This page contains material from the February 2003 newsletter

"Thompson, if he is to be believed, has sampled the entire rainbow of legal and illegal drugs in heroic efforts to feel better than he does. As for the truth about his health: I have asked around about it. I am told that he appears to be strong and rosy, and steadily sane. But we will be doing what he wants us to do, I think, if we consider his exterior a sort of Dorian Gray facade. Inwardly, he is being eaten alive by tinhorn politicians. The disease is fatal. There is no known cure. The most we can do for the poor devil, it seems to me, is to name his disease in his honor. From this moment on, let all those who feel that Americans can be as easily led to beauty as to ugliness, to truth as to public relations, to joy as to bitterness, be said to be suffering from Hunter Thompson's disease. I don't have it this morning. It comes and goes. This morning I don't have Hunter Thompson's disease." -- Kurt Vonnegut Jr. on Dr. Hunter S. Thompson: Excerpt from "A Political Disease", Vonnegut's review of "Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72" Dues Expired or Due or Approaching Due: Doug Gadomski 2003-Jan John Dinsdale 2003-Feb Carl Johnson 2003-Feb Jay Ecclestone 2003-Mar Jerry Goffe 2003-Mar Mike Hacker 2003-Mar Geoffrey Johnson 2003-Mar Ruth Boydston 2003-Apr Mary Lou Martinek 2003-Apr 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! =cnm= COVER: Wendell invited us over for a New Year's Open House. I asked the Gold children, Sara and Javier, to pose next to the family Monza, which they did with much enthusiasm! -- Jim =cnm= January Meeting Notes by Chuck Vertrees The meeting was called to order at 19:30 at Galles Chevrolet by President Robert Gold. The meeting was held on the 8th, which was the second Wednesday because the first Wednesday was New Year's day and the attendance probably would have suffered. All officers were present. There were 29 members present, which is a pretty good turnout. It was suggested that the postponement was really so that we could have the meeting on THE KING'S birthday, Elvis of course. It was suggested that we should try to find a picture of Elvis with a Corvair. Someone said that there was a known picture of his wife with a Corvair. Jim Pittman was absent and it was brought up that there was no picture of a Corvair in the current issue of the newsletter, only brand X's. There were no new members but there were three guests. First was Mark Deters who was an old member of CNM. He now lives in Socorro. He had a list of six Corvairs that were for sale, all late models, and his wife said that he must get rid of them. They are non-drivable but all have titles. He also has many parts and everything is cheap. Also introduced again was Sally Johnson. She thought that she would automatically be a guest since she is Carl Johnson's daughter. We will have to see. Also introduced was Brian Sedillo who runs Empire Engines and gave us a talk at the end of the meeting. The minutes of the December meetings were approved as published in the newsletter. Wendell Walker reported that CNM had $900.06 in the checking account and $4,835.22 in the GMAC Account for a total worth of $5,735.28. There was no Car Council report. At this time a package sent by Jim Pittman was presented. The contents were unknown but were indubitably valuable because of the amount of postage on the box. (It was later determined that the box was a subterfuge and not the one that the contents had been sent in.) It was decided that the box, with contents unknown, would be raffled off at once for a contribution of $1.00 per ticket. After a flurry of purchases and a drawing (your secretary thinks it was rigged since it missed one of my tickets by only one number) Del Patten won it. Del immediately proclaimed that he was very pleased because he had never won anything before. The mystery prize was a plastic model of a 1957 Chevrolet. Next was a discussion of the upcoming tour to Bosque del Apache. There was no interest in forming a convoy. Those going know that the best flyout is about 06:30. Those who will be taking the 3-hour tour need to be at the visitors' center at 09:00. Mark Domzalski, when asked if he had any good rumors from CORSA, said he did not, but he reminded members that CORSA always needs volunteers for jobs and offices. Tarmo Sutt said he knows of a 1966 Monza for sale in Santa Fe. It is a 110 with automatic but he has no other information. If you are interested, he has a phone number. Dave Huntoon hasn't had a chance yet to talk with the people in the Volkswagen club about combining any activities with us. Bill Reider reminded the members that if they want to turn in a suggestion for the Tri-Sate patch, time is running out. There were some turned in at the meeting. The winner will probably receive either a free room or a dinner at the Tri-State event in Raton in May. The February garage tour will be on 2/15/03. Details will be in the newsletter. The CNM Ladies' February meeting will be on 2/8/03 and will be in honor of Wendell's birthday. It will be at Ruth Boydston's. All CNM members are welcome to stop by for cake