<VV> Dues and CORSA Survival (Novel Length)

[EVERETT WILSON]

Wow!  I havent seen this much activity on VV in a while!!  It got my attention and made me realize that I had become one of the unwashed who use the services but dont foot the bill.  My CORSA membership had lapsed two or three years ago and I just didnt get around to renewing it.  Too lazy/busy to bother writing a check.   I didnt even realize it had been so long.  Of course, I didnt realize my Brier had been sitting out of service in my garage for 17 months either, until I looked at the inspection sticker that expired in 9/07!!!  Yikes!!  It had dropped a valve seat a month or so before that.  A couple more nice days this month and it will be back on the road! 
 
Anyhow, I just did the online renewal thing.  Now that the oil companies are giving the gas away, I can afford it!!
 
Comments on the Dues and etc about CORSA:  
 
If it has to go up, then do it.  Dont wait.  With the amount of money lost in the last three years, the hole needs to be plugged.  It's starting to look like GM here!  Non-Profit doesnt have to mean operating a submarine.
 
I liked several of the ideas about marketing the club.  If no one knows we exist, they dont get interested.  If no one gets interested, they can't even think about joining and the club goes away.  
 
Now, having said that, Im an airline operations geek and I dont have an MBA, so Im often told I cant see the big picture, but somehow, some way, we (CORSA) have to get noticed more.  Marketing can cost lots of money.  We dont have any.  However, there are frugal (cheap) ways to do things and I KNOW we have some talent in this group of independent operators to do things frugally.   
 
A new logo? Perhaps a totally new logo isnt necessary, but how about a "secondary" logo;  the business can (and probably should) keep the "main" logo and we could have some "marketing" versions as well.  The company I work for has the main logo consisting of two letters and a bird and then half a dozen other logotypes that can be used separately or in conjunction with the main one.  Get out some pens and paper and see what happens!  Surely we have some artistic talent in the group as well.
Whatever is invented, I really think the word CORVAIR needs to be prominently featured.  Other than some Italians, I dont know too many people that even know what a CORSA is!!!   One of those WWII airplanes that was on Baa Baa Black Sheep, wasnt it? <grin>    
 
What about some new T-shirts with the cars on them.  My favorite one has an image of every body style on the back of it.  One of the NTCA folks created it several years ago for HOT and I Still get comments from people EVERY TIME I wear it and I gotta tell you, that shirt is faded and coming apart!  But the fact that it shows the cars and trucks and converts amazes people who remember Corvairs, but never realized they came in more than a two door model. This drives interest in the cars.  Maybe gives someone an idea that they would like to find one and buy it!
 
Driving the cars?  While I realize that this isnt practical for everyone, I (or my wife or one of my older kids) drive one of mine EVERY day.  My 67 4 door looks like hell.  Paints coming off, has a big dent in the rear fender, upholstery is coming apart.  Doesnt matter.  It runs well, doesnt smoke and people go out of their way to come over and see it at Home Depot or the gas station or wherever I park.  My kids just cant get over it.  One of the 13 year-olds friends was with us the other day and after I had spent 10 minutes showing the engine to some guy, he asked me if I was always nice to people like that when they asked about the car.  Yes, I told him.  I am.  I WANT other people to be interested in Corvairs.  I WANT to see more of them on the streets.  Before the Van crapped out, I delivered pizzas in it.  Four evenings a week, that Brier had a Domino's sign on the roof and it got noticed.  Again, people at the gas station and
 parking lots would remember seeing it with the pizza sign and come over and chat.  I had regular customers that were disappointed when I had to revert to the rice burner when the valve seat dropped.  The local Cops even noticed - In a good way!  When we had a theft at my house, the two that showed up mentioned the van, saying how they had seen it around town so often and didnt realize I lived where I do.   Another stopped to check on me when I had a mechanical issue.  Again, he had seen it around so much and wanted to be sure it was nothing serious.   That doesnt happen in the Mazda.   
 
People NOTICE our Vairs and they LIKE them, but they cant notice them or get interested in them when the cars only appear at Corvair club meetings or sit under a cover in the garage.  On my end of town, here in the DFW area, there is at least one car gathering, cruise-in or whatever you want to call it every saturday from April til November.  I can count on my fingers how many times Ive seen a Vair at one of them.  Mine certainly arent show cars, but I plan to get the Greenbrier to a few this summer.  Its different enough that people can overlook the tattered seats.  Sure, it costs a couple of hours and probably a few bucks for an entry fee, but I plan to invest some this year.  My 4 year-old daughter likes the other "pretty cars, especially the Pink ones", so it will be a father-daughter investment.      
 
Someone mentioned charging people to see the cars at our conventions. I dont see that as viable.  Hell, most of the time no one even knows there IS a gathering of corvairs. Plus, with the Concours and car show happening on Tuesday or Wednesday and wrapped up by 5 o'clock or earlier, it is unlikely that many would/could show.   I try (not too successfully the last few years) to make it to the conventions, but am often limited to friday evening and saturday. By that time, the car show is long over and with the new schedule, CORSA is leaving town before anyone might get a chance to come and see us!   I dont have an answer to this issue.  
 
Involvement/merger with other clubs?  I see this as problematic, but on the other hand, nothing says local chapters cant talk with some other marques to see if a joint show of some sort could be put together.  I recall the Minnesota club participating in an All-GM show of some sort at the fairgrounds in years past.  NTCA did an orphans show at some point in the recent past, I was not too active at that time, so I dont recall how well it went over, but it was an idea!   What about the VW Bug-ins.  I can see some common ground with them.  Probably not so much with the Porsche crowd.  Oil and water there, I think. But who knows? 
 
So, there is my novel for the decade.  More than I planned to write, but I sincerely hope that some of the CORSA boardmembers read at least some of the non-rant postings.  Change is hard.  But fading to oblivian is not so good either.  
 
Keep those Vairs alive!!
 
Everett Wilson
North Richland Hills TX