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Revved-up raffle
HVFD uses 'vette to raise funds
Friday, Sept. 4, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photos by DARWIN WEIGEL
The Huntingtown Volunteer Fire Department is raffling off a black 1967 Corvette Stingray Coupe.
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It's a sweet ride, a black 1967 Corvette Stingray Coupe — and it doesn't have to be pimped. The Corvette is being raffled off by the Huntingtown Volunteer Fire Department as a fundraiser, the department's main fundraiser.
"I've been looking for a black '67 since I started," Ozzie Osbourn, chairman of the raffle and volunteer for the fire department, said, adding, "when the sunlight hits you can see the swirls in it." Osbourn, who has been known as "Ozzie" since 1969, has searched out Corvettes for the raffles for 10 years, mostly finding the cars at ProTeam Corvette out of Ohio, the world's largest collection of classic Corvettes.
The Corvette, listed at $70,000 and purchased for $65,000, is the raffle's most expensive Corvette with the usual cost ranging between $40,000 to $50,000, he said.
"Everybody wants a '67; it's probably one of the prettiest that came out," Osbourn said.
In 1968, the Corvette changed its body style so that's one reason the 1967 is popular, said Lt. Randy Stephens, commander of the Maryland State Police Prince Frederick Barrack and Corvette aficionado.
"It was one of the fastest production cars made," he said of the 1967 Corvette Coupe. In Stephens' barrack office he has a miniature Corvette replica collection of 50 cars dating from 1953 to 2003. Stephens, who owns a 1990 Corvette convertible, agreed that the fire department's Corvette is "a nice one" but said his Corvette needs to be a convertible.
Although the fire department did not want to disclose the amounts raised by the raffles, Gene Farrell, president of the fire department wrote in an e-mail that "the monies raised through this fundraising program are used to support the nonprofit operations of the fire department.This includes, but is not limited to, paying off the loans associated with our building expansion, operations equipment, etc."
Now in its 14th year, the raffle doesn't need to be advertised, but instead they send out mailers to a list of 55,000 to 60,000 "regular players," Osbourn said. After spending about $15,000 in advertising in Hot Rod and Corvette magazines the first few years of the raffle, they learned that most people who purchased tickets did so each year, so they compiled a mailing list and dropped the advertising.
"That's where the bulk of our money comes from. They've been with us since we started," Osbourn said of the "regular players" who come from every state and from other countries as well.
The fire department also shows the car at five car shows and took the Corvette up to the Corvette show in Carlisle, Penn., to solicit more ticket sales. The show draws anywhere from 30,000 to 40,000 Corvettes, he said.
"I never knew that there were so many [Corvettes]on the East Coast."
Osbourn, who doesn't have an affinity toward Corvettes, said he just runs the raffle and enjoys searching for the right car each year.
Last year the raffle had its first female winner, Michelle Housley of Annapolis, who told Osbourn when she won that she wanted a Corvette for her 40th birthday so her husband bought 40 tickets in Ocean City and handed her a magnet with a picture of the car to be raffled off. Magnets with the picture of the raffled-off Corvette are given to those who purchase tickets, Osbourn said.
Another winner Osbourn recalled was a St. Mary's man who won the Corvette about 10 years ago and petitioned the IRS to assess the car for taxes at lower blue book value instead of the actual purchased price, but that didn't work out. Taxes on the car must be paid within 30 days of being notified as the winner and the St. Mary's man waited until the 29th day to pay the taxes and pick up the car, he said.
On raffle prizes, charitable organizations must provide the IRS with a 25-percent withholding tax from the winner, according to taxalmanac.org. The IRS withholding tax, plus the 6 percent state sales tax, would calculate to a little more than $20,000 for this year's Corvette.
This year Osbourn said he was concerned that the raffle would not get as much response due to the economy, but he's learned otherwise saying, "This year's been probably one of our best years."
Raffle tickets are $1 each or a sheet of 15 for $10. Tickets cannot be purchased at the fire station, but through its Web site at www.hvfd6.org or through the mail. The drawing will be held Oct. 18.
If the Corvette isn't enticing, the winner could defer the Corvette for $35,000 instead. Only one time in the beginning years of the raffle did a winner take the cash instead, but at that time the cash payment was closer to the value of the Corvette. Second place will win $2,000; third, $1,000; fourth, $700; and fifth, $300.
charvat@somdnews.com
