<VV> "Improved" Concours class

[Bill Hubbell]

How sad.  Harry Jensen, the Executive Secretary of CORSA, and  for all
intents and purposes the public face of our organization, believes that we
should call any Corvair that has "significant changes from stock other than
permitted in Street Stock" an "Improved" Corvair, for the simple reason that
"the owners of the Corvairs consider the changes improvements".  

 

The sad part is that he is largely correct.

 

It is sad, but true, that over the years the average CORSA Corvair owner has
viewed the Stock Corvair as just "a good start" - something to be" improved"
upon.  It has been this way in this organization for most of its existence.
While CORSA claims its purpose is to "satisfy the common needs of
individuals interested in the preservation, restoration, and operation of
the Corvair", nowhere in that creed do we say or do anything about recording
or preserving the historical record of the one thing that uniquely links us
all together - the STOCK CORVAIR. 

 

It is the reason we do not have a hard written standard for Stock Corvairs,
the way most other classic car clubs do. 

It is the reason we have had only 4 Factory Stock Original cars shown at our
Conventions in the past 13 years - NONE in the past 5 years, and only 14
Factory Stock RESTORED cars in the past 13 years. 

It is the reason we had NO Stock Corvair Group until I formed it in 2005 -
THIRTY-FIVE YEARS after CORSA was formed!  

 

Heck, for all I know, it is the reason Harry Jensen "accidentally" deleted
the Stock Corvair Group Website (and all back-ups) from the CORSA Server in
March of 2009, effectively killing all our momentum and setting us back over
a year.

 

Let's face it, CORSA is not a Stock-Friendly organization - never has been
and probably never will be.

 

So let's all Hail the "Improved Corvair".  Go ahead and change the wheels,
tires, brakes, engines, fuel delivery, paint, sound system, etc.  Sure, you
personally may not like the purple color of the Corvair next door but as
long as the guy who owns it considers it an "improvement" who are we to say
otherwise; it's all good.

 

Just don't come crying to me wondering what is "correct" for your car -
nobody important really cares about that!

 

Bill Hubbell

President of the (irrelevant?) Stock Corvair Group

 

From: Mark Corbin [mailto:airvair at earthlink.net] 
Sent: Monday, May 03, 2010 2:38 PM
To: Duanne Luckow; CORSA BoD
Cc: Harry Jensen; Harry Jensen; Virtual Vairs; Corsa Chapters; Bill Hubbell
Subject: "Improved" Concours class

 

All,

 

I am submitting this in response to Bill Hubbell's letter and Harry Jensen's
response as printed in the May CC. It is for publication in the CC, with the
full realization that Harry always gets the last word in.

 

First let me inform/remind everyone of my credentials concerning concours. I
first entered concours at the first CORSA convention in 1971, and have been
active in concours, either showing, displaying, judging, or administering
concours and concours rules ever since. I was CORSA National Concours
Committee Chairman for five years, on the committee for more years than
that, and even wrote the original CORSA concours rules and its first
revision, rules that are (in modified form) still in use today. I am a
Certified Master CORSA Concours judge, and Master Specialist, to name a few
recognitions. Thus my credentials speak for themselves.

 

In the early days of CORSA Concours, Woody Schwartz (another long-term CORSA
Concours Committee Chairman) and I talked in length about naming one of the
classes "Improved". For very good reasons, and based on considerable
experience, he advised against using that term. He had observed firsthand
how touchy concours people (and especially stock class owners) are with
details, such as the names of classes. My experience concurs with his.

 

To put it precisely, the Corvair needs no "improvement" from its
factory-issued condition. It is, from the viewpoint of a stock vehicle
owner, perfect as is. That doesn't mean that it can't be further "improved",
depending on how one views changes. But stock vehicle owners will rightfully
be offended by the usage of that term. And, trust me, there is nobody more
high-strung than concours people. After all, with the money and "labor of
love" efforts they put forth with their vehicles, they have every right to
be.

 

Neither anyone in the CORSA management office, the present members of the
Concours committee, nor for that matter anyone on the CORSA board can't even
get within spitting distance of someone with my, or Woody's, credentials. So
when I say that Harry and the committee are flat out WRONG, wrong, wrong on
this matter, I am speaking from my considerable experience and knowledge of
concours. It is not a frivolous opinion from the peanut gallery.

 

Concours rules, even so "small" a change as this, deserve long,
well-thought-out deliberations before such changes are made. Concours rules
MUST be guided by and follow a well-though-out philosophy in order to be
successful. The success of the judgements I made in the writing of the
initial rules is born out in their continued longevity. Simply put, Concours
rules changes are nothing to be taken lightly, and this change has all the
earmarks of being ill-conceived, rushed, and frivolously made. Bill Hubbell
is absolutely right, and just the tip of the iceberg.

 

In view of this impending debacle, I would therefore offer up a practical
solution. Simply eliminate all class designations, except those required by
the Preservation Award. Our present "gold-silver-bronze" award system had
made such classes obsolete anyway. So why compound the situation by using a
classing term that is so offensive? Cars could then simply be refered to as
being either factory stock or non-stock.

 

-Mark Corbin

Treasurer, Stock Corvair Group

President, Air 'Vair Group

perenial Concours judge