<VV> <CORSA Chapters> "Improved" Concours class

[J R Read_HML]

So, you lament the fact that there have been very few to show up over the 
years, yet you want to make a charge for those who do?  I'm confused.  SCG 
can't really need $10 or $20 that badly.

Later, JR


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill Hubbell" <whubbell at cox.net>
To: <airvair at earthlink.net>; "'Duanne Luckow'" <daluckow at aol.com>; "'CORSA 
BoD'" <corsabod at corvair.org>
Cc: "'Virtual Vairs'" <virtualvairs at corvair.org>; "'Corsa Chapters'" 
<chapters at corvair.org>; "'Harry Jensen'" <hljensen at comcast.net>; "'Harry 
Jensen'" <corsa at corvair.org>
Sent: Monday, May 03, 2010 10:33 PM
Subject: Re: <CORSA Chapters> "Improved" Concours class


> 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
>
>
>
>
>
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