<VV> Corvairs and Corvettes; To Drive...or not to Drive

[peter koehler]

Thought I'd throw my two cents into this discussion. My 
"signature" Corvair, a 1960 crocus cream 700 sedan was 
purchased from the original owner back in 1977 with about 
33,000 miles on it. I had some paint repair done (sides) 
and put all new belt line trim on (that was fun trying to 
buy all ten pieces even in 1977!) and then proceeded to 
drive and enjoy it. Now it has reached 60,000 on the 
odometer. It could use a new coat of paint and some other 
improvements. But, I have hesitated to throw a bunch of 
money at it because I don't want to turn it into a 
"trailer queen". In fact my most recent 1960 project was 
an ermine white 500 sedan. It turned out so nice that I am 
cautious to drive it. The car was trailered to the 2009 
DACC Homecoming event in Plymouth, Michigan. Then it was 
trailered to Cape May, NJ for the NJACE Corvair 50 th 
Anniversary event. I did drive the car about 1 1/2 miles 
from the hotel to the city park for the car show after the 
"unveiling" the night before. There is room in my 
collection for both kinds of cars.

My other restoration project is a 1964 Corvette Sting Ray. 
It started out as a repaint, but right now the fully 
restored chassis is parked in the Pennsylvania garage 
while the body shop guy is working on the body separately. 
Since the cost of restoring a Corvette - especially a 
"mid-year" Corvette far exceeds the price of a really nice 
Corvair, I will probably not drive the '64 Vette very 
much. The late CCE club member that I bought the Corvette 
from left it parked in a garage for 32 years because he 
and his wife, Dorothy Hansen, would rather cruise around 
in their '65 turbocharged Corsa convertible. I'd say they 
had the right idea.