What is the age range of Corvair Fans? (POLL)

[homecatmom]

Oh my! These pictures could be of the car that presently is sitting in my driveway! There IS hope.

majority of our group is 40+ im apparantly not the youngest one at 19 which is odd, but i think im the youngest one who isnt in the club because a parent is too

WOW, man!!! Glad I'm not the youngest Vair owner on the planet... although I might be the youngest girl
Btw... Do you do your own pics... Love them!!!
Kudos!!
Miss

all my own pics

[freedo]

Oh my! These pictures could be of the car that presently is sitting in my driveway! There IS hope.

WOW, man!!! Glad I'm not the youngest Vair owner on the planet... although I might be the youngest girl
Btw... Do you do your own pics... Love them!!!
Kudos!!
Miss

all my own pics

this car is currently sitting at my shop with no engine in it

[Jonathan's61vair]

I'm 14 and I bought mine when i was thirteen. I took out all of my savings for it. I just recently put a cherrybomb glasspack on it

[bbodie52]

Welcome, Jonathan, to the Corvair Forum!

At 14, you are off the scale! But that is a great start. I see a motorcycle and a Lexus in the garage behind your Corvair, and a 1961 Monza coupe out front.

What are your plans for it??? I would like to invite you to post a brief Corvair-related biography in the Introductions section and tell us more about you and your Corvair. Post some more pictures of the engine compartment, interior, etc and tell us what kind of shape your Corvair is in. Do you have any mechanical experience, tools, etc?

My family started with a brand new 1961 Corvair Monza coupe in San Jose, California, when I was only 8 years old. They bought a 1965 Corvair Corsa convertible in 1965, and I learned to drive in that car and took my first driver's test in it in 1969. When I was 16 (1n 1969) my father bought an old junker 1963 Corvair 500 for me to work on. The engine was frozen and the automatic transmission was shot, but it was mine to work on and to learn from. I had a shop manual and an garage to work in, and access to my Dad's tools. He backed me up with funding to pay for parts and machine shop work, and I spent my summer vacation learning to pull the powertrain, and rebuilt the engine and transmission by myself. Progress was slow, but I managed to get it running well by the end of the summer and the next year I transplanted that 1963 engine into a 1962 Monza coupe that was in better condition but needed an engine (it had a good differential and 4-speed transmission). Some years later that car was my transportation on my wedding day and on my honeymoon (I was 19 then in 1972). Then I joined the Air Force, and my wife and I continued driving and owning Corvairs. Now I am 61, we've been married for almost 42 years, and we still drive a Corvair (1966 Corsa convertible).

If you plan on doing your own work on your 1961 Monza, the Corvair Forum is a great place to get support and advice. We can do a better job of answering your questions if you tell us more about yourself, your mechanical background and knowledge, and your plans and goals for yourself and your Corvair.

The following Corvair Forum link can provide you with a list of useful websites that should be helpful as a Corvair owner...

Common and Useful Corvair Websites
Corvair Forum viewtopic.php?f=225&t=6007

The above link will show you some websites where you can download free shop manuals and other Corvair technical guides to help you.

Please keep in touch, let us know how you are doing, and feel free to ask questions. There is a lot of Corvair experience on the Forum!

[CorsaTurboKid]

I'm also 19 and I love my vair

[91blaze]

I'm 20 in a few months. I've always been into the "oddball" cars like Corvairs, Gremlins, Pintos, etc. and have had my mind set to get a Corvair for a while now. I have 2 other projects: a 1979 Jeep J10 (my future offroad toy), and a 1937 Ford Pickup.

[California Dreaming]

OMG... LOVE those pics.... Rusty, Running, with wheels...

[California Dreaming]

NICE !!! I like it... Kinda like me wanting a 1931 Ford Model A, at your age... Never got one, but I'd love one once my Vair is done !!! They are cheap to buy, restore, and own, TONS of Parts, Both Model A's, and Vairs...... TELL YOUR FRIENDS..

[gpracer89]

Great to see the number of younger folks on the poll, even if it is "internet biased". For an activity to stay relevant, you have to have new blood coming in.

