Corvan Camper! 1962 Chevrolet Corvair
The Chevy Corvair was perhaps the most diversified of the 1960s compacts, available in all sorts of body styles. Not only sedans and convertibles but also pickups and vans, like this 1962 Corvan with an optional camping package. With it, you got some (but not all) of the creature comforts of home, like a bed, sink, and refrigerator. This Corvan looks to be in nice survivor-like condition, except the motor has been replaced. Located in Chattanooga, Tennessee, this air-cooled Chevy is available here on eBay where the reserve hasn’t kicked in yet at $9,600. Thanks for the nifty tip, Rusty Talevich!
Despite the efforts of Ralph Nader to declare the Corvair “unsafe at any speed,” Chevrolet built more than 1.8 million of them across the entire decade of the 1960s. The little car differed from what the competition was rolling out, with its rear-mounted engine that used air instead of water for internal cooling. 1962 was the car’s second-best year in terms of sales, with 328,5000 copies leaving the factory. Of those, 13,600 copies were the more upscale Greenbrier van, while 18,000 others were the more basic Corvan 95 like this one.
The seller’s van has the optional camper package, which was more often installed in Greenbriers rather than Corvans. It cost an extra $595 in 1962, which would translate 10-fold to $5,837 today. We understand this was a dealer-installed package and the interior woodwork was done to Chevy’s specifications by a shop in Florida. If you do the math, likely only a few hundred of these “Campervairs” are likely to still exist, in any condition. And the one here looks quite nice for being 60 years old.
This van has belonged to the seller for six years and camping probably isn’t a priority anymore. We’re told it’s been mostly mechanical restored, including a new gas tank, clutch, and a replacement engine from a 1964 Corvair Monza. So, even though the van has 63,000 miles on it, the drivetrain may have less. Though the Corvan is said to run fine, the seller is unsure of its health for long-distance trips. So, if you buy it to go camping, stick closer to home. This is a cool little home-away-from-home that still has a Coleman ice box that will keep your beer and sodas cold with dry ice.
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Comments
Did a color change along with taking very good care of this one. As said, there can’t be too many of them out there. Nice.
Road trip, when I was a GI in Minot ND a friend in the squadron went to look at a 62 maybe 63 Corvan. Was really good looking, had new seat cover, white paint was good and 4 new tires and chrome reverse rims with of course baby moons. Was the model with rear doors having the windows, maybe a service van. So this fellow telling us all he did and the motor locked up. So me and my buddy talk it out, low balled the poor guy and came back with a third guy. We put it in third and pushed for a couple of minutes till it moved. It fired up and we drove it home on 5 cylinders. Yep, had a busted rod so chucked that engine and put a 65 110 in it. I was the Corvair guy so replaced the o rings and other known failure parts. It ran great! We loaded up the cooler and went from Minot ND to Glendive Mt to watch a day of drag racing and back. Not a bad feat for our junkyard dog. He moved on from that truck and I regret not buying it when I was offered it. But life is living and making memories.
We have a drag strip in minot now too! I think glendive is closed.
Can a porsche flat 6 fit?
Isn’t this car already a flat six? Grafting in a Porsche engine sounds very difficult. I can’t tell from the pictures.
I always thought the Rampsides were cool and practical, you can drive a mower in and flip up the ramp.
Corvair where cool vehicles. It’s a shame how a clown can kill a good idea. I always wondered how come he didn’t go after the VW Bug? This Corvan is cool I seen these growing up in the Bronx….Campers, commercial van and pick up. I hope the next owner have fun camping out with it.🐻🇺🇸
Nader’s attacks weren’t entirely without basis, I was a card carrying Corvair club member in the 70’s and absorbed everything I could read about them, good and bad. Didn’t prevent me from doing a couple of 180’s, but I lived to tell about it. The post ’64 models handled great.
Can a porsche flat 6 fit?
Those water stains along the entire lower portion of the wood interior might be of concern. That being said, I love this vehicle.
’63 Spyder wheel covers!
Those covers came on our ’65 Monza. Better looking than most of the fake spokes.
Engine looks good, wonder what the compression readings are.
These engines are really tough, what killed many was low and hot oil. Yep it’s air cooled but few people really knew about the oil cooler. Almost every Corvair engine I have personally opened up the oil cooler was clogged with leaves and dirt. Oil got hot, fried the o rings and oil leaks followed. There is an access plate under the generator or alternator depending on the year. Oil cooling plays a major portion of the cooling.
In ’76-’77, had a ’68 Corvair coupe, 110 with AT, had to do a 35 mile true emergency run, 85-90 MPH on a secondary, but good highway, was amazed at he handling, wondered why in hell I used to race a mini cooper when this car was available; if GM made that car today, I would be first in line.
Very cool van. We had a couple of corvairs, a 1960 two-door and a 61 four-door, that my dad had picked up for $25 or less back in the late sixties. In both cases the o-rings were bad. Woke up one morning to find my dad with the 61 4-door up on jack stands, heads off the engine, all the parts on a tarp on the ground underneath it. Ran over to United Auto, picked up what we needed, had the engine back together by mid late afternoon and it ran like a bear forever. He got around the front end skittishness by putting a 50 lb steel plate in the bottom of the front trunk. That car would go through snow like nothing else.
He loved working on them because it wasn’t that different in concept from the old Continental flat 6 that was used in the M41, which he worked on when he was in Germany during the Korean conflict as a tank trainer after active duty in world war II in the 5th Armored Division. Which explains why my mom called the Corvair her dune buggy and my dad called it the little tank.