This page contains material from the March 2003 newsletter

EDITOR: Jim Pittman NEXT MEETING: Wednesday March 5th, 7:30 PM Galles Chevrolet, Lomas & University THIS MONTH: Dues Due Sylvan Zuercher February Meeting Minutes Chuck Vertrees February Board Meeting Chuck Vertrees The Driver's Seat Robert Gold NMCCC Minutes NMCCC Secretary For Sale, Trade or Wanted Everybody Tour to Bode Aircraft Steve Gongora Calendar of Coming Events Everybody CNM Ladies, Progressive Dinner Anne Mae Gold Seven Years Ago Jim Pittman Chuck and Brother: First Car Chuck Vertrees Miatas are Invisible (defensive driving tips) the Web COVER: Wendell is 84. The Car is 39. The Club is 29. (Photos in this issue by Jim Pittman and Steve Gongora.) One day, a mechanical engineer, an electrical engineer, a chemical engineer, and a computer engineer were driving down the street in a car when it broke down and stopped. The mechanical engineer said, "I think a rod broke." The electrical engineer said, "I think it's not getting a spark and something's wrong with the electrical system." The chemical engineer said, "The way it sputtered at the end, I think it's not getting enough gas." All three turned to the computer engineer and said, "What do you think?" The computer engineer said, "I think we should all get out of the car and then get back in." Dues Expired or Due or Approaching Due: Doug Gadomski 2003-January John Dinsdale 2003-February Carl Johnson 2003-February Jerry Goffe 2003-March Mike Hacker 2003-March Geoffrey Johnson 2003-March Ruth Boydston 2003-April Mary Lou Martinek 2003-April 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= FEBRUARY MEETING NOTES by Chuck Vertrees The meeting was called to order on 2/5/03 at 19:30 at Galles Chevrolet. All officers were present. There were 28 members present. The minutes of the last meeting were approved as printed in the newsletter. Treasurer Wendell Walker reported that CNM had $908.58 in the checking account and $4,871.93 in the GMAC account for a total worth of $5,780.51. There were no guests present to introduce, however Sylvan said there was a new member from Santa Fe who would be coming to the next meeting. Robert Gold and Tarmo Sutt went to the Barret Jackson Auction in Phoenix. They said it was amazing to see and well worth the $25.00 fee to get in. If you want to bid it costs $300.00 to register. There is lots of room and you can see the cars that will be up for auction. They each have a pedigree on the windshield. There seems to be a lot more American cars than previously, but there were no Corvairs, You have to go through the acres of commercial sales area to get in. Tarmo went to the back area where they have the transporters, buses, etc. They have big screen TVs showing what is going on and rows of golf carts for transportation. The Car Council Report is in the newsletter. (It is also on line for those with computers) It was announced that the board meeting is the second Wednesday after the regular meeting night except when there are holiday problems as in January. The board meetings are at House of Covers at 17:00, and all CNM members are welcome. Carl Johnson announced that past member Jim Shaw is wanting to sell a 64 2 door with 60,000 miles on the odometer. He is hoping for $5,000. Carl has his phone number. Sylvan said that Mark Deeter has a lot of Corvair items he would like to sell. Included in these items is a complete air conditioner that includes all the vents, etc. He wants $250.00. Sylvan says this is a great price for one a complete as this one is. Wendell said that past member Ken Burgess has a Corvair that needs a lot of work and is looking for covered storage for it. He would also sell it for about $300.00 OLD BUSINESS: Jerry Goffe reported on the trip to Bosque Del Apache. Only about half that indicated they were coming showed up. We had the bus reserved when a van would have been enough. There were about 25 to 29 thousand Snow Geese on the reservation when we went. Some of us went down on Friday night and stayed in Socorro, and then went out to see the dawn take off of the geese. If you have never seen it, it is well worth the trip. The sight of that many geese all suddenly deciding to take off together is amazing. NEW BUSINESS: Ollie reminded the members that March 8th is the time for the Old "Route 66" cleanup. Ollie will be out of town and Dave Huntoon has volunteered to take over the task of getting the vests, bags, etc. Bill Reider has the Tri-State patch about ready. He will try to bring it to the board meeting on the 19th for approval. Ruth Boydston showed two collages that she has ready for raffle at the Tri-State. They are very attractive and would be well worth hanging on anyone's wall. Sylvan asked for a show of hands of those planing to attend the garage tour to Bode Aviation on the 15th. The meeting was adjourned at 20:15 followed by a presentation on the Power On Corporation. This is a new group in Albuquerque, which will teach you how to work your computer or help you build your own for the purpose that you need it for. =cnm= FEBRUARY BOARD MEETING by Chuck Vertrees The meeting was called to order at 17:13 on 2/19/03 at House of Covers. Present were Del Patten, Joel Nash, Jim Pittman, Heula Pittman, Steve Gongora, Sylvan Zuercher, Wendell Walker and Chuck Vertrees. Del left before we were called to order, saying he had just come by to say hello, and that