between 13:00 and 16:00. The June campout will be at Ruth Boydston's cabin in the Pecos on June 14th and 15th. More on this later. It was brought up at the last board meeting and the board members agreed that the deportment of CNM members at regular meetings could use some improvement. When we have a speaker, members should be quiet. If they want to visit with someone instead of listening to the speaker, they should go outside. The meeting was adjourned at 20:12 and was followed by an interesting presentation from Brian Sedillo of Empire Engines. Our thanks to Brian for coming to talk to us. =cnm= January Board Meeting by Chuck Vertrees The board meeting was called to order at 19:15 on 1/15/03 at House of Covers. Present were Joel Nash, Sylvan Zuercher, Robert Gold, Steve and Rita Gongora, Wendell Walker, Jim and Heula Pittman, Jerry Goffe, and Chuck Vertrees. Wendell reported that CNM had $1,065.01 in the checking account and $4,835.22 in the GMAC account for a total worth of $5,900.23. The minutes of the last board meeting were accepted as printed in the newsletter. The first item brought up was the Boydston Award, which will be presented at the Tri-State Meet the end of May. It was hoped that each of the three clubs (CNM, Denver and Colorado Springs) would nominate a possible candidate for the award. So far, we have heard little from the Denver and Colorado Springs clubs. At this time it appears that the last three recipients, the Gongoras, the Goodmans, and Sylvan Zuercher will get together and decide who will be the recipient for 2003. We think that a formal discussion of the award and the degree of participation by the Denver and Colorado Springs clubs should be on the agenda at the Tri-State. The board voted and presented Jim a check for $125.00 to help cover some of his expenses as the editor of the newsletter. The tour of Bode Aviation will be on February 15th. We will meet for lunch at 11:00 AM and then go for the tour at 13:00. The location of the restaurant will be in the newsletter. (Elsewhere in this issue.) We discussed the visit to the Trinity Site on the first Saturday in April, the 5th. It had been discussed earlier about the possibility of going in the Bosque bus supplied by Jerry. It was decided that this would create a parking problem. There should be plenty of parking at the Trinity Site and if we all go in our own cars, the amount of time each group wants to spend there will be flexible. Sylvan is going to try to get a speaker for the February meeting. The possible speaker will talk about a computer school he is starting and the need for security when using your computer. Norton Bickle from Santa Fe is active with old cars and is planing to talk to The Car Council about crush laws. These have been repeatedly introduced in the state legislature, and so far have been defeated, but no doubt they will be introduced again. Similar laws HAVE been passed in other states! We need to keep up with this issue because of the serious damage to the old car hobby in general and to Corvair owners in particular that could result. Joel will contact Norton and try to get him for the March CNM meeting. It was brought up that the Ladies Auxiliary might like to consider putting on a program at some future meeting. (Maybe with refreshments? -- Chuck) Then followed a long session of tales about moving cars for various reasons. I couldn't possibly get all of them down in their totality. Everyone seemed to have a story about how they moved someone else's car for a very good reason. Hopefully we can get them all to submit these stories in writing for a future edition. Any CNM member who would like to attend a board meeting is welcome, and then they wouldn't miss the entertainment of this kind of story. Meetings are at 17:00 the second Wednesday after the meeting night. Joel was called upon to apologize for Jim's being late and made a very gracious apology. He also apologized for Wendell and then for Jerry. We thank Joel for his eloquence and warn him that he may be re-elected to his post as Vice-president several times in the future if he continues to perform so well above and beyond the call of duty. The meeting was adjourned at 18:15. -- Chuck Vertrees =cnm= From the Driver's Seat Robert Gold Being a total car nut I spend a lot of time watching the Speed Channel on TV. That's when I'm not watching Sponge Bob, but that's another story.... Anyway, a big deal on that channel this time of year is the Barrett-Jackson car auction that takes place in Phoenix. This is not just an auto auction, it is THE AUTO AUCTION. To give you an example, a couple of years ago a car called the Sniper was featured in most of the custom car magazines. It was composed of a radically modified 1953 Plymouth body and a Viper drivetrain supplied to the builder by Chrysler. This car was beautiful. I wanted this car, but that was only in my dreams. Well, I turned on my TV to the Speed Channel and there at Barrett-Jackson was Sniper for sale! It went for a mere $125,000, a little out of my price range. However, it was then and there that I decided I needed to go to that auction and revel in all those unique cars. So my son Art