2002 TRI-STATE - GRAND JUNCTION, COLORADO Updated 17-Jun-2014 ==== Copyright (c) 2014 Corvairs of New Mexico ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TRI-STATE - GRAND JUNCTION, COLORADO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wendell Walker Jim Pittman asked me to write something about the Tri-State meet. After the shock wore off, I tried to tell him that Ilva was my writer and that I just didn't have the ability to do this type of thing. He out-paused me and in a moment of self pity, I said, "Maybe I should try," so here goes. It all started several weeks ago when, looking at my '64 Corvair, I noticed that the front suspension had a tiny sway-bar instead of the correct one - one of many things wrong with this car. I had a '65 front end on a parts car and decided to try to switch it to the '64. Better brakes, stronger sway-bar, and just better. The swap was perfect and all went well. Well, not really, it just looked like a perfect front end. I went for a drive around the block. One brake was oily, great car to turn left when you try to stop. I almost got into the left curb before it stopped. Back to garage and after new shoes, the thing stopped fine. I went into Albuquerque on the next trip, dumb and happy. This car will take me to the Tri-State! But what is that noise I hear, sounds like something loose. No problem! I'll get it aligned and they'll probably find a loose bolt that I overlooked. No problem? guess what? this like-new front end has a very loose lower left ball joint. "You better change that thing," they said. Back to the garage again. It's getting close to Tri-State time. Ordered new ball joints and lower arm bushings, that took three days, another day to install, all is well. Test drive and the noise now is better, but now it sounds like someone has a small hammer and is hitting the body every time I hit a little bump in the road. Being an engineer I started to remove parts to see when the noise stops, one at a time. Lo and behold the first thing off was the shocks, the noise is gone, time has run out and the Tri-State is only two days away. "If the Corvair has Bump Steer, I'm in deep do do." After trying this car out on a bumpy road, I'm happy to say, "No Problem." Bump Steer is when a wheel hits a bump in the road, the wheel turns slightly and the car tries to move one way or the other. The Corvair doesn't. Many of my friends were less than happy that I tried to drive without shocks, but I kept the front trunk very light, and the car ran fine. On to Grand Junction, Colorado. I met Steve and Emily Gongora at our prearranged point on I-25, and we headed to Santa Fe, met with Tarmo & Kay Sutt, and their two wonderful students, whose names are pronounced "Or" and "My-sue-me." I can't spell their real names. We met Mark Domzalski in EspaNola, NM, divided up to have two in a car and headed to Durango, Colorado. It was a very nice drive. After getting into Durango and settled in a downtown motel, Mark, Steve, Emily, Tarmo and I walked around until a lady invited us to come in to hear her play the piano and sing. She was really great, old '40s songs. She looked at me and said, "This isn't a nasty bar." (She thought I might object. Little did she know, we were worried about Emily's age.) Everything was fine and fun. Friday came and we drove to Grand Junction, stopping only for GAS, FOOD, BATHROOM, and Mark's stalled car, don't know what that was all about, because it started up fine after a 5 minute rest at the crest of the mountain. My little car was slowing down the whole trip, it only wanted to go 30 MPH on a lot of the passes. I'm going to make that little bugger into a 140 HP as soon as I can. Friday night we all laid back and renewed friendships. Saturday Car Show, about 35 or 40 Corvairs, good, great, and bad, but fun. A nice crowd showed up to admire the cars. One man ask if Ralph knew we were doing this show. I told him that I had asked his permission. Saturday afternoon, on the Poker Run, my navigator, Ruth Boydston and I tried to follow the map, missed the very first turn, drove and drove and drove looking for the turnoff. When we found a sign saying "Welcome to Colorado" we decided we must be entering UTAH so we turned back. 'NUFF SAID about that. The trip was in Monument State Park, and beautiful, I'm sending some pictures to Jim, maybe he can find room for a few. Dinner Saturday night was a blast with good food and lots of door prizes. I can't remember who all the winners in the car show were but Rocky Mountain CORSA won for the most members present, 39 I think it was, Utah and Corvairs of NM had 17 each. I didn't get the number attending from Pikes Peak. That's about it. I'm sure I have left a lot out. Jim wanted me to describe in tiresome detail the fun we had driving through Montrose, Colorado. While the southbound two lanes and the middle passing lane were nearly empty, only one northbound lane was open and the line of trucks and cars ahead of us stretched as far as we could see! Creep ahead a few seconds, then wait! Some of us found the hour or so (well, it seemed like hours) in Montrose quite a chore. But, we all survived and got to Grand Junction in one piece. Thanks to Rocky Mountain CORSA for making this a fine Tri-State. Thanks to Laura Wilshire for an efficient after-banquet ceremony! We all seemed to get home okay which is the important thing. What a GREAT time we had. I love this group. Wendy