Cruising in (your choice of) a Corvair

Three generations of the Mann family enjoying a warm fall day with their classic Corvair collection: from left, Jeff Mann, Ron & Judy Mann, and Jacob Mann, with Max (a frequent passenger).

Ron Mann’s first car was a white four-door 1963 Chevrolet Corvair, bought brand-spanking new off the showroom floor at Tirb Chevrolet (131 Adrian Street). But it wasn’t his last Corvair–not by a long shot.

He has bought and sold several more Corvairs over the years, a hobby he considers “relatively inexpensive” as collector cars go.

“It has always been a family thing to us,” Ron explains. “These are not show cars; these are fun cars. When we take them to a show, people normally tell their kids not to touch them. Then we ask them if they want to sit inside the car.”

It’s maybe a different philosophy than many others have toward their collector cars. While he has earned trophies for some of the vehicles at various car shows around Michigan and in Florida, “In all the cars I’ve had, I probably not have spent as much money as someone has spent restoring one 1953 Corvette or other classic cars,” Ron says.

And Ron’s fleet of Corvairs have a plethora of family memories attached to them. Especially “Grandpa’s Van,” which he has used over the years to take his grandchildren to the Dairy Queen when it was open and now makes its trips, hopefully filled with several family members including his wife, Judy, to Napoleon or Adrian for ice cream treats.

“It’s really all about the memories,” Ron says, in a flyer they keep handy in each car–because every time they stop somewhere, someone will approach them, or at least send a covert glance their way. Even as I visited the line up of cars at the Mann homestead just west of the village on Sunday afternoon, cars slowed down on Austin Road or even pulled in just to look at the display. The cars … and the memories … really are irresistible.

Ron also has a flyer about the history of Corvairs, as well. Named the Motor Trend magazine Car of the Year in 1960, a total of 1,839,439 Corvairs were manufactured from October 1959 to May 1969. It was the first General Motors car to have a rear engine, air cooled engine, aluminum block engine, “flat” boxer style engine, and was the first GM car with four-wheel independent suspension and the first unibody car made by Fisher Body. The Corvair model was eventually discontinued because of competition from within General Motors.

The Corvair earned a degree of notoriety after it was featured in a chapter of Ralph Nader’s book, “Unsafe at Any Speed,” in 1965. The reason for the designation was because of the engine’s unusual high front- to rear-tire pressure differential; if all four tires were inflated to the same psi, which was common practice at the time, it could result in a dangerous oversteer. However, Ron maintains that Nader also said that 1964 and newer Corvairs were good cars, and relates that Nader himself even owned a 1962 white four-door Corvair (which is currently located in Southeastern Michigan).

Ron has some great stories about sharing his Corvair collection with others. Once, at a show in Kissimee, Florida, he noticed a large Hispanic family, ranging in age from young children to an elderly grandmother, who were staring at the white wall tires of his car. One of the children asked Ron if the cars were his, and the grandmother then shared a story about going to the mountains with her father, to gather “white rocks” (pumice) that were used to clean the whitewalls of tires back in the day. He also shared a story from Manchester resident Bill Martin, who had worked at the Willow Run plant where Corvairs were manufactured. Taking one look at the snaps on the convertible cover of one of Ron’s cars, he immediately said he knew who had riveted the snaps. A left-handed co-worker would always attach the snaps the drivers’ side of the cars, but if he tried to do the other side, they always turned out a little bit crooked. Sure enough, Ron examined the snaps on the passenger side and those snaps were, indeed, slightly crooked. He smiles and shrugs as he tells this story.

“I don’t know if either of those stories are 100% gospel, but I sure do enjoy hearing them,” he says.

The Mann family’s fascination with historic vehicles doesn’t end with the Corvairs.

Ron’s son Jeff owns a 1969 Ford Mustang, that has spent its entire 51 years in Manchester. It was bought new from Tom Marshall Ford (510 E. Main) by Bob and Aileen Ross of Manchester and Jeff is only its second owner. Jeff also is the proud owner of the 1966 Manchester Township Fire Department’s truck that was delivered in the spring of 1966. Ron joined the Fire Department in the fall of 1966, and figures he has spent more time behind the wheel of that particular vehicle than just about anyone else. As the owner of Mann’s Feed Mill downtown, until 1980, he was typically the first person to arrive at the fire barn, particularly when it was located in the former village hall at 120 S. Clinton Street. The truck was at one time housed at the Michigan Firehouse Museum near Depot Town in Ypsilanti, but when they ran out of storage space, Jeff bought it back.

There’s a lot more history to explore in the long, narrow barn on the Mann property. Originally used to house 20,000 hatchling chicks until they began laying, it currently is home to several more Corvairs in various states of repair, a couple more fire engines, and a few other historic vehicles. It also contains signage from several long-disappeared businesses along Manchester’s Main Street.

You can count on more history coming out of the Mann barn in the months and years ahead.

The third car from the left, the white four-door Corvair, was Ron’s first car in 1963. He now owns several more, including the rare station wagon (green, at far left).

The Mann family’s collection. The red Corvair convertible (fourth from right) is “Grandma” Judy Mann’s special vehicle.

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.