<VV> VV Sheila's Monza (kinda long, nothing technical, minimal corvair)

[John Miller]

  Those of you that were at the Iowa Regional may have met Sheila, the only female to run autocross. Well the Vair bug has bitten her. Sad to say her father died recently and it required us to fly to Bangor, Maine to put things in order and attend the service. We stayed at her hotel in Eagle Lake, Maine for a week and a half. While there we found a decent Black 66 coupe at a reasonable price and decided to purchase it
  The car needed a few minor things but ran out ok. We drove the car from Hartford CT to Eagle Lake (700 miles no problems....well nothing of great note...ok...a broken fan belt, a loose muffler and a pinhole leak in the oil filter) Anyone who knows me knows Im always willing  for another Corvair adventure. So fresh tires, new plugs, an oil change and we were off on the drive back to Iowa (1700 miles). I was really glad to be heading home, Maine was nice but cold and man those people talk funny there!
  We decided the best route was through Canada, Sheila was excited it was all good...for the first 100 miles or so. Then the car started losing power, backfired a few times. I stopped and changed the points, cleaned a couple plugs although it sputtered a bit at low speed it ran ok at 70mph or 100kph. At one stopped I pulled a valve cover and checked adjustments...I noticed #2 wouldnt adjust and had a funny rattle.... back of my mind saying no.....no dropped valve seats till I get home. And we drove through Canada..... man those people talk funny!
  Arriving at the USA crossing above Detroit we got treated to a two hour wait in traffic just to get to the gate. And at US Customs we were told we were "selected" for a random search. I guess anyone driving a forty year old car through Canada must be doing drugs. It was amusing to see the border guards confusion with the trunk until he pulled out a brown paper roll of dried catwillows that Sheila had collected at one roadside stop. He was nice enough to worry me a bit and after two more hours we were free to go.
 The car wasnt sounding good ...a lot of oil on moter and gassy smell...we were tired and got a room on the outskirts of Detroit near Ypslanti.....there was an airshow going on so I got to watch B-17's and B-29's flying in formation over the hotel Oh yeah, these people sure talk funny here too..... We got back on the road Monday morning at 5 AM headed towards Chicago. Ok I have Hagerty roadside and AAA but Im wanting to actually drive home. Sheilas a real trooper and  stayed in pretty good spirits throughout so we decided to get some help.
  I called some Iowa Club members to get the number to the Vairshop in Chicago. It was early and Sheila called and left a message for Larry Claypool (Larry is a busy guy....I figured  the damsel in distress was the best format) About an hour later Larry calls back and says to bring it by....like we were already on our way there Larry!
  Anyway to wrap this up he got us in ....replaced the head (yep long gone valve seat) tinkered with some other little things (I even learned a couple new things, just hanging out there) He fixed us up.....charged us what I thought was an exceptionally low price and did great work! (Oh yeah....he didnt talk funny, either) Thanks, Larry!
  Sheila drove the car home very happy, it runs great. She was amused at the thumbs up and the picture takers she passed on the way home. I told her she would have a great time at the upcoming Fire and Ice Event in Marshalltown, Iowa next month. She gave me the strangest look and said "racing? I am not racing MY car!" I'm assuming that means she's racing mine....hey...how lucky can a guy get?

                                                               John Miller
                                                               Pit Crew Chief for Sheila's Racing
                                                               Iowa