Memo from Iowa, Part 2

My earlier post told the story of how I acquired my 1966 Monza convertible, the car that I am driving from my home in Iowa to the Convention in Sturbridge. I also let you know there was a mystery surrounding the car. It’s a mystery that no one knows the answer to.

Last winter I decided to freshen up the engine. It ran just fine but it burned a little more oil than I felt comfortable with, so I thought I would install some new piston rings, reseal everything and inspect the rest. What I found when I pulled off the oil pan changed that plan drastically. The oil pan contained three pea sized chunks of aluminum, a couple small pieces of top cover gasket, and lots of pieces of the original valve stem seals.

I would expect the valve stem seal pieces but not the rest. Upon complete disassembly and inspection it appears that the three oil drain back holes under the camshaft were plugged with casting flash, and someone drove the flash up into the crankcase with a punch from the oil pan side. It also appears that one piston may have been changed at one time and the edge of one lifter had been damaged enough that I could not get it out until I had the cases split.

My question is, if this work had been done at a shop why didn’t they take the oil pan off and clean out the pieces?

What makes it even stranger is that I asked all the previous owners if they had ever had any major work done to the engine. They all had the same answer, "The car always ran perfectly and there was never any major work done." Couple this with the fact that my dad worked at the local dealer and did the new vehicle service. He would have been the one who would have worked on the car, but he didn’t.

The only logical explanation is that this happened at the factory. Could this have happened there? Or is someone lying? We will never know.

Come on over to the 2012 convention and have some fun and see what CORSA has to offer! The car and I will be there and I have pictures so you can see and discuss the mystery!

Jamie Reinhart
CORSA President

Memo from Iowa

In early March, after an absence of two and a half years, my car came home from the body shop. It was well worth the wait. You can’t really tell from the picture, but this is a 42,000 mile 1966 Monza convertible.

It was purchased new here in my home town of Cresco in April of 1966. The car has spent it’s whole life here in Cresco. I am the forth owner and have the enviable pleasure of knowing all the previous owners, so I possess a lot of the car’s history.

It was purchased by the owner of the local bank, who bought it for his wife. They sold the car to a bank employee in 1969, and she drove the car back and forth to work every day until 1985, a trip of four miles a day. The car was then sold to the wife of a local mortician. I happened to be working at the local GM dealership when that transaction took place and had the opportunity to work on the car. After the work was finished the car virtually disappeared.

I had been secretly eyeballing it in prior years as I drove by the bank in my ‘65 Monza 140/4 on my way to high school . I had made inquiries as to the possibility of purchasing the car and got a "We will add your name to the list" type response. So I was pretty devastated when the car showed up at the dealership with a new owner. I decided not to give up on the car and started a years long campaign to convince the owners to sell the car to me.

Every time I had an occasion to talk with the owner’s husband I would ask if they were considering putting the car up for sale. The answer was always, "It’s my wifes car and she isn’t ready to sell it." This process went on and on for years until April of 2002 when I finally heard the response I was waiting for, "You may have asked at the right time, my wife is ready to sell."

Within a month the car was in my garage and that is where my story with the car truly begins. There are some interesting twists to the story and a mystery that no one can answer. I will tell you more later, but you can see the car and talk with me about it because I am driving it from Iowa to Massachusetts for the convention in Sturbridge this summer. See you there.

Jamie Reinhart
CORSA President