This page contains material from the August 2000 newsletter.

MEETING TIME: First Wednesday of each month at 7:30 PM LOCATION: Galles Chevrolet, 1601 Lomas Boulevard NE, Albuquerque, NM 87110 PRESIDENT: Hurley Wilvert 281-1732 hurley.wilvert @ fmglobal.com VICE-PRES: Robert Gold 268-6878 beisbol30 @ hotmail.com SECRETARY: Charles Vertrees 299-0744 vertrees @ swcp.com TREASURER: Wendell Walker 892-8471 defarge505 @ aol.com MEMBERSHIP: Sylvan Zuercher 299-7577 zuerchero @ hubwest.com NEWSLETTER: Jim Pittman 275-2195 casa unm edu DUES: CNM: 12 months $15.00 or 26 months $ 30.00 CORSA: 12 months $35.00 or 26 months $ 70.00 BOTH: 12 months $50.00 or 26 months $100.00 ===== EDITOR: Jim Pittman NEXT MEETING: Wednesday August 2nd, 7:30 PM Galles Chevrolet 1601 Lomas NE CONTENTS: THIS MONTH: Dues Due Sylvan Zuercher July Meeting Minutes Chuck Vertrees July Board Minutes Your Editor Route 66 Cleanup Adventures Jim Pittman Seven Years Ago Jim Pittman Cars and Parts For Sale Everybody Coming Events Everybody CNM Ladies, July, August Anne Mae Gold Campout 2000 Preview Debbie Deck Unintended Acceleration Jim Pittman Demise of Corvair Bob Helt and the VV Gang COVER: Cleaning up Route 66 in July ===== "The man who smiles When things go wrong Has thought of someone To blame it on." -- Burma Shave Dues Expired or Due or Approaching Due: Mark Morgan 06/2000 Wayne Uhl 07/2000 Wendell Walker 08/2000 Sylvan Zuercher 08/2000 Ron Deck 09/2000 Lee Olsen 09/2000 Jon Anderson 10/2000 Jon Lovett 10/2000 Alicia Romero 10/2000 John Topp 10/2000 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! While surfing the web, check out the CORSA Home Page: http://www.corvair.org A new site is CNM's home page, thanks to Dennis Pleau: http://corsa.skiblack.com/chapters/chapter871 ===== JULY MEETING REPORT Chuck Vertrees The meeting was called to order at 7:30 PM on July 5th at Galles Chevrolet. All officers were present. There were no visitors or new members to introduce. The minutes of the last meeting were approved as printed in the newsletter; however, Steve Gongora noted that the picture on the cover of the newsletter was taken by Bill Reider, not Steve. Treasurer Wendell Walker reported that CNM has $216.26 in the checking account and $5,840.98 in the money market account for a total worth of $6,057.24. CAR COUNCIL REPORT by Mark Martinek A poorly attended Car Council meeting was called to order by President Ken Halverson at 7:40 PM on June 28th. Representatives from the Albuquerque Convention and Visitors Bureau and the New Mexico Route 66 Association gave a briefing and distributed pamphlets on the proposed National 75th Anniversary of Historic Route 66 celebration to be held in Albuquerque on 20th-22nd of July, 2001. Multiple activities are being planned to be held at the Fair grounds and along an eighteen-mile stretch west on Central. This will actually be an international event with people coming from all over Europe and the Far East. Volunteers and sponsors are being solicited, along with major companies. A state Route 66 map is being prepared and should be available this year. Several organizations will be filming for television and possible an IMAX film. A Japanese PBS television crew will be filming here on July 15th. Anyone interested in volunteering to show their auto should contact the Route 66 coordinator at the ABQCVB, 222-4342. The representatives are interested in speaking to individual clubs. New Mexico Route 66 Association: 224-2802, info @ rt66nm.org, www.rt66nm.org, ABQCVB: 222-4342, petree @ abqcvb.org. (Your secretary has several handouts if anyone would like to see them.) Financial report on the Car Council shows they have $6,272.69 in the checking account and CD's of $6,315.62 and $3,632.81. $1,877.00 was collected from 375 paid admissions the Museum car show. $2,628.34 was spent on the car show. Mike Gonzales reported on the car show, calling it the most successful one held as far as registration, classification and overall conduct. An estimated 400-435 vehicles of all types were present. The Corvair Club was singled out for an outstanding display. Bill Reider received the Don Anderson Memorial Award. There were people showing up as early at 5:00 AM, but they were cooperative. It was noted that the T-bird club actually entered by the proper road and gate! There was still a problem with some clubs attempting to save space for no-shows, but not as bad as in previous years. Mike reported that his pickup had been sabotaged and one scooter deliberately damaged at the show. Because of this continuous harassment over the years and the fact that he has coordinated the show for so many years, he stated that he would not do it next year. A volunteer to coordinate the year 2001 show is needed. The NM State Police Auto Auction will be held in Santa Fe on July 17th. Here is you chance to get a police car. Several towns in the area will be having 4th of July parades, and older cars are always in demand. (By the time you read this the 4th will be past, but remember next year.) D.A.R.E. will hold a car show at the Wells Fargo Bank, Corrales Road in Corrales on August 13th. There is a $5.00 entrance fee with all proceeds going to the DARE program. Call Anthony or Tanya at 898-7501 for information/pre-registration. The Southwest Packard Motor Car Club and Zia Chapter Studebaker Drivers Club will sponsor the 1st Annual Orphan Car Show on September 10th at the TraveLodge Hotel & Conference Center, 2120 Menaul Blvd. (NE or NW?) The show is for cars 25 years old or older. No entrance fee published or stated. Display tablet will be available in the conference center for club displays. Contact Chris Cope, 362-0323, by August 30th for table reservations. August 6th is the tentative date for the All Club Picnic. Swap Meet 2000 is on shaky ground. It is being proposed for October, but not to compete with the Balloon Fiesta or Lobo football. Paul Laughlin will do the initial contact with UNM, but volunteers are needed to organize and conduct the meet. The meeting was adjourned at 8:35 PM. This was followed by an election of officers. The outgoing officers were reelected for another term. NOTE: Mark always supplies a copy of upcoming events along with