Corvette Atlanta is off to a good start for another year of fun and excitement. We had a really good turn out at O’Charley’s for the January meeting. I was encouraged by how many members braved the cold and ice to meet and eat with one another. The club members were pleased with the excellent plans for activities in the coming year. New VP of Activities, Michael Campsmith had the year laid out with some of our regular yearly favorite activities on schedule. Our Awards Banquet, scheduled at a new restaurant, has attracted many members, with a confirmed count of forty-five as of now. That may be a record turn out, so Nancy and I are hoping the meal and facilities are up to expectations.
I confirmed with Bob and Cindy Mossey that the popular Super Bowl Party will be held at their home. As Atlanta shivers in this record cold, I am remembering what a great, warm day we had for the party. Bob was busy on the grill, cooking wonderful Bob’s Big Burgers and marinated chicken breasts, and I help keep him company on the porch. We kept exclaiming at what a nice afternoon for an outdoors cookout. I certainly hope the weather cooperates and we have a good turn out for this party. Bob also is proud owner of a brand new sixty-inch, top-of-the-line flat screen TV, for all the enjoy the game.
We have many other activities, as outlined by Michael Campsmith, throughout the year. I will reemphasis a point made by Michael. He is the facilitator of events and it is not his job to dream up events. As a club, we need members willing to host events, who will follow through on the planning, and preparation, so that the activities chairman is not forced to beg for something for the club to do. We have too many members to ever put the Activities VP in that position.
I would like to praise Jim Ellis Chevrolet and the entire staff and management. We enjoy a good relationship with the dealership and they appreciate us and vice versa. We have a shop day planned for February 6th, so make sure to contact Dan Nugent or go to web site and print out your work order. I need lots of work on my trusty (not so trusty right now) ’94, so will only attend shop day because I enjoy hanging out with the boys at the dealership. My work order is too large to burden Dave Fulcher with a Sat AM working session. Remember, shop day is a real privilege, so don’t abuse it by planning too large or complicated a project.
We also have our second car show planned at the new dealership site for April 10th. Last year was a great success, but we had a hard time with early morning parking and a few other issues. I am hoping that we will do a better job of planning ahead, and scheduling enough workers to make this show run smoother and even better than last year. I will have lots more to say about the car show as the time draws nearer.
So, welcome to Corvette Atlanta, the 2010 version. It will be my sixth time as President, now breaking all records for previous terms served. I am still enthusiastic about this club and its fine members. I get a real sense of satisfaction seeing events that are well attended and members who are happy and glad they joined or rejoined Corvette Atlanta. Let us all pull together to make 2010 a great year in the long and proud history of this club. •••
As of the January business meeting, we have 90 members. I provided the Tucker’s copies of the membership forms and look forward to getting them back.
In 2010 I will be working with the rest of the board to provide you, the membership, the tools to provide acquaintances the opportunity to find out more about the club and possibly join us as members. If you need a name tag, please send me an email through the Corvette Atlanta website. •••
Below is a mini-biography of one of our current Corvette Atlanta members. Can you guess which one? We will disclose our mystery member’s name elsewhere in this publication. Test your CA memory or perhaps learn something new or unexpected about one of our own.
This CA member fondly recounts seeing a red ‘65 Corvette with white interior at about age six. Owned by a friend of the family, he remembers neighbors coming out to look at it and that special first ride. It was then that he says he started to fall in “lust” with Corvettes. Among his favorites is the C4 since that was the first Corvette he actually could call his own. The Corvette car part that best describes him is the engine as he thinks of it as the “heart” of the car.
When not in the Corvette zone he appreciates the ’70 Dodge Challenger as his second favorite ride. Although his only sister does not have the car bug, his nephew is a big Camaro enthusiast and his father a former limousine driver and Cadillac fan. As a teen he prided himself on street racing a ’66 Cadillac and winning—most of the time!