and I will be traveling to Phoenix to fanaticize about owning those best of the best. I should have some nice stories to relate when I return. Moving right along, I'm wondering how many of you noted a unique feature to the January newsletter? Aside from the wonderful articles and information contained in the newsletter, that month's issue was completely devoid of any picture of a Corvair. This fact really appealed to me, being the rather perverse person that I am. I feel it points out an important aspect of the Corvairs of New Mexico car club. This club really isn't about Corvairs it's about the car culture, the social interaction of the members, and the fun times we have every month at the various club functions. Oh it is nice that some of us do have Corvairs and enjoy driving and showing them, but I think we need to keep in mind the strength in our club is all the good times we have. Thanks Jim for bringing that to our attention. Another thing about the newsletter -- when I saw the picture of Jim's new BMW on the cover I remembered an observation I made about BMW's several years ago. There was a model of the BMW in the 80's maybe that was rather boxy, but what struck me was how the front end of the car was almost a copy of the late model Corvair. Its nose came to a bit of a point and the only difference I saw was that the BMW had a grill. I wonder if anyone else noticed that. In last month's article I mentioned a trip I made to my old hometown St. Louis. I forgot to mention a vehicle experience that was unique to that town. Before I went on the trip I did the usual internet surfing thing to see what might be worth seeing in St. Louis. This is in addition to eating at Steak and Shake and White Castle. I was looking at the list of museums when one of them caught my eye. It was the Big Foot museum. Yes, that's the Big Foot monster truck. A few years ago in my search for the ultimate car experience I attended a monster truck show at the Fairgrounds and had a wonderful time. If you haven't been to one of the shows you should go just to see the mix of folks who attend. Anyway, I discovered that the monster truck concept began in my hometown. Big Foot was developed by a local group with too much time on their hands and they now run a shop selling monster truck stuff and building the next generation of the truck. My family and I made it to the store just before we left town and I have to tell you it was quite an experience. They had the biggest monster truck of them all set up in front of the place and you could look into their shop and see them constructing trucks. Now if I only had an aircraft hangar for a garage I could get one of those and amaze my neighbors! Speaking of aircraft hangars, I need to remind everyone that February is the month for our annual Garage Tour. This year it's been arranged for us to visit Bode Aviation on February 15 out at the Double Eagle Airport. This was the site many years ago of the infamous Highland High Senior Prom. The party was great, but my wife and I got lost on the way back and got a complete tour of the west side before we found our way home. Anyway, I don't think we'll have any problem this year since the tour will take place in daylight. So mark the date on your calendar and join us for a good time. Details of the event are described in this newsletter. Over the last few newsletters I've related various mechanical problems I've encountered with the goal of maybe helping a CNM member solve the same problem before it became serious. Well I have an interesting story to relate this time. After too many years I decided to tune-up my Corvair powered VW bus. I did the points thing and this resulted in my need to reset the timing. I hooked up the timing light and looked for the mark to appear. It did appear but instead of the normal spot in line with the degree marks, the mark appeared somewhere near Santa Rosa to the right side of my engine. That was quite a surprise. Luckily I talked with Bill Reider and he suggested that my trusty harmonic balancer may have slipped causing the problem. I took a look at the balancer and to my horror I noticed that most of the rubber sandwiched between the two pieces was missing. I don't know how much longer the balancer would have held together, but I immediately ordered a Dale Manufacturing rebuilt balancer and will make sure Dave Langlois installs it before I do any more driving with the family. Many thanks to Bill for his advice. A quick note about the Johnson count. Sally mentioned to me that there was a Corvair club that had 7 people of the same name as members. I'm concerned that we're lagging behind, so we either need to recruit more Johnsons or we have to get some folks to change their name. Any volunteers? One last thing, I mentioned at our January meeting that we were honored by holding the meeting on Elvis' birthday. My son, Javier missed being born on that date by a mere 4 hours. I tell him that his name might have been Elvis. Isn't it terrible what parents do to their children, anyway, I joked at the meeting that Elvis didn't own a Corvair, but I was corrected by the members who said Priscilla had a Corvair. I was