Lomira, Wi – For the past 48 years Dennis Crass of Lomira, WI, would wake up and say to his wife, “I drove the Corvair again.” That dream was about his 1966 Corvair, a hot rod Crass purchased in 1971 when he was 35 years old. He spent the next two-and-a-half years and 1,100 hours modifying the vehicle and showing it on the circuit until he sold it in 1975. Seeing his baby again at 84, would be the surprise of a lifetime.Â
Crass had a lot of show cars over the years. “I’ve had National Championship cars,” he said. That Corvair was featured in five different hot rod magazines.
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Over a 2-year time span Crass put in a 327 V8 engine with a 400-turbo transmission. He installed cross-torsion bar suspension, wheel flares, handmade interior, and modified the body, the hood, and the roof. The instrument cluster was out of a ’68 Dodge Charger.
Asked why he sold it, Crass recalled he was “redoing an old farmhouse” and didn’t think this vehicle with 25,000 original miles was really that different than his many other show cars…. until he couldn’t stop thinking about it.
As Crass built the car in the early 70s it was the neighbor kid two doors down who would pedal past on his bicycle and pester Dennis. “I just loved the hot rods running in and out of there,” said Mike Moser.
“I was probably 15 years old, and he called me up on a Saturday asked if I could come over and give him a hand,” he said. “Dennis was pretty famous around the area for some of the cars he built and when that car went away, he went on to his next project.”
“I sold it in 1975 and never dreamt I’d see it again,” Crass said.
Moser said, over the years the Corvair would come up in conversations and photos; eventually interest was sparked on a Facebook page for V8 car owners
“I posted a picture of the car in a FB group and said my friend built this back in the 70s; it was gone but not forgotten,” said Moser.
Doors started opening for Moser during a Corvair reunion in Detroit. Although there were some leads, it was a Polaroid found in a dresser drawer that eventually led to registration records and finding the car in western Michigan.
The wheels of the calendar and Moser’s search turned slowly. “After Christmas I probably didn’t hear anything for like 3 months and all a sudden in March I got a text, and a name, and two phone numbers,” said Moser. “I got a hold of this Bruce guy and he said, ‘yeah I got it sitting in my shop.'”
A meeting was arranged, Moser picked up a trailer, and when he first saw the vehicle, it was around noon in the corner of a part-time body shop, covered in dust and grunge.
The pair dickered. Finally, Moser quoted a line from the antiques-and-collectors television reality series American Pickers. “The time to buy something is when you find it and the time to sell something is when you got some dummy in front of you wants to buy it.”
Fast forward to a wire transfer, signing the title and Moser left with the car and drove from 4 p.m. until midnight to get back home.
The big reunion happened at Jug’s Hitching Post in 2023. Dennis’s son was driving and went to the lower parking lot.
“I said to my son, why don’t you park up in front because mom don’t walk so good,” Dennis said. “I had no idea.”
And then… the big reveal…. 
“When he backed that out, we just bawled; I still do. I was just in total shock. My son thought he might have to get the medic,” said Dennis. “I just didn’t know what to say I just never dreamt I’d see this car again.”
“When Mike presented it, I said to him you know hundreds of times probably over these past 48 years I’d say to my wife when I woke up in the morning. ‘Well, I drove the Corvair again last night…’ Now I can.”
I remember that car when Dennis first built it, it wasn’t done but I remember seeing it. It was really a neat idea for a Corvair. I also wish Mike would have a photo of his beetle he shortened, it was really cute too. Mike and I worked together at the VW dealership when he first got out of high school. Good memories. Thanks Mike for finding Dennis’ beauty.