The Great Old Corvair!!

The grand old Corvair!! This little car started out in 1956 with the design and began rolling off the production line in 1959. This was to be the answer to a more econimical car for the American public. Produced by General Motors, it was supposed to be the answer to the Volkswagon Beetle, which was imported, and the Rambler American and Studebaker Lark. During it's hayday, 1,786,243 cars rolled off the production line.

Ralph Nadar, consumer advocate, wrote a book "Unsafe at any Speed" which halved the sales of the Corvair in 1966. By 1968, the sales had fallen to 14,800.

I love the Corvair!! When I first came to Des Moines, Iowa, these little cars were putzing all over the place!! And they were cheap!

Well, I married a man who had a Corvair, as well as a '64 Chevelle. During our first years of marriage, I can remember buying used Corvairs dirt cheap, $75.00, driving them for quite some time and then selling them for $75.00 to somebody else!! The most we ever sold a Corvair for was $3,900!! Not bad for '74! My husband had repainted it (he went to body school) and it was a Corvair Monza Convertible. And the darn thing wouldn't go over 35 mph!!

We did have one that every time I drove the thing, it would break down. I can remember stopping in a gas station to ask to borrow a screwdriver, opening the hood (in the back end, of course) and seeing the amazement of the attendent!! I was kind of used to it! Never did break down on my hubby!

Now the Corvair is a collectors car!! And those pieces and parts and yes, the cars themselves are getting fewer and fewer!! So, here are a few items that I found already listed on OnlineAuction.com!! I have a few more that I will be listing but that's for another day!! Oh, if we'd only kept those little cars!

1964 Chevrolet Corvair Convertible

1963 Chevrolet Corvair Convertible

Both these beauties are listed by GRGAuction!!

61-65 CHEVY CORVAIR VAN GRILL & HEADLIGHT BEZELS. PICKUP, RAMPSIDE, PANEL

You can find this great grill in SecondHandLions!



Corvair 700 Glove Compartment Door 1960's

Great interior piece over at RoundPrairie2!!

And this Corvair Owners Guide 1965 is listed in our store, KornKountryTreasures!

And do you know the beauty of OLA.com?? If you list a car, an owners book, a glove compartment door and a grill, guess who is going to pay the most in final value fees? NOBODY!!! Awsome, huh??

You can list a car for $8.00 and NO FINAL VALUE FEES!!!

Check us out at OLA.com!!

Thank you!



An Historial History of Mary Todd Lincoln In A Nutshell

....By A Cracked Nut

I've been sitting here after reading chateycathays post on Lincoln, remembering a book I read on Mary Todd Lincoln. The first thing that comes to mind is the fact that Lincoln would probably not have become President if he had not been married to Mary who was raised in the upper crust of society and Lincoln was considered a real hayseed. Them not marrying could have truly changed the history of our country.

Mary was 1 of 7 children then when she was 4, her mother evidently became exhausted and died. Her father married again and he had 9 more children......no wonder she was considered a grouchy step-mother.....I'd probably be a bit testy myself. Mary obviously couldn't wait to leave home...she went to college then lived with a married sister.

After meeting Lincoln, getting engaged to Mary, Lincoln breaking it off...he was depressed because he was a hayseed. Oh, well, life went on then they met up again and Mary told a society friend she was going to marry Lincoln...not because he was handsome, but because she was going to see to it he became President. Another friend told Mary to have Abe grow a beard so he wouldn't be so ugly. He grew one, they got married, he did become President. They moved to Washington, 7 states seceded, Mary redecorated the White House, spent too much money, Congress got mad at her, she didn't care, the war started, she entertained but did become active in the plight of the slaves.

In the meantime, Mary and Abe had 4 sons. Mary had a series of misfortunes. In 3 years she lost her father, then her 4 yr old son to diptheria, then Abe was shot, another son died of the fever. She fell into a deep depression. Good grief, what would you expect? Eventually her only remaiing son (I can't remember what happened to the third son...gotta leave something for you to look up:) Robert, had her declared in-sane (she shouldn't have gone there) and she remained for several years till her sister got her sprung from the 'happy house'. She traveled to Europe, but was still not happy in her head. She finally took a permanent nap when she was 63....folks think she died of paralysis but was probably a stroke.

She was buried next to her husband, 3 sons, and with her thin wedding ring that said 'Love is eternal' that Lincoln had given her when they married.

The end.....An Historical History of Mary Todd Lincoln in a Nutshell.....

Brought to you by the Musings of Supergranny. Visit her store, Supergrannys Treasures at Online Auction

(I have some days I am unable to remember if I've taken my medication but I can remember all these details from a book I read 4 or 5 years ago. What's up with that?)

SVEN BIRGER SANDZEN

Hello my friends,

here is another lesson in Art. ... Today: SVEN BIRGER SANDZEN.

(Please click here to buy my offered Photo Disc).

Sven Birger Sandzén (5 February 1871–19 June 1954), known more commonly as Birger Sandzén, was a Swedish-American painter best known for his landscapes. He produced most of his work while working as an art professor at the Bethany College, Lindsborg, Kansas.

Sandzén was born in Blidsberg, Ulricehamn Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden, the son of a Lutheran minister and his wife, an accomplished watercolorist. A protégé of Anders Zorn, Sandzén showed an interest in art at from early age, and at the age of 10 joined Cathedral School (Katedralskolan) situated in Skara, to study art under the tutelage of Olof Erlandsson, a graduate of the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts. After graduating in 1890, Sandzén studied for a short time at the University of Lund before moving to Stockholm. It was his intention to enroll at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts. However, the waiting list proved too long for him. Instead, he sought out and joined a group of young artists who were studying under Anders Zorn, Richard Bergh and Per Hasselberg. This group would later be known as the Artists League (Konstnärsförbundet). At the end of his studies, Zorn and Bergh recommended that Sandzén complete his painting studies in Paris. In 1894, Sandzén left Stockholm to study under Edmond Aman-Jean who introduced Sandzén to pointillism. Aman-Jean was closely associated with Ernest Laurent and Georges Seurat in promoting impressionism. Sandzén’s early work displays these influences, along with a tonalist approach.

Later in 1894, Sandzén accepted a teaching post at Bethany College and moved to Lindsborg, Kansas which would be his home for the rest of his life. He remained on the faculty for fifty-two years, teaching various languages as well as art in his first year at Bethany. Sandzén would go on to become the head of art at the college until his retirement in 1946.Sandzén was taken with the Smoky Hill River Valley area of central Kansas, which provided much of the subject matter for his paintings. Many of his paintings feature the great landscapes of the American Southwest. Sandzén painted many landscape scenes, including depictions of the Rocky Mountains and Yellowstone National Park.Although most of his works are in oil, Sandzén was also a talented printmaker and watercolorist. He adopted a thick, textural, impasto style of painting, with the use of strong colourful brushstrokes. His bold use of stroke and color has been described variously as post-Impressionism, expressionism and fauvism. His woodcuts and linocuts were to have a lasting effect on artists to come. His artwork has been compared to Vincent van Gogh and Paul Cézanne.

In 1940, Sandzén was given recognition for promoting cultural relations between the United States and Sweden. He was awarded both the Order of Vasa as well as the Order of the North Star by the Swedish Government. He also received honorary doctorates from various institutions, the Midland Lutheran College, the University of Nebraska, and the Kansas State University.As a tribute to Sandzén's contribution to Bethany College, the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery was dedicated on the college campus in 1957. It houses paintings and archives related to Sandzén and a number of his contemporaries.