This page contains material from the April 2002 newsletter

EDITOR Jim Pittman NEXT MEETING: Wednesday April 3rd, 7:30 PM Galles Chevrolet, Lomas & University THIS MONTH: Dues Due, New Members Sylvan Zuercher March Meeting Notes Chuck Vertrees March Board Notes Chuck Vertrees Driver's Seat Robert Gold Calendar of Coming Events Everybody CNM Ladies Anne Mae Gold Seven Years Ago Jim Pittman For Sale, Trade or Wanted Everybody Battery & Clutch Pedal Mark Martinek Worldwide Automotive Preview Jerry Goffe New Clark's Catalog Bill Reider Restoring another Corvair Richard Finch Progressive Dinner Comments Del Patten Tri-State Hotels Laura Wilshire TECHNICAL: User Support for Etch-a-sketch (the Internet) COVER: Old Route 66 Cleanup photo by Robert Gold Progressive Dinner photos by Jim Pittman == POLICE # 1: While taking a routine vandalism report at an elementary school, I was interrupted by a little girl about six years old. Looking up and down at my uniform, she asked, "Are you a cop?" "Yes," I answered and continued writing the report. "My mother said if I ever needed help I should ask the police. Is that right?" "Yes, that's right," I told her. "Well, then," she said as she extended her foot toward me, "would you please tie my shoe?" POLICE # 2: It was the end of the day when I parked my police van in front of the station. As I gathered my equipment, my K-9 partner, Jake, was barking, and I saw a little boy staring in at me. "Is that a dog you got back there?" he asked. "It sure is," I replied. Puzzled, the boy looked at me and then towards the back of the van. Finally he said, "What'd he do?" DEATH: While walking along the sidewalk in front of his church, our minister heard the intoning of a prayer that nearly made his collar wilt. Apparently, his five-year-old son and his playmates had found a dead robin. Feeling that proper burial should be performed, they had secured a small box and cotton batting, then dug a hole and made ready for the disposal of the deceased. The minister's son was chosen to say the appropriate prayers and with sonorous dignity intoned his version of what he thought his father always said: "Glory be unto the Faaaather. .and unto the Sonnn . ...... and into the hole he gooooes." (Source -- where else? -- the Internet.) Dues Expired or Due or Approaching Due: Bill McClellan 2002-Apr Tarmo Sutt 2002-May Terry Price 2002-May Gordon Johnson 2002-Jun Mark Domzalski 2002-Jun Richard Finch 2002-Jun Mark Morgan 2002-Jun If your membership is due or has expired, please send your dues to: Wendell Walker, CNM Treasurer, 301 Utah Meadow, Rio Rancho, NM 87124 Note: the Club will mail in your National dues when you renew, but only if you send us the renewal form from CORSA Communique! == New Members: (1) Jay Ecclestone 2119 Candelareo Santa Fe, NM 87505 Jay and his wife Sherry have a 1965 Corsa coupe and they are possibly looking to upgrade the engine which may only be a 98-HP 145CI replacement engine. Jay lists his occupation as Optician, so those of us who are bleary eyed in the morning, may be able to get some help. (2) Mike Hacker 608 Dartmouth Pl. SE Albuquerque, NM 87106 Mike is into VWs and has a 1970 bus which will get a complete Corvair powertrain from a wrecked 1964 coupe which has been purchased. Mike is getting info from Clark's about doing the conversion. And, we do have members with experience in this area! After twenty-eight years of members with numerous professions and avenues of work, Mike has the distinction of being the first attorney to join CNM. Now the membership will have someone new to pick on instead of just federal and state government employees and present and former city employees! A sincere CNM welcome to these new members! -- Sylvan Zuercher -- Membership Chairman. == MARCH MEETING NOTES Chuck Vertrees The March meeting was called to order at Galles Chevrolet on March 6th at 19:35. All officers were present. I counted the membership present and we had 29 on hand. We were glad to have Sylvan Zuercher back with us and he introduced new members Jay and Sherry Ecclestone and Mike Hacker. Jay and Jerry are from Santa Fe and he is the manager of a Lenscrafter store there. They have a 1965 Corsa that they got about a year ago and it was a real basket case. They also have a 1965 hard top that is a daily driver. Mike has a 1964 which was wrecked; he intends to take the engine from it for a VW bus. He would like to sell the rest for parts, since his wife wants it gone. We have two other VM bus-Corvair mergers in the club. Those belong to Robert Gold and Joel Nash and they will be available for answers. The minutes of the last meeting were approved as printed in the newsletter. Treasurer Wendell Walker reported that CNM has $583.77 in the checking account and $5,000.00 in the GMAC account for a total of $5,583.77. The GMAC Demand Note is currently paying 3.4%. Mark Martinek reported on the Car Council meeting. There will be an "Old Route 66" Car Show in Albuquerque on July 26, 27 and 28 of this year. The city is not involved this year. The show will be a mobile show conducted in several locations. Those with web browser capability can get more information at www.the-mother-road.com. Mike Gonzales reported that Sandia Sports Park would like to conduct a large car show at their location in late May or early June. This seemed to not be the best time, so Mike will discuss this with the park people. The Los Lunas representatives gave their pitch for holding the Council's annual car show and swap met at a 13-acre site at the Los Lunas Visitors center. After some discussion a motion was made, seconded and approved that the NMCCC would sever relations