CORVAIR UNDERGROUND IS FOLDING ITS TENT!

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bbodie52
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CORVAIR UNDERGROUND IS FOLDING ITS TENT!

Post by bbodie52 »

fold (up) (one's) tent
To quit, withdraw, or disengage (from something), especially quietly or discreetly. ...the CEO decided to fold his tent and take an early retirement. You're going to have a lot of setbacks in life, so don't just fold up your tent and go home at the first sign of failure.


:sad5: I received this email Saturday from Corvair Underground...
-----Original Message-----
From: Lon [mailto:Sales@CorvairUnderground.com]
Sent: Saturday, December 16, 2017 7:08 PM
Subject: CORVAIR NEWS

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all our customers past and present!

A major change is coming to Corvair Underground Jan 1 2018 - more on that in a minute.

As for the last 2 weeks of 2017 we want to remind you that every item you order from us gets free shipping if it's being sent in the USA.
If it's an order going outside the USA you get 10% off rather than free shipping. In some limited cases we will be offering free shipping AND 10% off for specific items.

What's this all about? Well, we have oftentimes had inventory clearance sales at the end of the year. We're once again doing that but there's another reason.

10 years ago I made the announcement that Corvair Underground would be closing it's doors. At that time The Underground had been a major player in the Corvair parts business for nearly 35 years. But changing markets, and a looming recession wrote clearly on the wall that the old ways couldn't be sustained any longer. As I started to clear out the large primary warehouse I realized that I still had a lot of products unique to us that might still have some demand. To make a long story short we went from 14,000 square feet of warehouse space and 7 full time employees to 1200 feet of space in a secondary warehouse and one employee - me. The downsizing worked but had it's problems as time went on.

This past year was a real roller coaster ride. After a mediocre
2016 Oct arrived and for no apparent reason our sales more than quadrupled. Sales were better than they had been in a decade and continued that way until June of this year. During that time of sustained sales I also got VERY sick which ended up pushing a lot of progress back. In June business went dead - with a capital D and stayed there until (oddly enough) late October. There was a similar surge in sales - but this time it only lasted about 2 weeks.

My diminished health and a poor track record of sales leads me to one inevitable conclusion. I cannot continue to operate this way. At this time I cannot tell you what will happen with our GoVair-Dale line of products, the spring loaded idlers, urethane suspension bushings etc but I can tell you starting Jan 1 2018 I will no longer be operating Corvair Underground Inc as a general mail order supply house for Corvair parts.

My intention is to close down our remaining warehouse. In the meantime I'll try to clear out (sell) as much of my inventory and equipment as possible as quickly as possible. Maintaining this one small facility just eats up any profits I make and that doesn't make much sense.

Can someone with the energy needed to succeed pick up the operation? Unknown. All I know is all things have their time and 44 years is a damn good run.

Those of you who have orders in with us will see them processed but i will probably quit taking in new orders after the first of the year.

Linda and I thank all of you who have been loyal Underground customers since we started back in 1974. It's been a great ride - but I'm tired.

Lon Wall

Corvair Underground Inc 1974-2018
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Brad Bodie
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Re: CORVAIR UNDERGROUND IS FOLDING ITS TENT!

Post by terribleted »

Lon Wall is a nice guy I have met a number of times who has done a lot to help preserve Corvairs for many years. I wish him well in his retirement. I have not ordered a lot from him as shipping to GA from the left coast has never been that great, BUT, when I did order he was excellent to deal with.
Corvair guy since 1982. I have personally restored at least 20 Vairs, many of them restored ground up.
Currently working full time repairing Corvairs and restoring old cars.
https://www.facebook.com/tedsautorestoration/

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Re: CORVAIR UNDERGROUND IS FOLDING ITS TENT!

Post by Jerry Whitt »

Lon treated me well over the years.
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Re: CORVAIR UNDERGROUND IS FOLDING ITS TENT!

Post by topless65 »

I feel bad for not ordering more from Lon. But I am just getting back into a Corvair and have been spreading my money through all the vendors. I just printed the catalog. It's good reading all the tech and info. Sorry to see him retire, but health and family are more important. Do I see a worldwide tour in his Corvair in his future? :ty:
1969 Corvair Monza coupe, lost to the stupidity of youth
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Re: CORVAIR UNDERGROUND IS FOLDING ITS TENT!

Post by lostboy »

I tried emailing him a while back and got no response. I ordered some things from him and would have ordered more had he gotten back to me but if he was ill that would explain his absence. When I did speak to him in the past he seemed like a really nice guy. I wish him the best.

Sent from my LG-H931 using Tapatalk

-Steve
1961 Corvair 700 Sedan (80hp 3spd Gasoline Heat)
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