All About Corvairs

isellhondas · May 2000

I'll admit to a certain fondness for Corvairs.

Still, the chances of one of them flipping over is MUCH greater than a Mercury.

What I disliked about them were the oil leaks! They leaked everywhere!!

warfish · May 2000

Well not quite everywhere, only from the engine.
Seriously, I know what you mean but my dealer did finally fix that on my '62 after a half dozen trips to the shop and a few letters to the regional office.
Someone awhile back was commenting on the heaters in Corvairs. My '60 had the gas heater and it was great when my girl and I were parked in an apple orchard in the dead of winter. When they put in the manifold heater you got almost instant heat. One block down the street and you had heat. Not much to complain about there.

Mr_Shiftright · May 2000

I think the oil leaks are correctable in Corvairs with new seal technology.

As for rear end oscillation, I had that happen in an old Porsche 911, also a car that had a reputation for evil handling.

Again I think common sense and good tires+tire pressure are all you need to be safe in the old rear engine cars...the same might not be said for SuVs, where the very good modern tires probably cause the rollovers that occur (too much stick + high center of gravity).

If you look at photos of very old Corvairs in extreme turn attitudes, you can see the rear wheel tucking under and lifting the car..the axle was allowed to travel too much. My Fitch Corvair was an awesome handler...never the slightest sense of instability. John Fitch knew what he was doing when he modified the 65-66 models.

isellhondas · May 2000

Yep, the manifold heaters were great until the car developed an exhaust leak. Then you got carbon monoxide along with the heat! Just like an old V.W.

I remember the Fitch Corvairs! That would sure be a rare find today. Only a few of us would appreciate them.

Weren't they all dark green?

Mr_Shiftright · May 2000

No, mine was black on black. I remember it had much quicker steering, Koni shocks, fold down rear seat, 4-carbs, Michelins, short shifter...I think that was about it, but it was enough...all this probably would have cost GM a few hundred bucks, but they could have had a Mustang competitor two yars before Camaro.

speedshift · June 2000

Stories of Corvair oil leaks reminds of a comment my girlfriend's father made, back when I was in high school. He said he could always tell when I'd been visiting his daughter by the fresh oil in the driveway. I think he was trying to tell me to park on the street, but when you're 16 you don't take hints too easily.

dranoel · June 2000

I haven't recently re-read the earlier Corvair posts, however I'm sure I've said this before: I owned a '62 Monza convertible(bought new) and kept it for over 3 years. Never had any semblance of a rollover problem, a fun car, my wife says it was one of her favorites. The only negative I recall was its appetite for fan belts--I became quite adept at replacing them--even in a suit--and didn't get dirty.

isellhondas · June 2000

I seem to remember a fix for that? I thought it was only the very first Corvairs that had that problem...guess not.

isellhondas · July 2000

On the 4th of July, I happened to see a Corvair Rampside truck! It was in pretty good shape.

I had forgotton all about those. I can remember the gardeners liked them because they could easilly load their lawnmowers up the ramp.

cavsedan · July 2000

1965 Corvair Monza 4Dr hardtop all blue with a 110hp and automatic. Nice little car. Not a show car but it's pretty nice.

princez099 · August 2000

I traded my Monza in about 6 months ago and now I totally regret it!!!! It was marina blue with black interior. 110 hp engine with low miles. In PERFECT condition too. I can't believe that I could be so stupid. It happened because I was mad at the car because it threw a fan belt (only the 2nd in three years). So, for those of you who own Corvairs, never sell it just because it irritates you. You'll regret it later. Believe me, I know. I miss my little 'vair....

(

Mr_Shiftright · August 2000

Sometimes old cars can make you pretty mad! I've done the same thing, maybe not with quite the regret you did, but I can relate to your actions.

Well, these cars are still affordable...maybe you could find a nice coupe to replace it?

speedshift · September 2000

I bought a '65 turbo in January 1970 to replace a '60 sedan I'd totaled. Nothing dramatic, just t-boned a returning Nam vet; one of us ran a red light. I kept the turbo until '85, although it was in storage most of that time because turbo lag gets old, but I was sure the car would be a big collectible.

