The August 2023 newsletter - Text Version
Updated 03-Oct-2023 = Copyright (c) 2023 Corvairs of New Mexico
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August 2023 / VOLUME 49 / NUMBER 8 / ISSUE 575
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First Place, Tony Fiore Memorial Chapter Newsletter Award, 2005 & 2012
Third Place, Tony Fiore Memorial Chapter Newsletter Award, 2010
EDITOR: Jim Pittman [ this is Jim's last newsletter as editor ]
NEXT MEETING: Regular Meeting: Saturday August 5th, 10:00AM
Highland Senior Center, 131 Monroe St NE, Albuquerque, NM 87108
THIS MONTH:
President's Letter ......................... Gregory Nelson
Dues Due Dates ........................ Membership Committe
From the President ............................ Greg Nelson
Job Opening for Newsletter Editor ............. Greg Nelson
Upcoming Activities ....................... Brenda Stickler
Wheels Museum Visit .............................. Kay Sutt
Tri-State 2024 Registration Form and News .. Lupe Arellanes
Treasury Report ............................. Steve Gongora
Birthdays & Anniversaries ................... Heula Pittman
Appreciation for Carburetor Help ................ Bob Kitts
While in Las Vegas ......................... Lupe Arellanes
Autumn Rally .................................. Jim Pittman
Calendar of Coming Events .............. Board of Directors
August Issues, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35 Years Ago . Club Historian
COVER: Was this Jim's 1965 Rally Corsa Convertible? Maybe.
OFFICERS and VOLUNTEERS
President Greg Nelson 505-400-8670 fesedu @ comcast.net
Vice-President Brenda Stickler 505-856-6993 tounce66 @ msn.com
Secretary Lupe Arellanes 505-515-9897 ispeakmedicare505 @ gmail.com
Treasurer Steve Gongora 505-220-7401 stevegongora @ msn.com
Newsletter Jim Pittman 505-275-2195 jimp @ unm.edu
Birthdays Heula Pittman 505-275-2195 heula @ q.com
Past President Pat Hall 505-620-5574 patandvickiehall @ q.com
Past President Dave Allin 505-410-9668 dnjallin @ gmail.com
Past President David Huntoon 505-281-9616 corvair66 @ aol.com
MEETING: Regular Meeting - Saturday August 5th, 2023 at 10:00 AM
Highland Senior Center, 131 Monroe St NE, Albuquerque, NM 87108
INTERNET: CORSA's home page www.corvair.org/
CNM's newsletters www.unm.edu/~jimp/
New Mexico Council of Car Clubs www.nmcarcouncil.com/
SCHEDULE CNM: 12 months = $25.00 or 26 months = $ 50.00
OF CORSA: 12 months = $45.00 or 26 months = $ 90.00
DUES CNM & CORSA: 12 months = $70.00 or 26 months = $140.00
DUES DUE DATES August 2023
DUE LAST MONTH ====================== INACTIVE DATE
2023.07 H. C. "Lube" Lubert 25-AUG-2023
2023.07 Lloyd Piatt 25-AUG-2023
DUE THIS MONTH ====================== INACTIVE DATE
2023.08 Janice & David Allin 25-SEP-2023
2023.08 Katherine & Irv Brock 25-SEP-2023
2023.08 Katie & Clifton Trujillo 25-SEP-2023
DUE NEXT MONTH ====================== INACTIVE DATE
2023.09 Troy Ward 25-OCT-2023
DUE OCTOBER ========================= INACTIVE DATE
2023.10 Debra & Jon Anderson 25-NOV-2023
2023.10 William & Sharon Heil 25-NOV-2023
INACTIVE ============================ INACTIVE DATE
2023.05 Emma & LeRoy Rogers 25-JUN-2023
Send your Dues to:
CNM Treasurer
Steve Gongora
8419 Palo Duro NE
Albuquerque, NM 87111
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.
As of 29-July-2023 we have 42 active family memberships.
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FROM THE PRESIDENT
Greg Nelson
Newsletter Editor Retirement/Job Opening Announcement
Jim Pittman, after 45-plus years of editing the club newsletter, has
decided to retire. He has done a remarkable job. If you compare our newsletter
to other clubs around the country ours stands out because it is well organized,
contains no ads and provides plenty of relevant content. His efforts will be
missed but hopefully we will still see him on occasion. For example, perhaps on
the last day of the State Fair for a photo op as we congregate in the shopping
mall parking lot before going in to the Fair. Thanks again for all your hard
work Jim.
Job Opening: If anyone in the club would like to take on the duties of
newsletter editor, please let me or Brenda know. Thank you.
June Social
Since the first Saturday in July also happened to be July 1st,
newsletter articles were due relatively early. The article submission deadline
was just prior to our June Social Field trip to the Turquoise Mining Museum near
Cerrillos on June 24th. It was also Rita's birthday and the Gongoras brought
along a few guests which bolstered our attendee count to 13. After touring the
museum, we had lunch at the Black Bird Saloon which easily handled the
unexpected lunch rush. Be sure to check the website for pictures.
August Meeting
VP Brenda will host this month's meeting since I will be in Las Vegas,
Nevada for the annual Star Trek Convention. Of course, this means there will be
Star Trek related photo(s) in the September newsletter. That's assuming we
manage to get a newsletter out on time. There will be a newsletter production
learning curve for a few months so please be patient.
September State Fair
The State Fair is rapidly approaching and once again the last day,
Sunday the 17th, will feature Corvairs - and maybe GTOs. Former NMCCC President
and CNM member Robert Gold will most likely have comments at the September
meeting. Since I brought the '64 Monza last year it's the '63 Spyder's turn to
appear the Fair for 2023.