wondering if anyone might have a picture showing her with that car? It would be fun to run that picture in the newsletter next year to commemorate the "king's" birthday. Well I guess that's it for now.... See you at the next meeting on Wednesday, February 5. -- Robert Gold. =cnm= ============================================================================ 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 ============================================================================ | | | | | F e b r u a r y | M a r c h | A p r i l | | | | | | : : : : : : 1 | : : : : : : 1 | : : 1 2 3 4 5 | | 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 | 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 | 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 | | 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 | 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 | 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 | | 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 | 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 | 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 | | 23 24 25 26 27 28 : | 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 | 27 28 29 30 : : : | | : : : : : : : | 30 31 : : : : : | : : : : : : : | ============================================================================ Wed 5th Feb 7:30 PM Regular Meeting - GALLES CHEVROLET 1601 Lomas NE Sat 8th Feb 1:00-4:00 CNM Ladies - Ruth Boydston's Sat 15th Feb 11:00 AM Lunch & Garage Tour - Bode Aircraft - Double Eagle Wed 19th Feb 5:00 PM Board Meeting - House of Covers Fri 21st Feb 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman Wed 5th Mar 7:30 PM Regular Meeting - GALLES CHEVROLET 1601 Lomas NE Sat 8th Mar 9:00 AM Route 66 Clean-up - Ollie Scheflow Sat 8th Mar 1:00-4:00 CNM Ladies - Rita Gongora's most likely. Stay tuned. Sun 9th Mar ? Progressive Dinner - Birthday Party - TBA Wed 19th Mar 5:00 PM Board Meeting - House of Covers Fri 21st Mar 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman Wed 2nd Apr 7:30 PM Regular Meeting - GALLES CHEVROLET 1601 Lomas NE Sat 5th April early! Trinity Site Tour - bus from the Bosque - Jerry Goffe Sat 12th Apr 1:00-4:00 CNM Ladies - TBA Wed 16th Apr 5:00 PM Board Meeting - House of Covers -- a week late! Fri 25th Apr 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman Sat May ? Albuquerque Museum/NMCCC Car Show Fri-Sat May 30-31 Tri-State Meet - Raton, New Mexico - Bill Reider Fri-Sun Jun ? Campout in the Pecos - Ruth Boydston Tue-Sat Jul 15-19 CORSA Convention - Carlisle, Pennsylvania =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=++=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= February Program Note Joel Nash VP Our guest speaker for the evening will be John Hasbrouck, COB of Power ON Corporation. The topic will be information on computer classes and information for those who have questions regarding various aspects of computers and the computer industry. If we have as large a turnout as last month, this should be another very informative evening. Bode Aviation Tour, Saturday February 15th Sylvan Zuercher Arrangements for a faclities tour have been made through our member Steve Johnson. The tour starts at the Double Eagle Airport at 1:00 pm. For those who want to have lunch before the tour, we will meet at the Country Market Restaurant & Buffet at 11:00 am. The Country Market is located in the Flying J Plaza at 9911 Avalon NW. To get there, exit I-40 westbound at 98th St and go south to the first light, then turn right onto Avalon and then turn right at the first entrance. The Country Market entrance is at the far east end of the complex. They have a full menu and also a Buffet. If we have an extra large turnout, they have a large capacity room in the back which we can use if necessary. Individual checks will be issued as requested. We will need approximately 20 minutes after leaving the restaurant to arrive and park at Bode Aviation. Return to I-40 westbound and go to the top of Nine Mill Hill. Exit at the top of the hill and turn right (north) toward Double Eagle. A landmark is a Shooting Range sign on the east side of the road shortly after exiting from I-40. Continue on the main road which goes just to the west of the three large volcanoes. The road then turns west, goes past the end of the runway and you turn back south to get to the parking lot. This deserves to be another well attended tour as we have been doing on past tours. -- Sylvan CNM Ladies -by- Anne Mae Gold This will be brief! We will be meeting at Ruth Boydston's this month, on February 8th, and next month we will meet at Rita Gongora's. See you there! TRI-STATE MEET UPDATE -by- LeRoy Rogers The 2003 Tri-State Meet will not be held at the Raton Holiday Classic as originally planned. Hurley recently stayed there three nights on a business trip. It was decided that the motel and their restaurant did not meet the standards that a Corvair enthusiast would expect. The meet is still on, however, and is scheduled for May 30 and 31, 2003. While Hurley was in Raton he checked out other places. It was decided to use the Microtel Motel at 1640 Cedar Street as the host