he missed most of the board meetings when he was President. Wendell announced that CNM had $923.58 in the checking account and $4,871.93 in the GMAC account for a total worth of $5,795.51. The minutes of the last board meeting were approved as printed in the newsletter. Wendell also said that he would apologize several times for something but I don't remember what it was. Joe Trujillo contacted Wendell earlier in the week and said that a gentleman in Moriarty who had 14 Corvairs that he wanted to sell as a group had contacted him. None of them have titles and no price was mentioned. Joe, Wendell and Sylvan are going to go over tomorrow, the 20th, and see what he has. The gentleman said that one of his employees sent a Spyder Convertible to the crusher last week and he was upset about it. They are not supposed to be restoration projects but probably would be good for parts. If things are right, Joel could possibly store them in his lot, after some work. It is very speculative at this time. Sylvan reported that there is positive progress on the Boydston award, which will be presented at the Tri-State Event in Raton at the end of May. Larry Blair gave Joel some possibilities for speakers at meetings. One is a fellow whose job is being a spotter for slurry bombers during fire season. This one we should get before the fire season really gets going. Another possibility is a slide show on combat engineering that Larry has put together. He did two tours in Viet Nam and this was his job. Another possibility, mentioned in the minutes of a previous meeting, is getting Norton Bickle to talk to us about the problem of laws that are being introduced at both state and national levels, intended to destroy older automobiles. (Is the intention of these laws to reduce smog emissions, to eliminate unsafe cars, or to stimulate the economy? We should know.) We will try to get Norton for our next regular meeting on March 5th. Larry also has a contact for possibilities of a Saturday tour of a Machine Shop which dues ultra precise machine work for Sandia Corporation. It is a 24/7 operation. The interment of the ashes of past member Dave Patten, Del's dad, will be in the national cemetery in Santa Fe on the morning of May 10th. We have no other information at this time. The meeting was adjourned at 17:50. =cnm= FROM THE DRIVER'S SEAT Robert Gold As the old saying goes (almost), "I came, I saw, and I was amazed." That was my reaction to the cars I saw in Phoenix when I attended the Barrett-Jackson auction. The quantity and quality of cars was hard to describe. I would say that it is akin to my experience when I walked through the Baseball Hall of Fame. At one point I realized the quality of the baseball memorabilia I was seeing when I stood in front of the case that housed the bat that Roberto Clemente hit his 3000th hit. That was the last hit of his career because he was killed that winter while flying relief supplies to victims of the Nicaraguan earthquake. Back to cars, I had a similar experience in front of an authentic Superbird, that is the car that Plymouth constructed to win NASCAR races on the superspeedways. I had seen this type of car on TV, but to be within touching distance of one was breathtaking. The only problem was, this was just one of many one-of-a-kind cars to be auctioned. Someone asked me if I bought anything at the auction and I replied yes, I bought a T-shirt and a $25 general admission ticket! It was most interesting to see a class structure at the auction. There were folks like me who came only to see, and there were those guys who had a spare $100,000 who came to buy. You could pick out the rich guys because they had the ID cards around their necks. That little card cost $300 just to register to bid. Another funny aspect of the rich and famous were all the young blonde women who were attached to these guys with the bidding cards. My wife pointed out when I got home that the blondes belonged to the second wives club. I then realized that my life was all mixed up, because my first wife was a blonde.... Anyway, I would suggest that if you have some free time at the beginning of January you consider making the trip to Phoenix and take in the spectacle. I saw an interview with the guy who runs the show and he said it would be even better next year. Moving on to a more domestic topic, I was pondering my car fleet the other day and realized that I don't see my cars in terms of their year and model, but in terms of the names my family has given to the cars. I don't know if you do this, but the Gold family has given names to our cars based on a variety of reasons. Take for instance my wife's 61 Lakewood. It is called Eore, from the Winne-The-Pooh stories. Why you might ask? You see the wonderful Motor Vehicle Division issued us a title that listed the car model as a Eoriar. My wife quickly translated that into the Pooh character and the rest is history. I bet if you asked my kids, they would have no idea what a Lakewood is, but Eore is another matter. Another odd name is the one that I bestowed on my 65 Corsa Convertible‹ Satisfaction. As I was restoring this wreck of a car to driveable condition it occurred to me that I had developed a feeling that was close to the lyrics of the Rolling Stones' song, "I can't get no satisfaction." Just one example of my trials with this car was the fact that I went through three engines