Mike Hunt's Corvette data - revived discussion

[Edward M.]

OK, back in 2015 we were discussing the possible retrieval of the data that Mike Hunt collected over many years for 1956-1957 Corvettes.

Has any further action been taken on this effort?

I guess I am thinking about contracting with Kettering University to retrieve the data from the discs / hard drives / whatever they have and put it on something like CDs.

It could ultimately be made available to members / outside people for a fee.

The key here is to not lose the data. These discs and hard drives have a shelf life. The longer we wait, the harder it is going to be.

How do we get this ball rolling....

[Loren L.]

Re: Mike Hunt's Corvette data - revived discussion

Ed, "Rumor" says that Kettering will acknowledge having the material but that it remains uncatalogued or organized. If true, you're probably going to have to find out who the personal representative or executor of the estate was and find out what "Promises" or arrangments were made and by whom. If it was formalized, perhaps the probate court could step in.

[Edward M.]

Re: Mike Hunt's Corvette data - revived discussion

Ed, "Rumor" says that Kettering will acknowledge having the material but that it remains uncatalogued or organized. If true, you're probably going to have to find out who the personal representative or executor of the estate was and find out what "Promises" or arrangments were made and by whom. If it was formalized, perhaps the probate court could step in.

Rumor is correct; this is exactly what Kettering told me when I asked about it. I would say that we start with Kettering. If there are any restrictions on the data, they would know about it.

What I am really hoping is that the NCRS Archivist (who is that, by the way?) will start the ball rolling by running this through the NCRS BOD to at least get a quote from Kettering for the retrieval of the info onto something like CDs.

I am contacting my Regional Rep to see if this topic can get put on the next BOD agenda.

[Jimmy B.]

Re: Mike Hunt's Corvette data - revived discussion

exactly what are you looking for???

[Edward M.]

Re: Mike Hunt's Corvette data - revived discussion

exactly what are you looking for???

Retrieving Mike Hunt's data for historical / research purposes before it is lost. I am not looking for info on a specific car. Mike had a wealth of data; it would be a crime to lose that data.

[Mark S.]

Re: Mike Hunt's Corvette data - revived discussion

Loren:

The executor of the estate was Mike's girl friend. She contacted me after his passing and asked me where some of the information should go. I recommended that some of it go the author of the fuel injection book that is associated with Kettering.

[Gary C.]

Re: Mike Hunt's Corvette data - revived discussion

Mike Hunt and I had been discussing his Apple IIE 56-57 Project data on and off for a couple of years prior to his unfortunate motorcycle accident. I'd even located a service that could convert Apple IIE floppies.

Mike never threw any correspondence away. Mike told me all of it was all in boxes in his attic.

I spoke to Ruth several times. Ruth explained the delimma of having to vacate the house ASAP.

Ken Kayser negotiated the removal and pick up of Mike's data and took it to Kettering. IIRC Kayser said that Kettering had agreed to some type of display of Mike Hunt's collection.

Gary
....

[Loren L.]

Re: Mike Hunt's Corvette data - revived discussion

I believe Bill Sangrey is back in as the Archivist. Bill lives in Carlisle, so if people are interested, perhaps a meeting could be setup. If NCRS - admittedly with more than enough on their plate right now - would step up, would Kettering relinquish custody? If $$ to get it done is the problem, I'm in for a $100.

[Edward M.]

Re: Mike Hunt's Corvette data - revived discussion

I believe Bill Sangrey is back in as the Archivist. Bill lives in Carlisle, so if people are interested, perhaps a meeting could be setup. If NCRS - admittedly with more than enough on their plate right now - would step up, would Kettering relinquish custody? If $$ to get it done is the problem, I'm in for a $100.

I am not thinking that Kettering will / should relinquish custody. What I am thinking is that NCRS should consider funding the sorting and retrieval of the data from the old floppys and hard drives. What we are after is the information.

Universities do this sort of thing all of the time. WE could contract with Kettering to have the info read from the obsolete media and put on current media (like CDs). We would get the CDs, which we could then organize and publish / sell.

The info is the key, and the longer we wait, the harder it is going to be.

I have asked my regional rep to bring this to the BOD for consideration of getting a quote from Kettering to sort the info and retrieve the data on current media.

[Todd H.]

Re: Mike Hunt's Corvette data - revived discussion

If this information becomes available for a fee, I will buy it.

[Tom P.]

Re: Mike Hunt's Corvette data - revived discussion

I'm not sure how to respond to this issue (someone else made me aware of this discussion).
Back when mike was doing his research and putting it together for sale ($10ea) in folders, I bought all of the folders that he offered. Still have 'um. I sent all of that information to the person who alerted me to this discussion and he put everything on CDs and sent them to me. He also has this information saved.
Is this what everyone is referring to, or is there other information and data that Mike did not make public?
I'm somewhat in favor of Mike's information being available, FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT, NOT at a hiway robbery price!!!!!!!!!!!

[Edward M.]

Re: Mike Hunt's Corvette data - revived discussion

Mike Hunt had a wealth of data that was not, as best I can tell, published anywhere in his reports, or any of the many articles that he wrote for NCRS and / or Vette Vues.

As an example: I asked Mike if he had any information of the type of distributor and carburetor that was used on 1956 single four barrel Corvettes. He sent me a print out of a couple of entries in his "database". This was from survey info that he got from people over the years, as well as collecting info on his own. I have not seen this info published anywhere else.

As I recall, Mike had his info is some sort of "database". I don't know if that was a real database on an Apple II computer, or just a bunch of files that Mike called his database.

I am encouraged to report that some positive action is coming from my request that NCRS look into this. I am hopeful that we can make this happen.

[Patrick S.]

Re: Mike Hunt's Corvette data - revived discussion

I have a number of data sheets from Mike and would be willing to give them to anyone / organization who is willing to take up the challenge.

[Edward M.]

Re: Mike Hunt's Corvette data - revived discussion

I have a number of data sheets from Mike and would be willing to give them to anyone / organization who is willing to take up the challenge.

I don;t think that is the issue. A lot of us have Mike Hunt's reports from RPO 56-57.

What we are talking about is the raw data that Mike Hunt collected over the years. Mike has survey forms that he created. These forms were very detailed regarding the specific information related to a particular car. And Mike's survey form was also clear about identifying if something on the car being surveyed was original or not.

All of this data was stored on Mike's Apple II (I think it was an Apple IIc) computer. It may have been stored in a actual database, or it may have just been stored as text data. I am not sure which, but I know Mike had the ability to query / search the data for specific details.

All of this information was stored by VIN number.

The goal is to retrieve all of the information that Mike gathered, remove / suppress the owner's personal information, and then sort the info by VIN. Then it could be published either hard copy or CD or both, and offered for sale.

The bottom line is that Mike collected a wealth of data, which is not stored on old Apple 5 1/4 floppy discs. WE need to get the data before it degrades to the point where we cannot read it anymore.