The President s Corner

Transcription

1 February 2014 Volume 39, Issue 2 The President s Corner We started the year with a planning meeting for our annual SpringFest event, which is coming up in April. This is the 30 th year for the event, so be sure and send in your registrations soon. Registration forms and a schedule of events are included in this issue of the newsletter. There are several other events coming up soon, including a weekend getaway in Pensacola, Florida and car shows and swap meets in the metro Atlanta area. Please plan to attend the February meeting in Jonesboro, where we will continue planning for SpringFest as well as activities for Corvair Atlanta. Minutes from January Meeting Page 2 Around The Web Page 3 Celebrations Page 4 Upcoming Events Classified Ads Page 6 Advertising Rates Page 5 Page 12 Meeting Schedule Page 13 About Us Page 18 SpringFest Forms Page 15

2 Minutes from January Meeting On 11 January, we all met at Clay Grant's "Grant Farm for our January meeting and what a wonderful place it was! Great friends, Great Meeting Place, and the Best Food Ever!!!!!! Joe Gleaton opened the meeting. We all thanked Clay for letting us use his facilities. Al H. provided us an update on Lillian: Her surgery went well, but by Wednesday, they identified she had blood clots in her legs and gave her Coumadin to thin the blood. She should be out of the hospital today. Her back is improving every day. Keep her in your prayers. We will further our Springfest planning next month if necessary since Lillian and Queen City not able to make it. Heart of Georgia had an excellent Christmas Party. For Springfest we reviewed the pricing for the registration and motioned was raised to keep the prices the same. Motion was approved. Prices will remain the same in Next, we reviewed the committees and made updates. For the banquet, Wanda Cook and Jeanette Rudolph will need lots of helpers in the kitchen to get the banquet dinner off successfully. Please volunteer, as this is very important. We need at least 10 helpers. Please let Lillian or Heidi know if you would like to help out. Kitchen duty starts around 1 pm. Those in attendance were: Clay Grant, Bill Trig, Chuck Smith, Shirley Smith, Heidi and David Clamp, Wanda Cook, Jeanette and Bill Rudolph, Lanny Milbrandt, Janet and Tye Howard, Paula and Al Hilderbrand, John O'Harra, Sharon and Keith Burkingstock, Judy and Tony Kruzich, Michael Cobb, Joan and Tommy Couch, Molly and Chuck Wofford, Rhonda-Gail and Joe Gleaton, Wendy and Billy Price, Nan and Dan Cook, Mikey and Robert Birkinbine, Raymond Paul, Dick Berger, Lindy and Earl Lively, Ted Fahrenthold, and special appearance by Buddy Wofford who says (woofwoof). We also would like to thank our visitors for attending and hope to see them again real soon: Mary and Jack Corley from Covington, GA and James R Cozell from Carrollton, Ga. Page 2

3 25 Things You Didn t Know About Corvairs Corvair Preservation Foundation historian Dave Newell and technical adviser Larry Claypool came up with these "25 Things You Didn't Know About Corvairs" - - or which you will enjoy anyway even if you did: 1. The secret of the Corvair was leaked 18 months early, on April 11, 1958, when United Auto Workers official Dave Mann told the press that General Motors would build a small car at the Willow Run plant in Ypsilanti, Mich. 2. Motor Trend magazine's Car of the Year for 1960, Corvair had GM's first all-independent suspension. To use an existing manual transmission, the engine rotation had to be reversed so as not to have one low forward gear and four reverse. 3. Unibody construction with welded front fenders, a first for GM, meant that Fisher Body employees aligned the whole car. 4. Some 8,000 Corvairs were stockpiled at the GM's Milford, Mich., Proving Grounds in preparation for the October 1959 launch; 250 were "swimmers" (caught in a flood) but cleaned up, reupholstered and sold. 5. Oct. 2 was the official launch day. 6. Initial Corvair models were 500 and 700 four-door sedans. The most basic 500 is known as the Caveman for its simplicity. Coupes followed in January 1960, then the Monza coupe with 4-speed on the floor in the spring. 7. Surviving early Corvairs are Nos. 375 and 428, both sporting original front fenders, which lasted only 500 cars into the production run. 8. Chevrolet dealers were dismayed by the initial price, which could climb to $2,500 with Powerglide, heater and radio, only $200 less than a full-size Biscayne. 9. Gas mileage could be as high at 26 m.p.g. highway, until the VWstyle gasoline-powered heater was fired up at a loss of 6 to 8 m.p.g. 10. A boatload of 1960 Corvairs was sent to Cuba before the revolution. At last count, three survive; two reportedly running with front-mounted Russian motors. 11. Dick Doane Chevrolet in East Dundee and Chicago Tribune writers made two attempts to drive to Rio de Janeiro in three Corvairs, with a support truck and fuel truck. They got as far as Colombia in 1961, where one car remains in the jungle, according to a British Army photograph from (Continued on Page 14) Page 3

