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The 14-page complaint substantiates several articles written by The Pinnacle since April 2002, when dissatisfaction with the company and its product became public knowledge. Investors who have been complaining about the Corbins’ business practice for months – including six figure salaries and the $2,500 a month Bentley – felt vindicated that their complaints were heard and substantiated.
“They cheated everybody and tried to keep everything for themselves,” said Ron Huch, the former company president whom the Corbins ousted in late 2001. In February of this year, Huch won a judgment against the company for $680,000, but claims the Corbins owe him more than $1 million.
“This is not one that Tom is going to be able to dance around,” said Huch. “These (state investigator) guys aren’t going to listen to his bull---t.”
Huch was named president at a time when the company was hoping to go public and Tom Corbin, who has had two felony convictions sealed, would not have passed scrutiny by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“I can only speculate,” said Gerard Rose, Huch’s attorney, “but they needed somebody that was clean.”
The company made fewer than 300 vehicles, said the complaint, and most were returned with significant problems. Franchise dealers did not receive cars after putting money down for dealerships. The complaint also states that warranty service was not provided, and when buyers sent cars back to the company for repairs, often the work was done using parts taken from other vehicles also there for repairs.
The state Department of Motor Vehicles was a part of the investigation.
“They didn’t take the money they got from investors and address all the shortcomings,” said Peter Sankowski, former Corbin vice president of production, speaking from his home in Clear Lake, Calif. He said he tried to get the Corbins to focus on design flaws, but they were more interested in ramping up production.
“The flip-over problem was a design I inherited. I wanted to change the configuration,” Sankowski said of the three-wheeled vehicles’ tendency to roll. “We made some headway to make it somewhat more manageable, but the Corbins just didn’t care. They just wanted to get them out the door. It was like pulling teeth. They didn’t tell people the truth about those cars.”
Mike Hanagan, aka Mike Corbin, runs Corbin Pacific, the motorcycle seat manufacturing company, which is not named in the complaint. He is, however, accused of abetting his son in the holding of and disposing of assets.

Investigators have been trying to place Mike Corbin at the helm of Corbin Motor Co., in an apparent effort to make the motorcycle seat company accountable for the debts. Tom Corbin now works at Corbin Pacific.
Despite the problems, eco-minded buyers are loyal to the concept of a three-wheeled electric vehicle that spares the air and can be parked in a motorcycle parking place.
“Surprisingly, there are a lot of people who still love the Sparrow and want to see this company succeed,” said Huch. “They just don’t want the Corbins in it.”
A lot of those people, according to Huch and others, are now searching for the Sparrow patents, which they believe are owned by Corbin Pacific.
It is not clear what will happen next to the Sparrow concept, or if outsiders will be able to resurrect Corbin Motors. Many sources, former investors, dealers and their lawyers have said they and other Sparrow enthusiasts want to rebuild the company and its groovy mod-colored Sparrow, this time the right way.
Huch believes that since he is first in line to receive lost assets – several million dollars -- the company could fall into his hands, something about which he has mixed feelings.
“I’d like to try and revive this thing,” he said. “It would take a while with all the debts and it would have to be financed. But it’s like a dog chasing a car. What do you do when you catch it?”