Safe At Any Speed: 1963 Chevrolet Corvair Convertible
In the late fifties when the Big Three saw a need for smaller cars, Ford and Chrysler took the easy way and just made smaller versions of their big cars. Chevy, on the other hand, started from scratch to create something completely different. They took inspiration from foreign models and even went with a rear engine air cooled design. So, Americans had the choice between the familiar understeer or unfamiliar oversteer. An anti-roll bar would have helped Chevy’s creation, but they took the cheap way for the first few years and specified low air pressure in the front tires instead. Like the VW the first generation Corvairs have a swing axle design, so when the outside wheel tucked under on a sharp curve your car would perform an ungainly roll. A transverse leaf spring easily resolved the issue. Corvairs sold much better than expected, but Chevy noticed the sporty models were most popular and that the Corvair was not competing directly with other “compact” designs. Buyers were looking for cars with conventional handling, so the Chevy II was born in 1962. This first generation Monza is listed on eBay in Grand Ridge, Illinois. Bidding ends Friday and is just over $2,000 at this time and has not met the reserve. It looks original and is said to have only 73,000 miles.
The upholstery looks pretty nice in this picture, but the carpet is pretty sad. Hopefully, that’s just dirt along the sill and not rust. The door seals will need replacing of course.
Here’s the 140 CID flat six. It was good for about 100 horsepower. It’s looking pretty dusty and neglected under the hood and could use a good detail. The engine shroud retainers and seals need replacing, but the rest looks pretty complete.
There’s no history provided for this Corvair. Because it’s a convertible, the floor might have some rust. Depending on the state of the floor, this old droptop could be close to being a driver. Peel off the wheel arch moldings and perhaps the rocker panel moldings and you’ll have a nice looking “20 footer”. A carpet kit would make things inside much nicer. There will be other mechanical gremlins to chase but hopefully, they won’t be serious. I’ll confess to being a fan of things Corvair, but I preferred the second generation with independent rear suspension and other refinements. The half dozen I owned were all great cars. These first generation cars are fun cars as well especially with an anti-roll bar under the front and the transverse bar under the rear. If Ralph Nadar really thought the Corvair was such an unsafe car, why did he own a first generation Corvair? It was featured on Autoweek last year. If red is your color and you have an affection for Corvairs, this just might be a fun top-down summer ride.
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Comments
Why do most Corvair write up’s have to have Nadar/the swing axle issue mentioned, or Pinto have the gas tank “blow up” mentioned. Write about the particular car for sale, IT”S current attributes and get out of the automotive politics. Even the cheapest car of today is “safer” than any classic car, SOOOOOO. If you can’t accept it for what it is, don’t bother getting in the hobby.
It’s just the way it is, Chuck, don’t forget “fine Corinthian leather” too for any Cordoba. Probably because most people today have no connection with a Corvair, or Pinto, and that’s all they remember of the cars, like an actor with a “catch phrase”, or only known for one role.
Corvairs were great, simple cars, I’m surprised air cooled cars didn’t catch on, with coolant issues being the #1 cause of car failures today. There’s a guy that lives down the block from me with this exact car, only much nicer. When he drives by, he has a big smile on his face, and I can smell the oil fumes. :)
Emission standards are the axe that killed air cooled engines in cars sold in the US. Up until the mid 70’s there were lots of air cooled cars in the US, mostly of foreign make though and from Europe where they were most plentiful. But even today in Europe and most of the world except SE Asia and most of China they have fallen by the wayside in favor of water cooled engines. Emission standards once they were applied to small engines also killed the one & sometimes two cylinder flathead engines that powered millions upon millions of lawnmowers and other engine powered devices up until about 10-15 years ago. They are OHV now. The same Emission standards have also favored the 4 cycle engine over the 2 cycle engine so a 2 cycle air cooled engine has taken a double hit.
I suggest that any potential buyer should check under the carpets for rot…
Nice car, although a four-speed would be more in keeping with the sporty nature of this particular ‘Vair.
My family owned13 different corvsirs. Along with that I also owned 32 c-2vettes and 3 c-3 vette. Today i own a c-4 vette a c-7 vette and a 64 and 66 corvairs. My 67 spider out handled my 64, 66, 68, 69, 73 corvettes. Flat batter handling. I owned a street legal 65 f-1 suspensioned cor air powered by a ls3 motor with a 6 speed Porsche tranny. Fastest car I ever owned and by far the BBC est handling. My c-7 comes a close second, but nothing like a rear engine machine. Nader was totally wrong about the corvair. By the way Nader never had a driver’s license so what would he know.
67 spider?
