"Gary obtained his Rampside about four years ago
from a one of our members. The truck was very straight and complete. The years
were tough on the paint and it needed basic service. As the owner of his own
body and paint shop, Gary treated the Rampside to a
new paint job, leather interior and installed some Oldsmobile sport wheels. He
constantly gets the thumbs-up from many on the road.
An interesting note to the story is that prior to Gary owning his truck I
never knew him. Gary's shop is about five miles from my home en
route to my favorite hardware store.
One day while driving my Rampside I
saw Gary's in front of his business. Being a good representative of the SF Bay
Area Corvair Club I placed a card under his wiper to join the club. I didn't
know he was already a member! At our next meeting I ran into him and we checked
out each others' rigs and quickly became friends.
The story doesn't end there. Gary's truck was sold new in Santa Rosa
(Northern California) in May of 1964, mine in Alhambra
(Southern California) in
April of 1964. Our serial numbers are 606 units apart
(Greenbriers & Corvans are included in the sequencing) and both trucks were
factory painted all white. They both have the chrome package, 110
HP engine (Gary's was since
replaced by a 140), and 4-speed
transmissions. They are nearly identical trucks! The remaining odd part is
that we repainted our trucks in a similar color before knowing each other."
Looking at the registry shows that Gary's Rampside will be right after mine--how odd considering they were sold in opposite ends of the state only to wind up
in the middle five miles apart! Perhaps the most comical aspect of all this is that
when many of my friends say they saw me here or there when I wasn't, I know they must
mean Gary. He has also told me similar stories of his friends seeing him where I
was."
