<VV> Re: "How to evaluate a Vair" / APOLOGY / Long Response

Sun May 15 13:54:59 EDT 2005

VVers:

>Steven Serenksa  is 
>GONE...NADA...off line.......hopefully will return someday......
>
>Someone NICE,  sent me HIS  copy  to post on MY [ neutral]  website.  LOL!
>  
>
>Happily the "Ideal Garage"  is back on line!  It will be interesting to see 
>what Steve has to say!
>
>On my knees...kissing someone boots......
>
Kissing someone's boots?  Yuck, I think I might go back to "NADA".  :)

So, where have I been?  I have been off this list for about a year 
because I'm trying to start a new company and am working the equivalent 
of two jobs right now.  Because I chose my parents wrong, there are no 
vast pools of startup capital available to me...all equity is "sweat 
equity".  I had to cut back on a few of life's time-consuming pleasures, 
and VV was one of them.

Even though I'm offline, I still drive my Corvairs every day.  I'm 
touching wood while I write this, but another reason for my lack of VV 
activity is that both cars just run and run and run.  I have driven the 
convertible round-trip to Maine the past two summers (450-mile r/t) and 
it was pure pleasure both times.  Neither car has been off the road -- 
not once -- in over two years (again, touching wood...).  Both cars 
start right up every morning.  They really are great cars. 

But everyone here knows that.

I'm not sure I'd call the rest of this post "interesting", but here's 
what else has been happening since I was last on VV.  [This is a long 
post -- Skip if you're busy.]

The Corvairs came out late this year because the winter lasted so long 
up here.  The piles of salt weren't cleared away until the second week 
of April.  I still haven't had the convertible out -- when I could enjoy 
it -- yet this season.

Because my principal mission in life is to cause my four daughters to 
roll their eyes heavenward as often as possible, I begin counting down 
the days leading up to when I bring the Corvairs out weeks and weeks 
before the actual day.  Over the past couple years, I have come to call 
the day that the Corvairs are put back on the road "Roar Day", because 
that's the day you can hear the Corvairs ROAR TO LIFE.  (Saying this 
works particularly well if you pronounce "ROAR TO LIFE!" the way Tony 
the Tiger would.)  I celebrate "Roar Day" in a number of ways, including 
threatening to put a calendar on the fridge to 'X' off the days.  This 
year, I also suggested that we "get the whole gang together and go 
around the neighborhood to sing 'Merry Roar Day' carols".  As you might 
expect, this was greeted with a less-than-enthusiastic response.  I 
persist, however, because the eye-rolling, shoulder-sagging, and general 
moaning of my 14-year old when I begin singing "Hark! The Herald Corvair 
Roars!" at the top of my lungs is _completely_ worth it.

I have now owned my LM convertible 
(http://www.serenska.com/IdealGarage/html/1965_monza_convertible.cfm) 
for 6 years.  Because I drive my Corvairs every day and I live in a 
small town (Bristol, RI), people know the cars by sight and sometimes 
call me up or email me when they see another Corvair (i.e., to make sure 
I know about it).  Last summer, I had a guy drive up to our door, knock, 
and introduce himself.  He said he had gone out for a cup of coffee in 
his new Monza convertible and a bunch of teenagers on bicycles at the 
coffee shop gave him my address and directions to my house and suggested 
he stop by.  I have no idea who the kids were, but I was particularly 
pleased with the knowledge that the local youngsters had my Corvair on 
their radar screens.  This is the new blood our hobby needs...

Contrary to rumors (perpetuated in part by the VV Chairman... :-O), the 
Ideal Garage website (http://www.serenska.com/IdealGarage) has always 
been up and running.  It was down for about 12 hours this past March -- 
and it was probably just a coincidence that people on VV couldn't get to 
it when they tried.  Unfortunately, due to work, I haven't done too much 
with the content on the website lately.  I'm backed up on several 
garages that people have submitted and I apologize if any of you are 
reading. 

Frankly, I'm glad I put so much effort into the website back when I had 
the time, because I think it has held up well and the site's popularity 
seems to grow each day.  The only frustrating thing for me now is that I 
had left off with a bunch of good ideas for the website and I'm not sure 
when they'll ever be implemented.  I did a fair amount of research and 
had gathered some good materials, but I didn't get a chance to implement 
them.  Maybe I can turn them over to someone else who might have a bit 
more time.

I'm also pleased to note that the "Buying a Corvair" questionnaire has 
been downloaded over 850 times by around 750 different people.  If you 
think about the total number of people in CORSA, the fact that 10-15% of 
that number have downloaded the survey is pretty darned amazing.  I wish 
I had the time to do more.

Finally, Matt, before I return to "NADA", we must discuss this matter of 
your purloining the Buyers Questionnaire and posting it UNATTRIBUTED on 
your "neutral" website.  Rest assured that you will soon be hearing from 
my ULTRA Attorney, Norman Witte, Esq.  He will be representing me as we 
sue you right down to your front seat buns.  Mmm-bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha...  :)

In all seriousness, if you haven't downloaded the Pre-purchase 
checklist, you can find it at 
http://www.serenska.com/IdealGarage/html/corvair_pre-purchase_questionn.cfm 
.  I read through it last night and couldn't believe some of the detail 
that's in there.  I compiled the questionnaire by culling information 
from VV.  The turbo section, in particular, seemed pretty darned useful. 
Take a look at it if you haven't lately.

That's enough for now.  I'll be back at some point.

Steven "O Come, All Ye Roar-ful" Serenska

http://www.serenska.com/Ideal Garage

'65 Monza Convertible, 110/4spd, factory A/C, AM/FM
'66 Corsa Coupe, 140/4spd, factory A/C, AM/FM, headrests