His favorite Corvette story entails when a friend asked him to go to Chicago from Atlanta to “pick up something for him”. Met at the airport by limousine he soon found himself at the Volo Car Museum. As they approached the car in question from the rear he thought it to be a garden variety Corvette. Not until he got around the front and saw the hallmark traits of a twin turbo did he realize he was staring at an ’87 Callaway Corvette Roadster in all its glory.
The drive back home to Atlanta started out quietly enough until the clutch decided to act up a couple of hours out of Chicago. After an unceremonious tow back to the museum, two days of clutch repairs, and some time enjoying the local sites in a loaner Camaro the journey back continued without incident.
His excited friend finally took delivery of his new toy but quickly discovered it would not start for him despite his best efforts. It seemed only our CA member had the touch to rouse it into automotive wakefulness. Frustrated, the friend asked our member to keep the car for a few days to see if he could recreate and troubleshoot the temperamental behavior. Our member found that if the Roadster didn’t cooperate he need only open and close the gas cap and it would awaken the beast.
While this made no logical sense it was not until later when the car went through a more detailed professional service did they discover that manipulating the gas cap was just enough time to allow the real problem—a bad heat sensor—to recycle.
As a new CA member many club memories are still to come. The first of what is hoped to be many good CA memories is the relaxing boat ride at the 2009 Morgan Lake Party where he kept nodding asleep with the gentle rumble of the boat and soft waves. Feeling welcome and in good company, our member commented “I haven’t been that relaxed in years”. •••
Remember -- if you would like to be featured in the "Do You Know Me?" articles, please contact Mary Capka.
This is a follow up to my article from last month and a rough outline for this year. The 92 has been running good for the last bit of the racing season. The three days at Roebling Road with Corvette Atlanta was great. I still need to learn how to drive better – an 84 that is STOCK had better times most of the weekend. I did much better the following weekend at Road Atlanta and finally ran the course under 2 minutes. The one tool that helped me out was getting a data acquisition system so I could see where I was losing time and I worked on one section at a time. I still need to gain 20 seconds or so, but I now know where they are and I’ll see in March. One bright spot to running the Mustang with NASA-SE I placed second for the year in that class.
On to this year! The 92 is getting the heads freshened and the headers on finally. Also I’ve got a roll bar installation scheduled for late January or early February. First NASA-SE event is Valentines weekend at Carolina Motorsports Park. Will I see you there? The NASA-SE has a “Drive one weekend free” promotion this year for novice drivers. You call them up, pay the annual dues and get signed up for an event. A new track is added this year – NCCAR (look it up on the web). If you are a NASA member and want to go there in April I have a free weekend to give away as well!
In June the NC Mustang club is having their annual HPDE event. If you are even a little interested in finding out how your car handles please consider this event. The first on track session for novice drivers is worth the price of admission. Also for the novice group they allow Convertibles on the track. All novice drivers are assigned an instructor for the weekend.
Why am I telling you this? Driving your car on a race track or participating in autocross events makes you a better driver. Volunteering at one of these events is a great way to meet other people and understand what goes on at these events. This year besides my track events I’m going to commit to attend at least one autocross event. •••
I had the pleasure in late November of presenting on behalf of Corvette Atlanta cash and checks totaling $1070.00 to a representative of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Through the generosity of the club as a whole supplemented by donations from individual club members (and two non-club members!) our monetary gift will purchase an item listed on the CHOA “wish list”. The list represents those little extras that unfortunately often fall short of making final budget cuts.
Corvette Atlanta’s donation will provide a MacBook computer for use by children at the AFLAC Cancer Center as part of their music therapy program. Below is a summary from the CHOA representative of how this computer will make a difference in the life of a sick child and their family.
“The MacBook provides an instant music studio for composing and recording songs created by the kids in the hospital. It appeals to fans of all types of music and can provide non-musicians with the tools to create something that sounds pretty good. Because Apple has bundled up programs like GarageBand and iPhoto, it’s also easy to quickly create a video to accompany the song written and/or sung by the patient. Song topics run the gamut. Some kids write about the people and pets they miss while they are in the hospital for extended periods of time. Others write specifically about how they are coping. And many kids just write songs like you hear on the radio about love and life.