Wow. Point of clarification, Torch. For someone with vast knowledge about ‘vettes, you should know in the ‘Vair world there was no such thing as a 1967 factory turbocharged Corvair…they wrapped up the year before. And these second generation turbo cars were called Corsas. AND, the early turbo cars were called SPYDERS as badged on the actual car. No “i” in Monza Spyder.
I bought a 63 Corvair convertible last summer, what a great little car! Back in the day I wouldnt have given it a second look. Now that I’m older and wiser I can appreciate how far ahead of their time they were.
Fun to drive, easy to maintain, inexpensive to run (35 mpg highway). Parts are readily available.
I also have a 62 T-Bird, when we take them both to shows the Corvair gets way more attention than the Bird. Even the younger tuner crowd gather around and ask questions, they’re amazed it has a similar powertrain to a Porsche.
Anyone considering bidding on a Corvair, do it!! You wont regret it.
Ian McLennan. I owned a 1962 Monza and dicovered what you might know.
1957 standard shocks fit the rear of the Corvair. Tight fit but it can be done.
You will really notice a difference.
If you mean ’57 Chevrolet rear shocks they will also fit ’57- ’66 Ramblers. Found that out when looking for air shocks for my ’63 Classic and had no listing. Got out a couple of interchange manuals a found the ones that would fit in less than 5 min. Interchange manuals, the car bibles of the 50’s – 70’s for anyone working on cars. They still have them on computers but for me nothing beats good old paper and print.
Thinking of buying this one. What do you think? I live near by. What would you ask the owner?
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F303213870613
1962 Corvair Austin Texas
Looks like it sold…to you maybe? I would have asked for photos of the rusty trunk before going to look at it. Very odd for the front cargo area to rust before any other part of the body. I don’t buy the seller saying it is due to the slope of the driveway. Water is supposed to run down the channels around the hood, cowl, and inner fenders.
Thanks for the reply. It didn’t sell to me. The eBay ad expired. It was at his house this weekend. He said that it would need a tune up before I drove it a few hundred miles on the road. My main concern was the mileage but no repairs done yet. Didn’t know if this is typical for this car or not. I think I will wait. Thanks for your advice!!!
@Scherry Hodges, how did the rust in the trunk look? Rusted all the way through? Lose the house carpeting and those hideous knockoff wire wheelcovers. Nice color combo however! Nobody bid at $6900 on eBay, his BIN was close to $9000 and you were told not to expect to drive it any great distance? AS far as ODO mileage, every ‘Vair by now should have been rebuilt unless ultra-low original owner miles. You dodged a bullet. If the listing ended maybe he will rethink the asking price? To me, not running well, that is a $3500-$4k car.
A Powerglide makes for pretty slow acceleration. My Dad had one. I like all Corvairs, I had a 63 Turbo Spyder years ago. The 2nd gen cars were a beautiful body style that still looks modern today. This one with the top down on a sunny day would be great smile generator. As far as safety it’s no worse than any other car made back then. Just having seat belts and collapsible steering columns by 1967 was a big step forward.
“This listing was ended by the seller because the item is no longer available.”
Must have gotten an off-line offer he couldn’t refuse. :-)
I had a 63 Corvair Monza with a 3 speed on the floor. My sister had an older Corvair before that and my cousin had a 66. All were good, reliable cars but I had to take my dad somewhere one time and he was petrified to be a passenger in it. lol. Just a basic economical car. They never let any of us down.
All Corvairs use lower air pressure in the front tires, whether or not equipped with a roll bar. The two are not related. One problem was when high air pressure went in the front, it affected steering negatively.
Tired of this person who runs this site. Make a mistake of double clicking and your comment is taken off.
Why don’t you say if the first click worked! Get a new system!
My first car was a 64 Turbo spider convertible. It only made about 4-6 psi of boost & I didn’t think it very impressive at the time. The reason for the low front tire pressure was the low end weight, you know, engine in the back!! Air cooled bugs the same thing,with low front tire pressure specks. Ralph also crashed bugs and early Renos head- on into caddys & Lincolns just to sell his books and make his point. He believes everyone should be using public transportation just like him!! These were much better cars than most people realize.
A corvair was my first car. It was a little slow. one time, I had the corvair loaded up with a few of my buddies because we were at war with some of the local cowboys. They caught up to up when we pulled over to talk with some chicks. The cowboys roared up in their pickup, got out and ran at us to menace us. Me being the driver, I just put the dash-mounted transmission in gear and rocketed off. Fortunately, one of my bigger buddies had a club to wave out at the cowboys and ward off the cowboys running alongside the car until the car got past pedestrian running speed the cowboys had as they ran alongside the vehicle. It only took about 20 seconds for my corvair to get up to speed to get away the on-foot cowboys. memories like that are priceless.