The latest addition to our fleet!

[TravisL17]

We had been casually looking for a classic car for my wife to drive around. She's driven the Meadowbrook and doesn't feel comfortable with it. As much as I wanted it, another early Mopar was out of the question. I came across this 63 Corvair and pondered it a bit before I showed it to my wife. She was smitten. As a 16th wedding anniversary gift to her, we brought it home late January. I began going through the car, making it safe and reliable. Today, after a lot of hard work it came down from the jack stands and hit the road. We took it for a shakedown run and picked up our son from school. Then took it to town for pizza and ice cream. 67 miles clocked today. There are a few minor bugs to work out and some tuning to do yet. My wife is looking forward to a lot of miles with it this summer. Cruises, car shows, and general transportation.

 

The car is more teal/aqua than it looks in the picture. No hubcaps in this pic because I left them off to make it easier to recheck lug torque and hub temps.

[kencombs]

One of my favorites from the 60s.   Like it a lot, that simple coupe was the best looking in my mind.  Not as much as the 65 Dart GT, 273, 4 spd, I once had, but alot.

 

Does the 63 have the rear suspension update, with the bar tying the two sides together, or was that is 64?  I think the upgrade kits might still be available if yours needs it.   Worthwhile addition as it stops the tendency to tuck the outside wheel under on hard cornering.   Not usually an issue in most driving, but an emergency dodge maneuver can happen to anyone.

[TravisL17]

I'm new to Corvairs, from what I've read 64 was the first year for that upgrade. I think it was a transverse leaf spring.  Clark's Corvair has been my go to for parts on this car and I know they have front and rear sway bars you can add. I'm not sure if they sell an add on transverse leaf spring, guess I never looked for it.

Corvairs have always been a car that I'll stop and look at when I see one because they're so different than any other American car of that Era. I never considered owning one until now. I can say that it's been fun learning about them and a pleasure to work on. Growing up listening to all the hype about their handling problems, I am very surprised at how easy it is to handle.

[greg g]

They handled well to a point, then they didn't and were nearly impossible to recover.  I have seen the later ones turned into great autocross cars.  I had a friend in college who drove an 80 horse cheapest model 1963. One day he asked me to help him do a drive train swap from the 80 horse three speed to a 150 horse turbo 4 speed. While doing that we added the spring thing and a rear sway bar to the early simple swing axel.   It became a very quick and readable car.  Another friend had a later 66 corsa with the fixed rear suspension.  That car was a joy to drive.  It still had a snap out oversteer problem at the limit from the rear weight bias, but if you knew where it was it was easy to avoid even in spirited driving.  I think on the 63 suspension we added some limiting straps that mostly cured the tuck under in the simple swing axle.   I remember Triumph spitfire had the same rear suspension tuck under with the swing axle set up.  They solve theirs by adding outer u joints and tevised lower control arms.

 

If operated reasonably at moderate speed or out on the highway it should serve her well. I believe the purpose was to prevent or limit the unloaded axle drop down so it didn't tuck under during emergency maneuvers, it didn't do any thing to reduce the weight bias over steer deal so you still need to be aware of that.

[plymouthcranbrook]

As a young lad I owned two Corvairs, a 63 Monza and a 64 Turbo.  Somewhat maintenance intensive as were many used cars in those days but fun cars for sure.  The Turbo was fun when outrunning smaller engined Mustangs and Cameros, at least until their bigger engines got going.

[TravisL17]

There's a guy local to me who is REALLY into Corvairs. His older brothers ice raced them for a bit long ago and then moved onto something else. They gave him all the Corvair stuff they had when he was teen and he has been into them since. Hes got decades of experience with them.. I bought a few parts and got some tech advice from him, really great guy. Helped me out of a jam with an incorrect choke unloader on one of my carbs.

 

I really like the limiter strap idea! Once I learned that people were racing these cars it set my mind a bit at ease about the handling. Plus my wife is not an aggressive driver in the slightest.

 

I love the story of outrunning the lower powered mustangs and camaros! After driving a Corvair, I can understand how fun it would be to make one faster!

 

This one is a Monza 900, the highest trim level before the Spyder. It's either 80 or 84 HP with the Powerglide. It's by no means quick but after an evening of driving, my wife loves it and says she's very comfortable driving it.

[cheesy]

Fifty, cough cough, years ago, I was with my Dad looking for my first car. We found this nice 64 Spyder for $600. Really nice to a 16 year old kid, anyway. Ran and drove well and my Dad was even smiling. I was about to wet myself, then the seller told us there was no title. Dad said, "Time to go."  Ended up with my next door neighbors 65 Merc Marauder with a dead transmission for $25.

[Furylee2]

My first car was a Corvair!  Paid $300 for it. Bank repo’d it after the owner borrowed money to have it overhauled.

[Sniper]

My earliest memories growing up include recalling a green car my mom had.  In talking with her I found out it was a Corvair,  I'm talking too young to read, probably about three at the oldest.  The Shell station I usually fill up at has a body shop next to it.  For years they have had, and still have, a blue Corvair vert parked there.  Talked to the owner of the shop about it the other day.  Seems the owner was a good friend of his and asked it he could get some work done, owner passed and the heirs haven't decided what to do with it, so it sits, rent free, at the body shop for years now.  Told him if they wanted to sell let me know.  My son needs a car, though that make get resolved in another manner.

[TravisL17]

I always love hearing the memories old cars bring back for people. We've let our 11 year old son drive the Corvair a couple times down the road we live on. He now has his heart set on his first car being a red convertible corvair. His idea originated from watching Happy Days. He wanted the car that Richie drives, a red 53 ford convertible. My reply to that was "what's wrong with the Desoto that Howard drives?!"

[kencombs]

I often see folks refer to our old Mopars as having a 'flat six'.   They are flathead sixes, yours is a real flat six!

[Sniper]

Here's that Corvair I mentioned, man it is tiny.

Edited May 1, 2022 by Sniper

[TravisL17]

You're absolutely right Sniper! I got used to seeing ours about 2 feet off the ground while it was up on stands for the last couple months. As I was bringing it down, it just kept getting lower, and lower, and lower and lower. For a second I started wondering if I forgot to put the front end back together!

Also, get that oil changed in your truck soon ?

[hi_volt]

On 5/1/2022 at 10:51 AM, Sniper said:

Here's that Corvair I mentioned, man it is tiny.

 

[hi_volt]

Tiny?  Check this out.  A recent acquisition of mine.  One of my bucket list cars.

1958 BMW Isetta 300