4 Birthdays Amy Birkinbine Lynda Champion Susan Paul Ted Worley Page 4

5 Date February 21-22, 2014 February 22, 2014 March 1, 2014 April 5, 2014 April 18-19, 2014 (Easter Weekend) April 26-27, 2014 May 10, 2014 June 7, 2014 Description Corvair Lovers Holiday and Car Show West Florida Corvair Club Days Inn Pensacola Beachfront 16 Via De Luna Pensacola Beach, FL or Mention Corvair for special rate of $69 parking lot side / $89 beach side More info: June Lindsey ( ) or wfcc@mediacombb.net Advanced Auto Parts Car Show 3730 Holcomb Bridge Rd Norcross, GA 11am-3pm Open to all makes-models-years Entry fee: Donation to sponsored charity North East Georgia Swap Meet Atlanta Dragway, Commerce, GA North East Georgia Swap Meet Atlanta Dragway, Commerce, GA SpringFest 30 th Anniversary Schedule and Registration Forms included in this issue. Summit Racing Equipment Atlanta Motorama Atlanta Motor Speedway Swap Meet / Car Show / Auto cross / Monster Truck demo / More North East Georgia Swap Meet Atlanta Dragway, Commerce, GA North East Georgia Swap Meet Atlanta Dragway, Commerce, GA Page 5

6 For Sale 1962 Corvair Rampside speed manual trans, hp car engine (low miles). Blue/white trim. $6,500 Call Ken Falls Page 6

7 For Sale Paula and I have just purchased a 1964 Corvair Monza Coupe so the Attached two cars are now FOR SALE: 1961 Corvair Monza 700 Believe it's the original 85hp / PowerGluide Hounds tooth (2 tone) interior New ($800) Tires, Runs Good $ (Continued on next page) Page 7

8 (From previous page) 1965 Corvair Corsa Street legal Race Car Is set-up to race, but is registered in GA and street driven. Features: two racing seats with 5 point harnesses Rollbar, Stock Suspension, 140+hp motor mostly stock: Mods:electric fuel pump, fuel pressure regulator, Fuel cell, Ignitor II (no points), FlameThrower (45K) coil, 14" Olds wheels and BF Goodrich AT Radials tires, Decals are removable, 4spd trans w/quik shift Parts have been removed but nothing that can't be put back. Car looks good, runs great and fast. $ Page 8

9 From: My name is Barry Maupin and I live in Oliver Springs, TN. My wife and I have an original 1980 Camaro Z-28 4 speed (I will attach a picture or two) that we want to somehow trade for a nice Corvair convertible with an automatic transmission. We would feel better working with an owner who has had a vehicle for a while and can give a history for the car Page 9

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12 Commercial Advertising Rates Ad Size 1 Issue 6 Issues 12 Issues Business Card $5.00 $27.00 $50.00 ¼ Page $7.50 $42.00 $75.00 ½ Page $12.00 $60.00 $ Advertising Policies Classified advertisements should be sent to the Newsletter Editor by or US Mail. Please type or print legibly if sending by US Mail. Classified advertising is always free to paid members of Corvair Atlanta, and $5 per listing for non-members. Classified advertisements will typically run in no more than two issues, but available space will be the determining factor. Page 12

