From John Carter via Jim Allen: Happy pups, they love riding in back after a swim.

Run right up the ramp into the back, w/level platform. Tulsa, Arkansas River, River West boat ramp.

Prairie Capital Corvair Association

P.O. Box 954Springfield, Illinois 62705

The Flat SixJanuary 2019

2019 Officers President -Brian Nicholson (217) 891-0808 Vice-President Larry Jahn (217) 283-7365Secretary-Tim Mahler (217) 793-3824 Treasurer-Glen Rittenhouse (309) 472-3882Membership-Chris Hall (217) 691-6529 Historian/InventoryFlatSix Editor Tim Mahler (217) 793-3824 Email P rairieCapital@corvair.org

Board of DirectorsChris Hall (2019) (217) 691-6529 Allen Monts (2020) (309) 243-7477Jim Collier (2019) (217) 875-5841 Jim Allen (2019) (309) 361-5351

From the Prez

Happy New Year!

Thanks to all who showed up for the PCCA

Christmas fiesta! What a good time and its always

great to see our PCCA friends. Check out the rest of

this months newsletter for several pieces of

information about the coming year. Planning is

really starting to heat up for this year's museum

show, and a special guest speaker has been booked

to give a presentation. More info on that to come

but you absolutely don't want to miss it. Thank you

to everyone who helps keep our club going;

officers, board, and especially our newsletter editor

who keeps us in the loop. Your past and future

efforts are much appreciated going into 2019.

Without a January meeting this year I'm not sure

how to deal, but looking forward to seeing all of

you in February.

Brian

Calendar of Events - 2019Meeting Location –unless otherwise noted, PCCA meets at the Rochester Community Building located off Il

Route 29 in Rochester Illinois. The community building is on the east end of Rochester at #1 Community Drive.

PCCA Home Page may be found at http://www.corvair.org/chapters/chapter627

January 8, 2019 PCCA Board and Officers Meeting - Abe’s Hideout in Springfield. PCCA members

are permitted to attend if they desire. Topics will include 2019 programs, 2019 meeting

location(s) and day, time of day for those meetings and the 2019 Corvair Museum Auto

Show and Swap meet to be held in Decatur at the Museum.

Abe’s Hideout is on Dirksen Parkway and Ash street in Springfield IL just down the road from the 2016

convention location (Crowne Plaza). Take exit 96B (the same exit, 96A, as for the Rochester location) into

Springfield, Turn LEFT at the first intersection, Dirksen Parkway. Abe’s Hideout is on the right hand side.

Note: the Stevenson drive exit works too, drive past the Crowne Plaza and Abe’s Hideout will be on your left.

January 12, 2019 – NO PCCA General Meeting. See special Board meeting above. The none meeting was

decided upon at the October PCCA meeting.

February 9, 2019 PCCA General Meeting Rochester Community Building 2-4:30pm

March 09, 2019 PCCA General Meeting Rochester Community Building 2-4:30pm

April 13, 2019 PCCA General Meeting Rochester Community Building 2-4:30pm

May 24-25, 2019 Annual CPF Corvair museum Auto Show and Swap Meet. Decatur at the Corvair

Museum and Chevrolet Hall of Fame Museum. The current thought is to invite all

classic cars as well as Corvairs to the show and swap meet. Details to be determined. If

you want to help on determining those details, Contact Mike Hall or Brian Nicholson.

June 9, 2019 PCCA will meet at the Tremont Turkey Festival in Tremont Illinois.

Take the exit for IL 9 off interstate 155 to get to Tremont.

9:00 - 11:30 a.m. Sign-in for Car Show (Parking lot of Camden Chiropractic)

11:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. Car Show (Parking lot of Camden Chiropractic)

June 22-23, 2019 Corvair Car Show at Mid-Ohio - Vintage Car show at Mid-Ohio road course Lexington

Ohio - Corvair is the featured marque. Car show is “free” with general admission pass to

the vintage races. There MAY be Corvairs running on the course

that weekend too.

July 23-27,2019 2019 CORSA International Convention, hosted by Chicago

Corvair Enthusiasts - Pheasant Run Resort, 4051 E Main

Street St. Charles, IL

PCCA July through December to be determined

For more Corvair Events Check the calendar on the CORSA Web site: www.corvair.org

PCCA Christmas PartyParty, party, ice cream party. Wait. I didn’t see any ice cream

and I usually know when ice cream is about. But there was cake and a

party and good food and even better comradery. My apologies to the

English teachers reading this paragraph. But the kid in me took over. It

is Christmas time after all.

