<VV> "Improved" Concours class

Tue May 4 09:01:52 EDT 2010

Bill and all,

You can tell from the word "Improved" that whomever thought it up was thinking like a racer. We have two distinct groups of people in CORSA, the show people and the racers. They are two distinct types, and they are for the most part polar opposites. Problem is, the racers feel that they have to run everything, including concours. Back when I wrote the first set of rules, I had to fight tooth and nail to prevent them (at the time, predominately Californians) from watering down the definition of "stock" so much so as to allow everything we now allow in "Street Stock" class, and more, AND still calling it "stock". Yea, right. If it didn't come from the factory with it on, or was a factory-approved dealer-installed accessory, it ain't stock. It was a battle royal, but I prevailed for the most part. So we're lucky we even HAVE as rigid a stock definition as we do.

In my research at the time in preparation for writing the rules, I reviewed input from over two dozen car clubs of all sorts, from the AACA to the Nomad club. Apparently (even if I DO have to pat myself on the back - nobody else will do it - G) I did my homework well, as the resulting rules and definitions have withstood the test of time. I just hope that the club, collectively, is wise enough not to "throw the baby out with the bathwater" when they want to make changes or improvements. (Note I said "OR".)

-Mark

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Bill Hubbell 
To: airvair at earthlink.net;Duanne Luckow;CORSA BoD
Cc: Harry Jensen; Harry Jensen; Virtual Vairs; Corsa Chapters; Bill Hubbell
Sent: 5/3/2010 11:33:14 PM 
Subject: RE: "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