Skip to the second paragraph to skip all this background ********. Ok folks bare with me here this may get a lil long winded but i really need some of the expert advice you guys offer. I have 2 sisters. Both of there cars are in one of there's name. That one is filing bankruptcy so the other one is considering letting her car go back with the other one's and paying cash for a "beater" so she can get out from under some debt. Now are you guys thorouly confused? Anyway long story short the sister that wants a "beater" has expressed to me in the past that she would like to have an old car of some sort. Well she emailed me today with a busted *** 91 ricer piece of **** to get my opinion and i basicly told her waht i just told you guys, that its a ricer piece of ****. Well she is concerned about fuel economy, which i find ****ing hilarious because she has a 30 MPG nissan now and drives 20 minutes to work, and if gas goes up a cent she will let you know too. i find it funny because i drive a 13 mpg 2500 Chevy and commute 2 hrs a day to work and 2 hours home. So here is my question, since she wants a cheap "beater" and eventually wants an old car why couldnt she go ahead and get something like a Corvair. They are cheap, relatively speaking, Get good gas mileage, i saw one site that said they get 25-30 mpg, anything over 20 sounds good to me LOL, and they are "vintage/retro" (her words not mine) What are the pros/cons of Corvairs, are they fairly simple to work on or a pain in the ***? The local Craigs list had a **** pot full of parts listed for em so the parts must still be kinda easy to find. Probably not a HAMB friendly car but they were around back then. LOL
keeping it tuned is sometimes a *****. they are touchy. parts are not that easy to find if you breakdown in bfe. have you thought of an early nova? little six or 4 banger? tempest,falcon? gotta be more ways to go than corvair dude.....she's your sis.....
Not bad cars IF you are mechanialy inclined. In other words ya want to be workin on it regulary for her?
Hey that nova, tempest, falcon idea isnt to bad. Which one had the 4 banger, the falcon. Novas and tempests had 6s right or am i wrong?
I get well above 20 mpg in my daily driven falcon. So do not discount the straight 6. And the thing has only let me down once in over a year of daily driving. It was a stupid fuel pump issue. Took me a whole 5 mins to fix. with no additional parts.
my '63 Corvair get 26 mpg with a 4 spd. If she is going through a bankruptcy maybe she should stick with a newer car that will get here where she needs to go, like a Cavalier or Cobalt. When she gets her situation back under control then she can worry about getting an old car.
If you get the 'vair, don't forget to get two of 'em. so you can keep one of them running at a time. I had one of those POS cars for a few years. 63 turbo car. never again.
Owning any old car is a love affair- one that costs you inordinate amounts of time and money to basically get what you want from it. Women, if I were to generalize- prefer to won a newer car because they value safety and dependability far more than having a relationship with something mechanical that needs constant attention/diagnosis/work. Breaking down is potentially dangerous for women. I'm just sayin.
I love corvairs and own one but if she needs something dependable this is probably not the best choice. Corvairs are pretty picky and require frequent "tinkering". Compared to other cars of the era they arent the easiest things to work on either. But if you found a really good deal on one then I say go for it. i would say a nova would probably be your best bet.
The second generation wasn't that bad and the spyders were actually quick but a 50 year old bow legged road oiler that was taken out of production for safety reasons is not a womans car. Theres a reason they are cheap. the falcons were 6s but got good fuel economy and are cheaper than novas.
I had a 62, it was the closest thing to a landboat, the front end always felt too light like a bow of a boat going through waves.....they were originally made for couples no kids for weekend jaunts ....had large leaf springs that gave it that boat feel again.. Ralph Nader kinda had a point...
I just picked up 2 rampside trucks, and a 2 door, I know nothing about Corvair motors, and after looking at them I'm now even more confused!
Early round FALCOOOON with a properly tuned 170/200 original size tires and rims... 20+ mpg. Reliable as gravity...
I restored a 65 for my grandpa as a surprise xmas present last year. Opend the box with the keys and said what the **** are these for...Hed seen the car in my shop numerous times and given me advice on what hed do "if it were his car" Had to lie and tell him it was a customer car. It was worth it. Kinda cheaper to work on really, not much at all to them.
I love my vairdog.. I drive it just about everyday.. There have been months on end where it has been my only running car.. Buuuut... It does require a bit on attention once in a while.. I hate that I'm gonna have to sell it soon.
