This page contains material from the June 2005 newsletter.

Updated 30-Jan-2007 =-= Copyright (c) 2007 Corvairs of New Mexico. EDITOR: Jim Pittman NEXT MEETING: Wednesday 1 June 2005 at 7:30 PM Galles Chevrolet, Lomas & University THIS MONTH: Dues Due Membership Chair May Meeting Notes Chuck Vertrees May Board Meeting Notes Chuck Vertrees Old Car Garage Car Of The Month Robert Gold Birthdays & Anniversaries Sunshine Committee Calendar of Coming Events Everybody New Mexico Highways John Dinsdale Newsletter Questions David Brown For Sale or Trade Everybody Car Council Report Robert Gold Seven Years Ago Club Historian President's Letter David Huntoon Tri-State Summary Bill Reider Still Fulla Gas? Ouray, CO Del Patten COVER: Ruth says this car is for sale! Dues Expired or Due or Approaching Due: EXPIRED: Terry Price 2005-Apr Jerry Goffe 2005-May THIS MONTH: Gordon Johnson 2005-Jun Mary Lou Martinek 2005-Jun Mark L Morgan 2005-Jun COMING DUE SOON: Robert Gold 2005-Jul Tarmo Sutt 2005-Jul Larry Blair 2005-Aug Tom Bunter 2005-Aug Dan Clifford 2005-Aug Jacob Schlessinger 2005-Aug Ray Trujillo 2005-Aug Sylvan Zuercher 2005-Aug Richard Foster 2005-Sep Doug Gadomski 2005-Sep Sally Williams 2005-Sep Lee Olsen 2005-Sep Bernard Urbassik 2005-Sep 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 your CORSA Communique! Moonrise at the Tri-State Event, Ouray, Colorado. Photo by Bill Reider Note: Photos in this issue are by LeRoy Rogers, Bill Reider and Jim Pittman =CNM= May Meeting Notes Chuck Vertrees THE MEETING WAS called to order on 5/4/05 at 19:35 at Galles Chevrolet. All officers were present. There were 21 members in attendance. There were no new members or guests to introduce. However, Mark Domzalski was present, having come back from TDY for a short time, one week. If was great to see and talk to him. The minutes of the last meeting were approved as published in the newsletter. Treasurer Wendell Walker reported that CNM had $1,124.08 in the checking account and $1,950.61 in the GMAC account for a total worth of $3,074.69. Sally brought up information for the Museum Show on the 15th of this month. CNM members will meet behind the Old Town Sheraton, on the East side by 07:00. Then they will go in together so they may park together. After the cars are set up, those who are hungry will go together to Little Anita's for breakfast. Members who are not showing cars are welcome to come to breakfast with the rest of our members. CNM has volunteered to help count ballots at the show. This starts at 11:00. A sign up sheet was circulated for volunteers. Sally also brought up the idea of CNM going to an Isotopes game. (For those who don't follow sports, Jim, the Isotopes are a baseball team.) When this was brought up by President Dave at a previous meeting the membership seemed to be in overwhelming agreement with the idea. The date chosen is June 11th, which is a Saturday. If twenty or more go there will be a special group rate for tickets, and as I understand it CNM will be mentioned on the scoreboard. There will be a sign up sheet circulated at the June meeting, so be sure to get your name and your family's names on the list. The June breakfast will be on Saturday the 18th at Millie's on Jefferson, near the Journal Center. We went there in January. Jerry announced that there would be a car show in Los Ranchos on May 21st at The Growers' Market. The time is 07:00 to 11:00. Members were instructed to give Jerry a call if they were interested. The Tri-State is coming up on the weekend of 5/20-22 in Ouray, Colorado. Quite a few CNM members are planning on going and have their reservations. It was decided that those who want to leave on Thursday would meet at the Home Depot on Highway 550 in Bernalillo at 08:30. It was discussed that next year's Tri-State should be held in Montrose, Colorado. The first Tri-State was held in Montrose in 1976, 30 years ago next year. We went there ten years later in 1986 and we met there in 1996 for the 20th Anniversary. It seemed appropriate to have the 30th anniversary Tri-State in the same location. This was discussed by the board and then by the membership who all approved. It will be our year to host the meeting. LeRoy Rogers said that he would help and Steve Goodman has quite a few contacts and will also work on arrangements. THERE WAS QUITE a bit of discussion about the newsletter. The newsletter goes on-line before it is printed and sent to the members. The on-line copy is found on the CNM web site and is in color. Several alternatives were discussed. The first would be to continue as it is now and mail everyone a copy of the newsletter. Another alternative is to determine which members would just as soon bring the newsletter up on line and either read it on the screen or download a copy. It is a PDF file. If you have just a regular dial up connection, it can take quite a long time to download the file. The reasons