before I got one that I liked. Lastly, the name that I feel best describes a car, is the name my daughter Sara gave to our 93 Caprice Classic ex-police car. She named the car Bubbles after her favorite character in the Power Puff Girls cartoon show. All you have to do is look at the shape of the Caprice and you'll realize that Bubbles describes it perfectly. Anyway, I would be interested in hearing from CNM members about interesting car names. I'm wondering if anyone ever named a Corvair Ralph or maybe Nader? As many of you know who have read my column before I seem to have developed a fixation on the Johnson name. I was most depressed when Goeff and Sally were absent from last month's meeting. Just when I felt we were building an increased following by the Johnsons the number dwindled from 4 to 2 at that meeting. I guess it's sort of like how I feel about my money in the stock market. One month I have some, then next month it's almost all gone. I didn't really want to retire anyway. So, in keeping with my Johnson mania I decided to go to my trusty internet search engine and do a search on the combination of Johnson and Corvair. I'd like to share with you one of the "hits" I got. It is titled, "Auto Recall" by Albin Johnson. It seems that Albin wanted the world to know the history of his car buying. Since the story begins in 1953 Albin has a lot of cars to talk about. The part of the story that would be of interest to us came about after Albin graduated from college in California. To celebrate his new life (he now had a wife and 2 children) he purchased a brand new 1959 Corvette with a tonneau cover and storable hardtop. For any of you who now think I have committed the most unpardonable sin of confusing the Corvette with a Corvair, let me continue the story. He then went on to say, "One and a half years later, the Vette turned into a lime green 2-door Corvair. Please don't ask me how or why that happened." I can't imagine why either, all I can say is that this is just one of the many Johnson Corvair stories out there. Tune in next week to see what I turn up next. Go Johnsons! Turning to Club activities, Bill Reider mentioned at the last meeting that planning was going well for the Tristate meet that will be held in Raton. One significant step forward was a patch design submitted by Dave Huntoon. Bill had a rough copy of the design in various colors for us to look at. I really liked the idea of promoting the shape of the Corvair engine. We now have proof for those Porsche (and also the Subaru) folks that they don't have a corner on "boxer" engines. We called the host motel for reservations some weeks back and got a nice room rate for a suite. Any of you with young children will know how nice the idea of staying in a suite is (no more Motel 6!). I want to remind everyone of the upcoming March events. On March 8 we need to have a good turnout for the Route 66 cleanup. I'm not sure of the time. I imagine that since we're still early in the year we'll be getting together at 9:00 am. Check at the next meeting for the time. Then on the next day, March 9 we'll be having the Progressive Dinner that will begin at Ruth Boydston's at 5:00 PM. It should be a fun time and a chance to honor the work of the past year's officers. Another thing worthy of mention is my appreciation to Jim Pittman for running the pictures of my two wonderful children in the last newsletter. This is in addition to Jim including Corvair pictures in the newsletters. I do miss seeing Jim's dream cars, I hope he will continue to include those pictures too‹ how 'bout a picture of that really sharp new Cadillac convertible that was featured in the last Superbowl broadcast? One last thing, I mentioned at the last meeting that I had been remiss in not publicizing the Board Meetings that take place two weeks after the regular meetings. I want to emphasize that this is not some snobby group that meets in secret, rather we have a group of fun folks who get together at the House of Covers at 5:00 and discuss some matters of importance to the Club. Most of the time we wind up talking about all manner of car things. I personally like to attend to see what the latest cool car Steve Gongora has in his shop. By the way, what's this thing about an old Pontiac convertible that Goeff Johnson had in the shop? I hope this doesn't mean Geoff is getting out of Corvairs! Anyway, I would like to encourage all members to attend with us. I guess that's it for now. I'll see you at the next meeting on Wednesday, March 5 at 7:30. ‹ Robert Gold =cnm= Minutes Of The Monthly NMCCC Meeting: The monthly meeting of the NMCCC was called to order by Jim Clements at about 7:30 PM. OLD BUSINESS Support our member organizations. Promote our schedule of events to your membership! The most up to date schedule available appears as the first item in this newsletter, and an updated version will be handed out at the next NMCCC meeting. Promote the hobby, promote member's events to your club! NMCCC Car Show The Car Show Committee (John Hayne, Mistee Thompson, Chuck Logan, JD & the Clements) will meet in February with representatives of the Museum, Old Town merchants and the City. The committee will report to the full Council concerning the relative advantages and benefits of resuming the Albuquerque Museum Car Show in Old Town on May 18, 2003. The committee will report on next year's car