President Brian Nicholson was the emcee for the afternoon

late lunch. Brian stopped by a local bakery to get a small cake with

four flavors including german chocolate, red velvet, double chocolate

and carrot cake. The purpose was to celibrate Mike Hall’s younger

day, aka, Mike’s birthday. Mike turned a day older than he was on

Friday.

Before the grouped ordered lunch, Brian invited Bill and

Shelby Berta to share their story on the December Tornado that

damaged 400 buildings in Taylorville. The Berta’s have property in

Taylorville and store 3 Corvairs and at least one other vintage vehicle

there. Bill was gracious enough to write a story of the damage and

recovery efforts, to date so I won’t repeat it all here. The vehicles will

need some repair but mostly to the paint. It seems the tornado did what

tornados do, blew the roof off the garage and then went to the next

building. Thankfully, no lives were lost on a very scary day.

Lunch was great. The food is good although some may

indicate the menu is limited. I enjoyed my sandwich and fries which is

all I wanted for a late lunch. Will investigate dinner in January at the

board meeting.

After everyone had finished eating, the birthday boy cut his

birthday cake so everyone had desert. The resturant staff were kind

enough to bring clean plates and forks as well as a knife to cut the

cake. I had a piece of carrot cake arguing it was heathy because it was

made with vegetables, carrots. OK, not exactly healthy but it was

good.

Emcee Brian then tried to determine the PCCA enthusiast of

the year. It was a close contest between James Collier and Mike Hall

but Mike won by a hood ornament.

Brian also discussed the PCCA meeting time and place but I

was distracted. I do know the board and officers will meet at Abe’s

Hideout January 8th at 6pm to try and finalize this discussion. At the

board meeting, the upcoming Museum show and swap meet will also

be discussed. Larry Jahn will be contacting Circle City to determine

how CCC handled the Corvair People’s Choice show the last two

years. PCCA may be able to borrow some of the signs CCC has used

in the past.

BTW: I understand that the Hoosier Show will not take place in 2019. The show was a nice combination

of show and tour to a museum. This is something the CPF Museum show may try to do this year. Details to be

determined at the Jan board meeting. Dang that is going to be a busy meeting.

3

Back to the party, it was time to draw numbers for the gift

exchange. Brian and Tim hastily wrote numbers on paper and place them

in a box. Everyone participating drew a number and we were set. Time

was called. Instead of number 1 picking first, the highest number was

allowed to go first. The ole Z to A alphabet trick. Being middle of the

alphabet, this rarely changed my position and reversing the numbers didn’t

either.

I was lucky enough (unlucky?) To pick a gift that contain 1 bottle

of Headlight Fluid. This is the stuff for those “not so bright car owners” to

use with their headlights. The instructions and other notes on the (empty)

bottle are hilarious. Brian read them to everyone. I believe Joan and John

Cavagna were the pair that found this funny gag gift from wittyYeti.com

PCCA also collected over 20 toys for the Marines Toys-for-Tots

program. These were delivered to the collection box at Washington

Botanical gardens where I get to see the poinsettia display. I have not

been able to find an Marine staffed collection event the last couple of

years making the gardens a nice second choice.

Hope everyone had a Marry Christmas and may 2019 be a

vairy happy year.

Remember when?

See the trophy at the Corvair Museum. Post from PCCA

president Brian Nicholson to the CPF facebook page.

So yesterday, while cleaning oil spots on the floor at the CPF

museum in Decatur IL. I got the chance to spot the CPF award

trophy with previous winners names

engraved on it. How cool it was to find

my father's 1960 on it from the Lexington

convention. I think I see something new

there each time I go. Make sure you make

the CPF Corvair museum a trip

destination at some point.

Editor notes: The 60 was found in storage

in Springfield. The Nicholson’s were a

little hesitant to clean too much or it may

have scored higher. It is a well preserved

Corvair now residing in England.

4

the collapsed garage.

Photo showing garage at end of driveway --white blob is collapsed garage.

Photo showing 15 foot rafter driven throughback of garage into rafters -- not Corvairgarage --. It dislodged a hubcap which thenscratched a car.

The Tornado and Three CorvairsA tornado in Illinois during December is a rare

event, but on December 1, 2018 several tornadoes travelled

through central Illinois. Taylorville suffered considerable

damage to residences, businesses, and many trees.

Taylorville is significant to Shelby and I because we have

property there, including a garage containing our three 1964

Corvairs.

We had followed the path of the tornadoes on TV

and decided we should see if any damage had occurred at

our property. A phone call from a friend in Taylorville

prompted us to check the aftermath of the storm the next

day.

Upon arriving we saw just what had happened the

evening before. Along with damage to the rear of the

house and several large trees being down, the garage

containing the Corvairs had collapsed with the cars inside.