for these possibilities include the savings on postage. Especially since the cost of postage is going to go up before long. Also the copies would not end up mangled as they often arrive. I don't know how many members file their copies of the newsletter. I have all of my copies in several large binders. No decision was made and further discussion is necessary since we didn't determine how many members are on line. CORSA has a new look on their web site. Give it a look. Also, if you haven't checked out the CNM website lately, you should do so. Jim pointed out that there are two separate CNM sites, his and Steve's and that each has a link to the other. There were 15 CNM cars at the Sonic Show on the 23rd of April. I understand that all seven of the Gold cars were present. Sonic would like us to do it again, possibly in mid to late July. We need to remember to put up our CNM banner the next time, and also remember to have it at the Museum show. The meeting adjourned at 20:19. =CNM= May Board Meeting Chuck Vertrees THE MEETING WAS called to order on 5/18/05 at 17:15 at House of Covers. Present were Jim and Heula Pittman, Robert Gold, Steve Gongora, Dave Huntoon, Wendell Walker, Geoff Johnson and Chuck Vertrees. The minutes of the last board meeting were approved as printed in the newsletter. Treasurer Wendell Walker reported that CNM had $1,124.08 in the checking account and 1,955.97 in the GMAC account for a total of $3,080.05. He said that he would transfer some of the money from the checking account into the GMAC account. The board discussed this previously. The interest at GMAC is not a lot but it is better than zero. The 2006 Tri-State was discussed and it was agreed that we would put it on since it was our turn. It will be in Montrose, Colorado to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the first Tri-State, which was in Montrose. LeRoy Rogers and Sylvan Zuercher will go up there to help set things up. There was no date set so in the discussion it was decided that the Tri-States were a lot more fun if they occurred after school was out so those with children could bring them. As a result we will shoot for Memorial Day weekend. This year's Tri-State will be the coming weekend. The trophy has been picked up and Bill Reider has agreed to handle the presentation. The next item brought up was how long a grace period we should give members who have not paid their dues. There was no decision made but the time of two months was discussed. Robert Gold gave a report from the Car Council. The full report is on the web and will be in the newsletter. Those who came were appreciated and CNM really turned out when it came to volunteering to count votes. Thanks also go to Sally Williams for her efforts to get CNM a good parking area and arranging the breakfast. Also, CNM has agreed to sponsor the Car Council picnic in August. It will be at El Morro National Monument, the location of Inscription Rock. It was brought up that we should have a contest, as in the past, for a design for a logo for the Tri-State next year. We could come up with some kind of a prize. IT WAS ALSO brought up that we should have a tech session on computers with basically question and answers. What is a PDF file? It will happen soon. We need to find out if Galles has an Internet hookup in our meeting room. Steve asked if anyone had some pictures from the car show, and Jim downloaded some for him. That was one of the computer things that I don't know about. Heula reported that the Sunshine committee is still sending out birthday and anniversary card but luckily there have not been any CNM members sick. They still have funds for postage, etc. It was brought up that our baseball night with the Isotopes is planned for June 11th. This is right after our June meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 18:00. =CNM= A Big HAPPY BIRTHDAY wish goes to each of the following CNMers: Will Davis June 5 Dan Clifford June 6 Larry Hickerson June 9 Chuck Vertress June 15 Tom Bunter June 19 Jonathan Reider June 20 Rita Gongora June 24 Heula Pittman June 24 Robert Gold June 30 Five couples celebrate wedding anniversaries this month: Larry & Susanne Hickerson June 7 Jim & Heula Pittman June 8 Jon & Debra Anderson June 13 Bernie & Nancy Urbassik June 13 Jake & Dana Schlessinger June 14 Richard & Gayle Finch June 16 Note: If we do not have your special date or if we have typed it incorrectly, please let one of the Sunshine Committee members know. Sunshine Committee Heula Pittman, 275-2195 Kim Patten Wendell Walker Brenda Stickler Anne Mae Gold Elizabeth Domzalski =CNM= The Old Car Garage Car Of The Month (Report of the Car Council meeting of April 27, 2005) Robert Gold I SUSPECT THAT I am not the only CNM member who subscribes to Hot Rod Magazine. However, I'm sure that not everyone gets Hot Rod for the same reasons I do. I usually just scan the articles like "How to get 5,000 