<VV> 1969 Guest Speaker in Jacksonviille

[Dave Newell]

May 14th, 2009:
Forty years after the last Corvair was assembled at Willow Run, I'm proud to announce that one of our Corvair Preservation Guests at the Jacksonville convention will be Mr. Joe Casey. Joe was head of Production Engineering at Willow Run when the Corvair was taken off the main assembly line and set up on its own miniature line in the back of the plant. In that position, Joe planned the off-line Corvair assembly area and was privileged to be Production Supervisor of its first shift through the end on May 14th.
Joe orchestrated the press ceremony for the last day of production and has vivid memories of it, as well as of his adventures coming up through the ranks in the Willow Run Production Department since 1961. After leaving Willow Run, Joe managed and built assembly plants in Mexico for GM, Johnson Controls, Lear, Irvin and Renteler de Mexico. His background is Industrial Engineering and currently he has his own manufacturing consulting firm. No stranger to Corvairs, Joe and his son fixed up a '65 Corvair together.
Joe will be at the convention all week as a guest of the CPF, and will be speaking to us at the CPF Presentation on Wednesday night. I first interviewed Joe back in 1992 and have kept in touch with him. The late Mark Ellis and I were dreaming -- since this time last year -- that Joe could speak to us in Jacksonville, and Mark would be thrilled to know that it's really going to happen.
Appropriately, the CPF display at the convention will include 1969 #5999 and 1960 #407, representing both the 40th Anniversary of building the last Corvair and the 50th Anniversary since the first Corvair rolled off the line on July 7, 1959. Artist Harry Borgman, who designed much of the earliest Corvair advertising, will be our other CPF guest and featured during the first portion of our CPF Presentation on Wednesday evening. 
Harry kindly designed our CPF 50th Anniversary Corvair Coin, which has so far passed all our expectations for advance orders. I recommend that you place your order now, to get the lowest possible certificate number, at www.corvair.org . The certificate will accompany each coin and will be signed by Harry. Then your coin will be mailed from Ypsilanti (home of the Willow Run plant) on October 2, 2009, fifty years after the Corvair was introduced.
I hope you all took a moment to think of the last Corvair today. The CPF will commemorate this important date in Corvair history by bringing the moment alive for you in Jacksonville!
Dave Newell