Around 2008, a good friend and I went to see the Antique Auto Racing Association;

http://www.antiqueautoracing.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

put on an exhibition race at the Marietta, Oh fairgrounds. They race wonderful handbuilt midgets, sprints and "big cars" from the 1920's-1950's, some powered by the legendary Offy engines, V8-60 Fords, but did not allow more modern engines like a SBC. Lots of wonderful sights and sounds. Problem I saw, most everybody participating were WWII generation. We talked with several guys and I said, this is really cool, but what are you doing to draw in a younger crowd, you could allow SBC sprints, VW (or Corvair!), powered midgets, all from the 1960's-'70's. They just said, well this is our club and this is the way we want things. I thought, that's fine, but when you guys die off, there will be no interest in carrying on. Well, I recently visited their website. Guess what, they are retiring the club due to decline in participation! Kind of sad. Sure, the cars will go to collectors, but most will sit in silence. I am a firm believer in driving classics!

A cautionary tale I guess, anyway, I am young at heart 49 year old, have raced karts and flat track motorcycles and am happy to have my first Corvair for my upcoming 50th birthday. Cars are always cool and a universal language, I hope to interest the younger "tuner age" group in this area in the unique Corvair!

[DemonPig]

I am 34. I have been interested in Corvairs for a couple of years, finally decided to pull the trigger.
Picking one up in about 10 days. What got me into it is how stylish Corvair looks compared to most vehicles and the undeserved unfair treatment it got.
This is the one I will be most likely acquiring:

[bbodie52]

Welcome to the Corvair Forum! That looks like a decent Monza coupe. What kind of custom wheels? Are they in good condition? What engine and transmission are in the Monza, and what is the model year?

I have read most of this thread and I have to say that maintaining a car club is extremely difficult.
Someone mentioned the Internet - yes - that is one huge club killer. An internet forum like this one makes a club much less vital with its wealth of information, media and advice. As a matter of fact, people will often organize informal meets and events via forums.

I wish CORSA well but its membership has been dwindling and it will be hard to stop that trend.

I believe there is room for both. Internet based Forums like the Corvair Forum are really great, and they are an excellent source of information and idea exchange. But face-to-face contact with other Corvair enthusiasts on a local basis also provides social interaction, an opportunity for family-based involvement in the Corvair hobby, and a chance for members to assist each other with physical help in various Corvair projects. Their knowledge of local repair and body shops that have earned positive feedback, references and recommendations can also be a big help — especially when a member reaches his or her own limitations and needs some outside help and encouragement. But you are right — it is hard to maintain a successful club. It is really dependent on the degree of member participation. Some clubs are large and dynamic, with a high degree of participation by members. Others are almost invisible and lack motivating leadership and engaged members. I have seen some club chapters where I cannot even find an active website or current contact information, even though they are still listed on the CORSA Chapter Locator web pages. And the CORSA Chapter Locator feature on the CORSA website has badly deteriorated. It is loaded with out of date information, inaccurate or non-existent chapter website addresses, etc. Hopefully this will improve. CORSA and local CORSA chapters, parts suppliers like Clark's Corvair Parts, and Internet-based websites like the Corvair Forum really combine to make Corvair ownership possible and affordable for most people. But physical club chapters or forums like the Corvair Forum are only as successful as the degree of member participation drives that success. Even on the highly successful, well-maintained and dynamic Corvair Forum, which currently has 3,644 members, less than half (1,599) have posted one or more entries. And only 445 Corvair Forum members (12.2%) have posted ten or more times! In a local club, if only 12% of members participate regularly, this could be deadly — where interest begins to decline and participation ultimately ceases.

The following Corvair Forum link can provide you with a list of useful websites that should be helpful as a Corvair owner...

Common and Useful Corvair Websites
Corvair Forum viewtopic.php?f=225&t=6007

Finally, I would like to invite you to expand on your initial post and tell us more about yourself, your Corvair, and your goals for your Corvair. If you can describe your personal assessment of your mechanical skills and abilities, that would help a lot. Members of the Corvair Forum love to be helpful in assisting other Corvair owners with technical support and advice, but it helps a lot if we have some understanding of your technical background and mechanical abilities, Corvair-related knowledge, etc. Helping us to know more about you and your Corvair will help us to write comments to you that are tailored to your needs and experience. Pictures are great too, because pictures of your Corvair will help us to visualize where you are with your Corvair and its condition at the present time. Knowing your location is also useful, because knowing where you live can sometimes suggest possibilities to resolve some issues or problems.

[DemonPig]

The issue here is that you have a clash between modern technology (Internet forums) and an old, traditional way (car clubs). Forums tend to be anonymous and dry at times, while car clubs lose focus and become irrelevant, either through over structure and complexity, or through lack of interest. Obviously, differences blend at times as forums have their own meets and rides while clubs have their own forums.

