When Chevrolet introduced their first compact car, it elected to go down the “path less traveled.” At least for U.S. automobile manufacturers. The Corvair arrived in 1960 and followed in the Volkswagen Beetle’s footsteps with a rear-mounted, air-cooled engine. The Corvair sold well for several years until Ralph Nader came along. The seller has a sweet 1962 Corvair Monza 4-door sedan that’s said to be “museum quality” with less than 30,000 miles. This apparently all-original Corvair is in Fairfield, Ohio, and is available here on Facebook Marketplace for $12,500. Barn Finder “Pnuts” brought this air-breathing tip our way.

The Corvair was a Chevy fixture for the entire decade that was the 1960s, selling 1.8 million cars across two generations (1960-64, 1965-69). Upwards of 300,000 copies were sold in 1962 alone, of which 49,000 units were Monza 4-door sedans like the seller’s. This showroom performance put the Corvair in a head-to-head battle with the Ford Falcon and the Chevrolet Chevy II, the Corvair’s internal competitor. Sales would start declining with the arrival of the sporty Ford Mustang and the widely publicized safety concerns raised by advocate Ralph Nader (that’s another whole other story).

From the seller’s description, this Monza could qualify for the “nicest one left.” How many 64-year-old cars like this one could be left with 30k miles and still be (we think) in original condition from head to toe? The seller does not refer to any sort of restoration, so we have to assume that what you see is what you get. The Chevy sports Autumn Gold paint (factory finish?) and a “rare” (per the seller) Fawn cloth interior (no photos).

We assume the 145 cubic-inch flat-six has never been apart and is flanked by a 2-speed Corvair Powerglide automatic transmission. Interesting options include front and rear bumper guards, an emergency brake warning light, back-up lights (long before they became standard fare on cars), and window shades. This seems like a solid ride from front to back, but will Corvair fans go for the asking price on a 4-door sedan (flat top roof!)?