The May 2016 newsletter - Text Version Updated 24-Sep-2016 = Copyright (c) 2016 Corvairs of New Mexico ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MAY 2016 / VOLUME 42 / NUMBER 5 / ISSUE #488 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tony Fiore Memorial Chapter Newsletter Award, First Place, 2005 Tony Fiore Memorial Chapter Newsletter Award, Third Place, 2010 Tony Fiore Memorial Chapter Newsletter Award, First Place, 2012 EDITOR: Jim Pittman NEXT MEETING: Wednesday, May 4th, 2016 at 7:00 PM North Domingo Baca Multigenerational Center, Wyoming & Carmel NE THIS MONTH: Mechanically Un-inclined ........................ Ray Trujillo Dues Due ................................ Membership Committee April Meeting Minutes .......................... Anne Mae Gold April Board Meeting Minutes .................... Anne Mae Gold The Museum Car Show Is Here! ..................... Robert Gold A Very Rare Loadside ............................. Robert Gold Rain Rain Rain (One-Corvair Car Show) ............. John Wiker Montezuma Elementary Celebration .................. John Wiker Treasury Report .................................. Robert Gold Frostbite Tour Adventures (December 2000) ...... Mark Martinek Fifty Years Ago .................................. Jim Pittman Enjoy Driving Your Corvair (While You Can) ..... Paul Seyforth Birthdays & Anniversaries ............... Membership Committee Calendar of Coming Events ................. Board of Directors May Issues, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35 Years Ago ....... Club Historian COVER: Jim's 1966 Corsa Coupe Now Lives in Placitas, New Mexico ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ OFFICERS and VOLUNTEERS President: Ray Trujillo 505-814-8373 ray bpsabq.com Vice President: John Wiker 505-899-3076 wikerj63 yahoo.com Secretary: Anne Mae Gold 505-268-6878 beisbol30 msn.com Treasurer: Robert Gold 505-268-6878 beisbol30 msn.com Car Council: Robert Gold 505-268-6878 beisbol30 msn.com Merchandise: Vickie Hall 505-865-5574 patandvickiehall q.com Membership: Larry Yoffee 505-321-5909 corsa180 gmail.com Newsletter: Jim Pittman 505-275-2195 jimp unm.edu Old Route 66: Lube Lubert 505-256-9331 williamlubert gmail.com Past President: Pat Hall 505-620-5574 patandvickiehall q.com Past President: David Huntoon 505-281-9616 corvair66 aol.com Past Vice-Pres: Tarmo Sutt 505-690-2046 tarmo juno.com MEETINGS: First Wednesday of each Month at 7:00 PM North Domingo Baca Multigenerational Center, Wyoming & Carmel NE INTERNET: CORSA's home page: http://www.corvair.org CNM's newsletters: http://www.unm.edu/~jimp Steve Gongora's page: http://www.corvair.org/chapters/chapter871 Larry Yoffee's home page: http://www.corsaturbo180usa.com/ New Mexico Council of Car Clubs: http://www.nmcarcouncil.com/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DUES: CNM: 12 months = $25.00 -or- 26 months = $ 50.00 CORSA: 12 months = $45.00 -or- 26 months = $ 90.00 CNM & CORSA: 12 months = $70.00 -or- 26 months = $140.00 DUES DUE DATES MAY 2016 INACTIVE ============================ INACTIVE DATE 2015.01 Darlene & William Darcy 25-FEB-2015 2015.02 Frank Stadler 25-MAR-2015 2015.08 Linda & Anthony Berbig 25-SEP-2015 2015.09 Lisa & Dan Thompson 25-OCT-2015 2016.03 Emma & LeRoy Rogers 25-APR-2016 DUE LAST MONTH ====================== INACTIVE DATE 2016.04 Art Gold 25-MAY-2016 DUE THIS MONTH ====================== INACTIVE DATE 2016.05 (none) 25-JUN-2016 DUE NEXT MONTH ====================== INACTIVE DATE 2016.06 (none) 25-JUL-2016 DUE JULY 2016 ======================= INACTIVE DATE 2016.07 Anne & John Wiker 25-AUG-2016 Send your Dues to: CNM Treasurer c/o Robert Gold 1301 Valencia NE Albuquerque, NM 87110 Past due memberships become inactive after a one-month grace period. The Club will mail in your National Dues if you send us the renewal form from your Communique. On 25-APR-2015 we had 44 active family memberships. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MECHANICALLY UN-INCLINED Ray Trujillo Hello everyone! As I awoke on the morning of Saturday April 9th at 7:00am to get ready to go to our first Old Route 66 cleanup of 2016, I found that the west side of Albuquerque was covered in fog formed by the previous day's accumulation of steady rains. I thought the fog would quickly burn off but instead the rain began to come down again. So I decided to call Lube Lubert to see if possibly the weather might be different in his southeast part of town, but Lube informed me that the weather conditions were no better there. It was decided that the cleanup would be cancelled due to the rainy weather. I began to look forward to the following weekend for CNM's Corvair-only car show to be held at the Smith's grocery store just off Paseo del Norte at Wyoming. Well, sure enough, the following Saturday was also a rain-out for our planned car show. John Wiker informed us that he had taken his Corvair to the Smith's that Saturday morning, just in case the weather might clear up and just in case there might be other CNM members there as well. Anyway, no other Corvairs showed up as the weather was once again dreary and wet. John said that it was a bad day for a car show as most shoppers were basically just rushing into the store as to not get very wet. John, thanks for at least trying and hopefully the effort it took to get your Corvair to the planned car show will pay off in good karma on the golf course! Okay, let's move on to our upcoming club activities. On Saturday April 30th, Pat and Vickie Hall have invited CNM members to a barbecue and potluck at their "southern home" in San Antonio. They are located 3/4 of a mile north of the Owl Cafe on New Mexico Highway 1. Let's hope the rain will not hamper this event. On Sunday May 15th, The NMCCC holds