1962 Corvair Look Over
Dave Huntoon and I paid new club member Clifton Trujillo a visit at his
house to give his '62 a look-over and to provide advice on repairs. Dave
provided all the advice; I was just there to take notes. Clifton has been
working on the car with his dad and brother. He did mention that the engine
caught on fire, but the damage looked to be mostly cosmetic. I did suggest that
Clifton look at Robert Gold's '62 for inspiration. Clifton is preparing for an
Air Force Reserve deployment. Thank you for your service!!
Upcoming Meeting Programs
** For the September meeting, V-8 Corvair owner Shawn Kukowski will talk
about his V8 Corvair conversion. He had his car on display at the Rio Rancho
Park-in-the-Park car show earlier this year. I think y'all will be very
impressed.
** For the October program we will ask Tarmo Sutt to continue with discussing
his 11-year restoration of his 1966 Corvair Corsa convertible. Recall that
last time we stopped at the 'bolts' section.
Repair Update
No updates on repairs to either of my vehicles. I've spent most of my
spare time on the roof re-tarring a small section of the roof. It's a bit toasty
but I wait until that section of the roof is in the shade.
Trash Cleanup Day
August trash day is on the 12th (the day before the NMCCC Picnic). I
suggest we get out there at 8:00 am before it gets too hot, and we start back at
the beginning of our mile of Old Route 66 and park in front of the bar. See you
all there.
Cheers
Gregory Nelson
CNM President
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Wheels Museum Visit
Kay Sutt
Tarmo's birthday was July 8, so we took the day off to visit the New Mexico
Council of Car Club's show honoring New Mexico Collector Car Appreciation Day.
The show ran from 8 to 11 AM at the Wheels Museum at 1100 2d Street SW.
Neither of us has visited the Wheels Museum before, so we weren't sure what we
would find. We knew the museum has been collecting donations and exhibits for
many years, dating back to when Wendell Walker used to promote what the museum
could become. We arrived a little after 10 to encounter Robert Gold at the
NMCCC's welcome desk sitting next to his shiny orange Rampside. About 20 various
collectible cars were parked in front of the museum enjoying the cool morning
air which would later transition to a warm Albuquerque afternoon. A short
welcome from Robert was followed by a quick orientation by the head of the
museum while we were ushered to the entrance doors.
The Wheels Museum, a non-profit maintained with only 25-30 volunteers,
encompasses about 21,000 square feet of a former railyard storage building, and
exhibits include "anything with wheels, etc." We saw railroad equipment, three
or four model train setups, a model car collector's exhibit (including several
of Dave Allen's beautiful models that he donated to the museum), various
full-size collector and antique cars, bicycles, a few motorcycles, a small
experimental helicopter, an eclectic array of memorabilia, and even an indoor
track with an operating garden train setup (being enjoyed by two little girls
riding it when we arrived going round and round and round ringing the bell).
Stepping outside we recognized David Huntoon. Tarmo and he have been trying to
get together to set a date to go to Bob Kitt's house to help him solve the fuel
problem he is having with his Greenbrier van, so they were finally able to get
some time blocked out when they can both go at the same time.
Our visit was interesting, sometimes humorous, always nostalgic, sometimes
surprising, and we had a thoroughly wonderful time. The museum is open Monday
through Thursday 9:00 to Noon and Sunday 10:00 to 2:00. We both highly recommend
the Wheels Museum to anyone who is interested in "all things wheels related."
From the museum we went to have a Thai lunch (no good Thai restaurants in Santa
Fe anymore - sigh) and decided we would shun the Albuquerque-Santa Fe raceway of
I-25 for the scenic back road home up State Highway 14. It was a peaceful and
beautiful drive on the clear sunny afternoon. We decided to take the cut across
to Galisteo and up Highway 285 with a diversion to Lamy to complete the day's
drive. As we approached the Village of Lamy we were lucky enough to be stopped
at the railroad crossing by the Sky Railway tourist train. We stayed and watched
it pull into Lamy Station belching smoke out of the nostrils of the dragon
painted on the engine. A fitting end for a "wheels" related birthday outing.
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FROM THE VICE PRESIDENT
Brenda Stickler
Be at the Car Council Picnic at Oak Flat on Sunday August 13th at 10:00 AM!
See the Car Council web site: www.nmcarcouncil.com/
Time 10 AM to 4 PM Place : Oak Yucca and Locust Grove Picnic Sites on Oak
Flat Road, Cibola National Forest, Tijeras NM.
(We can discuss at our August 5th meeting.)
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TREASURY REPORT FOR 06-27-2023 to 07-28-2023 ===============================================
DATE CHECK# AMOUNT PAYEE DESCRIPTION BALANCE = $ 4,610.59
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2023.06.29 2591 -$ 96.44 J.Pittman Print 35 Newsletters JUL 2023 -$ 65.51 $ 4,545.08
2023.06.29 J.Pittman 30 Stamps @.84 each -$ 26.10 $ 4,518.98
2023.06.29 J.Pittman 30 Envelopes @ .161 each -$ 4.83 $ 4,514.15
2023.07.01 2592 -$ 2000.00 El Fidel Deposit for Tri-State Banquet -$ 2,000.00 $ 2,514.15
2023.07.01 1035 +$ 50.00 Deposit A.Wiker Tri-State 2024 +$ 50.00 $ 2,564.15
2023.07.01 3555 +$ 130.00 Deposit S.Gongora Tri-State 2024 +$ 130.00 $ 2,694.15
2023.07.01 7794 +$ 130.00 Deposit T.Sutt Tri-State 2024 +$ 130.00 $ 2,824.15
2023.07.01 5162 +$ 240.00 Deposit L.Arellanes Tri-State 2024 +$ 240.00 $ 3,064.15
2023.07.01 +$ Lisa Feathers L.Arellanes Tri-State 2024 +$ 0.00 $ 3,064.15
2023.07.05 7542 +$ 100.00 Deposit R.Gold Tri-State 2024 +$ 100.00 $ 3,164.15
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2023.08 AUG NEWSLETTER ============================================ BALANCE = $ 3,164.15
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Happy Birthday Wishes to August CNM'ers:
Sharon Heil
Steve Johnson
Mark L Morgan
Sarah Price
Happy Anniversary Wishes to August CNM'ers:
NONE
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Bob D. Kitts
1604 Narcisa Ct. NW
Albuquerque, NM 87107
July 20, 2023
Corvairs of New Mexico
Jim Pittman/Editor
1112 Westerfield NE
Abq., NM 87112
Dear Jim,
I would like to get the following letter in the Enchanted Corvairs Newsletter.
