Cars / Projects / Trips / People
Updated 27-Oct-2009 ==== Copyright (c) 2009 Corvairs of New Mexico
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CAR STORIES
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THE CORVAIR IN THE MAINE WOODS - published November 2008
NO CORVAIR IS AN ISLAND
Jeff Aronson
In March 2008 Dave Huntoon, a member of Corvairs of New Mexico, found some
out-of-date copies of "The Care and Feeding of Your Corvair" and offered
them on Virtual Vairs. He generously sent me one and suggested that I share
my experiences of owning the only Corvair on this Maine island.
Vinalhaven sits 12 miles off the coast of Maine, a 90-minute ferry ride when
weather permits the boats to run. It has all the qualities you'd want in a New
England village with the added bonus of being surrounded by water.
Geographically it's about 9 miles long by 4.5 miles wide, mostly granite with
thin soil, lots of spruce trees and a majestic rocky shoreline. Located in the
western end of Penobscot Bay, it's located in some of the best lobstering
fishing grounds on the East Coast. Most of the 1,200 year round residents earn
their income around the lobster fishery and helping maintain summer houses owned
by people "from away." We have a K-12 school with just over 200 students, small
stores that sell the necessities from groceries to fishing gear supplies, two
churches, one auto repair shop and a library. Over 90% of the population was
born and raised here; I'm a member of them minority group who live and work here
year-round but came from "away" - in my case, 18 years ago from Vermont. Here I
work as a caretaker of summer houses, a house painter, a web site creator and
the editor of a national magazine on Land Rovers.
This island has provided me with many pleasures; one highlight has been my
return to the world of Corvairs. One year ago since I became the second owner of
a maroon 1966 Monza Coupe. The first owner, Susan Rowland, Chatham, NJ, received
the car on January 28, 1996, courtesy of her father. Not only did the Monza come
equipped with the 110hp engine and the new 4-speed transmission, but her Dad
opted for an AM "P.B." [pushbutton] radio, a spare tire lock and black floor
mats [$4.90]. He didn't haggle much as the sale price was $2,275.
The car took her through college and married life in New Jersey and South
Carolina. In the early 1990s, she and her husband John Williams bought a summer
house on Crockett's Cove, on the northwestern corner of our small island. The
Corvair became their "island car," residing on their waterfront property much of
the year until starting up anew every summer.
While Susan Rowland enjoyed her first new Corvair in 1966, my first Corvair, a
very-used 1964 Monza convertible 110/4 speed, came to me in 1968. I approached
the car with caution. Auto dealerships had already consigned the Corvair to the
rubbish bin [it came cheap]. Compared to my earlier British cars, it seemed
roomy, fairly quiet and airtight, warm in the winter and utterly capable; you
can imagine my automotive skepticism after a Morris Minor, a Hillman Minx and a
Triumph Spitfire. I remember only two actual repairs, one for a rusted out gas
line, the other for a broken generator bracket. It took me from the University
of Vermont to graduate school in Ohio, and for one weekend, back to my hometown
on Cape Cod, without incident. I sold it when my then-fiancee claimed she
couldn't get it out of second gear. Both decisions were mistakes.
I compounded these errors by returning to British cars for the next decades, not
thinking much about Corvairs until I spotted the Williams' Corvair in front of
our grocery store early one evening. John Williams could not get the headlights
to work; remembering a similar problem with my Land Rover, I wiggled wires
around his dimmer switch and "fixed" the lights. I also peered inside and
outside the car and told John how much I enjoyed my earlier Corvair.
He never forgot the repair and approached me when he and his wife Susan decided
her Corvair needed a new home. My mistake was, of course, in taking it for a
test drive. Gears graunching [maladjusted clutch cable], engine knocking and
smoking [gummy rings and valves, worn points] and brakes grabbing [decades-old
brake fluid], I still loved every minute of the drive. With two '66 Land Rover
Series II-A's and an '80 Triumph TR-7 Spider, I hardly needed another car. They
wanted the car to have a good home and reduced their asking price to well below
$1,000, so I became its second owner. As I drove it home the directional lever
fell off in my hand. Sigh - this would be a short honeymoon.
