The April 2009 Newsletter - Text Version
Updated 02-May-2009 ==== Copyright (c) 2009 Corvairs of New Mexico
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APRIL 2009 / VOLUME 35 / NUMBER 4 / ISSUE #403
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EDITOR: Jim Pittman
NEXT MEETING: Wednesday 1 April 2009 at 7:00 PM
Highland Senior Center at 131 Monroe NE
THIS MONTH:
Dues Due .................................. Membership Committee 02
March Meeting Minutes ........................... Chuck Vertrees 03
Birthdays and Anniversaries ................. Sunshine Committee 03
CNM's 35th Anniversary Luncheon .................. Heula Pittman 04
Tri-State Boydston Award Nominations Due ...... Awards Committee 05
March Board Meeting Minutes ..................... Chuck Vertrees 05
Report on The Color Works tour ........................ Pat Hall 06
Stick to Vairs ......................... President Mike Stickler 09
Tremendous Taos Tri-State Team ................. Brenda Stickler 09
Calendar of Coming Events ............... CNM Board of Directors 10
For Sale or Wanted .................................... Everyone 11
Graph of Web Page Hits 2005-2009 ................. Jim Webmaster 11
Technical: Tire Sizes March 1996 Reprint ........... Bill Reider 12
A 1959 Poem ............................ Central New York Region 12
Technical: Engine Overheating September 1987 Reprint Bill Reider 12
CNM Litter Patrol on Old 66 October 1996 Reprint ... Jim Pittman 13
Seven, 14, 21, 28, 35 Years Ago ................. Club Historian 14
COVER: Tarmo Treks from Santa Fe to Albuquerque by Motorcycle ... 01
=[CNM]=
PRESIDENT: Mike Stickler 856-6993 sticorsa @ hotmail.com
VICE-PRES: Pat Hall 620-5574 patandvickiehall @ q.com
SECRETARY: Charles Vertrees 299-0744 vertrees @ swcp.com
TREASURER: Robert Gold 268-6878 beisbol30 @ msn.com
PROPERTIES: Ruth Boydston 821-1506 sg730 @ comcast.net
CAR COUNCIL: Art Gold 620-7434 rollerart @ gmail.com
MEMBERSHIP: David Huntoon 281-9616 corvair66 @ aol.com
EMERITUS: Sylvan Zuercher 299-7577 flat6 @ hubwest.com
EMERITUS: Wendell Walker 892-8471 defarge505 @ aol.com
NEWSLETTER: Jim Pittman 275-2195 jimp @ unm.edu
DUES: CNM: 12 months $25.00 or 26 months $ 50.00
CORSA: 12 months $38.00 or 26 months $ 76.00
BOTH: 12 months $63.00 or 26 months $126.00
CORSA's home page: http://www.corvair.org
CNM's newsletters: http://www.unm.edu/~jimp
CNM's old home page: http://www.corvair.org/chapters/chapter871
DUES DUE DATES FOR APRIL 2009:
== MEMBERSHIP EXPIRED = INACTIVE AS OF 25-MAR-2009:
2009.02 Carl Johnson 1974.04 @
2009.02 Brenda & Mike Stickler 1976.07 sticorsa @ hotmail.com
== DUE LAST MONTH = INACTIVE 25-APR-2009:
2009.03 Sally Williams 2003.09 stripepike @ mac.com
== DUE THIS MONTH = INACTIVE 25-MAY-2009:
2009.04 Deborah & John Dinsdale 2000.02 john_dinsdale @ adp.com
== DUE NEXT MONTH = INACTIVE 25-JUN-2009:
2009.05 (none)
== DUE JUNE = INACTIVE 25-JUL-2009:
2009.06 Melba & Tommie J. Anderson 2008.06 motormeter30 @ aol.com
2009.06 Fred Riggs 2008.06 @
2009.06 Curtis L. Shimp 2008.06 clshimp @ juno.com
== DUE JULY = INACTIVE 25-AUG-2009:
2009.07 Jerry Goffe 1977.05 jgoffe20 @ comcast.net
2009.07 Anne Mae & Robert Gold 1982.08 beisbol30 @ msn.com
2009.07 Geoffrey Johnson 2002.03 geoffj @ unm.edu
== DUE AUGUST = INACTIVE 25-SEP-2009:
2009.08 Marci & Gary Calabrese 2008.08 @
2009.08 Russ McDuffie 2008.08 russ.mcd @ msn.com
2009.08 Bob Philips 2007.07 rp96rp @ aol.com
== DUE SEPTEMBER = INACTIVE 25-OCT-2009:
2009.09 Kay & Tarmo Sutt 1976.07 tarmo @ juno.com
== MEMBERSHIP EXPIRED = INACTIVE AS OF 25-FEB-2009:
2008.04 Florence & Bill Hector 2006.04 @
2008.10 Guadalupe & Jim Arellanes 2006.10 @
2008.10 Mary & Art Hurley 2007.10 @
2008.11 Nancy & Bernard Urbassik 2004.08 @
2008.12 Elizabeth & Mark Domzalski 1994.01 mdomzalski @ aol.com
2008.12 Steve Johnson 2001.08 @
Send your Dues to:
Robert Gold, CNM Treasurer,
1301 Valencia NE
Albuquerque, NM 87110
Past due memberships will become inactive after a one-month grace period.
The Club will mail in your National Dues when you renew, if you send us
the renewal form from your CORSA Communique!
=[CNM]=
MARCH MEETING NOTES
Chuck Vertrees
OUR MEETING WAS CALLED to order at 19:10 at Highland Senior Center on March 4th,
2009. All officers were present. There were twenty-seven members in attendance.
There were no new members or guests to introduce.
Vice President, Pat Hall, reminded everyone about the Garage Tour coming up on
March 14th.
It will be a tour of the Color Works in Los Lunas. Pat distributed maps so we
can find it. If enough show up we will be treated to a meal.
