CORVETTES of BUFFALO 1

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF

www.corvettesofbuffalo.com

COB VETTE NEWS Since 1981

Volume 40, Issue 1

Notes from the President

With Christmas rapidly approaching as I write this, I

can’t help but think how fortunate we all are to be

driving America’s sports, car the Corvette. For us it is

not so much the car as it is the people we have met, the

places we have visited and most of all the friends we

have made that we are most thankful for this holiday

season.

As I reflect on the past year, I can’t but not think

about our two major events, the Vets & Vettes car

Show and the Caravan/Dice Run. Both events were a

success and we should be proud of the help we were

able to provide to WNY Heroes and Kids Escaping Drugs.

Way to go to all involved in both events. I want to

thank the club members who have organized out of

town trips and hosted events. You have stepped up and

done a great job. There were times that the table was

completely full of sign-up sheets, keep up the good

work!

As usual we ended the year with our annual

Christmas luncheon with the Instillation of Officers.

Dick & Sue Brownlee along with Jim & Terry Decker

again put on a great event with 93 members in

attendance. They will be passing the torch to George &

Karen Sparks with a move to the South towns at Ilio

DiPaolo’s next year.

With new events planned and the return of others

the coming year has the potential to be another great

year for Corvettes of Buffalo.

Save the Wave

Bob

January, 2020

Notes from the editor

It’s 1970, R. Nixon is POTUS and Viet Nam continues

to dominate the headlines. The US Army charges

Captain Edwin Medina with war crimes at My Lai and

anti-war protests arise at college campuses across the

country.

The Kent State (Ohio) shootings by the ONG, leaving

four dead, are quickly followed by the shooting at

Jackson State (Miss.) where two students are killed

by police.

Rock stars Jimmy Hendrix and Janis Joplin die of drug

overdoses. Both are 27. The Buffalo Sabers arrive in

the NHL where they skate to a 24-39-15 record. The

Buffalo Bills post a 3-10-1 season.

In theaters we watched “Patton” and “Mash”. The

radio played “Close to you” and “Bridge over troubled

waters” and “Happy Days” and “The Carol Burnett

Show” were tops on TV.

The 1970 Corvette is still troubled.

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Officers President-------Bob Joseph-------------716-440-6091 Vice President-Mike Buccilli—--------716-648-2037 Treasurer-------Maryanne Pastore---716-694-9024 Secretary-------Karen Rothenberger-716-675-9467

Board of Directors

Frank Pastore-------------------- 716-693-4654 Debbie Schafer ------------------716-551-6999 Bruce Graham -------------------716-741-3350 Lynda Graham -------------------716-741-3350 Skip Polowy ----------------------716-201-1889 George Sparks--------------------716-432-8799 Jim Decker ------------------------716-652-2169

Committees Membership Barbara Lipome 716-691-8845 Newsletter Larry Dudeck 716-634-7391 Phone Comm. Lynda Graham 716-741-3350 Sunshine Comm. Karen Rothenberger 716-675-9467 Diane Skeide 876-1197 Webmaster Lynn Kelly 716-681-7931 lehkelly@hotmail.com Activities Dir. Lynda Graham 716-741-3350 Club Photographer Dan Krakowski 675-5880 Dave Spencer 353 2457 Face Book page Manager Dan Wroblewski 585 318 4480 Liaison for Out of Town Corvette Clubs Mike & Lee Buccilli 716-648-2037 *********************************************

Meeting every second Saturday of the month at First Presbyterian Church

9675 Main St. Clarence, NY, 14031 Meeting starts 7:00 p.m.

***********************************************

Visit us at: http://www.corvettesofbuffalo.com/

Send Newsletter Articles To: Larry Dudeck

E-Mail: corvettebuffaloeditor@yahoo.com

Submissions must be in by the 27th

Late submissions will be published the following month.

