Activities Schedule. Penny Chance Winners: We Need Your Articles!

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1 Hurricane Matthew left many areas of Hampton Roads in deep water. Here we see Club President Keith Klemm performing a heroic chicken rescue from their flooded coop. More details on how some others weathered the storm elsewhere in this issue. In this issue: How Many Corvairs? by William Wynne Hurricane Aftermath by Dean Zawacki Meeting Minutes and Activities Corvair Days by Smitty Smith Landstown Cruise-In AND MORE!

2 PAGE 2 October 2016 THE SPYDERS BREATH GAZETTE Officers for 2016 President: Keith Klemm (240) kjklemm@hotmail.com Vice President: Steve Lepkowski (757) stevelski@cox.net Activities Chairman: Ed Hlusko (757) ehlusko@yahoo.com Secretary/Treasurer: Anne Davis (757) annie-bo@cox.net Newsletter Editor: Dean Zawacki (757) deanage5@hotmail.com Historian: Smitty Smith (757) vairologist@cox.net Phone Committee: Helen Smith Barbara Gilliland CORSA/CPF Board President Ken Hand Vice President Mike Hall Secretary Bryan Blackwell Treasurer Paul Sergeant Eastern Division Directors Bryan Blackwell bryan@skiblack.com Dean F. Gemberling pro@ihscomputers.com Karl Haaakon cityhawk@pobox.com John Nickel fivcent@tds.net Activities Schedule October 25 th - Club Social Rib City, 4688 Princess Anne Rd, Virginia Beach, VA 23462, 6:30 pm. (757) October 29 th Fall Cool Down Landstown Commons, 3312 Princess Anne Rd. November 19 th Tech Session Auto Brake, Ave. J, Norfolk. We will be working on John G s 110hp engine. Time will be confirmed at the upcoming meeting. November 8 th - TCC Business Meeting 7:00pm at Rick Hendrick Chevrolet on Virginia Beach Boulevard in Norfolk. Refreshments Anne Davis Penny Chance Winners: We Need Your Articles! Publication Notice: To be a full member of The Tidewater Corvair Club (TCC), you must be a member in good standing of the Corvair Society of America (CORSA). Annual dues are $12.00 for TCC and $45.00 for CORSA. Due to insurance requirements, only paid member may participate in Club Events. The Spyder s Breath Gazette is a monthly publication, published and distributed by TCC, Inc. This publication is available for a donation of $10.00 annually. The Spyder s Breath Gazette reserves all rights with the following exceptions: Any material may be reproduced or reprinted by CORSA or any CORSA Chapter only for nonprofit purposes that benefit Corvair Enthusiasts. Any such reproduction must credit both the author and the Spyder s Breath Gazette. Rights for any other use must be requested in writing from The Tidewater Corvair Club. Correspondence should be sent to: Tidewater Corvair Club, Inc. Corvair Society of America 2901 Cardo Place P.O. Box 607 Virginia Beach, VA Lemont, IL

3 PAGE 3 October 2016 THE SPYDERS BREATH GAZETTE How Many Corvairs are Left? By William Wynne (forwarded by Pete Jacobsen) This article is written from the perspective of experimental aircraft builders who use Corvair engines in their projects, but it is still of interest to those of us embarking on building Corvairs for their originally intended use. Ed. absolutely 'knows' to be true, is the guy least likely to enjoy learning, and therefore least likely to be a guy who finishes a plane. Be aware that common idiots are not just found at Oshkosh, they are at nearly every airport in the country. Builders, The title of this story is a perfectly acceptable question, and one I frequently place an educated estimate on. It doesn't bother me, even if it is asked many times a day at Oshkosh. I do however contrast this with the person, who walks into my booth at Oshkosh and pronounces, "There are no Corvairs left. " or "They don't make parts for Corvairs anymore." I was just about to type "It takes a special kind of idiot to say such things in the face of demonstrable evidence otherwise" but that isn't correct. Statements like that are not the utterances of special idiots, they are spouted by commonidiots. I have actually had a guy flatly say they don't make parts for these engines while leaning on a stack of new boxes of pistons that was 4 feet high. I pointed out to another person who said there are no engines available, the dozens of pictures on my website of recently finished Corvair powered planes, and asked him where he thought those engines came from. Ironically, no answer from the same guy who knew everything 2 minutes before. It has been my experience that you can't use budget, prior experience, age, nor outlook to predict is a guy will be successful in homebuilding, however, I have noted that the guy who likes to start every conversation in homebuilding with a statement that he Above, a very heavy box in the back of my 3/4 ton truck in the front years this morning. It was 48"x 40" by 40" and packed solid with Corvair cylinder and connecting rod cores being truck shipped to Clark's Corvairs in Massachusetts. The rear suspension is compressed about 8". The box has about 50 engines worth of cylinders and rods, and these are all going back to Clark's for re-boring and rebuilding. I collect them up over time, and send them back in a large lot. Think this is a big amount? I have been to Clark s shop, and this isn't 5% of what they have on hand, and I strongly doubt that Clark s is holding 5% of the remaining Corvair cylinders...oh, by the way, 2,850, 3,000 and 3.3L Corvairs are all based on new cylinders and rods, so everything in this box can be applied to 2,700cc Corvairs. There are probably less than 5% of the original 1.8 million Corvairs left. If that sounds small, it is 90,000 cars. We live in a

