VairMail Connecticut Corsa May 2011

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Hollie Chambers
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VairMail Connecticut Corsa May 2011 Next CT Corsa Meeting Friday June 3rd, 7:00pm at Cindy & Andy s Home 119 Toddy Hill Rd, Sandy Hook CT 203-206-8101 Connecticut CORSA 136 October Ln Plantsville, CT

1 VairMail Connecticut Corsa May 2011 Next CT Corsa Meeting Friday June 3rd, 7:00pm at Cindy & Andy s Home 119 Toddy Hill Rd, Sandy Hook CT Connecticut CORSA 136 October Ln Plantsville, CT ctcorsa1@yahoo.com apters/chapter068/ PRESIDENT Ron Manwaring 136 October Ln Plantsville, CT ramanwaring@cox.net VISE PRESIDENT Cindy Hughes 119 Toddy Hill Rd Sandy Hook, CT Cynthia.Hughes@yale.edu WEB MASTER Jim Forgey 15 Wood St Hamden, CT Jforgey4@yahoo.com TREASURER Art Linden 39 Teapothill Rd Wilton, CT arthurwlinden@aol.com SECRETARY Marion Ryall 14 Cleveland Ave Devon CT mryall1@juno.com NECC REP John Ryall 14 Cleveland Ave Devon, CT jryall@juno.com I Know I mentioned in the last VairMail that our next meeting would probably be in Mid May, but with Rhinebeck being on the 8 th the next thing I know it was late May, so we will have a meeting on Friday June 3 rd at Cindy & Andy s. This meeting is important as we are getting close to our Lyman Show in August and we need to be ready. We are only about 1 year away from the Corsa Convention in Sturbridge with much work to do. There are still a few positions that need to be Chaired, etc. If you would like to step up and help out in anyway, please let me know ASAP. For the CT members that are already on the convention planning, you know there is an on-site meeting at the Sturbridge Hotel on June 11 th. Let me know if you would like to meet and carpool up that morning. Several of us started the year by heading up to the Carter Chevrolet Show on April 17 th. There was a lot of rain the day before, but Sunday morning was dry and brisk. Jim Forgey, Bob Krystofolski, and I met up with Dave & Terry Brown in Southington and caravanned up to Manchester. It was a nice little show and I believe six Corvairs showed total. Next was Rhinebeck and Barb & I along with the Forgey s decide to head over to NY on Saturday for some sightseeing before Sundays show. We visited the Roosevelt home and the Vanderbilt cottage in Hyde Park before heading down to Poughkeepsie for the night. We woke to sunny skies Sunday and headed north on route 9 to Rhinebeck joining up with an already large group of Vairs. I was told that 6 members met at John Kissam s for breakfast before caravanning up. This was probably the best Rhinebeck turnout yet with 24 Vairs showing including 2 wagons, 1 Greenbrier, and 1 Rampside. There are a couple of events coming up that I m hoping some Ct members will consider making. The first is an invite from the CT VW Club to join them at their show in July and the other is an All Chevy Show in Vernon that has some Bay State Club involvement. You will find more information for both of these on the following pages. Art Linden has provided his Corvair story for this month s MEMBERS RIDE that I m sure you will enjoy. Next month will be Jim Dunn and his Corvette powered late model. Let s get those Corvairs out and have some fun! Ron Manwaring Club President

2 RHINEBECK 2011

My First (¼) Corvair Art Linden Ron mentioned that his entire history with Corvairs was with his one beautiful Spyder coupe. I ve owned eight and a quarter Corvairs in my life, from 1962 to now.

3 My First (¼) Corvair Art Linden Ron mentioned that his entire history with Corvairs was with his one beautiful Spyder coupe. I ve owned eight and a quarter Corvairs in my life, from 1962 to now. During that time I ve always had at least one Corvair. The first one was that one-quarter Corvair. I was just going into college in the fall of 1959 when the Corvair came out. I was intrigued with its nonconventional engineering, but the early sedans didn t set a young man s heart on fire. Later in 1960 when they introduced the Monza coupe, I really got interested. But I was going to school and was not in the market for a new car. My best friend and I were in a hot rod club in Willimantic. He had a 1940 Ford with a Buick V8 engine in it. I was working on a 1939 Ford four-door convertible with a Pontiac V8. But somehow while doing all this we decided that we wanted to build a sports car using the rear engine Corvair powerplant. We had more enthusiasm than experience as we embarked on this project. We bought a wreaked 62 Monza 102 Powerglide sedan. We cut out the frame around the engine up to the front of the rear wheels as the basis for our chassis. So now we had the rear suspension and engine installation. We bought a VW Beetle front axle assembly for the front suspension and steering. Not really knowing where to buy high quality steel tubing for the rest of the chassis, we found a guy who would sell us black-iron pipe. He bent this into two U shaped pieces for the basics of our frame. We welded it all together, made brackets for the Corvair instrument cluster and pedal assembly. We used the Corvair wiring harnesses and fuse block, and a sheet of ¼ inch aluminum for the floorboard. The seats were from Caldors. Got it all up and running and ran it around the parking lot of the building where we were building it.

When I got out of school in June of 1963, I bought my first real Corvair, a new Spyder convertible, Honduras Maroon, black interior, white top; beautiful car.

