CRUZIN River City Corvette Club, Inc. Newsletter October 2016, Volume 22, Issue 10 1
Cruzin is a publication of the River City Corvette Club, Inc. serving the Chattanooga, TN and surrounding area, created by appointed members for the benefit of the members. All rights reserved except where expressly waived. 2016 Officers President- Ron Kellogg ronkellogg@epbfi.com Vice President- Anna Lane anna-lane@utc.edu Treasure- Robin Peterson robin-peterson@comcast.net Secretary- Lynn Roach roach9322@gmail.com 2016 Board of Directors Sheila Martin smartin@millerinc.com Jerry Davis jjdavi@comcast.net Dan Smith dsmith0344@att.net Charles Logan Charlesrlogan@comcast.net Membership Chairman Jerry Ray hjerryray@epbfi.com Cruzin www.rivercitycorvetteclub.com The E-Newsletter of the River City Corvette Club of Chattanooga, TN Table of Contents Sponsors 3 President s Desk 5 Event Pictures 6-7 You Might be a Corvette Nut 8 Corvette Performance History 9 Upcoming Events 10 Birthdays 11 Thanks for this months contributors: Dan Smith and Mike Nabors Mailing Address: River City Corvette Club P.O. Box 1061 Hixson, TN 37343 National Corvette Museum Ambassador Dan Smith dsmith0344@att.net 2
Our Sponsors INTEGRITY CHEVROLET #1 on Automotive Row 2110 Chapman Road Chattanooga, TN 37421 Sales: 866-475-3976 Service: 866-543-1020 Certified Corvette Technician http://www.integritychevrolet.com Chris Williams Insurance Agency Chris Williams-Agent FARMERS Auto * Home * Life * Business 7161 Lee Hwy. STE 600 Chattanooga, TN 37421 Bus:423-664-9044 Fax:423-499-0043 http://www.farmersagent.com/cwilliams8/ Email: cwilliams8@farmersagent.com Oasis Glass Tinting 2114 Chapman Road Chattanooga, Tennessee 37421 (423) 892-7604 http://www.oasisglasstint@aol.com http://www.oasisglasstinting.com/ Dairy Queen 5433 Highway 153 Hixson, TN 37343 O'Charley's - Hixson (423) 877-8966 Clear Bra 3
Twenty Five Years And counting Keep Connected http://www.rivercitycorvetteclub.com/index.html http://www.rivercitycorvetteclub.com/calendat.html https://www.facebook.com/rivercity.corvetteclub Our meetings are held the 3 rd Thursday of each month at O Charley s on Hixson Pike. Dinner at 6pm and the meeting starts at 7pm. Visitors are welcome. Come see what we are all about! With 164 members we are one of the largest Corvette Clubs in southeast Tennessee. Our Members enjoy: Organized road trips to events in almost all surrounding states. Cruises of scenic roads, including annual spring and fall weekend trips, annual spring poker run, annual club picnic Participation in local events like cruise-ins, cook-outs, homecomings, parades and other community activities. The club is a 501(c)(3) organization and has fund raisers throughout the year in support of local charities. Giving back to the community is a high priority with the club. But most of all fun!!! 4
From the President s Desk October 2016 President s Letter Your 2017 Officers were elected by a show of hands at the October business meeting and are: President: Charles Logan Vice President: Anna Lane, Secretary: Lynn Roach, Treasurer: Robin Peterson, Board Members: PJ Allen, Michael Snowney, Tim Nutz and Dan Smith. We have several Christmas parades coming up soon, NO CANDY THROWN FROM CARS : Let Jerry Ray know if you are interested in participating. Hamilton Place Mall Christmas Parade Saturday Nov 5 th East Ridge Christmas Parade Nov 19 th Soddy Daisy Christmas Parade Dec 4 th Dunlap Veterans Day Parade is Friday November 11 th at the courthouse. Event starts at 10am EST. We will leave Tractor Supply in Soddy at 9am EST and cruise over. After the parade we will eat lunch in Dunlap. Cars should have patriotic decorations. RCCC Christmas Party-Friday, December 2 nd, Bessie Smith Hall Save the Wave Ron Kellogg, President River City Corvette Club, Inc. 5
October Events Vette Fest On the road to Vette Fest Good food, good fun at Vette Fest Corvette Expo 2016 And of course there is always food
October Events con t Hot Rods & Hay Rides Congrats to RCCC members that received Top 20 Awards. Beautiful afternoon, good fellowship, good laughs, and free food.