Treasurer, Robert Gold, reported that the club had $1,648.53 in the checking
account and $1,816.51 in the GMAC account for a total of $3,465.04. He almost
has the paperwork figured out to get the correct signatures on the GMAC account.
Your Secretary will meet with Robert to get the last form completed. It reads
harder than an IRS form.
Sylvan Zuercher is in re-hab at St. Joseph's near Menaul and Wyoming. I can tell
you how to get there if you call me. Visitors are welcome.
Art Gold reported on the Car Council meeting. He said it was a short meeting.
The Car Council said that it is missing 15 clubs on its Web site. Art said that
the Super Nationals were great. There is still work going on at the legislature
to require two license plates on all cars. If you do not know who your state
representative is, Pat or Cary has a copy of legislators' names and contact
information. The Car Council car show will be the weekend before [actually, the
date is Sunday May 17, so it's two weekends before] the Tri-State. It was
mentioned that the Car Council web site looks very professional. Mr. Cadigan
(spelling?) who is running for mayor was at the meeting and said that he is
against the red light cameras. This was also a chance for him to collect
signatures and 5 dollars.
Jim Pittman, Newsletter Editor, said that this is a short month and all items
for the newsletter must be in by the Friday after the board meeting. He has
contacted Steve Goodman who is a member of both the Colorado Springs chapter and
the Denver chapter. Steve said he would bring up the Boydston Award at both
clubs' meetings the following weekend. Jim suggested to Steve that interested
parties who regularly attend the Tri-States should set up a meeting at the Taos
event to discuss how the Boydston Award might be handled in the future. Should
it belong to one club or many.
Jim said that he gets quite a few newsletters from other clubs each month by
e-mail. He posts several of these on our website.
For the Sunshine Committee, Heula Pittman said that she still needs more photos
of members when they were young. Also we need door prizes for both the
Anniversary meal and for Tri-State.
Brenda Stickler reported on the upcoming Tri-State. FIRST, get your reservations
in at least by April. If there are not enough registrations, they may have to
start taking rooms off of our reserved list. Ollie Scheflow will be in charge of
registration. A sheet was circulated for those who can help. If you can help,
please let Ollie know. He cannot be there all the time. Registration will be on
Friday the 29th from 12:00 to 19:00. The Indian dancers will start at that time.
On Saturday the registration will continue from 7 or 8 AM until the start of the
parade. There will be snacks and drinks at the registration area. PLEASE help
Ollie so he does not have to try and do it all. There should be at least TWO
people at registration at all times. Wendell will have his popcorn machine there
and we will have large bottles of drinks and cups to go with them. Please see
elsewhere in this newsletter (and in last month's) for more Taos information.
Another activity to remember is the first Old Route 66 cleanup of the year
scheduled for Saturday April 4th. This will be followed by a breakfast/lunch at
Golden Corral on Central.
Tarmo Sutt said that he had been contacted by a gentleman in Santa Fe who has a
Corvair that he would like to sell. It is a a 1966 Monza coupe with 4-speed and
air. It is gold in color. He got it in Phoenix about two years ago. It has wire
wheel covers with WIDE whitewall tires. Since he is asking $9,000 it makes you
wonder if he really wants to sell it. He also has a 1959 De Soto.
The meeting was adjourned at 19:00 and many of our members then went to the 66
Diner on Central near the University.
=[CNM]=
HAPPY BIRTHDAY greetings go to nine CNMers this month:
Mike Stickler April 2
Nicholas Wilvert April 2
Cary Hubbard April 5
Mark Martinek April 5
Robert McBreen April 7
Elizabeth Domzalski April 9
Ray Trujillo April 9
Ollie Scheflow April 25
Emma Rogers April 28
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY wishes go to two CNM couples who celebrate this month:
Connie & Robert McBreen April 1
Opal & Sylvan Zuercher April 21
=[CNM]=
CNM'S 35TH ANNIVERSARY LUNCHEON
Heula Pittman
THE NEWLY RENOVATED and decorated Indian Pueblo Cultural Center was a terrific
location for our 35th anniversary celebration. Our private room with our own PA
system was just terrific. And I heard nothing but good, positive comments about
the food. I know I really enjoyed the Bison Meat Loaf! Kudos to Kim Patten for a
job well done in organizing and setting up this event for us.
Many thanks go to Dan Palmer for serving as our master of ceremonies. He did an
excellent job of keeping things moving along in an orderly fashion.
We really appreciate Ruth Boydston for contributing the lovely Corvair quilt she
made for the occasion. I know that Julie and Chuck Vertrees are appreciative too
as they won it!! In fact, the Sunshine Committee appreciates it also because
Ruth insisted that the proceeds, a whopping $64, go into its kitty! So with the
$28 collected on the 50/50, the committee now has $92. Thanks to everyone who
bought tickets for these two projects. Also, thanks to everyone who brought door
prizes. It's always nice to have a good selection of items from which to choose.
Congratulations to Ray Trujillo for receiving the Ike Meissner Award! Ray has
contributed so much to our club over the years. It was a real pleasure
presenting this award to such a deserving member.
=[CNM]=
TRI-STATE BOYDSTON AWARD NOMINATIONS DUE
Jim Pittman
APRIL FIRST IS THE DEADLINE to turn in your completed nomination form for the
BOYDSTON AWARD, to be presented at the Taos Tri-State Meet on May 30th!
