<VV> VV-Talk

alan WESSON sidevalve@sidevalve.fsnet.co.uk
Tue, 20 Apr 2004 14:21:57 +0100


He's coming back to fetch it next week, and I will tell him about VV-Talk
when he comes! It will be really weird to have someone locally with one!

Did I tell you that I had the most amazing experience - when I had listed it
I was contacted by the local guy, who asked if he could come and have a
look. He is into Chevy vans and has a 92 Dayvan, so he knew a bit to start
with.

I emailed him back, and among other things I told him it was probably the
only 8-door in England, although I knew there was a 6-door (because the guy
contacted me via VV-help (I think!) recently).

He replied that no, it wasn't - because there was another for sale on eBay
at the same time!!! It turned out that the guy who had brought the other one
over about 6 months ago had decided to sell it AT THE SAME TIME AS ME!!! The
chances against there being both Corvair FCs in England on eBay at once must
be millions to one - and yet it happened!

And I am also sorry it has gone, but at least I will be able to concentrate
on the cars I still have (it had got so that I had so many projects I
couldn't finish any, and I couldn't even afford to buy a sensible daily
driver because I had so much money in classics!).

Cheers

Alan

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Norman Witte" <ncwitte@wittelaw.com>
To: "alan WESSON" <sidevalve@sidevalve.fsnet.co.uk>;
<virtualvairs@skiblack.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 20, 2004 2:12 PM
Subject: RE: <VV> VV-Talk


Well, I'm sorry you don't have it any more, but I am glad you got what you
wanted for it.  Did you sign the guy up for VV and VV Talk so that we can
send him to smack you around when you have been tippling too much Freedom
wine?

Norm

> -----Original Message-----
> From: alan WESSON [mailto:sidevalve@sidevalve.fsnet.co.uk]
> Sent: Tuesday, April 20, 2004 9:05 AM
> To: Norman Witte; virtualvairs@skiblack.com
> Subject: Re: <VV> VV-Talk
>
>
> > Hey, Alan, I know this is talk, but what happened with your
> van auction?
> Did it sell?  I forgot to watch at the end.
>
> A result!! It was only bid up to 830 GBP, but I had put a
> reserve of 2000
> GBP on it - I didn't really expect it to make that, but I
> thought it was
> worth a try.
>
> In the end a local guy came round, who had seen it on eBay.
> He loved it, and
> asked me what the least I would take was. I gave him two options (as I
> always do):
>
> 1. The 'Gold option' - 1600 GBP ($2880)  for the van as it
> stands, with all
> the parts needed to fix the engine but not the clutch, and my
> word that it
> is as seen and straight, and the Alan Wesson Customer Care
> Guarantee (i.e.
> I'm a nice bloke and you can trust me - which is true, but of
> course he had
> no way of knowing that!).
>
> 2. The Platinum Option, which was 1750 GBP ($3150) for the
> van, a set of new
> tyres I have for it, all the spare parts needed to fix it,
> the spare doors I
> have for it (6 in all!), all the spare parts I still have
> (not many but
> probably $100 worth), as much Vair knowledge as I can think
> of, contacts in
> the club, VV, etc., to help him run it, original 1961 shop
> manual and 64
> supplement, Underground and Clark's catalogues (don't forget
> that over here
> no-one knows that Vair parts are easy and cheap to get!), a choice of
> originals and scans of the Corvair literature I have been
> collecting since
> 1995, and pieces of history and photos of the van when it was
> in the USA and
> here.
>
> In the end he went for the Platinum Option. It might sound
> like a lot to pay
> for a van that needs paint, but don't forget that the *real*
> purchasing
> power of the GBP versus the $ is actually of the order of 1 :
> 1, and that it
> actually cost me $2000 to get it through our (stiff)
> inspection when it got
> here. O.K., so you don't expect to get all your money back
> when you sell an
> unrestored classic car, but it would have cost him the $2000
> to import and
> fix a van himself, even if he had got one cheaply over there
> - so he in fact
> got a bargain. And it really is a good, solid van - I wish I
> had had the
> time and money to restore it, because it's an easy job.
>
> Cheers
>
> Alan