Tarmo Sutt, David Huntoon and Steve Gongora spent about six hours working in
last week's weather all for the joy of working on a Corvair engine.
It is with much appreciation that I extend thanks to them
for the work they did on my Corvair Van. It was a Blast!
Sincerely,
Bob D. Kitts
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TRI-STATE NEWS
By Lupe Arellanes
City Selection: Las Vegas, New Mexico;
Dates: May 17th-18th-19th 2024;
Banquet Hotel: The El Fidel Hotel;
Accommodations: The Castaneda Hotel & The Plaza Hotel;
Car Show Hotel: The Castaneda Hotel.
The Castaneda Hotel, a historical Fred Harvey House, has 18 rooms reserved for
out-of-state attendees with a 2-night minimum. Overflow attendees will be
directed to the historic Plaza Hotel. Call for Reservations: (505) 425-3591 for
both hotels; mention "Corvair Tri-State" for our negotiated 15% discount; prices
per night range from $84 to $143/night; payment collected upon reservation.
Banquet/Show Cost: Early Bird Adult: $50,
Price Increase after March 1, 2024 is $65.
Seeking Silent Auction Donations. Members can bring items to any monthly
meeting. Asking for items valued at $20+. Rita & Steve Gongora will create
five large basket auction Items from donations and additionally purchased items.
Seeking T-Shirt Design Ideas. Send us your rough ideas whether it be a drawing
or a picture of other shirts. If your inspiration idea is selected, you will WIN
a FREE Shirt. Your winning inspiration will be forwarded to our graphic artist
to develop further.
Please email your ideas to: tristatecorvairs@gmail.com
Event Site: www.tristatecorvairs.com
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Tri-State 2024: While in Las Vegas ... visit Storrie Lake State Park
By Lupe Arellanes, Tri-State Chair
This serene lake offers great opportunities for fishing, bird watching, and
windsurfing. Choose from a variety of campsites with utility hookups for RVs.
The park is conveniently located near historic Las Vegas. Park elevation is
6,607 ft. Park hours during the TriState are 6 AM to 9 PM. Favorable summer
breezes attract colorful wind-surfing boards to Storrie Lake State Park, which
is also popular for fishing and boating. The visitor center features historical
exhibits about the Santa Fe Trail and 19th century Las Vegas. The lake's serene
waters are open for all types of boats, with no horsepower restrictions; the
lake is popular with pleasure boaters out for a cruise, as well as water-skiers,
those with personal watercraft and canoeists. Windsurfers from throughout the
state begin arriving in early spring, sometimes wearing wet suits, and can be
seen whenever the winds are blowing. Anglers can usually fish year-round,
although the lake may freeze over for several weeks in winter. The lake is
periodically stocked with rainbow trout, and anglers also catch german brown
trout, crappie and catfish. Bird watching is a must to view the geese and ducks
that flock to the lake during seasonal migrations. Other birds that have been
seen in the park include falcons, burrowing owls, doves, and red-winged
blackbirds. The park has cotton-tail rabbits, ground squirrels and an occasional
mule deer. Follow walking-trails through sagebrush-covered landscape spotted
with cactus, yuccas and wildflowers. Activities include: Boating both motorized
and non-motorized, Canoe, Kayak, Board, personal Watercraft, Sailing, Water
Skiing, Windsurfing, Camping, Education Programs, Fishing, Picnicking, Swimming,
Volleyball, Wildlife Viewing, and Birding. Amenities include; Boating
Facilities, Boat Dock, Boat Ramp, Campground Facilities with 6 campgrounds and
45 developed campsites, 22 W+E Sites (30 amp), water in campground, primitive
camping, beach camping, boat-in camping, restrooms with water, showers, vault
toilets. Group facilities include: 3 Group Picnic Shelters, Playground, Visitor
Center, Exhibits, and RV Dump Station.
Highway 518, Mile Marker 3.5, Las Vegas, NM 87701, 10-minute drive from city
center. (505) 425-7278, Contact: Manuel Villanueva, Park Manager,
manuel.villanueva@state.nm.us Web page: www.nmparks.com (Information provided by
Las Vegas Visitor Center)
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Adapted from a fantasy originally published in the October
and November 1980 Issues. Many of the events described
actually happened. Names have been changed. I tried to put
everything I knew about sports car rallies into the story.
Autumn Rally
Jim Pittman
Xenia, Ohio, Sunday, September twenty-fifth. It's six twenty-five and the alarm
hasn't gone off yet. Some adventure in a dream fades from vividness into an
awareness that a new day has arrived and there is an appointment to keep: a
rally put on by the local SCCA club. I've gotta get up and get my stuff together
and go pick up Bill. We need to be at the shopping center by nine. Jim checks
his watch; plenty of time. It should be a good day.
He clicks off the alarm. Today will be a bit different from most weekend
rallies. It'll be extra competitive, and besides we have to show Bob and Ken a
good time after pushing them so hard to enter a rally. I know Jack and Cathy
will be there. Wonder if that girl with the new Corvair will show up?
Jim looks out the window and is disappointed to see a gray, overcast, almost
rainy morning. Not the best day for a rally. It is not unusual to have rainy
days for rallies in Ohio but a sunny pre-autumn day like last weekend sure would
have been nice. And we didn't even go anywhere last weekend; decided not to
drive to Columbus for the Corvette club rally. Well, just have to make the best
of it.