its annual Albuquerque Museum Car Show. It's always a great show and the price is a reasonable $10. We'll meet at the Sheraton Old Town parking lot at 7:00am and then we'll all drive in as a group. I have always enjoyed this event as it has some of the most beautiful classic cars I've ever seen. Then on June the 3rd through the 5th, the Tri-State event will be held in Montrose, Colorado. This year's host club is the Pikes Peak Corvair Club and for all information regarding hotel, T-shirts and other details about the event go to www.corvair.org/chapters/chapters809/ and check it out. I'm disappointed that I won't be able to attend this year's Tri-State as we have a family wedding that falls on that same weekend. On a final note, thanks to Larry Blair for the two tech talks he did for the club after the last two membership meetings. One was on camshafts and the other was on piston rings. Remember if you have any tech topics you'd like to discuss after our meetings just let me know so I can put it on the agenda. Well, I guess that's enough said for now, so I hope to see you at the Hall's BBQ and potluck! Ray ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ APRIL MEETING MINUTES - 2016.04.06 Anne Mae Gold Call to order: 7:02PM Approval of minutes: Approved President: Ray reported on the Anniversary Dinner. Twenty-nine people attended. Vickie Hall received the Ike Meissner Award. Ray received a letter from the president of the Pikes Peak club. The attendance award will be done on a percentage of club members basis. It will be based on family/member attendance. He passed around the letter so that the membership could look it over. If a couple attends, the member will count as a percentage of their home club. VP: Ed Halpin and John have become e-mail buddies. Ed would like to remind our membership to pre-register for the Tri-State. The pre-registration costs nothing, go to www.corvair.org/chapters/chapters809/ the Pikes Peak club's web page. It was brought up that there is no land address to mail the registration, John mentioned that Ed is a member of our club and his personal address is on our membership list. He would also like to be added to Robert's all club mail list. John also asked those present who was planning on taking a car to the Smith's car show. There are 5 possible attendees. Treasurer: $5,036.85 with some checks outstanding. Membership: Larry was not in attendance, nothing to report. Editor: the deadline for the newsletter is Friday April 22. Please send him your articles. The April newsletter was full of April foolery. Mark Morgan's drawing of a super dooper Corvair race car graces the cover. Jim made it sound like this was his last newsletter (it is not), the jibberish, misspellings of Corvair, etc. Car Council: Not much to report. The last meeting was an envelope stuffing party for the Museum Car Show. Robert was told that although it is much appreciated that our club does the Old Route 66 cleanup, the DOT is slow to pick up the trash bags and locals like to run into them. Rob has volunteered to drive his Loadside, collect the bags and take them to the transfer station. Ray suggested that the bags be loaded in Lube's truck and he can dispose the bags in Ray's business dumpster. Merchandise: Vickie set out the merchandise that she has for sale. She turned in $5.00 for a cookbook sale. 2017 Tri-State: Terry was not in attendance. There was nothing to report. Upcoming Events: APR 9 Old Route 66 cleanup at 8:30 am APR 16 Corvairs-Only Car Show 10:30-1:00 at Smith's, 8100 Wyoming NE APR 23 Annual Spring Thaw tune-up, oil change, at The Old Car Garage, 3232 Girard NE APR 23 Rio Rancho Cabezon Park Car Show, cost is $30 per car APR 30 Barbecue and potluck at Pat & Vickie Hall's "southern home" in San Antonio, NM starting at 11am. Pat will be cooking hamburgers and hot dogs. Vickie has the condiments. Please bring a side dish. MAY 15 NMCCC Albuquerque Museum Annual Car Show meet at 7am at the Sheraton Old Town (Hotel Albuquerque). The price is $10. The registration form is on-line. JUNE 3-5 Tri-State in Montrose, CO. Miscellaneous topics: Lube read a certificate from the DOT to our club in thanks for our dedication to the Old Route 66 cleanup project. For the April 9th cleanup, Lube reminded the membership to check the weather on Friday night. If it rains on Saturday morning, do NOT come out. Tech Talk: Larry Blair had a short talk after the meeting. He had pistons from Clarks -- very nice -- and a set of piston rings. He had no idea which ring went in each groove and went to Empire Engine Builders to ask. The answer was simple. The 50/50 winner was Victor Sanchez. The pot was $10, $5 to Victor, $5 to our treasury. Adjournment: 7:44pm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ APRIL BOARD MEETING MINUTES -- 2016.04.20 Anne Mae Gold Present: Ray, Jim, John, Lube, Robert, Anne Mae, Terry Call to order at 5:01 PM President: Old Route 66 cleanup was cancelled due to weather. Saturday June 11 is the next proposed time for the cleanup. Start at 8:30 AM. The Corvairs Only Car Show planned for the Smith's on Wyoming & Paseo for Saturday April 16th was attended only by John Wiker. He sat in his 1966 Corvair as people rushed by giving him thumbs up, but none stopped to look at the car because of the rain. When Larry comes back, we will ask about rescheduling another show. Vice President: John plans to attend the Montezuma Elementary School's "Sock Hop" this coming Friday afternoon and evening. Treasurer: $4,831.34 Membership: Larry was not in attendance. Ray will text or phone him to touch base with him. Editor: Newsletter deadline is Friday April 22 by 9:00 PM. No other significant news. Car Council: The last meeting was an envelope stuffing party. Robert will be mailing out the CC newsletter this Saturday. Robert mentioned the problem with trash bags not being picked up and plans to gather our trash bags, load them in his Loadside, with a tarp, and take them to the dump. Taos 2017 Tri-State: Terry has had several suggestions for speakers at the Tri-State meet. He is going up to Taos on Monday to check things out. Jim will send Terry a write-up that Joel Nash provided to us back in 2009 about the "Enchanted Circle" driving tour near Taos. Upcoming Events: APR 23 Spring Thaw at the Old Car Garage, 3232 Girard NE. APR 30 Picnic Pot Luck at the Halls' Southern Corvair Ranch. MAY 15 Museum Car Show. Corvairs should meet at Hotel Albuquerque at 7:00 AM to drive in all together. JUN 3-5 Tri-State in Montrose, Colorado. Adjourned at 5:30 PM Note: No Board meeting in June. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE MUSEUM CAR SHOW IS HERE! Robert Gold It's hard to believe, but it's that time of the year again. The New Mexico Council of Car Clubs will be hosting its 32nd annual Albuquerque Museum Car Show on Sunday, May 15 at the Albuquerque Museum in Old Town at 2000 Mountain Road NW. The theme of this year's show is "Travel Along Old Route 66" and to honor the "Mother Road" there will be a display of cars that could have been traveling the road during its heyday. A former CNM member, Geoff Johnson, will be displaying his just restored 1948 Pontiac. Did I ever tell you that I had the honor of traveling down this historic road during my college years in the late sixties in Missouri? I'd cruise in my shiny 1954 Chevy between St. Louis and Rolla, the home of the Missouri School of Mines. The highway was going through its conversion to I-44, but enough of US 66 was still in use to make the trip an adventure. We tend to forget how challenging Route 66 could be to traverse back in the day. Anyway, to return to the Museum Car Show... If you want to display your classic Corvair at one of the most exciting shows of the year, all you need to do is show up by 7:00 am at the north parking lot of the Hotel Albuquerque at 800 Rio Grande Blvd NW. We'll be heading out just after 7:00 for the show. Be sure to bring $10 with you for the registration and I guarantee that you will have a ball swapping stories with the scores of car guys who will be at the show. See you there! -- Robert Gold, Your Car Council Rep ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A VERY RARE LOADSIDE Robert Gold One of the things about being a car nut is that, over the years, I've found myself incorporating car stuff more and more into my life. A case in point is my membership in car clubs. It began in 1982 with our Corvairs of New Mexico club, but over the years I added the New Mexico Car Council and most recently, the CorvanAntics. My story today is about those nuts at CorvanAntics. I recently received a request from those folks for short articles about members' cars. Being unable to resist the opportunity to subject a new audience to my ramblings, I dashed off an article about my beloved 1962 Loadside. My article was mainly about how much I like the looks of the Loadside over the lumpy Rampside. It ended with the following mantra, "I love my Loadside, I love my Loadside, I love my Loadside." I sent the article off knowing it would be a rare editor who would be willing to publish that sort of craziness. You can imagine my surprise when Gary Moore, editor of the CorvanAntics newsletter, quickly wrote me back. He said they would probably be publishing the article, but they needed a bit more information. First of all they wanted an additional picture that showed me and my lovely bride, Anne Mae. Secondly, Gary asked me to check to see if my Loadside could be one of the super rare "Dual" Loadsides. His instructions were as follows: "The test consists of sitting in the driver's seat and looking into the rear view mirror. Lean to the right, if a loose nut appears in the mirror the Loadside is a one of the rarest of the rare Dual Loadsides." So I jogged out to the truck sat down in the seat and followed the directions. To answer the question posed by Gary, all I have to say is that if you care to see the "loose nut" just attend the next CNM meeting... and see me. -- Robert Gold ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RAIN RAIN RAIN John Wiker Rain, Rain, go away, come again another day. Most of us remember this refrain from years ago. Apparently all we need to do to get rain in New Mexico is to schedule a Corvair event. First the road cleanup on Saturday the 9th was cancelled because of a storm on Friday night. Then we were to have a Corvair-only car show at Smith's on Paseo and Wyoming on Saturday the 16th. What a miserable day that turned out to be. I brought the bright yellow "submarine" out of the garage and arrived at Smith's at 10:00, just before the showers hit. Being an optimist, I was hoping someone else would be foolish enough to show up. Soon my phone rang and it was Larry Blair. He had just lost his tennis match and wondered if he should come on over. We both agreed that it was hopeless, as most of the customers were hustling in out real fast to avoid the rain and all I got was a few thumbs up as people drove past me in the parking lot. I hope this trend does not continue on Saturday the 30th. I can hardly wait to taste those hot dogs and hamburgers at Vickie and Pat Hall's southern Corvair Ranch. Hopefully we can get lots of people to come down south to take advantage of their hospitality, Rain or Shine. See you there. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MONTEZUMA ELEMENTARY CELEBRATION John Wiker Friday evening from 5:00 to 7:30, the Montezuma Elementary school held a celebration of its birthday. They asked the Car Council to put out a notice to get some old cars there to help set the tone for an Old Fashion Sock Hop. I arrived at 4:45, just in time for the first of a few showers. However, it did not dampen the spirit the kids had about jumping into and out of my car for their parents and other in-laws to take pictures and they really enjoyed blowing the horn to scare the others around. I would estimate that there were about 200 people in attendance with about 125 kids. They had Rudy's BarBQue to eat and a Shave Ice vender to serve desert. Needless to say, I ate for free for bringing my car. About an hour into the "show" another car showed up -- a 1965 Imperial 4door hardtop. Not to brag, but the kids had no interest in that car. Few even walked over to look at it since he closed it up and did not stay around to "entertain" them. After the program moved into the gym for a slide show and chorus and dance groups, I took the opportunity to eat. When the show ended, the parents then came out ahead of the kids and acted like kids around my car. One guy was dressed like Joe Cool with the sunglasses, jeans, hightop sneakers, tee shirt and tie with a ball cap. Everyone but me had a chance to take pictures. My camera was kicked under the seat and I went into a panic when I could not find it, thinking the worse that in my hustle to keep everyone happy, someone walked off with it. Much to my surprise, the principal walked out with it as some kid turned it over to his dad who then gave it to her. I thanked her and finally at 7:30, I closed up the car and headed home. Lots of positive comments came my way about the car and my handling of the kids. I had a ball as usual. Car needs to be washed off from the rain and hand prints all over it so I can attend a retirement home's family day tomorrow. I guess a good time was had by all. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FAIRWINDS FAMILY DAY John Wiker I attended the Fairwinds Family Day on Saturday April 23rd. The purpose was to get the young families to come to the Retirement/Rest area to join their elder relatives for a day of fun and games so they could get them out of their rooms and enjoy the outdoor activities. They had a live band to dance to, many game activities to win prizes, free food and drinks and of course a small car show. There were seven Model T's from their club, one Mercury Cougar, one hopped up Ford Coupe, three military vehicles and of course my yellow Corvair. Lots of visitors with stories as usual, kids who wanted to sit inside for the picture taken by the elders for their Memory Wall. After I started letting the kids in, the Model T club followed as well as the military folks. The only cars not allowing even a "touch" were the Mercury and the Ford Coupe. I was there from 9:30 to 2:00 and as I was putting my display away, up walks an older Lady who proudly announced that she was 92 years old and knew "all about those Corvairs." Of course, I had to ask her for an example of her experience. She said, "I worked as a clerk for Ed Black when his dealership was downtown on 4th Street. I was responsible for making out the invoices for all Corvairs sold. I had all the extras that customers wanted memorized and kept my manual Remington typewriter busy." What a way to end the day! She really liked that I had the original owner's manual with all the extra accessories listed as well as the arrival inspection sheet that she used to have to include as an attachment to the final bill. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TREASURY REPORT ************* 03-26-2015 to 04-22-2016 ************* ROBERT GOLD DATE CHECK# AMOUNT PAYEE DESCRIPTION BALANCE = $4,913.35 ================================================================================ 2016.03.29 2239 -$ 75.00 Julie Prium Being Ralph Nader -$ 75.00 2016.03.30 +$ 128.50 Dues M.Morgan 12 m CNM & CORSA $ 70.00 2016.03.29 +$ Deposit Polos $ 58.50 2016.04.05 +$ 70.00 Dues C.Johnson 12 m CNM & CORSA $ 70.00 2016.04.06 2241 -$ 45.00 CORSA Dues H.Wilvert 12 m CORSA -$ 45.00 2016.04.06 2240 -$ 45.00 CORSA Dues M.Morgan 12 m CORSA -$ 45.00 2016.04.08 2243 -$ 35.06 ALL-SPORTS Plaque -$ 35.06 2016.04.08 2244 -$ 115.45 J.Pittman Newsletter postage, 3 months -$ 115.45 2016.04.19 +$ 35.00 Dues J.Dinsdale 12 m CNM $ 25.00 2016.04.19 +$ Deposit 50/50 $ 5.00 2016.04.19 +$ Deposit Merchandise (one cook book) $ 5.00 ========== ==== ========== =========== ========================================= 2016.05.01 MAY NEWSLETTER = END OF PREVIOUS MONTH ==================== $4,831.34 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ REPRINTED FROM ENCHANTED CORVAIRS VOL 26 NR 12 DECEMBER 2000 FROSTBITE TOUR ADVENTURES Mark Martinek The Santa Fe Vintage Car Club's Frostbite Tour started out at the J & R Auto Museum at 10:00 on Saturday. CNM members in attendance were: Tarmo Sutt, with two young exchange students, one from Switzerland and one from Brazil, in his Corvair; Ilva and Wendell Walker in his Pantera; Debbie and Dennis Pleau and family in Wendell's Charger; Julia and Chuck Vertrees and Mary Alice and Oliver Scheflow, both couples driving modern autos; and Mary Lou and myself in her Corvair. After touring the museum and enjoying doughnuts at the museum we set out for the Ponderosa Winery. Because of the semi nice weather all the convertibles left with the tops down. At the winery the group was separated into two groups; male and female. While the men toured the winery the women sat and tasted the wine. Then the roles were reversed, the women toured while the men sipped. Both groups had the opportunity to purchase the wines of their choice. Several bottles of wine departed with the tour group. When we departed the winery for the two tunnels on NM Rte 485 the two exchange students joined Mary Lou and me