motel. Their rates are $44.95 plus tax for a room with two queen size beds and $53.95 plus tax for a suite which consists of a room with one queen size bed, a kitchenette and a couch that makes into a double bed. When you make reservations mention the Corvair Meet to get these rates. The phone number is 505-445-9100. Two alternate motels are recommended. The Super-8 at 610 Cedar Street, 505-445-2355 and the Motel-6 at 1600 Cedar Street, 505-445-2777. I do not have 2003 room rates from them yet. There is also an RV park available in Raton. It is Summerlan RV Park at 1900 South Cedar, phone 505-445-9536. The banquet will be held at Domingo's at 1903 South Cedar. They will offer three entrees in the $13 to $14 price range. More details to follow. We plan to have a patch for the meet. If you have any ideas for a design, turn them in at or before the January meeting. Bill Reider will accept ideas for a patch. Call him at 299-4597. -- LeRoy Rogers =cnm= NMCCC REPORT - 22 Jan 2003 Mark Martinek 1. Jim Clements called the meeting to order at 7:42 PM. 2. The September Swap meet will be held at the Southwest Motor Sports complex sponsored by McDonalds and Coca-Cola. Proceeds will benefit the Ronald McDonald House. Paul M. and Mike G. are in charge of swap meet coordination. 3. The treasurer reported $8179.79 in the checking account and two CD's: $4,080.93 and $7,094.63. 4. The spring car show will be held at the museum. The committee will meet with the museum staff in February. 5. Volunteers will be recruited to help out at the Los Lunas swap meet later this year. 6. The Spring Thaw will be held at the Old Car Garage on 29 March. Appointments are required and can be made starting 15 February. Bring your car, enjoy the camaraderie, food and drinks (soda that is). 7. The Old Route 66 Car Show will be held 25 - 27 July. See attached flyer. 8. The museum wants to have a 50's era display 1 June through 31 August. Anyone with 50s memorabilia that they would like to have on display can contact Patricia in the museum administration office. They are also looking to have a Transportation Toy display starting 1 March. Same point of contact. 9. Joyce Clements invited anyone that is interested to bring their old car to John Adam Middle School on 28 March. It will be a two-hour event starting at 10:00 AM. Call Joyce at 884-7912 for more information. 10. The very sane and sensible meeting was adjourned at 8:25 PM. Mark Martinek - mjmartinek@juno.com (505) 275-3271 =cnm= Subject: Defective Fuel Pumps Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2003 10:51:24 PST From: Richard F Finch (finchbird@juno.com) To: jld@wk.net, rdgalli@tcsn.net, source@adnc.com, uv216@aol.com, millenniumfalcon@cableone.net, casa unm edu To the Corvair people, I recently bought a new mechanical fuel pump from "The Source" and it leaked badly for the first 10 minutes it was used, then it stopped when the diaphragm material became gasoline impregnated. My correspondence with the supplier can be published and is available from "The Source" and from Bob Galli. Richard Finch, SAE =cnm= Seven Years Ago - February 1996 - Volume 22 - Number 2 The cover showed the first gasoline-powered vehicle sold in the Unites States, built be Charles and Frank Duryea in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1896. Chuck Vertrees took minutes while Mark Domzalski ran the meeting. Will Davis said we had $862 in the treasury. We learned that Francis Boydston had a stroke after heart surgery and was back in the hospital for a few days. We planned a tour of the Galles Racing facilities and a garage tour to see the Maloff collection and the Joiner collection. Convention news included the status of the raffle car (coming along nicely) and a plan for all CNM members to wear distinctive golf shirts (turquoise with a big red logo). Bill Reider's revised CARE & FEEDING was available for $5.00. Ollie Scheflow suggested that the club should have a community service project. Our speaker was Bill Nelson who would have told us all about Pennzoil except that we ran out of time long before he ran out of information! At our board meeting some management chores were accomplished. Wendell was treated to paid-up CORSA membership in recognition for his work on the convention raffle car. Dennis was attempting to get the CORSA membership database up and running; supposedly it included all present and past CORSA members. We voted to include in CNM family membership all spouses, significant others and driving age children, presumably if residing in the same household. Bill and Chuck had the raffle tickets and were about to start selling them. Mark planned to run for CORSA Western Director; the board agreed to help. Ollie suggested for our community project that we adopt a mile of old Route 66 for periodic trash pickup. Debbie previewed tours we planned to offer at the convention. Robert Gold reviewed the Galles Racing tour where many of us had a great time. Tech tips included cleaning crud from old carbs and rebuilding steering boxes. Fourteen Years Ago - February 1989 - Vol. 15 - Nr. 2 On the cover we had a see-through drawing of a V-8-equipped Corvair coupe. The club's library