hp from your 4 cylinder Model T engine." What draws my attention are the sections of the magazine that refer to car history. It may be a section that shows pictures of people in white t-shirts in front of their Caddy powered customs from the early 1950's. It could also be a writeup on one of George Barris' creations or a description of a car show held 50 years ago (or more). In fact, Hot Rod magazine's first issue was not sold at newsstands, rather it was hawked at one of those early car shows. By reading these articles I'm transported back in time to the origins of the car hobby. The problem is that these articles are not the real thing. I'm not really hanging with George Barris as he creates the Batmobile, or with those guys in the white T-shirts (I'm old, but not that old). So it is really a peak experience when I get to look at and touch history up close for REAL. That was the case at the last car council meeting. It is with this in mind that I want to describe to you a car that was sitting in the Old Car Garage during our last car council meeting. It was a T-bucket with a pickup bed on it that just reeked of history. In recent years the car industry has been cranking out 50's looking hot rods by the hundreds. However, they are too perfect. They don't have that sense of time to them. Also, they cost just too darn much to have been the object of affection of those guys in in the white T-shirts. The car I saw at the council meeting was nothing like that. It looked old. It felt old. It WAS old. This rod had it all. First there were the Caddy wire wheels. There was that well worn flathead V-8 with the Edelbrock intake. And to top things off there were three aged dash plaques that announced that this car had been displayed at car shows in 1957 and 1958. As I was looking at the car I mentioned to one of the other people at the meeting that I could never figure out how a rod like that could be driven, since the distance from the seat to the pedals was about 3 feet. That got us talking and he said that the car was a truly significant car. It had been displayed at one of the legendary Oakland car shows. It was in Albuquerque because the daughter of the builder lived here. What was nice was that she intended to restore it properly and continue to drive it. This was history and now Albuquerque could share in it. Now I guess it is time for part two of my column-- a description of the April Car Council meeting. The main topic of conversation was the upcoming Sunday, May 15 Car Council car show at the Albuquerque Museum. Arrangements for the show were nearly complete. All that was left was to make sure that the various volunteers would show up to help out. CNM is the lead group to count votes. Vote counting should begin around 1:00 pm. I'd like to see at least four CNM members participating. More would be nicer. We'll be circulating a signup sheet for volunteers at the May CNM meeting. However, even if you don't sign up please help if your at the show. The show is such a nice event it is appropriate that we show our support for it. In addition to the car show there will be a model car show in the museum that can be seen for no charge. Also, a local automobile artists club will be displaying their creations. The plan for CNM is for us to meet in the Sheraton Old Town parking lot at 7:00 am and to caravan into the show around 7:15. After we set up club members will be getting together to enjoy breakfast. Food and cars -- there isn't anything much more enjoyable! Bob Agnew reported that the Spring Thaw was a great success. About 27 cars were serviced with only one car with a severe problem. Almost $2,000 was raised for charity and a good time was had by all. As has been the case in recent weeks I was unable to attend this event due to family scheduling conflicts. However, now that soccer is over the CNM community may be seeing more of the Golds (I don't know if that is good or bad!?). Another interesting thing to report on is the upcoming September swap meet in Los Lunas. At least Los Lunas is the planned site for the swap meet. The report made on the swap meet indicated that a group of unknown origins has appeared on the seen and is now making demands on the car council in order for the council to hold the swap meet. Two guys from Sicily were seen entering the country at the Albuquerque Sunport and were reported to be agents for this group. The group is known as "An offer you can't refuse, Inc." Just kidding!!! It is true that there is an organization that claims it has some control over the swap site. It seems that even though we have a multi-year contract with Los Lunas problems may be developing. If all else fails the meet may be back in the Albuquerque area this year. Tune in next month for more information. Last, and certainly not least, Joyce Clement mentioned that after the museum car show is out of the way we will begin planning for the August 7 council picnic. As you should remember CNM is the lead club for this effort. Joyce will be giving us contact information to kick things off. This should be a great time. Please keep this date open on your schedule. I guess that's it for now. For all of you who have more questions about the upcoming car show schedule in the Albuquerque area please refer to the car council newsletter that will be distributed at the May CNM meeting. 