show(s), including scheduling, planning, advertising, and recruiting volunteers for the event(s). The committee will determine what assistance is available. It was the consensus of the group to have many classes of cars, popular choice trophies, and all of the amenities we associated with the most popular auto hobby promotion in the state. The committee will also report on the possibility of having a second annual Car Show in Los Lunas, or the benefit of having the May Show in Los Lunas instead of Old Town. The entire Council will make those decisions after the report is presented. There was favorable feedback on the NMCCC Car Show in Los Lunas, and there is support for having another show in Los Lunas next year, date to be determined. These events will require commitment and participation from all member clubs! SHOW on WHEELS Event SoW point-man Leo Bartolucci, representing Sandia MotorSports, was unable to attend the monthly meeting. Leo negotiated favorable deals with McDonalds, Coca Cola and others to host the event at Sandia MotorSports September 26 - 28, 2003. The local Ronald McDonald House benefit would be the subject of a nation-wide publicity campaign by the sponsors. The event will be held on those dates regardless of NMCCC participation. The three day event currently includes a Sunday SMS Car Show (many classes, many trophies) and a Saturday auction of about a hundred classic, collector and custom cars. NMCCC will sponsor the Swap Meet and car corral lasting one, two or three days (our choice), and retain vendor fees. The original plan to raffle off 1968 Shelby Mustang GT 500 convertible was vetoed by the proposed beneficiary, the local Ronald McDonald House. The investment (about $60 K) seemed too rich for their budget, and would diminish the proceeds excessively. A backup plan is being developed, and will be presented at the February meeting. The Swap Meet Committee will report to the full Council concerning the proposed Swap Meet at SMS. The committee will also report on the possibility of having a second Swap Meet in Los Lunas sometime during the summer, as well as (or in place of) the SMS Meet. New NMCCC Meeting Site There is an ongoing project to acquire and/or develop a new site for NMCCC meetings and/or events. A committee is working on this project, locating possible sites (such as nine mile hill or balloon fiesta park) and determining necessary steps to acquire the site(s), develop the site(s), and identify possible funding for the project. The site committee will report periodically to the Council. 2003 Route 66 Tour The Route 66 Tour (July 25 - 27) will end at Balloon Fiesta Park according to Bruce Shaffer, who is promoting deals with businesses & casinos to make this year's event even more memorable than the last. NEW BUSINESS Floyd Vasquez of SouthWest Classics (http://SWClassics.com) encouraged member clubs to increase their web presence. He offered to highlight member club events and websites on his website. He encouraged member clubs to develop their own websites, There was no other new business. February Guest Speaker - Norton Bicoll Because of legislators introducing so-called "Clunker" laws, your car may be picked up when you're away and crushed before you can recover it. It has happened! Scare tactics? Not at all. Come to the February NMCCC meeting and hear actual stories that you will not believe, all of which are true, and very nearly happened here in New Mexico! Norton Bicoll, past National Legislative Chair for the Rolls Royce Owners' Club and current head of the Santa Fe Vintage Car Club, who has worked against "Clunker" legislation for fourteen years, will speak to the assembled member clubs. As guest speaker, he will show a surprising video on February 26 at 7:30 PM. You cannot afford to miss this presentation if you want to protect your hobby and your investment. The sky is falling, make no mistake about it. Before you know it, your classic vehicle may only be used to trailer to shows, forget about driving it anywhere. We will discuss how to prevent "clunker" legislation. After prolonged discussion about all of the subjects above, the meeting adjourned about 8:30 PM. =cnm= * * * * * * * * * * * * * FOR SALE, TRADE OR WANTED * * * * * * * * * * * * * FOR SALE: 1955 Ford Crown Victoria Mark Martinek 275-3271 FOR SALE: FC windshield, small bullseye, light wiper scratch, no cracks, $100 FC rear window, small delamination, $25 Larry Hickerson 296-16336 FOR SALE: Early sedan fender skirts, new, painted white. Asking $25. Geoff Johnson 344-3178 FOR SALE: 1991 Honda Civic EX 4-door sedan, auto, air, AM/FM/cassette, Michelins, 60,000 miles, 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 for reasonable performance, good gas mileage. Real freon A/C. $4,000.00 - Jim Pittman - 277-8131w 275-2195h * CNM ADS ARE FREE TO MEMBERS, $5.00 TO OTHERS * =cnm= Bode Aviation, a CNM Garage Tour by Steve Johnson Steve Gongora Thirteen CNM members were treated to a tour of the Bode Aviation facilities at Double Eagle Airport on Saturday, February 15, 2003. The event started at 11:00 AM with lunch at the Flying J Truck Stop at 98th Street and I-40. Attending were Sylvan Zuercher; LeRoy Rogers; Joel Nash; Kim & Del Patten; Heula & Jim Pittman; Anne Mae, Robert, Javier & Sara Gold; Geoff & Carl Johnson; Barbara & Gordon Johnson; and Steve & Bernadette Gongora. Several of us drove Corvairs to the event! Some