Chevrolet’s first compact car, the Corvair, was unlike anything else Detroit was building in the 1960s. It had a rear-mounted, air-cooled engine along the lines of the German Volkswagen Beetle, though bigger and more comfortable. The seller’s car is the top-of-the-line Monza Sport Coupe from 1962 and looks spectacular in the glamour shots the seller provides. He/she describes it as more of a nice driver that’s located in Amherst, Massachusetts. This Bow-Tie beauty can be available here on craigslist for $10,900.
Over its 10-year production run, the Corvair saw sales of 1.8 million units. Production numbers stayed strong in 1962 at nearly 300,000 copies, even though the car was largely unchanged and had new internal competition from the more conventional Chevy II. The Monza Sport Coupe was the most popular model at about half of 1962 sales.
The seller’s ’62 Monza has been restored along the way. It spent much of its former life in Florida and attracted the attention of Macy’s, which liked it enough to photograph the car for its catalogue in 2013. At one time, some rust repairs must have been needed as part of the flat floorboard was replaced and we assume the Roman Red paint is a respray that seems to have held up nicely.
You’re not likely to find anything faulty with the matching interior other than the vinyl on the driver’s seat bottom is stretched. We’re told the 145 cubic inch, 80 hp “Turbo-Air Six” runs well and the car drives quite nicely with a sporty 4-speed manual transmission. The odometer is broken, so it’s anyone’s guess how many miles have accumulated in 63 years. A bunch of new parts have been installed as recently as two months ago, so if you’re looking for a reliable vintage ride, this could be it. Thanks for this latest tip, Mitchell G.!
I have the repair manual for these , Volkswagen and many other cars from the 60s I have never gotten the opportunity to mess with a rotary engine. This looks like a fun ride for someone
I think they call them boxer engines, not rotary. Regardless, this is a very clean example of the Corvair. I have seen some in my area far cheaper, but needing so much work that this one is actually cheaper in the long run.
Actually, they were called “horizontally-opposed” engines at the time, same as small aircraft engines. And some home-built private aviation craft used Corvair engines.
I thought boxer was the nickname for the Subaru rotary engine.
Boxer engines got their name because the cylinders move toward each other like a boxer punching Invented by Karl Benz in 1890s. Shook too much to suit to suit him, so eventually gave it up and went to inline.
”This posting has expired.”
Also called a “pancake 6”.
Rotary are like Mazda RX7s No con rods No crank shafts no valves
Wankels
Non recip
Etc
Blah blah
Nice car! Too small and sporty for me, though…
Nice car! Too small and sporty for me, though… Wonder why we never seem to see any 1960 Corvairs?
The Monza should be the 102 hp motor. At least my ’63 was. Very nice driving cars and not as quirky and temperamental as some would lead you to believe. Actually fantastic cars and easy to work on.
Yes, this should have the 102hp engine based on the call out on the engine lid. However with all Corvair’s things get switched around after 60 plus years. The engine case code won’t tell the story either. Getting the part numbers off of the cylinder heads is the best indication. I have a 61 Lakewood with the 80hp engine and the Powerglide. Right now I’m building a 110 engine to replace the tired mill. Cars are a lot of fun.
My father was an engineer, and brought home a used red 62 or 63 Monza coupe. He loved it. I loved it. I got to wash it a lot. We thought it cooler than the late 50’s Beetle he gave up. We didn’t know how progressive this car was. It took some years before he came back to sporty cars, vs. family cars, but he did. It began another era of remarkably engineered cars. I didn’t realize, how progressive he really was !
Had a 62 convertible when I was in college. Transplanted 164 cube engine with big bore cylinders giving 181 cubes. Different cam and added turbocharger…put out about 220 horsepower. Won a lot of drag races with it! I’m 6’5″ (or I was when I was in college 60 years ago!) and fit fine, so don’t be afraid of this car if you’re big. This one looks good and is probably worth the money.
One think I seem to remember is that the earlier engines had 3 point motor mounts, two on the sides and one at the rear. If the rear mount failed the engine would keep running, but the muffler would drag the ground.
My 1st car was a ’62 Corvair Monza. Mine also was Red. I paid $200. for it in 1969. It was a fun car indeed. The Original owner had converted the rear suspension giving it a squatting look. My car was the 102hp, with 4 single Rochester Carbs. Fond memories with this car.
My 1st car was almost identical, except for the outward showroom appearance. Mine was the 4spd. With the 102hp . Also was setup with 4 single Rochester Carbs. The Original owner cambered the rear suspension for autocross. It was my first of rear engine cars to follow.
Perhaps one of the best handling cars I’ve owned.
Must love oil leaks.
and thrown fan belts. Nonetheless, they were fun cars.
Are my old eyes failing that the right rear quarter panel has a huge dent?
I got my driver’s license in Mom’s 4-speed 1963 when I was in high school. Like many of my friends whose dad’s worked for car companies, we all tried to con mom into agreeing to the sporty options when she picked out her employee discount daily driver. Sometimes, as in this case, we succeeded. While the Corvairs only rolled over at HALF the rollover rate of VW Beetles with similar swing axle suspensions, the 1965 and later years are much better handling cars. They tended to leak oil and throw fanbelts. Jerry Thompson remarked that if silicone adhesive (he actually referred to the Silastic brand) had existed, the Corvair would have survived. Jerry, a Chevy engineer and more known for his years in the Owens-Corning-sponsored Corvettes, raced a sedan class 1965/76 Corvair at Waterford Hills, and later a Yenko Stinger in SCCA, formed a company with other GM engineers, RST Engineering, to build modified Corvair motors. I think they provided the race motors for Don Yenko’s SCCA racer Stingers.