Updated 30-Jan-2007 - Copyright (c) 2007 Corvairs of New Mexico. Volume 30 - Number 6 - June 2004 - Issue 345 EDITOR: Jim Pittman NEXT MEETING: Wednesday 02 June 2004 at 7:30 PM Galles Chevrolet, Lomas & University THIS MONTH: Dues Due Dave Huntoon May Meeting Notes Chuck Vertrees May Board Meeting Chuck Vertrees CNM Birthdays Sunshine Committee Rebuilt & Restored Mark Domzalski Calendar of Coming Events Everybody Wanted or For Sale Everybody Tri-State 2004 Report Jon Anderson Tech Tip Steve Goodman Seven Years Ago Jim Pittman Car Council Report Robert Gold La Ventana: Wendell Walker Heula Pittman COVER: Sara Gold and Terry Price and Corvairs at the Albuquerque Museum / Car Council Car Show =CNM= "The early bird gets the worm. The second mouse gets the cheese." DUES EXPIRED OR DUE OR APPROACHING DUE: EXPIRED: Jay Ecclestone 2004-March John Myers 2004-May THIS MONTH: Gordon Johnson 2004-June Mark Morgan 2004-June COMING DUE SOON: Robert Gold 2004-July Dwight Simmons 2004-July Kevin Sullivan 2004-July Tarmo Sutt 2004-July Mark Domzalski 2004-August Richard Finch 2004-August Steve Johnson 2004-August Jacob Schlessinger 2004-August Ray Trujillo 2004-August Sylvan Zuercher 2004-August 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! On the cover: Sara Gold at the Albuquerque Museum Car Show Terry Price at the Albuquerque Museum Car Show In this issue: A few photos from the 2004 Tri-State Event in Cripple Creek =CNM= MAY MEETING NOTES Chuck Vertrees Vice-President Sally Johnson called the meeting to order on 5/5/04 at Galles Chevrolet at 19:32. There were 26 adult members present and two minor members. New old member Terry Price was introduced and guest John Marousek was also introduced. Larry Hickerson said that contrary to the minutes, he was not an experienced legal writer, and other than that the minutes were approved as publisher in the newsletter. Treasurer Wendell Walker reported that CNM had $191.53 in the checking account and $2,398.81 in the GMAC account for a total of $2,590.34. Dave Huntoon said that he was hoping to recruit some new members at the Museum Car Show. The Sunshine Committee had no report. The Awards Committee said that the next meeting had to be scheduled. The Constitution Review Committee had a meeting and has prepared a first draft of the report, which they hope to have ready for review by 5/10. The New Mexico Car Council report will be published elsewhere in the newsletter and can also be found on Jim's Web Site. Upcoming events include the Galles car show, which would be coming up on the coming Friday and Saturday. A good response was asked for to support our sponsor. The Museum Car Show is on 5/16/04. After a long and confusing discussion I think the final decision was to leave from the Sheraton back lot at 06:45. After the CNM cars are spotted, members will go to Little Anita's about 08:00 for breakfast. Finally in May is the Tri-State meeting in Cripple Creak, Colorado on the weekend of 5/21-22/04. Those going up on Thursday will meet at the Placitas exit on I-40 at 08:30. June has the International Convention in Lexington, KY on 6/15-19/04. Those interested in caravanning please see Del Patten. The CNM breakfast is planned for 6/19/04. There were a number of suggestions and the selected place will be elsewhere in this newsletter. New CNM shirts and jackets were discussed. Sally had the catalogue that Steve had gotten and it was discussed as to the kind of shirt. Did we want button shirts or pullovers? Long sleeve or short sleeve? No decision was made on colors or any of the above, so back to the board. About half of the members seemed to be possible interested in a jacket, but again no decision was made. The shirts would seem to run about $25 plus the embroidery cost wilt sized up to XXL at no extra cost. Clark's wants about 50 more "Care and Feeding" books. We only have about 18 on hand. We should put in the new constitution and By-laws before we have it reprinted. Bill Reider will review it and has it in his computer or on discs. Member Ray Trujillo is a printer and will check on a price when we let him know how many we want. We received raffle tickets from the Lemont, IL club for a 50/50 raffle to benefit the Frank Winchell Memorial Corvair Scholarship Fund. We have to return them by 6/1/04! Steve Gongora saw Jack Sellers, a past member, the other day. He looks good. He has been in California for many years. See Steve for more information. Jay Gould, a former member, has two Corvairs for sale. His phone is 869-3405. The meeting was adjourned at 20:20. -- Chuck Vertrees =CNM= MAY BOARD MEETING NOTES Chuck Vertrees The meeting was called to order at House of Covers at 17:00 on 5/19/04. Present were Mark Domzalski, Sally Johnson, Jim Pittman, Wendell Walker, Steve Gongora and Chuck Vertrees. The next general meeting will be 6/2/04, however the next scheduled board