It Lives and Breathes....

[Rene Gimenez]

And can go up and down my street! This is my 1969 Zink C4, which my family and I carted home in a bunch of boxes just under a year ago. It still wears the same paint it had when it ran the Runoffs at Road Atlanta in 1971! In addition, I discovered it was sponsored by a Los Angeles area Volkswagen dealership, Four J Motors, in Huntington Park. The paint is a carry over, but everything else is brand new. The frame is powdercoated silver, with a new aluminum floor pan, fuel cell, and fire system. I need to adjust the brakes (what a learning experience this is turning out to be) and align the wheels, but I plan to run the VARA test and tune weekend at Buttonwillow in several weeks.

[FM4SOLO]

Simply stunning. I am in awe that you could combine the restoration/rebuild with the as purchased body work. Well done! My son and I are working on highly "modified" '63 Sardini Solo Vee, but the results will not be near as nice. Congatulations on a job well done.

[twofoot]

Please don't change a thing! It is refreshing to see some actual race patina on a car these days. Everyone seems to think they should have $5,000 perfectly color sanded paint jobs on their vintage race cars theses days.

All the cool kids know that the vintage dirt makes you go faster because it has less chemicals and preservatives...

[BobShedd]

Looks great Rene. As always give me a call if I can help. Bob Shedd

[Jon R]

Hey, another Zink out of Michigan... just kidding. Great car, even better paint and as always, Zinks go like the wind. Hope to see you at the B'day party.

BTW... hi to Bob Shedd. I've not seen you in years.

Jon R Belanger

[Bandido 82]

Rene,

Did you go to U of V last weekend? If so, how was it and did you have fun? My(our) first race this year will be at Willow Springs in April, hope to see you there. BTW welcome to the club.
Ken
Team Calavo

[Rene Gimenez]

...And now I can also add that it has gone around a race track! Thanks to all for the kind comments. I did bring it out to the University of VARA, but I did the test and tune. Due to family committments, I did all my sessions on Saturday. Overall, I found it an absolute blast to drive. Going into the test, I knew that the rear did not have anywhere near the camber it should (less than 1 degree negative), and I felt the handling suffered. Overall, the car ran like a watch, and seemed to have reasonable power (such as it was). FV is defintely a class that demands smoothness to be fast, and after I stopped trying to chuck the car into the corners my lap times started to drop. I came back from the test with a laundry list of things to do - I'm modifying the rear shock mounts on the rear trailing arms to get alternate pickup points for more negative camber (priority #1). I'm also converting the front tie rods from stock ball joints to rod ends (thanks Dietmar) in order to play a little with bumpsteer. On top of that, I have been having quite a time trying to find springs of the correct length to fit my Armstrongs, so I'm considering changing over to another rear shock.

At this point I'm trying to decide what to bring to Willow in April- I recently discovered that treaded Dunlop FV tires are over $150 more a set than Goodyear slicks for my formula continental!!

[Dietmar]

Rene:

Glad I could be of help
Dietmar

[tppj]

Rene, The car is gorgeous. Let me add my voice to the chorus of approval over the original paint and bodywork. That is SO cool! My dad and I had a '69 Zink. I miss it, and hope to find one to buy and restore. The car is extremely driver friendly, don't you think? I noticed the side pods stop at the bulkhead instead of going to the rear of the frame. That, undoubtedly, is a big help in cooling the heads (and adjusting the valves!). Also, the tray under the rear tail section is missing. This would also contribute to better cooling, I would surmise. Again, nice going- it's a beauty!

Tom