<VV> Thomas/Roe archeology II

[Ed Connolly]

Warren,

Even though your car must be one of the most extensively documented and
publicized rides of all time, with a proven GM racing pedigree equal to
those of the Chaparrals, Corvette Gran Sports and Pensky/Donohue Camaros,
the local N. California vintage-racing group CSRG wanted nothing to do with
Corvairs, especially yours with a snow-plow front end, flared fenders and
15X9.5-in. rear wheels (AutoWeek had a nice cartoon of the car in '69).
However, Steve Earle, who organizes the Monterey Historic Races, knew the
car from the old days and given the extensive documentation and photographs
in my application, accepted it for the 1987 event, which featured Chevrolet.
I reached a deal with Doug:  he would drive the car in the Monterey Historic
Race at Laguna Seca; under his direction the Cactus Corvair Club would build
it and the car would be theirs to use for a year.  The shell and parts were
shipped to his Pheonix shop in the spring to be readied for the August race.
If I could write well enough, you would fight tears to read how the club in
a tribute to Doug put a race car together at his direction on an impossible
deadline.  We're talking about dozens of members, some of them 80 years old,
who worked days, nights and weekends to get the car ready for the event.
Every Corvair vendor at the time contributed parts.  Doug personally built
the motor.  Against all odds, the car made the event, after ten minutes test
time on the streets around his shop.  A work in progress, it had cooling
problems during practice laps that prevented it from racing.  But Doug was
honored by his colleagues--the luminaries from GM/Chevrolet--at the
post-race event at the Monterey Doubletree and gave a little speech, vowing
to return.  A year after the applause, he closed his shop in Pheonix, moved
to Payson in the mountains, was diagnosed with cancer, and succumbed to
meningitis.  Having had little warning, I retrieved the car, the heads and a
few other parts with the help of Doug's son (Doug had removed, disassembled
and planned to rebuild the motor).  A friend arranged temporary storage
outside a race shop in Mesa.  When I relocated from Palo Alto to nearby
Redwood City in the SF Bay Area, the car was returned to California via
Horseless Carriage, where it remained in my driveway under a cloth cover,
until I shipped it to you for restoration, via Horseless Carriage, when I
moved to rural New York State to renovate my family homestead.   Given the
work needed on the house, barn, tool shed, garage and chicken coop, it was
time to pass the car along.  No one in CORSA can restore and improve it
better than you, Warren.

 

Ed Connolly

Wallkill, NY

'61 Monza, 3-liter 140 turbo with Roe/LeVeque heads