Another Member from Maine

[BritCars]

Hi from this island, 15 miles off the coast of Maine in Penobscot Bay. I am the second owner of my '66 Monza Coupe 110/4, and I only bought it 3 years ago.

In 1966 the father of the previous owner bought his daughter a brand new Corvair. She then drove it for the next 119,000 miles, through college, her marriage, and raising her family. In the early 1990's the family built a summer home on the island and brought the car up here to be their "island car."

Since they're not here that often, it quickly sat a lot and consequently deteriorated. I saw the couple driving it around a few times and even helped them fix the headlights one evening.

When they found they did not want to refurbish the car, and their adult children would not drive the car, they decided to sell it and sought me out as "the ideal owner" - as if an impoverished caretaker who already owned 3 old British cars would have money to spare! I succumbed to the lure of a test drive, and even though it ran absolutely terribly, I made a million excuses for the car and bought it.

It's my second Corvair; I had a very used '64 Monza 4 speed convertible in college. The cars are an absolute joy to drive. It's a rare car that makes you want to get into it and attack every winding road you can find, but my Monza is just that car.

Even more fun this time of year, it's the perfect snow car!

Jeff

[UNSAFE]

Hi Jeff and Welcome

Is that photo recent ? You guys probably have worse weather than my part of Alaska. Mid 30s today.

I just got off the phone with 4Carb from Maine -- gotta love those east coast accents

I see you have a Wedge ( TR-7) . A friend of mine bought one when they first came out.(1976 ?) It was light blue. I couldn't believe how small the front brake pads were when I changed his the first time. It was a long time ago but I remember them being about the size of a silver dollar.
I also got the opportunity to to adjust the valves on one. What a PITA having to use all the different shims Isn't a Saab engine ?
It was sure a fun little car to drive tho !

Thanks for joining us . "UNSAFE"

[4carbcorvair]

Hi Jeff!

I had the pleasure of talking to both of you yesterday. Jeff to start the day, Kevin to end the day! Perfect. :)

Nice to see you here Jeff!

Kevin, we have been getting hammered. We got 12 inches two days ago, another 3 yesterday and supposedly another 1-3 last night.... And more in the forcast for this/next week. I'm ready for spring. :D

[BritCars]

Hi Kevin and Ronnie,

Kevin, let me congratulate you here on your video posts about Corvairs. They're always a joy to watch and informative at times, too.

As Ronnie said, we've received a lot of snow recently and more is falling today.

Yes, that's my TR-7 buried beside the Corvair. The brakes were always marginal for track use on the car, partially because Triumph chose 13" wheels to improve performance, and thus had to use off the shelf brakes from other BL cars. The pads are small, but you should see the wheel bearings. They look like they're off a tricycle :). I replace those every few years!

I've not done the valves on the engine, which is, BTW, a Triumph engine. It was their first OHC design and thus, it revved higher than most other British sports car engines and frankly, seems to last longer. It's not very stressed and owners have gotten significant mileage from them before any overhaul. It fared better than the older MG design in terms of emission controls, too.

Saab actually bought their first engines from Triumph in 1976 for the early 99's. After a couple of years of leaking head gaskets and cooling problems, they bought the rights to make the engines themselves and improved them. Triumph wasted a couple of years improving quality and finally got the cooling and machining right; by 1979 when they finally launched the convertible, it was too late to save the model from its poor reputation and high cost.

Off to shovel more snow!

Jeff

[Butcher&Vairs]

Welcome Jeff, good choice. Keep them rolling, peace out !

[Phil Dally]

HOWDT!!