many brochures of these events to your Secretary along with his report. Some of these are included in the report, but there are many others. I am open to any suggestion as to how to get this information out to those who may be interested. OLD BUSINESS: Debbie Deck reported on the August camping trip. She has been in contact with Ranger LeRoy and many others. Some places have opened back up, but there are still no fires of any kind allowed. Cooking is limited to propane stoves. She got no reply from Coronado. Cochiti is OK with a $15.00 charge. It was decided to go ahead with Ruth Boydston's and not worry about a plan "B" at this time. We can cook on Ruth's stove and on the stoves in any RV's that come. There will be a potluck dinner on Saturday evening. The Chevy show is still in limbo. Sylvan is trying to get in touch with them about parking. There were four Corvairs and one water pumper (a Challenger) from CNM at the Santa Fe July 4th car show. Kay and Tarmo Sutt were out of town. There were about 100 cars on display. The TV reports did not mention cars at all, only the pancake breakfast. Typical NM media. Hot rods and low riders were admitted for the first time. Thanks to Jerry Goffe they had a P.A. System. Robert Gold is staying in touch with the State Fair people about the September 24th car show. He needs to check on the number of cars that will be allowed. Jerry Goffe is working on the film festival coming up. He needs as many cars as possible on the evening of July 19th to transport people (celebs) for a wine and cheese party. Convertibles are preferred but closed will do if not enough open are available. Tickets are $20.00 each and all who help will get two tickets. Jerry made up a list of enough cars and drivers at the meeting. Since the date conflicted with the CNM board meeting, the board meeting was changed to Tuesday the 18th. NEW BUSINESS: Mark Domzalski reported that there were over 800 ballots cast in the board of director's election. This is a record and CORSA should be proud of it. There were four new directors elected. Mark has seven pages on his agenda for the directors meeting in Daytona Beach. Sylvan Zuercher got an e-mail from Will Davis and he will try to get up to the convention sometime. He hopes to see some CNM members there. Members were reminded that we will have a get together at Rudy's on Carlisle. The time is Friday July 28th at 6:30 PM. This is to honor Dennis and Debbie Pleau whom we are losing to the Pikes Peak Club. The meeting was adjourned at 8:20, followed by Dennis' presentation on converting your Corvair from a generator to an alternator. ===== JULY BOARD MEETING NOTES Jim Pittman The meeting was called to order at 5:24. Present were Hurley Wilvert, Robert Gold, Sylvan Zuercher, Steve Gongora, Wendell Walker and Jim Pittman. Last month's minutes were approved as published. Treasurer Wendell reported that he moved $300 from the Money Market account into our checking account and we have $651.26 in checking and $5,568.75 in Money Market for a total of $6,220.01 in the bank. Wendy remarked that we were making about $25 per month in the Money Market account. Comments followed about how we would be rolling in wealth if we had only invested our money in Intel. Old Business: everything seems to be under control for upcoming events. Steve said that we need to keep up with the requirements for the Classic Chevy show 25-27 Aug. CNM is to coordinate parking. More on that at the August meeting. New Business: Joe Trujillo has asked us for help with the Galles car shows on August 5th and August 12th. Corvairs are wanted for the second show on August 12th. The show will be from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. No registration fee! Car owners will get hot dogs and cokes and there will be a $100.00 giveaway each hour. Plan to register at the August meeting; if you want to register but can't be at the meeting, contact Joe Trujillo or Steve Gongora by August 5th. We have heard from people who want to sell cars. First, a 1966 Monza coupe, 80,000 miles, automatic, in good shape. Call Judy Cruz in Los Lunas at 864-2188 or 864-9861. Second, a 1963 convertible, black, white top, 117,000 miles. It needs paint, interior work and clutch but it has new tires, brakes, carpet, top, boot and rear wheel bearings. Paula Crouch at 292-2908 is asking $6,000. Also, Bud Knapp's Corvair (a 1965, I think) is still up for sale; contact Wendy if interested. (We are putting this information in the meeting notes as a service to our members; people who want to put an advertisement in the Newsletter are supposed to pay a $5.00 fee.) Sylvan said we need a date for our Christmas dinner. Steve asked Rita who said it was set up for the Kirtland AFB Officers' Club (the same place we enjoyed so much last year) for Sunday December 3rd at 11:00 AM. Details will be forthcoming. Someone suggested we invite our Galles sponsors, Joe Trujillo and Michelle Arrighetti, to our Christmas party in recognition of their support for our Club. The Animal Humane Association has tickets at $2.00 each for a car giveaway by Galles Chevrolet. Should we bring tickets to our meeting and try to sell them? Should we ask the Humane Association to make a presentation about their work at one of our meetings? Robert thought that would be a great idea. Stay tuned. Sylvan suggested we inquire of Joe Trujillo whether it would be appropriate to have wall plaques from our Club at our meeting place at Galles Chevrolet. Perhaps a plaque can be designed to list all Club presidents or all Club officers or award winners. This would be of benefit to new members. After a few more attempts at thinking up topics to discuss, the meeting was adjourned 6:03 PM. Then commenced the usual discussion of topics such as, when we moved to New Mexico and what our friends and neighbors thought about it (some said, "It's hot out there!") and exactly what role our friendly presidential candidate Ralph had in the demise of the Corvair as well as the introduction of safety features such as side reinforcing beams in car doors. ===== FOR SALE, TRADE OR WANTED FOR SALE: 1965 Monza 4-door $ 500.00 1964 Monza convertible $1500.00 Dennis Pleau 345-0351 CNM ADS ARE FREE