4 When I got out of school in June of 1963, I bought my first real Corvair, a new Spyder convertible, Honduras Maroon, black interior, white top; beautiful car. This lasted me for almost two years before I decided that I had to have a new Corvette Sting Ray. In buying the Corvette I wanted to trade in the Spyder. But before that we got the idea that we should pirate the Spyder engine for our sports car. So we converted the 63 Spyder convert to at 102 automatic, swapping everything including the instruments, with wire harness, and the glove box door. The only things we didn t change were the Spyder emblems on the front fenders and the trunk lid. I drove this 102/PG around for a few weeks while searching for the Corvette I wanted. At trade in time the dealer never questioned why this 102/PG Corvair had Spyder emblems on it. The next step on the sports car was to build a body for it. Again with more ambition than knowledge, we thought we could follow the plans in the car magazines on how to build a fiberglass body. Alas, reality overtook us and the project ended there. And we started to realize it probably was not going to make a very good sports car. The weight bias to the rear was outrageous. We easily could pull wheelies with the 102 Powerglide. I m sure it would have been totally unstable at highway speed. What we didn t know was that we were ahead of the trend to build dune buggies. They came along a few years later. This was much more a dune buggy than a sports car. Eventually it was sold to someone who used it as a dune buggy. The best part of this experience is that in the spring of 1963 I interviewed for a job with Sikorsky Aircraft. My grades were not outstanding but the interviewer was a car guy. We spend most of the interview with me going through photos of the car and its construction. From this he decided that I should work in the Advanced Concepts Section of Sikorsky, where all the helicopter designs start out. I could not have asked for a luckier break.

5 VW CLUB INVITE Last fall, I met and talked with a member of the Connecticut VW Club while at a show in New Hartford. We talked about the possibility of doing a show together (like VolksVair) and it is something that we may explore. For now, they have invited us to attend their show in July and mingle. I m hoping we can get a few CT Corsa members to take a ride out and hang with some other cool car people. Let me know please. I ve already marked my calendar. Below is their invite and info. Hi, I'm the Secretary for the CT VW Association We'd like to invite you to our yearly show. It is Sunday, July 10th at the Lebanon Lyons Fairgrounds in Lebanon Ct. Here is the official write up on the event Sunday July 10th, The CVA s 7th Annual New England Volks-Meet, Lebanon Lions Fairgrounds, Lebanon CT from 9am to 3pm Sunday. Trophies will be awarded by people s choice in many different classes. Show will be open to all Volkswagens and all German cars, owners and fans. Will be held rain or shine. There will be dash plaques and goody bags to the first 200 cars and camping is available on Saturday night and we will have live bands. There will be entertainment for the kids both days. Come and enjoy a weekend of true German fun. Thank You!! For additional info please call: Jeremy Clayton (860) vwadct@comcast.net or Milt redbug203@sbcglobal.net Lebanon Lyons Fair Grounds address: 144 Mack Road Lebanon, Connecticut We also do camping the night before at the Fairgrounds too, if people are interested. We do the show as a people's choice with a First place Plaque given out. It's a family event, including the camping the night before. The Lyons club is our Food Vendor. We're leaving this invite pretty open, depending upon how involved you (as a group) would like to get with the day. We're set to run the day already. This will be our third year at the Lebanon fairgrounds. Thanks Chris Fox CTVWA Sectretary.

Hey folks, BSCC President Ray Bombardier sent me this invite to a show in Vernon Ct at Scranton Motors in August. The shows proceeds go to Paul Newman s Hole in the Wall Camp.

6 Hey folks, BSCC President Ray Bombardier sent me this invite to a show in Vernon Ct at Scranton Motors in August. The shows proceeds go to Paul Newman s Hole in the Wall Camp. Fellow BSCC member Ed Soars works there and says if there is enough interest there ll be a CORVAIR ONLY class. So, let s see if we can get a few CT Corvairs to team up with some BSCC members for a good cause CALANDER OF EVENTS June 18 Klingberg Show New Britain, CT July 10 VW Show invite Lebanon CT July CORSA Convention Denver, Colorado August 6 VolksVair Show Shrewsbury, MA August 14 Cruise for the Camp Scranton Motors, Vernon CT August 27 CT Corsa AIR COOLED Lyman Orchard, Middlefield, CT September 18 Roaring 20 s Show Southbury, CT October?? Club Fall Foliage Day TBA

Saturday, August 27 th, 2011 Connecticut CORSA Presents the Third Annual Air Cooled at The Orchard All Corvair Car Show!

modified Corvair powered and bodied vehicles. Show Times: 9 to 3 Dash Plaques to the first 50 cars. People s Choice Judging.

!!!!! Breakfast available from 8 to 11 and Lunch from 12 to 4 Bring the Whole Family!

7 Saturday, August 27 th, 2011 Connecticut CORSA Presents the Third Annual Air Cooled at The Orchard All Corvair Car Show!!!!!!!!!!! At Beautiful Lyman Orchards 32 Reeds Gap Road Middlefield, CT At the junction of routes 157 and 147 Open to all stock and modified Corvair powered and bodied vehicles. Show Times: 9 to 3 Dash Plaques to the first 50 cars. People s Choice Judging. Trophies awarded in 5 Classes Car registration: $10 entry. Peach Picking!! Sunflower Maze!!! Music!!!! Gift Shop!!!! And More!!!!!! Breakfast available from 8 to 11 and Lunch from 12 to 4 Bring the Whole Family!!!!!!! The Rain Date Will Be The Next Day, Sunday August 28th Check out Lyman s at For Show Information Ron at ctcorsa1@yahoo.com Or call Ron Manwaring at or Jim Forgey at

8 Connecticut Corsa 136 October Ln Plantsville, CT 06479

VairMail Connecticut Corsa October 2010

VairMail Connecticut Corsa October 2010 ***CLUB FALL FOLIAGE DAY October 10 TH (info below) Next CT Corsa Meeting Sunday November 7th, 1:00 at Cindy & Andy s Home 100 Toddy Hill Rd, Sandy Hook CT Connecticut