Please don't confuse me with someone who collects cars. All my cars must justify
their existence by being driven. One Land Rover has over 500,000 miles; one
friend suggested that my Land Rover was the only one he knew "that could be
detailed with a garbage bag." My TR-7 has 106,000 miles, mostly from driving in
very rural areas. I need my cars for work on the island and as transport when
work takes me to the mainland. Nor do I have the income to support trailer
queens.
Island living teaches you about self-sufficiency. We're 90 minutes by ferry to
the mainland so we much prefer to find what we need "on island." You can fish or
dig clams for dinner, grown your own vegetables, find raspberries, blackberries
and blueberries for desert. Most of us heat with wood cut from the trees blown
down after winter storms. Our dump has a "swap shop," an old trailer that houses
all the utensils, clothing, old machinery and rope that you'd ever need. Still,
owning the sole Corvair on the island challenged me. Our local mechanic, who
remembers every island car as parents remember their children, could not recall
completing many repairs on the car. As an automotive editor I knew of Clark's,
whose catalogue became invaluable. As a web site designer I found Virtual Vairs,
the Corvair Forum and a few other enthusiasts in Maine. As an active member of a
community I joined CORSA and received a copy of "Corvair Basics." Improving the
running the car from this island seemed daunting until I tapped our local
resources.
During a dump run I mentioned to the dumpmaster, a gearhead himself, that the
car pinged and smoked badly. "Well," he said, "Lamont has just emptied out his
old store and brought some car stuff here." I peered in a shed and found two
metal cans of Cleveland Distillates Motor-Kleanz. As the song says, "it smelled
like turpentine and looked like India ink" but within 5 minutes of driving, the
valve clatter had gone and the smoking had diminished considerably. Adjusting
and polishing the points with emery cloth, then timing the car, reduced the
pinging [sadly, only regular grade gas is sold at our one gas outlet, a pump at
the Fisherman's Co-Op]. A Unisyn purchased for my TR-7 also helped balance the
carbs on the Monza. A check of the brake shoes and drums revealed some glazing
but no significant leaks; cleaning everything and replacing the old brake fluid
helped reduce the brake grabbing significantly.
When a friend cleaned out his father-in-law's workshop, he found lots of old
power tools, automotive polishes and greases; they all came home with me. Along
with some bondo [purchased at our local boatyard] the small rust holes have been
covered up and a great deal of elbow grease has restored some luster to the
original paint. New heater hoses provided me with enough heat to use the car
during our snowy, cold winters, and enjoy the benefits of rear-wheel drive
traction.
Our island roads don't go on very far but they sure do twist and turn. A new set
of radial tires helped bolster the car's handling and make every drive its own
autocross. The car has enough poke to induce some throttle oversteer - which I
love - and the desired light steering touch so you can throw it through every
corner. Island kids and teenagers compliment me on the car; summer people stop
you to tell their own Corvair stories or those of their parents.
Maine has a nascent Corvair club, Dirigo Corvairs, which has provided me excuses
to take the car to the mainland twice, once for a 2 hour round trip and once for
a 6 hour round trip. In September, I'll make the 11 hour round trip [3 hours of
it on the ferry] to western Massachusetts for the bi-annual Clark's Corvair
"Fall Classic" with the Bay State Corvair Club. With luck I'll be able to convoy
with other Maine Corvair owners. I'm sticking a tent, sleeping bag and cooler
into the folded rear seat of the Monza and, as we say on Vinalhaven, "heading
for America." It will be a "well suhr, wicked good time."
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MAP SHOWING LOCATIONS OF CORSA CHAPTERS
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AUSTIN-HEALEY 2000 ELECTRIC OVERDRIVE
The following article appeared in the Miata Internet newsgroup:
http://miata.net/
Date: April 2003
From: Jim Pittman, CORVAIRS OF NEW MEXICO
Time for one of my Austin-Healey 3000 Mk III stories. My 1965 Healey had a
four-speed with electric overdrive. It worked only on third and fourth gears,
controlled by a toggle switch on the dash. How were first, second and reverse
prohibited from working with the overdrive? There was another switch mounted
on (or maybe in) the gearbox -- when the shift lever was on the RIGHT side of
the H-pattern (and therefore in 3rd or 4th gears) the gearbox switch was
turned on and the dash switch could control the overdrive; when the shift
lever was to the LEFT side of the H-pattern (and therefore in 1st or 2nd or
reverse) the dash switch didn't do anything.