meeting would be on June 16th, which is in the middle of the International Convention. It was decided to cancel the June board meeting. Vice President Sally does not have programs scheduled for the coming months at this time. Activities for the balance of May are only the Tri-State meeting, which is the coming weekend. June activities are the Convention and the monthly CNM breakfast, which will be either on the 19th or the week after. The date will be in the newsletter, and the breakfast will probably be at Mimi's on Jefferson and I-25. So far the only thing for sure in July is the Santa Fe Car Shown on July 4th. August has the annual campout at Ruth Boydston's on the first weekend of the month. The secretary had nothing to report. Treasurer Wendell reported CNM had $191.53 in the checking account and $2,98.81 in the GMAC account for a total of $2,590.34. There were no reports from Membership, Car Club Liaison, Sunshine Committee, and the awards committee. The awards committee has its next meeting set for 6/5/04 at noon at Wendell Walker's. The proposed review and revision of the Constitution and Bylaws was next on the agenda. The original proposal was on line earlier in the week. Sylvan Zuercher had taken a copy and made some suggested additions and revisions. These were well thought out and after review and discussion by the board, they were accepted. The board then considered the proposed revision line by line. It was accepted pretty much as presented with one or two additions and clarifications. The board concluded that the committee had done an excellent job and were to be commended. The finished work will be presented to the general membership by E-mail and on the web site. Copies will also be brought to the June meeting. It is hoped that the membership can vote on the new Constitution and Bylaws at the July meeting. Future activities were discussed. As mentioned the August campout at Ruth's is the first weekend in August, but we will need to talk with her to decide if it will be Friday-Sunday or Saturday and Sunday. The progressive dinner in August will be on the 21st. September will be the State Fair Car Show. I know they don't call it that anymore but I don't remember what the new fancy name they are using now is. The Aspencade in October has not been planned yet but Sally was thinking about going south this year, possibly to Fourth of July Canyon. We will bring it up at the regular meeting and see if anyone has any ideas. The idea of button shirts instead of pullovers met with the approval of the board. The cost would be about $25.00 per shirt plus the embroidery. Steve knows someone locally who might do the embroidery for fairly low cost. There was no decision on whether to get jackets. Many thought white jackets showed the dirt too quickly. Member Ray Romero has given us a great price for printing a new batch of "Care and Feeding" books. Discussion was on how soon and how many because of the possibility of adding the new Constitution. The meeting was adjourned at 18:07. -- Chuck Vertrees =CNM= SUNSHINE COMMITTEE REPORT Heula Pittman Six of us members have birthdays in the month of June. They are: Larry Hickerson Rita Gongora Will Davis Robert Gold Chuck Vertrees Heula Pittman Three of our CNM couples celebrate wedding anniversaries this month: Gayle and Richard Finch Dana and Jake Schlessinger Heula and Jim Pittman Have a sunny, happy, prosperous kind of day today! - Heula =CNM= REBUILT & RESTORED Mark Domzalski Here we are ready to start summer in a few weeks. Due to travel and essential family business, I haven't seen most of you for the past couple of months. I hope my conflicts are past and I'll be able to participate in more Corvair things for the rest of this year. Just this past weekend, I finally found the pesky oil leak in the engine compartment of the Rampside. After diligent cleaning, I ran the engine for about ten minutes and shut down. A close inspection revealed a small pool of oil in one of the webs on top of the oil filter housing. Reaching under the oil pressure sender unit, there was oil. Hmmmm... That's why the oil pressure was erratic. The sender was leaking at the crimped seal on the sender itself. It was difficult to find after just idling up to temperature and searching, but it sure made a mess when running at speed for a while. Several folks have asked about Elizabeth's stepfather and his recovery from the burns in March. With New Mexico coming into a potentially bad fire season, I thought I'd take a little space to bring a hard family lesson to light. Elizabeth's 78 year-old stepfather is in a rehabilitation care facility nearer home than the burn center he was in for six weeks. He has lost his left leg above the knee and has recently developed a blood clot in one kidney due to some other complications. This happened because a little leaf fire got out of hand. We