Chevrolet Corvair - Hemmingsclubs.hemmings.com/corsanews/News0414.pdf · SFBA Corsa April 2014 page...

SFBA Corsa April 2014 page 1

The Official Publication of theSan Francisco Bay AreaChapter of the Corvair Societyof America --- Chapter 947

Dedicated to the enjoyment, history andpreservation of the Chevrolet Corvairproduced from 1960 through 1969. Thisunique, rear-engined, air-cooled automobilegrabs as much attention today as it did 50years ago! VOLUME 248 APRIL 2014

Look for us on the Web!http://Clubs.Hemmings.com/CorsaNews

WEB

2.. Letter From the Editor

3.. Treasurers Report

4.. Coming Events

4.. SFBA Corsa Meeting Schedule 2014

6.. Tech Session Directions

11. Corvair Classifieds

Car of the Week: ‘64Rampside - Old Cars Weekly

Next Meeting -Tech SessionSaturday April 5th 10:00AM,

113 Alamatos Dr, Danville, CA

SFBA Corsa - April 2014

The Spyder Web is published twelve times a year by SFBA Corsa, Chapter 947 of the Corvair Society Of America (CORSA). The group meets monthly on thefirst Thursday at 7:00 PM at Denny’s in Danville except for special occasions. Membership costs $25/yr (membership in CORSA, $38/yr, is encouraged). Anassociate membership (newsletter only) is avialable for $15/yr. Memberships begin on January 1 of each year (first year is prorated until September).

Advertising space in the Spyder Web is available for $50/yr (1/4 page), $75/yr (1/2 page), and $100/yr (full page). Business card size ads are $25/yr but do notinclude a subscription to the newsletter. All material should be sent to the editor (address above) or emailed to [email protected]. Material must bereceived at least two weeks prior to the next meeting date.

USE OF MATERIAL: Written permission from the Editor is required for all original material for any use other than reprinting in a Chartered CORSA Chapter newsletter.Permission must be sought in advance for material reprinted herein.

Current SFBA Corsa OfficersPresident Tony Richards, PO Box 765, Mill Valley, CA 94942 - (415)261-4762 email: [email protected]

Vice-President Harry Kypreos, 7840 Creekside Dr,Dublin, CA 94568email: [email protected]

Secretary Clark Calkins, 1907 Alvarado Ave.,Walnut Creek, CA 94597 - (925)478-8909

email: [email protected]

Treasurer Fred Garrity, 113 Alamatos Drive, Danville, CA 94526

Committees

Membership Harry Kypreos (address above)

Library Dave Newell, 1481 Hamrick Lane, Hayward, CA 94544 - (510)782-4265

Newsletter Clark Calkins (address above)

Editor At Large Tony Richards (address above)

Refreshments Ed Rodrigues, 1702 Nelson St, SanLeandro, CA 94579-2203 - (510)351-1237

InternetWeb http://Clubs.Hemmings.com/CorsaNewsemail [email protected]

Letter From the Editor

On The Cover: In their February 19, 2014 issue, Old Cars Weekly featured this 1964 Chevy Rampside Pickup. Thisbeautiful cam is owned by Jim Enfield of Felton, Pa. He is a member of the “one is never enough” club. “I’ve got four of themnow. I’m out of space,” he laughs. “I even bought a trailer to keep one of them in.” - See more at: http://www.oldcarsweekly.com/car-of-the-week/car-week-1964-chevrolet-rampside-pickup?et_mid=661318

I hope you were able to attend our last meeting. We

had an outstanding turnout with fourteen members andone guest in attendance. It was reminiscent of the oldOrinda days. Great to see everybody.

As usual the meeting started off with an informal Corvairdiscussion that covered a wide range of topics. WaltAnderson who was a mechanic for a Chevy dealershipin the 1960s had many interesting stories to tell. Fromhis perspective the 3-speed transmission was a poordesign. Basically the same design since 1935. It wasreplaced with a much improved Munci in 1965 or so.Also he rebuilt lots of 4-speeds. It seems that the younghot rodders like to down shift into first gear (it was fullysynchromesh after all) but this would chip away at thereverse gear. Also hot rodders who liked to speed-shiftwould notice clutch issues as the torque of the enginewould cause some binding in the linkage (especially forturbos with wrapped exhaust putting out more than thestock 150hp).

