<VV> Jay Leno's video greeting from the Corsa convention (Now, 3 Point Belts) & FC accident

[Bob Gilbert]

My '61 Rampside was rear ended by a Corolla SW many years ago. I was stopped 
at a sign and the drunk driver of the Toyota was doing at least 30 when he 
hit me. I got mild whiplash and a knot no the back of my head. The pickup 
rear frame over the tires bent, the seat frame bent, and the engine and 
trans mounts bent. The bumper did not need to be fixed, except for a few 
deep scratches, before it was painted. The whole front of the Toyota was 
destroyed. It will take at least a fairly severe wreck before your legs get 
hurt. That being said, the proximity of my feet to the front bumper still 
bothers me.

Bob



----- Original Message ----- 
From: <RoboMan91324 at aol.com>
To: <virtualvairs at corvair.org>; <mfrancis at wi.rr.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2012 11:44 AM
Subject: <VV> Jay Leno's video greeting from the Corsa convention (Now,3 
Point Belts)


> Mel,
>
> You touched on the answer to your own question.  Feeble  comedy or not,
> Leno is a comedian first and foremost.  I believe he said  what he said 
> the way
> he said it for that reason alone.  His mugging and  then chuckling attests
> to that.  He observed a potentially dangerous design  feature and 
> presented
> it in a humorous way.  I am sure he did not intend to  hurt the Corvair
> community or the vehicles we love.  I don't know if it was  part of his 
> thought
> process before making the statement but he knew that only  "Corvair 
> People"
> would be watching his video.  Besides, he did not tell us  anything we do
> not or should not know.  I have heard fellow FC owners make  similar
> reality/humorous comments about the dangers of FCs.  .... Knees  being the 
> back-up
> bumpers, first on the scene, etc.  Perhaps Leno was  repeating something 
> he
> heard from other FC owners; maybe the previous owner of  his Rampside.
>
> I have never seen Leno talking about VW buses, Isettas,  Econolines, etc.
> Perhaps that is why we have never seen similar comments  made about those
> vehicles.  However, I have seen Leno in numerous guest  shots on auto 
> related
> TV shows where he shows and even drives some of his very  rare cars.  He
> does comment on their attributes both good and bad  (including dangerous) 
> so we
> shouldn't feel he has singled the Corvair  out.
>
> As I hinted above, Leno does point out a real danger of our  FCs.  You are
> sitting forward (FC = Forward Control) and the front  structure may have
> been legally acceptable in its day but it will not hold up in  even a
> moderately severe front end accident.  The only vehicle I own that I  fear 
> more in an
> accident compared to my FCs is my Harley.  .... and yes,  over the years I
> have been in several MC accidents.  Fortunately, I have  not had any
> accidents in any classic vehicle.  Before any of you make  offers to 
> reluctantly
> accept donations of my FCs, I will be keeping them.   :-)
>
> On the subject of FC safety, I recall that several people on  VV have 
> added
> 3 point belts to their FCs.  Is there some consensus on  mounting point
> positioning, mounting hardware and sources for belts whether  re-purposed 
> from
> another vehicle or good aftermarket sources?  I have 3 FCs  that I would
> like to drive without the fear of my passengers or me doing a  face-plant 
> on
> the steering wheel, dash board or windshield.  I would love  to do this to 
> my
> Corsa as well but it is a very early vehicle; perhaps the first  1966 
> Corsa
> off the Canadian production line.  It is my understanding that  the 3rd 
> belt
> reinforcement point was not added to Corvairs until late in 1966
> production.  True?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Doc
>
> 1960 Corvette, 1961 Rampside, 1962 Rampside, 1964 Spyder  coupe, 1965
> Greenbrier, 1966 Canadian Corsa turbo coupe, 1967 Nova SS, 1968  Camaro 
> ragtop,
> 1993 Harley Heritage Softail Classic
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> In a message dated 8/30/2012 9:00:40 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
> virtualvairs-request at corvair.org writes:
>
> Message:  5
> Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2012 09:48:18 -0500
> From: "Mel Francis"  <mfrancis at wi.rr.com>
> Subject: Re: <VV> Jay Leno's video  greeting from the Corsa convention
> To: <wrsssatty at aol.com>
> Cc:  virtualvairs at corvair.org
> Message-ID:  <E69C2816EDFA46E3BD01232F6A90146E at DGRPB8F1>
> Content-Type: text/plain;  format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
> reply-type=original
>
> Jay has a passion for everything that's out there  and just to show that
> he's 'unbiased', he owns Corvairs, too.
>
> The part  of his address that sorta rubs me the wrong way, is where he
> poses beside the  Rampside, with his knee just behind the light bezel,
> indicating where you'd be  in an accident, arriving at the scene before 
> the rest of
> the truck. Why  include that? I've never seen him do that sort of a 
> routine
> beside a VW bus or  an Isetta. Leave the feeble attempts at comedy, for 
> your
> evening show,  Jay.
>
> Mel Francis