The Ideal Neighborhood?

Craig & Diane Hardy live in a neighborhood with more Corvairs than many CORSA Chapters ... around 14 at last count.  The real kicker is that the neighborhood is known as the “Lakewood” subdivision.

The red convertible in the Hardy’s garage is a '66 Corsa 140/4-spd, with dual sprint-style exhausts.  This low mileage classic was painted in '84 with 9 coats of RM lacquer.

The blue convertible shown in the picture above is owned by Roy and Barb Allen, friends of the Hardys.  The car is a '69 110/Powerglide with 140-style dual exhausts.  Craig & Diane’s white '65 Monza (shown below) is a 110/pg with air conditioning.  It originally had a blue interior, but now it’s red and silver.  The A/C is configured with a Sanden compressor and '66 firewall- mounted condenser.  All of the cars have engines by Louis Pinard that are very strong and dependable, according to Craig.

Craig & Diane’s Monza is shown in front of the Grand Canyon at the 2001 CORSA convention.

But let’s get back to that neighborhood...

The Allens, who live around the corner from the Hardys in Bossier City, Louisiana, are the owners of nine Corvairs including both show cars and daily drivers.  These families also have a teenage neighbor who lives between them who just bought a red Early Model coupe.  Craig’s theory is that “we must have some influence on the ‘young-un's’ over here.”

The Allens recently built a new warehouse for their nine Corvairs.  The warehouse is shown below, behind the little red Early Model orphan Craig and his Roy towed back last summer.

Are you catching on?  Neighbors towing orphaned Corvairs around together and
stowing them in a Corvair Warehouse?  Would this be a great place to live, or what?

The Lakewood subdivision’s “Corvair Warehouse” is a place for the neighbors to have fun with their Corvairs and for Louis Pinard to work his motor magic.  Please click this link for a look at the inside of this “Corvair Toybox” and some of the other cars stored there.

The Monza is in front of the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona at the 2001 CORSA convention.

After the tragic events of September 11^th, the Hardy’s borrowed their friends’ blue ‘69 Monza convertible to put together a patriotic Red, White & Blue Corvair display in their driveway.  Craig says that “I was putting an NOS Delco radio in Barb’s car at the time, so she did not mind letting me use it.”

As far as holding up his end in this “keeping up with the Ed Coles’ neighborhood”, Craig says that his garage “is pretty well-equipped” for the light work he does and that “the 'fridge also comes in handy.”

His wife says, “He could live out there if he had to.”

Photos originally submitted on 9/9/2001 with subsequent updates provided.