Anyway, a posting I made somewhere else reminded me of the Corvair's handling characteristics. It was probably those F78-13 bias-plies we were running in those days that kept me out of trouble. Those tires were progressive: they gave up early and often. If I'd had the money to upgrade to 14x6" steel wheels with 70-series belted tires, the hot set-up in those days, the cornering would have been better but maybe less forgiving. Probably okay on a '65, but maybe a little hairy on the earlier models without suspension mods.

kinley · September 2000

was a dog until I bought a Unisyn and balanced the carbs. What a big difference in performance. We took it skiing and with the instant heat defroster, we were one of the first out of the parking lot.

I remember Nader wrote his book when he did not even have a driver's license. The Mustang killed the Corvair with me as it replaced our '60 and I still have the Stang. IMO Nader is nuts.

isellhondas · September 2000

He is running for president!

Think about that one!

speedshift · September 2000

I forgave Ralph a long time ago for what he didn't do to the Corvair. I read "Unsafe" when I got my first car, a '60 Corvair, and it gave me a healthy respect for the car's "quirks"--and it had a few. I know he's made it tough for car enthusiasts, both directly and through his disciples, but he tells it like he sees it. Ralph isn't slick, and he's still got the fire after all these years.

Mr_Shiftright · September 2000

You can blame GM for the death of the Corvair. They had it slotted for replacement (with the Chevy II) before Nader's book even came out. The smashing success of the Ford Falcon told GM what America wanted in a small car...something totally conventional.

If American automakers came out with a new car that didn't have seat belts, air bags and clean burning engines, buyers would now howl in protest. You should buy Ralph a beer.

lokki · October 2000

I have finally accepted that what Nader and the Safety/environmentalists have done has actually been good for car enthusiasts....There is no doubt, now that we can look back, that fuel injection and computerized engine controls which were implemented for pollution control efficiency were the also the answer for performance efficiency. Safer cars are better handling cars. However, in the 70's it was sure hard to see that. Remember all those freight train bumpers they tacked on otherwise beautiful cars? Remember the wonderful foreign cars that fled the U.S. market? Remember the disintergration of Chrysler into a company that made junk, after making the best muscle cars of the 60's. They were never sophisticated, but they sure were tough....

Whoops uhm, corvairs.... uhm....OK: When I was in the interior of Panama a year or so back, I saw a Greenbriar pickup truck parked beside a house there. Obviously hadn't run in a few years, but it was all there. Thought about rescuing it and dragging it back to the U.S.Dismissed it as I wasn't ready for a big job on a pickup..... but... How rare were those pickups? I only recall perhaps seeing one or two when I was a kid.....

speedshift · October 2000

I've owned three Corvairs, so I must like them, but you're lucky you thought twice. If you could get the truck for free, and paddle it back to the States, you'd still lose your shirt on it. I kept a '65 turbo for years because "someday it'll be worth something". After fourteen years I sold it for $900, and not quickly.

Mr_Shiftright · October 2000

The pickups are a good example of how rare does not tranlate into "valuable" in the collector car market. It's really more about supply and demand, and while Corvair freaks love 'em and might pay a good price, most of the collector car buyers won't. So this keeps the prices low.

I like those little pickups..they are very practical and economical.

isellhondas · October 2000

I remember the gardeners loved them. Some had a "ramp side". It was easy to load lawnmowers etc. Pretty slick idea!

k0hb · February 2001

A few years ago, maybe about 1996, wifey and I were on a weekend trip, and our car (a '93 Lumina) lost the fuel pump in a little town in South Dakoata (Hot Springs, in the southern black hills).

Called the local Chev dealer, who said he'd send the tow truck.

As we're sitting there waiting, I saw a 62 Corvair pickup approaching and commented to wife (we've owned 3 Corvairs). Turned out it was the dealers tow vehicle!

Hans

Mr_Shiftright · February 2001

Now there's an optimist...what did he tow with it, peddle cars?

That engine didn't have lots of torque for pulling, I'd imagine.

Aside from the Fitch Corvair I owned for a while, I had a 62 coupe that I really liked...I used to drive it all around San Francisco until it got t-boned (while parked!) in the Mission District. I sold it mangled to a guy who continued to drive it like it was...you had to get in from the passenger side and when you went through a puddle it made four separate tire tracks!

speedshift · February 2001

Corvairs make great tow vehicles. All that weight on the rear end gives them good traction, and the handling doesn't change much when you've got a car hooked up--what's a little more rear weight bias? Just put in an axle ratio somewhere in the 6s and keep it below 15 mph.