TO CNM MEMBERS, $5.00 TO NON-CNM MEMBERS ===== SEVEN YEARS AGO IN C.N.M. August 1993 Volume 19 Number 8 The cover showed a map to help us get to our summer campout spot at Villanueva State Park. President Del ran the meeting; Will told us we had $1289 to save or spend. A second edition of Care and Feeding of Your Corvair was hot off the press. New CNM jackets were in. Debbie was all set with our proposal for the 1996 convention. After the meeting we had a presentation on synthetic oil. Kim previewed the Villanueva campout. Del reported on the Tri-State at Alamosa where a good time was had by all, especially by well-fed mosquitos. Four Corvairs were on display at the Santa Fe show for July 4th and Jim reported that several other interesting cars were to be seen, notably a big gray Bugatti. Afterwards jackets in July were required at a picnic at the Santa Fe ski area. Tech tip: how to repair your gas gauge sending unit; buying a Ford Granada muffler for your F.C. Some Corvair truck trivia was provided by Tim Palmer of CORSA Northwest. FOURTEEN YEARS AGO The August 1986 cover showed a Chevrolet ad for a 1963 Monza coupe. President Clayborne ran the meeting and told us about the well-known phenomenon of getting half our yearly supply of rain in two or three five-minute thunderstorms. Does your Corvair float? We had $863 in the kitty. A picnic and a couple of car shows made up Car Council news. A "new" member was Dale Housley who, as many of us know, was one of the CNM founders back in 1974, but his job with the State Police had taken him away from Albuquerque for a number of years. He was driving a sharp 1965 Monza coupe; that's the same car your editor now parks in his back yard and drives to CNM meetings and events. LeRoy was in the hospital for angioplasty and hoped to be home soon. Sylvan claimed higher gas mileage than was reported in last month's newsletter and claimed his Corvair had a record-breaking number of dents. Jim gave a slide presentation after the meeting. Your editor reported on the econo-run to El Morro and Grants. National Park rangers told us about "Inscription Rock" and its place in the settlement of the West. Fine examples of graffiti from the last four or five hundred years are to be seen on the cliff face. Don't add yours, though, unless you are either incredibly rich, ineffably famous or a hundred years dead. We hiked up to the top of the cliff to see ancient pueblo ruins and to get a marvelous view over the landscape. After filling up and calculating the winning mileages (a certain yellow 1966 Corsa 140 got 33.7 MPG) some of us headed home while others went looking for the natural arch on NM 117. We found it; pretty impressive. Carved on the rocks were some definitely twentieth-century graffiti. A great trip in every way. TWENTY-ONE YEARS AGO The August 1979 cover showed a Mark Morgan drawing of a Yenko Stinger race car. There was no July meeting but "minutes" included a report on the Moriarty Fourth of July trip which included nine Corvairs and a bunch of other nice cars. Sylvan reported that Fred Yuricic (eleven years old) had a sweet-running engine he rebuilt. Dan Simpson says he has rebuilt a Powerglide transmission and it was not as formidable a job as he feared. Our summer dinner at Bella Vista was a big success. The magazine Car Collector & Car Classics featured the Corvair in its August 1979 issue. Ike Meissner provided another excellent article on the ammeter, why every Corvair needs one and why it's better than a voltmeter. Jim provided a so-so article on what you can tell about your car's electrical system with a simple voltmeter. A tech tip from Houston told where to watch for the cause of those pesky bell housing oil leaks. Finally, Jim editorialized about the national energy crisis and what we all can do to, if not cure it, at least survive. A quote from Patrick Bedard of CAR AND DRIVER magazine: don't worry about acceleration, worry about braking. You have to accelerate to get where you're going, but every touch of the brake is wasted gasoline. Therefore, drive so as to minimize braking. ===== ============================================================================ 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 ============================================================================ | A u g u s t | S e p t e m b e r | O c t o b e r | | : : 1 2 3 4 5 | : : : : : 1 2 | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 | | 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 | 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 | | 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 | 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 | 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 | | 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 | 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 | 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 | | 27 28 29 30 31 : : | 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 | 29 30 31 : : : : | ============================================================================ Wed 2nd Aug 7:30 PM Regular Meeting - GALLES CHEVROLET 1601 Lomas NE Fri-Sat-Sun Aug 4-5-6 Camping trip in the Pecos - Ruth Boydston's Wed 16th Aug 5:00 PM Board Meeting - House of Covers Fri 25th Aug 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman Wed 6th Sep 7:30 PM Regular Meeting - GALLES CHEVROLET 1601 Lomas NE Sat ---- Sep 1:00 PM CNM Ladies - Brenda Stickler's - the Jemez Wed 20th Sep 5:00 PM Board Meeting - House of Covers Fri 22nd Sep 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman Sun 24th Sep ....... State Fair Car Show - Information: Robert Gold Wed 4th Oct 7:30 PM Regular Meeting - GALLES CHEVROLET 1601 Lomas NE Sat ---- Oct 1:00 PM CNM Ladies - TBA Wed 18th Oct 5:00 PM Board Meeting - House of Covers Fri 20th Oct 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=++=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= AUGUST PROGRAM NOTE Robert Gold, Vice President Joel Warner, Director of the Animal Humane Assoc. of New Mexico, will give a short talk about this privately funded organization. There will be a question and answer period after which raffle tickets will be offered for $2.00 each. The