager... or is it Tarmo? Those of you interested in carpooling please meet at Rita Gongora's house Saturday morning at 11:30. From there the scenic route up I-40/14 will be taken for your viewing pleasure, it'll also give you a chance to get an idea of where our June meeting will be held. There will be no get together in May because of the Tri-State. I'm sure we'll see plenty of each other as we work the meet. Please call Debbie Pleau to volunteer for duty! June's CNM Ladies will meet at Brenda and Hurley Wilvert's home. It'll be on Saturday, June 10. I hope that those of you who aren't out of town will enjoy a cool drive into the east mountains. Directions are.... take I-40 east to NM 14 (Cedar Crest/Tijeras exit), turn LEFT (NORTH) and proceed 6 miles. Turn RIGHT on Frost. Go 3 more miles. Turn RIGHT on Valle Hermosa, RIGHT on Oakmont Ridge. It's the 3rd driveway on the right... #15. Brenda's phone number is 281-1732. We were all concerned to hear that Brenda Stickler's car was stolen from church. We hope that all has been resolved. May the thieves have nothing but flat tires and faulty brakes! We hope to see you soon Brenda. Till then you all stay safe, lock your doors, say your prayers and live long and prosper! Ta ta for now... TTFN... Anne Mae APRIL 15TH TRIP TO WAR EAGLES MUSEUM AT SANTA TERESA, NEW MEXICO Sylvan Zuercher We will leave from the Pump & Save station, Gibson & Mulberry SE, PROMPTLY at 8:00 AM Saturday morning April 15th. Mulberry is the first street east of I-25 and Gibson. Pump & Save is on the SE corner. A Burger King is about a half block up on Mulberry. We head south on I-25 for Las Cruces with a short rest stop about 40 miles SOUTH of Socorro near mile marker 115. We will continue for approximate arrival in Las Cruces by 12 noon for our lunch stop. After lunch we will go to the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Museum for about two hours, then go to Old Mesilla and down to El Paso and the motel via NM 28 and I-25. Saturday evening is open and several restaurants and addresses will be furnished. Sunday morning departure is 9:30 AM for a 12 mile trip to the WAR EAGLES MUSEUM. After touring the museum, we head back to Las Cruces for a short tour of a collection of 40 CORVAIRS and then back to Albuquerque. The motel is the El Paso Comfort Inn, 7651 N. Mesa Street. It is off of I-25 at exit #11. Reservations: 1-800-228-5150 or motel 1-915-845-1906. AAA, 50+ Seniors discounts are available upon request when making advance reservations through a call center. Children 18 and under stay free when sharing parents' or grandparents' room, when no additional bedding is required. When only one parent or grandparent shares the room, a single room rate is charged and the kids stay free. Farm & Ranch Museum admission is $4.00 adults, $3.00 seniors 60 and over and $2.00 for children 6 thru 17. War Eagles Museum admission is $4.00 adults, $3.00 seniors and children under 12, free. A sheet with full details & map will be furnished to each car before leaving the Pump & Save station. Since we won't be going out of state for the Tri-State meeting, I would hope for a good turnout for this event. Thanks to Joel Nash, Ollie Scheflow, Bodean Belt (our El Paso member) and Wayne Ward (our Las Cruces member) for assisting in the planning for this trip. - Sylvan VAIRFEST Y2K - FRI-SAT-SUN, MAY 5-6-7, 2000. Location: Cambria Pines Lodge, Cambria, California, 1-800-445-6868. More information: Central Coast CORSA, Bob Galli, 5000 Cascabel Rd. Atascadero, CA 93422 805-466-2737. ===== FROM THE DRIVER'S SEAT Hurley Wilvert I missed the meeting this month, but I understand that Robert Gold did a fine job of keeping things interesting. Thank you Robert. I did make the Board of Directors meeting and things are shaping up for the Tri-State meet in May. Debbie and Dennis should have all the information you need on the CNM web site by the time you read this. Our thanks to Debbie and Dennis for making this event happen. Make plans to come, it will be fun. In April, Sylvan has made arrangements for a tour to the southern part of the state to look at some farm memorabilia and old airplanes. There are museums featuring these items in Las Cruces and Santa Teresa. There will be a pleasant drive to Las Cruces on Saturday, the 15th and the drive home on Sunday the 16th. This will be a good time to go for a nice drive with the family. The kids and your spouse will love the museums. This tour will give some of our members in the southern