It was complete with purple velvet in the rear open part where the casket went. One lodge guest that winter (a woman) refused to ride in it! I worked there that winter and drove the hearse/limo as part of the job. Got to ski the best part of six days a week.

A friend of mine had an early Corvair and we had a ball running it around on snow covered streets. Yes, it had good traction with its rear-mounted engine, but the front end weighed about two ounces, and if you made a sudden turn on the snow, the car just kept going straight ahead. Scary!

Good traction or not, without the engine heat up front a nice wet snow could pack the front wheel wells. Suddenly, no steering! Other than that, they were great fun to drive -- you could really scoot through corners.

I'm surprised anyone was able to make it to the lodge in winter without a 4x4. The station wagon with snow tires and the Corvair are real traction machines in the snow.

[Traction was a selling point of the Corvair, which had the engine in back, over the driving wheels. - Dave]

These days, it's hilarious to think of someone driving to a ski resort in a Corvair. Where's the Escalades?