Actually the Corvair Society of America (CORSA) is very supportive, and parts are plenty and available. Plus the members are some of the most helpful you'll ever meet. Nadar was an ***hole without a reputation BEFORE the Corvair. Sure the '60 was a dog, but the Bug was worst. My '61 burned up (as in flames!) like many early VWs did. Why worse than any Corvair. I had a red '64 Monza convertible that I drove the wheels off of every day for years, and sold for twice what I paid for it, too. Worth 5x what I got for it now... The '65 and up series were great handling cars, too. Any Corvair car easily holds 4-5 people plus a fair amount of luggage, at 25+ miles a gallon. Getting them to run right is the key to keeping them running right. I've had a Falcon, and a slant-4 Pontiac. Rather have another Corvair anyday.
Funny how Naders name keeps coming up in any Corvair post. There is a persistant rumor the man never had a Drivers licence. If that is true, then why would anybody be interested in his opinion about cars? I wouldn't ask a vegeterian which place cooks a nice steak, or a tea totaller to recommend me a good beer. Besides that... Read the book. I did, and it was hard for me to believe it had the impact that it did.
The later model corvair was a very good car. Good gas mileage, dependable if maintained, fun to drive. It had two basic problems, people tried to treat them like a regular car which the weren't. They also would rust very badly if not taken care of. The handling on the late models was good if you realize that the handling changes as you put more weight, p***engers, in the car. Probably the thing that got most people in trouble is when the generator light came on they continued to drive and cooked all of the "O" rings in the engine and then it would smoke and loose oil. When the light comes on stop immediately. The fan belt coming off caused the light to come on and that also stopped the fan that cooled the engine. I bought a 65 with a 110 hp engine that had 30000 mile. It had been well maintained and had no leaks and used no oil. Changed all of the "O" rings to Viton and never had a problem. I always checked the fan belt and changed it every 10000 mile even if it was in good shape. I only have the belt fail one time in the 100000+ miles that I drove it. Took several cross country trips with it an the only problem I had was a fuel pump failed, had a spare with me so no problem. Parts are available at several places. If I could find another late model, 65 to 69 that was rust free I would buy it. If you don't maintain them properly they will give you a lot of problems. One of the handling problems with the corvairs was caused because people didn't keep the correct air pressure in the tires. The fronts 20 psi and the rears 30, you had to keep a 10 psi difference between front and rear. IF you get one get a service manual and read it, will save you alot of headaches. Joe
Well, I love my Corvair. I get 20 mpg in it and I drive it daily up and down the Cajon P***. I put an 80 lb bag of cement in the front and it made it a totally different car. More balanced, not as boaty (as some have described it). I get lots of looks, and lots of stories. I just bought it as a cheap old beater car, but I am falling in love with it.
"There is a persistant rumor the man never had a Drivers licence." There is also a persistant rumor the man never had a pair of testicles.
Well , I had a 1963 and had a ton of fun with that car . Ran great and got good gas mpg's too . Just make sure you have good "O" ring seals and a spare "V" belt . Other than that , drove it all over the place and really didn't have any problems . The most problem was tuning the 2 carbs . Unlike any other engine with multi carbs , the Corvair is a flat V6 and each carb only runs 3 cylinders , so when one carb gives you a problem , it will run like **** ! Parts are easy to get ! Other than that , wouldn't mind owning another one ! If I had to choose one get a good ol Falcon . They are easy to find and easy on gas . I owned 2 of them and enjoyed them also . Remember to get one with all the rust fixed ! Floors and quarter's rust out bad . Still better than a Corvair and more roomy ! Mine had a 170 & 200 in them . Easy to work on and parts are easy to fine too . Very dependable car for a lady !
Frankly, I am amazed at the total mis-information being put forth as gospel. The late model Corvairs are fun to drive and are really easy to fix and work on. There are parts for the car at just about every NAPA store, not to mention Clarks Corvair, Corvair ranch both on the east coast and about 5 others on the west coast. They also come with air conditioning on some models. Yeah, there are 4 carbs that have to be syncronized but even that is easy with a simple $29 tool. They are prone to rust...not much you can do about that in the rust belt area. As far as Naders book taking out the corvair.........WRONG. The Camaro took out the Corvair to compete with the falcon / Mustang. You could suggest a lot worst car to your sister.
She is not going through the bankruptcy, my other sister is. The car is in the ohter sisters name so this sister(the one that is considering the corvair) sees this as an opertunity to get out of her car loan that she is upside down on. She only needs a "beater" for like 6 monthes so she can catch up on bills, and then she is going to get a new car, Mini Clubman most likely.
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