The overdrive was great when cruising down the highway in fourth, but the
third overdrive ratio was pretty useless since it was nearly the same as
fourth direct.
But, with the overdrive you had a six-speed gearbox! Well, really a five-speed
since third OD and fourth direct were so close.
Now, the Healey had a stump-puller (i.e., very low) ratio for first gear, and
the second gear ratio was pretty low as well. Then there was a big gap to the
third gear ratio, and then a smaller gap to fourth. If you plotted them on
paper they might look like this:
I found when shifting up (or down) through the gears, that gap between second
and third was very irritating because after the shift your RPMs would tend to
be too low (or too high) for the next gear.
Someone suggested that it would be easy to disable that gearbox-mounted switch,
making the overdrive available in every gear (including reverse) but warned
that you should only actually use it with second because the torque in first
would damage the overdrive unit, and NEVER NEVER NEVER use it in reverse. But,
if you could limit yourself to second gear, you'd get a much neater set of gear
ratios, like this:
In effect, you'd have a seven-speed gearbox! Well, really a six-speed since
third OD and fourth direct were so close.
It did not take me long to disable that switch, and then I spent a lot of time
mounting a thumb-operated switch ON THE GEARSHIFT KNOB so I could change into
and out of overdrive while shifting! Wow! Was this a neat toy or what! You'd
switch off OD, start in first, shift to second, switch to OD in second, shift
to third while simultaneously switching off OD, switch on OD in third, and
finally shift to fourth OD.
Complicated? Yes, but part of the challenge of driving a sports car is learning
how to use the transmission efficiently. It soon became a skill.
I tried to always use the clutch when switching in and out of overdrive in order
to save gear train wear. It just seemed to me that making the car lurch when you
switched into or out of overdrive couldn't be good.
It would make a great story of youthful folley if I could tell you that within
a week I accidentally engaged overdrive at 5,500 RPM in first gear and shelled
the overdrive unit, but actually I was very careful and only used OD in second,
third and fourth and never had any problems with it. The switch mounted on the
gearshift knob was a great improvement and I enjoyed using it a lot.
I only had my 1965 Austin-Healey 3000 Mk III for a year. When I sold the car I
carefully explained to the new owner why he should NEVER NEVER NEVER use the
overdrive switch in first or reverse, but whether he did or not I never knew.
- Jim Pittman - 1996 Miata - 1990 Civic - 1965 Corvair
}}} Electric overdrive? What's that?
}}
}} Some British cars of the '50s and '60s were offered with an optional
}} Laycock-deNormanville overdrive unit. It was a separate gearbox
}} installed on the rear of the transmission, activated by an electric
}} switch on the dash or shift lever, which usually worked in all but the
}} lowest forward gear. That is, being British, when they worked at all...
}} --
}} Lanny Chambers, St. Louis, USA
}} '94C
}} the alignment page:
}} http://www.hummingbirds.net/alignment.html
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CORVAIR INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION TRIP
Art Gold
June 23rd - June 28th 2008
Hello all. What you are about to read will most definitely make you laugh, cry
and sweat. All of these emotions will be attributed to an event that is near and
dear to our hearts, the Corvair International Convention. This tremendous event,
held in Ventura, California, was not only a stimulation for the mind, but also
the senses. So sit back, and enjoy the ride, through the eyes of an enthusiast
of the car that made all rear engine cars breathtaking, the Chevrolet Corvair.
To start things off, a little information concerning Ventura, California is
necessary. Ventura began its history in 1782 as Mission San Buenaventura,
founded by Father Juni'pero Serra. After the Civil War, settlers came to the
area, buying land from the Mexicans, or simply as squatters. Vast holdings were
later acquired by Easterners, including the railroad magnate, Thomas Scott. He
was impressed by one of the young employees, Thomas R. Bard, who had been in
charge of train supplies to Union troops, and Bard was sent west to handle
Scott's property. By 1914, Bard and the Union Oil Company brought jobs and a
thriving economy to the area. With the strong economy, roads and highways were
being built to and from Ventura. From then on, Ventura has become a popular
tourist destination, retirement community, and of course, home to the 2008
Corvair International Convention.