GRAND PRIZE will be a Chevrolet Cavalier purchased from Galles and ten other prizes including four donated by Galles. This should be a very interesting program. CNM LADIES Anne Mae Gold Summer greetings to you all! The CNM ladies will not have an official meeting in August; we are hoping that we'll all just get together at Ruth Boydston's cabin up in the Pecos. In September we plan on meeting at Brenda Stickler's cabin up in the Jemez. Those of you who are interested in exploring your mountain woman roots, let's talk soon. Give me a call or see me up in Pecos. My phone is 268-6878. Stay cool! - Anne Mae AUGUST CAMPOUT 2000 Debbie K Deck We are going to have a campout this year. YEAH!!! All Club members are invited to attend the annual campout, even if you don't go camping. We are going to Ruth's cabin in the Pecos for a group outing. The campout will be August 4-6. Friday evening will just be the gathering time for all campers. Just a time to get all set up and ready for the activities on Saturday. Although we probably can't have a campfire, we still can sit around and tell stories, some tall, some small. Saturday morning, we will have all kinds of activities starting at 10:00 AM and all are welcome to participate. The activities will include: a fishing contest, a euchre game, a ring toss, a wet shorts competition. There will be awards for various activities and prizes for the young ones who participate. The Club will provide all the sodas, and we will all share in the Saturday evening potluck starting at 6:00 PM. You are asking, What can I bring to help? Well, all can bring chairs, and tables if you have them. We also need decks of playing cards. Do not bring fishing poles, as the fishing contest isn't what you think it is. We will also be participating in a bit of fun times around the campstoves. Although there can't be any campfires, we can still cook on propane stoves or grills, just no campfires. Everyone should have a good time seeing Ruth's cabin and sharing in the outing. So, if you can attend, please let Debbie Deck know by phone, by e-mail or at the August meeting, so we can finalize our plans. Since I have never attended a campout, anyone wishing to volunteer to help would be greatly appreciated. Send e-mail to albdeck @ juno.com or phone 836-4845. Hope to see you there. There is no charge, and a map will be provided at the meeting. ===== [Editor's note - the following fantasy was made up by the little guy who does the newsletter. You are advised not to believe everything you read.] YOU CAN'T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT So I don't think I have the energy to pick up trash on Saturday morning, but I think I'll go down and meet the gang and be a reporter and take some photos and then go home and work on the newsletter. But for some reason I find myself putting on an orange vest and getting a supply of plastic bags and riding down to the bridge with the rest of the guys and gals to start pickin'. Well, no homework for me this morning. We have done this trash pickup routine in heat and in cold, in wet and in dry. We have done it with wind so rambunctious you could hardly get a bag filled: the wind would blow your plastic bag around, twisting the opening shut, or blow it around the other way, spilling the lighter stuff out, or blow your hat off and carry it to Texas. Today it would have been nice to have just a teeny little breeze, to help keep away the heat, but no-o-o-o such luck. Just the sun baking down, still and hot as could be. I fill up one bag and start on another. At this rate I'll need more bags. Where's Ollie's van? There it is. Darn, the back door's shut and locked. Where's Ollie? Don't see him. Better not try to break in. I'll just pack the stuff in more as I fill this bag. Now I'm near where a big machine is moving gravel from one pile and dumping it onto another pile. Wonder if they learned how to do that in the Army? When the driver dumps the gravel, there is a billow of dust. I notice that now a breeze has come up. Wow, it would be nice if the breeze would blow the dust the OTHER way, but no-o-o-o. I finally get some more bags from Ollie and start pickin' again. Over there is the mother lode of all trash. Bend over, move a step, bend over, another step; pretty soon my bad knee is complaining and this bag's about full. I haven't finished this zone of detritus but I've gotta stop a minute. When I stand up I'm pretty light-headed. Sun stroke? Heat exhaustion? Guess what, my canteen of water is locked up in the car. I remembered to fill it and put it in the car, but did I remember to bring it with me? Well, no-o-o-o. Well, I'll just sit down and rest a few minutes. No shade anywhere, unless I walk up to the bridge and get under it. Nah, too far... I see a little bush. If I sit down close to the bush I'll get some shade. I sit down. How many years have I lived in New Mexico? Do I remember that all the plants by the roadside in New Mexico have stickers? Well, no-o-o-o. Brush aside the stickers... ah, there's a piece of old tire tread to sit on. Good. Out of the sun now, not too uncomfortable. Take off my hat and gloves. Now there's a little breeze and it feels really nice. What's that I hear? Sounds like a backup beeper? It's a road grader and he's BACKING up the shoulder of the road. He's BACKING toward me? Good thing this bush is not right on the shoulder... hey, he's BACKING right toward my bush! Grab my hat and gloves and jump out of his path and watch him go by. The driver sees me; is he impressed? No-o-o-o. Okay, now he stops and heads down the road again. He's letting down the blade. He's scraping some excess asphalt that's near the edge of the road. He's heading right toward three or four trash bags our guys just put by the side of the road. Is he gonna stop before he hits them? No-o-o-o. The bags slide along and don't rip too badly. Now he stops and backs up for another run. I go down the road while he's backing up and heave what's left of the bags behind the guard rail. The driver doesn't acknowledge me at all, he just makes another run to scrape that asphalt off the pavement. I stand BEHIND the guard rail to watch this. Okay, now the excess asphalt is smoothed