'Till next time - see ya.-- 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 ============================================================================ | | | | | June | July | August | | | | | | : : : 1 2 3 4 | : : : : : 1 2 | : 1 2 3 4 5 6 | | 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 | 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 | | 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 | 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 | 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 | | 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 | 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 | 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 | | 26 27 28 29 30 : : | 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 | 28 29 30 31 : : : | | : : : : : : : | 31 : : : : : : | : : : : : : : | ============================================================================ Wed 1 Jun 7:30 PM Regular Meeting - GALLES CHEVROLET 1601 Lomas NE Sat 11 Jun ....... Isotopes Ball Game - more later. Wed 15 Jun 5:00 PM Board Meeting - House of Covers Sat 18 Jun 8:30 AM CNM Breakfast - Milly's on Jefferson near Journal Center Fri 24 Jun 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman Mon 27 Jun - Fri 01 Jul - Cedar Rapids, Iowa - mini-convention - more later. Mon 4 Jul early! Fourth of July Car Show on the Plaza - Santa Fe Wed 6 Jul 7:30 PM Regular Meeting - GALLES CHEVROLET 1601 Lomas NE Sat 9 Jul 1:00 PM CNM Ladies - TBA Wed 20 Jul 5:00 PM Board Meeting - House of Covers Fri 22 Jul 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman Sat 23 Jul 8:30 AM CNM Breakfast - TBA Sat 23 Jul 10:30 AM Car Project at Ray Trujillo's place. H:839-7436 W:266-4011 25-30 July CORSA International Convention - Portland, Oregon Wed 3 Aug 7:30 PM Regular Meeting - GALLES CHEVROLET 1601 Lomas NE Sun 7 Aug ....... NMCCC Picnic - El Morro National Monument - more later Wed 17 Aug 5:00 PM Board Meeting - House of Covers Sat 20 Aug 8:30 AM CNM Breakfast - TBA Fri 26 Aug 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=++=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= * * * * * * * * * * * * * FOR SALE, TRADE OR WANTED * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 1963 Corvair Monza coupe, Automatic, one previous owner. All original interior. Runs great, needs nothing, well, maybe gas! $5,500.00 - Ruth Boydston - 821-1506 FREE PARTS CARS: Geoff Johnson 720-1484 Pictures available, email geoffj@unm.edu FREE: 1963 Corvair Convertible. Mostly disassembled. Has a fair amount of rust, floor boards are good, has no body sag, it could be saved. 80hp 4speed Powertrain is in place. Has title. FREE: 1964 Corvair Monza Coupe. Fairly straight body with little rust. Has all windows. PG, has early crankcase in place, needs new engine. No title. FOR SALE: 1962 Wagon 700 -- Terry Price 872-0100 1967 Monza 2-door coupe, 110-HP, automatic. Great interior, good condition. -- Terry Price 872-0100 For Sale: For those show cars, make your engine look like it did when it came out of the factory. NOS 90 degree Spark Plug boots. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5.00 each NOS straight Spark Plug boots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $2.00 each After market Spark Plug boots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1.00 each Used original 90 degree Spark Plug boots. . . . . . . . . . . $1.50 each Used after market 90 degree Spark Plugs . . . . . . . . . . . $1.00 each Shifter Rod boot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5.00 each NOS 66-69 "Corvair" Emblem on front of trunk. . . . . . . . . $15.00 Set of Clevite 77 std rod bearings . . . . . . . . . . . . . $60.00 Set of 2 plastic license plate retainers with bolts fit 65-69 $1.50 Call Bill Reider 299-4597 * * * * * CNM ADS ARE FREE TO CNM MEMBERS, $5.00 TO NON-CNM MEMBERS * * * * * KNOWLEDGE OF NEW MEXICO HIGHWAYS PAYS OFF FOR COLORADO COUPLE John Dinsdale ON APRIL 9, 2005 Debbie and I were traveling west on I-40 enroute to Mesa, Arizona. At about 1:30 PM at exit 79 (Milan) the NM Highway Patrol closed the interstate due to a dust and sand storm causing reduced visibility due to high cross winds. (The highway turns north in that area and is highly susceptible to westerly winds.) The officials had all traffic exit with no other information given. Without hesitation I returned to eastbound I-40 and went back two miles to exit 81 (west Grants). I knew that the highway (NM 