4 PAGE 4 October 2016 THE SPYDERS BREATH GAZETTE nation of 250 Million registered cars. Any reasonable person can look at those numbers and understand a ratio of 2,778:1, and probably on the order of 20,000:1 in a daily driver comparison, which is why you don't see a Corvair driving down your street every day. But only the common idiot looks at those numbers, the giant box of cores, the fact I have been doing this since 1989, and Clark s has been doing Corvair parts for more than 40 years, and still is sure enough to say there are no Corvairs left. Automotive production numbers dwarf anything aviation has ever made: The Jabbaru 3300, the Rotax 912 and the Continental O-200 are all good engines that serve particular builders. These engines have been made for 20, 30 and 60 years respectively. Corvair were produced for just 10 years , but consider this: They made more Corvairs in the first 10 days of production in 1960 than Jabbaru has built 3300's in the last 20 years; To match 30 years of 912s took GM till the third week of production in 1960; To match 60 years of O-200s took the GM engine plant about 50 days in And from there GM went on to another decade of engine building. It is my educated estimate, that there are more Corvair core engines remaining in the US, than the entire combined production of 3300's 912s and O-200s. Give that some thought the next time someone tells you there are no more Corvairs. Scam Alert By Smitty Smith I just experienced something that I would like to warn everyone about. I got a phone call from a person who identified himself as a Sheriff s deputy. He said I failed to make a summons for jury duty back in august and a bench warrant was issued for my arrest. He was very polite as he was talking and wanted to know if there was any reason why I had not made the appearance. I told him I had received no such summons. He said I had to make an appearance at the sheriff s office and after a couple of minutes of explaining, told me I had to come down today and clear it up. He also said I had to provide a surety bond of $900 which would be obtained at a retail office where I would pay for two cards which would be presented at the sheriff s, rather than cash. They would hold the cards to insure that I didn t skip town while waiting for the judge to set a court date for me. After 5 minutes of veiled threats he told me he would give me personal help by guiding me step by step through the procedure. He asked for my cell phone number so he could call me back and stay in touch while I went out and paid for the cards. I went out and got in the car but continued to question why this was done this way. His stock answer was, I m just doing my job. I don t make the rules. This is the way they make us do it. I had just finished explaining to him that the only way cash was going to leave my hand would be across a counter at a business office at the sheriff s office and I would get a receipt if that happened. About this time Helen comes running out the door. She had called the sheriff s department and been notified that it was a total scam. It is happening all over Hampton Roads. The reason the guy wanted to stay in touch on my cell phone was so nobody could investigate and call to warn me after I left the house. So beware of threats from the sheriff s office.

5 PAGE 5 October 2016 THE SPYDERS BREATH GAZETTE Hurricane Matthew s Aftermath By Dean Zawacki After an entire week of devastating rain and flooding that hammered the Hampton Roads area just three weeks before, Hurricane Matthew released his fury on the afternoon and evening of October 8. Few neighborhoods escaped damage from high winds and fallen trees, but the flooding was the most crippling. On the Southside of Hampton Roads, Norfolk and Chesapeake were perhaps the hardest hit, while outlying areas of Suffolk and Franklin experienced flooding that caused sections of Rt. 58 to be temporarily closed. This photo shows the water level in Keith s garage from the tropical storm that hit prior to Hurricane Matthew a few weeks later. At Scott Cartine s house in Virginia Beach, the water rose halfway up his driveway and made it impossible to leave until the flood receded. While his Corvair stayed safe and dry inside the garage, his wife s car had some water get into the interior, although thankfully there was no damage to the engine. The local Corvair community did not escape unscathed. Keith Klemm s house in Great Bridge is situated well below street level, and the water quickly rose; 18 inches of water from the tropical storm just a few weeks ago, and Matthew dumped an additional 24 inches. The chickens in the coop behind the house had to be moved to higher ground, and the Corvairs in his garage each sustained some level of water intrusion; 3 to 8 inches as Keith reports. At my house in Virginia Beach, we had lost power about 11pm Saturday evening and it stayed out throughout the night. The next morning we were situated on an island in our neighborhood, although the water was slowly receding. Once the street was clear of water, I pulled out and attempted to get to church. Flooding from other areas ultimately made me abort my trip. On the way back, I ran over a stick that got lodged in the undercarriage and yanked out the wire that connects to the gas tank sending unit. No big deal, I thought, When the weather gets better, I ll get down there and plug it back in. Turns out that that was easier said than done. The plug didn t want to go back on the connector, and if I forced it too hard, the rubber