with the Albuquerque Museum and would hold the 18th Annual Car Show at the Los Lunas site. It was also approved to have the show on Sunday May 19th. (This change in time was made to avoid conflict with the Route 66 Hot Rodders Swap meet; however, it conflicts with CNM's participation in the Tri-State Meet.) People to run the show have been found. The Annual Swap Meet will also be held at the same location on September 29th as a one-day affair. The annual NMCCC picnic will be on August 4th. Mark Domzalski reported that he had been contacted by the Cactus Corvair Club and they would like for CNM to help supply workers for registration in Flagstaff. A sign up sheet was circulated. Mark also mentioned that all CORSA members had received a ballot to vote for Western District board members, and to be sure to send it in so that we would have a high response rate. It was interesting to see how many members had brought their ballot to the meeting so they could all be sent in together. It would be great if CNM would have a 100% rate. Mark had also suggested to the CORSA board that the society needed an award to recognize service to CORSA. It would not be a competitive award. There are a lot of CORSA members who have worked long and hard for the society without recognition or expectation of reward. They should be recognized! If you have any ideas contact Mark. Sylvan recognized Geoffrey Johnson as a new member. Geoffrey is the son of one of our founding members, Carl Johnson. Geoffrey has a 1963 coupe. Robert Gold said he had a good time at the garage tour but had hoped for better attendance at Dave Langlois' garage. Anna Mae Gold reminded everyone about the progressive dinner on March 16th. A map is in the newsletter. A signup sheet was circulated to find out how many are coming so the hosts will know how much to prepare. Members were also reminded of the Old Route 66 cleanup on March 9th. A sign up sheet was sent around on that also. The members who are heading up the Tri-State planning in 2003 are going to Raton on the 26th to check out the location. There will not be a pre-registration for the 2002 Tri-State in Grand Junction; register when you arrive. Mark has reviewed the CNM Constitution and by-laws and did not find any renovations needed. Possibly a few slight updates are in order, though. The meeting was adjourned at 20:20. == MARCH BOARD MEETING NOTES Chuck Vertrees The board met on 3/20/02 at "House of Covers." The meeting was called to order by Vice President Larry Blair at 17:25. Present were Steve Gongora, Jim Pittman, Bill Reider, Wendell Walker, Larry Blair and Chuck Vertrees. The Minutes of the last board meeting were approved as printed in the newsletter. Treasurer, Wendell Walker, reported that CNM had $788.77 in the checking account and $5,000.00 in the GMAC fund for a total worth of $5,788.77. Larry brought up the subject of how we were financially, as compared with our status right after the 1996 convention. We have about $2,00.00 less than we had right after the convention. It was brought up that we have increased our assets with patches, license plates, and other things. Also, we made donations to the Wheels Museum, we bought a flag pole in honor of Francis Boydston and we did many other things. It happened that Wendell had brought me some figures that I needed to file an IRS Form 990 and they showed that we had spent $132.33 more that we took in in 2001, but again, that was offset with the accumulation of some property. Larry expressed appreciation to the members who showed up for the Route 66 cleanup. We had about twelve CNM members who were there so it didn't take a lot of time. Interestingly, some said there was more trash than usual; some said there was less. The turnout for the progressive dinner was very good and everyone seemed to have a good time. Thanks go to the Golds, the Pattens and the Wilverts. Bill Reider has the new edition of the "Care and Feeding" book about 95 percent done. He needs information on the requirements for the Boydston award and the Meissner award. Also he needs any updates to the chapter bylaws. Larry said he would get in touch with Mark Domzalski and get his committee's results. There are many hours of research that go into the compiling of the information in the "Care and Feeding" book, so everyone should give Bill a pat on the back for all the work he puts into each revision. Upcoming events were discussed. At the April meeting, Bill Reider will give a presentation on carburetors. Also in April there will be the time available at WorldWide Auto on the 6th, which is the Saturday after the meeting. We have a certain number of spaces reserved for CNM. Look elsewhere in this newsletter for detailed information by Jerry Goffe. We will need to have a sign up at the meeting. Also in April there will be a meeting on the 27th at Del Norte on carburetor synchronization, etc. Larry will get in touch with John Wiker to be sure this is all set. After the May meeting we are scheduled for a talk by a representative of Octopus Car Wash. Mark Domzalski asked for volunteers to help the Cactus Corvair Club with registration at the convention in Flagstaff. A signup sheet was passed around. We need to check with Mark and see if he got enough people signed up. Larry suggested that CNM members could wear their club shirts at Flagstaff. All of the older members have two or more of the blue shirts with the logo on the back. (As I was writing this up, it dawned on me that CNM members who joined after we put on the Convention would not have the shirt. Do we need to order new shirts for everyone?) Bill said that he had 19 people who had signed up