Of special interest this evening was a video provided byWalt. This was a promotional video designed to educatethe salesmen to let them know where Chevy products

stood with the competition. Chevy produced many comparisonswhere their products were shown to be much better. The "tests"went beyond biased. They were deliberately rigged to make Chevy

(see Letter... on page 5)


Treasurers Report – March 2014Fred Garrity

Checking Acct. Cash/ChecksBeginning Balance $3249.83 $00.00

Income Membership renewals $165.00

Expenses Newsletters (2 months) $84.50

Ending Balance $3330.33 $00.00

(see Minutes.. on page 5)

Minutes of the Last MeetingMarch 6, 2014

The meeting was called to order by

President Tony Richards at 8:00PM.Fourteen members in attendance andone guest, Don Lenhart from Danville.This is the best turnout I have seen inquite some time. Welcome!

This evening Walt brought in anotherDVD on Corvairs. This time it's a Chevysales presentation comparing Chevycars and trucks with the competition.And unlike last month Clark remem-bered to bring the speakers. Made a bigdifference!

The Minutes were accepted as appearedin the last newsletter.

Treasurers Report: Fred reported thebank balance stood around $3250.

Membership Report: Harry reported thatwe had no new members this month andsix more members had sent in theirdues.

Old Business: Nothing brought up.

New Business: We are planning on hav-ing a Tech Session at Fred's house inDanville in place of a regular meeting.The subject will be his '67 Corvair thathe wants to get running. It's been sit-ting for 3 or 4 years.

Events: The Capital City Spring Fling iscoming up in April. Several memberswere planning on attending (at least forSaturday). There should be lots of niceCorvairs to see and people to talk to.This year it will be held at the Elks Club.Don't miss this event. It is so close!In June will be the VairFest in ArroyoGrande. This is a bit of a drive but it'swell worth it. Such a beautiful area.The national Convention will be inTacoma, WA in July. If you have thoughtabout attending one of these events,they won't get much closer.

Harry said that Dublin is having a carshow in May. It would be nice to seesome Corvairs attend. This will be Heri-tage Park which is on Dublin Blvd, oneblock west of San Ramon Rd (just past"Frankie, Johnnie, & Lougie Too" wherewe held a couple of Holiday Dinner afew years back). Pre-registration is $20.

Tech: Walt mentioned that he had beena mechanic for many years and hasworked on and owned many Corvairs.He bought an early '60 coupe that wasa pre-strike model. This was a little dif-ferent from later. post-strike, models.For one thing it had steel sill platesand a few other parts that would laterbe made of Aluminum. Tony said thepre-strike Corvairs were much soughtafter as they are rare.Harry said that his speedometer wouldmake a lot of noise once in a while.Walt mentioned that he use to put alittle lube on the back of the speedom-eter. Just remove the cable and care-fully rub in a little (very little) lube where

the brass meets the housing. Alsogrease the cable (early models have areal long cable).When Walt's dealership was stoppingwork on Corvairs (mid 1970s) he pickedup lots of specialty tools and parts. Hejust sold his tools to a guy in Coeurd'Alene, ID. He works on Corvairs andwas delighted to get the tools. But Waltstill has lots of parts (valves, barrels,etc.).Tony brought up the topic of licenseplate numbers. It seems that eachmodel year is associated with an ini-tial letter (for California). For instance1965 cars likely started with L or M orN. However, since each DMV was senta stack of plates to use, some of theless populated areas (like Alturas)might be giving out E or F plates in '65.We also discussed the general designof California plates and how theychanged over the years.Tony also mentioned that some itemsare important to save if you can. These


Coming Events…April 5th SFBA Tech Session, Fred Garrity’s, 113 Alamatos Drive, Danville, CA

94526, starting at 10:00AM. There will be coffee and donuts. We will goout for lunch afterwards if people are so inclined.

April 25-27th Capital City Spring Fling hosted by Classic Corvairs of River City. CorvairMini-Convention and Car Show.

May 1st Regular SFBA Corsa Meeting at Denny’s in Danville 7:00 PM. Hwy 680at Sycamore Valley Rd.