January Anniversaries

1st Dave & Carol Hall

January Birthdays

3rd Larry Dudeck

6th Mike Buccilli

7th Bonnie Binger

7th Lorry Kwiek

10th Linda Graham

16th Nicolet Brett

19th John Haller

19th Nancy Conroy

23rd Roseanne Merzacco

29th Matt Behr

31st Mike Gruber

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Some of the activities for this month

January 11 Monthly meeting of CoB

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CHURCH DONATIONS

In the months to follow, needed donations requested by the church are as follows:

JANUARY – paper products (toilet paper, paper towels, paper napkins)

FEBRUARY – canned meats, tuna, spam, SpaghettiOs, spaghetti sauce

MARCH – laundry products and toiletries

APRIL – evaporated/ condensed milk, cereal, condiments

MAY - dinner food (boxed dinners, boxed potatoes, rice, hamburger helper)

JUNE - paper products (toilet paper, paper towels, paper napkins)

JULY – condiments, canned meats, tuna, spam, SpaghettiOs, spaghetti sauce

AUG – PICNIC – NO DONATIONS

SEPTEMBER - laundry products and toiletries

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This from CoB’s George Sparks

Bad Boys, Whatcha Gonna Do When This C8 Corvette Police Car Comes For You?

Well, if you have to be pulled over for speeding in your new C8 Corvette, it might as well be

by another C8, huh?

Keep things in the family, right?

This C8 Corvette, all done up in police department livery, would definitely be up for the task

but unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how heavy your foot is) it isn’t for real yet.

But based on the number of previous Corvettes that have actually been turned into law

enforcement vehicles after being confiscated from criminals in many cases, we wouldn’t be

surprised to see one similar to this rendering by the good folks at JOTA Automotive sooner

rather than later. (Take a look at the JOTA Facebook page for some more wild renderings of

C8s!)

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History of the Corvette, part 18

The 1970 edition of the Corvette was also plagued with quality control problems.

The 1970 “Clean Air” bill, recently enacted into law, set standards for fuel efficiency and tail

pipe emissions. Essentially, car manufacturers had just 6 years to reduce emissions by 90%

Due to a UAW strike in November, 1969, the 1970 Corvette reached the show room floor in

February, 1970. The abbreviated sales year resulted in only 17316 cars produced. John

DeLorean, Chevy’s president, decided this perceived shortage of Corvettes was a good reason

to have a hefty price increase. For the first time, the price of the coupe version broke the

$5000 barrier, the base model carrying a sticker price of $5192. The convertible started at

$4849.

Changes for 1970 included an “egg crate” style grill. The fender vents were changed from the

louver style to the same “egg crate” pattern as the grill. Interior changes included redesigned

seats that provided an extra inch of headroom. All windows were now tinted as a standard.

Under hood and transmission options were the same as the 1969 editions and Positraction

was standard.

Note the new “egg crate” grill treatment and the squared-off parking lights

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Note the fender vents have the same “egg crate” design as the grill

The same tail lamp treatment as the previous year. The exhaust outlets have been squared-off to match the parking

lamps in the grill.