part of New Mexico a chance to participate in an event. We look forward to seeing them again. The road cleaning crew did another fine job of keeping a portion of old Route 66 looking nice. I didn't return from Texas until late the night before and slept in on Saturday, but I drove through there on Sunday and saw all the bags that were waiting for pickup. All those that showed up for the road cleanup deserve a round of applause from not only our club, but from all the people in Albuquerque, for helping keep our city clean. My '68 Monza finally runs. It still needs some fine tuning, but I should be able to drive it to the April meeting. I will see you there and plan to swing by JB's restaurant afterward for some dessert and socializing. Hurley Wilvert, President ===== A SIGN OF CIVILITY IN AN UNCIVILIZED WORLD Newsweek Magazine, February 14, 2000 "By sharing our classic car with other people, we've discovered how courteous and restrained they can be" By DONNA CUNNINGHAM "IT'S OK TO TOUCH THIS CAR." That's what the sign says. Held down by the windshield wiper of our sleek, black 1952 Jaguar XK 120 roadster, the small sign elicits smiles and encourages people to call out to their friends to come and see. We put it on the Jag at antique- and classic-car shows. Such shows, in which owners get together to swap car stories and share tips on finding parts, usually involve hundreds of automobiles. The gatherings are held in sunshine and in rain, on fairgrounds or farmers' fields or even in parking lots. Show organizers provide a placard for each vehicle that spells out the make, model, year and owner's name. The signs invariably include the line DO NOT TOUCH! Many cars also bear signs that say such things as DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT TOUCHING THIS CAR and TOUCH ME ONLY WITH THINE EYES. And there's always at least one car with an admonition like this: WARNING-THIS CAR IS OWNED BY A HOMICIDAL MANIAC. TOUCH AT YOUR OWN RISK... And then there's our sign: "IT'S OK TO TOUCH THIS CAR". At a time when the world seems to be getting coarser by the minute, the people who respond to our invitation are unfailingly restrained, almost reverential. They do touch the car. They caress the fenders, run their hands along the red-leather interior door trim, admire the "spats" that cover the back wheels, touch the jaguar-face emblem on the hood and horn. They overlook the chipped paint here and there, the lumpy spot on the fender where the mirror used to be and the many other imperfections of an unrestored original. Those who linger are invited to look under the hood. The XK engine, invented half a century ago, is a six cylinder jewel. The exhaust manifolds are black porcelain instead of standard rust-attracting cast iron. Even nonmechanics like me see beauty there. Many people really just want to sit in the car. We encourage them to do so, and if they can't figure out how to open the handleless door, we give them a hint or two. They pose for pictures, wave to friends, smile broadly. They don't slam the doors or stomp on the pedals or track dirt inside or pound the horn button. They ease into the driver's seat, ask permission to rest their feet on the pedals, grasp the steering wheel warmly and gaze out over the broad expanse of beautifully packaged machinery before them. They ask questions, listen to the answers and share stories about themselves and the cars of their dreams. Kids clutch the steering wheel and breathe the word "awesome." This happens everywhere, not just at car shows. With the slightest encourage- ment -- a glance or a smile is enough -- people approach the car. They look, talk, gently touch. How civilized. The car itself is a celebration of the philosophy of its creator, Sir William Lyons, who believed that it costs no more to build a beautiful car than it does to build an ugly one. Some say the XK 120 is the most beautiful car ever built. We say the most beautiful thing about owning it is being able to share it. My husband jokes that the car is so sexy looking he's almost embarrassed to wash it in public. He drives it in decent weather (which he defines as all salt-free-road days). Bruce fell in love with the 120 back when the style was new and he was a teenager with a part-time job as a foreign-car mechanic. He's loved it ever since. The first weekend we owned it, Bruce spent Friday evening, all day Saturday and most of Sunday in the garage, working on the car. Finally, I went out there and asked