for a Clark's Catalog. He figured we should order 25 or 30 to allow for those who were not at the meeting, etc. The board authorized that he should order 25. Wendell brought the new traveling attendance trophy for the Tri-State meeting. There are 36 little plaques on the big one, with 18 filled in. There are 18 blank ones for future meetings. There are two slight errors that we should probably correct. One plaque says we had a meeting in Lake City, NM and another says we had a meeting in Durango, NM. (Actually, some said, southern Colorado should belong to New Mexico anyway.) Wendell said he'd get the errors fixed to put Lake City and Durango in their correct state. Larry read a list of possible after-meeting tech talks or events for the club that he had written up when he was President several years ago. Some had already been done but there were quite a few that sounded interesting to the board. We will follow up on these. The meeting was adjourned at 18:30. == FROM THE DRIVER'S SEAT Robert Gold I'm amazed at how quickly this year is moving along. I had been looking forward to the Progressive Dinner and now it's over. I certainly wasn't disappointed. Since I love to eat other people's cooking (I'm a terrible cook! -- ask Anne Mae), it was a treat to "dig in" at each stop. My wife, Anne Mae, created a selection of soups that would have done a four star restaurant proud. Del and Kim Patten followed that up with a fine spread of home cookin' featuring chicken that I couldn't stop eating. Last, but of course not least, Hurley and Brenda Wilvert tempted us all with their tasty treats for dessert. I guess the best part of the evening was the fact that so many people turned out for the festivities. Thanks to you all in the CNM community. Ok, now that I've talked about food I'll shift gears and talk about trash! The kind of trash you find on the side of Route 66. On Saturday, March 9 under the leadership of Dave Huntoon a large group of club members met to clean up our mile of the historic route. I'm happy to report that the weather was nice with not too much wind. The trash unfortunately was plentiful, but thanks to the hard work of the CNM crew we eliminated it from the landscape. I personally want to thank Mark Martinek for his willingness to carry some rather large pieces of trash until they could be disposed of. However, it's not true that I timed things so I wouldn't have to carry them. That gives me too much credit for prior planning! Speaking of planning, with April coming on it's time for us to be thinking about preparing our vehicles for the Spring and Summer. With this in mind the club has planned a series of events focusing on car repairs. We'll be kicking things off with a talk at the April 3rd meeting by Bill Reider on all things dealing with carburetors. This talk may come at a good time for me, since a couple of weeks ago I started my '65 Monza and watched in horror as gas spewed out the left side carburetor. It occurred to me that something might need to be fixed before I do too much traveling. So I'll definitely be interested in what Bill has to say. The second stop on our April tech trip will be on Saturday, April 6 when Worldwide Automotive opens its doors to us so we can do some heavy duty vehicle inspections and repairs. You'll need to contact Jerry Goffe about the particulars of that event. Or, come to our regular April 3rd meeting at Galles Chevrolet. Lastly, John Wiker has been kind enough to volunteer the use (including restrooms!) of his shop at Del Norte High School so we can work on carburetors. Bill Reider will be the guru for that session. Hopefully, by the end of April our Corvairs will be "good to go." In keeping with my tendency to bore the membership about my fleet of Corvairs, I want to relate my latest tale of woe. I'll entitle this the "Buyer's remorse" saga or the "Don't wish for something - you might actually get it" story. It seems I coveted a beautiful red and white Rampside that Dave Langlois had. After two years of encouragement from me Dave finally sold me that beauty. However, in the bargain I had to dispose of my daily driver Rampside to keep peace in the family. It was several weeks later that I made a disturbing discovery. I now own one of the nicest Rampsides I've ever seen (sorry Mark Domzalski!) but now I don't have anything to haul my junk around. I'll definitely be keeping my new truck, but I need to warn my friends with pickups that they may be getting a call from me for help. I guess that's it for now. See you at the next meeting on Wednesday, April 3. -- Robert Gold == ============================================================================ C O R V A I R S o f N E W M E X I C O C O M I N G E V E N T S ============================================================================ | | | | | A p r i l | M a y | J u n e | | | | | | : 1 2 3 4 5 6 | : : : 1 2 3 4 | : : : : : : 1 | | 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 | 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 | 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 | | 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 | 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 | 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 | | 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 | 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 | 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 | | 28 29 30 : : : : | 26 27 28 29 30 31 : | 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 | | : : : : : : : | : : : : : : : | 30 : : : : : : | ============================================================================ Wed 3rd Apr 7:30 PM