You Might Be a Corvette Nut.. Submitted by: Dan Smith If you know the first year of publication, the magazine name and editor s name of the free magazine General Motors offered Corvette owners? Conceived in 1957 and first published in 1958, Corvette News magazine was initially offered free to Corvette owners. The magazine was published quarterly for the first three years, then was published Bi-monthly. The original editor was Joe Pike. Corvette News ceased publication in 1987. It was superseded by Corvette Quarterly which was initially available free to Corvette owners and was also available on newsstands. Corvette Quarterly ceased publication in 2009. The first few issues of Corvette News are selling for good money.
Submitted By: Mike Nabors Recently Road and Track magazine published a history of its road tests of various years of Corvettes. I was looking at the numbers they showed and thought that I would share what I gleaned from those that our members might find interesting. The first Corvette they tested was in June 1954 issue. It had the Blue Flame 6, was remarkably underpowered, and had a whopping 150 horsepower, producing 223 lb-ft. of torque. Must have been really scaring to drive with all that! 0-60 time was really quick, compared to that of a box turtle, at a full 11 seconds, and a top speed of 106 mph. Their as tested price of the car was $3760. Their next C1 was tested about a year later, and had a V8 engine. In today s metrics, a 4.3 Liter motor with 195 horsepower. 0-60 time decreased to 8.7 seconds, and top speed was up some, to 117 mph. What s interesting is that this car they tested had a price of $2901, almost $900 cheaper than the previously tested slow boat to China model. The last C1 they tested was in 1961 and was as tested priced at $3872, the same V8 block, but horsepower had increased to 315, 0-60 still faster at 6.6 seconds and top end at 128 mph. Over the 5-year period of the C2 s, R&T only tested 3 Corvettes, the fastest of which was tested in August of 1965. It had the largest engine of the three they tested, a 6.5 liter V8. Without trying to convert, I believe that was the 396 engine (I ll hear from someone if that s wrong!). That car had 425 hp, and 415 lb-ft. of torque. Top speed was 136 mph. The next generation, C3, started in 1968 with the shark looking Corvettes, and lasted 15 years, although the car underwent numerous changes during that time. Chrome bumpers went out on the front end in 1973 and on the back in 1974, both replaced with the rubber bumpers. I think it was 1978 when the flying buttress top was replaced with the glass fastback design. There was that dark period, when horsepower was low and speeds were bad, but toward the end of the run it began to pick up. The first C3 they tested in 1968 had a 0-60 time of 7.7 seconds, top speed of 128 mph, and cost $5516 as tested. It had 350 horsepower, and 360 lb-ft. of torque. While GM still tinkered with the way they did horsepower ratings, mainly in order to keep insurance premiums as low as possible for buyers, they also upped the displacement and tested a 1970 model Corvette 454, which meant it had a gargantuan 454 cubic inch engine rated at 390 horsepower and 500 lb-ft. of torque. That car did 0-60 in 7 seconds. The following year, a test of a LT1 Coupe with a small block V8 did 0-60 in 7.2 seconds. It was rated at 250 horsepower, and 285 lb-ft. of torque. So the question is, how did they drop 140 horsepower and a bunch of torque and yet 0-60 times were only two tenths of a second slower? Like I said tinkering with how they rated. Those cars did in the quarter mile, 15.0 and 15.5 seconds, 93 and 94 mph, respectively. Included in those C3 tests was a true racing Corvette, that had an estimated as tested cost of $35,000. It had a 454 engine and 700 horsepower, but 0-60 was still a slow (by today s standards) 6.2 seconds. It also had a top speed though, of 221 mph. I don t know if that was estimated or if someone actually ran it that fast, or, perhaps more likely the race team provided that number. Nothing was said in their table about gear ratios. The 1979 Corvette they tested cost $12,505, but by the next time they had tested a Corvette, a 1982 model, the price had jumped to $23,721. In about three years, the price had almost doubled, but the performance was not appreciably better than any of the stock C3 s. GM came back with a new design available first in 1984. There were just a few 1983 Corvettes built, mainly their test mules, and so yes, there were 1983 Corvettes, just none for sale to the public. GM has destroyed most of the few built, but I think one of them may be in the museum. (to be continued next month)
Upcoming Events October 29 Balsam Mountain Inn, Balsam NC November 5 Hamilton Place Mall Christmas Parade Saturday November 11 Dunlap Veterans Day Parade November 19 East Ridge Christmas Parade December 2 RCCC Christmas Party Bessie Smith Hall December 4 Soddy Daisy Christmas Parade 2016 NCM Major Onsite Events These National Corvette Museum (NCM) events are what many consider the major onsite NCM events held annually: Vets n Vettes November 3-5, 2016 Also check out the NCM Motorsports Park (MSP) event schedule: www.motorsportspark.org 10
October Birthdays Ron Hasting 10/5 Amy Allen 10/9 Linda Snowney 10/9 Jody Milliard 10/17 Connie Pierce 10/18 B.J. Johnston 10/24