of us were amazed at the large number of huge 18-wheelers pulling into and out of the parking lot. Well, it is a truck stop after all. After lunch we caravaned to the Double Eagle Airport. If you have never been there, the road leaves I-40 and heads north from the very top of Nine-Mile Hill and goes just west of the volcanoes - and they are an impressive sight from that side! There's a little park from which you can easily hike up to the top of the big "J" volcano. We met in the parking lot and stopped to admire the Corvairs and listen for any anomalies in Carl & Geoff Johnson's car. What is that knocking noise? Gordon Johnson gathered us to continue to where Steve Johnson was waiting to conduct our garage tour. Steve met the group and explained what happens to each aircraft in the hangar. He pointed out intercoolers, magnetos, alternators and exhaust mufflers, and we were able to see a windshield upgrade on a 1958 Beechcraft. The upgrade will allow better access to controls behind the dash. We were impressed with the pristine condition of aircraft about as old as our favorite cars. The Gold children, Javier and Sara, were treated to sit in one aircraft trainer and try the controls. (Check for color photos at the CNM website.) The first hangar housed all the planes that needed maintenance or repairs. Later, we were shown to another hangar that had more expensive aircraft. One aircraft in particular was totally amazing. It was a Czechoslovakian military training jet. A local physician owns this unique toy and he flies this aircraft about once a week. The plane uses 400 gallons of fuel an hour. I don't know what aircraft fuel costs or how long he flies per session, but I can imagine that this is quite an expensive hobby. The plane was painted in Ohio with a Navy military theme including decals and military markings. I think I will stick to Corvairs as my hobby. Bernadette sat in the plush leather-lined private jet owned by Bode Aviation. We learned that this particular jet is frequently chartered by our new governor Bill Richardson. The club members who participated in this tour wish to thank Steve Johnson for inviting us to Bode Aviation and answering our questions, thanks to Sylvan for arranging for the lunch restaurant, and we all look forward to the next CNM tour. - Steve =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 ============================================================================ | | | | | M a r c h | A p r i l | M a y | | | | | | : : : : : : 1 | : : 1 2 3 4 5 | : : : : 1 2 3 | | 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 | 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 | 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 | | 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 | 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 | 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 | | 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 | 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 | 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 | | 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 | 27 28 29 30 : : : | 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 | | 30 31 : : : : : | : : : : : : : | : : : : : : : | ============================================================================ 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 - David Huntoon Sun 9th Mar 5:00 PM Progressive Dinner - Birthday Party (The Birthday Party starts at Ruth Boydston's at 5:00 PM) (Next stop: the Domzalskis' in Placitas) (Next stop: Wendell Walker's in Rio Rancho) 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 - Rita Gongora's Wed 16th Apr 5:00 PM Board Meeting - House of Covers ‹ a week late! Fri 25th Apr 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman Wed 7th May 7:30 PM Regular Meeting - GALLES CHEVROLET 1601 Lomas NE Sat 10th May 1:00-4:00 CNM Ladies - TBA Sat 18th May ? Albuquerque Museum/NMCCC Car Show Wed 21st May 5:00 PM Board Meeting - House of Covers Fri 23rd May 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman 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 =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=++=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= CNM Ladies -by- Anne Mae Gold I need to start off by thanking Jim for calling and keeping the CNM Ladies column updated. I'm afraid I dropped the ball last month. So now there is a lot of catching up to do. In January we met at Sylvia Goffe's home. Sylvia, thank you for opening your home to us and sharing the recipes for all the delicious food you fed us! We had a good turn out and it was a good deal of fun. February's meeting was held at Ruth's home. It was a combination Valentine's Day and Wendy's birthday celebration. The turnout was thin, but we had a quality time of it. We missed you all! Thank you Ruth for making your famous white cake and that killer chocolate cake! In March we will forgo the usual meeting because the very next day, Sunday, March 9th, is the Progressive dinner. We will start at 5:00pm. Soup and salad will be at Ruth Boydston's home, main course at the Domzalski home and dessert will be at Wendy's. If you feel inclined to help out with one of these courses, please call the appropriate household and talk to the chef du jour. I encourage all of you to turn out. The more, the merrier! Every year the food is fantastic and so is