so anyone got a corvair? Do they ****? I think it would make a cool daily driver. Are there many parts availible say from NAPA?
i dig em. been thinkin about one for a daily driver. it'd be handy to know about aprts availability... and to make it more on topic, what did people do with these things in the early to mid 60s? i've seen race corvairs, and i did see one with what looked like torque thrust 2s that looked pretty good.
Ive owned several. The second to the last one I rolled 4 times on the freeway, and the gas tank didnt explode. So much for comrad Nader's complant, or was that the Pinto. Had a few of these, they didnt blow up either. The last one I had would out corner any V-8 rear wheel driven car around. Go into cloverleafs at 35, come out over 100. But then that was 25 years ago.
heh...nader only said the corvair would roll, and he was right, wasn't he? They're still some on the road around here.
The only one's that Nader was after were the first ones. They had a problem with the suspension that let it fold up and roll. I had a couple, a '65 Spyder ragtop, and a pair of '63s I think ( the square ones). One a post car we rolled, the windshield and back gl*** popped out. We rolled it back over on its wheels and drove it home.
I have a parts (and car for that matter) source--Austin Auto and Truck probably has 30 of 'em--6 or 8 vans,too.
There's lots of them up here, parts are cheap for the things. The early one has a swing-axle design, I've seen the old film where they slalom one and it rolls, but I didn't see where it's any different than the little sport utilities that will roll if you turn them hard enough. You just have to get used to where the weight is and handle the thing properly. Stuff a 283 in the back of one and go scare people - The 65-up version is improved over the older one, but Nader's book killed it by then anyways.
girl friend for about 5 years (about 8 years ago). she used it everyday, drove good, handled 4 people.....only thing i did'nt like about it was slightly like a vw, it leaked oil bad out of the pushrod tubes and i didn't want to pull the heads. also on the a/t ones they don't have park so you e-brake MUST be in real good shape.
That was the ***le of his book. Did anybody ever take the time to read it? I have... Unfortunately... Hard to imagine that book had the impact it did. Is it true he doesn't even have a Drivers Licence?
If you are going to stuff a V8 in it, turn it around backwards and make it a mid_engine. Flip the rear end and turn it backwards? It has been done, I think. Makes a great handling package. Also saw a Olds tornado engine and front wheel drive stuck in the trunk and mate to the Corvair half shafts. I like the later body style.
That's only true for people that have no clue about sports cars... Corvairs are great, my wife has one, they're lots of fun, the later ones handle superbly and can be made to run very well... though I must say this one is my favorite http://www.corvaircorsa.com/V-12-05.html
Ah, no. But the '64s had a rear transverse leaf spring that helped prevent the "tuck-under" of the swing arms, and made a big difference in the handling. You can retro-fit the transverse spring to the 60-63s if you use '64 rear coilsprings too. The 2nd generation Corvair suspension ('65-69) was based on the Vette indpendent rear, and is amazing - they really are great handling cars. I've had four, all first generation. Loved 'em. But don't expect any heat in the winter - get used to s****ing the INSIDE of the windshield.
Corvairs in the back of dune buggies are awesome so I've heard. Speaking of dune buggies, awww, nevermind....
Rod & Custom did an article on some bloke who mid mounted a sbc in one cannot remember nthe year but will have alook Roger
No. If I remember right, only one chapter was about the Corvair. The Book was called " Unsafe at any speed " came out in '65 or so... Having read the thing I seriously doubt it was the sole reason the Corvair was killed. Seems to me that over estimates the book... The Corvair was radically different from any other Chevy at that time, any other American Car for that matter. The Edsel was too different as well, and it was able to flop without Nader's help... Obviously I wasnt there at the time, but I do try to see things in their Historical context... Edit. Please dont make this political Mutt...
there was another post here about corvairs that dealt with safety issues. it was claimed by one or two HAMBers that the tests that the corvair failed were rigged to an extent. something about unhooking sway bars and/or severely deflating the tires. can't recall exact details, but it was along those lines, and the tests were p***ed along to nader because it would be easier for him to come out with the info, being independent, than ford or dodge. interesting to think about. regarding the later corvairs, my dad had a couple and ran the dog**** out of em!
My dad had a rusty Greenbriar when I was a kid. He loved it. I once saw a front engine V8 Corvair at a car show in Oklahoma City as a kid. There are some slides of it in my father's stuff. I really need to go through that old stuff and scan the odd interesting stuff like that. Slonaker
Isn't Crown still in business ??? They're the whole book on mid-engine Corvair stuff. Friend of mine's mom had a '60 4 door with 'glider, painted green. He filled the trunk with water and let it freeze to lower it ... 302
a freind of mine had a spyder turbo motor in a dune buggy in 65 just about climb anything a "e" ticket ride.................dig that v12 sleeper
I have no practical experience with Corvairs, as I've never owned one, so this is pretty much conjecture on my part. I've never ridden in one, but back in the 60's one of my mom's friends was driving one that was involved in a low speed head-on collision. Don't know what the other dude was driving (just that it was a car), but he was out of the car walking around when the police arrived. My mom's friend died at the scene. Outside of this event, I've actually heard several people say that they are one of the worst vehicles in a head-on. And I've seen the old video of one flipping during a low speed slalom. Whether or not the test was "rigged" or not, who knows, but that thing was barely moving (like maybe 20 or 25 mph???) and it went right over. I saw some kind of TV special that did a segment specifically about them a long time ago (which is where I saw that video) and they made reference to the fact that GM basically didn't know how to build a rear-engined car, and the suspension dynamics remained practically unchanged from their front engine models. So Nader may not have been completely off the mark. Either way, give the guy a break. I have never read unsafe at any speed, but from what I understand, it is an idictment of the car industry in general for their lack of r&d in the safety department, and played a major role in the automakers getting off their ***es and making cars safer. You know, these days if you drive an old car and hit a newer "collapsing" car, you pretty much drive right through them. However, back in the old days when 2 cars had a major accident, people died (and it was UGLY). I have the old drivers ed video "mechanized death" and accidents back in the 50's and 60's were pretty scarey. On a side note, used to know a girl back in high school who's dad used to shoe-horn corvair motors in to bugs (for the most part the had no back seat - just some sheet metal covering his "surgery") He'd take them out and absolutely kill 5.0 mustangs and vettes, and just about everything else with them. They were damned fast.
I built one for my wife. A '61. Corvairs, people either love them or hate them. I have been trying to talk my wife into letting me do some lace panels on it.
My cousin had one when he was in high school, and loved it. He would get Corvettes to race him on tight winding roads, and waste them badly. It cornered like a slot car on a rail. There is a company called Clarks that supplies some parts for them. Supposedly 10,000 parts available. They are at www.corvair.com Hemi-roid
If Ralph Nader wouldn't have started his crusade we wouldn't have as many ****py drivers. All of the airbags and safety gl*** and padded dashes, collapsible columns are keeping darwin from making humans better drivers. Spun a Spider full 360 going 100mph+ on SH9E curve off of 35 during a $100 bet. Straight thru the curve even in a spin. Safest car ever! Car was named the black widow.
A friend had one of the later ones with a small block 327 using the Crown kit.. He had a lot of fun with that...I had a corvair van in the early 70's that I paid less than 100 bucks for..Ended up rolling it on its top in a field..The windshield popped out of it also and we rolled it back over on its wheels then drove it to the wrecking yard..My sister has a 63 convert...J.C. whitney use to sell tube grilles and other custom goodies for the vairs......
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