<VV> Origin of "Bone-Stock"?

[airvair at earthlink.net]

Kent, I await the story(ies) with bated breath. Would love to hear the gory
details.

As to my own cars, I think everyone knows about my late, lamented '69
Corsa. But probably fewer are aware of my '67's. The convertible and Monza
4door are pure stock, but are NOT "as built" by the factory. They are
"enhanced originals" (as I term it) in that they have original '67 factory
options added to them. Other than tearing down the car or decoding the body
tag, you wouldn't be able to tell that they weren't built that way. Even
the stereo speaker system in the 4door came out of another identical car,
so that even the paint on them is factory original.

The 4door has almost ALL factory options possible, in that combination, on
it. It's missing only four minor options - two you can't see, one you
wouldn't want, and one that is impossible to obtain.

The convert is also loaded, missing only a handful of minor, useless, or
ugly options.

By loading up these cars with factory options, not only do they make for
really striking and interesting cars, but they preserve each accessory, its
installation, and function - many of which just aren't ever seen. In that
way, I'm preserving not only originality, but have a living 3-D example of
what the factory built.

Restored is nice, and very admirable. But as the saying goes, it's only
original once. And everyone preserves their cars in their own way.

-Mark

> [Original Message]
> From: Kent Sullivan <kentsu at corvairkid.com>
> Subject: Re: <VV> Origin of "Bone-Stock"?
>
> Great story!
>
> I did a few "over the top" things when restoring my '66 Canadian
> convertible. The core crew (Duanne Luckow, Duane Wentlandt, and myself)
were
> very pleased that the many hours of research and going the extra mile on
> stock parts resulted in the car getting into Factory Stock Restored on its
> first try in CORSA concours (Portland, 2005).
>
> A lot of people might not know this, but the real reason I went all that
way
> was not to get into FSR, but to honor the people who made the car
> originally. I couldn't think of a finer tribute than to try to recreate
the
> car the day it left the factory (albeit with a paint job that was a bit
more
> evenly applied and brightwork that had a bit nicer finish, etc.). Some of
> you might have been on hand for the ceremony Dave Newell and I put
together
> in Oshawa as part of the 2006 convention, where we honored a few fellows
who
> worked at the factory and had gone the extra mile to save and make
available
> the production records.
>
> I did a presentation at the Buffalo 2006 convention about items that fall
> into the over-the-top/extra mile category on my car. If y'all want to hear
> about them, let me know and I can explain some of the crazier things here
on
> VV, for amusement.
>
> And in the spirit of breaking stereotypes, my '64 Rampside truck is
wearing
> completely the wrong paint job (courtesy of a previous owner), has rust in
> several places, and gets used on a weekly basis as a truck (gol' durn
it!).
> And my '66 500 coupe has a list of modifications a mile long. So while I
do
> love the challenge of creating a stock vehicle, I also enjoy lots of other
> aspects of the Corvair hobby. CORSA was designed as a "big tent"
> organization and I do everything I can to see it stays that way! :-)
>
> --Kent
> -----Original Message-----
> On Behalf Of Eric S. Eberhard
> Subject: <VV> Origin of "Bone-Stock"?
>
> Believe it or not, though, it can be fun to try and figure out what 
> the correct bolt is, get it, install it.  It is the fun of restoring 
> correctly, the fun if the research, the fun of hunting for whatever 
> the piece is, and often making it.  One person called it 
> "intellectually fun" and that is how I view it.  I enjoy the process.
>
> Funny story.  My brother has a WWII military Jeep that he fully 
> restored "bone stock."  Jeeps were made by many companies at that 
> time, including Ford, and had minor differences.  His is a Ford.  One 
> difference is that all the bolt heads have an "F" engraved in the top 
> of them (hard to imagine why they did that for a throw-away 
> vehicle?).  They did not exist new, and any old ones are damaged, 
> ugly, or stressed.  So my brother (an architect) recreated the design 
> of the F script exactly on his computer, programmed it in to a 
> machine at a machine shop owned by another family member, developed a 
> tray to hold a bunch of bolts face up, and had the machine cut him 
> thousands of bolts in all sizes with the correct "F" on them.  He did 
> it for his own restoration, but made a lot more because machine setup 
> was more than the cost of the bolts.  So he had a lot left over.  So 
> he created an Internet company to sell them, and did quite 
> well.  Well enough to make more runs.
>
> The name of his company?  F'ing Bolt Company (really) and it did well 
> for a decade until he ran out of bolts and lost interest.
>
> Eric
>