Here is a list of past Boydston Award recipients:
01. 1998 May 6 Jim Pittman CNM
02. 1999 Jun 2 Kay & Tarmo Sutt CNM
03. 2000 May 3 Sylvan Zuercher CNM
04. 2001 May 19 Steve & Ruth Goodman ROCKY MOUNTAIN CORSA
05. 2002 May 18 Steve & Rita Gongora CNM
06. 2003 May 31 Bill Reider CNM
07. 2004 May 22 Ben Benzel PIKES PEAK CORVAIR CLUB
08. 2005 May 21 Wendell Walker CNM
09. 2006 Jun 3 LeRoy Rogers CNM
10. 2007 May 19 John Koll PIKES PEAK CORVAIR CLUB
11. 2008 May 17 Debbie & Dennis Pleau CNM, PIKES PEAK CORVAIR CLUB
=[CNM]=
MARCH BOARD NOTES
Chuck Vertrees
MIKE CALLED THE MEETING to order at 17:07 at Ray Trujillo's shop on 3/18/09.
Present were Robert Gold, Pat & Vickie Hall, Jim & Heula Pittman, Mike & Brenda
Stickler, Dan Palmer, Ray Trujillo, Ollie Scheflow, Rita & Steve Gongora, "Lube"
Lubert, and Chuck & Julia Vertrees. Members are reminded that any member is
invited to the board meeting which is the second Wednesday after the regular
meeting.
The meeting started out with a movie which Jim Pittman took at the Anniversary
Luncheon. (Incidentally, most members at the board meeting expressed a wish that
future Anniversary meals be as luncheons rather than dinners.) Unfortunately,
Jim's camera ran out of memory in the middle of Ray's acceptance talk, so we did
not get to hear all Ray had to say.
Condolences were expressed to Robert Gold and to his family on the death of Anne
Mae's mother. In his treasurer's report, Robert told us that he thinks he almost
has a handle on the GMAC account as far as the signatures go. It has been very
confusing. For one thing, he cannot log in to the account on-line because he
does not know the password. He reported that as of the meeting the club had
$1,504.32 in the checking account and $1,825.16 in the GMAC account for a total
worth of $3,329.48.
There was no membership report or Car Council report. It was announced that
Kevin and Leslie Sullivan had renewed their membership. Also, Kevin said that
there would be an Ultra Van convention in Santa Fe on September 14th through the
18th. We should plan on helping support this by going to Santa Fe to see the
Ultra Vans.
As requested by Sylvan, Jim asked if we wanted to discuss the report by the
Awards Committee on the Meissner Award. Mike said we would table this discussion
until later because of the amount of work we needed to accomplish during
tonight's meeting. Next Jim suggested that, because of the state of the economy,
we might think about ways to reduce the cost of producing the newsletter. The
club constitution says that all members will receive a copy of the monthly
newsletter. Preparing and mailing a hard copy may become more expensive and
postage is going up again shortly. Steve asked how many members would accept
receiving their newsletter on-line rather than as a hard copy. The cost of
printing would not decrease by much because of quantity costs. How many would
want it on-line? This would require a change or reinterpretation of the
constitution. More discussion on the topic is needed and the board would welcome
comments from the membership.
Heula reported on the Sunshine Committee preparations for the Tri-State. During
the Anniversary meeting the raffle of Ruth Boydston's quilt brought in $64.00
and the 50/50 brought in $28.00 for a total of $92.00. This will be used to
continue preparations for the Tri-State. So far there have been 138 Bookmarks,
45 Corvair potholders and a batch of refrigerator magnets.
Also for the Tri-State, Vickie bought fifteen 2-liter bottles of soda. Julia and
I bought individual packs of chips, cookies, etc. for the goody bags. These can
also be made available at registration. We still need desert plates, baked
cookies and breads.
Pat showed some samples of jacket patches provided by Zia Graphics. The
workmanship appeared to be excellent and the cost was much less than Pat found
at several other places. Many others did not seem really interested and would
not supply a sample without quite a high cost. At Zia Graphics the cost will be
$351.00 plus tax for 100 patches. The board OK'd the deal and a check for half
of the cost was given to Pat for a deposit. Ordering now will give them plenty
of lead time.
Dan Palmer reported on door prizes. Some of the big companies cannot help us
because we do not have a Federal non-profit corporation tax number, only a state
number. He is still working on NAPA. He is also planning on going to Taos during
the last week of April to contact locals, such as automobile dealers, etc. to
see if we can get some local support. Someone needs to volunteer to go with Dan
so it does not all fall on him to accomplish this.
The topic of club shirts was the next discussion. The color of the shirts will
be Ash as previously agreed. We decided that there will be a logo on the back,
and the name of the event, location and date, without logo, will be on the front
breast. Lag time is 2 weeks for preparation. Tentatively the prices will be
$15.00 for T-shirts and $20.00 for Golf shirts. Neither shirt has pockets. There
will be a $2.00 extra charge for sizes XXL. Steve Goodman will be asked to
contact the two Colorado clubs to see if we can get some pre-orders. Also a
sheet will be circulated at the next CNM meeting to determine what quantities
and sizes we will want.
Ollie will be in charge of registration. NOTE: there will need to be at least
two people on hand during registration. One person cannot handle it alone. Ollie
has copies of registration forms used at previous Tri-States. He will have about
40 forms on hand for car registration. It was suggested that the forms will have
to be reviewed as they are filled out because from past experience there will be
some who will enter unreadable or incorrect information. There will be an award
for longest distance driven and a Hard Luck award.
Nominations for the Boydston Award must be in Pat's hands by the end of the
meeting on April 1st. Pat will give all nomination forms to LeRoy Rogers who has
agreed to coordinate with the other two past recipients and the three will
decide who the 2009 winner will be. When this decision has been made, the
information will be given to Jim Pittman who has agreed to take care of having
the plaque prepared.
We were reminded that there was to be a breakfast on the coming Saturday at
Shoney's at 09:30.
We were also reminded of the April 4th Old Route 66 cleanup (meet at 9:00 AM)
and breakfast afterward at the Golden Corral on Central NE.
Also, Jim announced that Mary Lou and Mark Martinek will be in town from
Vancouver, Washington. We are planning to meet them at their favorite Mexican
Restaurant, Papa Felipe's (on Menaul just east of Eubank NE) on Saturday April
18th at 6:00 PM. For new members who do not know them, they were very active
members when they lived in Albuquerque (they still keep their membership in CNM
despite living in the far northwest) and they are a great couple. They will
drive their RV and tow Mary Lou's 1964 Corvair. Come and meet them.