I think, that an organization like CORSA must embrace the “new” and restructure. Not too many people of new generation care for receiving a newsletter in this time and age and meets are easily organized with a click of a mouse and few keyboard strokes. I believe that if CORSA wishes to be successful, it should have more of a dynamic Internet presence.

For example, when I started researching Corvairs online, I was most interested in Clark’s Corvairs, California Corvairs, Corvair Center (more posts but disorganized) and this forum. CORSA did not offer much to draw me in.

As for my personal info - I did not really intend to introduce myself until I actually acquire a Chevrolet Corvair. At this moment, all I am doing is research. I have found a car I will most likely buy but until it happens I am nothing but an impostor. ;)

I am in Toronto area though and I must say that I am mighty jealous of the deals you guys have south of the border, both on cars and parts. I have to pretty much pay 25-50% more here, in the land of beavers and igloos.

[bbodie52]

I tend to agree with you about CORSA. I seldom visit their website because there is little there to attract me. The Corvair Forum provides much of what the CORSA website should have been. I think I joined CORSA out of tradition, but it is hard to justify remaining a member — except out of a desire for it to grow and to hopefully restructure itself into something more relevant. The printed magazine is one of their biggest expenses, yet it provides little of value. For me, all of my books and magazines are now purchased in digital format from Amazon.com's Kindle, Zinio's digital magazine subscriptions, etc. I believe CORSA should move in that direction and learn from websites like this one. I have heard of and seen interest in forming new club chapters from Corvair enthusiasts in Canada and South Africa, but those ideas seem to fade as the CORSA bureaucracy gets in the way and seems to offer little to new, small, and distant Corvair groups. I think that the existence of CORSA is an important bond and common thread to Corvair owners, but something has to change if that degree of importance and value is to continue.

I often try to encourage membership in CORSA to new Corvair owners, but more for the value that might be found is in local chapters — if they exist — and not so much for the national organization. But the existence of local chapters can be spotty, and the local clubs are sometimes difficult to find if they lack a local website or if it is poorly maintained. I'm not sure what the answer is for CORSA. I think the need for solid, dynamic and well-organized local Corvair clubs is a real one, but I'm not sure that CORSA is doing all that is needed to facilitate the development of those local clubs.

As for introducing yourself and outlining your goals and Corvair-related objectives, I believe that being a prospective first-time Corvair buyer or a new, developing Corvair owner is a very important time for introducing yourself and to begin exchanging ideas and asking questions on the Corvair Forum. The same is true for joining a local Corvair club, if one is available. You don't need to own a Corvair yet to join a club. Talking to experienced owners, viewing — and possibly driving — their Corvairs, etc. can help to prepare the prospective owner in developing realistic goals and expectations before they take the plunge and buy their first Corvair. You don't actually need to own a Corvair yet, but nurturing a developing interest prior to acquiring your first Corvair can help a great deal in that process. Better to ask questions early to help to develop realistic expectations, find out about technical knowledge and parts support, and to help locate a Corvair that will be part of a dream and not a nightmare project that can overwhelm a new owner. Buying the "wrong" Corvair can quickly sour a dream if the new buyer is unprepared to deal with repair and restoration costs or the work involved in Corvair ownership. This is especially true if the prospective owner has never owned a classic car before.

[DemonPig]

One of the reasons I chose the Corvair is excellent parts support (albeit all from the States). I was initially looking into acquiring a Pontiac Chieftain just because I couldn't find any Corvairs for a reasonable price around here (Toronto) and was willing to go with my 2nd option at the time. Chieftain, however is much more difficult to maintain, would have to custom make a lot of things.

As for CORSA - Burlington club is nearby me, I'll see if they are active.
To be honest even the name of the organization is a bit misleading. As generic as it sounds, the word "Corvair" should be clearly displayed in the name. Just looking at the word "Corsa," one does not instantly think of a Chevy product and if they do, they may think that the club only caters to this particular sub-model of the vehicle.
... But once again, I wish them best. ... And if I determine that it's worth my time, I may even join in.

At any rate, I did introduce myself in the proper section, thank you for all the pointers and links.

I'll stop hijacking this thread now.

[sixty2rampside]

This corvair guy is 49 years old

[sixty2rampside]

This corvair guy is 49 years old I
Have several corvairs including a
62 rampside,62 spyder,66 corsa,
64 green brier ,