<VV> I think I got one last night -- LONG -- skip if busy

Sun Aug 29 10:33:24 EDT 2010

  VVers:

I live in a small town in Rhode Island that was laid out in the 1800s as 
a harborside city.  Nowadays, it's anything but a city, but it's kind of 
nice to be able to walk out your side door, and be on a city sidewalk 
and take a walk on a city grid.  It's also nice to sit on the front 
porch and chat with people as they walk by, 10 feet in front of you.  
There are lots of walkers on a summer evening.

On weekends, I tend to park one of my Corvairs on the street under a 
100+ year old shade tree.  I do this to 1) save a parking spot in case 
one of my daughters needs it, 2) have the car handy in case I need to 
run an errand, 3) advertise the Corvair.  There's a very popular 
(tourist trap) restaurant that packs 'em in in the summer about 150 
yards from my house.  People park in my neighborhood and walk over, so 
the Corvair gets a lot of exposure.  I can hear their comments through 
my open screen window.

Last night, I was walking out my side door to take the convertible to go 
buy a bottle of wine to have with dinner.  When I opened the door, there 
was a 20-year-old kid and his girlfriend taking pictures of my Monza 
convertible.  I greeted him by saying "Hey!  Hey!  Hey!  I normally 
charge for those!"  He greeted me by saying, "What kind of car IS this?"

I answered with the answer I always use for young folks who have no 
earthly idea what a Corvair is.  I've said these sentences so many 
times, that they just spill from my mouth without even thinking:

     It is a rear-engined Chevrolet from 1965.
     It is called a Corvair.
     Corvairs are extremely cheap.
     You can get a nice daily driver for between $3,000 and $5,000.

     You can buy one on eBay and put it on your Visa card.
     They are great cars.
     You should own one.

 From there, they usually sniff something like "Hmmmm" and continue on 
their way.  Sometimes, though, they start thinking about it.  This kid 
was enthralled.

He said, "$3,000?"  I said, "For a daily driver quality vehicle, yes, 
you can still get one at that price."  We talked about all sorts of 
things (parts availability, low-cost collectors' insurance, clubs, 
support, Virtual Vairs, mechanics, work you can do yourself, the Corvair 
Ranch, Clarks, etc.).  I said to him, "Go on eBay and corvairproject.com 
and start watching the auctions and all the listings on Craigslist."  I 
also said, "Be patient and watch them for the better part of a year.  
Learn all you can and when the right one pops up for sale, go for it."

He said, "Do you have a business card?  I'd like to email you if I have 
any questions."  I gave him my card with my email address and I wrote 
the address to my Corvair website, Clark's web address (I told him to 
buy a Clark's catalog), and CORSA's web address on the back of the card.

Then it got interesting.  He said, "Why do you have these two plates, 
'SAFE' and 'UNSAFE'?".  I said, "Well, you're probably too young to know 
about Ralph Nader's book."  They both looked at me with blank stares.  I 
said, "You probably only know Ralph Nader as the candidate in the 2000 
election who might have cost Al Gore the race."  More blank stares.   
That's when it hit me that these kids -- juniors at a college here in 
town -- were 10 years old in 2000!  Not only did they not know about 
"Unsafe at Any Speed", they didn't even know who Ralph Nader was!  It 
kind of blew me away.  Meanwhile, as this conversation is occurring, all 
sorts of elderly restaurant-goers are getting in and out of their cars 
shouting out, "Unsafe!  Ha!  Ralph's favorite!".

Then, the kid's girlfriend, who had been pretty much silent the whole 
time said, "You know, this could work out well.  You sell your car, I'll 
buy the Corvair as my _second_ car which will let me buy the collector's 
insurance.  That way we'll have my Saturn in case we need to drive 
somewhere far away, and we can use the Corvair around town.  I want a 
yellow one."

And because I'm a father of four daughters, I said, "Wow!  You just hit 
the nail on the head.  That's exactly how to do it ... and ... he can 
contribute half the cost of whatever he's currently paying for his 
insurance toward your Saturn's insurance bill."  Privately, I thought to 
myself: "This chick is going to go far."

Then I said, "Think about it for a little while.  If you'd like to come 
back and drive either of mine, you're welcome.  We are always looking 
for new Corvair blood."

All in all, we spoke for about 45 minutes.  I thanked them profusely for 
letting an old man ramble on about his hobbies and they thanked me for 
taking the time to share.

Will he/she break down and buy a Corvair?  I have no idea.  I will tell 
you though, he and she will definitely talk about it, both among 
themselves and their friends.  If he gets back in touch looking to buy 
one, I'll let everyone know.

One by one, we *can* add members to CORSA.  All it takes is time and 
interest.

Steven "plus a willingness to blab on and on about Corvairs" Serenska

'65 Monza Convertible, 110/4
'66 Corsa Coupe, 140/4

http://www.serenska.com/idealgarage