learned from the doctors that Mr. Greg was never burned by the fire. He was close enough that parts of his body cooked. As we get into summer and camping season, it's a good time to review how to be safe around a fire. After experiencing the family and personal trauma of a family member and the whole family work through this avoidable accident, Elizabeth and I would be heartbroken if one of our CNM friends suffered an avoidable accident around any kind of fire. Please be careful around those campfires, or any fire for that matter. Reports from attendees of the Tri-State Meet are great. Congratulations to Ben Benzel as the recipient of this year's Francis Boydston Award. I can't remember not seeing and visiting with Ben in the past ten years I've been attending the Tri-State Meets. The award is well deserved for Ben's commitment to preservation of the Corvair and his strong support for the Tri-State event itself. Many of you have received an e-mail from me with the BoD approved draft of the revised CNM Constitution. Larry Hickerson, Sylvan Zuercher, Bill Reider and I sat and reworked the original CNM Constitution to a form presented to the BoD at the May 19 meeting. The BoD recommended a few additions to duties and responsibilities of officers that have been incorporated into the approved draft those of you with e-mail have and the attendees to the June 2 membership meeting will receive. If the attending membership decides to approve the new CNM Constitution on June 2, it will be incorporated into a new Care and Feeding edition to be printed immediately thereafter. If the membership decides to take a month for review, the new CNM Constitution will likely be incorporated as a draft in the new Care and Feeding booklet. Don't forget that the CORSA International Convention in Lexington, Kentucky starts June 15th. I'll be there to represent you. In addition to representing CNM, I will provide the voice and announce for Concours. If you have CORSA concerns, let me know and I'll take them to the CORSA Board of Directors. It should be a fun meeting on June 2. I hope to see lots of members in attendance to help improve our chapter. - Mark =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 ============================================================================ | | | | | J u n e | J u l y | A u g u s t | | | | | | : : 1 2 3 4 5 | : : : : 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 | | 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 | 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 | 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 | | 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 | 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 | 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 | | 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 | 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 | 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 | | 27 28 29 30 : : : | 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 | 29 30 31 : : : : | | : : : : : : : | : : : : : : : | : : : : : : : | ============================================================================ Wed 2 Jun 7:30 PM Regular Meeting - GALLES CHEVROLET 1601 Lomas NE Sat 5 Jun 1:00-4:00 CNM Ladies - Ruth Boydston's Tue-Sat June 15-16-17-18-19 - CORSA Convention, Lexington, Kentucky Wed 16 Jun 5:00 PM ====== No Board Meeting this Month ====== Fri 25 Jun 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman Sat 26 Jun 8:30 AM CNM Breakfast - Mimi's Cafe Sun 4 Jul early! Santa Fe Plaza Car Show and Breakfast Wed 7 Jul 7:30 PM Regular Meeting - GALLES CHEVROLET 1601 Lomas NE Wed 7 Jul 7:30 PM We want to decide on an Aspencade Tour destination! Sat 10 Jul 8:00 AM Route 66 Clean-up - Oliver Scheflow Wed 21 Jul 5:00 PM Board Meeting - House of Covers Fri 23 Jul 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman Sat 24 Jul 8:30 AM CNM Breakfast - TBA Wed 4 Aug 7:30 PM Regular Meeting - GALLES CHEVROLET 1601 Lomas NE Sat-Sun Aug 7-8 CNM Campout - Ruth's place in the Pecos - more later Wed 18 Aug 5:00 PM Board Meeting - House of Covers Fri 20 Aug 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman Sun 21 Aug 8:30 AM CNM Breakfast meeting - TBA =CNM= * * * * * * * * * * * * * FOR SALE, TRADE OR WANTED * * * * * * * * * * * * * * WANTED: 1964 Chevy Biscayne Station Wagon - parts car. V-8, 3-speed, 4-speed, Auto. H. C. ÒLubeÓ Lubert - cell 505-400-3680 WANTED: 1962, 1963, 1964 Corvair Spyder convertible - 4-speed, 180-HP turbo. Bob Sully - 505-831-9460 2216 Alamogordo NW Albuquerque NM FOR SALE: 1961 Monza coupe, Ô66 110-HP engine, Powerglide. New interior, needs paint and minor body work. Price negotiable. Hurley Wilvert 281-1732 FOR SALE: 1968 Monza coupe, 110-HP rebuilt engine with 4 carbs, Powerglide. New paint, good interior. Price negotiable. Hurley Wilvert 281-1732 FOR SALE: 1960 900 