<VV> The Last Corvair Home From Lime Rock

[Robert Marlow, Vairtec Corporation]

The NECC's Lime Rock event was in August.  Today, December 28, the 
last Corvair arrived home.

In August, longtime NECC supporter Al Lacki drove his 1966 Monza 
coupe to Lime Rock from his home in Pennsylvania.  On the evening 
before the track event, following the car show, Al and a friend drove 
over to Falls Village, to see the site of John Fitch's original 
shop.  An easy, ten-minute ride on country roads.  On the way back to 
the hotel, something went wrong with the engine.

Al limped the car back to the hotel, and limped it to the track the 
next morning.  There, some basic exploratory surgery proved that it 
was not going to be something easy such as a broken rocker arm.  The 
decision was made to trailer the car to Al Goldstone's shop, about 20 
miles away.  Brian O'Neill graciously left his race car sitting on 
the Lime Rock grounds at the end of the day and transported Al's car, 
returning to the track in darkness to collect his race car.  I drove 
Al back to my home in New Jersey, then lent him my car to get home to 
Pennsylvania.

Al Goldstone tore down the engine, and found what is becoming more 
familiar in 110 engines:  A dropped valve seat.  Because the car is 
41 years old and the engine had never been apart, Al Lacki ordered up 
a thorough rebuild.  Al Goldstone completed that rebuild and today Al 
Lacki and I made the trip to Connecticut to retrieve the car.

We drove my '66 500 coupe to Connecticut, swapping it for the 
repaired car so that Al Goldstone could perform some elective work on 
my car.  On our way back home we realized that the trip represented 
the last Corvair coming home from Lime Rock.  2007 marked the 35th 
and final NECC event at Lime Rock, and so Al's car, driven to the 
track in August for that event, was now being driven home from it.

While that realization rekindled the bittersweet memory of the NECC 
at Lime Rock, the good news is that the rebuilt engine runs 
great!  Only the crankcase and crankshaft were re-used.  Bruce 
Carlton prepared new 110 heads, with mild porting and 140 exhaust 
tubes.  A warm street cam was selected and parts came from familiar 
vendors far and wide.  The result is the healthiest 110 I can recall 
experiencing.  Al had a ball driving his reinvigorated car back 
home.  I enjoyed spending a day on a Corvair road trip that used one 
Corvair going one way and a second Corvair going the other way.  Lots 
of thumbs-up for both cars, and perhaps most gratifying, lots of 
interested stares from kids and teenagers, not just old folks who 
remember that Nader guy.

Happy New Year, everyone.

--Bob