van was now running but needed sanding and paint. We needed more material for the library. We planned an April auction. Milton Sanchez opened up Ed Black's showroom so we could see all the 1989 Chevrolets. Francis and Bill planned a group purchase of windshields: an order of eight or more would greatly reduce shipping costs. The board approved a jacket patch for CNM's 15th birthday and we planned a special edition of the newsletter to include classic articles from earlier editions. Kem Owen (a CNM member from Alamogordo) started a series of articles on how he built a V-8 Corvair coupe. Part 1 described the suspension and the 5-speed ZF transmission bolted to a 307-cid Chevy engine. The car weighed in at 3120 lbs. Bill Lawless described the use of a relay for the heater fan motor to provide full power for better heater performance. Jerry Goffe provided part numbers for Cadillac and Ford shocks that would fit late Corvairs. Twenty-one Years Ago - February 1982 - Volume 8 Number 2 The cover showed a Corvair-powered dune buggy. We had $110 in the kitty. Mike Stickler was a new member. Louie's Law, a variation on Murphy's Law, stated that giving a bolt that last turn to tighten it would snap off the head, but failing to make that last turn would let it vibrate loose and fall off a week later. Twenty-eight Years Ago - February 1975 Volume 1 - Number 2 Mark Morgan's drawing of a 1961 Lakewood was paired with a might-have-been sketch of a graceful 1965 station wagon. Our 11th club meeting was held on January 7th and we discussed "field trips" to scenic locations such as Bandelier National Monument and the ghost town of Madrid. Suggestions for the group included a purchase of viton O-rings, a club window decal and a photo session of members and their Corvairs. Information on suitable spoilers for 1960-64 Corvairs was requested. =cnm= Bosque Tour -- Sylvan Zuercher Those attending were Jerry & Sylvia Geoff, John & Ann Wiker, Chuck & Julia Vertrees and a couple who were their guests, Geoff & Sally Johnson and Sylvan Zuercher. We toured the area by bus. I'm not sure if any of our group arrived in time for the sunrise fly away -- I did not. The tour lasted about three hours. Our bus driver has worked at Bosque del Apache for five years, and Jerry has been a volunteer tour guide for over a year. Sylvia got the names of several birds that she and Jerry and the bus driver had never seen before. Jerry and our driver were extremely informative about the reserve. They explained how the fields were leveled and how crops were planted for food for the migrating birds. It was somewhat disappointing to see so few people this year, but then, we had a big turnout last year. Those who came enjoyed a great tour with fantastic weather and got to learn a great deal about our migratory birds. We all thank Jerry and Sylvia for organizing this tour. By the way, our members may not realize the commitment in time, effort and travel expense that Jerry and Sylvia must expend in order to be expert tour guides, have free run of the Bosque del Apache facility and be able to offer our club members these great tour opportunities. They have taken nature courses on bird recognition, biology and behavior and travel down to the Bosque to volunteer as tour guides twice a month. They may consider it great fun to do, but we should recognize the effort that goes into their valuable and educational activities. And, yes, it's great fun. -- Sylvan =cnm= Comparison of 1990, 1991 and 2003 Honda Civics Jim Pittman In 1966 I bought my third brand-new car (the first was a 1962 Fairlane, the second a 1965 Austin-Healey). It was a 1966 turbocharged Corvair Corsa coupe. For years after that I gave no thought to buying a "new" car, although I bought and sold several used Corvairs, plus an MG-B and a TR-4. My '66 Corsa remained my primary car. I never liked "big" cars, and I came to think of the Corvair as the standard for a four-person car and the MG-B as the standard for a two-person car. In 1976 Honda introduced the Accord. I read about it in CAR and DRIVER magazine and talked to the owner of the first one I saw. Everybody loved it! It was an outstanding design and had attractive styling, but the magazines raved about its instrumentation and controls. Everything was exactly where it should be and worked exactly as it should work. I fell in love with the 1976 Accord and longed for the day when I could own one. But, my Corvairs were doing well and for years there was no way I could afford to buy a new Honda Accord. The years passed, my Corvairs accumulated miles, Accords and Civics grew up and became bigger cars. In 1989 I started thinking I really should get a "modern" car. I shopped around. The Accord was now much too big to suit me, but it seemed that the Honda Civic EX four-door sedan with five-speed came close to my ideal. I bought one in March 1990. After driving it around for awhile, I realized that it was a far better car than the 1976 Accord! It was not perfect, but so close as not to matter. In September 1991 we needed a new car for Heula and it had to be an automatic. We were happy with the 1990 Civic, so we bought a 1991 Civic EX four-door