A closer inspection revealed that the roof was gone,

apparently lifted away by the tornado (we never did find

it). The remaining garage walls settled in on the cars -- not

a pleasant sight. Through a series of circumstances only a

tornado can produce, when the walls and the fiber glass

garage door were removed, there was no body or glass

damage to any of the Corvairs. When the Corvairs were

later examined by an auto body professional it was

determined that the paint suffered the major damage.

The cars are currently stored at a friend's machine

shed until spring when they will receive the necessary paint

repairs by a local body shop.

The house received damage to one room and roof

damage. We are waiting for a contractor to do repairs. The

EF-3 tornado was the strongest storm to hit the town since

1950. The result was damage to more than 500 structures

with winds of around 150 mph. While there were 20

injured, no one was killed which is something to be grateful

for.

We along with everyone else appreciated all the great

help that was extended to those who suffered losses.

This was certainly a December that will be long

remembered.

Bill Berta

5

side wall removed, with back garage wall still standingheavy equipment lifting wall from Corvairs

cars being trailered to storage

More Photos and an Editor’s note of the Taylorville Tornado, December 1, 2018.

Editor Notes: The official tally for December 1, 2018 was 29

tornadoes. It had first been tallied at 30, then revised down to 28.

Number 29 was added a week later – it was in a remote area with

only 2 or 3 buildings being damaged but it was confirmed. The 29

tornadoes was the most for December in Illlinois since such statistics

have been kept. It is the third most in a single day. The largest

outbreak in Illinois was reported on April 19, 1996, with 39

tornadoes. The next-worst involved 36 confirmed tornadoes on April

2, 2006.

Corvair Car Show at Mid-OhioHello,

My name is Nolan Podmore with Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. On June 22nd and 23rd 2019, we

are hosting a few vintage car shows during our Vintage Grand Prix weekend and we would love to invite you and your club

out to join us. It is free to participate in the shows with purchase of a general admission ticket to the event. Car show

participants will have the opportunity to participate in parade laps around the race track and door prizes will be awarded at the

end of each day. While we do encourage all makes and models to join us on both days, our featured marque this year is the

Corvair so we would really love to have as many Corvairs at the event as possible.

Nolan Podmore, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, The Mid-Ohio School, npodmore@midohio.com Ph:330-631-3969

6

Note: the editor is back to borrowing tech tips from Mike Dawson. This article appeared in the March 2018 issue

of the VairCor - the famed newsletter of the Heart of America Corvair Owners Association. I pulled the

newsletter from the equally well done HACOA web site. Mike’s articles are always useful, and the timing, in the

VairCor is usually spot on.

The Preventive Maintenance Series Mike Dawson

Battery Drain

Finding a battery drain can be really easy or really difficult. To begin diagnosis, be sure you have

everything turned off. Unplug anything with a parasitic draw, such as any non-stock radios, players or

anything with a memory, including any clocks wired to the car battery, and the internal voltage regulator

plug on the alternator (if equipped).

Remove the negative cable and tap the cable end

on the post to draw out any residual voltage before

making your check.

Two ways to track your progress:

1 . Remove the negative battery cable and in the

dark, scratch the cable end repeatedly against the

post looking for small sparks. Cover your head

with a blanket (as long as nobody can see you).

2 . Connect a voltmeter between the negative

battery post and its cable end (black to battery

post or you get a negative reading which is irrelevant on a digital). If you get full battery voltage there

may be a big enough drain to run the battery down. Normal voltage with this check is 0.50v or less. The

setup above for checking potential shows 0.25v.

Over the years I have found a couple of batteries that must have had an internal draw of some

kind, A quick battery change cured the draw so if you don’t find the problem quickly, try swapping

batteries before going to the following procedure.

1. Now install a voltmeter as noted above and begin to disconnect the various systems (leave them

disconnected) while checking the voltmeter. Most likely offenders in the order that I have observed them

are:

2. Failure to follow all of the instructions in paragraph 1 above.

3. Cigarette lighter socket; the base corrodes badly from the ash and shorts.

4. Glove box, engine compartment or trunk light adjustment.

5. Heater hose touching the battery cable end on the back of the starter solenoid. Usually early

models but could happen to any.

6. Horn relay. Usually early models because they got wet from seal leaks and corroded internally.

However, it could happen to any model and it has power all the time. It is unfused and will burn the

wiring all the way to the battery if it shorts.

7

7. Dimmer switch. It has power all the time and corrodes from getting wet over all the years.

Sometimes coincides with loss of headlights when you use the switch.

