yeah leaked out the tube a bit but i had fun with it took alot of people by surprise off the line thats for sure. you just need to know were the limits of the car are at. i tore it around a corner once and spun it completly around! just like driving on ice..................on the up side it was a donut spining machine lol 1963 monza 900 4 speed dual carb stock generator steelies and biasplys was my only car for quite a while
tire pressure had everything to do with early 60-64 roll overs combine a soft tire with the early swing arm suspension and you would induce roll overs.look at the side profile of a 65-69 corvair and the early camaro and you will see an almost matching silouette!the corvair was a very expensive car to produce compared to a conventional one like a nova for example and gm killed it on this basis alone Nader had nothing to do with it.By 67 the corvair was competing with the camaro and firebird for sales and its a no brainer on which line was winning there!late corvair shared in the corvet style suspension.As for v8 in a vair the trans in the vaiR was the same as front engine cars there is a cover plate on the end facing the front of the car that when removed will allow a conventional bellhousing to bolt right on inside gears are also the same with a special input shaft the vair engine turns opposit of a front engine car for this reason.Ferdinan Porsche colaborated in the design with Gm and part of his contract got him a new car every year it was in production and he was known to drive them to the factory in germany on a regular basis.the 65-69 cars were very good handling cars but being a car guy I always felt they were under powered but then thats what I think of most family cars.My brother-in-law owned new vairs from 60-69 and loved every one of them!I have owned a bunch of 65-67s and had a 66 daily driver for 3 years and now have a 66 4 door to rebuild.Clarks Corvair is lokated in Shelburn Falls Mass. and you can build a car from their catalog if you think about getting a vair get their catalog every bit of info you could possibly want to know is right there from restoring to hi performance Clarks is a great place if it has a corvair engine clarks will help you out they don't care if its a dune buggy ,dragster,concourse restoration ,or a daily beater they just love corvairs and corvair people!and you can't stump them on anything corvair !If you have an old counter guy at your parts store lots of parts are still over the counter items because they cross over to lots of other models like brakes ,tie rod ends etc.not trying to steal a thread here but i do like my corvairs pm me if you want to talk more on them for a daily beater get 65-69 they are the better cars in the line.Anyone got a 65-69 vair convert body they want to sell?
I've owned a '61 Monza coupe, a '63 Spyder coupe, and a '66 Monza. As another poster mentioned, tire pressure is critical; ignore the factory recommendation and run a 10 pound bias between front and rear (like 20psi front and 30psi rear), and modern radials make all the difference. In the mid '60s,one of the magazines ran its own test concerning handling ills, and they succeeded in rolling a Falcon and Valiant before they could tip a Corvair. Admittedly, the '60-'63 swing axle cars take a bit of skill to master, but are we hot rodders, or old ladies who get flustered if a rental car has an automatic on the floor instead of on the column? Learn to DRIVE, for Christ's sake! Funny that all early VWs and Porsches have an identical rear suspension setup, and are considered God's gift to automobiles by some. The redesigned '65-'69 cars were found to be the best handling american cars of their time, including the Corvette. They are one of the most affordable special interest cars out there.
Then WTF are you posting? A Kia vs. a full size pickup the pickup driver will walk a way. I've heard several people say that anal beads are fun. Rigged, just like the Chevy truck on 60 minutes. If you go to any SCCA even or most autocrosses you will see Corvairs wiping up the competition in a lot of classes. Porsche designed the car in conjuction with GM, so those people really don't know what they're talking about. Nader is a tool. Everything he ever did is self serving to accelerate his politicla career. He lied and cheated to get where he is claiming that the ends justify the means all along the way, he is a scumbag. And of course since you haven't read the book and are merely using second hand info what your saying really doesn't matter.
I've had two Corvairs, both red on black hardtops, a '65 and a '66 I want another one just like my '65, had a three speed on the floor, red paint and a black bucket seat interior. I like Corvairs
I read Unsafe at Any Speed. It's an overall indictment of the industry as ignoring safety and the well-being of their customers in pursuit of styling and higher profits. There's just enough truth to it to get people to buy hundreds of pages of crap. Typical Nader, start with a small but valid point and build it into a demand for ridiculous levels of action. The Corvair was only a small part of it but it worked for him because a lot of people didn't really trust the unconventional engineering of the cars and a lot of drivers weren't skilled enough for the terminal understeer that comes naturally to rear engined cars and especially with swing axles. That said, Nader didn't finish the Corvair, the market did. It was an early example of something GM has done repeatedly since. That is to say they brought a flawed product to market, waited for the customers to whine, then fixed it just about the time the public had lost all trust. Think of the Fiero. It was a nice little car at the introductory price of $8500. When the Toyota MR2 came out GM jacked up the Fiero price to $15,000 on the assumption it ought to be worth just as much as the Toyo. It wasn't, the engineering and performance weren't there. After a thorough redesign the last Fieros were excellent little cars but by that time the public had branded them lemons and no one wanted them. Dad was a Chevy/Olds dealership mechanic all through the late 50s & early 60s. Mom always said she could tell when he worked on a Corvair because he came home in a bad mood. He felt they were difficult to tune properly, not well built, and claims to have never seen one that didn't leak oil even when new. Biggest issue there was the multiple places in the engine where oil just sits against a gasket, like gas in a Holley float bowl.