out and he goes away. Do I have enough energy left to walk down to where the rest of the guys are, or should I just wait for them here? No shade here. I decide I can walk down there. I come up to Del just in time to see him fold up something and put it in his pocket. "What didja find?" I ask. "Must be a page from a porno magazine," he says. "A naked lady and a boy in a swimming pool." "Let's see it," I say, but he just gives me one of his marvelous copyrighted Del grins and ambles off without another word. I thought Del was the kind of guy who'd share, but no-o-o-o, I guess not. Okay, cut to the following weekend. I happen to run into Larry and I tell him about Route 66 trash day and Del's porno photo of the naked lady and the boy in the swimming pool. "I'm going up to Del's place to help him with his van this afternoon," says Larry. "I'll ask him about it." Sure enough, later that afternoon Larry stops by my place on his way home. "I waited until Del went back in the house to get something and I asked Kim about the photo," says Larry. "She didn't know anything about it. She thought it would be a big joke to go find it and give it to me. Then when Del missed it, he wouldn't have the nerve to ask her if she'd seen it." So when Del came back out, Kim sneaked into the house to look for the photo. She found it under a stack of classified Los Alamos documents on Del's desk. She had a laugh, then secretly brought it out to give to Larry. "Kim said you might want to put it in the newsletter," Larry tells me. "Wait a minute--this is a family magazine," I say. "It will be all right," Larry assures me, "Here it is." "Wow! I guess Del was right," I say. "I'll scan it into the computer for the newsletter. And now I'll have a story to write up about the Route 66 trash pickup." "That will be fine," says Larry as he gets into his giant pickup. "Nobody will believe it, though." "Sure they will," I say, "The photo will be the proof." So Del has to share with us after all. If you want to see his porno photo of the naked lady and the boy in the swimming pool, turn to the last page of the Newsletter. "How did he know it was a naked lady?" I ask Larry as he's starting the engine. "I don't know," he says. "Maybe he's got more experience than we do." ===== UNINTENDED ACCELERATION Jim Pittman I never was a big believer in the phenomenon of unintended acceleration. I figured, when the non-mechanically-minded person put his/her gear shift in drive instead of reverse, then stepped on the brake to stop going forward and the car roared into the garage and took out the kitchen, what they really did was step on the gas instead of the brake pedal. On TV they'd say, "But I had my foot firmly on the brake and it just kept going!" and I'd nod skeptically and say, "Yeah, right, dummy." Well, I now find it a little easier to sympathize with those dummies. It happened to me. If my Corvair had been equipped with an automatic transmission instead of a four-speed, I might have eaten some car's back bumper. I was on a routine drive in town with several chores to do. It was mid-morning so the weather wasn't yet really hot but I looked for shade to park in anyway. At my last stop I came out of the store, got in the car, put in the clutch and started the engine. Much to my surprise, it accelerated with a roar, the tach needle climbing up toward the top of the dial. Jiggling the gas pedal didn't do anything and the tach kept climbing, so I turned off the ignition. I figured my thirty-year-old throttle linkage had finally failed at a weak spot, sticking one of the carbs open. I raise the engine lid (thank goodness for the shade) and have a look. Nothing seems amiss. The crossover shaft operates both primaries as expected. Neither of the secondaries is stuck open and both seem free to open and close smoothly. Back in the driver's seat, I start the engine again; it does the same thing again. Turn it off. (Do you know how long it takes a 95,000-mile engine to come to a stop from 5,000 RPM?) I go back to jiggle the linkage some more and I still can't see anything wrong. For lack of a better idea, I flip off the retaining clips and disconnect the rods to both secondaries, then make sure the secondaries are both shut all the way. Back in the car, start it up; it does the same thing again! Now I am getting worried. I don't have any serious tools in the car. I give the throttle linkage another good look. This time I notice that the right primary carb linkage is significantly off its stop; it is for sure hanging open. And when I push on it, it doesn't want to close. I look on the other side and the left carb looks the same. How can that be? I peer into the grungy darkness under the carbs to see why the link isn't shutting all the way. Can't see a thing. I reach in, under and around (yes, it's hot in there!) to feel for what I can't see. There's something under the left primary carb throttle link. I carefully move it around until I can see it. A piece of rubber hose about five inches long and half an inch in diameter! It was sitting right under the throttle link. Now, where did that come from? I have no idea, but I work it around until I can pull it out. Now the throttle linkage closes fully. When I start the engine it purrs at about 750 RPM just like it's supposed to. Well, okay, if I'd had an automatic it would have been in neutral when I started the engine, and I would probably have had my left foot on the brake. But, I might have popped it into gear the second the engine started, and when it roared up to half throttle I might have been surprised enough by the car taking a great leap forward that I might not have been able to stop before plowing into the car ahead. Who knows? All I know is, when your old faithful engine suddenly roars like a 747 and your foot isn't on the gas, it's more than a little disconcerting. ===== TO GET TO RUTH BOYDSTON'S CABIN IN THE PECOS: Go north on I-25 from Albuquerque toward Santa Fe and continue toward Las Vegas. Turn off I-25 at Glorieta (Exit 299) onto NM 50. Turn right (east) toward Pecos. At Pecos, turn left (north) onto NM 63 toward Cowles. Before Cowles, look for a sign to Iron Gate to turn right onto Forest Road 223. It's a dirt