DOS: April 17, 2003

EDD:  July 1, 2003

The Story:  I enjoyed Barry's account of his Lakewood's story, his family's story, and Corvairdom in general:

"I have two Vairs, a '65 Corsa almost ready to be painted, and NOT on jackstands, [those who were at Carlisle in 2003 know that would come later -- Norm] and a '61 Lakewood, currently on jackstands. I'd like to apply to Group Red. You obviously, and me less obviously, have too much time on your hands to participate in such a pointless adventure. I, with my wife, Patty, live in Piedmont SC, with my 16 yr. old daughter Kayla, Patty's 15 yr. old daughter Amy, and OUR 3 yr. old daughter Rachel. We have quite a mixed family, but no matter how you slice it, I'm outnumbered. Both my father and my brother are into Vairs -- THEY started it !! Dad has close to 20, all parts cars except for a few -- a true '63 Spyder, and 4 door cream late coupe, and an early open called "The Red Rag." Tony has a few himself, including a '68 red daily driver, and his '66 Corsa he built for auto-crossing.

"The '61 Lakewood was purchased from Shirley Sweeney, the widow of a Corsa SC club member extraodinaire, Kemp Sweeney. If I'm not mistaken, he was a Master Judge. Kemp had certain plans for the car, and I intend on being true to his wishes. He had started to tear the car apart when he got too sick to continue. Shirley used to drive the car when they lived in Virginia. It's supposed to be Ermine White. Kemp was wanting the interior back to its original red, with bucket seats. It's an automatic, and he had set aside an AC unit for it. I think it will be one sweet daily driver.

"The wagon looks rough, but the body's pretty straight. The back two lower quarter panels are rusted through. I plan on ordering Clark's pans. Three acorn nuts were found on top of the fan pulley, and a pile of them under # 3 plug. It only spent the last 6 months outside so it didn't take the squirrels long to find the secret storage compartments. Huge disappointment to me. I'm pulling all the sheet metal next. The oil pan was clean but for 1/8" of sludge. Tons of work to do."

I'd love to see pictures when it's done, Barry.

Return to GROUP Red Home Page.

 Return to Norman C. Witte Personal Web Page Command Center

All images and text copyright Norman C. Witte 2002-2004.