and rode in the back seat with our stuffed mouse. It was like having the grand kids with us again. We made the journey through the tunnels without incident and spent a few minutes on the far side of the tunnels enjoying the scenery, taking photos, and visiting with the other drivers. The exchange students decided they had enough of the open-air ride and decided to continue on with Tarmo. We departed when we were advised that large trucks and machinery were moving down the road and could not get by us. Once back on NM Rte 4 and realizing that the rest of the group was heading on to Jemez Springs, Mary Lou and I decided to return to Albuquerque. As it was a little cooler now and looking like rain, I pulled off the road to raise the top. After raising the top I tried to start the car. It fired and ran for only a few seconds and then died. Just like I was out of gas, which could not be as I had filled the tank in Bernalillo. While I had the motor compartment open and was pondering why the car would not start Wendell and a few other members of the group stopped to see what was wrong. After giving a brief description of the problem, i.e., It starts but dies like it is out of gas, Wendell removed one air cleaner and observed that gas was being pumped in. Being the trusting soul that I am, I double-checked Wendell's observation. We then decided that it might be an electrical problem. I removed the distributor cap and observed that the points apparently weren't opening. After resetting the points I again tried to start the car with the same results. Because of the constant attempts to start the car the battery was now getting rather weak so one of the group had an Emergency Start kit that we hooked up, but this too failed to start the car. I decided to call it quits and call a wrecker. Almost everyone had a cell phone with them and offered to call 911 or a wrecker for us, but as Mary Lou and I both had our cell phones with us I declined the many offers. This was a mistake, as they departed before I attempted to place a call. Only after dialing did I learn that I could not transmit from the road. Looking around I realized I would have to climb to the top of the nearest hill in order to call. After huffing and puffing my way to the top of the hill I placed a call to 911. An Albuquerque operator took the initial call. Because of the location they transferred my call to 911 in Bernalillo. However, the Bernalillo operator could not hear me so I gave up on 911. I then contacted the Good Sam Club Emergency Road Service operator and arranged for a wrecker. After making my way back down the mountain I decided to see if the gas pump really was pumping gas. I disconnected one line at the T-connector and had Mary Lou run the starter. Gas came flowing out. I reconnected it and disconnected the other line at the carburetor. Again gas flowed when she tried the starter. I pulled the filter and blew through it. There did not appear to be any obstruction in any of the gas line components. After reconnecting the gas line and filter I pulled a plug wire to see if the engine was getting any spark. This time when Mary Lou tried the starter the car started with no problem on five cylinders. After getting a couple of jolts from the spark plug wire I got it reconnected. I turned the car off and restarted it several times without any problems. I decided to re-climb the mountain and cancel the wrecker. You guessed it, halfway up the hillside I see the wrecker arriving. Back down I go. Since the wrecker had come from San Ysidro I asked him to follow us that far just in case it stalled again. The car ran fine and we had no other problems all the way home. So what was the problem? Was it a vapor lock? Can a Corvair vapor lock in 50-degree weather? Why did our Corvair die? Commentary by Mary Lou While Mark was up the mountain calling for help I kept noticing down at the bottom of the hill that we were stopped on, people kept driving out of a place with a white fence so I got curious and thought maybe would be a pay phone there or someone to help with a call. I walked down there and found much to my relief (pun intended), no phone but an outdoor privy. This was at the National Fishing access called Las Casitas; it also had a cement walking trail towards a river (?) with lots of wild grasses. I was tempted to check it out but was concerned that Mark would get the car going and leave me there, and anyway all the wine was in the car. Anyway I would like to go back when we didn't have to hurry and check Las Casitas out and the tunnel and view from there some time in the future, like next spring. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I am proposing a feature for our newsletter called "CorVairiations from the Norm" and I am encouraging our members to contribute. Tell us your adventures while owning and driving a Corvair. They don't have to be horror stories, just fit with the title of the by-line. Please contribute so we'll have a story every month. - Larry Yoffee Photo: Viewing the Grand Teton Mountains on June 15, 1966 near Jackson Hole, Wyoming FIFTY YEARS AGO Jim Pittman All Corvair fans have stories of their first Corvair and I'm sure many of your stories are more epic than mine. My story starts on May 20th, 1966 when I picked up my new 1966 Corsa turbo coupe in Detroit, and I have been a Corvair owner from that day to this. In fact, since I learned to drive in my dad's 1941 Ford I have only spent about ten driving years without being a Corvair owner. That's a sobering thought! For many years my original lemonwood yellow 1966 turbo Corsa was "my best car ever" and I bought and sold several other cars, some Corvairs, some Brand-Xs, before I was willing to part with my original. Some of these cars were a