6 PAGE 6 October 2016 THE SPYDERS BREATH GAZETTE stopper around the connector would start to let some gas leak out. I pulled the connector back out and stopped the leak. Then, with a utility knife I cleaned out any plastic around the plug that was preventing the plug from seating over the connector. With this done, only slight pressure was needed to seat the plug back onto the connector. I hung out for a few minutes under the car and waited for drips. When none appeared, I resolved to check under the tank periodically to see if any leak developed. So far so good; no puddles of gas have appeared. We hope everyone else came through the storm safely and with minimal damage. Corvair Days at Hershey By Smitty Smith John McPherson, Angie, Helen and I made the trip to the Corvair Days show at Hershey. The weather was much more pleasant than last year when it was raining and cold. The better weather induced more people to bring their cars out so the show field was full. The show was held again on the museum grounds and the highlight was the opportunity to tour the museum again. That may not be the biggest antique car museum in the country but it surely has the highest quality and variety. The motorcycle, moped, and scooter collection has grown considerably, and the new room for the Tucker display was a very welcome addition. A dozen engines were displayed showing various ways of cooling tried, to convert the Franklins to road use. Water cooling as well as ducted air, (as in the Corvair) had been tried. There was also a magnesium blocked, 4 cylinder, double overhead cam engine that was considered as a power plant. After leaving the hotel and driving to the show site (about 10 miles) I realized I had once again left my camera, so I have no pictures to share. Take my word for it, the museum alone is worth the trip. For Sale Some of you who have been members for a while will remember Mike Hicks from Williamsburg area. I got a post from him that his wife Nadine had died in August and he desired to dispose of his surplus automobiles. He has the burgundy Rampside that used to be Helen s (quite rusty but roadable) and his 65 coupe (which also has some iron worm holes). He is looking to get around $1,000 each for them. mhicks130@cox.net Landstown Cruise-In By Dean Zawacki Scott Cartine and I made it out to the Cruise- In this past Saturday. Despite the wind, it was a beautiful, sunny afternoon, and many interesting cars were on display. We found that even though there are bigger, more muscle-bound rides for your ogling pleasure, there is always great interest in Corvairs. Many folks have a sentimental attachment to the car. My dad had one of those! I learned to drive in a 64 sedan! It was my first car! I got it for $300! I met a gentleman named Ed who is a former member of TCC. Though he now owns an 83 Corvette, he

7 PAGE 7 October 2016 THE SPYDERS BREATH GAZETTE remembers his Corvairs fondly. He and his father worked on them. He had several early models and two late coupes. Though his cars are long gone, he still has some Corvair parts. Other folks have never seen a Corvair before, and are intrigued by the rear-engine configuration. These folks are empty canvasses, to whom we can pass along the real Corvair story, to combat all of the misinformation that is out there. We can all help the Corvair live on. Just be friendly and engage the folks at the shows. Most folks are curious, and many have a history with them, as they may have had one or knew someone who owned one. Tell them your story and listen to theirs. There is the story that you read in the books or online; then there is the personal story that folks carry with them. It is the shared Corvair experience that makes the car come alive again. Landstown s last Cruise-In of the season is this coming Saturday. If you can t bring your car, at least come out for awhile and help some folks relive their Corvair memories. October Minutes T.C.C. meeting of October 11, 2016 called to order at 7:05pm by Steve Lepkowski, Club Vice President. The following are Steve s notes from the meeting: We decided to make the November 8 th meeting a Go/No Go for the Vair Fair. We need 8 positions filled and we only have 4 volunteers. If you are serious about having this event in May, please attend the next meeting so we can get your vote and volunteer to help. The Social on 10/25 is at Rib City, 6:30pm. Please see the calendar on Page 2 for the address and phone. There are still members who have not paid annual dues. Please get them to Anne Davis as soon as possible. The Corvair Christmas Party will be held on December 10 th at Steve s house. Thanks to Smitty and Helen for the incredible cupcakes at the October meeting! The November 19 th Tech session will be an engine revival at Robert s shop. John Gilliland has an attic stored 110hp that he s volunteering us to get running on Robert s garage floor. And from the Secretary: At the beginning of the meeting Smitty shared his latest Corvair travel stories. When he travels, there is always fun and adventure. These last adventures involved another club member, John McPherson and his wife Angie. Of course, along for the fun was Helen. Seems with the four of them they collected door prizes, a 50/50 and other monetary prizes. Good going guys and gals! From Corvair Days in Pennsylvania to club show in Maggie Valley, NC. Lots of area covered and many sights seen. Fun for all. Thanks for sharing. Meeting adjourned at 7:56pm

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