After coffee and scrambled eggs Jim collects his rally equipment: clipboard with
two Heuer stopwatches, a tablet of paper, pencils, a portable short wave radio
for WWV time signals and a book of rally time-speed-distance tables. He puts on
his favorite corduroy jacket and decides to take along a warmer jacket, just in
case. One last look around. Nothing forgotten.
Outside, the red Corvair convertible sits dripping in the driveway. Top stays up
today. Jim checked the car yesterday. Gas tank topped up; 35 in the rear
Michelins and 25 in the fronts; oil and battery okay. The spare is good and
stowed in the front with a few tools and an extra fan belt. He takes the time to
look at the oil again and opens the throttle to see if the automatic choke looks
right. He hopes he didn't mess it up fiddling with it yesterday. But when he
slides behind the wheel and twists the key the engine starts readily enough. He
backs out and heads up the street for Bill's house in Fairborn.
Bill and Jim often rallied together. Bill had an XK-E Jaguar and the family car
was a 1962 Ford station wagon, but his true pride and joy was a 1949 Plymouth
convertible. He drove it to work most days. However, just now it was in the
garage with parts scattered around. Bill was rebuilding the engine, Jim was
helping and they had been getting occasional tips from Dr. Marko, a scientist at
the lab. Just now they were waiting for a set of pistons and rings to come in.
Last weekend instead of going to the Columbus rally they had finished the
"ridge-reaming" chore and polished the cylinders. They had already rebuilt the
carburetor and fuel pump and had plasti-gauged and matched a set of new main
bearings.
They might have run today's rally in Bill's XK-E but as luck would have it, a
routine tune-up turned into an extended stay at Big Larry's shop because a part
hadn't come in. Larry promised it would be ready next Thursday, so today they'd
run the rally in Jim's 1965 Corvair. This was fine with Jim. Bill was a good
navigator and often told amazing stories about cross-country exploits when he
was training in F-86s during the Korean war. Jim could navigate very well when
he had to, but he much preferred driving. Either way, he enjoyed spending a
Sunday with his friends, touring around the wonderful curvy back roads of
southwestern Ohio in a pleasant car.
Bill was watching from the window and came out immediately, carrying his own
gear. Their rally equipment was nothing fancy and they didn't use all they had.
The clipboard was attached by a couple of spring clips to the dash right in
front of the radio; it would hold the rally instructions where both driver and
navigator could read them. The two stopwatches were mounted on top of the
clipboard. Jim used the rally tables when he navigated but Bill never did. He
had a six-inch slide rule that was quick enough and accurate enough for his
purposes and he scribbled numbers and calculations furiously at every speed
change instruction.
"Good morning, nice weather for ducks, what?" Bill was cheerful despite the
weather.
"Good morning, I hope the drizzle doesn't scare Bob away. We'll never get him
into rallying if he has a bad day his first time out."
Bob had recently surprised them by talking about getting some work done on his
old MG-A. He wasn't a "sports car person" and all the sports car club members
marveled at him. He had two cars and nobody had ever heard of his having had any
work done on either. He kept a tonneau cover on the somewhat battered MG-A and
never put up the top -- if indeed it still had one. In the fall, one day he'd
decide it was wintertime and would start driving to work in his 1962 Corvair
coupe. He'd let the MG sit all winter, undisturbed under its tonneau cover. Then
one day he'd decide it was spring and start driving the topless MG again,
letting the Corvair sit all summer. He drove both cars like the proverbial
little old lady, sedately. Bill had been after him for months to start behaving
like a proper sports car owner: buy radial tires, have the MG-A tuned up, learn
how to double-clutch, get an Amco walnut shift knob, and start going to rallies.
Bob finally agreed to try a rally and recruited his friend Ken to navigate for
him.
Ken was a mathematician and computer programmer at the base, a natural choice to
calculate speeds and distances on a rally. Bill was delighted and had
recommended today's rally as the best one available to infect novices with
sports car fever: it was put on by the local chapter of the Sports Car
Association of America. Their rallies were professional-grade and could be
expected to be interesting, fast and correct in all details, while probably not
as difficult (and potentially frustrating) as the incredibly intricate rallies
put on by the Dayton Sports Car Club.
The Corvair's turbocharged engine, now well warmed up, hummed smoothly on the
way to the shopping center designated as the rally's starting point. The mist
had thickened to become almost a drizzle but at the shopping center there was a
good crowd of cars. They were mostly "sports cars" or European sedans: MGs, a
few Healeys, several Triumphs, VW Beetles or Karmann-Ghias, Volvos, Jaguars,
Saabs, a Mercedes and a Peugeot, even a Daimler. Except for a Pontiac and a
Barracuda, all the American cars were Corvettes, Mustangs or Corvairs. Jim and
Bill parked, went to register, then went to look for friends.
Jack and Cathy were already registered. The top was always up on their Mustang
when they rallied -- they couldn't have their notes blowing about. Jack had a
Curta calculator, a status symbol among rally people. He would enter a
conversion factor into the Curta, then crank the handle for each hundredth of a
mile that registered on his electric odometers. He'd tell Cathy, Early One,
Early Two, or Late One, Late Two -- this in hundredths of a minute. At a speed
change he'd enter a new factor and continue, giving the Curta one turn for each
click from the counters. It was common for Jack and Cathy to finish with only a
few hundredths of a minute error in a day-long rally. Either that or they'd get
lost, and Cathy would have to drive ninety miles an hour to catch up while Jack
growled and calculated error corrections. The Mustang was quite a performer. The
three stopwatches and four odometer counters were impressive to see.
