[1969] Remembering Mark

Thu Nov 11 17:35:28 EST 2010

I attended the 69'er group meeting at the 2010 convention in Iowa. There was
a pretty good turnout of more than 20 people, but no one showed up to run
the meeting. Several members stood up in an attempt to get something going,
but we mostly just sat around for about 20 minutes, when I left to attend
another meeting. I hate to say it, but the heart and soul of the 69'er group
was lost with the passing of Mark. We shall not see his likes again.

Ken Maxwell
Louisville, KY 

-----Original Message-----
From: 1969-bounces at corvair.org [mailto:1969-bounces at corvair.org] On Behalf
Of Bob Dunahugh
Sent: Thursday, November 11, 2010 12:34 AM
To: corvair at frontiernet.net; corvairdave at msn.com; 1969 at corvair.org
Subject: Re: [1969] Remembering Mark

As a director I was asking this same question. As chair of the 2010
convention , I wanted to do something for the 69's. I was told that Eve
didn't want to give up the info on Mark's computer. DO NOT know this to be
the case, but I heard it from pretty good souses.  Bob Dunahugh     69
Goodyear Yenko  YS 9700

> From: corvair at frontiernet.net
> To: corvairdave at msn.com; 1969 at corvair.org
> Date: Wed, 10 Nov 2010 22:30:29 -0500
> Subject: Re: [1969] Remembering Mark
> 
> Thanks for your wonderful remembrance of Mark, David. 
> 
> I, too, wonder what has become of our group. I thought it was a 
> chapter with officers like any other chapter. Why didn't it carry on? 
> Who were the last officers? I think continuing the chapter would be a 
> living memorial to Mark who spent so much time getting it together.
> 
> Jim Bartasevich
> #4575
> 
> Use for yourself little, but give to others much. - Albert Einstein
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: 1969-bounces at corvair.org [mailto:1969-bounces at corvair.org] On 
> Behalf Of david robertson
> Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 2010 11:32 PM
> To: 1969 at corvair.org
> Subject: [1969] Remembering Mark
> 
> The 1969 Corvair Group has been awfully silent the last few months, 
> but if there is anyone still out there, it should be pointed out that 
> tomorrow will be the second anniversary of Mark Ellis' passing. Sadly, 
> the Group and CORSA have suffered many other losses since then, but 
> were it not for Mark, the Group would have never existed and CORSA may 
> not have survived its formative years. When Dave Newell called Mark 
> "the Corvair's Best Friend", he was not exaggerating. In the decade 
> that he was part of our local club, he became my best friend, too.
> We had many adventures together. Thanks to Mark, I met Corvair people 
> I wouldn't have otherwise and went places I probably wouldn't have gone.
> Some highlights include: 
> Our '99 (best ever) club fall trip to the mountains that included a 
> thrilling drive on what Mark labelled 'the perfect day'.
> Dining with Bob Veryzer and his wife after the '99 Vair Fair/'69 
> Reunion and hearing about his days at GM and their first memorable 
> trip in an early Vette (BTW, without Mark, that show would've been 
> just another pleasant, but run-of-the-mill get-together).
> Our trip to Detroit for the 2000 Woodward Dream Cruise and DACC 
> Homecoming which included meeting Dave Martens, Stu Schuster, and our own
Dave Newell.
> In what may have been the ultimate Corvair experience, Stu took us 
> cruising on Woodward in his special '69 vert that had once belonged to Ned
Nickles.
> I saw the Monza GT and Willow Run (which looked kind of deserted) and 
> toured a working factory, Lansing Car Assembly, all for the first 
> time. We visited the Motown Museum and the Renn Center, too.
> In 2001 we returned to Woodward, but this time in my '65 Corsa vert. 
> Mark was a big Motown fan and I'll always remember how happy he looked 
> that day, cruising down Woodward, top down, blasting the Supremes. I 
> saw the Monza SS for the first time. We had dinner with Bob Cadaret's 
> daughter and her family. We also spent some quality time with Harold 
> and Kitty Dexter, visited many museums, and drove all over the place 
> with the top down (remember when premium was only $1.65 a gallon?). 
> The Corsa visited its birthplace, Willow Run, but the gates were 
> locked and pictures from the street were the best we could do. I met Jack
Thompson at the Ypsi Museum.
> Mark was a strong proponent of having CPF be part of that museum and a 
> fan of Jack.
> In 2003, we attended the Eyes on Design show at the Tech Center (holy
> ground) and were allowed in the Design Center (Simply Awesome!). Also 
> toured the vast Gilmour (impressive) and saw three Tuckers outside. We 
> even heard one run.
> The CORSA 2007 convention was our last big trip. My Corsa finally made 
