[Chevelle-list] Ancient History

[Clint Hooper]

I've been on & off the List since 1997 as I've drifted through the stream of
life. It's been enjoyable being a part of this Chevelle family.
Mesa Tactical? One of my major passions is playing with
tactical/paramilitary/automatic weaponry. I've talked to someone on the
phone Mesa awhile back. It might have been you,Mitch.
Clint Hooper
H&H Custom,owner
1969 El Camino protourer
http://dalesplace.com/misc/friends/clint/clint_hooper.htm
http://www.lateral-g.net/members/hooper/
"You may find me dead one day in a ditch. But by God,you'll find me in a
pile of brass."

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mitch Barrie" <mitch at mesatactical.com>


> If that's allowed, okay.
>
> First, my Chevelles.  Well, just the El Camino for now, here's a few
> photos on Flickr:
>
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonov/367544491/
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonov/367544608/
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonov/368997353/
>
> That's how it looked before I tore it down.  I'll have some more up
> to date pics of it on Flickr before too long.
>
> Now I thought I'd tell a little story of how the List got started,
> for the noobies here who weren't around in the beginning.
>
> Well, after I bought my El Camino in spring of 1996, I immediately
> started working on it.  The first thing I did was upgrade the
> suspension.  Problem was that back in those days there were no "how
> to" instructions anywhere for these kinds of jobs.  I had the Motors
> Manual and the 1966 Factory Manual, but nothing that really took you
> from start to finish (later I noticed the aftermarket kits started
> coming with instructions, and of course there's a lot more
> information on the Internet now, but back then you were on your
> own).  I was a computer networking guy, not a motorhead.
>
> Well, I tackled some jobs myself and later published write-ups online
> to help the next people to come along (they are gone at the moment,
> but I'll be putting them up again in the next few months).  But I
> needed a place to go where I could ask questions and trade
> information.  One of my first Internet experiences was joining a
> mailing list about pet rats, which you will understand is a pretty
> esoteric subject.  So I decided to start a malling list for Chevelles.
>
> The first thing I did was buy a new e-mail account at Best.com, one
> of the top ISPs in those days.  They offered a Majordomo list
> service.  Then I did something that would be highly frowned upon
> today, but those were more innocent times.  Even then I had a few
> complaints.  What I did was I found a few classic car sites where
> people were selling Chevelles (there were no forums in those days,
> just want ads).  I copied all the e-mail addresses I found in the
> Chevelle ads, and added them to the new Chevelle List.  Then I sent
> the first non-test message to the list, inviting everyone to join.
>
> That's right, Spam!
>
> I immediately deleted everyone from the List, letting anyone who
> wanted to join to do so on their own accord.  People started
> subscribing almost instantly.
>
> As I said, I got a few complaints about the Spam (I was young!), but
> the biggest complaint was from a guy who was planning to start his
> own list, and was very upset that I had beat him to it.  I told him I
> didn't care who had the list, I just wanted a place where I could ask
> questions about Chevelles.  But he didn't like how I had structured
> the List, that there were no moderators.  He wanted to be some kind
> of List Nazi, telling everyone what they could talk about.  I wasn't
> interested in that at all, so I invited him to start his own list for
> Chevelle-owning Fascists, but that my freewheeling Chevelle List would
live on.
>
> I learned a lot from the List, and I was soon in a position to offer
> advice of my own.  We had a few hitches along the way.  At one point
> Best.com either deleted my account or the List or something, I forget
> what, and it had to be migrated to a new account.  Soon after the
> List appeared Chevelles.com was set up, and as my travel schedule was
> getting crazy I handed the List over to them to manage.  Then in 1999
> I moved out of the country again, and unsubscribed from the List
altogether.
>
> The Internet is an amazing thing.  No one made any money from the
> List, and it didn't cost much to set up and maintain.  If the guys at
> Chevelles.com are making money now, they didn't plan to when they
> first set it up.  These are just services provide by Chevelle lovers
> to help other Chevelle lovers love their Chevelles.
>
> I've been on a number of lists over the years.  The Chevelle List was
> the most polite of them, the one with the fewest conflicts.  I recall
> there was only one fight where I stepped in and made some vague
> warning (I don't recall what I threatened to do), and everything
> settled down.  We lost one guy, a real friendly and enthusiastic guy
> in New Jersey, who I think was upset because of some remarks someone
> else made about him.  I said I'd hated to see him go, but it was his
> own decision.  I didn't want to be anyone's mom.  But overall it was
> always a very friendly place.
>
> I also made some real friends from the List.  For example, my wife
> and I often camp out together at the SCTA trials with Frank's
> family.  I met Frank through the List.  And I recall how sad we all
> were when a valuable and beloved List contributor succumbed to cancer
> in the late nineties.
>
> Anyway, I look forward to getting my cars running.  My new company is
> Mesa Tactical, http://www.mesatactical.com/ .
>
> As for the weather: I am typing this in my office, which is two miles
> from my house.  I walked here this morning through warm morning
> sunshine.  In a few minutes I will walk three miles to the gun show
> at the fairgrounds.  Ah, California!
>
>
> Mitch
>