<VV> Doug Roe

[James P. Rice]

Frank:  The late Doug Roe was employed by GM's subsidiary Rochester in the
early '60's.  He physically worked in Detroit, maybe at the Tech Center.  He
rallied a EM Corvair in Michigan.  Sometime in the mid-60's he was
transferred to Phoenix to work at the GM proving ground.  He drove the
pickup and his wife the Corvair with their 2 or 3 kids cross country.

When Bill Thomas put his drag/roadracing Corvair up for sale, Doug bought it
and continued development. Warren LeVeque now has the car.  The original EM
was used by a fellow GMPG employee whose name I do not remember.  It may
have been entered in one of the Baja races, with a 5 wheel located via a
jack screw in the center of the car so it could be moved if/when it got high
centered.  Which it did.   I have a Competition Press/Autoweek which
mentions this in an event coverage article.  I do not know what happened to
that car.

So far as I know, Roe retired from GM and continued to live in Phoenix.
Maybe Bob Helt or somebody from the SW can added to the information.  Roe
spoke at the Denver Convention in the early 80's, but I do not remember
anything about what he said.

I am not aware of Roe ever doing anything commercially with either the
Corvair or the Vega.  If you have some period documentation, I'm sure we all
would like to know more.

Was your turbo set up related to what Yenko was trying to do at the time
with the Vega?

That alloy 215cid engine has quite a history, including being the block for
Jack Brabhams F-1 Championship winning car in 1966.  Wonder if GM ever
regretted selling it to Rover.  There's a list of race cars and English
specialty sports cars as long as my arm (OK, so I'm using a large fonts on
the list) which have been and are powered by than engine.

Historically Yours,
			James Rice

PS:  This is a stay inside day here in Central Illinois.  The folks in
Minnesota sent their blizzard south.  Thanks.


Message: 1
----- Original Message -----
From: "Frank F Parker" <fparker at umich.edu>
To: "virtual vairs" <virtualvairs at corvair.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 9, 2010 9:54:18 PM
Subject: Re: <VV> OT: Vegas

Bought a Vega GT new in 1971. Added a turbo to it shortly later. Had trouble
with cyl walls so sleeved it (still have some spares somewhere) and added a
Doug Roe cylinder head (famous GM engineer who quit GM, moved to Arizona,
made parts and wrote good books by HP like his Rochester Carbs book). Had to
make some special wedge screws to set valve clearance. Worked ok BUT best
thing was to replace engine with OLDS 215 alum V8. Worked great, fit easy
and transformed car. Hot Rod had an article about using a Saginaw 3 speed
with OD and making a 8 speed to a Saginaw using the planetary gearset in
tailhousing. I did it, worked great. You had 1st gear, 1st gear with OD, etc
etc. Of course, you mainly just used OD in 4th where you got a 30% drop in
engine speed to about 1500 rpm at 70 mph which the 215 did easily since had
smallish ports with great
torque. Did a 2000 mile trip and averaged 28 mpg-pretty good for 1972. Had
little rust around tailgate but fixed with zinc dichromate primer-illegal
now of course.

frank parker