13 Date January 11, 2014 February 16, 2014 March 16, 2014 April 18-19, 2014 May 18, 2014 June 15, 2014 July 20, 2014 August 17, 2014 September 21, 2014 October 19, 2014 November 16, 2014 December??, 2014 Location and Details SpringFest Kickoff Clay Grant s house Jodeco Road United Methodist Church 1500 Jodeco Rd Stockbridge, GA Swap Meet Bill and Jeanette Rudolph / Wanda Cook 240 Goode Rd Conyers, GA Swap: 10am; Lunch 12pm; Meeting 1pm SpringFest Helen, GA Location: TBD Location: TBD Location: TBD Location: TBD Swap Meet Location: TBD Location: TBD Corvair Atlanta Election Meeting Al and Paula Hilderbrand 28 Willow Brook Ct Actowrth, GA Date and Location: TBD Directions for February Meeting 1) I-75 South to Exit 222 (Jodeco Rd) 2) Turn WEST on Jodeco Rd 3) Go 1.7 miles 4) Jodeco Road United Methodist Church will be on the right 5) Meeting room is at the far end of the parking lot Page 13

14 12. In 1961, the Corvan panel van, Greenbrier passenger van and Lakewood station wagon and Rampside pickup were introduced. Air conditioning was optional. 13. GM built several front-wheel-drive prototypes in 1961, based on Alfa Romeo 1900 and Renault Caravelle platforms; a four-wheel-drive Corvan was tested. 14. One of the rarest Corvairs is the 1962 Loadside pickup. Only 369 were made, with a well in the center of the floor that could not be swept out. 15. The Corvair was an enormously popular base for show cars: the 1961 Sebring Spyder and Pininfarina Speciale, 1962 Super Spyder and Bertone Testudo, 1963 Monza GT and SS, 1966 Fitch Phoenix, 1967 Astro 1 survive. 16. A radical 1965 redesign with Fisher Z body saw the rear suspension resemble Corvette's to address safety issues (see "Unsafe at Any Speed"). And the heater and A/C were improved. But without the pop of the V-8 Ford Mustang, sales dwindled and opened the door to the Panther (Camaro). 17. Don Yenko extracted up to 240 h.p. from Yenko Stinger Corvairs, which were competitive Sports Car Club of America racers. He built 100 in one month in 1965, with a total of 185 from In 1968, XP-892 was shown as a fullsize model for the 3rd-generation Corvair, planned for 1970, but scrapped. However, the 1974 Holden Monaro HJ coupe borrowed some styling cues. 19. Corvair was down to two coupes and a convertible for A/C was discontinued because of the engine load added by an emissions air pump. 20. Modular Corvair engines were built to bolt together in 4-, 8- and 10-cylinder configurations. One, a 10-cylinder frontwheel-drive configuration, was used in the development of the Olds Toronado. 21. The rarest Corvair is the amphibious Corphibian Loadside pickup. One was built. The GM plant in Oshawa, Ontario, built 100 amphibious Corvair Dynatrack articulated vehicles for the U.S. and Canadian Armies. The Australian Army ordered 500 but didn't have the money upfront. 22. Apollo astronauts trained on a Corvairbased lunar rover in New Mexico. 23. The last Corvair was VIN:105379W106000, an Olympic Gold 1969 coupe with black interior. It's reported to have been destroyed. 24. In the 1970s, Viton finally made a rubber seal that resisted the heat around Corvair pushrods and cured the oil leaks that had plagued the cars since they were new. 25. By 1971, the National Highway Safety Transportation Board declared the Corvair no less safe than anything else on the road in the early 1960s. Take that, Ralph Nader (the consumer crusader who made his name in 1965 with "Unsafe at Any Speed," the book that targeted Corvair).

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18 President Vice President Secretary Treasurer Director Editor The Drive Train Tom Constantine Robert Birkinbine Ted Fahrenthold Al Hilderbrand Bill Rudolph John O Harra (john.oharra@live.com) Visit us at: Page 18