Monza coupe. Automatic. Owned for 30 years. Car came from California. All original except for some interior work and paint. Top is pearl white, bottom is burgandy. New tires. Needs seal to fix small transmission leak. About 60,000 miles. Always garaged! Call: Tony August: 505-864-3415 in Belen, NM. Cell: 505-363-3702 FOR SALE: Yellow Raton Tri-State T-shirts - $10 - XXL $12 Call Bill Reider Yellow Raton Tri-State Golf Shirts - $14 - XXL $16 299-4597 * * * * * CNM ADS ARE FREE TO CNM MEMBERS, $5.00 TO NON-CNM MEMBERS * * * * =CNM= TRI-STATE 2004 - CRIPPLE CREEK, COLORADO Submitted by Jon Anderson Our Tri-State Events are always a great time to renew friendships as well as to meet new faces that we had not seen before. I always like to see the large amount of Corvairs gathered in one place. This year's event in the old mining town of Cripple Creek, Colorado was another success story. There seemed to be a good turnout of convertibles this year along with some rides that I had not seen before. There were thirty-two cars, a Rampside and a Greenbrier on display. The cars all lined up and after a very short parade (the lineup was the parade, I suppose) parked on the town's main drag from 9 AM to 1 PM. There was plenty of opportunity for club members and passers-by to inspect the cars. We had six chapters represented at this year's Tri-State: Corvairs of New Mexico, Rocky Mountain Corsa, Pikes Peak Corvair Club, CORSA Northwest, San Diego Corvair Club and HACOA (Heart of America Corvair Owners Association). Attendance: [ ERRATA: note corrected statistics: ] CNM - 13 [ CNM = 18 ] RMC - 34 [ RMC = 34 ] PPCC - 42 [ PPCC = 42 ] [ San Deigo Corvair Club = 2 ] [ CORSA North West = 2 ] [ Inland Empire = 2 ] [ Central Valley Corvairs = 2 ] [ Mid Continent Corvair Association = 1 ] [ Bonneville Corvair Club = 2 ] [ Corsa South Carolina = 2 ] Pikes Peak Corvair Club won the traveling trophy this year with 42 members showing. Members of P.P.C.C. were justifiably pleased with our turnout! We had 92 total attending the banquet on Saturday night - ninety-one adults and one child. The food was very good and there were quite a few positive comments about the banquet. A buffet was offered for the evening so I believe everyone had plenty to eat. Debbie and Dennis Pleau were the master of ceremonies for the evening. They did a great job in handling this year's Tri-State. A lot of door prizes were given away during the banquet. "A few" awards were given away during the evening. HACOA won the "Long Distance award" with a member who drove a 1962 Spyder coupe over 900 miles to attend the event. The "hard luck award" almost didn't happen because no one had any major problems. In fact, we did not find out who got the award or what it was for. Maybe we can get this information later. [ Note: it was Bud Duncan of RMC for a faulty oil pressure sender ] [ switch in his 1962 Monza convertible. -- Steve Goodman ] I saw were a couple of hard starting cars (no doubt due to lack of oxygen at Cripple Creek's 9,400 foot elevation) and some misplaced keys. These problems were overcome and all attended the show. The car show drew a pretty good response from the locals. There seemed to be a lot of interest in the Corvairs. The weather cooperated splendidly. Listed below are some of the results from the car show: Early Open - Laura Wilshire with her 1964 Spyder Convertible. Early Closed - (we had a Tie in the category) - Mike Wiltrout with his blue 1963 140 coupe - Ben Benzel with his 1964 Sky blue daily driver coupe 110 p.g. Late Open - Bud Edwards with his 1965 Corsa convertible 140. Late Closed - George Leyner with his Maroon 1966 Corsa Turbo coupe. F.C Class - Jim Rushton with his 1963 Rampside. (We did not have any wagons this year for that class.) Best of show went to Larry Yoder with his "Modified" 1966 Corsa coupe. On behalf of Corvairs of New Mexico, Jim Pittman and Dennis Pleau presented this year's Francis Boydston Award to Ben Benzel of P.P.C.C. Ben was very grateful for receiving this award. With some help from Steve Goodman for dates and statistics, Jim summarized the history of the Tri-State Events from 1976 to the present. Driving to Cripple Creek provided us with spectacular mountain scenery and lots of 1896 architecture to look at. Some of us went down into a gold mine while others drove to Victor and its overlook where we could look down as monster trucks hauling ore. A narrow-gauge railroad made trips to Victor to provide us with even more scenery. There were quite a few places to visit during the event. If gambling was not your thing, there were always shopping, museums, train rides and even a tour of a real gold mine. As usual with the casinos, there is always a lot of food to eat at reasonable prices! I hope everyone who attended had as great a time as we did. I did miss seeing a few from CNM whose company I enjoy every year. I