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This from the Ezine “Rod Authority” Back when cable TV’s music-video programming actually played music videos, the folks at VH1 ran a sweepstake where they gave away a cadre of 36 Corvettes to one lucky winner. The year was 1989, and to attract a larger audience, VH1 ran a promotion where entrants would place a two-dollar phone call to a 900-number. The winner was drawn from a list of the four-million entrants who made the call. In the end, a carpenter from Long Island, Dennis Amodeo, won all the Corvettes. Storing all 36 Corvettes can be a bit of an issue, especially any place near New York City. It didn’t take long for that fact to become very real to Dennis. He sold the pack of Corvettes, almost immediately, to artist Peter Max, who took on the task of storing all the cars in various parking garages all around the Big Apple. His five-year plan was to use the cars as art, but that soon turned into a 30-year-plus endeavor. In the end, the cars were never desecrated in the name of art, but they didn’t fare much better at the hands of mother nature and time. Left to decay, the cars were forgotten and lost to time. In 2014, the cars were finally pried from their public sarcophagus’, and are now getting a second lease on life, ironically, in a second sweepstake. The collection included a Corvette from every year of production, including a 1953! All the cars have spent the last few decades sitting in various parking garages. They will now be offered to the newest 36 lucky individuals during this special sweepstakes benefitting the National Guard Education Foundation. It is said that “Those who don’t study history are destined to repeat it.” The folks at the History Channel should know that better than anyone and, as an interesting twist, have joined with Corvette Heroes on this second-round sweepstakes. The difference this time is there will be 36 individual winners looking to find a spot for their single Corvette rather than finding 36 spots for all the Corvettes! Another benefit is it increases the odds of those who participate. The Lost Corvettes Giveaway (aka Corvette Heroes Sweepstakes) started on July 1, 2019, at 12:00 a.m. Eastern time and will end on April 30, 2020, at 11:59 p.m. Pacific time. The selection of winners will occur around May 15, 2020. This sweepstake is open only to legal United States residents of 49 states and the District of Columbia (sorry Oregon). Entrants must be 18 or older to enter, and of course, the sweepstakes is void where prohibited. We don’t know of anyone who wouldn’t want to win a Corvette, and thanks to this special opportunity, there will be 36 winning individuals – well, 37 if you consider Dennis Amodeo. I wonder if he’ll throw his name back in the hat for a second chance! But, would that make it 36 winners or 35? As we said, math gets funny when it comes to sweepstakes.

Questions and or an entry form?: Please email us at support@corvetteheroes.com

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Pizza Party The Pizza Party to be held on February 8th The cost will be $5.00 per person and a sign-up sheet will be available at the January meeting. I will be collecting the money with my husband Bruce. Thank you in advance. Lynda Graham

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This from Corvette Forums

Not only will the hybrid C8 ZR1 boast amazing power, but it may also be the first all-wheel-drive Corvette in history.

It seems that the team behind the new C8 Corvette are not only am ambitious group, but a daring one as well. Shortly after the wild success of the 2020 C8 Corvette, it seems there is already change coming on the horizon. Motor Trend is reporting that they spoke to a senior GM official who said the C8 generation Corvette ZR1 will be a hybrid. The magazine, who just named the 2020 Corvette Car of the Year, says this hybrid variant will be built on the upcoming Z06 platform and be all-wheel-drive.

It’s a not-so-little secret that the C8 Z06 is expected to house a twin-turbo flat-plane V8. When Corvette Forum attended the Corvette Convertible reveal in Cape Canaveral, FL, we were struck by the surprise appearance of the Corvette C8.R. It seemed to us that the racer was an important part of the ‘Vette’s evolution. It appeared imminent that Chevrolet would change to flat-plane for its racing powerplant in 2020. And said engine would extend to other upcoming street models.

Based off of the C8.R, a hybrid C8 Z06 would be running on a twin-turbo DOHC V8. As a result, we’d have a hybrid Corvette that offered more torque than its competitors, and could offer a juicy 900 hp. Most importantly, don’t be afraid of the word hybrid. Motor Trend’s mystery GM exec says it’s going to be a performance-hybrid, not one focused on fuel economy.

Motor Trend’s source couldn’t expand on all of the deets, obviously. So as for the particulars on displacement and hybrid engine placement, we can only speculate. That said, the mystery exec confirmed Cadillac’s 4.2-liter Blackwing V8 won’t be coming to any C8. Certainly, the C7 Corvette ZR1 is a brick house. The 6.2 L V8 makes a face-melting 755 hp. But it’s hard to control and keep that power down. With all-wheel-drive and a mid-engine design, it looks like Corvette is aiming to take on supercars. Watch out, Porsche, Ferrari, and Acura.

We don’t know when we can expect the C8 Corvette ZR1, but we wouldn’t bet against Chevrolet right now. They have been consistently hitting it out of the park.

Photos: Corvette; Corvette Forums

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Christmas Luncheon at Wurlitzer

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All photos courtesy of CoB’s Dave Spencer

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2020 Corvette viewing at Joe Basil Chevrolet

All photos courtesy of CoB’s Dave Spencer

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