<VV> RE: Hot Nights In The City

[joel at cybrus.net]

It was quite the trip!

As you know, we traveled down Friday to Settle by way of Langley, picking up
a nicely rebuilt transaxle for the Westbrier on the way.  We spent a good
part of Saturday doing a R&R on the Westbrier's transaxle, when the old one
seized, it sheared the yoke clean in half at the spines.

After thoroughly enjoying the Orphan Show hosted by CNW, Laura, Sophie and I
headed east in the Yuma Rampside to Steamboat Rock State Park making it
there by nightfall.  The next morning, thanks to some parts donated by
Roland, I changed out the early style lower shrouds, to late damper door
assemblies that would permit me to keep the rear of the engine compartment
sealed (with some judicious use of a hammer) without having to use a
complete lower shroud assembly.  This part of WA is essentially a desert, it
was over 30*C (90*F or so) and the rampside was hauling us, our gear, and
the Scamper Camper up some pretty serious grades, I wanted to do everything
possible to keep the temps down.  During the changeover I noticed the cyl
head temp sensor had broken, the male end connector attached to the sensor
had come off.  Once the shrouds were changed we headed off north back into
B.C. with a stop at the Grand Coulee Dam.

We crossed back into Canada near Trail and spent the night at Clearwater
Lake Prov. Park.  That night I sent text messages to Shawn and Mike looking
for help in locating a new CHT sensor.  I quick check of the CORSA Roster
put me in touch with Dave Decker who recalled a junkyard in Revelstoke that
had a bunch of Corvairs.  We packed up the next morning and were back on the
road headed north.  Once in Revelstoke a stop at the first gas station got
us headed to the scrap yard, where I found more than just a CHT sensor.

Many of you have seen my Aztec Bronze Corsized Monza, but many of you don't
know that that 'vair is actually supposed to be a '66 only, Canadian Only
colour, Plum Mist Metallic.  When I first bought the car the paint code "P"
drove me crazy because it wasn't listed for '66 in any of the available
literature, having only been used once on American cars in '65 for Evening
Orchid.  Despite my time at the helm of WCC and the hundreds of 'vairs I've
looked at, I've never actually seen a Plum Mist Metallic car, either
original or restored.  Can you see where this story is going....

Imagine my surprise when I went into the scrap yard's shop, and there in a
dimly lit bay was a '66 Corsa coupe in primer black, covered in dust and
parts.  Being curious the first thing I did was go over and lift the deck
lid to check out the body tag, and lo and behold, it's listed as a "P" paint
code!  I asked the owner if he realized how rare this car was and what
colour it was supposed to be.  His reply was that the car wasn't black, it
was still in it's original paint!  Some better light, and a clean with a rag
quickly revealed that the car was in fact a deep purple colour, and that
Plum Mist Metallic is appropriately named, picture the dark purple/green of
a plum and you get the idea.  Some more searching found us the required CHT
sensor, and a very nice FC axle to boot!

That night we set up at Blanket Creek, and we stayed through the next day,
the weather cooled down and clouded over so we spent the day kicking back or
out on a walk along the Columbia River, which Sophie absolutely loved.  Our
choice to reach the interior using the hwy from Castlegar to Revelstoke
turned out to be a good one, as it's path next to the Columbia meant the
number and height of the hills we had to climb were kept to a minimum.  Even
at that, the 140 on two carbs could hold 40-45 up these grades in 3rd gear
with no problems.

Thursday morning we packed up early and headed to Kamloops for Hot Nites in
the City.  Along the way we popped in to see Merv and Loretta in Salmon Arm.
The Greenbrier is coming along nicely, and I absolutely love the colour,
especially with the Cameo White accent stripe.  I really hope he can get it
finished in time for a debut at CTD.  The Provincial Parks near Kamloops
don't take reservations, so we felt a Thursday arrival would put us there a
day ahead of the weekend campers.  As we were coming into town we saw a
billboard for an RV park that was much closer to town than the Prov. Parks,
and had showers and laundry to boot, two things we were definitely in need
of.  While it doesn't have a beach, it does have the previously listed
amenities, and it's only 7 clicks outside the city center making it a great
base for the event this year, and our planed Corvair invasion next year for
CTD.
http://www.camping.bc.ca/Knutsford_Kamloops_RV_Campground_964MID.aspx

On Friday we headed into town to participate in the Poker Run.  Early on we
were headed for a Queen high full house, but we couldn't draw the needed
fifth card and ended up with a Straight, which netted us a free hamburger
apparently.  The Poker Run was extremely well laid out, with clear
directions that gave us a good tour of the city.  The last stop of the Run
was at Aberdeen Mall where they had a section roped off for participants,
our only hitch was when the guy manning the gate stopped us to ask if were
actually participants or there for shopping.  Apparently a yellow Rampside
with a Scamper Camper was not "Hot Rod" enough for him<G>.

Saturday we got up early, gave the RS one last clean and headed down to meet
up with Dave Decker and his '65 Turbo Coupe and Merv & Loretta with their
very original '64 Sedan.  The organizers were kind enough to give us spots
together on a side street just off the main drag.  All the Corvairs were a
hit, but few cars at the show attracted more attention that the Scamper
Camper (only a BMW Isetta from what I saw).  At times there was actually a
small lineup of folks waiting to stick their head inside to check it out.
(The organizers boast that more than 10,000 spectators come to the event
each year)  If they thought three Corvairs were neat, just wait'll next year
when 50+ arrive on their door step!

As usual, taking a Corvair to a car show nets a few leads on various
Corvairs.  HNITC provided a lead on a yellow GB and FIVE, count'em, FIVE '64
coupes and convertibles, two of them Spyders! (all projects from the sounds
of it)

Sunday we hit the road early and headed back to Vancouver and the eventual
ferry over to the island.  All in all we traveled more than 2,000km and got
just over 15mpg while going it.  The overload springs and the 140 engine
made this trip a easier than the bonzai run Mike and I did a little over a
year ago bringing it up from Yuma AZ.  Laura and I have lived in B.C. for
almost 10 years now, and this was really the first time we've gone out to
actually see some of the amazingly varied geography that makes up this part
of the province.  Book ending our trip with great car shows was just icing
on the cake!

Regards,
Sophie, Laura & Joel



    -----Original Message-----
    From: corvairs-owner at cybrus.net [mailto:corvairs-owner at cybrus.net]On
Behalf Of hallgm
    Sent: Thursday, August 17, 2006 12:20 AM
    To: corvairs at cybrus.net
    Subject: WC: Hot Nights


    How did it go in kamloops How did the trip go Joel? Hope every one that
made it had a good time .
    Rob