thatsjared.com

This story appeared on the front page of the Sunday Flint Journal. I wrote this for my father, who loved the Corvair and hated Ralph Nader.

FLINT, Michigan — After all these years, one name still has some American motorheads blowing gaskets: Ralph Nader.

More than 44 years after the political activist and consumer watchdog authored “Unsafe at Any Speed,” defenders of the Chevrolet Corvair aren’t hard to find.

Nader called into question the safety of the popular rear-engine sports car in the first chapter of his controversial book, and many car buffs will never forgive him for it.

“I think it was overblown. If the Corvair was driven as intended, it’s a fantastic car,” said Bob Sovis, standing in the shade next to his 4-door 1965 Corvair on Saturday at the Sloan Auto Fair on the campus of the Flint Cultural Center . “It was only when people started doing extreme things that there were problems.”Richard Eastman of Grand Blanc, owner of a 1963 Corvair, agrees.

“Being a GM guy, I think (Nader) was all wet,” said Eastman, who worked a Corvair assembly line near Detroit in the 1960s.

Corvair owners are a loyal lot, defending what, in many cases, was their first love — or at least their first car.

“Everyone who passes by here says ‘I had one of those. That was my graduation present,’” he said.

That it was once the car for the everyman, many owners say, might just be its lasting charm

“I just don’t know what it is about (the Corvair),” said Perkins, who has owned eight in his life. “C.S. Mott, who lived just down the street there, said it was the best car General Motors ever built.

“(Nader) had a small point and he played it for all it was worth … it wasn’t as bad as he said it was.”

Sovis, of Fenton, was in charge of the first car show ever at the Sloan Museum and founded the Sloan Auto Fair 37 years ago. He says things are very different now.

“The hobby has changed tremendously … there’s a lot more customization going on,” Sovis said. “The original cars such as my Corvair, or even older ones, aren’t seen as often in these shows. You’re seeing newer ones … younger people like the stereos and the fancy wheels, those types of things. But, we can all exist together because it’s a great hobby.”

Thousands enjoyed great weather for day one of the annual two-day event, for which organizers have employed some new, web-based marketing techniques to bring out more cars and, consequently, more people.

“We have more cars already than we did last year,” said Ron Applegate, a fair committee member, who helped register more than 500 cars by noon on Saturday.

The oldest vehicle at this year’s event was a 1902 Oldsmobile; the newest, the redesigned 2010 Chevrolet Camaro.

But, even as cars from the 1980s were being spoken of as classics, the show boasts more cars from the 1960s than from any other era.

The event, a fundraiser for the Sloan Museum, runs from 9 a.m. Sunday until 6 p.m. Tickets are $5 for adults. $1 for children ages 4-11 and free for children under age 4.

For more information, visit Sloan’s website.