Besides giving the patient a way to express their feelings, songwriting and recording also provides them with something to share with family and staff. This becomes especially meaningful when an illness takes over a child’s body and the child does not survive. The family is able to keep the child present in their world by listening to the recording made by the child. Thank you for providing this amazing tool to help our children and families.” •••
On Saturday night while Lisa was in the kitchen baking the world’s best pumpkin bread, I decided to do the smart thing and stay out of her way.
To distract myself from the tantalizing smells coming from the kitchen I scrolled through the dismal drivel of television shows hoping to find something that would keep me out of the kitchen. Fortunately for me I came across the Mecum auto auction at just the right time. They were auctioning Corvettes. I am not sure when this event actually took place. As I watched I began taking notes of the Corvettes & high bids.
At this point I am not sure which was making me drool more the wonderful aroma from the kitchen or the Corvettes on the auction block. I have listed some of the Corvettes I saw and the high bids.
1967 – (427 / 390) - $100,000.
1969 – (427 / 400) - $105,000.
1967 – (427 / 390) - $101,000.
1967 – (custom LS3 & C5 Wheels) - $85,000.
1972 – (T-Top, LS3, Factory Air) - $52,000.
1962 – (327 / 250) - $46,000.
1966 – (427, Convertible Hardtop) - $78,500.
1969 – (Race Car L88 Convertible Hardtop) - $305,000.
1963 – (Yenko Gulf One Z06) - $1,050,000.
1986 – (Pace Car) - $20,000.
1954 - $80,000.
1962 - $62,500
1967 - (427) - $120,000.
1961 - $75,000.
1964 – (Coupe) - $45,500.
1957 - $250,000.
1966 - $56,500.00
•••
For anyone who has seen my personal automotive library, I confess to having far more car books and manuals than a sane person should have. Corvette books have their own section, both on the shelves and also as a place in my heart. I will admit that some have thrilled me with their interest and usefulness, and a few have been deeply disappointing and a waste of time and money. I propose writing a brief segment in the Corvette Atlanta newsletter to share my comments on books that are currently available, should you wish to get your own. Older books and those out of print, will not be covered, but may still be available through outlets such as Amazon.com.
My first review is for a brand-new book that I showed a fellow club member, and he bought his own, and is even more enthusiastic than I am about it.
Title: The Corvette Factories– Building America’s Sportscar (2009)
Author: Mike Mueller
Publisher: Motorbooks, Inc.
ISBN 978-0-7603-3551-2
Where I got my copy: www.Motorbooks.com
Price: normally $40
Corvettes have only had three “birthplaces” since 1953. For the first six months, they rolled out of a converted parts depot building in Flint, Michigan. Just after Christmas, 1953 production moved to St. Louis, Missouri. It stayed there until the summer (with a two month overlap) of 1981, when assembly operations moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky. The Corvette Factories covers all three sites, with pictures, text and sidebar stories. It has lots of historic black and white photos and excellent cut-away drawings, mixed with color photos. This 192 page hardcover book has separate sections for each factory, plus chapters on paint and body assembly, ZR-1s, and efforts to improving quality control. I’m a stickler for technical errors and didn’t find any, probably because of careful editing and knowledgeable contributors like Nolan Adams. There are at least two of us in the club that think this book is interesting and well worth the money.
Similar books on building cars include Birthplace of Legends (by Peter J. Licastro, 1993) which concentrates mostly on the St. Louis years (1954 to 1981) of Corvette building and the generic (meaning all American car brands) The American Auto Factory (by Byron Olsen and Joseph Cabadas, 2002) book of the twentieth century history of U.S. auto plants. The photos in both of these out-of-print books were worth the effort to get them. •••
We are very fortunate to have folks this year that are willing to write articles for our newsletter. Please express your thanks to them for their efforts in making the publication more interesting. Should you be approached to contribute materials for one of their upcoming articles - we hope that you will look upon the request with enthusiasm and pride that you will make news and/or the cover!!