the company! For April we will meet at Rita Gongora's home. Rita and Steve have been having an exciting time with their floor and plumbing. Keep your fingers crossed that all goes well for them and we'll be able to inaugurate their fixed abode. In May we have a tentative meet in Jemez at the Stickler cabin. Remember, we meet the second Saturday of most months from 1pm-4pm. Bring your stitching and join in our bitching! Ta ta for now! Anne Mae 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 soon! Bill Reider will accept ideas for a patch. Call him at 299-4597. =cnm= Seven Years Ago - March 1996 Volume 22 - Number 3 The cover photograph showed your editor with his Apple IIgs working on the newsletter; photo by Bill Reider. Chuck Vertrees penned meeting minutes. We welcomed Francis Boydston back to the meeting after a hospital stay. New/old member Mickey Payne was welcomed. It was suggested that CORSA should have a newsletter award and some thought CNM would win it. Treasurer Will Davis said we had $606 in the convention account and $529 elsewhere. News included several car shows and a Route 66 show at Nob Hill next year and we planned a photo rally - a dry run for the convention rally - for March. The raffle car was almost done and would soon be available for photos. Bill Reider said we had already sold $500 worth of raffle tickets. We planned to vote for Mark Domzalski for Western Director. Ray Battaglini spoke briefly about the Corvette Museum in Bowling Green. Bill Nelson gave an interesting talk on lubricants and Pennzoil products. Chuck Vertrees previewed the photo rally. Mark Domzalski summarized our efforts to finish up all the planning for the convention and still take time to go to Montrose for this year's Tri-State event. LeRoy reported on our garage tour to see the Phil Maloof car collection and to see Jim Pittman's newsletter production headquarters. Finally, technically speaking, Mark Domzalski told about ignition coils that could stand up to an electronic ignition, and Bill Reider discussed getting the best wheel and tire combination for your Corvair. Fourteen Years Ago - March 1989 Volume 15 - Number 3 On the cover showed a Rampside pulling a trailer with a CNM birthday cake. New members were Joe Ashton and Jim Gould, and "Bob" Gold returned to CNM. President Bill Hector was still trying to get annual Corvair mileage figures from our members and Clayborne Souza was still trying to get designs for a Red River Tri-State patch. Tom Martin said that 133 English words could be spelled using the letters to MISTLETOE. Kem Owen continued his series of articles on his V-8 Corvair coupe, discussing his disk brake installation. In March 1989 we had a special edition newsletter featuring classic articles from the previous fifteen years. Twenty-one Years Ago - March 1982 Volume 8 Number 3 The cover was a jumble of letters that spelled out a secret message; did anyone decode the message? Richard Twilley had a Monza which went "THUNK THUNK" from the rear wheel, and he managed to find the surprising cause of the noise before it disrupted his happy marriage. Your editor presented part 1 of a story about "Why I own a Corvair" instead of a Mustang. Twenty-eight Years Ago - March 1975 Volume 1 Number 3 The cover had a photo of the decal on the back of Glen Shakel's VW van. The decal said the van was powered by Chevrolet! Corvair power, that is. Editor Mark Morgan interviewed Glen to learn how the conversion was done. Glen said he was very pleased with the results: more power, no handling problems and only a modest loss of fuel economy. Because of an "economic crisis" we lost our meeting place at Ed Black's, but Hector and Steve Gongora came to the rescue in the form of a space at House of Covers. We planned a party for our first birthday. Coming up: trips to Bosque del Apache, to Denver for a Western Convention and Seattle for the CORSA Convention. =cnm= Chuck and his Brother's First Experience with Building a Car by Chuck Vertrees My first experience with building a car was long before our favorite car was a gleam in GM's eye. Possibly this might bring back some memories for some of the more mature members of CNM. It was the summer of 1946 and my brother Don was out of school and wanted a car. He was in high school and I had just finished my first semester at UNM. So, we went to the local yard in Roswell, where we lived at the time, and my brother picked out a Model A Coupe. I don't remember what year it was now, but it was a very early year as we later found out. As you must remember neither of us knew anything about working on a car. We towed it home - it would not run - and parked it under the big cottonwood in the back yard. As good alamosa mechanics, we took the engine all apart and proceeded to rebuild it. We had no shop manual of course, but we had a lot of people we could ask for advice. We got the block cleaned, the cylinders bored and new bearings poured and line bored. This in itself might tell you what some of our future problems might be. We did the usual things: crank grind, new cast iron Model A pistons, rod bearings and all the other good things. We finally got it all back together and what do you know, we had one part left over and we did not remember where it came from. This leftover part was about as big around as my thumb as I remember and about 2 inches long. Luckily, Don had a friend whose