<VV> Which is better - First or Last?...too long...too rambling...

[mark at noakes.com]

You guys have it all wrong. I have the best 66 Corvair...I'd have to go 
downstairs to even find out what the VIN is...it may be one of the 
first or last 66s, but that has nothing to do with whether it is the 
best one.  While I had access to other family cars (63 Corvair Monza, 
68 Corvair 500, 68 Plymouth Fury wagon) before leaving home, this was 
my first car.  

I got it July 14, 1974 during my first quarter of college at Tennessee 
Tech Univ. It cost $600.

It was my only driveable vehicle all through college and co-oping at 
NASA/Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA. (My parents sold my 61 8-
door Corvan when I wasn't looking and before I could get it going...so 
much for leaving things at your parents' house.)

The 66 was the car that I learned to autocross and road rallye in 
while at TTU.

The car was modified with an odd ball cam and even more unusual 
headers before I got it...it would wind like crazy...not normal at all. 
The current engine is pretty wimpy by comparison.

My first maintenance on it was Clarks bronze shifter bushings fall of 
74. I always kept it going after that and had the engine apart a couple 
of times for quick mini rebuilds as necessary.

I took it to an early Corvair club meeting that was in Newport 
News/Hampton Roads in 1975.

It was still my main driver for my first job designing automotive 
engine sensors for the first generation computer controlled engines and 
into my second job in plant engineering when the 61 Lakewood came on 
line as the main trip and commuter car in 1982.

The 66 was restored in the mid-80s when the first engine had about 
225Kmiles on it...still have that engine somewhere though the headers 
disintigrated into rust, and I admit that the car has mostly sat since 
then because I went back to stock with it, and that's just not my 
interest.

Many more stories you don't care about, but my boys think the 66 is 
every bit as cool or more so than my Vette convertible or the vintage 
Lotus...and I do too.

How can any other 66 Corvair be better than that? The best Corvair is 
the one you've got that means something to you due to history or what 
you've put into it...unless you're an accountant making an investment, 
in which case you're into the wrong cars...unless you have a Stinger.

Mark Noakes