53) that went south and then west past El Moro National Monument and eventually into Arizona was back just one exit. I didn't even look at a map until we were well underway on state route 53. We continued on into Arizona, going south on US 191 to St. Johns and proceeded to our final destination with little delay. We did encounter pockets of driving snow, thankfully not adhering to the pavement between Show Low and Payson above the Mogollon Rim. Getting off of I-40 was a blessing in disguise - I don't remember encountering a single semi trailer-truck (there must have been some) on our detour! John Dinsdale john_dinsdale AT adp DOT com =CNM= From: "Brown, David" ( BrownD @ bsci . com ) To: casa @ unm . edu Subject: Newsletter Questions Hi Jim, I am the current president of Corvair Houston & currently receive all of the different club newsletters that we exchange with (7). I noticed that there was some discussion at your last meeting on possibly trimming your "club list". How many clubs do you currently mail to? I just wanted to comment that we would like to keep getting yours. All 7 are displayed at each monthly meeting for anyone to look at. We keep them for 6 months. We just started printing ours in PDF format also & emailing to our club members to see what they think. We already have a few who are willing to download & print their own copy, but we are still trying to find someone web savvy to keep our site up-to-date, and put our newsletters there, as you have. We currently print in color, which is costly, and are trying to figure out how to get away from that. What your club is doing may be a good answer. I would be interested in the response you get from the questions you posed to your club. You obviously have a lot of experience with the number of years you have been editor, so I value your opinion on how to put out a good newsletter & keep the costs down. It's not easy & I'm sure a constant struggle for you. Thanks, David Brown Corvair Houston brownd @ bsci . com =CNM= DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN (Report on the Car Council Museum Car Show of May 15, 2005) Robert Gold OK, YOU KNOW IT WOULD BE much too easy for me to simply report on the museum car show. In fact not only would it be too easy, Jim Pittman would be angry at me for not doing more to fill up the pages of his wonderful newsletter. So to do the right thing for Jim and to keep my reputation intact I'll now talk about things that only remotely relate to cars and the recent car show. This last weekend was a busy one for me. Not only did I have responsibilities related to the car show on Sunday, May 15, but on Saturday I attended UNM graduation activities for a girl I had held in my arms many years ago when she was just hours old. As it turned out both activities, the car show and the graduation, had major Corvair significance to me. Back in the part of my life before Anne Mae and the kids made an appearance, I went to night school at UNM to pursue studies that had nothing at all to do with my engineering work. I had always been a liberal arts sort of guy in engineer's clothing. After I settled down in my USGS career I found the time to work on two degrees in American Studies at UNM. Along the way I became good friends with the wife of one of my coworkers who of all things was also taking American Studies courses. We formed a sort of cooperative support group and ultimately we graduated at the same time 'way back in 1988. Yes, I know I have not mentioned a Corvair once in this paragraph. That is now coming up... Anyway, we were going to go through commencement together and my friend suggested that we travel in style to the Pit in my 1965 Corsa convertible. I had named this car "Satisfaction" as in the lyrics, "I can't get no satisfaction." Those lyrics summed up my attempt to restore that particular car. Anyway, "Satisfaction" got us to the graduation in grand style. Fast forward 17 years and my friend's daughter was now going to go through graduation in American Studies of all things. So it was a natural to have me again supply the transportation to the ceremonies. This time we rode in a blue, 1964 Monza convertible, name appropriately, Dodger. It was a wonderful way to begin the weekend. I'm now looking forward to perhaps transporting the next generation to a graduation-- hear that Kerry? I HAVE NOW been able to relate graduation ceremonies to the Corvair. My next feat will be to relate the museum car show to baseball and the Corvair. You all know by now that I have a passion for baseball. Yea I know, tell you something you don't know! Well I guess you don't know that I have been attending CNM car shows for twenty years without ever winning a trophy. Obviously the trophy thing was not my motivation for attending. What I most liked was getting together with all the folks and talking about cars and getting to see all the cool cars. So I show up on Sunday