<VV> SEMA show 2011 - Corvair

[Sethracer at aol.com]

Well – I got back from the SEMA show in Las Vegas last night.  For me, it 
was three days of almost non-stop car heaven, even if it was “hell”  on my 
feet.  Right outside the front entry was a Corvair on Display, in  amongst 
the tons of hyper-expensive show vehicles. It was the “Not-stock  Photography”
 Corvair 95 Van of John Jackson. It’s SEMA appearance was sponsored  by and 
air bag company, I believe. The van was out in front of the main show  
entrance and spotted by thousands of people. For more info on the van check it  
out at:  
http://www.motormavens.com/2011/11/carspotting-not-stock-chevy-corvair-van-at-sema-2011/.   Beautiful vehicle. 
I spent a few minutes talking with John about the Van. He had  driven it in 
from Florida for the event and had a little trouble on the road,  but was 
helped by a fellow Corvair lover. Always good to hear.  I spent the  first 
day checking with the companies I do business with for Silicone Wire  Systems, 
then checked out many of the thousands of new products for next year.  Many 
of the booths also had custom cars in their booths, sometimes to show off  
their products, other times just to show off! I saw several famous race 
guys,  like Carroll Shelby, Bob Bondurant, Ron Fellows and Don Prudhomme.  I 
spent  some time at the Chevy booth, more about that later! Part of the reason 
I go is  to see what is coming out for the newer cars and to see what 
products might be  applicable for our Corvairs. I spent a bunch of time with the 
wheel guys. Face  to face is the only method that works for this effort. On 
Wednesday morning, I  hustled to beat the crowd to the Chevy drive experience 
in the large parking lot  in the middle of the Convention facilities. Chevy 
had a small autocross course  laid out, with a host of cars to test. I 
drove a Sonic, a Cruze, a Volt  electric, and, of course, a Corvette Grand 
Sport. All were automatics – yawn –  But the Corvette was still fast. For doing 
this hard work, each driver received  two rewards, a white or black Chevy 
100 year cap, and a ride along with a Pro  driver through the same course, in 
a 600 HP ZR1 Corvette.  I learned a few  years ago that the way to get the 
best ride is to tell the driver – “Hey, you’re  a pro. Impress Me!”  Being 
a guy, they usually let out all the stops.  My ride was more sideways than 
straight. And fun! 
For Wednesday’s Lunch, I met up with Eric Schakel, the Rocky  Mtn. Corsa 
Convention Chair, machine Shop owner (and fellow racer), and  we hit a local 
spot with $1 beers, and we talked over all the racing stuff  we could cram 
into 1 hour (and two beers). Wednesday afternoon was spent walking  the 
Tire/wheel area and the new products section. Lots of new stuff, some of it  might 
be Corvairable. I promised I wouldn’t mention the $10,000 transaxles, so I  
won’t! <grin> Thursday morning I tied up some loose ends and spent a few  
hours at the AAPEX show over at the Sands Convention center. That is the  
automotive Hard Parts show – Think Delco/Bilstein/Motorcraft – and hundreds of 
 smaller companies from around the world. They group the smaller companies 
in the  basement by area of the world. China, Korea, India – all have their 
sections –  It was an interesting quick walk-through. I didn’t see any 
Corvair parts,  though. 





Seth Emerson

C's the Day! -  Corvair, Camaro, Corvette
San Jose, CA