hope to see everyone at the Tri-State for 2005, to be held in Ouray, Colorado on May 20, 21 and 22. Mark it on your calendars! =CNM= YOU WON'T BELIEVE THIS by Steve Goodman ROCKY MOUNTAIN CORSA - May 2004 Another story about a CORVAIR that went awry A 1960 coupe showed up on a tow truck with a rear wheel hanging completely outside the fender well, still attached to the brake drum and axle. Of course what happened was the wheel bearing failed and had gotten so hot that it lost the press fit that holds the bearing to the trailing arm. I asked the owner how long the bearing had made noise. The young lad said that he didn't hear anything, the car just veering onto the shoulder of the road. During the day I ordered a new bearing and pressed it onto another axle (fear of the failed axle getting too hot) and installed it on the car, dropped the car down and torqued the lug nuts and got into the car for a quick test drive. I turned the ignition key on and was almost knocked out of the car because the stereo system was turned all the way up. When the young owner and his dad came to pick up the car, I again asked if he had heard any noise before the bearing failed, saying that he should have heard a grinding sound for some time. The young lad denied hearing any noise, got into the car (I had turned the radio off) and immediately turned the volume completely up. He looked back at his dad and me, dropped it into gear and drove off, radio blaring away. A couple of years later he showed up again, driving the same car and I heard him coming from several blocks away. He said the car didn't have much pep and when I lifted the engine lid, the cooling fan bearing was completely seized and the belt was smoking as well as the entire engine. Once again, he hadn't heard a thing .... TECH TIP -- by Steve Goodman ROCKY MOUNTAIN CORSA - May 2004 After fooling around with the stock replacement tail light sockets on a late model a couple of weeks ago, I set out to find a better lamp socket. What I found is this: PART NUMBER S-75 from Carquest. It is an all metal socket that has a ground pushon connector attached also. It is two pigtails for use with an 1157 bulb for tail/brake/turn signals on the late models. It also will work on the front of the early models for park/turn signals. -- Steve =CNM= SEVEN YEARS AGO - June 1997 - Volume 23 - Number 6 The cover showed Corvairs at the Journal Center where we saw how a daily newspaper was put together: a very interesting tour! Our report was penned by Ilva Walker who said it was a treat to go to a club event and see something other than engine torque and fuel injection and motor mounts. President Mark ran our May meeting, we had no guests or new members, but we had $7,133 in the bank. The Museum Car Show conflicted with our Gunnison, Colorado Tri-State Meet. We voted on the amendment to our constitution to require 100% CORSA membership. Bill was starting work on an update to the Care & Feeding booklet. Mark reported on the great success of the Gunnison event and said we were already well along at planning next year's event in Lake City, Colorado. Mark's tech tip came from standing out in the rain looking for the reason his Rampside had no ignition. The cause proved to be oxidized contacts on the primary current fuse in the ignition relay. Dennis told us about a sudden lack of fuel to the carbs on the way back from Colorado. After limping home he checked everything before discovering a broken spring in the top of the fuel pump. FOURTEEN YEARS AGO - June 1990 - Volume 16 Number 6 In 1990 the cover drawing from Car Life magazine compared the actions of the 1964 and 1965 Corvair rear suspensions. New members were John Folkerts, Eric Mather, Bill Medcalf, Eric Medcalf and John Martinez. John Baca and his 1962 convertible were guests. We looked forward to a Car Council picnic. At the Ed Black's All-Chevy Show the Club turned out with 19 of the 170 vehicles and we got seven awards. Bad news for those who like nice-looking car restorations: Bob Phillips was closing CAR & TRUCK FACTORY and leaving the state. While the Walkers and the Sticklers won trophies at the Museum car show, several CNMers went to Durango to visit with the Rocky Mountain CORSA people, the Pikes Peak club members, and to ride the narrow-gauge railway to Silverton. Tom Martin's column, La Ventana, was a "This is your Life" story of long-time active CNM member, Steve Gongora. Tech tips included a warning about how to seat push rods when you install TRW valve lifters, preventing leaks around the shifter shaft seal, and keeping your heater hose away from the exhaust pipes. Finally, we had a very nice letter from Mr. Ed Black thanking the Club for our participation in the All-Chevy Show. TWENTY-ONE YEARS AGO - June 1983 - Volume 9 - Number 6 Our 1983 cover depicted the Car Life drawings of 1964 and 1965 rear suspensions, showing