I think this is all. It was a great, but long, meeting, and we adjourned at
18:50. -- Chuck
=[CNM]=
REPORT ON TOUR TO THE COLOR WORKS
Pat Hall
SATURDAY MARCH 14th was the Garage Tour at Color Works in Los Lunas. Chuck and
David gave us a tour that will not soon be forgotten. Color Works is an amazing
operation.
When Vickie and I arrived a little before the agreed-on starting time, "Lube"
Lubert and his brother were already there along with Jim Pittman and Frank
Stadler. After I checked to see if the Color Works shop was open I remarked that
I had to go pick up Tarmo Sutt. When I told Jim that Tarmo was coming down on
the train, he wanted to go with me, maybe to see the Los Lunas train station. Or
maybe he just wanted a ride in Vickie's car because as we drove along Main
Street he said that it had been decades since he had been in an early model
four-door!
We drove west along Main Street and found the "Transportation Center" (it looks
just like a train station) and in just a few minutes, right on time, the
headlights of the Rail Runner became visible in the distance. The train only
stopped for a couple of minutes and there was Tarmo. He said it was a two-hour
ride and very pleasant, but there were many stops along the way. To come all the
way from Santa Fe without his favorite Corvair, or even his favorite Volvo,
well, Tarmo is what I'd call a dedicated CNM member.
When I was asking Chuck about having a tour, he enticed us to invite lots of
people. What he said was, if twenty or more people showed up he would cook
steaks for lunch. Well, we came close with fifteen in attendance. So, yes, after
the tour we were treated to those steaks. Chuck is such a nice guy that he
grilled those steaks to taste just like hot dogs, and he included chili, beans,
chips and sodas!
Those who got to enjoy the tour and lunch included: Larry Blair, Pat & Vickie
Hall, Lube Lubert & his brother, Dan Palmer, Jim Pittman, Bill Reider, Ollie
Scheflow, Frank Stadler, Mike Stickler, Kevin Sullivan, Tarmo Sutt, Ray
Trujillo, and, well, who did I forget to name?
Chuck and David told us at the start of the tour to ask questions about anything
we saw, and we did, and they gave good answers. We started at the front of the
shop and worked our way back. It seemed that every room and facility we saw led
to a larger area with even more impressive equipment. There was even a massive
machine that could, by hydraulics and under computer control, pull a bent car
back into shape. The facility was so large that, even though there were many
cars being restored or waiting for repair, the rooms didn't seem crowded.
Chuck told us about some specialized paint removing equipment they were able to
get because of a contract with Intel back in the company's startup days in Rio
Rancho. Intel had special machinery needed to hold a silicon wafer while it was
being processed to make computer chips. The holder built up a coating which had
to be removed periodically. It turned out that a "sand blast" method using
plastic beads worked best and under contract the Color Works was able to obtain
this very expensive equipment. After the contract the Color Works was able to
use the machine to clean body parts. The plastic beads clean off old paint and
rust with less damage to bodywork than sand blasting would do.
After the last building Chuck remarked that we hadn't seen his Corvairs yet, so
we walked down to the back lot to admire several rusting derelicts, including a
couple of 1965 Corvairs that looked like, after a few hours of cleaning, new
batteries, fresh gasoline and a change of spark plugs, they might be ready to
fire right up.
We went back to check out those steaks and found that Dave had set up a drawing
of names and some of us were lucky enough to come away with Color Works
T-Shirts. After the tour some of us went to join the Chamber of Commerce tour to
museums scheduled for 1:00 PM in Los Lunas. One was the museum at the
Transportation Department building which featured art work by a famous local
cowboy turned artist, Bob Lee, and the other was to visit the Immaculate
Conception Catholic church in Tome which dated from the 1700s. There we were
treated to a talk by an older gentleman from the community who told us some of
the history of the church, including stories of bishops who had served at the
church during the last four hundred years. It was very interesting but we needed
to leave early to get Tarmo back in time to catch the Rail Runner for Santa Fe.
Tarmo said the ride back was just as nice as the ride down. He got to sit near
the driver (engineer? conductor?) and watch the speedometer which varied from 43
MPH while going up the new cut at La Bajada hill to about 80 MPH on level
stretches. The ride was quiet and smooth and it did not feel like 80 miles an
hour.
By the way, the tours in Los Lunas are a regular thing, held on the second
Saturday of every month. The starting point is at the Wells Fargo bank in Bosque
Farms and there are always lots of nice cars to see at these tours! You
Albuquerque or Corrales or Rio Rancho members should come down here and check
them out.
We had an outstanding tour of the Color Works. CNM members who attended thank
Chuck and David for an inspiring day. Thanks to Tarmo Sutt and Bill Reider for
their contributions to this story.
=[CNM]=
STICK TO VAIRS
Michael Stickler
WELL GANG, OUR CLUB CALENDAR is pretty full-up of events scheduled for the rest
of the year. Of course there is still room for a creative member to come up with
another activity in the Fall. If you are this member, make your wishes known to
the board!
April will start the cleanup routine for this year on our section of Old Route
66 with a breakfast that work morning. All members are welcome to join either
activity. Thank you Ollie for your continued leadership for this continued civic
service.
May will be an eventful month for our club with the Albuquerque Museum Car Show
in Old Town and of course the Tri-State meet in Taos. Polish up your Corvairs
for the car show and tune up your Vairs so you can blast up to Taos. I hope
everyone can participate in those great events this year.
Summer events include the annual car show in Santa Fe on the 4th of July as well
as the Car Council Picnic. This year new CNM member Charlie Mann has welcomed us
to his home as he hosts a pot luck and tour of his car collection. All of these
scheduled activities will provide lots of fun in the sun for us.
