Corvetteditorial

Rear View Mirror - April, 1992: Run to Ram's Hill in Borego; Diane De Chantal and Donna Bernard host a "Revenge Rally"; America's Cup Thunder & Wind event, with special Corvette Beach Boys concert; Planning for Weseloh Autofair and North Coast Vettes Wine Run; Planning trips to Vegas and the Big Bear Bash; Steve Montagna wins NCRS Top-Flite award; And Bob Berglund becomes president and John Pawoll vice-president.

Driving Home: I walk out of the office after a mind-draining day, towards the ZR1 glistening with the afternoons rain. The showers have passed, I am glad to see I can fold myself into the leather seats without being dripped on. As always, I wipe the resistor on the side of the key on my pants, so as not to set off the anti-theft no-start circuitry. The engine rumbles to life, together with that strange whine of a starter that sounds more Chrysler than Chevy. I wonder if that gorgeous '66 roadster with the knockoffs I saw at lunchtime in the parking lot next door got rained on. I tinker with the radio, pull and push on the parking brake to, hopefully, disengage it, and fasten the seatbelt with its strangely comforting click. I briefly reflect on how much better the seatbelt is than on my '81, which used to tighten frighteningly on a bumpy road. I pull around the parking lot towards the street, deciding whether it is late enough to take the short two left turns, or go around the block as usual. Since I've nearly been wiped out every time I turned left here, I go around the block, not wanting to temp fate on wet pavement. I get on 78, accelerating to just before the ASR will kick in, in the light traffic. The radio is playing decent tunes, life is good. Within a mile, traffic slows to a crawl, unusual for this time of day in this direction. At the same time, the traffic report comes on the radio. It talks about a big hailstorm in Oceanside, says nothing about the traffic jam I'm sitting in. Impatient teeagers in ridiculously jacked up minitrucks cut in front of me, as if they will get there faster. I think of their poor burning throwout bearings. I realize I'm not far behind a diesel schoolbus, and turn the vent off just a little too late. I decide surface streets must be better, and start the slow process of moving over two lanes to get off by the next exit. I turn down the radio, and start fiddling with the car phone. As usual, it takes a number of tries to unlock the anti-clone lockout. I call home and let Laurie know the situation. She's feeding the baby. Somehow, I'm not near as upset with the traffic as I normally would be, but more apprehensive. I decide it's because I'm near two colleges with plenty of less experienced drivers, it's just rained and I'm surrounded by a number of cars in various states of unrepaired damage. I get off the freeway, and am confronted with a yield sign and an old Toyota with a great deal of front-end damage. I yield. I follow the Toyota through a protected left turn, which becomes a normal green light. The Toyota stops in the intersection, because the arrow went out. Eventually, he turns left, and I follow. He goes very slowly. At the next intersection, he goes through the yellow left turn arrow and I have to stop. As I watch the heavy cross traffic go by, I notice a young girl driving an economy car with a bashed in right side. She is using both hands to put her hair in a ponytail. I become more apprehensive as I wait for the eight-way light. Eventually, I'm on my way up Mission. Every so often, I get a glimpse of the freeway. Parking lot. I hit most every red light, and for some reason everyone seems to want to race the Vette. I pretend to ignore them as much as possible. There is some pretty spectacular lightning over San Marcos. I turn the heat up a little, unusual for me. I steal another glimpse of the freeway, it looks like it is moving now, so I get back on. Just as I'm merging onto the freeway, the sun comes out, both directly in my eyes from low in the sky and reflecting off the wet concrete. I shield my eyes as best I can with my hand, and try to see if I'm about to force anybody out of the right lane. I can't tell, so I accellerate and hope my previous glance was sufficient. It was, but I see many brake lights ahead. I wonder if I made a mistake getting back on the freeway. Everyone slows down, then speeds up again. The storm has blown southeast, so ahead there is just brilliant sky and clouds and mountains and cities and valleys and trees and ocean. I get off the freeway at the usual exit, and there is much less traffic than normal. I reflect that they must all be stuck in San Marcos in a traffic jam. I wonder what caused it, imagining some nice Camaro spun out and munched, as I had seen a few weeks before. I hope it isn't anyone I know. I turn left instead of my usual right, going to a little Mexican take-out, as that is what Laurie wants for dinner. I park and go in, and wait in line behind what appears to be a large group of dwarf eastern europeans from the turn of the century. I surmise they must be cast members from the childrens theatre production of Fiddler On The Roof which will be playing at the AVO across the street, but it is still very surreal. Several of their orders get very confused. When I finally get to the counter, I ask the cashier if they have any food left. She laughs. I order two bean tostadas, two chicken tacos, a side order of rice, and a quesadilla. I get mildly concerned when I hear her repeat this order for the cook in Spanish several times. Eventually she takes three paper bags and puts them in a plastic bag and repeats the order back to me in English, correctly. I take the bag and walk out, reflecting on how handy it would be to have a hook in the middle of the rear window to hang this bag from. I put the bag on top of some newspapers on the passenger seat, and start towards home. Rounding the second corner, a lady walking her dog walks out right in front of me. I slam on the brakes and clutch. Then I smile at her and wave her past. The dinner is still upright, the ABS works. I continue on towards home, waving at one of my neighbors in his gorgeous blue Dodge, who's stopped at a cross light. I come around the corner to my house, and brake to enter the driveway. I glance in my rear-view mirror to see the Caprice wagon almost rear-end me. I push the button to the remote and the garage door opens with its usual protesting squeaks and squawks and groans. I pull into the garage, just to the point where my front wheels are not quite touching the carpet, I can tell by turning around and looking at the Vettes right rear corner. I pull gently on the parking brake while pushing the button, letting off the button just as I firmly pull on the brake. I shut off the motor and pull out the key. The singer on the radio is blathering on in a monotone about his girlfriend in a coma, until I open the door to shut him off. I swing myself onto the door sill, then up into the warm, dry garage. All is right with the world. I push the button to close the garage door, walk into the house, and Allan sees me. Daddy's home!