Jim stopped to say hello. Cathy was relaxed and friendly but Jack didn't say
much. He was already worrying about how to avoid any mistake that could take
away the chance of best place for the day. He was very competitive and took
winning very seriously. Jack and Jim were long-time friends and were continually
arguing over who had the better car. Jack's new Mustang was a convertible
because when he was in high school he loved driving his parents' Chevy around
town with the top down, but the Mustang had to do double duty as his "sports
car" so it had a high-performance engine, heavy-duty suspension, Michelin radial
tires and the "rally pack" instrument panel, and he had outfitted it with
electric counters driven by the speedometer cable. He was not impressed by Jim's
turbocharged engine. He liked to quote a saying among racers that to get more
power, "You need more cubic inches or more rectangular money." He and Cathy had
spent hours on twisty country roads perfecting their driving skills. Jim didn't
mind driving the Mustang but he felt his Corvair was much more a sports car,
with engine in the back "just like a Porsche" and heavy-duty suspension, fast
steering package, a John Fitch steering damper, Michelin radials and metallic
brakes.
Mark and Susan waved from their blue Monza sedan. Their Corvair was an automatic
and they loved rallying for the challenge of getting every instruction right,
being exactly on time at each checkpoint and never getting lost. They were a
smooth, consistently excellent team. They had a lot of fun, never took rallying
too seriously and didn't have any expensive equipment, but their Corvair often
brought home trophies from all over the midwest.
Dan Reese was driving his British Racing Green TR-4 and had John Hanson
navigating for him. They almost always rallied together, sometimes in John's
gray Volvo but usually in Dan's Triumph. They were famed as the rallyists to
beat in southwestern Ohio. Reese was a fearless driver. He told everyone that
the TR-4 was the world's best sports car and was always driving banzai style to
prove it. Hanson was an Air Force engineer, apparently with a computer for a
brain. He was the sort of methodical person who would own a Volvo 122 and never
make a mistake in math or logic. Once in a rally they came into a checkpoint and
Hanson looked up from his notes in surprise. He exclaimed, "This checkpoint's in
the wrong place!" He refused to budge until the checkpoint boss agreed to look
further along the road. Sure enough, the checkpoint had been set up a hundred
yards away from the rallymaster's painted line. Apparently the set-up crew
mistook a marker from a previous rally for today's marker. Hanson's reputation
assumed heroic proportions among the rally crowd after that incident became
known.
Chet Vandenberg was there with his black '64 Spyder. His wife was navigating
today. Chet and Anne were loyal members of the Miami Valley Touring Club, a club
with the reputation of putting on easy rallies that just tooled around scenic
back roads for awhile and then headed to the clubhouse to talk about exotic car
adventures of the past over mugs of beer. The Morgan and XK-120 owners of MVTC
tolerated a Corvair owner because Chet had owned an MG-TD for years. He was
enthusiastic about his cars and his club and got along with everybody, including
the English tweed types.
As they waited for their starting time Bill worried about Bob and Ken. Would
they be put off by the dismal weather? He kept looking nervously around as new
cars arrived. When the white MG-A finally showed up he was so relieved that he
didn't at first notice that the MG's top was still down despite the gray
drizzle.
Bob and Ken were well prepared for the weather and looked like English sportsmen
dressed in Russian greatcoats. They had plastic rain gear spread over their
knees to keep their notes dry. Jim and Bill went over to help get them
registered and to offer last-minute advice.
"The cars go out at one-minute intervals. Your car number -- it's on the first
page -- there -- it's number 42. That's the number of minutes after the hour
that you leave the parking lot. At 10:42 they'll flag you out. And you get, no,
those aren't the complete instructions, they're the introduction, you know,
definitions and such. You get the actual route instructions one minute before
you are due to leave. Now, the first leg is a tire warm-up, then there's an
odometer calibration leg, then -- what? Well, don't worry if your odometer isn't
accurate, you'll use a correction factor. No, you have to calculate it. That's
what the tire warm-up leg is for. See, sometimes the instructions give distance,
sometimes they give speed and you have to calculate the other value. Now, the
most important thing is not to get lost. Read the instructions and take them
literally. There won't likely be errors in the instructions. Now look, they give
abbreviations here on page two. See, it says 'SRIP' which means 'Sign Reading In
Part' and 'CAST' just means 'Change Average Speed To.' This rally has the rule,
always turn right at every T you encounter, unless another instruction
specifically says otherwise. You'll catch on."
"Hey, Bill, let's go, it's gettin' close to our time out. It's ten fifteen."
"Right. Now, Bob, you guys read the instructions carefully and always take them
literally. Good luck and remember, don't get lost and it'll be lots of fun!"
They got in the car, belted up and made last-minute checks of their gear. "Did
you get your Rolex zeroed in on WWV?" "Yeah, close enough for government work,
anyway. What's our number?" "Twenty-three. I've got twenty-two spotted over
there, and looks like number nineteen is just pulling out." Jim started the
engine and the turbocharged Corvair headed slowly to join the group of cars that
were lined up awaiting their turns.
Jim eased into line behind number twenty-two, a red Alfa Romeo. At a minute
before their official time out the start crewman gave them the route
instructions and they headed for the exit from the parking lot. First
instruction: "Turn right; CAST thirty-five miles per hour." The sedate first leg
gave the navigator time to quickly go through the instructions. With colored
pencils Bill coded all landmark, distance, speed and time instructions on the
first page, then fastened it to the clipboard where Jim could read it while
driving. Then he used his slide rule to convert as many speeds, times and
distances as he could into standard format. Doing all this during the "tire
warm-up" leg could save a lot of trouble later when instructions might come too
fast to follow.