Kevin Sullivan and Dan Palmer inform us that there will be a gathering of Ultra
Vans to be held in Santa Fe in September. It occurs mid-week, but those
individuals that can attend might organize a drive up to Santa Fe for a day.
In the Fall, we will have the annual State Fair car show and we'll organize our
fundraiser at House of Covers. Steve & Rita always make sure we have a great
time and this has become one of the club's favorite yearly events. If any member
would like to promote something special for our club this Fall, that would be
greatly be appreciated to round out 2009's closure. -- Mike
=[CNM]=
TITILLATING TAOS TRI-STATE TAKE-OFF
Brenda Stickler
YES, OUR FAMILY IS DEFINITELY in the "take-off" mode to go to this year's
Tri-State. We are tuning up our cars, buying spare car parts and cleaning out
our vehicles so we will have room for all of our Tri-state necessities.
First, we have an unbelievable team of volunteers and I want you to know who
they are. Pat & Vickie Hall (car show, banquet, goodie bags), Bill Reider (logo,
car show, goodie bags), Dan Palmer (door prizes, banquet MC), Ollie Scheflow
(registration), Ray Trujillo & Tarmo Sutt (media correspondents), Steve & Rita
Gongora (T-shirts), Ruth Goodman & Ruth Boydston (raffles), Heula Pittman (door
prizes, banquet, goodie bags), Anne Mae Gold (door prize distributor), and I'm
your Tri-State leader overseeing the banquet and the tours. There are also
"unsung heroes" who help us with these functions and I greatly appreciate your
contributions.
We know others would like to contribute in some way. We need the registration
volunteer sheet filled out at April's meeting and we ask for a two-hour shift
from our members. We encourage couples to take shifts. Of course as the host
club we'll need great food items to have available in the registration area.
We'd love to get homemade cookies, cakes and other goodies. If some of you have
"stars" in your horoscope, you can stop in "Cids" in Taos on your way in town
and buy fresh vegetables and dips. Why "Cids" you ask? Because rumor has it that
this is where Julia Roberts buys her groceries. Maybe you'll spot a "star."
The prices for our Tri-State shirts will run $15.00 for T-shirt style and $20.00
for Polo style. Steve and Rita will have pre-order forms to pass around at the
April meetings. Place your order then!
Most important, let's plan to have a great time together at this Tri-State. In
May's newsletter article I'll have the run down on the caravan meeting points
for club members leaving either Thursday or Friday from Albuquerque. If you
think you have forgotten any vital information from my articles about the
Tri-State, our dedicated editor has set up a special tab on the car club web
page with all of that information included.
I'm closing with special thanks to each of you in the club for your vital
support for this fun event.
-- Brenda
Notes:
1- Start thinking what your family wants to bring to the Friday night
registration session. In the past we have had cakes, brownies, veggie dips, and
sodas.
2- If you run out of time to contribute in another way, we could use wrapped
treats that do not melt for the sixty goody bags. (Gum, hard candy, small bags
of lunch size chips).Let Heula know what you would like to provide for the goody
bags Try K-Mart for good prices on such items.
=[CNM]=
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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
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| | | |
| April 2009 | May 2009 | June 2009 |
| Su Mo Tu Wd Th Fr Sa | Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa | Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa |
| 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 31 32 | 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 | 28 29 30 |
| | 31 | |
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= BOYDSTON AWARD: The nomination forms are due at TONIGHT's meeting.
Wed 1 Apr 7:00 PM Meeting: Highland Senior Center, 131 Monroe NE
Wed 1 Apr 8:30 PM (time variable) after our meeting, we go to the 77 Diner
at 1405 Central NE (between University Blvd and I-25)
Thu 2 Apr 10:00 PM Hike to top of Sandia Crest to find the Eveready Rabbit
Sat 4 Apr 9:00 AM Our first "Old Route 66" trash pickup of the year
Sat 4 Apr 10:30 AM CNM Breakfast - Golden Corral on Central NE
Wed 4 Apr 11:30 AM Dump accumulated trash in Mayor Chavez' front yard
Sun 5 Apr 12:00 AM In lieu of suggestions, build campfire & barbecue Rabbit
Wed 15 Apr 5:00 PM Board Meeting: Business Printing Service - 4316 Silver SE
Sat 18 Apr 6:00 PM Mary Lou & Mark Martinek at Papa Felipe's restaurant
Fri 24 Apr 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman
Sat 25 Apr 0:00 AM Volunteers compose & produce an alternate Newsletter
Fri 31 Apr 20:00 AM Obtain correct calendar for befuddled Editor
Wed 6 May 7:00 PM Meeting: Highland Senior Center, 131 Monroe NE
Wed 6 May 8:30 PM (time approx.) after our meeting, we go to the 66 Diner
at 1405 Central NE (between University Blvd and I-25)
Sat 9 May 9:30 AM CNM Breakfast - to be arranged - suggestions?
Sun 17 May 7:00 AM Albuquerque Museum / Car Council Car Show - near Old Town
Wed 20 May 5:00 PM Board Meeting: Business Printing Service - 4316 Silver SE
Fri 22 May 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman
Fri-Sat-Sun 29-30-31 May 2009 - Tri-State Meet - Taos, New Mexico
= BOYDSTON AWARD: The award will be presented at the Tri-State Banquet.
Fri-Sat-Sun 29-30-31 May 2009 - Tri-State Meet - Taos, New Mexico
Wed 3 Jun 7:00 PM Meeting: Highland Senior Center, 131 Monroe NE
Wed 3 Jun 8:30 PM (time approx.) after our meeting, we go to the 66 Diner
at 1405 Central NE (between University Blvd and I-25)
Sat 6 Jun 8:00 AM Our second "Old Route 66" cleanup of the year
Sat 6 Jun 9:30 AM CNM Breakfast - to be arranged - suggestions?
