Contact Info Reqst: Gene Covert, Indianapolis

[Ronald Sieber]

I am looking for information on how to contact Gene Covert in Indianapolis, who is listed the first owner of my '57 Speedster. Is there someone in the Indiana group who might remember this person? Given the age of this car, I am probably looking for a surviving relative. Any leads might be helpful and would be appreciated.

The tub had dents in every quarter as if it had been raced. Nothing major, but dings none the less that were worked out by Dave Miller when he restored the body. There may be a competitive history, but I do not know how to research that and would welcome any suggestions on tracing the provenance on the car.

Thanks in advance,
=rds

[Fred Lawrence]

Can’t help you much but I do remember Gene. Seems like it was in the 70’s. He had a blue Speedster which I assume is the same car you have now. At that time, it seemed to be in reasonable condition, but of course it was less than 20 years old. I remember asking him about people who had done work on it; even then I was thinking about getting my car back up to snuff. He seemed flattered that I thought of his car as a standard to which to aspire.
I’m thinking he owned a company named Covert Electric here in Indy, but a cursory Google search doesn’t provide any results on that.
I don’t know if Larry Haskett might have more info, he’s a registry member and I believe his contact info is available. Mike Robbins surely knew him, but that ship has sailed.
Sorry I can’t be of more help but nobody else has responded. At least it’s a start, hopefully.

[Peter Boettcher]

I will make sure Larry sees this, and Dick Weiss here in Cincinnati may have some recollection of Gene and the car.

[Dick Weiss]

(RIP) Mike Robbins knew him very well during the early years when we all raced together, but I didn't know him that well.
I don't know if he's still w/us.

Dick

[Fred Lawrence]

whitepages.com shows a Gene Covert in Crawfordsville, IN. Used to live in Indianapolis, age 74. Could well be him.

[George Hussey]

we usually have everyone on our files, as we have now been in the Porsche mail order internet business for 41 years. Here is what we have on gene:

765 364 0549

escovert911@sbcglobal.net

uote="Ronald Sieber"]I am looking for information on how to contact Gene Covert in Indianapolis, who is listed the first owner of my '57 Speedster. Is there someone in the Indiana group who might remember this person? Given the age of this car, I am probably looking for a surviving relative. Any leads might be helpful and would be appreciated.

The tub had dents in every quarter as if it had been raced. Nothing major, but dings none the less that were worked out by Dave Miller when he restored the body. There may be a competitive history, but I do not know how to research that and would welcome any suggestions on tracing the provenance on the car.

Thanks in advance,
=rds[/quote]

[Geoff Fleming]

If this is the famous Gene Covert, who used to highly customize his Porsches, back when the 356 was still in production, he would be well into his nineties.

[Brad Ripley]

Geoff, No, that was Vern Covert -- see https://drive-my.com/us/reviews/retro/i ... ml?start=2 The 904 was chassis #906-12 quite a story was in Pano years ago.

[Larry Haskett]

Hi Ron,

The name sounds familiar, especially the company. but I never knew Gene. If you still haven't been able to contact him, I could reach out to Ron Jones and see if he has any information. Also, Brett Johnson might have been acquainted with either Gene or the car.

[Ronald Sieber]

Wow, I am very grateful for all of your responses! I have asked this question a couple of other times, but this looks like I may now have some serious leads now to follow up with. I may PM one or two of you guys to see if anything else can be discovered.
The factory-issued color on the car was Silver Metallic, and I seem to recall seeing blue on the inside of the bumpers as we took some of the remaining paint off it at Mutt Brawley's shop in the 1990s, Classic Coachworks in Mooresville, NC. Dave Miller, now owner of Copacetic Metal Shaping in China Grove, worked on the body and brought it back to spec - it had a lot of what looked like racing pings and dings, but no big damage. Dave did an awesome job of bringing that tub back!
For some time I pined away for the original engine, but at least the original transaxle is still with it. I am counting my blessings.
Thanks to everyone who has responded. Larry, if you wouldn't mind contacting Ron Jones about any other Gene information, I would appreciate it. You can PM me if you like. I will try the email and phone number on him and let folks know what transpires.
=rds

[Geoff Fleming]

Brad,
Right you are! Mixed my Coverts up!

[Larry Haskett]

Ronald,

I tried to send you a PM, but I noticed your profile doesn't contain an email address. Anyway. I contacted Ron Jones. Gene is in the Indianapolis area. Ron sent him an email about your inquiry and he is waiting for a response from Gene.

[Ronald Jones]

Gene's email is escovert911@sbc global.net
I remember the car being blue when Gene owned it.

Ron Jones
1965
356C
222251

[Ronald Sieber]

Larry:
I reset my profile info and I should now be able to receive email like I have in the past. Somehow it had been turned off and I didn't notice. Thanks for pointing that out!

Thanks for your note, Ron. I will email Gene and see if he might have some old photos, etc. on the little bug.

Cheers,
=rds

[Ronald Sieber]

Here's an update on my search:
I was able to reach Gene both by phone and email, so thanks to George Hussey and Ronald Jones for supplying contact information that worked. Gene and I had a pleasant exchange, we shared photos of the old tub, and he informed me about it past that I have to look into some more.

Regarding the information on the car in question that is listed in our former club database, Gene is NOT the original owner as listed. I will report more on that as I find out more. What is in the locked database is not current nor correct, and I take it that it is not even affiliated with our 356 club any more.

It's a pity that we as a club do not even have access to a database that lists our cars. I belong to more than several car clubs, and a few of them have written member listings with cars. Given the size of our membership, it seems like an online members-only (i.e. confidential) section would be more practical and also help us to keep our cars' information updated or at least correct. And if online is too risky, does someone have another suggestion?

I periodically read of others asking for information on cars that they own or may have recently purchased in regard to doing historical research. It's nice that some on this forum can recall cars and their history, but I wonder how much longer before we lose even this link?