road and it's up hill. Take the first left turn. Stop at gate. Open gate, go through, close gate. Stay to the left on the gravel road. See cabin on your right. ===== Subject: DEMISE OF THE CORVAIR (VV) From: Dennis & Debbie Pleau ( dpleau @ efortress.com ) Jim, I'm going to try to piece this whole thread together. It may get a little long. Bob Helt started it and it just grew from there with a bunch of people jumping in. -- Dennis From: BobHelt @ aol.com Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2000 15:54:10 EDT Hi everyone, Who killed the Corvair? Was it Nader? Or GM? Or maybe it was the Mustang? Could it have been the high cost of production? Or was it the lack of cubic inches? Could it have been the rear suspension of the early models? There sure are a lot of theories out there!! Well, like belly buttons, everyone has one... theory that is. Here's mine. What killed the Corvair was oil leaks. Yes, the ever present oil leaks from the pushrod tube oils seals. When the Direct Air heater was introduced in 1961, disaster hit the Corvair! The oil that leaked from the pushrod tubes dropped down on the hot exhaust manifolds, and created billows of smoke which entered the passenger compartment whenever the heater was put into use. And if the heater was turned off, then the leaking oil dripped and ran everywhere the car was parked. And when the car was driven, the leaking oil was sucked back up onto the rear of the car, creating a most obnoxious mess for everyone to see. Oil and oil smoke followed nearly every in Corvair those days. And Chevrolet never had a fix. The O-rings Chevrolet used were sub-standard to handle the temperatures encountered. The O-rings turned hard like a rock in a few thousand miles and started leaking again. Chevrolet just never used an O-ring material that would stand up to the engine temperatures. At first, Chevrolet Engineering didn't appreciate the problem, but finally they got the word and replaced the O-rings with a slightly better material. But these new O-rings too, were not good enough, and failed after a short time. It wasn't until Viton O-rings were made available by Corvair vendors was the problem fixed. But Chevrolet never used Viton. Chevrolet never found a material that worked. And as a result ALL Corvairs suffered from the bad Chevrolet O-rings on the pushrod tubes. Some worse than others to be sure. But All Corvairs had this problem as they came from the factory. So what happened? Every Corvair had the potential to leak oil. Most did. Both onto the exhaust manifold which made the heater all but useless, or on the driveway and garage floor. And also onto the rear of the cars. This turned off many Corvair owners and caused the word to spread about Corvairs being "LEAKERS". Sales plummeted, and the Corvair was put on the kill list. Regards, Bob Helt From: Sethracer @ aol.com Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2000 17:08:01 EDT So Seth Writes: But I have an even better theory. My theory is that the Chevrolet engineers knew that the O-rings would leak! The engineers, who had the "fresh" air heater system forced on them by the accountants, knew that this system with its "insta-leak" exhaust packings, would soon be providing "fresh, odorless, Carbon Monoxide" to the passenger compartment. BUT, as long as the O-ring oil leaks caused the smoke, fumes and smells to enter the passenger compartment along with the CO, the passengers would roll down the windows to let the fumes escape, saving themselves from the Carbon Monoxide poisoning. Voila!! Now - about those Black Helicopters!!! - Seth Emerson From: DICKSHANK @ aol.com Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2000 17:12:03 EDT I agree with you, Bob. Another factor was the attitude of the dealerships. When my wife and I went in to order a new car in December, 1967, the salesman did everything he could to talk us out of buying a Corvair. He told us how unreliable they were, hard to service and likely would not be made much longer, making our investment a poor one. It took 6 weeks to arrive at the dealership. It threw belts bad and had other service problems. Every time we had it in for warranty work, the service manager would anxiously look at the odometer to see if it was out of warranty. We had problems with rear tire wear, they were mystified and said it was the Positraction that was causing the wear. Later I took the car to a alignment shop specializing in Corvettes and he said it was terribly out of line! We still have the car and love it and the dealer recently invited me to put it on the showroom floor to show it off and it hasn't thrown a belt in years! 1968 Red Monza Convertible - Dick Shank From: stonelaw @ erols.com Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2000 17:54:56 -0700 I have always thought that the increased heat and decreased power caused by exhaust emissions requirements killed the Corvair. Although it lasted longer in production, the VW Beetle eventually lost the same battle of trying to meet exhaust emissions standards in an air cooled engine. Porche obviously was able to meet the standards, but resulting in an incredible price tag for the car!!! A. J. - 65 CT Turbo - 11 69's From: ThreeRCB @ aol.com Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2000 22:59:16 EDT RE: What exactly was it that killed the Corvair? I agree it was all those things. Other cars with more power, oil leaks and exhaust leaks, Nader's book, lack of advertising, and in those days... it was too small. "What do you want to do, get your self killed driving that little thing?' I heard this from morons more than once. The only high profile dealer who had any faith in it was Mr. Don Yenko. Corvairs Forever (leak oil), RichB. Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2000 20:22:02 -0700 From: Steve Goodman ( rearengine.steve @ worldnet.att.net ) To all: I don't think there was any 'one' thing that killed the CORVAIR. Instead I think it came from several fronts and just added together to make our beloved car disliked from many people; most who NEVER even took time to look or ride in one. I believe that the general service ability of the GM mechanics was partly to blame, witness those who have stories of not getting their CORVAIR repaired after lots and lots of tries. Face it, the CORVAIR was different from a mechanics viewpoint and most mechanics who worked on regular cars didn't understand nor did they WANT to understand the concept of rear engine/air cooled engine cars. I agree with the VV poster who talked about poor salesmanship of the CORVAIR by dealers and won't add any more to that. Since we all agree that the CORVAIR is different from most cars, remember that MOST consumers in the 60's were not 'hip' to the differences provided by rear engined and air cooled cars. Hence the lack of appreciation/understanding of things like tire pressures, shocks, clean engines, changing oil regularly etc. This is what kept them in trouble with ill handling and the abovementioned woes with GM mechanics. GM wouldn't offer real aid to those problems nor with building more horsepower or newer ideas into the cars. Following in that train of thought, along came the MUSTANG, a normal car and all the advertising hype with it showing young people enjoying themselves driving a MUSTANG and it was an instant hit. You don't find too many TV ads from those days showing young folks driving a CORVAIR convert do you. Even though I suggested that no 'one' thing was to blame, after re-reading this post I come to this conclusion: GM killed the CORVAIR by its own lack of interest. Regards, Steve Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2000 20:47:08 -0700 From: Steve Goodman ( rearengine.steve @ worldnet.att.net ) To all: After thinking about the above statement a bit I should have added that all this discussion is a 'moot point', face it the CORVAIR would not be built in the year 2000 under any circumstances. Regards, Steve From: PhilMcNear @ aol.com Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 10:09:39 EDT Yes, the Corvair was innovative for its time, but due to the price constraints placed in the full development of the concept, I think it probably met about 80% of its potential, just to throw out a figure. Much has been done since its demise to improve on the technology that went into the car and we have these great technical sites which also help improve on what we have. I have two questions related to this discussion. First, why was the VW Bug so beloved and the Corvair doomed to failure when they both were pretty much the same idea with some significant differences? Second, as the Corvair has a reputation for being "unsafe" what were the results of the various crash tests that were conducted, other than the infamous roll-over footage of the 60 sedan? Phil McNear - 65 Monza 110 convertible, original AM/FM radio Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 19:01:36 -0400 From: Jim Simpson ( simpsonj @ bellatlantic.net ) Not to mention it was expensive to produce but had to sell cheap to compete. How much profit do you suppose GM made from the Corvair (complex suspension, complex engine) compared to a similar priced Chevy II/Nova?? In my opinion, the profit/loss bottom line killed the Corvair! Jim Simpson, Group Corvair Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 20:14:34 -0700 From: Ken Schifftner ( scrubbr @ ix.netcom.com ) I don't know what killed the Corvair but, maybe from the questions I got back in 1965 when I drove my Dad's silver '61 Coupe to high school part of the answer can be found: 1. "Why isn't the engine in the front like a normal car?" 2. "Why does the fan belt wrap around that way? Why isn't it like a normal car? 3. "Doesn't it have a radiator as in a normal car?" 4. "Why isn't the trunk in the back like a normal car?" 5. "Where is the transmission hump like in a normal car?" 6. "Why isn't the gearshift on the steering column like a normal car?" My theory: The Corvair was born an orphan. It would never be "normal" nor could be made "normal". The buying public simply didn't appreciate the cleverness of the design and the attempt by GM to create a really new vehicle. Others were simply afraid of it because it was different. This was fodder for Ralph N. It was socially safe to own and drive a "normal" car. The Mustang, made from Falcon parts, filled that empty bag very well. Look at the VV posts. The people who own(ed) Corvairs know cars. They appreciate the fact that it is not "normal". It is exceptional in many ways. It is interesting that after I answered their questions (knowing it really wouldn't matter) and took my friends for a ride, the next question they always asked was: "Gee, this is cool. Can I drive it! Ken Schifftner '64 Abnormal 'Vert From: "The Gossetts" ( GOSSETTS @ prodigy.net ) Date: Sat, 17 Jun 2000 07:52:34 -0700 It seems that there is a lot of different ideas on the reasons why the Corvair died. Nader, Profitability, Pony cars,etc. It seems to me that the Corvair died the death that all the econo cars of the sixties died. Profit margin held a large part of this. Nader (I believe)kept the Corvair alive for a few extra years. But the muscle cars really did the 'vair in. Even the Falcons and Valiants started to see V-8's in between the wheels and sizes increased. They became large pseudo-pony cars. The Corvair just didn't have the ability for that particular change. The Falcon died just a bit after the Corvair and it basically was a Torino (even came with a CJ!) After driving and possessing both a '62 Corvair and a late ('66) Falcon I see the merits in both cars and still won't give either one up no matter what the wife says about a new SUV. There is one other thing that scared GM away (I think) and that was the general criticism of the car. Magazines aren't buying their cars. People are mostly afraid of the unique and the strange. Just look to the cars today. If you can take a once over driving past it and tell me the year and model of something that was made in the last 7 years I would be amazed. I am not talking the specialty cars either. As far as what Dave B. said. I hold to the belief that the EM's are about the best looking cars to ever see pavement. And I hardly get the guys with the backwards hats as much as I get the girls in those teeny-bopper outfits asking about my 'vair(dents and all). My 0.02 worth - Sherman Gossett - GOSSETTS @ prodigy.net From: UV216 @ aol.com Date: Sat, 17 Jun 2000 11:42:15 EDT I would, in most cases, agree with all the previous posts, but I think that GM killed the Corvair from almost day one. With a lack of pre-delivery press releases to Pump Up the great features of this NEW and UNIQUE offering and a total lack of pre-delivery training of dealers and their mechanics. Without this preparation - why would anyone expect the car to be a success? Other aircooled, rear engined cars, trucks, vans have been built and sold in great numbers for Much higher prices than our Corvairs and are still looked upon as a GREAT achievement. WHY?? jim howell - 5 corvairs - 1 Ultra Van - and 30 years in CORSA From: FrankCB @ aol.com Date: Sat, 17 Jun 2000 13:43:11 EDT Marc, I agree with you. IMHO it was PRIMARILY the public's lack of interest in a small, well handling car and preference instead for big-engined cars with fast straight-line acceleration and a soft, cushiony ride. During it's time the Corvair engine was generally the SMALLEST displacement engine produced by Detroit. It's only in today's time frame that its 2.7 liters now seems quite substantial. Even now, Chrysler is advertising that their NEW cars have "4 wheel independent suspensions". Wow, what will they think of next?? Frank Burkhard From: FrankCB @ aol.com Date: Sat, 17 Jun 2000 13:43:12 EDT Steve, Quite true, most of the Corvair ads pitched the husband and/or wife loading in kids and groceries. However, currently, we have a great TV ad showing an attractive young couple sitting in a beautiful EM convertible with the Starship Voyager cruising by overhead in the starry night. Frank "still likes topdown convertibles under the stars" Burkhard From: TONY FIORE ( tonycorsa @ juno.com ) Date: Sat, 17 Jun 2000 14:16:21 -0400 I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with you Jim. Did you say, "lack of pre-delivery press releases" --- Wow, were you living in the U.S. between January 1959 and October 1959 ? I have NEVER seen as much press hoopla about a new car as there was for the Corvair in the 9 months before its introduction. EVERY car magazine, ALL the news magazines, ALL the major newspapers including the New York Times, carried many articles about the coming of a new rear-engined car to be introduced by GM. The only car that had somewhat similar press coverage, as I recall, was when Ford decided to drop the Model T and bring out the Model A, but even that didn't compare with all the press coverage that the Corvair got! As for GM training mechanics and dealers, I can only go by my own experience with my 1960 Corvair delivered to me on Oct. 5, 1959, and my 1961 Corvair delivered Nov. 8, 1960. All Chevy dealers had at least one or two of their mechanics specifically trained by GM on Corvairs, depending on the size of the dealership. Of course, the other mechanics wouldn't even touch your Corvair, but those that were trained on them would proudly work on your Corvair. My guess is that the factory was occasionally flubbing on the assembly line, causing repair trouble at the dealerships. As for who killed the Corvair I have to agree with others that it was not just one factor, but many causes. All the reasons mentioned previously have some merit, but to my way of thinking it was caused mostly by GM itself AND by the dealers. GM should have sold it not as a low cost economy Chevy, the Nova was the right choice for that niche. It should have been sold to the driving enthusiast as an alternative sports car to the Corvette. They should have given more attention to quality parts and assembly AND priced it a little higher than their top of the line Bel-Air Sedan, and a little lower than the Corvette that was then selling around $3500 dollars. That would have given them the profit margin to really put quality into the Corvair and put it in line to compete with the Thunderbird of that day, as well as the BMW, (then selling around $3000), the Austin-Healey, the MG, and other sports cars of the era. ALL dealers in those days would try to sell you a Bel Air or Impala or anything except the Corvair. Why, because they were not given any profit margin on the Corvair. GM was intent on selling it as a cheap economy car which it was NOT. Ed Cole knew that, but GM management thought different. There were plenty of economy cars around at the time. I bought it for its handling characteristics, and because it was a fun car to drive, especially in the snow. Others who bought it as an economy car were disappointed. TONY FIORE PRES. MAIL-COPY PUBLICATIONS AUTHOR-CORVAIR DECADE From: "Jordan & Coleman Family" ( partyof5 @ mediaone.net ) Date: Sat, 17 Jun 2000 15:24:58 -0400 What is wrong with all you people? Nothing "KILLED" the Corvair!!! It is still alive and well for those of us who are lucky to enough to have one. It added to the rarety of these wonderful cars, and who knows they may increase in value as time goes by. Even though they are priceless to us already.. Bill Jordan VOTE NADER!!! Ha ha ha I DON"T THINK SO!!! From: "wanda kaczmarek" ( hankkacz @ email.msn.com ) Date: Sun, 18 Jun 2000 19:53:08 -0400 Group: I have read with great interest the thread on the demise of the Corvair But let's get down to the real nitty gritty. The Truth. Vega----Couldn't do it Chevette---Couldn't do it Sprint and Metro-- Couldn't do it Especially not with 3 cylinders Prizm---Not a chance---putting on a bowtie doesn't make it any less a Suzuki FACT: IN THE 31 YEARS SINCE THE CORVAIR CEASED PRODUCTION---- THE GENERAL HAS YET TO FIND A CAR TO REPLACE IT. 2 dr's , 4 dr's Station Wagons, pickups, Sportwagon (the GB and Corvan for you newbies) two distinct body styles, THE GENERAL NEVER USED SO MUCH VARIATION ON ONE PLATFORM OR DRIVETRAIN. THAT'S ALL THERE IS TO SAY..... WITH ALL HER FAULTS, STILL BE BEST COMPACT THE U.S. HAS BEEN ABLE TO PRODUCE HANK ****************************** This message was sent by the Corvair list, all copyrights are the property of the writer, please attribute properly. To unsubscribe, mailto:majordomo @ skiblack.com with "unsubscribe virtualvairs" (without the quotes) as the first line of the message. To post, mailto:virtualvairs @ skiblack.com. 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