I had two corvair convertibles in the mid 70's both 65 vintage ran like hell were dependable and could be made leakproof too carbs n cams in both updated dizzys too nothing wrong with suspension on them either just like corvette same years Lost them in a storage yard fiasco where they got scrapped my kid still wants one he was 16 at the time n loved em still lots of parts around for em too= got to much iron now or would have another one
I think that Chevrolet's biggest mistake with the Corvair was mismarketing. Once they released the Chevy II in '62 to compete with the Falcon and Valiant, they should have forgotten about trying to push the economy aspect of the Corvair and stuck with the "poor man's sports car" image. If they'd dropped the four doors and stuck with 4 speed convertibles and coupes, they may have found a niche for it.
I had three at one point, A '65 Conv. a '60 Coupe and a '64 Greenbrier. the conv. was my daily driver and only transportation for 5 years, and I had a 30 mile commute to work everyday... Never needed to be towed... That's because I kept tools in the car. and extra wire, belts, oil (get Viton seals for those pushrod tubes and you'll be able to park it in the living room), jack, and some of those little wire rope u-bolt things (if the clutch cable breaks, you are back on the road in minutes) They are a simple car to work on. If you flip and you are in a Corvair, you would have flipped if you were in an SUV, van (mini or otherwise), pick-up truck, jeep, etc.. Corvairs handled better than a typical front engine of the same vintage, but that was 40 years ago, and unless someone has one shrink wrapped in a basement somewhere, it isn't going to handle any better now than it did when it was new. It wouldn't be fair to compare a 40 year old car with a modern one as far as safety or handling. Make sure you rebuild the front suspension, the parts up there never really have to carry that much weight, so they were made with smaller parts, which mean smaller bushings, ball joints, etc. Rebuild the steering box (Clarks will do it, or they have the parts), If it's a manual shift, the shift tube that goes under the floor to the back had a cardboard lining, when it gets wet (the tube gets a rust hole, or the car sits in a puddle that deep), the cardboard expands and you will not be able to shift it, pull it out and get an appropriate size piece of PVC, and slit it down it's length to fit in inside, problem solved forever. Nader is a noodge.
If you talk to Corvair people, they'll disagree. According to them what killed the Corvair was the Mustang. Just as the Falcon was more in tune with what Americans wanted in a compact car, the Mustang was more what they wanted in a sport compact than was the Monza Spyder. Ironic, since the Spyder discovered the ponycar market that it would be killed off by it. As far as the actual safety of the cars, I agree that driving them sensibly is the best thing you can do. The trouble is that Chevrolet started trying to capitalize on their sporty image without actually making them up to the task. A rear leaf spring was a bandaid for the swingarm problem in '64 and a full-on Corvette-type IRS came along in '65. If you want to build a CorV8, though, and you're not a crack machinist or fabricator, the only way to do it nowadays is to buy a Crown kit on the used market (they're out of production) and put it in a '66 to '69 car. The '65s are too much like the Early Models to use the Crown conversion. I have seen three other V8 Corvairs: One is a white Early Model coupe in NorCal that uses an Olds 425 and Toronado transaxle in the back. It looks stock except the radiused rear wheel wells to clear the wider drivetrain. The second is this EM station wagon with the floors cut out and welded to the floorpan of an early-eighties A-body (the whole deal was done for under $2k). The third is this LM ragtop with a Chevy V8 up front and a cowl-induction hood (trunklid?). I've no idea how the this one was done. I'd like to do the A-body chassis-swap thing with an Early Model coupe someday myself. I just discovered one on a used car lot that I would consider picking up and driving as an air-cooled bomb until my fabrication skills are up to the task.
I see some people have mentioned the leaks on the stock 'Vair engines. The key there is supposed to be a material called Viton. It was developed for the space program. Also, interesting trivia point - only the first chapter of Unsafe at Any Speed is about the Corvair. What's the second chapter about?
I had a '62 Spyder, fun little car, I put 14" Datsun Z rims on it, Pirelli tires and Koni shocks. That little beast really ran good, one of the all time favorites of my wife, I still get grief about selling it. We had a "piano van" at one point also, it had doors on both sides and was pretty good for when we raced motorcycles in the desert. The ol' van had an 80 hp motor and a powerglide which spent most of it's life in low gear.
I found this 62 in CA for 350 bux not sure it would make it 4 hour drive and over donner summitt. I am between this and a VW GTI what would you choose?
I saw a pic of an old T bucket with a corvair motor mounted up front. Don't know how they did it, but the lack of a radiator up front let them have a grille that was about 6 inches tall! It looked pretty wicked.
