1960 Corvair body work.......how much $ am I looking at?

Ralph Nader never drove a Corvair...he guessed a lot and figured it was "unsafe" cuz the front end was "light"...and then he wrote a book...

I had two of them, a '63 and a '66...and I hauled my family around in the '66...It was a great handling car and got good gas mileage, but the heater was lacking, especially around here in the winter...We traded it for a '70 Camaro -- 350" and a 4-speed...the mileage went down but the handling tripled...and the "cool" factor went up too...!!!

R-

 

While the "swing axle" rear suspension that the '60-'64 cars used wasn't the best design, it's the same basic layout that was used by millions of VW bugs and Porsches, and I never heard any of those car owners blatting about it. One problem was that, in order to handle correctly, Corvairs were supposed to have a ten pound tire pressure bias, i.e. if the rear tires had 30 psi, the front tires should have had 20 psi. If you had it serviced at a Chevy dealership back then, it would probably stay that way, but most independent garages treated them like every other car on the road and pumped all four tires up to the same pressure, with negative results the first time the driver got in over his head on a sharp curve. I've owned several 'vairs over the years, and believe that a set of radial tires is the best addition you can make to them. Really, it's a matter of getting used to how the car reacts and learning how to drive it properly (remember when people were actually expected to do that with their cars?). Once I got used to its nature, I could throw my '63 Spyder into a curve just as hard as any other car I've owned and still come out the other side of it tire side down. In '64, Chevrolet changed the rear suspension a bit by adding something that looked like a single transverse leaf spring, but acted more like a stabilizer bar, which improved handling noticeably, and completely redesigned the rear setup in '65, making it the best handling car built in the U.S. at the time (yes, including the Corvette).

 

Furthermore, Nader thinks that you'll die if you eat a hot dog, so take what he says accordingly.......

 

Wow....you a very smart about Corvairs. Thanks for the info. I love this place

 

corvairs are cool. i had a 63

change the wheels though.

 

I agree, the wheels are the first thing to go........

 

I drive '63 monza 900 mordor every day of the week right now. Awesome little car get almost 30 mpg and starts up every morning.

 

I saw an old film on the Corvair deal, the test driver managed to roll it over after losing it and sliding sideways. But seems like he had to work to do it. Most accidents in them were a combination of the tire PSI issue mentioned above, the nature of the travel in the swing-axle design, and people just plain not used to driving cars heavier in the tail than the nose. That changes all the handling characteristics of how and when the car will oversteer or understeer on you. I always figured if people knew how to handle them properly there would have been a lot fewer problems.

But at least they don't accelerate uncontrollably because a computer thinks the floormat is in the wrong spot or some guy in Japan got one of the lines in a kanji symbol backwards when he was writing the code for the programming.

 

Having owned a '63, my guess is that there is rust on the sail panel under that mud. GM's of that era are notorious for rusting out back there, water and dirt ac***ulate in the pinch weld area where the back gl*** sits, cause it to rust. Had a '67 Chevelle that was like that, when I pulled the rear gl*** out to fix it, it was basically staying in there by gravity and the chrome trim!! For the price, get it and fix it, they are a lot of fun to drive.

Brian

 

Ha ha Ha

 

It's not that simple. You'll basically need an entire car for swapping parts, but you'll need just about every piece from the donor car... but a fairly simple swap from what I've read.

No such thing. A Monza 900 was a trim level. They were not available in 1960. A Monza came with a 102hp engine, the 700 came with a 95 hp, and the Spyder came with a 150hp turbo, but I'm not 100% sure on that... and none of those options were available in 1960. A '60 came with an 80hp, maybe a 95hp engine; 500 and 700 trim lines. They only came with 3 speed manuals, or a Powerglide. No 4 speeds.

So that, combined with those stainless trim pieces below the rear window suggests to me that you actually have a '62 Monza (aka 900) with a 4 speed and a '60 nose grafted to it. I'm getting ready to do the same conversion to my '63. Run the VIN.

The 64s are safer than the 60-63s, and the 65-69s are safer than the 64s due to improved suspensions. Nader fabricated his data so his book would get attention. He accomplished some good things in the name of safety, but he lost all my respect for falsifying his data. His claims were that the Corvairs were prone to rolling over, but the Government couldn't replicate a rollover in any tests or any other problems he claimed. The public gave the Corvair a bad rep (partially spurred on by Ford), but mainly Americans didn't know how to handle a rear-engined car and had trouble with oversteer, plus the swing axle LOOKED weird, which created rumors of the rear wheel buckling under hard turns, and improperly inflated bias ply tires caused problems. The weird belt system was prone to flipping off due to misadjustment by mechanics who didn't read the manuals and adjusted them like water pumpers (Corvair belts are supposed to be loose). And it goes on and on.

