Well ours made it to the road but a lack of power and a bit of a smoking problem prompted a compression test that netted 2 dead cylinders. So an overhaul is in the not so distant future. But it still made it out for a few photos and a heap of thumbs ups!
Dang, I want the wheels off of that Super Spyder for my wife’s ‘62 Monza! Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Hello, For some, Corvairs were the devil’s work in disguise. For others, it was the American Porsche. The body design was something no other factory would create and develop. The idea of a flat 6 cylinder motor allowed the motor to be place in the rear. Because it was so low to the ground, it actually felt like it was traction plus, going around long curving roads. Despite the 80 horsepower, it seemed to move faster than my old 80 hp sedan delivery. The Corvair name was originally developed as part Corvette and part Chevy Bel Air. But, settled on the "air" part as its new air cooled motor. My wife bought her first car with money she earned as one of those early telephone operators with the million plug in cords and a headphone set. She told me that at the time, she was taught to use the little forward/back lever on the work table as necessary. It allowed the operators to quietly listen to the conversation without anyone knowing what was happening. But, it was to be used for emergencies or random use only, not sitting and listening to long conversations. Her Corvair had a little lever on the dash, so familiarity was in place. Working a swing shift, she was able to save enough to buy a neighbor’s 1962 blue/silver Corvair Coupe with a cool automatic transmission level sticking out of the dash. It was a low mile model used by a little old lady from So Cal. So, off she went to college driving the Corvair. For the first several years, nothing happened and she was a happy camper. It was small enough to get into small parking spots and easily fit into the diagonal parking spots with ease. Because of its small size, parallel parking was a snap. Jnaki While she spotted this Corvair convertible in a So Cal Harbor parking lot, the conversation turned to the early days of owning and driving her old 62 Corvair all over So Cal. It brought back those 1963-69 days of growing up. It was her first car, so she had clear memories of her relationship with it. While in college, she got good gas mileage, started up every time and did not cause a teenager girl any problems on the road. But, the rear bumper did get covered with some oil blow by. By the time we met in college, I took the Corvair to our expert mechanic in LA to see what his take was on the oiled rear bumper. His repair was going to take apart the motor and replace all gaskets and worn out parts. That was great, but, she could not be without transportation for a week and did not have the money for the total repair. We eventually gave the Corvair to her uncle and bought a larger car with A/C. Having driven the car in rain and sunny windy days, the rain caused water to come in through the lower vents. During those windy days, driving on PCH toward Huntington Beach was like a video game. The winds played havoc on the light weight sporty type car in those winds. It could have been corrected with some better tires and suspension, but it was a stock Corvair.
jnaki your styling critique of "The body design was something no other factory would create and develop." is not true. From 1964-1972 the NSU company produced the 3/4 scale Corvair as the NSU Prinz 1000,TT, and TTS. These were powered by the same 996cc and 1177cc air cooled 4-cylinder engines that were used in the Mammoth motorcycle. These were very successful in competition.
Here's a couple pics of mine, it's a '63. Four wheel discs, QA1s on all four corners, 5 lug conversion.
While it may be a little...off track, it did take some imagination to get it completed and not look like a junk yard mess. Mike
I jokingly told my German boss, Karl, that the "type 901" Porsche that was to be unveiled in 1963... was to be powered by a Corvair 6 cyl. opposed engine. (through an International Company merger) Karl got angrier than I'd ever seen him. A year later, we got our (my) hands on an imported 1965 911, I serviced it (by the new shop manual) This was NO Corvair...
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