sympathetically, "How's it going?" He stood next to the car, a glass of Guinness in one greasy hand, golden retriever at his feet, Mozart on the radio. He looked up and said, "It doesn't get any better than this." The car has no radio, but why would anyone want to obscure the music of the dual-exhaust system? It has a seldom-used canvas top that leaks around the edges when it rains, but why bother putting it up when the wind that blows through your hair also blows most of the rain up over your head? Its heater is overwhelmed by its nature as a convertible, but what are hats and warm clothes for, anyway? Our car's a driver, as they say. It has 80,000-plus miles on it, and we add about 6,000 more every year-even in Vermont, where we keep it off the roads all winter and most of the mud season. It's a wonderful car. We love the wind in our faces, the sound of the engine in our ears, the smiles and "thumbs up" gestures of other lovers of form and grace and timeless beauty. In a time when crudeness sometimes trumps civility, courtesy takes a back seat to road rage, profanity studs everyday conversations and other unpleasantness spoils everyone's good time, it's fun-and heartwarming-to have an old car to share. Go ahead, touch it. It's OK. CUNNINGHAM lives in Hinesburg, Vt. (From Newsweek, February 14, 2000. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission.) ===== Subject: SHADE TREE MECHANIC CAR BABE-HUMOR (VV) From: Shannon Eggleston ( aeggman @ csinet.net ) Hello gang, This is the first time I have written. My name is Shannon Eggleston and I'm Alan's wife. I just wanted to let you all know how much fun I am having since getting my '65 Monza Coupe from Bill Elliott. I changed oil, plugs, points and condenser last weekend and on Tuesday I replaced the blower motor. I overcame my fear of being underneath a car while it is jacked up! I even have the nicks, cuts, scrapes and bruises that are hereby going to be refered to as my scars of honor. Oh by the way, I did not break a fingernail. I hope someday to be elected into the shade tree mechanic car babe hall of fame. Oh, and Larry, start sending those parts address to Shannon-- car babe mechanic. Shannon Eggleston, Corvair Babe 65 Monza Coupe ****************************** This message was sent by the Corvair list, all copyrights are the property of the writer, please attribute properly. To unsubscribe, mailto:majordomo @ skiblack.com with "unsubscribe virtualvairs" (without the quotes) as the first line of the message. To post, mailto:virtualvairs @ skiblack.com. For help, mailto:vv-help @ skiblack.com. ****************************** Subject: GREASING STEERING GEAR BOX (VV) From: dcvjrv @ flashcom.net With all of this talk about what to put in the steering gear box, why not use Genuine GM steering gear lube. It comes in a 10 oz tube, is labeled Goodwrench Steering Gear Lubricant and has the part number #1052182 (group 8.800). It took about three tubes to fill a freshly rebuilt (dry) 1958 GMC steering gear (the GM dealer I ordered it from said they can only get them in packages of four). The lube looks like a mixture of 90 wt oil and grease, however it doesn't seem to separate, which is good if you don't drive your vehicle too much. The tube has the list of ingredients on it if you need to know the technicals. Just my thought on the matter. Jim V. ****************************** This message was sent by the Corvair list, all copyrights are the property of the writer, please attribute properly. To unsubscribe, mailto:majordomo @ skiblack.com with "unsubscribe virtualvairs" (without the quotes) as the first line of the message. To post, mailto:virtualvairs @ skiblack.com. For help, mailto:vv-help @ skiblack.com. ****************************** Subject: Re: 110 CARB BENEFITS (VV) From: JBurkhard @ aol.com In a message dated 16-Mar-00 13:43:47 Eastern Standard Time, espace @ mit.edu writes: ) Clare, ) ) For the Corvair specific modifications like this, you should ) probably pick up a copy of "How to Hotrod Corvair Engines" ) by Bill Fisher. Copies are readily available on Ebay for about ) $20-. Or better yet, buy a NEW one from a Corvair Vendor for $20. There are several editions of the book floating around. Additional material was added to the newer edition(s). A lot of the ones I see for sale at fleamarkets (Ebay also likely) have been the older one(s). You are much better with the more-full version. ) The explanation of how GM originally designed the ) manifold is explained there (my copy is