Michelle Balch - '66 Crown Coupe

Information About New V8 Registry Members Names

Michelle Balch - '66 Crown Coupe

Postby Rick Andersen » Sun Dec 20, 2020 4:51 pm

Please welcome what I believe to be our first female member, Michelle Balch from my home town Tacoma, Washington. Michelle is better known as Misha.

https://www.v8registry.com/michelle-bal ... ngton.html

I have also included a few photos that were Misha's previous projects.

66 Caprice 396.jpg
63 Bel Air black two door post w red interior 6 cyl w 3 on tree.jpg
15-standing front-drive-3-qtr view.JPG
97 V-Max.jpg
shovelhead chop.jpg
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Rick Andersen
Vice President - V8 Registry
V8 Registry Webmaster
'65 Crown V8 Corsa Convertible
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Rick Andersen
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Posts: 362
Joined: Wed Jan 29, 2014 6:12 pm
Location: Puyallup, Wa / Bonita, Ca

Re: Michelle Balch - '66 Crown Coupe

Postby MishaB65 » Tue Jan 19, 2021 2:19 am

Thank you for that introduction, Rick. Hi everyone.

I look forward to becoming a valued member and helping to grow the V8 community as much, or, actually more, than I have my local Corvair club, Corvairs NW. I have been in school almost a decade now, and it has been really difficult to participate in the local club and keep my school work up. Yet I do owe a great deal to some of the wonderful members of Corvairs NW for the help they offered to keep my '64 Monza on the road for the first few years I was back in school. I'm looking forward to graduation in 2023 so I will have time to be more active in the hobby.

Of course, as I noted in my phone conversation with John, until I have completed my current doctoral program and graduated and have my private practice up and running, I will need to make concessions to keep my education and future employment front and center in my life. But this will not be forever, and my choice of transportation will always be something I invest energy and time into learning as much as I can about, improving my knowledge and ability for self-sufficiency and offering help to others. This is especially true when it involves Corvairs and the larger community who use them for their daily transportation, and who and invest their time and energy in keeping the memory of these cars alive in the public's imagination. And, this goes double for the more exclusive community of the V8 owner/builders.

I know that it is something notable to be the first in anything. And, so, if I am truly the first female to be granted membership in the club, I expect closer scrutiny. Being that this is the V8 Registry, it didn't seem to be the place to post photos of my other automotive toys. However, since my Crown is in such terrible shape, and actually will be changing bodies from a 66 Monza body to a 65 Corsa body I thought it appropriate to post something indicating that I am more than just a wanna-be fender bunny. I do want to be a CorV8 owner and builder, and I'm sure those experiences will come in time to add to my previous classic car restoration experiences. I've had about 25 or so classic cars in my time and worked on most of them to one degree or another. I do some fabrication and paint in my little shop and have brought a few cars back from the dead to daily-driver condition. Truthfully, the only reason I'm not building my Crown myself right now is because my daily work in reading, research, and writing papers to earn my degree leaves me no time to do the work myself. Rick was kind enough to post a few of the photos of some of the cars, trucks and motorcycles I've had the pleasure to own/rebuild in my little one-stall garage, to earn some sort of place here.

I'll be paying for the '65 Corsa body this week (about January 20th) with the first cuts to install the Crown sub-frame (which is getting powder-coated as I write this), and the radiator likely occurring late-January, and the freshened 327 bolted in soon after that.

Thank you, and my best hope for all of us that 2021 holds some kind of improvement over 2020.

Misha
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Michelle Balch
Tacoma, Washington
'65 Crown Corsa
MishaB65
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2020 8:05 pm

Re: Michelle Balch - '66 Crown Coupe

Postby Dayton Parkville » Thu Feb 04, 2021 8:36 am

Welcome Misha
I know of you from the facebook V8 Corvair page. Welcome to this very small corner of the world.

I was in Tacoma last year and wanted to look you up to say hello but family illness and death took it's toll.

I'm looking forward to see how your project progresses

John Dayton
Parkville MD
John Dayton
Parkville, Md.
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Re: Michelle Balch - '66 Crown Coupe

Postby MishaB65 » Fri Feb 05, 2021 7:32 am

John:

My condolences for your loss.

I look forward to meeting you sometime, also.

I still remember the day, about two years ago or so, when I was trying to avoid my school work, and spent a number of hours scrolling through your build photos and descriptions online. Fascinating build documentation.

As, you may have picked up in one of my posts, I also have a '66 Convertible and a '68 Eldorado, and a 76 501 CID engine from a CpeD'Ville, and dream of making an Eldo powered Vert, (as well as a RWD Eldo, like Helldorado). So, your build was particularly fascinating to me.

Best,
Misha
Michelle Balch
Tacoma, Washington
'65 Crown Corsa
MishaB65
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2020 8:05 pm

Re: Michelle Balch - '66 Crown Coupe

Postby MishaB65 » Fri Feb 05, 2021 7:45 am

I should also include a photo of my first Corvair that I got from a little old lady in Coeur d'Alene, ID back in 1999.

The intent at the time was to choose between a few relatively-small, older cars (I was considering the Porsche 914, the VW Karmann Ghia, or the Corvair), that I could stuff a V8 into, so that when I converted it to hydrogen, (to survive the coming high fuel prices as we shift to non-carbon based fuels in a futile attempt to save our species from climate change), I would still have enough power to keep spirited driving a fun and affordable pass-time. Of course I discovered the Crown conversions and, after finding out about the wealth of parts still available for restoring them, I was convinced that Corvair was the car for me.

I got this car with a 110 engine, and while I was out with my brother driving semi-truck across the states, Lynn Richardson (the guy that was involved with making the 5 speed transmissions), put a 140 in it along with some Mazda 626 seats.
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Michelle Balch
Tacoma, Washington
'65 Crown Corsa
MishaB65
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2020 8:05 pm


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