<VV> What I like about CORSA

[peter koehler]

Group, The last time that I became passionate about this 
topic I took the extreme step of getting involved in the 
CORSA organization as an elected Director. That led to six 
years of working with and helping CORSA move along. 
However, my first introduction to CORSA and its policies 
occurred at the 1979 CORSA Convention in Detroit 
(Southfield). I had just finished driving my young family 
to Michigan from our then-home base in the Chicagoland 
area. Of course we were driving a 1960 Corvair! Upon 
checking at the host hotel I was informed that I could not 
attend or register or be a part of the activities because 
I did not belong to CORSA. Heck, I didn't even know there 
was a CORSA. I did belong to the local chapter (CCE) and 
that seemed like enough at the time. So we were turned 
away without even being given an option to join this thing 
called CORSA.

I didn't get mad. I did drive back to Chicago and soon 
after joined the National to support my good friend Larry 
Claypool as he was trying to get elected to the Board 
(Think Chicago; Buy a vote. Get it?). A year later I 
followed Larry onto the Board and the rest is, as they 
say, history. My agenda once on the Board was to assure 
that CORSA did not end up forcing local members to join. I 
thought people should join because they wanted to, not 
because they "had" to. One of the problems was the 
insurance coverage. So the next thing that I worked on 
with other members of the Board was to secure a policy 
that would not require forced membership. We were 
successful and to some extent members are still enjoying 
those benefits today.

My point to this post is that we are all different. We 
respond differently to situations that we face. My course 
of action back then was to work to change the organization 
for the benefit of other like-thinking Corvair 
enthusiasts. If I am in the minority now and most of you 
think forcing everyone to join CORSA is in a good idea 
then I will still belong to CORSA as long as it exists. 
Why? Because I still like Corvairs and Corvair people. And 
in my mind that should be a good enough reason to belong. 
- Caveman Pete in Slippery Rock - "Retired" CORSA Board 
member