Mr_Shiftright · February 2001

there you go, now that's practical

wevk · March 2001

Great conversation, I once owned a 64 convertible Spyder back around 67, 68. Used to be able to beat TR4s once the boost finally kicked in. From what I recall the reason that the turbo was ineffective was that the system lacked a waste gate. Too keep from over boosting they used a reletivally large turbot which kept the boost down at low rams and a restrictive crab that pinched off the top end boost.

I remember an article about a fellow who replaced the turbo system with one that included a waste gate blowing through a 4 barrel into 4 port heads. That setup could give Corvettes a hard time.

speedshift · March 2001

in "turbo lag". One of my favorite phrases was writen about the Mercur XR4t(?) but could have been written about the Corvair as well, something about boost coming in so slowly the lag could be measured in presidential election years.

The culprits were one big turbo, a Carter YH sidedraft carb that I think dated back to six cylinder Corvettes if not before, and a "pull-through" induction system. Change the carb, push the air/fuel mixture through it (pressurize it) and wrap the exhaust to keep it hot, and apparently you eliminated most of the lag.

ndance · April 2001

But I was just musing about Corv-8's. I have an old Crown catalog in my dragon trove of old stuff and always have wanted to really check one out. I seem to remember that the demo car (I have a teeny scrap of memory about a road test in some magazine) was a 427 car (L-88 maybe?). Man... I wonder what happened to that thing. I suppose that in the world of scary engine swaps that a 914 with a small block is a superior answer (several places still sell the stuff for this swap) but you have to admire the Corvair + V8 concept.

speedshift · April 2001

I'm looking at a photo of an L-88 in the back seat of a '65 Corvair. "Build it for $1000 or less with about 40 hours of work, using your '65-69 coupe." That was in 1969 dollars.

Seems like money well spent. With a 327/350 the Corv-8 would do the quarter in 12.22 at 105 mph. "Not a vehicle for the novice driver" according to the writer, a master of understatement.

Just take it easy on the tranny. You had to use the '66-up Corvair Saginaw, "the same strong gearbox that Chevy puts behind their big V8s". Well, it's beefier than the early Corvair tranny but it's no Muncie.

ndance · April 2001

Sports Car Graphic maybe???

ndance · April 2001

A friend of mine had one in his early Camaro(formerly a SS-396 car) and it actually felt stronger than my LS6 Camaro convertible (formerly an L89 car). Seems like it had a suprising amount of pull in the top end. Seems perfect for a Corvair. Hey I've got it...a race between an L88 Corvair and a Motion Super Vega (with 454 of course). I'll watch from the safety of the stands, thank you very much.

wevk · April 2001

I recall that GM developed an OHC Corvair engine that appeared in a show car. That might have been for future Corvairs had GM not killed it. Anyone recall the details?

speedshift · April 2001

The photo and story are in "How to Hotrod Corvair Engines" by Bill Fisher, 1969 edition, H.P. Books out of Los Altos, CA. I think I got it from J.C. Whitney about 1970. There's no photo credit so maybe it's a Crown photo. The performance times are for a small block conversion, so I wonder if the L-88 ever ran. Would be interesting to know the numbers. Pretty stout.

Opening the book to that page brought back some memories. I pretty much memorized that page thirty years ago, and burned to turn my '65 coupe into a Corv-8. It seemed so attainable. Only $1000 and 40 hours of time? It almost seemed like you could find that kind of money under your sofa cushions. But back then I had the 40 hours and the coupe, but never the $1000.

corvair1967 · April 2001

#1 I have 4 corsairs (2) '64's '65 '67
(2) 4 up tarns (1) 3 up tarns (2) pg tarns
5 engines (4) 110 and (1) 95 I think
#2 I hate R. wader but I want to thank him for
making the corsair so cheap to buy(Thank You)
#3 I dot like the fact you blame GM. Yes Gm are
dumb people. They cant even get a body design
to keep the Camaro/Firebird.
#4 I love them. I want to buy more but my wife.
You all know the rest.

ricksrl · November 2001

Hi, a friend of mine is active in the Corvair Club out here in Pennsylvania and I thought it would be cool to get him a shirt from a club in another part of the country.
It's a Christmas present, I'm not asking for Freebies! E-mail off list RickSRL@cs.com
Thanks!

storyteller · November 2001

I just discovered this site. I had a '65 Corvair Monza Spyder, meaning it was a convertible with turbo and the second generation "Coke-bottle" body shape. Sex on wheels, or so it seemed to me. I sent away for kits to make the steering and shifter quicker.