Regular Meeting - GALLES CHEVROLET 1601 Lomas NE Wed 3rd Apr 7:30 PM Tech talk: Bill Reider on carburetors Sat 13th Apr 1:00 PM Maintenance Day, World Wide Automotive. Jerry Goffe. Sat 13th Apr 1:00-4:00 CNM Ladies Brenda Wilvert 15 Oakmont Ridge Rd Sandia Park Wed 17th Apr 5:00 PM Board Meeting - House of Covers Fri 19th Apr 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman Sat 27th Apr ....... Carburetor Workshop - more information later. Sat 27th Apr 8:00 AM "PoppyRun2002, Ventura County Corvairs (California) Wed 1st May 7:30 PM Regular Meeting - GALLES CHEVROLET 1601 Lomas NE Wed 1st May 7:30 PM Tech talk: Octopus Car Wash Sun 5th May ...?... Albuquerque Museum Car Show Canceled! Sat 11th May 1:00-4:00 CNM Ladies - Kay Sutt 2504 Calle de Ricon Bonita, Santa Fe Wed 15th May 5:00 PM Board Meeting - House of Covers Thu 16th May ....... Caravan to Durango on the way to the Tri-State (?) Fri-Sun 17-19 May Tri-State Meet - Grand Junction, Colorado Sun 19th May ....... New Mexico Car Council Car Show - Los Lunas Fri 24th May 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman Wed 5th Jun 7:30 PM Regular Meeting - GALLES CHEVROLET 1601 Lomas NE Sat-Sun 8th-9th Jun Campout - Ruth's Cabin in the Pecos and CNM Ladies Wed 19th Jun 5:00 PM Board Meeting - House of Covers Fri 21st Jun 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman Tue-Sat 25-29 Jun 2002 CORSA International Convention - Flagstaff, Arizona Sun 4th Aug ........ NMCCC All-Club Picnic - Elks Lodge =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=++=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= CNM Ladies -by- Anne Mae Gold The CNM Ladies meetings are set through the summer. Get your calendars and pencil us in... remember it is open to any female remotely linked to the Corvair Club of NM... there are no dues, no membership, nothing like that, so just come out and join us! April 13th Brenda Wilvert will host us up in the east mountains. May 11th we'll caravan up to Santa Fe where we will be at Kay Sutt's home. June 8th we will have the annual CNM campout up in the Pecos Wilderness, where Ruth Boydston hosts us on her property. Bring your shovels and you can help me dig an outhouse since I'm one of her new neighbors! In July we will gather at my home...that'll be on July 13. On August 10 we will caravan out to Placitas and be the guests of Elizabeth Domzalski. Addresses and directions will be published in upcoming newsletters. I want to thank all of you again for welcoming us into your homes. I really look forward to seeing you at these gatherings, you have all become very dear to my heart and I know that that feeling is shared by many of the women that attend. Hasta la Pasta! - Anne Mae SUBJECT: ACTIVITIES - VENTURA COUNTY CORVAIRS Newsletter Editor: Please include these two events in your next newsletter. Flyers and our 2002 Activities Calendar will be mailed soon. We are always happy to promote any of your planned events. Thanks, Jack Pinard - Corvair Chronicle Editor, Ventura County Corvairs - jackpinard@cs.com, 805 984-2692 Saturday, April 27 "PoppyRun2002" Ventura County Corvairs again sponsors SoCal's largest Corvair driving tour. Enjoy interesting country and mountain roads to and from Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve. Fun for all the family. Open to Corvairs and other car enthusiasts. Meet on I-5 in Castaic. $15 car includes T-shirts and refreshments. 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., breaks. Entry form: PoppyRun2002, Box 6032, Ventura CA 93006. jackpinard@cs.com or phone 805 984-2692. Sunday May 5 or 12, "Ventura County Corvairs again sponsors Corvair Autocross Day at Camarillo Airport. Special opportunity for novice and seasoned drivers to test skills in their favorite fun car. This is the only Corvair Club sponsored autocross in California, and only autocross in Ventura County. Limited entrants. Corvair bodied or powered cars have priority. Great fun for participants and spectators. 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Will repeat on September 1 or 8. Entry form: Autocross, Box 6032, Ventura CA 93006 or jackpinard@cs.com. Brian Shaneman, 805 794-7913. == SEVEN YEARS AGO - April 1995 - Volume 21 - Number 4 Our cover must have been intended as an April Fool joke because otherwise the transcontinental railroad scene would have made no sense. V.P. Bob Beasley ran our meeting. Guests were Chuck Gauna who had a 1964 sedan and Ralph Larkin who wanted to sell a set of '65 wire wheel covers. Thanks were expressed to the newsletter staff for getting the newsletter to members well before the meeting. Will Davis reported $1408 in the kitty. Bill Reider reported on the NMCCC meeting. A Route 66 Festival was being sponsored by the Giant Oil Company. The swap meet was up in the air. The August picnic was planned for the Elk's Campground. VMCCA planned a picnic at Cochiti and all were invited. An audit of the CNM finances was on hold. More harmonic balancer cores were needed before making a club order. There was discussion of how harmonic balancers prevented fractured crankshafts. Convention planning was expected to go into high gear after the Dallas convention was over. Steve passed around new business cards. Ollie brought up the need for the Club to be involved in some public service activity and gave as an example the Low Rider Club's contribution to Toys for Tots. Technical discussions included the pros and cons of vapor injection and repairing the window winder mechanism in early models. Bill said he'd have a sign-up sheet at the April meeting to order new Clark's catalogs. President Larry said we should ask him about his