<VV> California Dreamin' Part Two - Ventura and the Convention starts

[Sethracer at aol.com]

California Dreamin’  
Part Two – Arrival in Ventura, the convention starts. 
Late Sunday we wandered our way down to Ventura from Rosamond.  This involved 
participating in my second  race of the day, the “Race to LA”, a common 
Sunday afternoon occurrence. Trying  to hold to 60MPH in the right lane was a 
chore! (The California speed limit is  55 for all towing vehicles). The 
temperature dropped just a little as we drove  down CA14 to Interstate 5, but then 
climbed past 100 again as we drove north to  catch our highway to the coast. As we 
drove over on CA 126, the temperature  steadily dropped. I gassed up the 
Avalanche in Filmore, a beautiful farming  town, averaging 17.2 MPG flat-towing the 
“Stinger” behind. We passed Mark Wright  and friend, since they had stopped 
for dinner on the way. We reached Ventura and its balmy 73 degree temps at 
about 5PM. (I love  California!)  Since the “Host” hotel was a host only, and 
all events were really taking place  at the fairgrounds, I had decided to relax 
at a local Bed & Breakfast in  town instead. It was closer to the fairgrounds 
than the “Host” hotel, and it was  a lovely place, comfortable and full of 
charm. If it wasn’t for the convention,  this would have been a honeymoon after 
35 years of marriage. We still enjoyed  the week. Driving the truck around 
town with the race car attached was a bit of  a pain, so we dropped it in a big 
parking lot, and went to check in at the  B&B. Since the racecar has no parking 
brake, I nosed it into a diagonal  parking space and put it in gear to hold 
it. I noticed at the time that the  brake pedal felt pretty mushy, quite 
different than at Willow springs. Hmmm?  After hauling all of our stuff into the  
B&B, and settling in, (5 to 6PM was wine and cheese with the other patrons –  
every night) I walked down to the other parking lot and drove the racecar the  
few blocks to the hotel. (The car is registered and insured for use on  
California  roads.) The brakes were definitely mushy, and required some pumping to do 
much  work. As I parked it, I noticed fluid under the right rear. Not a good 
sign.  After the hot race day in Willow and the 100 mile  race/tow over to 
Ventura, we were beat, and a hot shower and  long nights sleep did the trick. 
Monday morning we awoke in plenty of time to  have the included full breakfast in 
the atrium, then drive the truck the five  blocks over to the Convention area 
at the fairgrounds. The night before (Sunday)  had seen a concert by some 
teen-ish group that not only had packed the  fairgrounds and their parking lot 
(our autocross lot!), but had left it with the  patina of the aftermath of a 
rock concert. The parking lot was knee-deep in  trash. As we drove in, there were 
a couple of guys with brooms attempting what  to me looked impossible. Other 
than those two, it seemed rather deserted, until  we found out where the 
Corvair activities were beginning – way around on the  other side of the property. 
As we headed around, a huge sweeper truck arrived  and began the real 
clean-up.  
We arrived at the “Santa  Rosa” hall, also known as the “Agricultural” 
hall.  Corvair folks were all that were growing there when we arrived. The 
registration  computers were “on the fritz” for a while, so we unloaded the Silicone 
Wire  Systems display stuff and set up our tables.  Lots of familiar faces 
around the large  hall. Clarks to one side, Underground to the  other. Bob 
Anderson of CIDCO had a big gear display along one wall. Larry  Shapiro and John 
Sweet had a large spread of parts. Some of the smaller vendors  were just 
showing up, along with us. The EZ-Car-lift display was both inside and  outside. 
More about this later. Fred Bybee had a radio and accessories display,  lots of 
model cars were available from several vendors and there were a few  displays 
that weren’t populated until Tuesday.  Monday was the day of the Corsa Board of 
 Directors meeting so those folks were absent. After laying everything out, I 
 caught a lift back to the hotel (Thanks Bill!) and I hopped in the race car 
and  drove it over to the fairgrounds. By now, I really had to pump the 
brakes, only  the front ones had any capability. But it was a short drive and 
mid-day Monday  traffic, which is to say light to none, so things were safe. I 
parked the car  outside and decided that I would not do anything about the brakes – 
except plan  – until Wednesday. Tuesday was the Car display – next to the 
Concours, and I had  planned to display the car in the Racecar group, no matter 
how ugly the paint  was – and it was/is ugly. I was proud of the engineering 
work I had done on the  car, even if the paint had that “lived-on” look. Since 
I have installed a racing  dual master cylinder set-up with a balance-bar, I 
was able to adjust the pedal  to operate about 90 percent on the front brakes 
which was fine for the moment. I  had to fix it before the Autocross, but that 
was not until Friday, plenty of  time! (grin). We went out for a nice dinner 
in town Monday evening (after Wine  and Cheese). I found a new nice beer, New 
Belgium 1554.  
Tuesday morning was a rush to eat, then get the car over into the display  
area by about 8:30AM, the scheduled time – people were still arriving at 9:30,  
so why the rush? At least I had a nice spot between Warrens early roadster and 
 Bob Dunahugh’s Goodyear Stinger, even some shade under a palm tree (I love  
California!). Of course, those cars made my car look even more like a turd on  
four wheels. I removed the hood and the deck lid and tried to cover over the  
worst of the side painting – somewhat unsuccessfully – and show off some of 
the  engineering. I went back inside to my vendor area to relieve my wife. She 
had  brought some of the earrings and necklaces she makes, and was busy 
selling them  to the beleaguered Corvair wives and girlfriends. She advertises them 
as  “Cheaper than most Corvair parts!” It keeps her busy at the convention 
and pays  for her hobby (Sounds familiar?) Since I am located in California, as 
are a  couple of my Ignition Wire dealers, I didn’t anticipate much sales 
volume at the  convention, and I wasn’t surprised. But I got to display some new 
items and talk  with current and previous buyers and generally have a good 
time. In the  afternoon, I spent an hour out at the Car display glancing at some 
of the  other cars, Phil Dally’s Speed record car was a dazzler, then 
answering  questions about my car. At the end of the day, I gingerly drove the Stinger 
over  and parked it next to the Avalanche. When the vendor area closed, 
Barbara and I  took a shopping center run. She bought some food stuff while I 
visited a  Kragen’s (an AutoZone clone) and picked out the parts I would need to 
repair and  bleed the brakes the next day. We almost missed the nightly wine and 
food at the  B&B, but not quite, and that sufficed for Tuesday dinner.  
Next – Repairs and stuff



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