Miniature Golf Tournament

March 16, 1997

By Don Wolfe

Our 3rd annual miniature golf tournament was another fun event for 21 competitors. We played at the Family Fun Center in Vista and then caravanned to Live Oak Park in Fallbrook for a picnic. Ever hear of Sage Road? Shawn Silva said it made the road going to his house look like a freeway! The park, site of several previous wine run picnics, was great as usual. Some of us brought picnic lunches and others bought carry out Mexican food at the little restaurant across from the park. After lunch, the ladies played Trivial Pursuit while the men played horseshoes.

We have some very competitive miniature golfers! Par is 52 and we had six players at par or better. Ladies low scores were: 1st place Trish Eaton, 49; 2nd place Helene Sheehan, 51; and 3rd place Julie, 55. Mens low scores were: 1st place was a tie between Bob Levers and Justin with 49; 2nd place Terry Shrock, 50; and 3rd place Richard Eaton, 52.

Trivia Time!

True or False

1. There was a prototype rear-engined Vette.

2. Zora Arkus Duntov worked on Porsches.

3. Zora Arkus Duntov was famous for hotrodding Fords.

4. It is not illegal to drive barefoot in California.

5. A dirty Vette once won second place in the Plastic Fantastic car show.

6. Some police agencies paint Corvettes black and white and put lights and sirens on them.

7. Your newsletter editor once won an autocross event because no one else showed up.

8. There are '83 Vettes.

9. Zora wanted the generation of Vettes after what are now called midyears to be midengined and four wheel drive.

10. Porsche 356's and Studebaker Larks were built together on the same production line.

11. In the early 60's Buick designed and produced an aluminum V8 which is still made by BMW.

12. The Queen of England has some of those engines.

13. Some Vettes are worth a million bucks.

14. General motors sued to reclaim prototype Vettes when the museum they were donated to closed.

15. They lost.

16. At least two options in 1991 cost more than an entire new Vette in 1981.

17. A Vette worth hundreds of thousands of dollars was confiscated by the US government and sold at auction.

18. A high-performance natural-gas powered LT-5 engine was an option on the GS-90 Corvette by Guldstrand.

19. Nobody bought the option, but development was paid for by a large gas utility.

20. John Wayne drove a Vette with a supercharged straight six.

21. There are 50% more '67 L-88's with Bloomington certification than were produced.

22. Chevy completely changed the 4-speed transmission on Vettes in the middle of the 1963 model year.

23. One year, the fastest Buick was faster than the Vette.

24. The Nomad show car was built on a Vette chassis.

25. Corvair was originally the name of a fastback Vette.

26. Some North Coast Vettes members have had their Vettes for decades.

27. The C5 took eight years to develop.

28. There is already a recall on it.

29. Part of it is Balsa wood.

30. The Wet Vette is a production boat with styling to look like a Vette.



Answers to Trivia Time

1. True. It would pull wheelies far too easily.

2. True.

3. True. The Duntov cam was a hotrodders dream.

4. True, although nothing stops municipalities from making it illegal.

5. True. That really ticked some people off.

6. True.

7. True. They gave me the entrance fee back, and let me run anyways.

8. True. One in a museum, and a couple of development mules found cut in half in a junkyard in England are being restored.

9. True.

10. True. In Belgium in the late 50's and early 60's.

11. True. They sold the rights and tooling to British Leyland, which eventually wound up under BMW. The engine wound up in the TR8 in the early '80s.

12. True. Land Rovers.

13. True. Although, a buck ain't worth what it used to be. Ever see the price on a '67 L-88, new? Sigh...

14. True. The Cunningham collection.

15. True. CERV prototypes wound up in private hands as a result.

16. True. ZR1 and Callaway Turbo. I paid $17,282 including tax for my gymkhana '81.

17. True. But they certainly paid more than $53.

18. True.

19. True.

20. True. It still makes the car show rounds, I saw it at Reno one year.

21, True

22. True. You can tell by looking at the thickness of the shifter shaft.

23. True. Turbocharged Grand National model.

24. True. Many books are incorrect about this.

25. True.

26. True. 30 years in the case of the Lamaches.

27. True.

28. True.

29. True. Within the floorpan.

30. True.

President's Message

I would like to thank you for allowing me to serve as President of North Coast Vettes for 1997-1998. I would also like to welcome the new Elected Officers and Appointed Officials. Our Club is blessed with a great group of members and I am looking forward to working with all of you to continue doing Corvette things and having fun. "SAVE THE WAVE"

Terry Shrock



North Coast Vettes

P. O. Box 188237

Carlsbad, CA 92009

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Carlsbad, CA 92008

(619) 438-1001

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