Chevrolet Corvair The Beginning and end

[ranma]

The 1960 Corvair 4 dr, was an unpainted built that I found at a garage sale a few years back, And IIRC I paid about $15.00 for it. The 1969 Corvair is from a recent trade deal. When I was looking through the parts for the '69 I found the kit came with a convertible top (down). That  gave me the idea to do the '69 as one of the 521 Convertibles that Chevrolet built for Corviar's Final year. I also done a search and found some of the Corvair's had the spare tire with the engine, And so that's what I did  I added a spare in the engine compartment. The '69 also came with extra Headlight area's  One which could have clear lights instead of the chrome ones attached to the bumper. The chrome ones got removed, as I added the ones for clear headlights. Those I think look better than the chrome ones.

Edited July 31, 2018 by ranma

[GMCMAN52]

nice pair of blue corvairs  you don't see them that often

[shoopdog]

Both very nice looking Corvairs.

[Phildaupho]

Great bit of history. Good to see the two generations of Corvairs together. I always thought they were pretty neat cars and these are very neat models.

[espo]

Very nice pair of Corvairs. The '69 kit has several options to build off of, I'm doing a Hardtop right now. I think that in later production models GM started putting the spare tire in the engine compartment, when it would clear the engine, since the front mounted trunk was not all that useable. I like that you made it a Convertible.   

[ranma]

Thanks to the kind remarks on these! Ralph Nader put the death nail on the Corvair (1960-63) with his book unsafe at any speed. All of Mr.Nader's findings were proven to be wrong when the NHTSA in 1970-72 done test on a 63 Corvair along side these:  '68 Corviar, Ford Falcon, Plymouth Valaint, VW Beetle, and a  Renault Dauphnie, The findings were that the Corvair acted no different than the competing cars.  To which they could not get the Corvair to roll as easy as Nader's claim stated. All the bad press killed the Corvair,  Who is to say  if the bad press had never happened the Corvair may have seen production into the early to mid 70's .  Chevrolet in fact had made a full scale clay model of what the '70 Corvair would have looked like, The design was said to look much like the 73 A body Pontiac Grand Am. Could anyone imagine what would have been if GM would have produced it then?

Edited July 31, 2018 by ranma

[Bob Ellis]

16 minutes ago, ranma said:

Thanks to the kind remarks on these! Ralph Nader put the death nail on the Corvair (1960-63) with his book unsafe at any speed. All of Mr.Nader's findings were proven to be wrong when the NHTSA in 1970-72 done test on a 63 Corvair along side these:  '68 Corviar, Ford Falcon, Plymouth Valaint, VW Beetle, and a  Renault Dauphnie, The findings were that the Corvair acted no different than the competing cars.  To which they could not get the Corvair to roll as easy as Nader's claim stated. All the bad press killed the Corvair,  Who is to say  if the bad press had never happened the Corvair may have seen production into the early to mid 70's . 

The Corvair sportiness was overshadowed by the mustang. Nader didn't help but Mustang killed it for sure. By 1968 the Vega project was underway so it was never going to survive 1971. Though AMT listed a 1970 Corvair kit, there may have been some thoughts to extend another year.But, 2700 "1969 Covair units was really bad.

[MrObsessive]

I was surrounded by these cars literally as a kid in the '60's as I knew of several family friends that owned Corvairs. I had an Uncle that lived and breathed these cars as I swear he owned practically every single Corvair model Chevrolet made at some point. He still had a Corvair up until he passed away back in '09........a '66 Monza two door hardtop which he treated like a baby. "NO ONE drives the Corvair except me!" He used to say.

Nice pair of models and yes, Nader's press didn't help the Corvair any. I don't remember my Uncle ever complaining about the quirks of the car, but then he was one of those kind of guys that could fix anything, and he certainly knew Corvairs inside out.

I've got a bunch of Corvairs in my stash including a '66 annual that I should build as a tribute car sometime to him. He'd be tickled by this thread as he could talk about the cars all day.

Thanks for posting!

[MrObsessive]

I always have to wonder if Chevy had the Corvair in mind when they were planning the Vega in the late '60's. Something about the styling says Corvair to me, and I wonder if indeed this was to be the next gen 'Vair in the very early stages till they decided to go conventional front engine/rear drive.

[bbowser]

Great pair!  My first car was a '66 Monza hardtop, these bring back some great memories.

[donb]

Always liked Corvairs. Any year.  You did them justice! 

[Tom99]

Nice!!

[ewetwo]

Nice build.

[High octane]

Very nice saves and builds Rick as I'm a former Corvair owner and it was really a fun car.

[OldTrucker]

The only one that had suspension issues was the 1960 and that was corrected for the 61 model.

Nader was looking to make a name for himself and the Corvair was his tool to do so even if it meant purposely creating the situation that he wanted which took a lot of underhanded doing.

I've owned two. A first generation Spyder and a 68 Monza convertible.

The 68 was a fun car to drive but wished it would have been a 4 speed instead of the slush box powerglide! (it was a butt freezer in Wisconsin winters too!)

The Spyder I believe was a 64 and was a blast to drive! Used to take it out to the fairground and run on the clay track on a couple week nights when no one was around!

I made the mistake of removing the muffler and detonating the engine by it over revving beyond it's mechanical limits with the free flowing exhaust. (wish I had done a little more research)

[High octane]

My 'Vair did have the 4-spd trans which made it a lot of fun to drive, however I had to have it rebuilt a few times and even modified as I must have been too "hard on it." I also had the four carbs which I had rebuilt, modified, and sync them. And of course I also had a posi rear end.

[bamadon]

I like them both. I also had a couple of Corvairs. My first was a 66 conv. much like your model, metalic blue with black interior and automatic. The second was a 64 coupe, navy blue with light blue interior and 4 speed. Both were fun to drive but I wish the 4 speed had been in the convertible. Better handling than the 64.

[Jon Cole]

Actually, the 1960 thru 1963 model Corvair had the same rear suspension. The following year (1964) was the last of the first series car, and by then, Chevrolet did add a transverse leaf to the rear in an attempt to control wheel camber.
In 1965, the second generation Corvair was introduced, and had an all new full independent rear suspension.
Ralph Nader did harm sales of the Corvair, although it has been said that Ford's Mustang also contributed to the cars falling sales.
I have owned a '65 Monza 4-door (shown below), a '63 Spyder Turbo, as well as some parts cars. Wish I still had one.

Edited August 1, 2018 by Jon Cole

[Badluck 13]

Nice set of 'Vairs,I am partial to the Gen 1 being I own a '61 Monza with a '65 140hp, well actually it's my daughters now,she's been wrenchin' on it for the strip..