What you are about to read is a real depiction of the day-by-day events of the
Corvair International Convention and the transit between, as experienced by
Geoff Johnson, Sally Williams, Baby Mara (2 months old) and yours truly, Art
Gold.
June 23rd 2008
We were on our way. The Dodge Magnum (courtesy of Hertz) was all gassed up.
Geoff, Sally, baby Mara, and myself were all strapped in, and were dizzy with
excitement to begin our 900-mile pilgrimage to the convention. We decided to
stop over in Flagstaff, Arizona on the way. Tired and weary from the late start,
we picked a hotel for the night, recommended by Geoff. After paying an
outlandish fee for the room, we had to check out the room. To use the word
quaint for the place would be putting it mildly. There was barely enough room
for one person to stay there, but three adults, one baby, luggage, and a
wheelchair was just plum ridiculous. So after some rearranging of the furniture
and a few repairs to the toilet, we knocked off and got a sound night of sleep,
to the harmonious sounds of train horns outside our window.
June 24th 2008
We awake, rested but tired. We strap baby Mara in and we depart our deluxe
accommodations, en route to the breakfast of the gods, Jack in the Box. After a
fuel of both stomach and tank, we head out to complete our quest, Ventura.
During the journey, we stop in Needles, California for a pit stop and lunch
(again Jack in the Box). First thing we notice is the gas prices at the local
economy gas station of $5.39 for regular. I guess the gas in Needles must be of
the champagne quality. We trudge on, finally making it to Ventura that
afternoon. We then find our hotel, nap, eat some dinner with Geoff's uncle, and
sack out once again, with dreams of a new day of the convention ahead of us. By
the way, Baby Mara was great!
June 25th 2008
We awake, have some more breakfast of the gods at the ole' Jack in the Box, and
joyfully travel to the convention, seeing many cool 'Vairs along the way. Upon
entering the convention, we see a really cool 1960 for sale. We drooled and
moved on. The day was quite eventful, with registration, ogling parts we desired
and needed, talking to various patrons of interiors and paint, interesting
collectors, and best of all, conversing with big wigs of CORSA. We even go to
see the rarest Corvair of them all, a 1969 coupe, test car. A thing of beauty it
was. We rounded out the day with a nice small dinner at In and Out Burger and
hit the hay.
This was also the day of parts, parts, and more parts. Geoff and I made a few
purchases at Clark's, Larry's and Lon's. We pretty much bought everything we
deemed necessary for our cars. We also made some purchases that were just plain
splendid, such as posters, key chains, decals, manuals, mugs, T-shirts, and a
pacemaker (for when we saw the credit card bill). Sally really enjoyed viewing a
turquoise 1962 coupe, which could be described with one simple word, perfect.
June 26th 2008
This was the day of the autocross. Having spent our wad, we were lucky to have
the opportunity to catch the annual convention autocross. The event was
separated into three classes (open, modified, and just plain cool). As the cars
were traversing the course, we were waiting with bated breath for the stars of
the show to make their run, the Greenbriers and the Lakewoods. When they did let
them go, they did not disappoint. A 1962 Greenbrier actually got on two wheels
through a tight turn. Now that is a sight, and possibility one of the greatest
moments of the entire convention.
June 27th 2008
As is the case with all good things, they must come to an end. We had to get
back to the Burque once again and begin arduously writing articles, wading
through all the pictures and building storage areas for the various parts and
trinkets we purchased. It did seem like smooth sailing at first upon departing
Ventura, until we got to Payson, Arizona. I decided that I would drive us home,
but the hand controls that were installed by Hertz, decided to fail. Luckily, we
were not in motion at the time of discovery. Geoff graciously offered to finish
up the drive home, and hence a complaint to the wondrous powers of the Hertz
Corporation was expressed. They did refund the rental, and both sides walked
away content, well, except for me, and you should know why by now.
Well that concludes our little excursion of the ages to the Corvair
International Convention. Hopefully, you were inspired, or at the least
entertained. See you next from Jacksonville, Florida!
Art Gold reporting