morning to meet the other CNM'ers who were attending the car show. The first to drive up was Del Patton in his unique 1963 Greenbrier. In rapid succession Geoff Johnson and Sally (Johnson) Williams arrived in "Cardinal" a 1963 Monza convertible that has been featured in an earlier newsletter article and "Yellow Car" an early model coupe that has survived many bouts with destruction, but is still running strong. Then in a flash up came LeRoy Rogers in his 1965 Corsa/Monza. All this activity was duly recorded digitally by Jim Pittman. Come to think about it, I don't remember Jim arriving in any type of car. I'm now convinced that he just appears in "beam me up Scotty" style. At 7:10 we left the Sheraton Old Town parking lot and drove in to the spot that Sally had saved for us. I think Sally deserves special recognition for her ability to sneak past car show security and find us a premium spot to set up. NOW IT IS TIME for me to insert a bit of baseball history into this narrative. Being from St. Louis I have the history of two major league teams to enjoy; the Browns and the Cardinals. These two teams had quite different levels of success over the years. The Cardinals are second only to the Yankees in the number of World Series championships they have won, while the Browns only managed one World Series appearance in their many years in St. Louis. The Browns were formed in the early 1900's and they left for Baltimore in the early 1950's. You might remember 'way back at the beginning of this article I mentioned I majored in American Studies at UNM. One of the ways I got through those courses was to relate at least one major paper in each class to baseball. I guess you wouldn't be surprised how easy that was for me to do and obviously that is what I'm now doing with this report! Now back to the baseball lesson. You need to keep in mind that the Browns only made one World Series appearance in their 50 years in St. Louis. It was their luck to make the "fall classic" in 1944 and to face, of all teams, the Cardinals. In simple terms the Cardinals "wupped" the Browns and became World Series Champions. Alas the Browns finished second, but they did make it to the big series. LET'S NOW RETURN to my description of the museum car show. I had entered my V8 powered 1966 Corsa. It is a better than average looking car. After we set up in the parking lot I came to the conclusion that I had a better than even chance of winning a trophy and maybe even being judged number 1! As my son Javi likes to say, "It could happen." That was my thought for about five minutes until I noticed that entering the parking lot was Larry Hickerson in his 1963 Rampside. It was at that moment that the Cardinals/Browns analogy came to mind. Larry's truck was no doubt the class of the Corvair field and perhaps of the whole museum car show. Every time I see that vehicle he's done more stuff to make it better. This time it was neon. He had installed a neon lighted shift nob and had hidden neon lights in the side vents. All I can say is that vehicle is getting closer and closer to perfection. So as it turned out Larry (Cardinals) finished first and I (Browns) got second. But I can now say I FINALLY GOT A TROPHY!! Finally, I want to thank all the club members who turned out for the show. I hope they had as much fun as I did. Also, many thanks to Larry, LeRoy, Geoff and Sally for helping with the vote counting. For their efforts they get a free dinner from the Car Council for acting as volunteers-- bon appetit. -- Robert Gold =CNM= SEVEN YEARS AGO Jim Pittman Seven Years Ago - June 1998 - Volume 24 - Number 6 Our cover illustration was the logo of our "Lakewood City" Tri-State event -- thanks, Bill! President Dennis ran our meeting. Recovering from surgeries were Sylvan, Rita's mother Marie and Ollie Scheflow. New members were Ben & Joy Abeyta who owned a 1963 Coupe, a 1966 Monza coupe and a 1962 Loadside with a 110 HP engine. Wendell reported that our bank balance stood at $8,205.35 in all our accounts. Bill updated us on the May 17th Car Council show. John McMahan had information on flag poles; we planned to install one at the Boydstons' cabin. The State Fair wanted us to be at their car show in September. Paul Campbell reported on the Museum Car Show - he had a freshly painted blue late model there. Dennis provided several good tech articles from the Internet: Synthetic oil pros & cons; effects on aircraft engines (aluminum air-cooled heads) of extreme cold temperatures; Adjustable ratio blower pulley and the Corvair cooling fan's performance - contributed by Rad Davis. Fourteen Years Ago - June 1991 - Volume 17 - Number 6 The cover showed one of the VLA radio telescopes in its maintenance hangar. Jerry provided a report on our tour to the VLA. Our bank account stood at $784. A new member was Terry Price. Sylvan had suffered a heart attack but was present at the meeting. We spent $244 to print the first batch of Bill Reider's membership booklet and they looked great. We planned a June dinner meeting at Charlie's Chiles. We looked forward to the Ed Black All-Chevy Show. LeRoy asked members to be ready to bring items to an auction. Francis called on members to submit designs for next year's Tri-State jacket patch. LeRoy reported on this year's Tri-State in Gunnison, Colorado; CNM had 21 people, but the Denver club beat us out with 41 in attendance. Steve Gongora's tech tip told of the greatly reduced solar influx he was getting inside his 1966 Corsa since having 3M tinting film installed on the rear glass. He recommended that we see Bob at the Tint Factory to have our Corvairs similarly protected. Twenty-one Years Ago - June 1984 - Volume 10 - Number 6 Our cover showed the "Lean Machine" which looked like a streamlined cross between a tricycle and a motorcycle. Our funds stood at only $249 but $249 was real money back in those days. Sylvan was selling Ten-Year-Anniversary patches to anyone who was a CNM member in 1984. We planned a tour to Alamogordo in June with a picnic at White Sands and a tour of the Space Hall of Fame. George Morin's tech tip was, replace your 1961-1963 car's motor mount with a 1964 motor mount, so you can change your fan belt when it flips off while you are out on the road. Twenty-eight Years Ago - June/July 1977 - Volume 3 - Number 5 Our combined June/July issue reported that we met on the sidewalk under the stars since we temporarily had no Ed Black's sponsor to open the door to the usual meeting place. We had a poker rally and were planning for a Winrock Car Show. There was talk of an "Intermountain TriState" meet in Montrose, Colorado with Colorado and Utah clubs. A tech tip told how to clean out your old grungy fuel tank and protect it against further corrosion. Finally, a reprinted article told how a couple, smitten with the New Car Bug, made the rounds of all the new and used car dealers but decided they could afford to keep their faithful old Monza for a few more years. =CNM= PRESIDENTS' LETTER David Huntoon MAY HAS BEEN a busy month for our group. First there was the museum car show on the 15th. We had eight Corvairs on display and perhaps the usual number of other makes. Hard to tell if there were more or fewer cars than normal as the display area was reconfigured due to new construction. No matter, it was still great to see all those fine cars. To me, the Thunderbird club had the highest quality of cars there. Really like their unique paint colors, mostly those pastel light green and coral colors. Might look good on the right Corvair. Of course who could not like a big '47 maroon Buick convertible. Tan top and tan leather interior with a straight 8. The engine and transmission alone must weigh 1000 pounds. I would think the weight of the car would pound any road imperfections into submission and yield a really smooth ride. The one other big event for May is the Tri-State, this year in Ouray. It now can be revealed that the Boydston Award went to our very own Wendell Walker. There is no doubt as to the importance of Wendell to our club and to the old car community in general. Our treasurer for years, and always willing to help. Just the other day I bumped into him at Del's home working on the 140 coupe. Paint, bodywork, engineering solutions to problems are all within his ken. A worthy recipient indeed. Next year will be our turn to organize the Tri-State and 2006 will be the 30th anniversary of the Tri-State. In that vein, the board has selected Montrose as the 2006 site. Thirty years ago Montrose was the site for the first Tri-State, and we were there in 1986 and 1996. To commemorate that event, we shall return. For those who don't know Montrose, it has a population of around 10k. Plenty of places to eat, to stay, to see. I used to travel there to work on some of the equipment in the hospital there and always liked it. Maybe it was also because my pager did not work there that made me like it even more. Peace and quiet at least for a while. June has several things on the calendar. We have an Isotopes baseball game in the works for June 11. Night game, 7 p.m. start. Also there should be a Route 66 cleanup on June 4, although I don't see it on the schedule. Or is it supposed to be in July? So hang in there, enjoy the weather, put the top down and drive those Corvairs. -- Dave =CNM= TRI-STATE SUMMARY Bill Reider THE TRI-STATE IN Ouray was another fun weekend that should not have been missed. Friday was mostly sign in and see old friends, see new cars. A group of about 13 of us when to dinner and had a great time. Saturday it was off to the Sport Park for our Show and Shine. They had a parade down to the park and lined up the cars on the Lawn. We had about 22 cars and two Forward Controls, no Station Wagons this year. After lunch some of us went to see some of the waterfalls that are