Wed 17 Jun 5:00 PM Board Meeting: Business Printing Service - 4316 Silver SE
Fri 19 Jun 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman
Wed 1 Jul 7:00 PM Meeting: Highland Senior Center, 131 Monroe NE
Wed 1 Jul 8:30 PM (time approx.) after our meeting, we go to the 66 Diner
at 1405 Central NE (between University Blvd and I-25)
Sat 4 Jul ....... Fourth of July Celebration on the Plaza in Santa Fe
Sat 4 Jul 9:30 AM CNM Breakfast - to be arranged - suggestions?
Wed 15 Jul 5:00 PM Board Meeting: Business Printing Service - 4316 Silver SE
Fri 24 Jul 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman
Sat 8 Aug 8:00 AM Our third "Old Route 66" cleanup of the year
Sat 10 Oct 9:00 AM Our fourth "Old Route 66" cleanup of the year
=============================================================================
See the New Mexico Council of Car Clubs Web Site for more "NMCCC" activities:
======================== http://www.nmcarcouncil.org ========================
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================================================================================
NOTE: Please let me know if any of these ads are obsolete and should be removed!
NOTE: Newsletter Advertisements are FREE to CNM members & $5.00 to non-members.
NOTE: Without your $5.00 payment, your ad won't be in the published newsletter.
================================================================================
FOR SALE: 1965 Corvair Corsa convertible. Fully rebuilt high compression 140.
New top. Paint presentable, needs interior. $7,000.00
Call Geoff Johnson - 505-350-0483
AVAILABLE: One-half room at Taos Tri-State with your own queen size bed.
Share cost of the room. The room is already reserved and paid for.
John Wiker - 505-239-3311
FOR SALE: 1964 Corvair Monza coupe, light blue / black interior. 4-speed with
almost new tires - runs okay - body is in very good condition - no
dents - but the car needs upholstery work.
Call Michelle at 505-362-8827 or e-mail: ( thebusybowens @ msn.com )
FOR SALE: 1960 Corvair Coupe. Red in color. Runs good. looks good.
$4000
1964 Corvair Convert. Silver. Runs good. Fair interior, very good top.
New tires. $4000
1965 Corvair Corsa Coupe. 140-HP. Black in color. Runs good, but needs TLC.
$3500
Rebuilt bolted flywheels $200 with exchange
Rebuilt differentials starting at $250 with exchange
Rebuilt late rear axles - 1965 $100 with exchange
Rebuilt late rear axles - 1966-1969 $100 with exchange
Rebuilt carburetors, various years & prices $ 50 and up! (with exchange)
Lots of other parts available for cars and vans.
Pat Hall - Los Lunas, NM 505-620-5574 (cell) or patandvickiehall @ q.com
FOR SALE: 1966 Corvair 500 4-door sedan. 3-speed, 95-HP. White, red interior.
Rebuilt engine and suspension. Runs well, good paint, fairly original.
Rust & damage free. $5,000. ............... Call Cary at 505-350-0483
FOR SALE: 1966 Corvair 500 4-door sedan. 3-speed, 95-HP. White, red interior.
Rebuilt engine and suspension. Runs well, good paint, fairly original.
Rust & damage free. $5,000. ............... Call Cary at 505-350-0483
FOR SALE: 1961 Corvair 700 Lakewood - no engine/tranny - nice clean car.
Factory red & white paint. Rust in front floor board from rubber mats.
$1,500 or best offer. Have title. ......... Call Cary at 505-350-0483
=[CNM]=
The graph below shows the hits on my web page during the last three and a half
years. Red represents hits per day, while Blue represents hits per week -- that
is, the running average of hits per seven days. I am frustrated in having no way
to tell who is accessing the web page or what they look at while there and I
have given up on expecting any feedback on what exactly people like or dislike
about the web page.
=[CNM]=
TECH TIPS FROM THE PAST -- MARCH 1996
THE CARE & FEEDING OF YOUR CORVAIR: WHEELS AND TIRES
Bill Reider
In the past we've had a lot of talk about tire sizes, but what if you want to
put 14 inch rims on your Corvair? If you are careful and do your homework you
can match up the right combination of wheels and tires for your car.
I suggest a set of 185 x 80 x 13 for the late models and 175 x 80 x 13 for the
earlys. If you want to go for bigger wheels and tires, it's a good idea to try
the wheel/tire combination on the car, both front and back, before you buy them.
If the rims are wrong you could be in big trouble. Late model rims are 13 x 5.5
inches with a one-inch negative offset. It is called a "J" rim. If you go to a
wider rim you will want to keep the web of the wheel at the same point. In other
words, a 7-inch rim should have a 1-3/4 inch negative offset, a 6-inch rim would
have a 1-1/4 inch negative offset and so on.
The racers and gymkhana drivers seem to like the 1969 Camaro rally wheels, GM
part number 3938984; this is a 14 x 6 wheel and if you put a 225 x 60 x 14 steel
belted radial on it you'll get very good handling, both in the wet and dry. The
wheels list for about $55 each and the tires will cost you about $70 each, so
you're looking at investing $500 in your car. With this setup your speedometer
will still be quite accurate.
There is also a 14 x 7 rally wheel for the Camaro which will fit on the rear but
probably not on the front. You may have to increase your turning radius due to
the width of the tire. You can't do much with the early wheels, although with
all the new smaller cars coming on the market you may be able to get some wider
wheels with the same bolt pattern. For good handling you could still get a set
of 195 x 70 x 13 tires and have a great daily driver. Whatever your choice, I
hope this gives you a little better understanding of what you can do.
Don't forget, even with the fancy tires, you want to keep a 10 to 12 PSI
differential in tire pressure front to rear. I use 20 in the front and 32 in the
rear with my 185 x 80 x 13 steel belted radial tires.