Radial Keratotomy and about his visit with the president of Cactus Corvairs in Phoenix. The Arizona folks were interested in attending our Tri-State meetings someday. Sylvan previewed our trip to Travertine Marble Works in Belen, and made a pitch that all CNMers should go to Red River Rendezvous II in May. A plethora of tech tips: vapor injection, replacing a break cable, driving instead of storing, replacing fuel pumps, tightening loose horn buttons, fixing erratic auto upshifts, and, finally, a toy Corvair on the back cover just like those toy tanks they used to print on the inside of KIX cereal boxes for the kids to cut out and glue together. FOURTEEN YEARS AGO - April 1988 - Volume 14 - Number 4 Our cover must have been another April Fool joke because it showed the battleship NEW MEXICO in full WWII fighting trim. The ship survived the kamikaze attacks and its bell now resides near the SUB at the University of New Mexico. We had "Mark Twain" as a guest at the March meeting. President Reider said we had only about a 50% rate of CORSA membership. Several members planned to go to Canon City for the Tri-State. Francis was putting together a group purchase of electric fuel pumps. Tech tips told how to deal with the unpleasant smell of leaking gasoline. TWENTY-ONE YEARS AGO - April 1981 - Volume 7 Number 4 The cover had our friendly dragon getting in trouble for pouring honey on a police car as an April Fool trick. We had 26 members and guests. Robin DeVore brought in a front suspension for a talk on alignment by Jim Haskew of Beeline Safety. There were ten tech tips in this issue! TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS AGO - April 1974 On Wednesday 20 April 1974 a meeting was held to formally start a Corvair Club. Francis Boydston, Pete Colburn, Rick Grable, Dale Housley, Carl Johnson, Mark Morgan, Jim Pittman and Duncan Puett attended and became the founding fathers of CNM. == * * * * * * * * * * * * * FOR SALE, TRADE OR WANTED * * * * * * * * * * * FOR SALE: 1964 Corvair Monza - wrecked front end - whole car minus engine and trani or parting out. Mike Hacker 256-0682 FOR SALE: 1955 Ford Crown Victoria - red and white - $10,000.00 Mark Martinek - 275-3271 WANTED: 1963 Radio Bezel for push button radio. Geoff Johnson - 720-1484 FOR SALE: 1960 Monza coupe -- $650.00 Needs ground up restoration. Automatic, Radio, gas heater. Powder coated engine shrouding. Full set of '60 Monza wheel covers. Extra front & rear suspension, less than 27000 miles. Assembly & Shop Manuals for the '60 Corvair. Extra gas heater parts. FOR SALE: Black Clark's carpet late coupe $100 Padded dash Clarks 65-66 installed on metal support, black $150 Black headliner Clarks late model coupe $60 Late model 3.55 automatic differential $75 One complete set of Corvair Underground late model fuzzies $50 Call Bill Reider at 299-4597 WANTED: Late model coupe lower fenders Ollie Scheflow 897-2611 FOR SALE: 1962 Greenbrier 140-hp 4-speed Mike Stickler 344-2039 * * * * * CNM ADS ARE FREE TO CNM MEMBERS, $5.00 TO NON-CNM MEMBERS * * * * * == ROUTE 66 CLEANUP, 3/9/02 Dave Huntoon I was a little concerned about the weather for our first cleanup of the year. It was 12 degrees at my place in the early morning, but the sun was out and the winds of the previous day and evening had relented. Our usual leader, the globe trotting Ollie, had entrusted me with the tools of the occasion and soon thereafter departed for a cruise of Cape Horn. Should be a good story in there somewhere. Our esteemed leaders, President Robert and VP Larry were present. The other usual members of our cleanup crew included Steve, Del, Chuck and Julia, Joel, Jim, and Mark M. A new member of our cheerful crew this cleanup was Gordon Johnson; thanks Gordon for your support. We finished in two hours and had collected 23 bags of detritus cast off by some of the more unthinking members of the human race. Guess it takes all kinds. I did find out that my Bug can carry about 800 pounds in the form of four adult males with no serious consequences. It made it up the hill, but I think it may have bottomed out several times. I would like to thank everybody for making this TDY assignment a moderate success. Hey, nobody got hurt, thanks again. Dave Huntoon - aka Corvair66 and Bug61 == CORVAIR GATHERING, ST GEORGE, UTAH Mark Martinek Chapter 1: Preparation time, Departure Day - 2 Weeks (or, "What Else Can Happen?") Mary Lou and I have already made reservations and registered for the Bonneville, Utah Corvair Club's Corvair Gathering to be held in St George, Utah 22-24 March. As Saturday 9 March was such a nice day I decided to get the Corvair out of the garage and clean it up for the trip. If you have ever seen the Corvair in our garage you will know this was no small undertaking. When in the garage there are minimal distances (6 inches front, 2 inches rear, 8 inches right and left side) between the car and the walls. In order to enter or exit, the driver's window must be rolled down so one can semi climb through it. Also, it is covered with a car cover and becomes a storage platform. Over time it becomes buried in boxes, sacks, tools, and anything else that we happen need to put in the garage but can not get by the car to put away properly. It took almost an hour to remove all the excess baggage and clear the garage for exit. Happy that it took only an hour to prepare for exit, I jumped(?) in the car, inserted the key and prepared to start it. Turning the key to the start position I was greeted by a medley of clickings. The battery was almost completely discharged. Not to be worried as I had the trusty battery charger handy. Hooked it up and