<VV> A/C Corsas

[nicolcs at aol.com]

Steven wrote:
<snip>I once saw a '66 Corsa Convertible on eBay that was purported to have 
"factory A/C".  It was originally offered by the author of a Corvair 
book (who should have known better).  While the auction was still going, 
a prospective purchaser wrote me to ask my advice because he got my 
email address from my website.  I told him to email the seller and ask 
him to read the body tag to him, i.e., to look for the 'E' in the second 
group.  The seller got quite huffy and defensive and would not let the 
buyer know what was on the tag.  (The seller said things like, "I'm not 
going out to read the body tag.  Either you're interested, or your 
not!")  I told the buyer that it was my opinion he should avoid the car 
-- and the seller -- like the plague.

Since that time, the same convertible appears on eBay about once a year, 
although subsequent sellers have admitted that, while the components are 
"factory equipment", the A/C was not installed at the factory.  Every 
time it reappears, I send the guy who didn't buy it an email with a 
subject line of "It's Baaaaaaaack." <unsnip>
 
Craig opines:
Don't forget that GM sold dealer kits that installed factory air parts too. Do those conversions have no value? Does a "rescued" A/C system carfully installed have no value? While decoding body tags is very informative and fun, I strongly object to the total dismissal of a car that doesn't have the dammed "E" on the body tag.  It's still what it is; an A/C Corsa convertible. Maybe it doesn't have 100% authenticity, but it still has very high value and serves to preserve the marque.  In the muscle car scene (think BB Camaros and the like) "Tribute" cars bring very high prices too because buyers respect the difficulty of assembling all the right pieces in the original way - the car DOES have high value even if it is a "made up" car.  I'm also involved in the NCRS ('65 FI) and maintain a registry of them. There's a huge (as in tidal) negative reaction to "numbers" and all the associated fakery. Many, if not most of the "numbers matching" cars don't really have the original components - there are just vendors out there that have made a business of making items with numbers or renumbering stuff, and others charge to "authenticate" them.  In the Corvette hobby (which started all this stuff) folks have discovered that worrying about numbers has SUCKED THE FUN OUT of the Corvette hobby.  Please don't take Corvairs down this bridgeless road to...
Craig Nicol
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