Gordon Elliott White who wrote the Offy book is the man who took us through
the Smithsonian warehouses this spring. It's an automotive version of the
last scenes from Raiders of the Lost Ark. He is a Bonneville Salt Flats
record holder in an Offy powered sprint car and proud of it. With you being
in the nearer area than I am, he could be an interesting contact ... might
want to come down for one of your races at Maxton. He is a pleasant guy and
very knowledgeable on race cars in general and Bonneville in particular. I
have his address if you are interested.
Wes
> From: ardunbill@webtv.net
> To: land-speed@autox.team.net
> Subject: Race Car Warranties & Corvairs
> Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 16:54:17 -0400 (EDT)
>
>Keith's item about liability waivers made me think about the (excellent)
>book on Offenhauser(currently in print). A customer, on picking up his
>new Offy engine at the shop, asked the boss, "Oh yeah, I meant to ask
>you, what warranty do you give with these?' The boss thought a minute
>and said, "I warrant that when this engine leaves my shop it has all the
>parts in it that it is supposed to have."
>
>34 years ago now I bought a new Corvair Corsa coupe with the 180 HP
>turbo engine, left over at the model year end at a local Chevy dealer.
>That was one super good car. Drove it 130K miles, never had to add any
>oil to the transaxle, never had to adjust the clutch(it did break the
>clutch cable one time). never replaced the brakes. It was fast as heck
>until the turbo carboned up at about 50K like the manual said it would,
>but I just let it ride. It seeped a little oil here and there,
>especially at the o-rings of the oil cooler, which most of them did, so
>it always collected dust on the tail. The sticker price was only about
>$2900 and it truly was the poor man's Porsche 911. One of the best cars
>I ever had.
>
>I think those '53 Stude coupes are gorgeous, like the one at the ECTA
>Sept 25 meet. ArdunBill
>
>
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