Ralph Nader was not the best engineer. Also a plagerist. Unsafe at any speed is a direct quote from a man named John Keats, the book was called The insolent chariots, and about cars pre 1950, when fatalities occoured below 25 mph. This was published about 10 yrs before Nader's crap, and he would have known he was a plagerist. The corvair was the answer to the VW, it was rear engine, air cooled, and got about 24 mpg. It also had an oil filter, unlike the VW. If you flipped the rear axel, flipped the bellhousing, any sbc will bolt up, but reside where the rear seat is. Somebody had a kit to use the 454.
Unsafe at any speed... that's why I drive 'em so fast.. You can get almost any Corvair part you need from Clark's or Corvair Underground, among other places. Just do a Google. The Corvair folks have a awesome national club called CORSA, Corvair Society of America. This is a huge resource. I've had several "earlies" and you can make almost any Corvair go like stink.Lots of race stuff for them even today. Some had factory AC. They make great daily drivers and you can squeeze quite a few miles per gallon out of yer $3 a gallon gas. The "late" models are just plain hot. Find the 1969 car with the VIN 6000 and you will be a millionare, its probably in your Mom's shed.
Roth's Road Agent has a Corvair drivetrain flipped upside down. I think there's at least one Tom Danie design using a Crvair engine, and there is a bunch of nuts using them for airplane engines.
If you are interested in Corvairs (not the debate) I can help. I am the president of the local chapter of the national club (CORSA) had these for 20+ years and I always have extras! Try this for pics of my 66 http://community.webshots.com/user/bills50 Bill
This is my 61!!! Putting the motor in the front helped correct the oversteer I am gonna sell it cause I don't think I can drive it in Europe...Without a 'Magic kingdom card'
The First car I ever owned was a "Vair" my PoP's sponsored the car and I had to rebuild it before I could drive it! They are fun and easy to work on and faily dependable, I had a 65 hard top my PoP's had a 64 turbo "Spyder" convertable.Bad Ass little buggies, just don't go for hyper drive in them...Over 90-mph a little sketchy!!! P.S Not a lot of leg room if your over 6ft.
Any car with swing axle rears will give you trouble with wheel jacking. Have you ever locked up the brakes on an early Spitfire? Really scary. Also the Mercedes of the late 50-60s used swing axles and had to be corrected. The fix was simple for the Corvairs. Correct tire pressure, better shock absorbers and making sure new car buyers understood the handleing difference. The rear would come around quickly and takes getting used to. GMs own testing revealed this all early on but like a typical big dumb corporation they said nothing and then were slow to aknowledge the truth. Ralph Nader exploited this. If GM had been forthcoming they would have stolen Naders thunder and not been damaged as much. Ralph Nader was pointing out the truth about the auto industry's indifference to safety and the industry obliged him with more indifference. Maybe you like smacking your head on metal dashboards or impaling yourself on the steering column? Not me. The industry had to be pushed to make improvements. I like Corvairs but the front ends are light and are known to float under the right circumstances. The Corvair died for a number of readons. GM has a long history of spending lots of money to develop interesting things and then suddenly deciding to pull the plug. The latest example was that electric car they had a few years ago. Also the aluminum olds and buick V8s that were sold to Rover, the infamous Fiero. You can come up with more. The pisser is that Nader and the Corvair stuff inhibited a lot of free thinking in Detroit. The industry went on the defensive and risk taking and innovation of a certain kind ceased for a long time. The 'Vair was a radical departure for Detroit. When I was in high school early mid 70's a couple friends put together mid engine Vairs. I wasn't involved and don't know the details about how they engineered them but those were some fun cars and I thought it pretty impressive that high school Jrs did it.
i dont got one but a friend does, its pretty cool, can look like a 60s custome i guess, but the belt system is crazy i hate it, it goes around the top and down the side. i always hear they catch on fire but i dunno. i got a beetle i think its jus a rip off of the beetle lol thats my 2 cents
From what I read, when the car was first designed it had good balance for a rear engine car. The problem was with the bean counters, as usual. The motor was originally going to have a seperate head for each cylinder. But it was going to cost something like $100 more per car compared to having one head per bank. So, they went with the solid head design, which added 75lbs to the rear of the car. They decided to let it go as is, without changing the spring rates, and that screwed any handling ability it had. Like said, it was proven in '73 (I think) that Nader had screwed with the cars to get them to flip... they had 10lbs of air in the rear tires, and the swaybar links unbolted. I really like vairs, I really love the shape on both generations, it was a good looking car. One of my dream projects is to put a Eldo 500 transaxle and motor in the rear. You can even keep the rear seat.
To answer your question, woiuld one make a good daily, yes if it's in reasonable condition and you don't have "the fucking commute from hell" to contend with. They are fun to drive and now that they have been out of production so long most people have no idea what they are so you get that exclusive cache thing too. Just flash the old at them and they will be all . That will make old Ralph all . That would be so .
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