Rally techniques varied among the various teams. Some people rallied by having
the navigator do all the reading, calculating and looking for landmarks, while
the driver just kept the car on the road and followed orders. Other teams gave
the driver most of the job of reading instructions and looking for landmarks,
while the navigator remained buried in computations, seeing very little scenery
other than odometers, stopwatches and calculations on scraps of paper. Jim and
Bill compromised. With the clipboard fastened in front of the car's radio, Jim
could read instructions while Bill was calculating, but most of the time Bill
helped read and look for signs. Their calculations were mostly approximations
because they didn't have hundredths-reading odometers. Four electric
hundredths-reading odometers were not that unusual with serious rallyists, but a
few teams went out with no instruments other than a wristwatch. They just drove
around, followed directions by the seat of their pants and had a good time.
The odometer check leg was uneventful, but on the first timed leg things got
busy. Apparently the rallymaster made this event suitable for a high-performance
car on a bright, dry day. Speeds were brisk. Signs were fairly hard to spot and
soon they almost missed one; braking abruptly, the front wheels skidded on
gravel. "Don't slide the tires," Bill muttered. "Our mileage reading isn't that
accurate," Jim replied. "Don't turn around, back up so the odometer won't be
off!" "Okay, if you can't handle a simple subtraction problem." Tempers can get
pretty short on a rally, especially if the weather isn't too pleasant and you
don't quite trust your interpretation of the logic of the rallymaster's
instructions.
"Okay, speed up, we're late." "How late?" Bill consults notes, a stop watch and
his slide rule. "Let's see, twelve minutes and a half since the last speed
change; you should be at -- let's see -- 59.4 right about -- now!"
"Darn it, fifty-eight. Okay, hang on." Jim takes the Corvair up to a speed that
borders on unwise for this road, but Bill just frowns and says nothing.
Around the next curve is a checkpoint. Neatly trapped! Nothing to do but
continue across the flag line at speed, then screech to a stop at the checkpoint
crew. Driver runs back to get the slip with the official time-in; navigator
turns to the second leg instructions and starts making new calculations.
"We're off in five minutes. Hey, there's Reese and Hanson, just pulling out."
The green TR-4 roared away from the exit flag, its navigator intent on his work.
The rally continued, leg after leg. Weather conditions did not improve. It was
damp and miserable driving. At every stop Jim's feet got wetter. Bill's temper
got shorter. Signs didn't seem to appear when they should. Once they turned
right after another rally car but in a few minutes decided that the other car
must be as lost as they were. "Darn it, that's a rookie trick, following
somebody else when you don't know where you are." Presently the road proved to
be merely a farmer's lane. They turned around in the front yard and headed back
to the main road. They recovered but had a hefty error on that leg. As it
happened, they were lucky: at the lunch break they learned that after several
more cars took the same wrong turn a farmer came out with a shotgun and had to
be talked out of calling the sheriff!
At the lunch break they were able to get out of the car and walk around under
shelter from the drizzle. Eventually the topless MG-A appeared but Bob and Ken
didn't have time to talk. "I've gotta find a gas station," Bob shouted as they
motored sedately away, their caps pulled low over their eyes and their layers of
overcoats and rain gear bulging over the sides of the cockpit.
The afternoon rally legs offered little improvement. At one point Jack and Cathy
blasted by in the left lane. "Guess they got lost," Jim commiserated. They
watched as, far ahead, the Mustang slid to a halt, backed up for a few seconds,
then turned down a side road. "Is that the 'Left after SRIP "Fire"' where they
turned? Do you see it?"
"Must be. There's the sign: it's a Smokey Bear sign."
"Okay, turn left -- wait a minute! That sign says 'Fires', not 'Fire!' Go
straight. There must be another sign. Not like Jack to miss something like that,
though." They continued straight and soon saw a sign over a county fire station.
"That's our turn!" "Ken and Bob are going to hate this. Their first time out and
not only a really hard rally, but this rotten weather."
"Here come Chet and Anne," Jim said, as a black Spyder approached from a side
road. The Corvair's occupants waved and Chet flashed his headlights a second.
Jim waved back. "They seem to be having fun," Bill growled.
Up ahead Reese and Hanson were having more excitement than fun at the moment.
Around a long, muddy curve the Corvair slid a little but Jim had slowed enough
to keep the car neatly on the road. The green TR-4 came in sight and they saw
Dan hadn't been so lucky. He had spun it and a rear wheel had clipped the edge
of a guardrail. Reese was jacking up the car to change the wheel.
Jim pulled off the road long enough to be sure they were both okay. Hanson was
pacing up and down in the drizzle and exercising his vocabulary. "The spare
isn't a radial; it's going to screw up our odometer readings," he fumed. They
seemed capable of getting themselves back in the rally so Jim and Bill
continued. When the dirt road came out at a stretch of paved road, Jim wound out
the engine in the first three gears to make up lost time. "I'm glad to see I've
still got a turbocharger. You'd never know it, having to spend so much time on
these muddy roads where there's no traction." Bill was bent over his slide rule
and notes. "We're pretty far behind time; you should be at about 127."
"Well, I don't think I want to go much faster on this road in the rain." Bill
looked over and couldn't see the speedometer but the tach needle was pretty
close to the red line. He shut up, tightened his seatbelt and sat watching the
trees rush by, with nothing to do until the next instruction came up.
The end of the rally came at last and they headed for the Frische's Big Boy
restaurant where the rallymaster would accumulate the data from his checkpoint
crews and announce the scores. The Corvair had had no accidents but there had
been a few near misses.
Cars were muddy and everyone was tired. They wished they could have beer to go
with the pizza they ordered while waiting for the results, but beer wasn't
available in Ohio on Sundays. It took half an hour for the rallymaster to add up
all the scores.
Jim and Bill didn't win anything and ended up eighth in class. There were two
classes: "Equipped" and "Non-equipped." First place for "Equipped" went to two
boys from Columbus in a heavily instrumented Volkswagen Beetle and second place
went to a husband and wife team from Cincinnati who drove a Volvo P-1800
outfitted with a Halda Speedpilot.
First place for "Non-equipped" went to Mark and Susan in the '65 Monza while
second place went to Bob and Ken in the topless MG-A. They collected their
trophy with great dignity and nonchalance, as if it were only to be expected.
