<VV> Driver killed when '65 Corvair convertible crashes

[Tony Underwood]

At 10:43 PM 9/18/2009, Matt Nall wrote:
>   We only know that he was doing something he loved, when he passed...




I found this on the web, in a site about peoples' reflections on the 
car they remembered most.


__________________



Phil Haper, Lafayette, Indiana
It was Christmas of 1966, and my '65 Chevy Corvair convertible was 20 
months old. It had become obvious that I wasn't going to trade it in 
in the near future. It was my third new Corvair in as many years, and 
after that many times buying basically the same car, the list of 
options/price/desirability was well sorted out.

I couldn't afford a Yenko Stinger Corvair or a new Porsche Super 90, 
so the new-for-'65 suspension Corvair with the factory four-carb 
engine was the logical choice.

To get what I really wanted, a true dual purpose daily 
driver/Autocross car took a special order, and a little more than 
five weeks for delivery. The year and a half of use I'd enjoyed to 
that point had built admiration for what I feel today, 43 years 
later, that Corvair continues to be the best American car I've ever owned.

At the time, my friend Don raced an MGB in SCCA G Production class. 
(The Yenko was also newly added to the race-legal ranks of the SCCA). 
Don and my wife combined some money and imagination and as a 
Christmas gift ordered me a roll bar for my Corvair convertible. Don 
told me later that it was a B&B roll bar from New Jersey, made to 
specs provided by Don Yenko for the Stinger. Its engineering left no 
doubt on my part. Installation took me a good half day because I 
wanted to retain the backseat for use by the kids as well as not end 
up with the car having an unfinished appearance.

Everything went back together exactly as it had come apart, with the 
most severe modification required being the trimming of the back seat 
armrest for clearance of one of the roll bar's support bars that 
bolted to the rear wheel well (completely hidden by the back seat).

When completed, it looked as if General Motors had done the 
installation, and in the 42 years that it's been that way, I haven't 
changed a thing.

The roll bar was an outstanding gift, and remains a reminder of my 
first wife and my friend Don.


_____________________







tony..