One day I got in my Corvair and tried to start it. The engine turned over continuously, even when I let go of the key. All my gauges were flipping and twitching like they'd been possessed. Then smoke began curling up from the tunnel between the front bucket seats. I called the local fire department. By the time they got out to where the car was, the flames were higher than the first story of my parents' home. In the end my lovely Corvair was a rather small hulk of blackened metal.

I haven't seen a whole lot of them on the road. That's common enough in Minnesota, where our road salt eats cars, but I've always wondered if maybe other Corvairs went up in flames like mine.

Mr_Shiftright · November 2001

I don't recall this being a common occurrence. Some cars, like Lotus, yes, or old VW bugs, or Jaguar V12s, you can almost count on it, but not Corvairs.

speedshift · November 2001

I had three and never had any electrical problems. My '65 did start smoking in the engine compartment one day but that's because of an oil leak.

ndance · November 2001

It could be (in the case of Jaguars) that it's part of some sort of natural cycle. Like the phoenix, they rise from the ashes.

In the case of bugs, you either get some animal of a mechanic who left out some amount of cooling tin or rubber (heck, who needs this) or some fool who thinks that flickering oil light or steady generator light can be ignored.

storyteller · November 2001

Someone once told me that Corvairs burned because that little tunnel between the bucket seats held the wiring and the gas line, right side by side. That's where my Corvair fire started and so I believed that was a design flaw, but I guess it doesn't necessarily follow that running the wiring and the gas lines near each other would necessarily lead to fires.

All I know is that a Corvair, once it gets burning, burns REAL good.

ndance · November 2001

Corvairs roasting like an open fire
Ralph Nader nipping at your nose
Rearend passing front while being spun 'round a corner
Broken gas heater causing frosty toes....

speedshift · November 2001

This reminds me of Brock Yates' comment in the early '70s, to the effect that a casual survey of cars pulled off the road suggested that the Vega had replaced the Corvair as the car America prefers to break down in.

storyteller · November 2001

I once dated a girl whose other boyfriend drove the original Corvair. I was terribly jealous. But I took comfort after studying his Corvair for several minutes one day. I concluded that kissing was physically possible in a Corvair, but not much more. (I might have been a bit naive about how inventive people can get, but there were some things the Corvair was NOT designed for.)

ndance · November 2001

Wellll, they don't call it a swing axle for nothing.

speedshift · November 2001

Discretion prevents me from going into details, but there were other things physically possible besides kissing. At least in a '62 Monza convertible (even with the top up.) Bucket seats and floor shift were not a problem. Never underestimate the motivation and flexibility of a high school senior.

storyteller · November 2001

Speedshift, do you really mean it? You got to second base?

speedshift · November 2001

No :-( but I took a big lead off first. At least it seemed like a big lead at the time.

spokane · November 2001

This "Classic Cars" board reminds me that my one and only trip driving a Corvair provided a "classic" experience. Driving the '62 coupe conservatively on a 400-mile trip, a small patch of oily pavement sent me into the ditch tail-first. A hundred miles later, the fan belt disintegrated. Apparently, this car was the real thing.

ghulet · November 2001

to tell you all this: my parents had nothing but Corairs (granted, a convertible and wagon) before and (slightly) after I was born (1969) except for the 64 Beetle in which I (and the twin bro) were supposedly conceived. I hate my parents for telling me that. I can't imagine how anyone could do *that* in a car without either reclining or bench seats. Ick. Oh wait, the VW did have a sunroof.

storyteller · November 2001

If you were conceived in a VW Bug (or a Corvair) at least you burst into this world during an act of great passion, if not desperation. I'd rather be conceived that way than out of boredom, like if your parents had suffered a power outage and had nothing better to do that night. Still, I can see how knowing this happened in a Bug (you're sure they were IN the Bug?) would complicate your vision of your parents.

I fear we are getting off-topic here. We should start a new Edmunds thread on "Cars as Bedrooms."

All About Corvairs

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