their geometry during cornering. They are clearly different, but how do they feel? New member Eugene Drye owned a Spyder in Las Vegas. We weren't quite ready to vote on 100% CORSA membership yet. Jim gave a tech talk on shift linkage adjustment. Sylvan previewed an econorun. LeRoy reported the details on the Museum car show and the various prizes awarded. TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS AGO - June 1976 - Volume 2 Number 6 Thirty-one members and guests attended. Terry Gray confirmed the date for the Winrock Car Show; we expected 12 to 15 Corvairs. We planned a flea market fund-raiser. LeRoy was working on a roster of all cars owned by club members. Mark Morgan wrote about early and late Fitch Sprints, Corvairs that had been enhanced by legendary race driver John Fitch in Falls Village, Connecticut. Mark bragged about out-dragging a Capri (remember those German-built mini-Mustangs?) with his mythical 1965 Monza, and told us about the benefits of contributing to CORSA's museum and racing funds. =CNM= CAR COUNCIL REPORT Robert Gold Another Car Council meeting has come and gone with a Gold in attendance. It might not be the same Gold each time, but the important thing is that CNM was represented among the elite of the car hobby. (At least that's what someone called us at the last meeting.) Anyway, I want to thank my son Art for filling in for me last month. What was really exciting is that I got to read his council report in the last newsletter. After reading it I realized that I hadn't seen any compositions by him since his days as a student in High School. He seems to have developed a nice writing style. It is much better than his handwriting would have indicated. Good going Art!! I guess it is now time to actually talk about what went on at the meeting on the April 28th. The main topic of conversation was the upcoming Museum Car Show scheduled for May 16. It was suggested that this would be a good time for car enthusiasts to tell the Mayor what we think about the junk car law that is currently being enforced in town. Marty is supposed to be at the show. So we have more reason to attend than just to show our collector cars. It just occurred to me that if someone had trouble starting their car at the event the City might attempt to tow their car. Maybe I'll bring that up at the Car Council meeting scheduled the week of the show. As I mentioned at the last meeting, the cost of entering a car is $5.00 and admission will be collected for anyone who isn't accompanied by a car. I would suggest that we plan to meet around 7:00 in the north parking lot of that large hotel that is near the Museum. I think it is still the Sheraton. Sally Johnson has offered to enter the grounds early and secure a choice spot for us. I would caution Sally that the organizers are sworn to prevent earlybirds from getting in. We'll report next week on how successful Sally was in her quest. I hope to see lots of Corvairs at the show. There is talk of going to Little Anitas for breakfast. You know that I like to report on the offbeat at the council meetings. This month it was gratifying to hear one rep complain that the Council has upwards of $20,000 in the bank, but all it did to protest the junker car law was to write a letter. His point was that we could have taken a little of the hoarded cash and finance a lawyer to test the law. I guess that would be too much of an activist stand for such a staid group. It was nice to know, however, that we're not the only ones who wonder why the Council doesn't do something with its wealth besides report it every month at the meetings. Back to the upcoming Museum Car Show -- it was requested that each club volunteer at least three individuals to help out at the show. I immediately offered CNM for counting ballots. I hope that you will back me up on this one. Geoff Johnson and Anne Mae Gold have already offered to help. We'll be asking for other volunteers at the next CNM meeting in May. You should note that all volunteers will be given a special, limited edition cap of some sort plus will be thanked by a to-be-determined event. There is no truth to the rumor that a lottery will be held among the volunteers and the winner will get a free trip to the International Space Station. The other club that will be counting ballots will be the Rio Grande Mustang Club. How nice, Corvair and Mustang, sort of like a cat working with a dog.... Among the various upcoming events described at the meeting I found one that should be a lot of fun. On Saturday, August 7th (?) the yearly "Neon Cruise" will take place. The plan is to begin in the east end of Central at the Believers Center and travel to Old Town for various activities. My notes say the cruise will begin at 8:00 pm and there will be a $25 entry fee. I'll need to check into this and let you know in a future newsletter. I should