It is with sad news that I must report that the infamous 1963 Corvair Sedan that participated in the New England edition of the 24 Hours of Lemons during the past couple of years has been retired to that great bone-yard in the sky. There are several reasons why this happened, and none of them can make up for the loss of such a machine….
Dammit, you blinked!
In my haste in recapping my weekend of LeMons Corvair racing, I forgot to post quite possibly the most important picture of the event: the all-encompassing group photo!
Part 2 of my LeMons New England excursion. This time, I actually get to drive the damn thing. Read Part 1 here!
Barely minutes after the Corvair heads to the track, it was seen turning back into the pits. “He’s pulling in, he’s coming in,” our team shouted, dashing down the grandstand to find out if our TR7 points hadn’t cut it. “Why’s he pulling in so soon?”
We dashed up alongside the Corvair as Jim found a place to park behind the judges’ tent. The Saab-powered, wing-bedecked 300ZX pulled in behind him. After parking next to the Corvair, its driver jumped out. “You ok?” he asked. Jim paused for a moment, then finally said, “yeah, I’m fine. Dunno if I got a black flag or not.”
Jonny Lieberman walked over and tapped on the Corvair’s door. “You hit him!”
“He hit me!” Jim exclaimed. “Can I go back in now?”
“Absolutely not!” Lieberman shot him down. “Now, why’d you hit him?”
Because Hooniverse knows you’re never sick of LeMons coverage, here’s my report from the Boston Tow Party and Overhead Cam Bake that would have run earlier, if my laptop hadn’t died a crippling, painful death. Aren’t Thinkpads supposed to be the Jeep 4.0 inline-six of the computing world?
The Chevrolet Corvair is a car whose reputation precedes it. Certainly the car was revolutionary, even by today’s standards: it was a left-field shot seemingly out of nowhere, from a company at the top of its prime and with cash to burn. Back then, General Motors had the huevos to build a car with a horizontally-opposed aluminum “pancake” flat-six engine mounted somewhere between the parcel shelf and Helsinki, then pass it off as a family sedan as well as a coupe, a pickup truck, a station wagon, a six-door passenger van as well as a windowless panel variant, for which the engine presumably serves double duty as a taco truck’s food warmer. … Continue Reading
Starting off the last weekend of July, I thought I would share some images from the 24 Hours of Lemons site taken from last weekend at Stafford Springs, Connecticut.
I was going to open this post with something witty, but I really can’t top this video. It was located on the 24 Hours of LeMons Forums, and it shows you what can happen when you lose your cool and let your emotions take over.
Blake sent me a photo over the weekend and I wanted to share.
I don’t really have anything else to add because A) the photo is awesome and B) my computer died so I’m posting from my phone.
Just to wet your appitite for this upcoming weekend, I decided to re-visit this little video from the local Fox Station affiliate Fox 61. They did a great job outlining the race, with a bit of color commentary, a lot of humor, and a bit of banter after the segment aired. I don’t remember any other report that was this “tongue-in-cheek”, nor do I remember any other news reporter spending this much time with this particular story.
Yes, there’s another posting about TTTO and the infamous 1963 Corvair, that will be participating at “The Boston Tow Party & Overhead Cam Bake” otherwise known as the 24 Hours of LeMons New England. You already know that Blake Rong will be there on my team, but now comes the bad news. There is no functioning internet at the track (and no, I don’t have a wireless internet card either…) so the weekend content might be a bit sparse. Wish us luck at the track!
Yes, the Corvair lives. Late Sunday, the engine cranked over, and smoked profusely (because of all the Marvel Mystery Oil no doubt) but the little engine that could is running, though not as healthy as last year. Read more after the break….
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