June 20-21nd VairFest 2014, Heritage Park, Arroyo Grande, CA.

July 21-25th CORSA International Convention, Tacoma, WA. Join Corvanantics for“Corvair Expo” where the LeMay Auto Museum will be the center of Conven-tion events and activities celebrating the Corvair.

SFBA CORSA Meeting Schedule 2014Thursday Jan 2, 7:00 PM SFBA Regular meeting, Denny’s in Danville, CA - Hwy 680 at Sycamore Valley Rd.

Thursday Feb 6, 7:00 PM SFBA Regular meeting, Denny’s in Danville, CA - Hwy 680 at Sycamore Valley Rd.

Thursday Mar 6, 7:00 PM SFBA Regular meeting, Denny’s in Danville, CA - Hwy 680 at Sycamore Valley Rd.

Saturday Apr 5, 10:00AM SFBA Tech Session. Fred Garrity’s house , 113 Alamatos Drive,Danville, CA 94526.

Thursday May 1, 7:00 PM SFBA Regular meeting, Denny’s in Danville, CA - Hwy 680 at Sycamore Valley Rd.

Thursday Jun 5, 7:00 PM SFBA Regular meeting, Denny’s in Danville, CA - Hwy 680 at Sycamore Valley Rd.

Thursday Jul 3, 7:00 PM SFBA Regular meeting, Denny’s in Danville, CA - Hwy 680 at Sycamore Valley Rd.

Saturday Aug 9, 12:00PM SFBA/Valley Club picnic at Quarry Lakes park, Fremont, CA

Thursday Sep 4, 7:00 PM SFBA Regular meeting, Denny’s in Danville, CA - Hwy 680 at Sycamore Valley Rd.

Thursday Oct 2, 7:00 PM SFBA Regular meeting, Denny’s in Danville, CA - Hwy 680 at Sycamore Valley Rd.

Thursday Nov, 6 10 AM SFBA Regular meeting, Denny’s in Danville, CA - Hwy 680 at Sycamore Valley Rd.

Saturday Dec 6, 7:00 PM SFBA Holiday Dinner, Harry’s Hofbrau, 14900 E. 14th Ave, San Leandro, CA.


Minutes...

are 1) the build-sheet - generally foundunder the carpets, 2) warranty protecto-plates, 3) owner's manual and optionsmanual if separate - like the convert-ible top, and 4) the original windowsticker. These items are very valuableto a collector.Don had a bit of trouble with his '67. Itstalled and he had to have it towedhome. He replaced the fuel pump andall seems fine now. He bought the pumpfrom California Corvairs down in Chino.In preparation for the replacement, hesoaked the fittings with WD-40 acouple of days before the pump arrived.Had no trouble loosening any of thefittings. Good idea!The topic of oil leaks came up (whatare the odds?). Walt said he had thepush rod tube O-rings replaced 40 yearsago with Viton rings. Has not had a bitof trouble since. Clark said he replacedhis several years ago but still hasleaks. Tony said that maybe the oil wascoming from some other source andbeing blown by the tubes by the fan.Could be.

appear to be far superior to Ford orChrysler. For instance they compareda Corvair pickup (a Rampside) with aFord pickup pulling a boat out of thewater. Chevy chose a slick boat rampand the Rampside had an automatictrans while the Ford had a three speedstick. Of course the Ford with almostno weight in the back just spun thetires (the driver probably let the clutchout too fast also) while the Rampside

"easily" pulled the boat out. This re-minded me of the drag race between aSpyder and a 283 Mustang. The Spyderwon the 1/4 mile race but it wasn't men-tioned that Chevy had to find a trackon a 7 deg slope so the Spyder couldstay in 3rd gear. But anyway the moviewas very entertaining. I want to thankWalt, Harry, and Ed for making this pos-sible!

Harry has been keeping on top of mem-bership and it shows. As of March mosteverybody has renewed for this year.This is much better than in previousyears.