See you next month. Bill
=[CNM]=
A POEM FROM SOMETIME IN 1959
(borrowed from)
Central New York Region
January 2009
THE COMPACT CAR
Newspaper Headline: "Ford,
General Motors and Chrysler
are reported prepared to spend
10 million dollars each on
introducing their Falcon,
Corvair and Valiant."
It's mighty expensive,
it seems, to make clear
Which engine's in front
and which sits in the rear.
An arrow, says Ford,
that is weighted in front
Flies straight, while a back-
weighted arrow just won't,
Implying that Falcon
is safer by far
Than the rear-powered Corvair,
the Chevrolet car.
And Chrysler is pointing
with scorn at the tail
Of the Volkswagen, Renault,
and Fiat, which fail,
According to Chrysler,
to properly steer,
Since the engines, alas, are
encased in the rear;
While General Motors,
in counter attack,
Claims a quieter ride with
the boost in the back.
Whatever the outcome,
the roads will be full
Of nice little engines,
that push cars or pull,
And no one need squander
ten million to find
The relative merits
of front or behind.
=[CNM]=
TECH TIPS FROM THE PAST -- SEPTEMBER 1987
PREVENT ENGINE OVERHEATING
Bill Reider
Does your Corvair engine get hotter than it should? I had one this week that was
quite a problem. Driving up I-40 to Tijeras would heat the cylinder head
temperature to 500 degrees and the idiot light would come on. With most Corvairs
you wouldn't know until the light came on, but this one was a 140 engine so I
could watch the temperature gauge. Of course to diagnose the problem I wanted it
to get hot so I just kept my foot in it. As soon as I'd slow down to 45 or 50
mph the cylinder head temperature would drop back to around 400. If I got down
to 30 or 35 mph it would fall back to 350.
This gave the impression that the car might be running a little lean so I
started with the carburetors. They were AIR carburetors so they didn't have
power valves. This gives the effect of leaning out at higher speeds, so I
richened the carburetors up and made the trip again. This helped a little, the
temperature got down to about 475, an improvement but not good enough.
The next step was the cylinder heads. I stripped the sheet metal from the
top and bottom of the engine so I could see through the heads. Casting flash was
blocking the air flow in several areas. I spent a couple of hours with a hack
saw, small screw driver, and a small chisel. I opened up passages below four of
the spark plugs, plus many passages that go through the heads.
After cleaning all the air passages and putting the shrouding back on, I
took the car out for another run. Well, it had improved quite a bit. Top
temperature was now around 400, which is still a little high, but then the
temperature gauge might be off a little. At least the car doesn't give you the
feeling that it's going to burn up.
The cylinder heads on this car came from the factory this way and no one
ever noticed until the present owner complained, and I hooked up a cylinder head
temperature gauge to take a look. This car was put together from many different
cars, so it was mix and match. I guess what you don't know won't hurt you. Of
course it is a little rough on the engine.
If your car is running hot, check those cylinder heads.
=[CNM]=
CNM LITTER PATROL ON OLD 66 - A REPRINT FROM OCTOBER 1996
Jim Pittman
Saturday morning September 14 and we're on the road, gettin' our kicks on Route
66... we aren't driving a spiffy Corvette though, but stumbling through the
chamisa picking up trash. In the rain. Well, a light drizzle, anyway. Five of us
are spread along a mile or so of divided highway and I am all alone with my
thoughts and an occasional passing car or pickup, none of which give me any
attention. That suits me.
This is the second time I have volunteered to help pick up trash -- the first
time was at Petroglyph National Monument. It's interesting. Probably the most
interesting thing is what you end up thinking about as you shuffle along,
spearing McDonalds cups, bagging styrofoam bits and picking up broken bottles.
For one thing, what should be the fair and just penalties for littering. Here
are my suggestions: For deliberate littering, the death penalty, promptly
executed. For thoughtless littering: a year in jail. For accidental littering,
you gotta stop, go back, pick it up. For junk blown in from Arizona or Texas,
well, the convicts would probably enjoy a day out of the pen to get outdoors and
work the chain gang.
The litter on old Route 66 is quite different from that at Petroglyph National
Monument. There, you find lots of rusting tin cans and tons of broken glass
where people have thrown beer bottles against the rocks or where bottles and
jars have been brought for target practice. Here the litter seems to be mostly
fast food detritus and pieces of tires. Despite what du Pont might tell you,
this junk is not biodegradable, although it does disintegrate in the sun.
Anything older than a day or two is ultraviolet irradiated to the point that it
falls apart when you try to pick it up -- but it's still litter, not compost to
enrich the soil. And a highly visible type of litter is plastic or paper that's
coated with aluminum. The plastic or paper falls apart, leaving a shiny film of
aluminum that's impossible to separate from the vegetation.
Funny, there are hardly any aluminum cans here. Guess people either hang on to
them to recycle, or people scavenge them from along the roadside. So, another
suggestion: Every container that has to be made of glass should have a
significant deposit fee, and all other containers should be aluminum. No more
plastic bottles and foam coffee cups!
There are things to enjoy during my two hours for community service. The
solitude. The rocky mountain scenery. The really pretty vegetation. Okay, in
your yard they'd be weeds, but out here on Route 66 they are beautiful, washed
clean by the rain, all shades of green, lots of neat little flowers.
And in a rabbitbush I see the most exquisite little butterfly, wings folded
against the damp, dove-gray with big black and orange eye spots at the trailing
edge of his wings. That by itself is worth the trip.
=[CNM]=
SEVEN YEARS AGO
Jim Pittman
SEVEN YEARS AGO - April 2002 - Volume 28 - Number 4 - Issue 319
The cover celebrated a few of the CNMers who have been battling trash on
Old Route 66 for years. New members: Jay Ecclestone and Mike Hacker. Sylvan
recognized Geoffrey Johnson as a new member. Meeting minutes reported a
treasury balance of $5584 and the GMAC account was paying 3.4%. Wendell told
about recent expenditures: we bought jacket patches and license plates, we
donated to the Wheels Museum, we bought a flagpole for the Boydston cabin.