proceeded to recharge the battery. After 4 hours of charging with a few intermediate attempts to start the car I realized it would need to recharge for a longer period of time. Undaunted I left the charger hooked up for the night. Sunday morning after returning from Mass and eating a hearty home cooked breakfast I went out to start the car. Once again I heard the Dead Battery Song, consisting of a rapid series of clicks. Giving up on recharging the battery I proceeded to Wal-Mart on Eubank where I purchased a 56-5 series battery, 630 cranking amps at 32 degrees, 530 cold cranking amps, that appeared would fit nicely in the Corvair. $29.99 plus tax with a 3 year warranty, 1 year direct exchange then 2 years prorated. On the way home for the heck of it I stopped at NAPA on Eubank to see if they had a series 53 battery. After scratching his head and looking through several catalogs the clerk found a part number. Entering said part number into the computer he told me the battery was obsolete, but he had one in stock. He went and got it and lo and behold it was a group 53 battery, commercial rated with a 3 year warranty, 6 months exchange 2 1/2 yrs prorated. I inquired of him the purchase price which turned out to be $89.99 plus tax. However, he informed me that seeing as how the battery was obsolete and batteries could not be returned to the warehouse, he felt that the manager would not be upset if he sold it to me at cost, $60.00 plus tax. Weighing $60.00 vs $30.00 I told him I would think about it. Needless to say it is still at the Eubank NAPA store if anyone is interested in buying it. After arriving at home I installed the group 56-5 battery in the car. It fits very nicely. It is a little wider, 1/2 inch, than the group 53 and is only about 1/2 the length. The battery posts are just opposite of the group 53 battery, so they are on the inside edge. This makes it much easier to connect the cables. It is the same height as the group 53 and with the posts on the inside edge they pose no hazard to shorting out with the deck support arm. Once again I got in the car and inserted the key. Turning it to the start position resulted in the rapid turn over and eventual starting of the engine. I was then greeted by the loud clanking of a stuck valve lifter. Attempting to back out of the garage I soon realized (after three failed attempts) that I would have to move the RV and tow dolly out of the driveway. Cutting the ignition on the Corvair I moved my driving skills to the RV, backing it out of the drive and relocating it on the street. After leveling the RV I had to hand maneuver the tow dolly out of the driveway and connect it to the RV. I decided to ensure that the RV and dolly were prepared for the trip so I delayed any farther adventure with the Corvair until after I had checked all the tire pressures (8 ea) and the fluids in the RV engine and transmission. After asserting that the RV and dolly were ready, I again turned my attention to the Corvair. After starting it up and in time with the clanking I moved it out of the garage onto the driveway. Leaving it to idle and quiet down I went into the house to rest up. After about 15 minutes of idling the clacking disappeared so I decided to go purchase some brake fluid for the RV and a case of oil from Checkers on Juan Tabo and Menaul and I would then proceed to Sam's Club to gas up the Corvair. The Corvair purred like a kitten and ran good up to Checkers. After purchasing a case of oil ( I forgot about the need of brake fluid) I headed south on Juan Tabo for Lomas. Accelerating from the stop light just north of the Big 5 Sports store I heard a loud crack as I depressed the clutch pedal to shift into second. Feeling around with my left foot I was shocked to find NO CLUTCH pedal. Luckily I was able to cruise in first gear into the Big 5 parking lot were I found that the clutch pedal was not attached to anything, it was just laying on the floor on the right side of the car. After pondering my options: Call a wrecker; Walk to a friend's house and have him tow me home; Walk home and get Mary Lou to tow me home; or, Just abandon the car, I decided to put it in first gear and see if I could start it and make it home with no clutch. Thanks to the newly purchased, high cold cranking battery I was able to start the car in gear. Dodging all traffic I departed the Big 5 lot and headed south on Juan Tabo. I took the first right turn and running all stop signs I was able to make it to the intersection with Morris were I had to kill the engine to wait for traffic to clear. Once again the new battery was able to start the car in gear on the fly. I proceeded north on Morris to Menaul where I once again had to kill the engine to wait for a green light. On green the battery once again started the car in gear and I continued North on Morris to the second street to the left. From that point I only had to run two stop signs before I made it home safely to my driveway. Upon examination of the clutch pedal and related parts and after perusing the repair manual I determined that the clutch pedal support assembly had broken. Removing the assembly from the bracket I discovered that the weld holding the tubular support to the triangular bracket had broken. After thumbing through Clark's and the Underground catalogs I determined this part was not available from either. Like any good Corvair person when in need of a hard-to-find part I called Sylvan. He thinks he has a spare one, just can not think of where it is. He said he would check tomorrow and see if he could find one. If he can not I will have to have the old one re-welded, which I may do anyway in order