LEXINGTON, Ohio — When you see Tim Corwin in his auto body shop, he may have in his hand a microphone for singing in a casino, or a wrench for repairing a high-end foreign sports car, or a joy stick for maneuvering a high-flying model airplane. He is at home with all of them.
He talks at a mile a minute about all of his passions. When I went to his auto body shop in Lexington, Ohio to interview him, he began to tell stories before cameraman Steve Pullen could pin a microphone to his lapel.
His stories slip from one subject to another as easily as he maneuvers through his shop, which is filled with cars, papers, photographs of his rock group and model airplanes hanging from the ceiling.
He is the lead singer of the rock group Ohio Express. The members are grey-haired now, but they began when their locks had no grey and were cut in a Beatles style.
"The band thing was something that came about when we were in the 60s and everybody is in high school," said Corwin, describing the beginning of the group.
"The Beatles came out with 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' and we thought, 'Man! Wouldn't it be nice to be in a band?'" he concluded with a smile as wide as the fins of a 1960 Buick parked just outside his shop.
With that, several guys from the Lexington and Mansfield area got together and began to strum a few tunes. In a short while, they were on top of the world with hits like "Yummy, Yummy, Yummy", "Beg Borrow and Steal" and "Chewy Chewy." They made Dick Clark's "American Bandstand" show and picked gold records for millions of sales of their records.
Theirs was called "bubblegum pop" music with an upbeat tempo marketed to pre-teens and teenagers. Ohio Express was skyrocketing. However, after New York and tours through Europe, Corwin longed for his hometown of Lexington, Ohio, and its population of less than 5,000. So it was back to the rolling hills of Richland County he came, and where he continued in the auto repair business, which began at about the same time as the band's beginning.
Corwin has not left Lexington unless it was to play a gig in Las Vegas, New York, Cleveland, Detroit or someplace else which called him. His auto body shop, The Bucket Seat, is filled with cars, many being vintage foreign models whose owners want the vehicles brought back to life. With a staff of a few people, Corwin gets the cars going again.
In his garage at his home, there are several foreign models he keeps for himself.
"I bought them to collect," said the singer, now 70. "They are kind of a savings, a backup, but then I get to play with them."
It is not only the automobiles and the band which are parts of his playthings. There are radio-controlled airplanes he makes and flies in competition around the country.
He flashes a broad smile as he talks of his airplanes.
"It got to where I loved it so much that I started going to contests and shows," he said. "It's an addiction I suppose; but it sure is good therapy."
I got the idea every aspect of his life is therapy. Corwin has a happiness for which many seek. He said he loves the music, the auto body shop, and the airplanes equally. As well, he loves his hometown of Lexington, where "everybody knows just about everybody else."
Corwin is not as fast afoot as he was years ago when the band began shortly after high school, but his enthusiasm runs high. He said Ohio Express was scheduled to do a show in Detroit in a few days. Corwin described it as a "divine feeling of being able to still play."
As for the grey which has moved into his full head of hair, he said that simply came with his age.
"But like wine, you just get better with time."