> it to the Tech Center for the Car Display. Mark and I had to be chased 
> out of the Heritage Collection when closing time rolled around. We 
> revisited Willow Run, along with Mike Fiscus and Mark's old Philly 
> buddy, Ron Petrelli, but an unfriendly security guard and his 
> supervisor wouldn't let us take pictures. Later, Mark and I had the 
> last laugh. On the way home Saturday, we drove by and no one was in 
> the guard shack. We sped in, took a few quick shots of the Corsa in 
> front of the famous 'Fishbowl', and made our escape. Mike rode with us 
> on the Rally and later we talked him into exploring downtown Detroit, 
> not the safest place in the world. I wouldn't think of going by 
> myself, but along with Mark it became just another adventure. We were 
> surprised to find we could go in the old GM building and the old Fisher
building, both are overlooked art deco masterpieces.
> The thing I miss most about Mark was his unique sense of humor. It 
> ranged from adolescent and goofy, to very dry and understated, with a 
> little Philly wise guy thrown in occasionally. At the outset of one 
> club trip, he posed in front of a red and white Greenbrier, holding a 
> box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts (he loved junk food and fast food) and
wearing a K.K. paper hat.
> I also have shots of him clowning on Harold Dexter's Corvair bicycle 
> (for many years, he was a serious bicyclist). His hatred of meatloaf 
> (he was a notoriously picky eater) was a running joke with Newell for 
> years. Once I found out about it, the whole club got in on it. Anytime 
> we gathered at a restaurant, the 'm' word was sure to be a hot topic. 
> He could break me up with the simplest comment or facial expression. 
> You should have seen the look on his face when he first encountered 
> 'Earl the clogger' at an old time country music show in North Carolina. It
was priceless...
> I never imagined anything bad happening to him. In the summer of '08, 
> he was talking about his efforts to tame the rust and preserve his '69 
> convertible project car, #0085, and his beloved '69 Fitch coupe. He 
> said he couldn't make it last forever, but "it'll last 20 years or as 
> long as I'm around." I suddenly realized the reality that he was over 
> 60 and in 20 years he would be over 80. No one lives forever, but I 
> thought he would be here for at least that 20 years. That he would be 
> gone a few short months later seemed an impossibility. He had worked 
> so hard, for so many years, surely he deserved to enjoy a well-earned 
> retirement? Didn't he deserve time to do all those Corvair-related 
> projects that the demands of work had forced him to sideline for so long?
> His sudden and mysterious illness (even an autopsy ultimately provided 
> no good answers) and eventual passing was devastating. I still wonder 
> if I could have done something to change what happened. The past two 
> years have been truly awful...
> Last year, I reassembled #0085 enough to move it and brought it home.
> Someday, I hope to restore it as Mark had planned. Its OE engine was 
> toast (I have it and will rebuild it someday), so I installed a nasty 
> engine from a '69 junker he and I stripped a few years back. Being a 
> Vair engine, with a little TLC it started up and ran. Tomorrow, after 
> work, I will start it and rev it up a few times for Mark. Then I'll 
> get the Corsa out, put in a Motown CD, and cruise to MacDonalds for a 
> cheeseburger and chocolate shake (Mark's favorites) and remember the
Corvair's best friend and mine.
> Maybe you can take a moment and remember him in your own way. 
> Thanks,
> David Robertson
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
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> 
> _______________________________________________
> This message was sent by the 1969 mailing list, all copyrights are the 
> property of the writer, please attribute properly. For help, 
> mailto:1969-help at corvair.org This list sponsored by the Corvair 
> Society of America, http://www.corvair.org/ Membership in CORSA is
strongly encouraged for 1969 Group members.
> Post messages to: 1969 at corvair.org
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 _______________________________________________
This message was sent by the 1969 mailing list, all copyrights are the
property of the writer, please attribute properly. For help,
mailto:1969-help at corvair.org This list sponsored by the Corvair Society of
America, http://www.corvair.org/ Membership in CORSA is strongly encouraged
for 1969 Group members.
Post messages to: 1969 at corvair.org
Change your options: http://www.vv.corvair.org/mailman/listinfo/1969