With Daylight Saving now well and truly behind us, it becomes a little more difficult to recognise and photograph the sports and classic cars lined up outside the Club House, nevertheless, it was pleasing to see several members taking the opportunity to bring their classics out, even if it was in the dark!
A large turnout of members, probably numbering almost 60, enjoyed the chance to mingle and catch up on the latest news before being served another beautiful 2-course meal by the hospitality staff. During the course of the meal, new members were welcomed, past and coming events were reported upon, and general business was discussed. It was also noted how incredibly active the Club is at this time of the year, with events catering for a wide range of interests.
Following the meal, Graeme introduced Noel Kipps who gave us a run down on his recently acquired Chevrolet Corvair which was on display in the dining room. Noel purchased the immaculate, black 1969 Corvair with only 13,000 miles on it, from Florida in the USA about 12 months ago. It belonged to the proverbial little old lady who had passed away and left the car as part of her estate. Although the Corvair is very rare in Australia, almost two million were produced between 1960 and 1969. The model line-up included a two-door coupe, convertible, four-door sedan, and four-door station wagon body styles, as well as a passenger van, commercial van, and pickup truck variants. Noel?s Coupe is a very late model, only 360 cars from the end of the line, and was virtually handmade because the assembly line at that stage was being set up the produce the new Chevy Nova.
They are an unusual car by American standards, being the only rear-engined, air-cooled flat-six that Chevrolet ever made. Noel explained that the prototypes in the US were fitted with Holden badges, in an effort to disguise the project. The all-alloy, twin-carb engine in Noel?s car is 2.7 litres and produces around 200bhp driving the rear wheels through a 2-speed Powerglide transmission. The car is fairly light at 1350kg and Noel explained that with the engine at the rear, the front end is very light ? there is no need for power steering or boosted brakes and the recommended tyre pressures are 15psi and the front and 26 in the rear. The Corvair is capable of 200km/h, but Noel is not keen to push it that hard, especially with its 4-wheel drum brakes. It?s an attractive car and if you look closely at the lines you can see hints of the Camaro or Firebird, especially in rear quarters.
We thank Noel for bringing his car in this month and hope that we?ll see it at more events in the near future.