red 1965 MG-B, a 1965 TR-4, a 1965 Corsa 140 convertible, another 1966 Corsa 180 coupe, a 1966 Monza 110 sedan, a 1965 Corsa 140 coupe, a 1965 Monza 110 coupe and a 1967 Monza 110 sedan with A/C and Powerglide. Nothing can bring back the feeling of setting out from Dayton in June 1966 with my new turbo Corvair equipped with a set of new Michelin-X radial tires, headed for adventures in Alaska. Nothing can bring back the feeling in 1967 of heading down the Alaska Highway with Alamogordo and Holloman Air Force Base in my sights, thinking nothing of cruising at 75 along nearly deserted New Mexico highways. Nothing can bring back the feeling of leaving the Air Force in 1969 in my familiar and comfortable Corvair with its new Finch engine, heading "back east" with ambitions of graduate school and a career as a famous scientist ahead of me. By 2002 I realized I would never again attempt to restore my original Corsa and on the cover you can see a photo of that car at Mark Domzalski's place shortly after he bought it. That car took me some 150,000 miles, 98,000 of that with the Finch-modified four-carb engine, and for years after I bought it there was no new car available in America that I would have swapped it for. Alas, times change and the automotive world of 2016 is very different from that of the late sixties and the early seventies. My last Corvair, the 1965 Monza 110 coupe, still runs, but it's not the car the 1966 Corsa was with its performance options and a blueprinted engine. And, the Monza is fifty-one years old (that's one-hundred-two in human years) and feeling every hour of those long years. Now that all this time has gone by, I realize that, while I never made it to become a famous scientist, I can take pride in helping to found Corvairs of New Mexico and in my forty years of editing a fine newsletter for the club. The original Corvair is long gone, but my Corvair career may not be quite over. So far, so good. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ REPRINTED FROM: THE DENVAIR NEWS -- VOLUME 42, ISSUE 4 -- APRIL 2016 ENJOY DRIVING YOUR CORVAIR (WHILE YOU CAN) Paul Seyforth It seems that most of us really enjoy driving our vehicles. Just check out any roadway in the US, including our own in the Denver metro area. It's been engrained in us since we were old enough to walk. With driving comes freedom and also the enjoyment of mastering a powerful machine (500hp anyone?). Our entire economy and social structure is built on being able to hop into our autos at any whim and drive to the corner store or across the country. But times are changing and progress is marching on. Automated or self-driving cars are right around the corner. Google, Ford, General Motors, Toyota, Mercedes Benz are investing millions if not billions of dollars on research to produce the ultimate smart car. Very likely when they arrive they will not be sharing the road with human driven vehicles. Why? Why the big push to get us from behind the wheel? Two reasons; first, we are not very good drivers. Despite advances in automobile safety design of the last twenty years the number auto accident fatalities have increased 28% from 2005 to 2008, the 15 to 28 year old age group is to blame mainly due to distracted driving, climbing to 33,000 in 2014. Computer driven cars do not become distracted by a cell phone or a wailing child in the back seat, or some jerk that just cut you off. Two million accidents a year, 95% caused by human error. Second reason, our infrastructure; roads bridges, parking space has not been or will not be able to keep up with the ever increasing volume of traffic on our roads. Especially the cities. There is just not enough room, enough space to increase the size of the roadways and parking spaces required for all the cars when cities like Denver likely double their size by 2050. Smart cars are already here. Google driverless cars have put on over 1 million test miles. A Tesla S recently drove from LA to NY City in 2 days, 95% steering itself. Elon Musk predicts his cars will drive themselves in 3 years. These advances did not happen overnight. We have been losing more control over our automobiles than you may realize. Stability control, anti-skid braking, steering by wire, lane control, and radar assisted cruise control are making our cars so much safer. Within a year or two with the advent of radar/infrared controlled automatic braking tail-end collisions will be a thing of the past. Pedestrians will appreciate it too. A major advance V2V (vehicle to vehicle) technology will be available soon. Cars will communicate with other vehicles in the area to avoid collisions. Think of a car running a red light warning its neighbors to avoid the intersection. Add GPS positioning so the car knows where to go and software to tie everything together and the car is ready to take over the driving. It's been just 12 years since the U.S. government funded the first competition for self-driving vehicles. Not one of the entries made it to the finish of the 150 mile course. The second year 23 of the 50 cars finished, the fastest one averaging 19 mph. Loaded with cameras, sensors and the like they looked like Mad Max machines. Today with all the progress having been made, U.S. Transportation secretary announced a $4 billion fund to advance self-driving research and to dismantle regulatory barriers that might slow development. How are they going to get us out from behind the wheel? It may be easier than you think. By 2035, which is a target date, most of my generation that grew up with cars will be gone. The millenniums will be in charge. This is the generation that grew up with the smart phone. Most see driving cars as operating an appliance. In addition most of us (90%) will be living in a