[1969] A LOSS IN THE FAMILY

[airvair at earthlink.net]

I have been sitting here for the longest time pondering on how, or more
appropriately, whether to share this story with the rest of the Corvair
world. It’s because I know that while it is grievous to me, it will no
doubt please the purists to no end. That is because this is about my
beloved ’69 Corsa (#3485), a car who’s very existence those same purists
found intolerable.

The car was conceived due to a particularly disparaging comment I heard at
the first CORSA convention in ’71. While proudly displaying my ’67
convertible, the derogatory statement was made to me that “the ‘67-9
Corvairs were no good, because they didn’t make the Corsa.” I knew that
statement to be total rubbish, for two reasons. First the ‘67-9 cars
incorporate a number of improvements, from the (arguably better) astro
buckets to the energy-absorbing steering column. Some of these improvements
can be easily retrofitted into earlier cars, some are very difficult if at
all, and some are a matter of personal preference. Second, the differences
between the Corsa model and the Monza are solely limited to the dash panel
and a few cosmetic bits of trim and paint, and certainly nothing major nor
anything that isn’t easily swapped. What makes that put-down statement even
more offensive is that it was made by someone who would probably have
thought nothing about swapping a Corsa dash panel into a Monza. It was then
that I decided to show everyone that there really wasn’t anything terribly
special about a Corsa. And certainly that the improvements in the ‘67-9
cars far outweighed the “value” of the Corsa model’s existence, especially
since everything in the Corsa package was so easily transplanted. Thus the
“infamous ’69 Corsa” was born.

As a Corvair, it displayed the best of everything the Corvair ever offered.
It was assembled from all stock parts, per CORSA’s written concours
definition of street stock. And everything was done correctly, right down
to the last fastener. Even the additional Corsa-only wiring was wrapped
into the wiring harnesses, just like the factory would have done. So to
those who could truly appreciate the finest of all things Corvair, it was a
work of art. One of the highest complements I ever received was when a
friend told me “Mark, you’re the only one I know who’d make a ‘custom’ car
out of all stock parts.” The car looked pure stock because it WAS pure
stock.

But it was also a car that the purists hated. In fact, so much so that it
was barred from competition in its proper CORSA concours class, Street
Stock. For fourteen years after its pavement-up resto, concours chairman
after concours chairman refused to follow the letter of the CORSA rules. It
was just a few years ago that one of them finally admitted that while there
was nothing about it in the rules, the decision to confine this car
(constructed totally of stock parts) to a custom class was strictly an
ARBITRARY verbal decree. Thus it was never shown in a CORSA concours. After
all, why Stock cars are separated from Custom cars is because stock parts
cannot compete fairly with custom parts – one of the most basic of concours
principles.

Finally last year the new Concours chairman agreed to follow the letter of
the rules, and to not go by any (unwritten) arbitrary decision.
Unfortunately a horrible “train wreck” has robbed me forever of this unique
and wonderful automobile. It has been said that to some, you don’t own a
car so much as you adopt it. It becomes a member of the family. Such as it
is with me, so this loss is personal, grievous, and heartfelt. But the
truly sad part is that so few appreciated the car, yet the entire Corvair
world will be poorer for its loss.

-Mark Corbi