<VV> Quicky Report on the Corvair Museum Grand Opening.

[Allan Lacki]

Quicky Report on the Museum Grand Opening.

The Grand Opening of the new Corvair Museum on Saturday May 19 was a big success!  A huge number of Corvair enthusiasts were there to commemorate this wonderful event.

CPF/CORSA President Mike Hall was the master of ceremonies and Pam Cole cut the red ribbon to commemorate the event . Pam's dad Cecil Cole hand-assembled the first production prototype Corvair way back in 1959 and then trained the folks on the assembly line.  I don't have the statistics, but based on the size of the crowd, I'd say there were a couple hundred people in attendance.  It was amazing to see them all pour into the museum after the ribbon was cut.

In addition to Pam, there were other notable people in attendance, including Richard Lentinello of Hemmings Magazine, Tom Keosababian of land speed record fame, and various CPF/CORSA officials including Paul & Mona Bergstrom and several members of the CPF/CORSA Board.  Pam gave a speech about her father’s experience on the Corvair pilot line and Sonny Balcaen of IECO fame sent in a message which was also read at the ribbon cutting ceremony.

Many of the participants brought their own Corvairs and entered them in the car show in the museum's ample parking lot.  The cars filled four aisles in the parking lot and all types and kinds of Corvairs were there.  Notable entries included several senior-level concours cars, a Solar Cavalier, four mid-engine V8/V6 Corvairs, Mike McGowan’s immaculate Devin C, an Ultra Van and many others.  Judging was by People’s Choice and the results were announced at the banquet on Saturday night.  I don’t have the results at my fingertips as of this writing, but they should be ready for publication in a day or two.

Hats off especially to CPF/CORSA President Mike Hall, who was the driving force in making the museum a reality, CPF Publicist Eva McGuire, who got the word out to the entire Corvair community, Teresa Miller, who was our official photographer, and to the members of the Prairie Capital Corvair Association who arranged the banquet and managed registration for the event.

Allan Lacki
redbat01 at verizon.net