at home, so I'm not too ) much use to you). I didn't mean to say your idea won't work, but ) it is something to consider. There is a reason why the secondary ) 140 carbs are not open all the time, and GM did do it's homework ) on this issue. Why would you want the carbs open all the time? To meet a certain torque need at a certain rpm (i.e. a horsepower need), the driver depressed the pedal until the airflow rate is sufficient to burn the fuel at a rate to make power so that (s)he is happy. With the properly engineered setup, a mild pedal depress begins opening the primaries alone. If there isn't enough airflow, the driver continues depressing the pedal. At higher pedal inputs the secondary carb's open up. For max torque, all barrels are open on all carbs. Staging the barrels is a MUCH (much much much!) better way of doing things than opening everything together. The majority of the time under low torque periods, you are running only the primary barrels and that's all you need or want. Accurately metering carbs over a wide range of airflow is difficult. If all the 4 carbs were opening at once, you would have much smaller throttle openings in all for the same airflow as just 2. Metering performance under low "signals" like this is poor. It's much better to do it progressively. At low-medium loads you run on two barrels, at high loads you are on 4. Four barrel carburetors work the same way. None of them (at least none of the top of my head... I'm probably wrong) open all four blades at once. That would be daft and defeat the whole purpose of a four barrel (or in the Vair case, four one barrels). They either open the secondaries mechanically under a certain level of pedal input (like a Holley so called 'double pumper') or better yet, provide some hydropneumatic 'smarts' to only open the secondaries when the airflow is high enough to make use of them (like the much-better vacuum-actuated Holleys or air door carb's like a Rochester Quadrajet). You also should take a careful look at the placement of the primary and secondary carb pads on the 140 engines. The primary and secondary pads ARE NOT located the same distance from the center. Check out the shop manual for a good pic of this. Semi-decent distribution (by 1960's standards) is had with the primaries alone. The secondaries alone would be a disaster. And, don't forget that the throttle blades themselves "steer" the charge flow as they open. Jim Burkhard - CORSA ****************************** This message was sent by the Corvair list, all copyrights are the property of the writer, please attribute properly. To unsubscribe, mailto:majordomo @ skiblack.com with "unsubscribe virtualvairs" (without the quotes) as the first line of the message. To post, mailto:virtualvairs @ skiblack.com. For help, mailto:vv-help @ skiblack.com. ****************************** Subject: CORRECT DASH PAINT (VV) From: "Rich Thompson" ( RThompson @ mirro.com ) To: ( virtualvairs @ skiblack.com ) Since I have been restoring my '64 Spyder, I have been reseaching as many paints as I can for correctness of color so I can duplicate the original paints as exact as possible. I came upon this one for my dash bezel and wanted to share it with the group: If you are trying to repaint the inside bevel where the gauges are located, use DupliColor's Low Gloss Black ('Engine Enamel'-you can find it at Wal-Mart or auto parts stores). After looking at as many dash bezels as possible, the color is not a flat black, but does have a very slight sheen to it. The Low Gloss Black matches it perfectly and will freshen up your gauge recesses. If you degrease, lightly sand with 600 grit, tack rag it, tape everything off well, cut out the areas you want to repaint, and spray, you will get a excellent result. You will have get the paint out from the tiny ridges that are cast into just inside the front of it (careful use of your fingernail, an X-Acto knife will do), but you will swear that it was painted by the factory. For anyone who might be in need of this trick, here you go! Hate to let a good find like this go unsaid. - Rich Thompson ****************************** This message was sent by the Corvair list, all copyrights are the property of the writer, please attribute properly. To unsubscribe, mailto:majordomo @ skiblack.com with "unsubscribe virtualvairs" (without the quotes) as the first line of the message. To post, mailto:virtualvairs @ skiblack.com. For help, mailto:vv-help @ skiblack.com. ****************************** =end=