to have a spare. TO BE CONTINUED !!!!!! == SPRING FLING 2002 Jerry Goffe Want something for nothing? That's FREE! It can happen to you on Saturday, April 13th, 2002 at 3211 Claremont NE. That's two blocks west of Carlisle on the street just North of Wal-Mart between Menaul and Candelaria. Now that you know when and where, I'll tell you what it is. A FREE OIL CHANGE WITH FILTER, LUBE JOB, AND EXAMINATION OF YOUR CAR. Every year, Worldwide Automotive owner Bob Agnew, opens his garage to the car enthusiasts for one day. You have up to an hour with your car on the lift to assist a certified mechanic with renewing your car for the season ahead. His garage, equipment, and mechanics are second to none. Bob even supplies food and drinks. And it's all FREE -- ALMOST! Think about what almost an hour of lift time is worth. Add to that, the oil change, filter, lube, expertise, and free food. Donations will be taken during this "Spring Fling" day. The donations that are collected will go entirely to Cuidando Los Ninos, a non-profit agency working with children. Contact me at 346-4220 (day) or 345-3100 (evening) to make an appointment for 1:00 or 2:00 that Saturday. First call, first reservations! CNM has the entire garage for those two hours and I'll be there! Respectfully submitted by Jerry Goffe == NEW CLARK'S CORVAIR CATALOG ORDER Bill Reider For all of the people who were not at the last meeting, I would like to let you know that CNM was able to get a quantity discount on the new Clark's catalog. If you did not sign up for one at the last meeting there will still be a few available for $3 each. Please contact Bill Reider at 299-4597 if you want one. This will be on a first come - first served basis. All who have not paid, please do so at the next meeting. The catalogs are already ordered and should be here no later than the May meeting. == Hi Jim, Here is another short article that I need to get off my mind. Also, I hope that I did not offend too many people with my comments in the latest CNM letters. SAVING YET ANOTHER CORVAIR Richard Finch ... Tularosa, NM Just as I was thinking that I might get the 1964 Monza convertible restored pretty soon, I have to go out and buy another basket case Corvair vehicle because it was too good a deal to pass up. CNM Newsletter readers might remember that Gayle and I bought a basket case Monza Convertible from Dennis and Debbie Pleau about 16 months ago and have already bought more parts for it than it cost when it sold new in 1964. But this time, I bought a vehicle that takes about ten times as long to restore as a Monza. I bought a 1967 Corvair 140 hp powered Ultra Van to restore so my youngest brother can have a Corvair Ultra Van just like ours. Phillip Finch, my youngest brother, has been looking for a good deal on an Ultra Van since we bought ours about four years ago. When this deal came up, right here in Tularosa, NM, I called my brother and told him about it and of course he said "Buy it," so I did. It even came with a spare 140 hp engine and a spare Powerglide transmission. Just what every Corvair lover needs? But when you restore a Corvair powered Ultra Van, the engine is the very most insignificant part of the restoration. Ultra Vans have water systems. They actually have FOUR water systems. One is the fresh water tank and the pressure pump. System two is the city water system and the one-way valving. System three is the gray water tank where all the not-so-dirty water is kept. System four is the black water tank that is for storing the toilet flushes until you can drive around somewhere and dump it safely and legally. And Ultra Vans have THREE or more heating systems, not just one simple heater like Corvair cars have. System one is the stock "fresh air" system that puts engine heat in the cabin/coach like your Corvair car heater. System two is a Coleman wall heater that runs off the 10 gallon propane tank that is under your queen size bed. System three is your portable electric heater for chasing the chill off your cheeks when you get up in the morning to make coffee. And then there is the propane system. You have at least FOUR appliances to light and check for leaks. System one is the afore-mentioned Coleman wall heater. System two is the 5 to 7 gallon hot water heater that is mounted under the sink and accessible from the outside of the coach. System three is the three burner cook stove top and the thermostatically controlled baking and broiling oven. And system four is the Swedish made propane powered refrigerator that actually can make ice cubes. And then Ultra Vans have not one but two batteries. One is for "dry" camping out in the boondocks and the other battery is for starting the engine after you have been out in the boondocks for a week or so, using the first battery until it does not have enough "juice" in it to get you started. And we also have not one but two gas tanks. The first tank contains about 25 gallons and when you accidentally run out of gas out in the boondocks, we have a reserve tank that holds about five more gallons to get you to the nearest gas station. And the reserve tank is activated by a little knob and cable just like our hood latches were operated with back in the days before 1960. (You know, Before Corvairs, or B. C. as some people say.) And supporting all the furniture and people is a plywood floor. Yes, I said PLYWOOD, and in the case of the bargain deal we got, the floor was factory made out of 3/8ths indoor grade plywood which had de-laminated many years ago. See, when the wife shampoos the carpet in your Ultra Van, the plywood floor gets wet and comes apart!!! And when you drive through deep