note that a few years back my family participated in the cruise. We were about a third of the way back in a line of about 200 cars or so. A friend of mine was driving my 64 Monza Convertible with me and my family following in our 65 Corsa Convertible. Ok, I'll get to the point now. The Monza died, holding up that endless line of cars. I'm of the opinion that I singlehandedly destroyed the reputation of the Corvair that night. Why couldn't a Mustang have been the one that konked out!! There was mention made of the fact that elections are coming up for officers in the Car Council. I'll tell you something for sure - I will not be running for anything. However, the powers running the council suggested that this would be a good time for the clubs to appoint new reps if they were inclined to do so. So, if anyone wants to be the council rep and get to vote in the next election let me know real soon. (That's meant as a joke!) Since I'm bouncing around quite a bit I'll mention something else about the Museum Car Show. Supposedly entry forms were mailed several weeks ago. But since no one in attendance got a form we concluded that something went wrong with the mailing. Be on the lookout for the forms in the near future. Another thing about the show -- there will be no food vendors. The council decided that participants could just as easily go to Old Town for food. What a drag - I won't get a chance to spend $4.00 for a 0.00001 lb hamburger. Maybe next year.... I guess that's it for my report for this month. I could report on the swap meeting scheduled for September in Los Lunas, but that would leave me with nothing new to report next month. Talk to you then. -- Robert Gold =CNM= LA VENTANA - June 2004 - WENDELL WALKER Heula Pittman (Back in 1989 our vice president, Tom Martin, started a monthly feature in our Newsletter in which he would interview a CNM member and write up a profile of the member's life and "Corvair career" to date. Tom called the series "La Ventana" and between October 1989 to July 1990 he produced ten profiles. We thought the articles were a great feature of the Newsletter and wished they could be continued. After all, we have a good supply of interesting members at hand, and a tape recorder and a little time should be all we need to capture some good stories. We are going to try to pick up where Tom left off and tell you more about some of our members. This month will feature none other than our active and enthusiastic treasurer, Wendell Walker.) Wendell tells us he was born in 1919 on February 9, the second son of four children. After graduating from high school in Indianapolis, Indiana, Wendy attended Purdue University for three years, then ran out of money and had to finish up the last semester of his junior year "on mashed potatoes and lettuce." He went back home where he told his mom that he was going back to school, but not until he had at least $1,000 in his pocket. He says he ran somewhat below a "B" average and wasn't ready to be a serious student yet. He went looking for a job and soon found himself at American Optical as a draftsman, making thirty-three cents an hour. Later he went to Universal Gear which manufactured gear boxes for heavy equipment. In 1941 when Pearl Harbor happened, he was worried about the draft. At that time he was working in a "war industry" company that made dynamometers. In fact, he designed dynamometers to test engines, one of which was a 32-cylinder 2000 HP radial aircraft engine. At one point the company sent him to Philadelphia to supervise the installation of a dynamometer and get the first test done. Instead of using the 2000 HP aircraft engine, they decided to use a diesel submarine engine. It looked like four V-8 engines put together. This was considered the largest water dynamometer ever built at the time. As a draftsman, Wendy also drew up plans for equipment for aircraft carriers, such as hangar door openers. After five years, he still wasn't back in college when he received word that his brother had been wounded when going into Germany in the Battle of St. LO. At that point he says, "I got real patriotic and decided I wanted to go into the service!" His boss wouldn't let him. In fact, his boss called someone in Washington, DC and had him deferred. However, in 1946 he went in the service as a First Class Seaman in the Navy, spent a year or so in the Navy, then got his GI Bill of Rights and went back to school. At that time he had saved up $10,000 instead of his $1,000 target, so he felt that he could go to school in style. He bought a new car and went to draw unemployment. It was something like $50 a week for 52 weeks. Upon applying for a job he thought he'd go to Purdue Extension to re-take some math courses. One of the fellows at Purdue learned that Wendell had been doing drafting for the past five years. He had Wendell come back to talk to