You should join the Corvair Center's forum. There are some cranky know-it-alls on there, but you can also get a lot of good info. Just read through posts and search before you post questions.

GET a shop manual AND Finch's How to Keep Your Corvair Alive. Tons of great info.

 

Some info here too:

http://gmpartswiki.com/w/Main_Page

 

He had friends that owned one, it flipped in a accident and they died. The book is about the entire auto industry at the time but it was the Corvair that was the focal point of the book.

 

http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/CTGY/WWC001

These wheels will most likely not be the style you want but they are the correct bolt patern. If you want a basic steel wheel there is the '61 - '63 Skylark/Special and F85/Cutl*** that will have the same pattern. I think the early Novas were the same 4 lug pattern also. I think they will all be 14" wheels.

 

If you are looking for winter work, let me know. Maybe we can trade.

 

Here's a picture, Damn I miss that car!

 

I like those rims!

 

Just to set the record straight:
When they were introduced in late 59, the 1960 Corvair was available in the 500 or fancier 700 series both in a two door coupe or a four door sedan. Only an 80 hp 140 cid engine was available coupled through a 3 speed manual or optional powerglide transmission. In May, about 2/3rds through 1960 production, Chevrolet introduced a "sportier" version, the Monza, available only as a two door. At the same time they also offered a optional 95 hp engine and an optional 4 speed transmission, not only for the Monza but also available across the entire line.
Without looking at the numbers, your car sure looks like a Monza, and while some may argue the point I feel one of the more desirable early model (1960 - 1964) Corvairs made, especially with 95 hp and 4 speed.

Bottom line - cool car. Also, if your Mom has the actual original hubcaps do not throw them away. They are unique to only the 1960 Monza.

 

Wow, you know alot!

Yes I still have the hubcaps.

 

Most important point = "She is giving it to me" .

Get it start sanding to see what you got.

If it's too much for you no problem, Give it to me.

 

NMcarnut is correct. The Monza trim package is nice in the EM (early model). You can make these little engines run. The wagon above ran a 140hp, 4 carb, 4 speed out of a later Sypder model and was a blast to drive. Parts are readily availible thru some speciality shops. If you want to really get some info on Corvairs visit the corvair forum site. Those guys are complete nuts and can tell you everything you need to know about your future ride!
The rims you like are off a 78 280Z I believe. And keep the bumper sticker, it's not a corvair without a Nadar sticker! LOL

 

LOL- I'm heading over to Brad54's tonight to start swapping parts on to the replacement engine. The original dropped a valve seat a couple weeks ago and from what Brad's learned, that's fairly common on the 140hp engines. I agree with you coolbreeze- it's a great car (we had a Corvair wagon when I was little)!

Best of luck on the work Shane!

 

That's mine now! Actually, my wife's. It's her daily driver. No A/C about killer her this summer... it was hotter than Dante's Inferno the last two months. She loves the car though, and it really suits her.
So far, it's gone to Ohio for a visit, Martinsville Virginia where it got stuck in a blizzard (Great car... terrible toboggan, but great car), and Hickory North Carolina several times.

As Bill said, the engine dropped a seat, so I picked up another 140, and am swapping the engine to get it back on the road. Then I'm going to take the busted 140 and build it up. I might do a big-bore kit on it... definitely sending the heads out to be ported, milled and have exhaust tubes put in. I'd love it if we could squeak 200hp out of it! With a decent cam, more compression, good rings, worked heads, worked carbs and headers, I don't see why that's unreasonable.

I've since added '65 Shelby GT350 rear view mirrors to the top of the front fenders, just ahead of the windshield, and they look great. They're the little cone-shaped chrome jobs. I'm also looking for a set of 10-spoke Mini-lites. The rear alignment was way off, and killed the tires, so we got it aligned and put larger diameter tires on out back too. It's a sharp looking car.

You still tripping over that steering wheel?

-Brad

 

Brad,

Got your message- good to hear that all is okay with the "new" block... make sure you get all the acorns out!

Sorry for the thread-theft...

now back to our regularly scheduled Nader-haters !