BSCC- Corvair Underground 1974-2009

[rick macdonald]

>From www.corvaircenter.com forum this morning:
 
Lon has posted there lately saying his business has been down as much as 90% in recent months!
 
CORVAIR UNDERGROUND
1974-2009

It would be trite of me to say that this is the hardest letter I have ever had to write. It would be trite and, well, untrue as well. All of us have had negative events in our life, some worse than others. On a scale of negativity this letter ranks pretty high, but I’ve seen worse.

In 1974 I was young and stupid. I started a part time business that, by any rational measure, looked like an eccentric lark. For reasons I still don’t fully understand that excursion blossomed into a full fledged mail order business.

When my 2nd wife and I separated in 1982 I almost lost the business. But I kept stubbornly plugging away and, with the help of Linda (whom I married in 1983), managed to rebuild the Corvair Underground into a legitimate International player in the Corvair parts market.

35 years is a long time for any business to last, but very little lasts forever. 2009 marks the year that Linda and I will begin to liquidate our corporation. We’ve seen and had to make many changes in the way we’ve done things. That’s how you survive 35 years.

But the past 3 years have been just a bit much. First we tried to sell the business for somewhat less than it was worth. Then we tried to sell it for a lot less than it was worth. Then we almost gave it away. In every case the “serious” buyers passed up on a real opportunity, mostly because of a lack of funds.

I have had health problems before, but my heart/stroke surgery 2 years ago really threw a monkey wrench in everything. Add that to failed attempts to sell, losing my key employees in the process, and a general downturn in the economy has made the going rough. Truthfully I promised Linda Winter before last that we would not struggle through another Winter (Our traditionally slowest time of the year). And here we are.

It’s time for me to do something else. What that is, I have no idea. But I do know that it’s time to wind this business down.

Our intention is to have Corvair Underground closed by late Spring of this year. Whether that will be possible or not remains to be seen. Even though our operation is considerably smaller than our “heydays” of the past 35 years, there is still an unbelievable amount of inventory here. I would still claim that we are the second largest inventory of new and reproduced Corvair parts in the world. We also have about a quarter mile of shelving and a lot of other equipment and stuff.

Is there a buyer out there? Time’s running out. I may have to dump all this stuff on the open market and though “garage” sales. Not really looking forward to that.

If you have even a passing interest in our clearance make sure you’re signed up for our electronic NEWS. It’s free and easy. Just log into our website at www.corvairunderground.com. That will be the primary way I will be announcing open house sales dates and other breaking news.

So far as continuing to take and process your mail orders - that will not change at all. A number of our reproduced items will NOT be replaced and some inventory that requires large purchase commitments will not be replaced either. In the meantime we’ll keep processing orders for the foreseeable future just as we have since 1974.

Has Corvair Underground been a positive force in the Corvair parts market these past 35 years? Well, the age of self-promotion of my business has ended for me. Other people and history will answer that question, eventually.

Lon Wall
 
 


      
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