father had a little garage out on the highway south of town where he worked on old cars. He was able to tell us where it went and happily it was not too hard to place it where it belonged. Anyone who has ever worked on a Model A will remember that right on the front is the timing gear cover. Looking at the inside of this cast iron cover is a small cast cup-like figure. One end of the leftover piece sits in this indentation and rests against the end of the camshaft. If this piece is left out the camshaft will work forward resulting in promptly striping the fiber timing gears. Anyway, we put it in where it belonged, and after some work on the carburetor (a small updraught) and a few other things, it ran. Well of course this was in the '40s and hot rods were starting to become big on the West Coast with a trickle towards New Mexico. Of course we couldn't let well enough alone. The first thing to be added was a Thomas high compression aluminum head. This of course caused some other problems that required new forged pistons instead of the old cast iron ones, and of course a special head gasket for the higher compression. This was when we started to learn the difference in Model A blocks and cranks. We had an early A block and crank so they did not have pressure oiling on the bottom end. We learned to watch for little pieces of babbit metal in the oil. That meant it was time to pull the engine and take it to the shop and have new mains poured and line bored. We got so that we could pull the engine, strip the block, and have it down to the shop in about an hour. We really should have gotten a later block and crank but we didn't know enough yet. After the high compression head came a Burns down draught intake manifold with two Stromberg carbs. Of course we had to design the linkage and fuel lines but it was fun. About this time we also put in a reground cam. Of course the engine was way over-carbureted for around town unless you were in second gear. Sometimes we would switch back and fourth with the intake manifolds. The cam also required bronze timing gears instead of the stock fiber ones. About the last thing that I had time to work on with my brother was getting a lightweight flywheel. The Model A flywheel weighed 64 pounds. A lighter flywheel will accelerate faster because there is not so much inertia to overcome. Of course the lighter weight does not dampen the roughness of the four cylinders as well, but so what. The problem in getting a lightweight flywheel from one of the hot rod suppliers was cost. Money was getting low. I don't remember know where we found out that a late pre-war Ford V-8 flywheel, which weighed 32 pounds, would bolt right in place of the Model A flywheel and the pressure plate and clutch would fit. There was only one problem at first. The ring gear was 1-1/8th inches further back. A simple solution, right! Lengthen the shaft on the starter motor armature by welding on an addition from an old burnt out armature. Of course then the starter bendix will not fit into the bell housing. No problem. We knew that Hudson let their starter bendix stick out the back of their bell housing. So we cut a hole in our bell housing and everything bolted up just great. Except for one little thing. The engine would not turn over, either with the starter or by hand! By backing off a few turns on the bolts holding the bell housing to the block we found that there was just a leetle (that's less than a little) lack of clearance. We didn't want to tear it all down and find someplace to grind a leetle off of the flywheel so it would clear. Now you must remember that Don and I were young, inexperienced, and willing to try things that were a little different. We came up with an idea that would not work on any modern automobiles. First we had to move the battery from under the floorboards to the firewall so we had clearance. And for those that do not know, when I say floorboards, that's what they were. By starting with the bolts on the bell housing loose enough so the engine would turn over, and the floorboards removed, you could pull the Model A up and down the street. You may ask, "Why were the floorboards removed?" That is obvious. It was so you could lay a plank across the floor for the mechanic (?) to lie on and for the person who would steer to place his feet when they were not on the back of the mechanic. Then you go up and down the street, with the mechanic laying on his stomach and slowly working his way around the bell housing with about a 1/4 turn on each bolt until they are all tight, ignoring the squealing sound emanating from in front of him. I know that this sounds crazy, but it worked! We never had clearance troubles afterwards. We did have trouble with the lengthened starter armature from time to time. Later after I went back to school, Don and a couple friends converted it to hydraulic brakes. Model A brakes were terrible. By getting the hydraulic system, with backing plates and all from a '38 or '39 Ford, the transformation wasn't a real big deal. Don kept the car for several years before he sold it and bought a 1941 Ford Club Coupe, but that is another story. =cnm= Subject: Re: Miatas are Invisible? Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2002 01:41:29 GMT From: Samuel Senior senya5@attbi.com Newsgroup: rec.autos.makers.mazda.miata Gee, folks, sounds like you all are having trouble. Take a hint from an old guy. I spent 40 years on fast motorcycles and a number of years in sportscars, and avoided problems quite well - never scratched a sportscar, had one dump on a motorcycle. I drive fast. My system is: 1) When I see a car which MIGHT pull out, I put my fingers on the flasher, and blast it when I get close if their wheels move. 2) Always move faster than the other traffic so I control the overtakes. 3) Never stop for a left turn. 4) Don't accept any distractions (radio, phone, smoke, etc.) 5) Keep eyes moving and be fully aware of any vehicle which might get close. 6) When changing lanes, move into opening in such a manner that there's nothing anyone can do to interpose, and THEN give signal. That's the main stuff. There's more for winter driving. Oh, and if you are sick or tired, or the weather is horrible, stay home. I am not a preacher, but I've learned a lot in 73 years, why not pass it on. I drive a Miata now, pedal to the metal. Love it. Remember, if you pay attention, you can reduce the "luck" factor to 5%. -- Sam Subject: Re: Miatas are Invisible? Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2002 02:29:14 GMT From: "tooloud" nospam.jake@mchsi.com "Samuel Senior" wrote... } My system is: 1) when I see a car which MIGHT pull out, I put my fingers on } the flasher, and blast it when I get close... As do I ‹ and I move into a farther lane if at all possible, though only if I can get there quickly enough so that they don't get the bright idea to try to scoot to that lane themselves by shooting across my lane. } 2) always move faster than... But not ridiculously so, though I don't imagine that's what you mean. } 3) never stop for a left turn. } 4) don't accept any distractions... } 5) keep eyes moving, be fully aware... } 6) when changing lanes... I agree to a certain extent -‹ basically, be totally committed to what you're about to do, and don't give anyone else a chance to do something stupid. Sometimes a quick move is the best move. } Remember, if you pay attention, you can reduce the "luck" factor to 5%. I'm 24 years old and am glad to see that my driving style isn't indifferent to someone with your experience. Happy motoring! Subject: Re: Miatas are Invisible? From: grante@visi.com (Grant Edwards) Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2002 16:25:14 GMT Samuel Senior wrote: } Gee, folks, sounds like you all are having trouble. Take a hint from... If there's other traffic, I also try to position my bike so that people making left-hand turns or waiting in driveways can't pull out in front of me without also getting hit by a car or truck. That's a bit tricky since you need to be in different positions relative to your "bodyguard" depending on where the other vehicle is. -- Grant Edwards Subject: Re: Miatas are Invisible? Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2002 20:05:08 GMT From: Samuel Senior (senya5@attbi.com) grante@visi.com (Grant Edwards) wrote: } If there's other traffic, I also try to position my bike so that people } making left-hand turns or waiting in driveways can't pull out in front of } me without also getting hit by a car or truck. That's a bit tricky since } you need to be in different positions relative to your "bodyguard" } depending on where the other vehicle is. Absolutely. On bikes I use other vehicles for shields against Oscar Grope and his Belchfire Eight, as well as to plow deer and elk off the road. And avoid night drives to avoid trash on the road. The techniques you have to use on a bike to completely avoid accidents serve you well in the Miata. In a car, with all that metal around you, you get to feel bulletproof. Not good. - Cheers, Sam Subject: Re: Miatas are Invisible, Part Deux Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2002 20:10:21 -0500 From: "Cliff Knight" cliffyk@paladinmicro.com Greg, You are either quite remarkably unlucky, or need to review your driving habits with special consideration to the fact that you are driving what is by contemporary standards a VERY small automobile. For example, don't put yourself in a situation where some dolt in a minivan's decision to back up leaves you with no place to go ‹ I always leave at least eight feet between me and other vehicles when stopped. I get "honked" at often by the average imbeciles that populate most of our planet, but that's their tough s**t! -cliff knight- Subject: Re: Miatas are Invisible, Part Deux Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2002 14:29:07 GMT From: "Nora" nora@mccord.lan.mcgill.ca Likewise. It has saved my bacon (Canadian bacon at that :D ) at least once when I was the last car in a long line of stopped traffic on an expressway. I left about three Miata-lengths between me and the next-to-last car in line and put on the hazard lights. I hate being stopped in a normally fast-traffic area. A truck with the normally asleep driver had not noticed that the traffic was not moving and bore down on me at speed. He hit the brakes at the last possible moment, and I used up my three Miatas-worth of space, and he missed. By about three inches. 8-O Always leave room to maneuver... Nora (imagine a Canadian flag here) and the Rollerskate (imagine '99 gleaming silver Miata here) http://hobbystage.net/miata/nora/ http://community.webshots.com/user/nora_h Spring Fun Run / RATG II pix http://www.nheh.ca/2002trip/2002trip.htm X-Country trip (constant mutation)