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

[BBRT]

Great story! You are lucky!

Chuck S
BBRT
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Miller" <jncmiller at mchsi.com>
To: <virtualvairs at corvair.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 09, 2005 11:34 PM
Subject: <VV> VV Sheila's Monza (kinda long, nothing technical,minimal 
corvair)


  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

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