<VV> More from Detroit

[AeroNed at aol.com]

Sorry, I didn't post yesterday after the car show and Heritage Center, but  I 
was just having too much fun.
 
The car show was on the grounds of the GM Tech Center. I found out from an  
"inside source" that nearly all of the employees at the Center are in  
engineering. Everything from vehicle design to manufacturing, so basically geeks  like 
me. I heard there were about 130 cars in people's choice and nearly 60 in  
concours. There was even a mid Corvair engine t-bucket roadster.
 
There were many GM employees walking around the cars. Many were asking  
questions and telling stories, very interested in our cars. The weather was  nearly 
perfect as the rain held off until the very end of concours  judging.
 
I can't begin to describe how cool the Heritage Center was. I had some  
pretty lofty expectations about what we would see and they were exceeded,  far 
exceeded. There were so many cool cars. The picture folks have posted  doesn't 
really do justice to everything that was there. I took nearly 200  pictures. 
There were several Corvairs, the Monza GT, both Astros, the electric  LM and a 
couple of 69's, a coupe and a convertible. Other notable cars to me  were all 
three Firebirds from the 60's in a line. The Mako Shark and Manta Ray  Vettes 
plus at least 6 other Vette concept cars. Everyone I talked to said it  was the 
highlight of the convention and I'd agree. We are so fortunate to have  gotten 
in to that building.
 
On a personal note. I met a new friend at the Tech Center that works in the  
GM wind tunnel. I met him through my work contacts. We actually ran into each  
other at the car show at my car. Sometimes fate is very funny. Anyhow, I gave 
 him a tour of the Corvairs and he gave me a tour of the Tech Center and the 
wind  tunnel. We spent several hours looking around and talking. It was a 
great time.  I also learned a thing or two about the aerodynamics of my my wife's 
2007  Impala. I asked him about Corvair Aero testing. He thought I might ask 
and  looked for some stuff prior to my visit with out any luck. We might have 
to work  on getting my car in the tunnel for a test. BTW the tunnel is bigger 
than most  of the tunnels I used for airplanes. There were to test locations, 
one for scale  models and one for full scale cars. There was a vehicle in the 
tunnel but that's  all I'm going to say about that.
 
Next report will be on today's autocross...
 
Ned



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