Bill was almost speechless but then realized his plan to get Bob into rallying
had been a spectacular success. Jack sulked at their poor score and Cathy tried
to cheer him up. Chet and Anne, always smiling, came over to talk about
Corvairs. They were thinking about getting a new late model even though they
preferred the looks of the 1964s.
"How did you and Wild Bill like your sixty-five turbo on those muddy roads
today?" they asked Jim. "The car did pretty well," he said, "I really like the
combination of ride and handling. It's a lot better than my old Healey in every
way except sports car snob appeal. I think it handles better than the
sixty-fours. Of course, the Michelins make all the difference in the world. As
for Bill, well, he just likes to pretend he's navigating his old F-86. He'd
never admit we were better off today than we'd have been if Larry had got his
E-Type patched up. He couldn't admit to any admiration for Corvairs. They're not
British, you know."
"Well, we're still thinking about getting a '66 Corsa, but we don't know if we
want the 180 or the 140. We've liked our 150 turbo's performance. Guess we'll
keep thinking about it. I'm not too keen on having to synchronize four carbs!"
Jim went to join Bill who was talking to Bob and Ken. They were referring to
their copies of the rally instructions and going over the most troublesome parts
of the rally. Bill kept reading instructions and asking them how they'd been
able to figure that one out. Ken said it had all been perfectly logical to him,
and Bob said he'd had no problem with the MG on the bad roads. "You were right,
Bill," he said. "This rallying is great fun. I'm going to take the MG down to a
body shop and see about getting it painted, and who was the guy you said sells
those fancy tires? Do they have rallies in the winter? We'd probably want to go
in the Corvair when the weather is cold, but in the summer...." Bill was happy
with Bob's interest in the idea of making his MG into a proper sports car and
they were soon discussing tires, driving lights and upholstery shops.
Jim went out to stow his equipment and check the oil before heading home; the
rain had stopped. An attractive woman came up as he looked over the engine.
"Wow, that's neat," she said, "only one carburetor to keep tuned up." Jim
recognized her. "Weren't you at the Springfield rally a couple of weeks ago?
With the maroon Corvair?"
"Yes, and today I tried navigating but we didn't do too well. I'm afraid my
roommate doesn't care for rallies. We were in her car today. I saw your Corvair
and wanted to ask you which Chevy dealer you think is best for working on them."
"Well, actually, I haven't had a lot of work done on mine yet, I'm not sure
about the dealers, I can change spark plugs and stuff like that. I've got a shop
manual. What kind of work do you need? Maybe I can help...."
Bill was thoughtful on the way home. "Do you suppose we've started something
we'll regret? Bob and Ken had beginners' luck this time. They won't be so happy
with us when they go on a really hard rally."
"Well, this seemed like a hard rally to me. Maybe we are the ones who aren't
doing it right. Tell you what, next time there's a rally in the rain, let's put
the top down, get some Cossack overcoats and plastic raincoats and a couple of
thermos bottles of hot coffee and show 'em how it's really done."
But Jim's mind wasn't on rallying right now. He had a phone number and a promise
to call next weekend. She had a new Corsa coupe with four carburetors that she
thought needed synchronizing. Jim didn't think that would be too hard to learn
how to do. In fact, he was expecting to find it very pleasant indeed.
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| August 2023 | September 2023 | October 2023 |
| 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 | 1 2 | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 |
| 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 | 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 |
| 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 | 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 | 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 |
| 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 | 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 | 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 |
| 27 28 29 30 31 | 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 | 29 30 31 |
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SAT 05 AUG 10:00 AM Meeting: Highland Senior Center
131 Monroe St NE, Albuquerque, NM 87108 Phone: (505) 767-5210
SAT 12 AUG 8:00 AM Old Route 66 Cleanup ... Start at beginning of our mile
SUN 13 AUG 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM ==== NMCCC PICNIC
Oak Yucca and Locust Grove Picnic Sites on Oak Flat Road
Cibola National Forest, Tijeras, New Mexico
No entry fee! Bring your own lunch and drinks and your classic car!
To go in a group: meet at Smith's at Tramway & Central SE by 9:00 AM
From Albuquerque area:
Take I-40 (or NM 333, old Route 66) from Tramway SE to Tijeras
Take Exit #175 to NM Highway 337 south.
Continue south on NM 337 for a little over 8 miles
Turn left on Oak Flat Road. Picnic area on left, about 1 mile
WED 16 AUG 7:00 PM Board Meeting via Zoom
WED 23 AUG 7:00 PM NEW MEXICO CAR COUNCIL MEETING - FOURTH WEDNESDAYS
Manzano Mesa Senior center - 501 Elizabeth St SE
FRI 25 AUG 9:00 PM Deadline for items for the September newsletter
MON 28 AUG ******* TARGET FOR PRINTING, MAILING SEPTEMBER NEWSLETTER <<
============================================================================
SAT 02 SEP 10:00 AM Meeting: Highland Senior Center
131 Monroe St NE, Albuquerque, NM 87108 Phone: (505) 767-5210
WED 20 SEP 7:00 PM Board Meeting via Zoom
SUN 24 SEP xxxxxxx NMCCC - The traditional Swap Meet will be replaced with a
low-key car show & cruise with food and music. Stay tuned.