water puddles, the bottom of the indoor grade plywood floor de-laminates some more too. Next year we are going to replace the plywood floor in our newly purchased Ultra Van. But not this year. Because we are about to run out of energy! And in case you never noticed, there is a lot more sheet metal and fiberglass to sand and prime and paint when you are doing an Ultra Van. About ten times more I would say. But the tires, there are not any more tires on an Ultra Van than on a Monza. Just four. Thank goodness for small miracles. But the thing that I like most about our Ultra Van is that when I get sleepy on long trips, I don't have to scrunch up in the passenger's seat to take a nap as I do when we are driving our Corsa or our Monza. We have Queen-sized beds in Ultra Vans. As soon as I get my brother's Ultra Van s/n 294 ready, I am going to drive it to Omaha, NE where he is working for four months at Children's Hospital. He will live in it while there and then drive it back to his home in Medford, OR. And yes, he did come here to Tularosa for ten days to help me work on it and get it ready to travel and live in. So, when somebody tells you that they bought a Corvair Ultra Van and restored it, give them credit for saving/restoring about ten Corvair Monzas!! That is how much work there is in just one Ultra Van restoration. -- Richard Finch p.s. I am really anxious to get back to work on the 1964 Monza convertible restoration. == STILL FULLA CHICKEN!! Del Patten Well, if you missed the trek of vehicles on the way to the Golds' this last Saturday, you missed a bowl or two of hearty, stomach warming and heart healthy soup!! I hear the Golds had three delicious choices and that some of the visitors managed to try all three!! And it sounds like it was a good thing the same intrepid crew had at the least a long trip to the Pattens' to allow all that soup to settle in, because some of them got lost and had a very long trip by the time they arrived. Most appeared to be real hungry upon arrival but many visited the outhouse before they complained about the lack of anything more than chicken wings at our house!! Since I personally spent many long hours chopping them chickens into the shape of wings, I was somewhat disappointed that my efforts weren't appreciated!! Kim pulled a major coup by having other chicken parts all cooked for those that failed to see the humor in my efforts! One of those was that Ruth Boydston person, who put me up to the whole thing anyway, convinced me that everyone would love those hand carved chicken wings, and she was the first to trash her wings and go for the thighs!! Anyway, between Kim; Lee and Bill Reider who ponied up a couple of pots of beans; Elizabeth and Mark Domzalski who peeled potatoes for hours and hours to provide a pile of, you guessed it, potato salad; and finally, Heula and Jim Pittman who slaved over a pot of plastic to give us all sturdy plates and cups, most of the motley crew (wait a minute, isn't that a band?) managed to get a pretty good main course under their belts before they headed out for the Wilverts'! Now let me tell you, there was some good eats there for sure!! And I am an expert on desserts!! I don't know about the rest of folks but by the time the Golds and Wendy and Ruth and Dave got there, I was already working on the third course - who says dessert doesn't come in courses??!! Now after all that discourse regarding the great food there was to partake of, if you didn't make it, you missed most of all great conversation!! Hey, who was that short guy wandering around looking lost?? Oh yeah, it was Tarmo! -- Any old mouse == TRI-STATE MEET - May 17-19, 2002 Laura Wilshire, ROCKY MOUNTAIN CORSA All Corvair enthusiasts come join us for our annual event held this year in Grand Junction, Colorado. On-site registration Friday, Saturday people's choice car show, driving tour of scenic Colorado National Monument, awards banquet and more. Nowhere in the West will you find so much diversity of natural wonders, outdoor activities and fascinating history. There is an adventure in every direction such as Grand Mesa, Colorado National Monument, wineries, Dinosaur Journey and many more. The host hotel is the Country Inns of America, 800-990-1143; mention Tri-State or Corvair show for $50-$55 rate. Contact: Laura Wilshire 303 530-3215 or e-mail: sir_lancealot@msn.com. 4782 Valhalla Drive Boulder, Colorado 80301 Future updates will be posted on our web site, http://www.coloradocorvair.org == ETCH-A-SKETCH TECH SUPPORT sscherme@capecod.net (SKID - W 1 T T Y) After being frustrated with the abysmal level of Windows Technical Support, some folks are going back to an earlier level of graphic technology. But, these people, being too technically challenged to operate computers, will still need technical support. So, here is a condensed technical manual for these folks. Frequently Asked Questions for Etch-A-Sketch Technical Support Q: My Etch-A-Sketch has all of these funny little lines all over the screen. A: Pick it up and shake it. Q: How do I turn my Etch-A-Sketch off? A: Pick it up and shake it. Q: What's the shortcut for Undo? A: Pick it up and shake it. Q: How do I create a New Document window? A: Pick it up and shake it. Q: How do I set the background and foreground to the same color? A: Pick it up and shake it. Q: What is the proper procedure for rebooting my Etch-A-Sketch? A: Pick it up and shake it. Q: How do I delete a document on my Etch-A-Sketch? A: Pick it up and shake it. Q: How do I save my Etch-A-Sketch document? A: Don't shake it. Selected by Jim Griffith. This joke's link: http://www.netfunny.com/rhf/jokes/98/May/tch.html =end=