in Ouray. The first one that we visited was the Cascade Falls which was just a few blocks off Main Street. After you drive up and park you do have to walk about another block, unfortunately it's all up hill. After you get there it makes it all worth while. The falls that you see are just the last in a series of seven falls. This one must be a good couple of hundred feet high. Quiet a sight to see. From there we went to Box Canon Park. The falls there are even better than Cascade Falls. When you get to the bottom of the falls the water is coming down so fast and hard that there is a mist in the air and it is 20 degrees cooler because of this. SATURDAY EVENING we had the Awards Banquet. We had a great meal with both Chicken and Steak. I know no one should have gone hungry. Steve Goodman was presented with a plaque from Rocky Mountain CORSA for his many years of service. Congratulations, Steve. The Saint Francis of Corvair Award was presented to Wendell Walker. Congratulations, Wendell. The Traveling Trophy went to Rocky Mountain CORSA with 39 members; next was Pikes Peak Corvair Club with 33 members, followed by Corvairs of New Mexico with only 18 members. You guys missed a great weekend. Who was there: Larry Blair, Ruth Boydston, Steve and Rita Gongora, with Bernadette and friend, Dell and Kim Patten, Bill and Lee Reider with grandson Jonathan, LeRoy and Emma Rogers, Ollie and Mary Alice Scheflow, Mike and Brenda Stickler, Tarmo Sutt with his exchange student Matt, and last but not least Wendell Walker. We had 102 people at the Banquet. Next year will be at Montrose, probably the 2 & 3 of June. -- Bill =CNM= STILL FULLA GAS? OURAY, CO Del Patten WELL, YOU FOLKS that missed this year's Tri-state, missed a good one!! The weather was great; the food was great; and the company was as good as it gets, with the exception of yours, of course! Have you been there before?? Well, let me tell you, they don't call Ouray the Switzerland of America for nothing! Coming into town from the south there can't be a more picturesque town as you look down from the last of the switchbacks?course, you might well have your eyes closed from the dizzying climb over the Rockies (we hope you aren't driving!) but the vistas as you make the final decent are something to remember. Some of us got there Thursday afternoon and I am glad we got there early?it gave us time to find the good places to eat!! Many of the buildings are historical and go back to the old days of mining. The town sits and a glacially carved canyon and so every direction you turn there is another breath taking view! The snow was still on the higher peaks and so the roar of the river that goes through town was everywhere! Friday morning the early arrivals gathered in the breakfast room of the Victorian Inn (I think that was what it was called), drank coffee and started the story telling! The wives headed off for their annual shopping spree (you would think the small towns we seem to visit would lessen the credit card impact but it doesn't seem to work that way!) as we waited for the rest of the adventurers. As the day carried on more people showed up and the registration room became lively with the greetings of old familiar faces and memories of those friends unable to join us. The next morning found a few more souls ready to parade through town to the hot springs near the north end of town and it seemed like there weren't as many cars as usual. Well, I had my excuse and it wasn't a good one but only Larry and Bernie drove a Corvair this year. But the rest of us cheered on and the town seemed to embrace us as do all the places we visit with our cars. A few hours in the hot sun and the group disbanded till dinner time at the local Elks Lodge. Nice old building and dinner catered by one of the local chef's who happened to own a Corvair. That's how many of us knew we were at the right place! Awards and door prizes followed and our own Wendy Walker was surprised to take home the grandest prize of all, the Francis Boydston award! Well deserved of course! As we left to return to the hotels for the last night of revelry, someone noticed the full moon rising over the peaks high above us. Pictures don't do the sight justice but many of us snapped pictures before we vowed to return again to that beautiful town buried in the heart of the Rockies. The next morning found us making our goodbyes and reluctantly heading home. Breakfast in Durango (thanks Wendy) and the last chance to pick up Colorado souvenirs before we entered into good old NM! For you folks who weren't able to make the trek, be sure we missed you joining us and hopefully we see you next year in Montrose Colorado for our 30th Anniversary Tri-State Event!! Don't forget, Corvairs of New Mexico is the host club next year! A last bit from me? many know I retired a short time ago!! I love it!! Please take time to do it yourself some day! -- Any old mouse