Mark told us about an "Old Route 66" car show in July. The Car Council was
negotiating with Los Lunas to hold the annual car show and swap meet there.
We were asked by Cactus Corvair Club to help with the Flagstaff CORSA
Convention. Jerry asked members to take their Corvairs to the April tune-up
session at Old Cars Garage. Bill was nearly done with the newest edition of
his Care and Feeding book. John Wiker invited us to conduct a tune-up
session at Del Norte High School. Anne Mae told us the schedule for the
summer for the CNM Ladies group. David reported on the March Old Route 66
clean-up where we picked up 23 bags of detritus.
Mark Martinek told about preparing Mary Lou's 1964 convertible for a trip to
a Corvair gathering in St. George, Utah. More than a few things went wrong,
and that was before they even left on the trip! Richard Finch told about
rescuing an Ultra Van to restore for his brother. He provided many
interesting tidbits about the design and maintenance of Ultra Vans as
compared to "ordinary" Corvair-powered vehicles.
Finally, Del wrote about our recent progressive dinner, Laura Wilshire
previewed the 2002 Tri-State in Grand Junction, and technical instructions
on the operation of an Etch-a-Sketch were provided.
FOURTEEN YEARS AGO - April 1995 - Volume 21 - Number 4 - Issue 235
Our cover was a transcontinental railroad scene April Fool joke.
V.P. Bob Beasley ran our meeting. Guests were Chuck Gauna who had a 1964
sedan and Ralph Larkin who wanted to sell a set of '65 wire wheel covers.
Thanks were expressed for getting the newsletter to members well before the
meeting. Will Davis reported $1408 in the bank.
Bill Reider reported on the NMCCC meeting. A Route 66 Festival was being
sponsored by the Giant Oil Company. The swap meet was up in the air. The
August picnic was planned for the Elk's Campground. VMCCA planned a picnic
at Cochiti. An audit of the CNM finances was on hold. More harmonic balancer
cores were needed before making a club order. There was discussion of how
harmonic balancers prevented fractured crankshafts. Convention planning was
expected to go into high gear after the Dallas convention was over. Steve
passed around new business cards. Ollie brought up the need for the Club to
be involved in some public service activity and gave as an example the Low
Rider Club's contribution to Toys for Tots. Technical discussions included
the pros and cons of vapor injection and repairing window winder mechanisms.
Bill said he'd have a sign-up sheet at the April meeting to order new
Clark's catalogs.
President Larry said we should ask him about his Radial Keratotomy and about
his visit with the president of Cactus Corvairs in Phoenix. The Arizona
folks were interested in attending our Tri-State meetings someday.
Sylvan previewed our trip to Travertine Marble Works in Belen, and the
Red River Rendezvous II in May. Many tech tips: vapor injection, replacing
a brake cable, driving instead of storing, replacing fuel pumps, tightening
loose horn buttons, fixing erratic auto upshifts, and, finally, a toy
Corvair on the back cover just like those toy tanks they used to print on
the inside of KIX cereal boxes for the kids to cut out and glue together.
TWENTY-ONE YEARS AGO - April 1988 - Vol 14 - Nr 4 - Issue 151
Our cover showed the battleship NEW MEXICO in full WWII fighting trim. The
ship survived the kamikaze attacks and its bell now resides near the SUB at
the University of New Mexico. We had "Mark Twain" as a guest at the March
meeting. Our CORSA membership was only 50%. Several members planned to go to
Canon City for the Tri-State. Francis was putting together a group purchase
of electric fuel pumps. Tech tips told how to deal with the unpleasant smell
of leaking gasoline.
TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS AGO - April 1981 - Volume 7 - Number 4 - Issue 67
The cover had our friendly dragon getting in trouble for pouring honey on
a police car as an April Fool trick. We had 26 members and guests at our
meeting. Robin DeVore brought in a front suspension for a talk on alignment
by Jim Haskew of Beeline Safety. There were ten tech tips in this issue.
THIRTY-FIVE YEARS AGO
On Wednesday 20 April 1974 a meeting was held to formally start a Corvair
Club. Francis Boydston, Pete Colburn, Rick Grable, Dale Housley, Carl
Johnson, Mark Morgan, Jim Pittman and Duncan Puett attended and thereby
became the founding fathers of CORVAIRS OF NEW MEXICO.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Enchanted Corvairs Newsletter is published monthly by Corvairs of New Mexico,
a chartered chapter of CORSA, the Corvair Society of America. Copyright by
the Authors and by Corvairs of New Mexico. Articles may be reprinted in any
CORSA publication as a service to CORSA members. Give credit to the Author
and this Newsletter. All opinions are those of Author or Editor and are not
necessarily endorsed by Corvairs of New Mexico or CORSA. Material for
publication should reach the Editor by the 15th of the month. Send material
as ASCII TEXT via e-mail ( jimp @ unm.edu ) or submit a readable manuscript.
I can read MS Word documents and RTF files, so send whatever you have!
Photographs as digital JPGs are welcome. Don't photoshop your digital JPGs --
send the originals. This ecologically green newsletter is produced in a
Microsoft-free environment. I print mailing labels with a 1989 Apple IIgs on
a LaserJet IIp. The newsletter is composed using Apple Macintosh computers.
Software includes OS-X, AppleWorks, Photoshop CS, GraphicConverter, BBEdit
and InDesignCS. If you care, ask for more details. Are you looking for APRIL
FOOL items in this issue? If so, you may find a few. Tell us what you find
at the April meeting! I thought the photo of Tarmo Sutt's Honda Gold Wing
mega-motorcycle was an April Fool, but there's more. Transportation by: 1965
Corvair Monza, 1990 Honda Civic, 1996 Mazda Miata and 2003 Honda Civic. And
if I get to be 64, I'll get by with a little help from my friends.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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=END=