WED 27 SEP 7:00 PM NEW MEXICO CAR COUNCIL MEETING - FOURTH WEDNESDAYS
Manzano Mesa Senior center - 501 Elizabeth St SE
FRI 29 SEP 9:00 PM Deadline for items for the October newsletter
MON 02 OCT ******* TARGET FOR PRINTING, MAILING OCTOBER NEWSLETTER <<
============================================================================
SAT 07 OCT 10:00 AM Meeting: Highland Senior Center
WED 18 OCT 7:00 PM Board Meeting via Zoom
WED 25 OCT 7:00 PM NEW MEXICO CAR COUNCIL MEETING - FOURTH WEDNESDAYS
FRI 27 OCT 9:00 PM Deadline for items for the November newsletter
MON 30 OCT ******* TARGET FOR PRINTING, MAILING NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER <<
============================================================================
SAT 04 NOV 10:00 AM Meeting: Highland Senior Center
WED 15 NOV 7:00 PM Board Meeting via Zoom
FRI 24 NOV 9:00 PM Deadline for items for the December newsletter
SAT 02 DEC 10:00 AM Meeting: Highland Senior Center
XXX xx DEC xx:xx XX Christmas Party -- Boydston Award
WED 20 DEC 7:00 PM Board Meeting via Zoom
FRI 21 DEC 9:00 PM Deadline for items for the January 2024 newsletter
>>>>>>> EARLY DUE TO HOLIDAYS <<<<<<<<<<<<
============================================================================
See the New Mexico Council of Car Clubs Web Site for more "NMCCC" activities
======================== http://www.nmcarcouncil.com/ ======================
SUGGESTION: A visit to the WHEELS MUSEUM in Albuquerque
SUGGESTION: A visit to the new WEATHER LAB at the Balloon Museum
SUGGESTION: A visit to the SOARING MUSEUM in Moriarty
SUGGESTION: Another visit to LOS LUCEROS in the fall
SUGGESTION: Activities with other clubs such as VMCCA.
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SEVEN YEARS AGO [ AUGUST 2023 VOL 49 Nr 8 ISSUE 575 ] Jim Pittman
2016
Vol 42 Nr 8 #491
COVER: Steve's Corsa with special LED lights. He provided a tech article
with part numbers and costs and said they were very effective. Ray Trujillo
previewed the NMCCC picnic and our Isotopes baseball game and remembered a great
club breakfast. Jim remembered seeing Doug Roe's 1960 race car in 1968. We had a
Car Show at Old Tyme Shop in Tijeras. John Wiker attended. Art Gold reported on
efforts to stop A.R.T. before it transformed Central Avenue, and not in a good
way. Steve & Rita Gongora took their beautiful red Rampside to the Fourth of
July event in Santa Fe. Robert Gold reported a great Night at the 'Topes!
2009
Vol 35 Nr 8 #407
COVER: Corvairs at our board meeting. President Mike Stickler said too
much heat is the enemy! Brenda Stickler asked for contributions to her booklet
on running a Tri-State. Heula told about our dinner with Elizabeth & Mark
Domzalski. We had a potluck visit with Pam & Charlie Mann who have many
interesting cars. Jim wrote about a day forty years ago when he finished up a
sports car rally in Ohio just before Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon. Did
you drive your Corvair that day? Richard Finch was racing his YS-003 Stinger at
Sears Point. Bill Reider provided an article on rebuilding a steering box.
2002
Vol 28 Nr 8 #323
COVER: board members. Heula reported on July 4th in Santa Fe. Ollie
reported on cleaning our mile of Old Route 66. Guests were Sy & Margo Feldman.
John Wiker wondered if the Albuquerque Museum would lose the car show to Los
Lunas next year? The picnic was at the Elks Club refuge. President Robert Gold
told about the Convention. Anne Mae reported activities of the Corvair Ladies.
Richard Finch said his Ultra Van had a problem getting up the "mountain" to
Ruth's cabin. Jim offered his world-famous story about Saint Peter and the
world's best Corvair.
1995
Vol 21 Nr 8 #239
COVER: Mark imagined a "rare Lister-Monza" race car. Sylvan Zuercher ran
the meeting. Finances: $328 in the convention account; $392 in checking and $111
in savings. Two CNM members were Car Council officers. Dennis Pleau reported on
convention progress. The Santa Fe Fourth of July car show featured 74 cars and
8,000 people. Our CNM Library Van moved to Placitas for storage. Clayborne Souza
suggested an August campout at Villanueva. The City's Matthew Conrad talked to
us about zoning. Keep inoperable cars out of sight in an enclosed building, not
in your back yard! Larry Blair wanted reports from the Dallas convention. We
needed to practice photo rallies for our convention. An ARIZONA HIGHWAYS article
told of a woman driving alone through the desert who had a breakdown in her 1967
Corvair. A great story of how she got the car and herself back to civilization.
1988
Vol 14 Nr 8 #155
COVER: "Why Compromise" with a Ferrari when for $45,000 less you could
own a no-compromise Corvair. There was a car show in Cuba NM, a Car Council
picnic and a tour to Quarai, Gran Quivera, Abo. The NMCCC annual swap meet would
be in September and we'd do an econo-run to Las Vegas. We learned of the
"Dare-Vair" of Lew Kuykendall. LeRoy ran our auction. New members: Jeff Newman,
Kathy Craig, Philip Wye, Paul & Bruce Stark, Jerry & Margie Morris. Francis
Boydston wrote about driving to Nebraska with the lower shrouding removed to let
the engine run cooler, and the air-conditioned 1967 sedan got 24.5 MPG.
1981
Vol 7 Nr 8 # 70
COVER drawing by Mark Morgan. We planned to go to the Moriarty Fourth of
July parade. LeRoy organized a Corvair Caravan to go to the 1981 CORSA
convention in Denver. Bob Philips gave a talk on paint and body work. Mark
Morgan was editing a Corvair newsletter in Ventura County, CA. Tech tips: don't
adjust fan belts too tight, adjust belt guides snugly, list of tools for body
work, fixing squeaks and rattles, organize your disassembly process.
1974 (no newsletter)
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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. The newsletter
is composed using Apple computers. Software includes Mac OS-X, AppleWorks,
Photoshop CS, GraphicConverter, BBEdit and InDesign CS. If you care, ask for
more details. When I'm 64, I'll get by with a little help from my friends.
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=END=