8. Dome light could be on all the time because of damaged door jamb switch.

9. On early model cars and FC vehicles the primary feed wire at the multi-connector in the left

side of the engine compartment can melt, corrode and cause a small short to adjacent wires. It also can

suddenly break contact and you lose all power. Build a bypass with soldered wire.

10. Late model cars had a service bulletin released correcting the rear fuel line and battery cable

grommet in the left sheet metal. The grommet was soft and allowed the battery cable and fuel line to

push through the slit and rub on the sharp sides. Also, those before you may have removed the grommet

or it may have been broken.

11. Another service bulletin addressed the wiring harness in the early production manual ’65

models. The harness in the tunnel pans was not supported correctly at the factory and the clutch cable

sawed into the wiring. This could happen to any late model if the harness is moved from its original

(corrected) position. I had this happen to a ’65 Corsa that I bought new. My wife was driving it and

every time she pushed in on the clutch the engine died.

If no culprit has been found by this time, the next step is

isolating the harness sections to zero in. Start anywhere

but pull the four harness connectors apart one at a time

starting from the ends until you find the one that stops

the short.

Editor’s Note: over the years, Mike Dawson has written many

tech articles for HACOA which I have been able to re-print

here for PCCA. Mike also sells some parts, the ad is from the

HACOA newsletter but may be difficult for some to read –

the on-line newsletter has better clarity. The ad has 63amp

internally regulated alternators $85 w/exchange; Rebuilt

harmonic balancer $90 w/exchange; Rebuilt Starter with

Solenoid (non 60) $90 w/exchange. And end-plates for your

oil cooler - 8 or 12 plate - $10 each.

CPF has items for sale – to benefit the Corvair Museum

The CPF has numerous NOS and other parts that will be offered for sale, now or in the near future.

Check the CPF facebook and Website for additional information – or pester Mike Hall or Brian Nicholson.

The CPF also will have a Corvair or two available soon too. All proceeds, over expenses, will support the CPF

Corvair Museum located in Decatur Illinois next to the Chevrolet Hall of Fame Museum. The two museums are

housed in the same building in adjoining large rooms. One entry fee gets you into both museums. How cool is

that?

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Prairie Capital Corvair Association (PCCA) Membership Form

March 1, 2018 thru February 28, 2019Type of Membership Individual ___ $17

Family ___ $20 (2 adults at one address plus children under 18)

___ Apply a $5 discount for receiving the electronic version of the newsletter and other correspondence.

If joining after August 31, dues are: Individual $8.50, Family $10.00. If applicable, the discount is $2.50.

Name _______________________________ Spouse/ 2nd Adult _______________________________

Street Address ________________________________________________________________________

City, ST ZIP _________________________________________________________________________

Home Phone ____________________________ CORSA Membership ID _______________________

Cell Phone(s) ____________________________ Spouse/ 2nd Adult ____________________________

e-Mail Address(es) __________________________ Spouse/ 2nd Adult ___________________________

Cars, Corvair and other _________________________________________________________________

Other interests ________________________________________________________________________

PCCA strongly encourages membership in CORSA. Do you want/need information about CORSA? Y / N

Return the completed form and dues to:Glen Rittenhouse, PCCA Treasurer 1804 Columbus Dr, Pekin IL 61554

OR to PCCA Treasurer P.O. Box 954 Springfield, IL 62705

MINUTES OF MEETING - PRAIRIE CAPITAL CORVAIR ASSOCIATION Saturday Nov 10, 2018

There was not an official meeting at the December Christmas get-together. January general meeting was

deferred. The next general meeting will be February 9th at the Rochester Community building at 2pm. The Board

and Officers will meet January 8th at 6pm at Abe’s Hideout in Springfield. This is a Tuesday evening. The board

meeting has several purposes including transition of officers, 2019 programs, the 2019 CPF Museum Show and

Swap meet and the conituning discussion on PCCA meeting day, time and location.

Convention Registration Help – From Lyle Rigdon

Would you add to next months newsletter (and/or the next meeting agenda) that Lonny and I are again

heading up registration for the convention next summer in St. Charles. If anyone from PCCA would be willing to

put in a few hours in the registration booth, we would greatly appreciate it. I have heard from a couple of people,

but we could certainly use more help as the registration booth tends to be a busy place, especially during the first

day or two. Again, any help would be appreciated. Take care,Lyle

Editor Notes: Just glanced at the Chicago Corvair Enthusiasts Newsletter “the Airhorn” . Help with the Econ0ny

run event and hospitality room were also being requested. The hospitality room is a good way to meet and chat

with other enthusiasts and their other halves. Plus you get first choice of some of the snacks (hee hee).

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Prairie Capital

Corvair Association

P.O. Box 954

Springfield, IL 62705