Our next regular meeting will be a TechSession at Fred's house in Danville(see the map on page 6). This will beSaturday, April 5th starting at 10:00AM.There will be coffee and donuts so don'tbe late. If people stick around we cango to lunch somewhere afterwards. Thistime the topic will be getting Fred's '67Coupe running again. It has sat for athree or four of years. This will prob-ably happen to most of us at some timeso it should be interesting. I can imag-ine when it first starts the lifters willmake a bit of noise!

Swap and Sell: Don is looking to sellhis '67 Coupe. He will drive it to a meet-ing so we can see it up close.Also someone mentioned that Clark'swill run a For Sale ad for you. The cost(if any) was not mentioned but thiswould get wide exposure. And thismakes sense also. People that buy aCorvair would probably be in the mar-ket for some parts (carpets, door pan-els, etc.).

Respectfully submitted,

Clark Calkins, secretary

Letter...


Tech Session Directions(Saturday, April 5th at 10:00AM)

Fred Garity - 113 Alamatos Drive, Danville, CA 94526

To get to Fred’s, take the Diablo Rd off ramp from Hwy 680 and go east one block. Turn left turn on Alamatos Dr. Fred’s is the

second house on the left (with the Oleanders in front). Note, the Diablo Rd exit is one mile North of Sycamore (where we haveour monthly meetings at Denny’s). As for parking, you will probably have to find a spot on the street a few doors down. There willbe coffee and donuts to wake up with. And if people stick around we can go to lunch somewhere afterwards. There are severalplaces in the area. We can choose then.

The focus this time the topic will be getting Fred's '67 Coupe running again. It has sat for a three or four of years (the old “ranwhen parked” syndrone). This will probably happen to most of us at one time or another so it should be interesting. If this isanything like mine when I installed an engine that hadn’t run in a few years, the lifters will make a lot of racket until they get theyget full of oil.


ClassifiedsCorvairCORVAIR CARS FOR SALE

'66 Corsa Coupe - 4 sp. Bought fromBen Mozzetti in 2012 so you know itruns! Telescopic steering - completelyrebuilt. Quick steering arms. Mechani-cally sound: rebuilt carbs, many newitems. Rear wheel bearings and u-jointsreplaced. New tires w/ mag wheels.

Interior 90% completely restored.Needs headlight switch, bodywork,paint (minor dings and dents), minorrust behind wheels. Nothing major thatsome TLC won't fix. $6800 or best of-fer. Lots of new parts available for pur-chase (bumpers, door handles, mirrors,etc).Located near Redwood City. Marc(650)322-9320 (04/14)

Ben Mozzetti has the following carsfor sale. I believe these are located inBethel Island. These will all run. Benloves to show how all of his cars willstart right up! Contact Ben at PO BOX486, Bethel Island, CA 94511 or(925)684-2738 (09/12)

1961 Loadside1962 Monza - Restored, Factory Air1964 4 Door1965 Van1969 Monza 900, 4 speed, 140

Corvair Parts Wanted

Late Model Trailing Arms, completewith hubs, brakes, drums & boot at-tachment bracket. Also pair of driveshafts. Contact Buck Jones (831)917-5952 (04/13)

Corvair Cars & Parts for Sale

Several project cars for sale (theyall run) and lots of used parts. ContactBen Mozzetti (925)684-2738.

MORE CORVAIR PARTSFOR SALE

Skip Polachi has the following partsfor sale. Parts are located in Red Bluff& Santa Rosa. Best to call evenings(530)474-4227. Besides these listedparts Skip also has many more engineparts, heads, cams, cranks, posi,turbo. All new or rebuilt.

F/C Turned brake drums (2) - $20

F/C Good brake drums (2) with lin-ings & springs - $20

F/C Hub caps (4) - $20

F/C Rear overload spring kit (new) -$100

F/C Front door NOS L&R lock latch -$30

F/C Complete Front & rear bumperguards (NOS) - $325

Spyder Front dash harness to fusebox for F/C - (price not listed)

Spyder Dashes (3) - one is woodenface - $100 each

Corsa Communiqués 1970 - 2000 -$150

Tires 205 75R14 on rims for F/C (2) -$75

1964 Wood wheels with hubs, horn& contacts. - (2) at $300 each, (1) at$200


FIRST CLASS

To:

SFBA CORSAPO BOX 422ORINDA, CA 94563

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