urban environment where cars in general are more of a liability than an asset. Think of New York City, or really any city with the parking problems we already have. Then add up little incentives like the cost of drivers licensing and insurance. Throw in the improvements in public transportation and you'll find a society ready to step from behind the wheel. Well, at least for many of them. There will be a problem or two. How about the $200 billion auto insurance industry? Or the $100 parking industry? The $300 billion after- market repair business? The 3 million truck drivers, cabbies and so on? Much of that will fade away. Not sure what will happen to the car collector hobby. It will still exist but on a smaller scale. When people do not drive it will be difficult for them to relate to when driving was fun and in cars that were meant to drive. In the meantime take your Corvair out and enjoy driving it. If you happen to see a driverless car along the way resist the urge to bump it off the road. It won't do any good. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Five Special CNM'ers have May Birthdays: Anne Mae Gold Pat Hall Mary Lou Martinek Mary Alice Scheflow Brenda Wilvert Four Special Couples Have a May Anniversary: Mary Lou & Mark Martinek Lee & Bill Reider Mary Alice & Ollie Scheflow Leslie & Kevin Sullivan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ============================================================================ | May 2016 | June 2016 | July 2016 | | Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa | Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa | Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa | | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 | 1 2 3 4 | 1 2 | | 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 | 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 | 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | | 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 | 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 | 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 | | 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 | 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 | 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 | | 29 30 31 | 26 27 28 29 30 | 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 | | | | 31 | ============================================================================ WED 04 MAY 7:00 PM Meeting: NORTH DOMINGO BACA MULTIGENERATIONAL CENTER, at Wyoming & Carmel, north of Wyoming & Paseo del Norte NE. After the meeting, we may go to "JASON'S DELI" at 5920 Holly Ave. NE. SAT 14 MAY to SUN 02 OCT ----- Route 66 Exhibit at The Albuquerque Museum SUN 15 MAY ....... Albuquerque Museum / NMCCC 32nd Annual Car Show WED 18 MAY 5:00 PM Board Meeting: HIGHLAND SENIOR CENTER at 131 Monroe NE FRI 20 MAY 9:00 PM Deadline for items for June 2016 newsletter WED 25 MAY 7:30 PM NEW MEXICO CAR COUNCIL MEETING OLD CAR GARAGE 3232 GIRARD NE ============================================================================ WED 01 JUN 7:00 PM Meeting: NORTH DOMINGO BACA MULTIGENERATIONAL CENTER FRI 03 JUN Tri-State == Montrose, Colorado - Sponsor Pikes Peak Corvair Club SAT 04 JUN Tri-State == the Holiday Inn Express has been confirmed SUN 05 JUN Tri-State == Stay tuned for phone numbers, T-shirts, other details * HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS = 1391 S. Townsend Ave. Montrose, CO 81401 970-240-1800 * Room rate: $99 + tax includes hot breakfast buffet. * Mention "Pikes Peak Corvair Club" * Contact = Chris Kimberly = 775-830-4739 = chriskimberly@hotmail.com * More information == http://www.corvair.org/chapters/chapter809/ WED 15 JUN ........ No Board Meeting This Month! Necessary business by email. WED 22 JUN 7:30 PM NEW MEXICO CAR COUNCIL MEETING OLD CAR GARAGE 3232 GIRARD NE FRI 24 JUN 9:00 PM Deadline for items for July 2016 newsletter ============================================================================ MON 04 JUL Early! Fourth of July on the Plaza in Santa Fe WED 06 JUL 7:00 PM Meeting: NORTH DOMINGO BACA MULTIGENERATIONAL CENTER FRI 08 JUL ........ Collector Car Appreciation Day - N. M. Council of Car Clubs WED 20 JUL 5:00 PM Board Meeting: HIGHLAND SENIOR CENTER at 131 Monroe NE FRI 22 JUL 9:00 PM Deadline for items for August 2016 newsletter WED 27 JUL 7:30 PM NEW MEXICO CAR COUNCIL MEETING OLD CAR GARAGE 3232 GIRARD NE ============================================================================ SUN 14 AUG ....... NMCCC Picnic - Oak Flat Picnic Area, South 14, Tijeras ============================================================================ SUN 18 SEP State Fair Car Show --- CHECK ON DATE AND TIME! FRI-SAT 23-25 SEP NMCCC Swap Meet, Los Lunas ============================================================================ See the New Mexico Council of Car Clubs Web Site for more "NMCCC" activities ======================== http://www.nmcarcouncil.com/ ====================== ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SEVEN YEARS AGO May [ MAY 2016 Vol 42 Nr 5 Issue 488 ] Jim Pittman 2009 Vol 35 Nr 5 # 404 Our cover showed a red Lakewood owned by Cary Hubbard. Robert reported $3,188. A guest was Mark Jones. The Martineks planned a visit soon. Brenda outlined plans for the Taos Tri-State. Heula's "Identify This Member" from childhood pictures featured a boy and a girl. But who were they? Tech Tips illustrated differences between 1960 and later fuel pumps, too-long TRW lifters, clean glass with Prep-Sol number 3919, get GM nuts for aluminum wheels, a 45-year-old engine cart, and we all said NO! to Armor-All. 2002 Vol 28 Nr 5 # 320 Our cover showed Mary Lou's 1964 convertible, photo by Mark Martinek. President Robert Gold ran our meeting. A guest