<VV> Re>>tele column??

[vairjer at comcast.net]

At the convention in Collinsville I stumbled upon a guy selling a few parts out of his minivan, and he had a '65 Telescopic column, complete with steering box. Since I had a 1965 sport sedan with factory A/C and my spouse and I are of very different stature, I inquired about the cost and he agreed to sell it to me for $275. I thought that even then that was an extremely good price, so I made the deal. I took it home and cleaned up the column, sprayed the brown paint with a nice coat of black, and cleaned up the steering box and the wood wheel. It turned out that the wood wheel was extremely nice after all of the grunge was removed. 


After having it around for a few years but never installed, as I had equipped the car with power seat from an '86 Cutlass Cierra, and the wife didn't ever drive it anyway, as she prefers her early convertible, I decided that it wasn't worth the effort to me to install it. I did personally prefer to sell it to a Corsa member, but not to give it away. I took it to the DACC homecoming and put it on display with a few other parts that i didn't need. No one wanted to buy it complete at any price, but several people looked at and admired the wood wheel and wanted me to sell it separately. I wasn't interested in that approach, as I would be left with parts that very few would ever need/want, and less money. 


I finally put an ad on the online classifieds at the Corsa website and a member from Idaho, living in that isolation wanted it for his project, and was willing to meet my (as I remember) somewhere in the $600+ range plus shipping. Since that was essentially doubling my money after more than a few years, I was happy to let him have that. 


I know that Bob Marlow wishes that today he might have charged a little more for his Robertshaw thermostats from the Abelson's stash that he was selling at the NJACE Spring swap meets, and I know I wish that I had acquired more of them. I wish I had bought some of the NOS 64 rear air grills when they were selling for $100 and less, and after having our convertible squashed between two other Corvairs, causing us and the insurance company to pay over $1000 for new front and rear panels, and almost not being able to find them, wish I had laid by a building full of cheaper material. 


Given the choice between selling Corvair parts to a Corsa member at a fair price, and selling to a Corvette guy/supplier at a slight premium it is no contest, as I always help my fellow member, but Bob is perfectly right to choose to make a substantial profit from someone to whom the cost is almost "no object", and turn that into money he can use to support our mutual interests. Mark Corbin can be admired for his principles, and refusing to make obscene profits, but calling others guilty of high treason for their good business sense, doesn't help our mutual hobby and friendships. 


Jerry McKenzie 
PCCA member 
Springfield, IL