the boss, and within 15 minutes he was hired as a teacher at Purdue Extension! He taught General Engineering for one year then Physics for one semester there. Then he taught General Engineering and Drafting at Purdue University for 2-1/2 years. During this time, he completed his technical end of college education, repeating all the freshman through junior subjects plus his senior year, completing everything in 2-1/2 years! He was seven years older than the rest of the students and knew where he was going. He decided he didn't want to stay in Indianapolis any longer. He wanted to "go west somewhere" and randomly pointed to a spot on a map; it turned out to be Tulsa, Oklahoma. He found a job there and worked for a year or so. He found a rooming house for girls where he could get meals. One day in late 1949 or 1950 he got a notice from the government that he was being recalled into active duty. This turned out to be kind of a fiasco. After a year or so he got out of the service and returned to Tulsa. He returned to the same rooming house to look for his old friends and announced to the girls there that he was now ready to get married! After some of his old friends greeted him he heard a "clump clump clump" and saw "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" coming down the stairs. The new girl was Ilva and he immediately asked her for a date. At first Ilva seemed to be quite unimpressed with Wendell's "acting up" but he found her enchanting and was persistent and three months later they were married. She worked for KOT-TV in Tulsa but was not happy with her boss. Soon after, they quit their jobs and moved to Danville, Illinois. In Illinois Wendell and three friends set up a business called Signatrol, Inc. where they manufactured time and temperature devices that were used on banks. He had the patents for the designs and in fact, he designed and made the first one in the United States. These were sold all over the world, along with traffic signals. Ilva hated the town from the time they got there. They reared three children. It was a good place to raise children, but it was hard to be a stranger in the town. After some thirty years they still felt like newcomers! They finally waved goodbye to Danville, Illinois in their rearview mirror and moved to New Mexico in late 1985. There they found what they thought were five gorgeous shades of brown in the landscape. Ilva had Polio at the age of two, which left her right leg atrophied. She wore a full brace, designed by her dad, from her hip to her shoes. When they met, she was driving a stick shift car, using her hip to control the accelerator. Wendell had a powerglide Chevy at the time and she liked that and eventually decided she'd never drive a stick shift again. They owned a lot of cars over the years and in 1970 he bought a new Opel GT. Ilva really liked it, so Wendell got two wrecked cars and spliced them together to make a GT with automatic for her. This did not work out well because there was no place to put her right foot. Wendell moved both the brake and accelerator pedals over toward the left to accommodate her "left foot only" driving style. That worked out well and Ilva loved her little Opel GT. Ilva's last car was an automatic 1988 Mazda RX-7 which Wendell still drives occasionally. Ilva was a writer, starting out in television stations. Her degree was in English and Rhetoric and she taught at the junior high level and college level for many years. She published books and plays. She wrote a play called "Mother's Day," declared the Best in the United States by unknown authors. It was performed in Monterey, California and has been performed at the Albuquerque Little Theater. Their three children were encouraged to leave home and get out on their own when they were ready. The boys went in the Navy and Kathleen moved to Los Angeles to work in the movie industry. Vance is now a captain with Delta Airlines and Norman is on a flight crew for FedEx and flies overseas. They all reside with their families in California. Wendy joined Corvairs of New Mexico in 1990 and is presently driving his seventh Corvair. For fun he likes to work on cars and participate in car club activities. He has nine cars now, six of which are in various stages of restoration. He is 85 years young and says that he feels that he will probably make it to 100! He has made more friends since he's been in the Albuquerque area than ever before. Wendell has served as treasurer of our club for about nine years. He considers club members family and says that Corvairs of New Mexico is the greatest club in the US! Our club members appreciaste his efforts - we keep re-electing him as treasurer! To learn more about Wendell's interesting car stories, refer to Newsletter articles he provided in the May and June, 2003 issues and another in our 30 year anniversary issue, March 2004. =CNM=