was Jim Matthews, a former CNM member, original owner of a 1964 sedan with 29,000 miles. Wendell said the treasury held $5,243.19 but he had not yet received a statement from GMAC. Mark Martinek reported that Car Council plans were ongoing for a car show in Los Lunas. An "Old Route 66 Car Show" was coming up in July. Mark Domzalski reported that the Flagstaff International CORSA Convention was right on schedule. The Corvair Ladies Group was organizing a progressive dinner. An ad in the For Sale section listed hundreds of items that Bill Reider was offering for sale. Our 2003 Tri-State crew (Bill Reider, LeRoy Rogers, Hurley Wilvert) went to Raton to finish preparations. All was well. We organized a caravan to the 2002 Tri-State in Grand Junction, Colorado. Technical demonstration: Bill Reider gave some tips on rebuilding carburetors. Some of these tips would come in handy at our Saturday April 27 Carburetor Tune-up Session at Del Norte High School. President Robert said since the weather was warming up he'd have to start using premium gasoline to keep his Corvairs from "dieseling" when turned off. Is this a tech tip? Is there a better way to prevent dieseling? Ollie Scheflow told us about a cruise to South America which included going around the Horn. That must have been quite the adventure. Jon and Debra Anderson and children were in Albuquerque. Several of us met at Sadie's Restaurant on Friday evening, March 29th for a nice visit with them and enjoyed talking about Corvair activities past, present and future. The Andersons enjoy living in Colorado Springs but we believe their hearts are still in New Mexico. Your editor received a nice letter from former member Robin De Vore who happened across our web page and read all the back issues! The De Vores were about to retire to a farm in South Australia! The topic of "Dummy of the MonthClub" was updated by Del Patten and Chuck Sadek via Virtual Vairs. Finally, Mark Martinek gave us a classic article on a trip to a Corvair gathering in St. George, Utah. All Corvair fans are advised to re-read this article about his amazing adventure. 1995 Vol 21 Nr 5 # 236 Our cover had a drawing of a Lakewood. Larry Blair ran the meeting. Joe Ashton and Ted Yachik were visitors and both joined CNM. Several upcoming Car Council events were mentioned. Dennis Pleau said we were trying to get copies of the budgets from recent conventions to guide our convention plans. We needed a "convention handbook" but had to write our own! CNM belt buckles, rebuilt harmonic balancers and new Clark's catalogs were on order. Our tech talk was about early turn signal repair. Thanks, Larry! We planned a tour of the Travertine Marble plant near Belen. A report on the tour described the snowy April weather and the amazing marble saws and other equipment we saw. Lots of tech tips: use TWO steering wheel covers to make a fat, easy-to-grip wheel; replace your old cracked shifter boot with a new one from J.C. Whitney; beware over-filling your Powerglide; add a bushing to make your late shifter work like an early one. And, Otto Mechanic visited a shrink to help him deal with his obsession with automobiles. The visit was a success, but not the way Mrs. Mechanic intended! 1988 Vol 14 Nr 5 # 152 Our cover showed an Austin-Healey 3000, your editor's first sports car in 1964. He sold it in 1966 to buy a new turbocharged Corsa coupe! We had $684. The Tri-State in Colorado and the Museum Car Show were the same weekend this year. Bruce Phillips (Professional Paint Supply) gave us an excellent talk on painting your car. Bill Reider answered the question, "What is a tune-up?" and provided an extensive check list. A good reference. 1981 Vol 7 Nr 5 # 68 Our cover drawing represented a 1960 sedan. We worried about insurance costs and the state of our treasury and schemed ways to make money. We discussed participating in a slalom or Fun-Khana in Los Alamos in July. Jack Bryan put on our April econo-run. Richard Twilley and his 1963 coupe were far ahead of the pack with 38.37 MPG; Pittman's 1965 Corsa convertible 140 and Lawrence's 1966 Monza coupe 110 tied for second place at 32.41 MPG. The best automatic was Reider's 1965 coupe 110 at 30.32 MPG. Boy, those were the days. A tech tip: Dick Hartje (San Diego) told how an apparently good scissors jack let a car crash down with no warning! Dick said, never get under a jacked-up car until it is blocked with sturdy jack stands. 1974 (no newsletter yet) The new club met at Duncan Puett's shop and admired his Corvair-powered dirt track race cars. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Enchanted Corvairs Newsletter is published monthly by Corvairs of New Mexico, chartered Chapter #871 of CORSA, the Corvair Society of America. Copyright by the Authors and by Corvairs of New Mexico. Articles may be reprinted in any CORSA publication as a service to CORSA members, provided credit to the Author and this Newsletter is clearly stated. All opinions are those of the Author or Editor and are not necessarily endorsed by Corvairs of New Mexico or CORSA. Material for publication should reach the Editor by the 15th of the month. Send material via e-mail ( jimp @ unm.edu ) or submit a readable manuscript. I prefer ASCII TEXT, but MS Word or RTF are fine. Photographs are welcome. I still print mailing labels with a 1989 Apple IIgs on a Hewlett-Packard LaserJet IIIp. The newsletter is composed using Apple computers. Software includes OSX, AppleWorks, Photoshop CS, GraphicConverter, BBEdit and InDesign CS. If you care, ask for more details. Transportation: 1965 Corvair Monza, 1990 Honda Civic, 1996 Mazda Miata and 2016 Honda Civic. When I'm 64, I'll get by with a little help from my friends. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ =END=