with automatic for her. It was a gas to have "twin" cars in the family! Since I take the bus to work and I have had Corvairs to drive to various club events or just for fun, my 1990 Civic now has only about 33,000 miles on it. The '91 Civic was driven a few miles to work every day for eleven years and has made several long trips, including two or three to Colorado, plus eleven trips from Albuquerque to Baton Rouge (about 2,300 miles round trip) and it now has about 60,000 miles on it. The '90 and '91 Civics have been great cars but in a moment of weakness we thought we needed a "new" car. We bought a 2003 Civic 4-door LX with automatic (Heula can only use her left leg due to polio and cannot drive a 5-speed) and we intended to sell the '91. We drove the new Civic around Albuquerque for a couple weeks, including a trip up in the Jemez to see Valle Grande, and then we set off on trip number twelve to Baton Rouge. This trip gave me a good opportunity to compare the 2003 Civic with the 1990 and 1991 Civics, and here is my "comparison test" just like the ones Road & Track magazine conducts. Well, maybe a little like theirs. First, Heula loves the new car. It is quieter, the 4-speed automatic with lockup overdrive shifts more smoothly, the seats seem to keep us less fatigued on a long trip, the cruise control holds its speed well, the speedometer and odometer are very accurate (to judge by Wendell's GPS readout) and there seems to be somewhat more usable room in the back seat and trunk. But, I have mixed feelings about the car. Compared to the '90/91 it seems much bigger and heavier and the back window seems a LONG way behind the mirror. (Actually it's only marginally bigger and heavier. The 1991 weighs 2418 lbs at 169 inches long with 108 HP, and the 2003 weighs 2557 lbs at 175 inches with 115 HP. Each has about 22.3 lbs per unit of horsepower.) Handling is, in a word, UNDERSTEER. It tracks great on a straight road and it sticks to curves, but the understeer seems more pronounced and the car lacks the feel and handling of the '91. The suspension seems to work fine but it just has no sporty feel to it. A few other negative items: ]] The rear view mirror has noticeable waviness and in "night" position there are irritating rainbow colors. ]] The light switch has been changed from the "easy and natural" action the '91 uses: with the '91 you pull the switch a little to flash the high beams, and pull it more to switch to high beams. To switch off the high beams, you pull again. This seems right to me. But the 2003 has you PUSH on the switch to turn on high beams, pull to turn them off, and pull to flash them. On our trip to Louisiana I had many occasions to turn the high beams on or off, and in my opinion it is much harder to push the switch to change to high beams without accidentally activating the turn signal. (Other newer cars have this same stupid switch operation and I don't like it on them either. I don't believe it is easier or better or safer - I believe it is just another way to make for cheaper manufacturing.) ]] The odometer is now electronic/digital. You can't read it if the key is not turned on! And, while there are two trip odometers in addition to the total mileage reading, you can only see ONE readout at a time. Thus, you have to decide which is the only one to look at at any time. To change to a different readout, you have to push the "trip-reset" knob next to the odometer. And, if you push and HOLD the knob, it resets the trip mileage! Better be careful to avoid HOLDING the knob if you want to preserve your trip settings! Of course, on the '90/91 Civics you see both the car's odometer and the trip odometer at once since they are mechanical and "always on" and the only time you have to push the knob is when you really want to reset it. ]] Speaking of keys, the key is this great blob containing an electronic chip. No way I can get a spare key made that is small and easy to carry around like the spare keys I carry for the 1990 and 1991 Civics. This is the price you pay for an added measure of anti-theft security, I suppose. ]] To select a different odometer readout you have to push the "trip-reset" knob. It is FAR AWAY in the dash, next to the odometer. How do you push it? Reach around the steering wheel on the right and you risk hitting the wiper switch; reach to the left and you risk hitting the lights/turn indicator switch. Reaching through the steering wheel has its own set of risks. In any case, you have to lean way forward to push the knob. You really do not want to do this while driving! ]] There is a "backlit" instrument panel, so when the key is turned on the instrument panel is lit. (I don't even want to discuss my first impression of the gaudy video-game color scheme. It does seem to become less annoying with time.) You can twist the "trip-reset" knob to dim the illumination as you wish. When the headlights are turned on, there is a different setting for the instrument panel illumination, and you can adjust that. Good. But -- when you turn off the key and turn it on again later, your brightness settings are forgotten and they come back on at full power! Needless to say, the '90/91 did not act this way. So now you get to reach inside the steering wheel area and twist that knob again to make the brightness right. Once again, not a good plan to do this while you are driving! But, when you are driving is exactly the time when you need to change the brightness! ]] In the engine compartment there's a metal rod with a nice plastic end to support the hood while it's up. But when stowed, the rod and its plastic end can vibrate -- and the plastic end piece is located right over the battery hold-down! Does it vibrate against the battery hold-down? Who knows? ]] The large trunk has a somewhat poorer quality carpet than the '90/91 and, to get to the spare, you have to pull up the carpet and pull up a pressed wood floor. On the '90/91 Civics this panel is hinged, so you can fold up just the rear part. On the 2003 it is one piece. It would be just that much harder to get under the floor panel for your stowed tools if the trunk were loaded. ]] Visibility to the front is fine (except you absolutely cannot see the front of the car) but the wide pillars, the high rear deck, the wide headrests and the steeply sloping rear glass all make for much inferior overall visibility to sides and rear as compared to the nice clear-view-in-every-direction feel of the '90/91 Civics. (Of course, having continuously owned at least one late Corvair coupe since 1966, I'm spoiled -- the late Corvair coupe has the best visibility of any car I have driven.) These are just the most obvious (to me) human engineering goofs built into this car. Ever since 1990 when I got my first Civic I have felt that it was a marvel of engineering and design. It seemed to fit me perfectly, had adequate power and had almost sports-car steering and handling. Everything (except for the location of the rear view mirror adjustment switch) was in the perfect place. Our Civics have been economical, reasonably fast and comfortable on trips, and have been inexpensive to maintain and almost completely trouble-free. The 2003 Civic may prove to be low maintenance and trouble-free, and it is certainly comfortable on a trip, but I can't help feeling that much of Honda's vaunted human engineering superiority has been lost in this car. To me, it lacks the balance, overall thoughtfulness of design and elegance of the 1991 Civic. If we were able to go back and do it again, I believe we'd end up with a Mazda Protoge instead of a Honda Civic. There's one area where the 2003 Civic may be a clear winner over the '91: fuel economy. I compared the gas mileage for the 2003 Civic with that of the '91 Civic on their first trips to Baton Rouge. The new Civic was much more smooth and quiet and solid on the road and provided a much less fatiguing drive, and we drove quite a lot faster this year than we did in 1991. Nevertheless, while the '91 Civic got 35.2 miles per gallon, the 2003 came in at 38.2 MPG. That's impressive. But, will the better gas mileage hold up when driving around in the city? We won't know that for a few more months. So far the city gas mileage has not been very impressive. As I said, Heula loves the car. But for me -- I certainly don't feel happy about selling either my 1990 Civic or our 1991 Civic anytime soon. They are just too close to my idea of a perfect car. - Jim Pittman =cnm= * * * * * * * * * * * * * FOR SALE, TRADE OR WANTED * * * * * * * * * * * * * FOR SALE: (1) 1966 Honda Scrambler MC 305CC restored (1) 1960 Cushman Super Eagle Motorscooter 8 HP restored (1) Front Clip for a late model Corvair- NOS!! Jerry Goffe 345-3100 (h) or 346-4220 (w) FOR SALE: Two NOS tire chains for 13" wheels. $500 for two, or FREE to anyone who needs them. Larry Blair 821-1386 WANTED: 1960 Corvair 4 door sedan 500 or 700 series. Prefer running condition with minimum of missing items. E-mail to: roharvey@nmsu.edu or phone: 505-527-1353 (Las Cruces). FOR SALE: Set of seats (front & back) for 1965 Monza - blue Good condition. Asking $50 OBO. Robert Gold 268-6878 FOR SALE: Early sedan fender skirts, new, painted white. Asking $25. Geoff Johnson 344-3178 FOR SALE: 1991 Honda Civic EX 4-door sedan, automatic, air, AM/FM/cassette, great Michelin tires, 60,000 miles, all maintenance records, yes the timing belt has been replaced. White, blue interior, great condition. This is a mid-sized car, does NOT have air bags, has fuel injection so it has reasonable performance, good gas mileage. Real freon A/C. $4,000.00 - Jim Pittman - phone 277-8131 (w) 275-2195 (h) FOR SALE: 1990 Honda Civic EX 4-door sedan, 5-speed, air, AM/FM/cassette, great Michelin tires, 33,000 miles, all maintenance records, yes the timing belt has been replaced (because of years, not miles). White, rare red interior, great condition. This is a mid-sized car, does NOT have air bags, has fuel injection for reasonable performance with great gas mileage. Real freon A/C. $5,500.00 - Jim Pittman - phone 277-8131 (w) 275-2195 (h) * * * * * CNM ADS ARE FREE TO CNM MEMBERS, $5.00 TO NON-CNM MEMBERS * * * * * =cnm= Wendell invited some friends over for a New Year's Open House on December 29th. It was a good opportunity for some photos, including the cover illustration! Thanks, Wendy =end=