Projects 1962 Corvair Monza Wagon: my rarest project yet

Check this one -
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/1961-corvair-sedan-delivery.1297312/

Lower the rear a bit, make a great car.



Mike

 

Thanks Mike yes that's my Corvair.It has coil overs all around and I have since lowered it some in the back.Driving it to a car show today so that should be interesting.I'm sure some one is going to hate me for doing that to it.

 

Just need to add this one to your stable.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplac...place_top_picks&referral_story_type=top_picks
1964 Chevrolet Corvair, Greenbrier $6500.00

 

I did not see many Corvair wagons when they were new... I am surprised the engine is in it. Most Corvair I see for sale or sitting , the engine is out, apart , but "complete" .. LOL

 

Be careful with it; one of them "took out" Ernie Kovacs.

 

If I remember correctly Ernie was drunk when the hit a pole with his wagon.

 

And potentially trying to light a cigar. It's probably fair to say Ernie took out a Corvair, rather than the other way around.

In any case, the dead horse of Corvair safety has been beat more times than anyone can count. They were cleared by the NTSB and multiple university studies, and are no less safe than any other car of the era. I hate to see my thread devolve into another debate discussing a certain politician who shall not be named...

 

Look forward to the Corvair build. The wagons are rare and super cool to see roaming in the wild.

 

Great car !

 

anyone remember comedian ernie kovacs? he drove a corvair wagon...

 

OMFG ! You have not 1 but 2 GMC motor homes ! Those are just as hard to find parts for as the Vair Wagon.

 

oh, they've all been gone through, the question is how good a job they did on it. The one I had, was a real hack job.

 

Not two, but four! They're not quite as hard to come by as people think, either that or they just have a way of finding me. Parts support is actually pretty decent. I gotta start selling them though, it's gotten out of control.

 

Let's just hope whoever did my engine isn't the same person that "customized" the suspension.

 

I spent some time cleaning up the inside, and pulling out all the stuff. There were two sets of back seats in there. One that matched the front buckets and was completely torn up, but there was a red one that matched the exterior that looked promising. I spent a bunch of time cleaning up the vinyl and getting all the dirt and mildew off of it. It came out really nice! Then I had to repair the complex mounting brackets. These have, kind of a scissor mechanism. It had seized up pivot points, busted rivets, you name it. So I do all the work, bolt it in, and this is what I see. FML. Apparently this back seat is for a coupe or a convertible. They're completely different and don't fit at all. Dang it.






Did I mention this thing was low? You can put a can on its side and you still can't even shove it under the car.


Did some more washing, trying out some different hubcaps. She looks real good when wet, dang this thing has potential.


Just another shot showing the wet look. I can't decide which caps I like best. Any opinions?


This shows the scissor arm seat brackets. The floor is in the back. Definitely aren't as bad as the front. I may just do small localized patches rather than the whole thing.


Here's a good angle that really shows the camber issue with the current springs. It's pretty bad


Just another shot in some different light.



I've got to do some tinkering with the old 63 Monza sedan. I promise the wife I would get it sold nice and quick if we bought the wagon. She wants to steal all the good stuff off of it, but it's too complete to start messing with.

 

I wish we were closer, Little Truckdoctor really wants a Corvair.

 

That's how the exhaust was in the early Corvairs. It looks like someone added glasspacks. I installed chrome Harley mufflers in my '63 Monza and it sounded pretty good.

 

Those floors don't look that bad at all, to my Wisconsin eyes at least. Just looks like the top skins are bad, and the floor supports are good, with enough of the pans left to make good patterns out of. Around here we'd call that pretty solid/easy fixer.

Neat wagon, did Monza just give you bucket seats, or what was the big difference there?

 

I had duals similar to that on a Corvair years ago, and my neighbor who was into boating said that it sounded like an Evinrude.

 

I had three of those airvairs back in the days. My daily driver was a 65 Monza also had a 64 turbo spider rag top and a 66 Corsa with the 4 carbureted engine. All were 4 speed cars. My RV is 1972 Revcon.

 

I don't think so. If you look at the back of the car, it's designed for a single exhaust exit on the passenger side. There's a cut-out in the body for it, and the rear grille is shaped for it as well. This isn't the case on the driver's side, and the tail pipe just sits below the body instead of being nestled in it. I don't like the asymmetry.






Here's the drawing from Clark's for what it's supposed to look like. So if they all looked like someone just added glasspacks to them, it's because someone actually added glasspacks to all of them. From my understanding, it was a VERY popular thing to do. I'd prefer to have this thing be a little quieter though, since we're going to be cruising around with the family, and the dogs have to sit back there. Maybe if it was a sedan or a coupe, but since the engine sits right under a hatch that is in the cabin space, I want it quieter.

Strangely enough, that picture has a side-exit tail pipe, which still doesn't jive with my body contours on the passenger side. Not sure what that's about.

 

That car sits awesome

 

If you look at actual dual exhaust setups that were available when the cars were new, a lot of them had very small tailpipes (think the chrome tips on 1960s VWs) that would clear on either side.

 

Saw my first Corvair Wagon going to Blue Suede Cruise in Ohio. Old Timer was hauling... on US250.

 

That car would have had a single exhaust from factory.

I can attest from experience that yes, that dual setup with shorty glasspacks will be obnoxiously loud. Especially on a 140hp car. I daily drove one for three years. It will also sound pretty amazing if you are into hot-rodded Corvairs!

 

I'll probably have a little fun with it before I swap things out!

 

A couple of things (outside of Nader...) that worked to kill the little car were the tire pressures, the fronts had to be right on. Most tire shops put 28 lbs in everything. IIRC, these should have been #22 or so.

The other was the omission of a sway bar. The brain trusts at GM calculated that adding one would push the sales price past a certain threshold.

I went to auto school with a guy that had a few of regular ones. He was a freak about them and they ran well, looked good. I see them on CL now and then. I used to have a literal barrel of Corvair 180-degree exhaust bends, they goy chucked around 1990.

 

I've heard some dual exhaust Corvairs, and they sound like two three-cylinders arguing with each other. With that being said, a Corvair sounds surprisingly beefy straight out of the manifolds. I fired mine up once to move it without the exhaust system, and it sounded pretty good.

 

If the car looks good wet, you should buff the red paint with some fine rubbing compound. Then wax it. That will remove all the oxidized paint, should look like new. Almost.

 

That’s a great looking wagon!
So are those GM MH’s. When they came out I thought they were the coolest thing on the road.

Kids today will probably think any ‘Vair (or VW) is electric with them not having a front grille.