In 1965, Chevrolet gave its Corvair a fresh new style with a completely new body. Car styling is mostly personal taste, but to me, the styling was much improved over the 1960 to 1964 styling. Sales were also up from over 152,000 in 1964 to over 235,000 in 1965. Can you imagine how many more that could have been if the Ford Mustang never existed? Here is a 1965 Chevrolet Corvair Monza Sport Coupe (2 door) for sale here on eBay. The car is located in Kentucky.
According to the seller, this is an original car that has received one repaint and upgraded red line tires in a larger than standard size. It also has optional wire wheel covers. The 58,228 miles on the odometer is believed to be original but there is no supporting paperwork to verify this.
While there are no good interior pictures of the front seats, they are white vinyl bucket seats. The sales brochure for 1965 Corvair describes the carpeting as deep-twist. A new instrument panel had deeply recessed dials for glare-free visibility.
While the engine size is listed as only a 6 cylinder, all available engine sizes were 164 cubic inches. However, a new buyer could be content with the standard 95 horsepower Turbo-Air 164 or opt for the 110 or 140 horsepower Turbo-Air engines. This Monza also has an automatic transmission. The seller proclaims a very low reserve, but don’t ask him/her what it is. As I write this, the bidding is at $6,000 but the reserve has not been met. Have you always wanted a second generation Corvair? Here’s one in great shape.
Learned to drive in a ‘65 Corvair 500 coupe with 2-speed auto & 110hp engine.
It would go anywhere in winter weather, leaking oil out the back vents on its way.
Took awhile to get warmed up but produced wonderfully toasty cabin heat mixed with fresh-baked combustion fumes…kept windows cracked to ensure survival.
Memory is steering wheel took 13 or 14 turns lock-to-lock & was definitely conncted to the front wheels in some remote way. Started lawn mowing biz with two LawnBoys stuffed in the front trunk with their handles sticking out. I’d love to own one, a 4-speed please.
Bought the maroon over black identical car GM had on the turntable at the Detroit Auto Show for the ’65 introduction. Good runner, comfortable, good power, and great looking. Never did have the oil leaks. Maybe they did an improvement after the early cars to make them leak. This is a nice looking car.
My first car was a 64 in 69 nice car for a 16 yo loved it had it right through college paid 450.00 sold it for 150.00
They wouldn’t leak unless they overheated and cooked the o-rings that sealed the pushrod tubes. The serpentine fan belt didn’t last as long as the regular type, but was easy to replace. Tighten it snug only, stretching it tight will break the cords inside the rubber and it will pop off like a rubber band! It should shake slightly while running.
The Neoprene Pushrod Seals were not up to the job. Not until Viton came along could you seal pushrods, oil cooler, etc.
Mine doesn’t leak a drop.
I think the Corvair was a great car. This was the best of the bunch.
I’ve owned three ‘vairs over the years — 1960, ’62 & ’64. One of these days a late model is going to follow me home. Should be a ’66 to keep the pattern going.
This one looks pretty nice. No issues I can see other than the oil leaks from pushrod tubes.
First car I ever bought was a 65 Monza coupe, 140 (4 carb) with powerglide, 32,000 miles in 1978. Glacier gray. Sold it in 1984 and have kicked myself since. Most beautiful car GM has ever made, the Gen II Corvair coupe.
With a badge on the rear decklid and only two carbs on the engine, this car has a 110 hp engine. Best runner of them all IMHO.
I worked at a gas station and my boss had a 65 turbo. The owner of a gas station across the street had a Porsche. Both were super tuning and several drag races happened in conversation only, each one claiming they had a better car. A race was inevitable. On a cold January evening both cars staged on Beach Blvd. (a long dark stretch of road). It wasn’t much of a race. The Porsche jumped off the line pretty well, but by the time the vair hit boost in 2nd gear all the Porsche saw was tail lights and by 90 it had the Porsche cleanly. Boy was that fun. I was a passenger in the vair.
@Dirty Harry. Was that a Porsche 356 or a 912?
Ken: As best as I can recall, one of the last 356 models, a “C” with a lot of go fast applied to it. Two years later, on the same road, but in a tight twisty section known as “Hacienda Heights,” he lost control, hit a pole and burned. My boss Ed retired the hot rod vair in 69 and bought a Z28. The vair sat for two years and was stolen never to be recovered. Every car has a story.
I believe it! I had a ’65 Corvair Corsa with the 140 HP engine, 4 single barrel carbs and was a total rocket. A high school friend got a new Olds Cutlass 442 for graduation, and we took them out on the avenue, where the Corvair dusted his cookies. And I had two witnesses in my car with me. Loved that car, would like to have another Corvair Corsa some day.
Is the Crown Corv-8 mid engine kit still around? If it is, one of us should be bidding on this thing. I saw one in my area, never saw it run hard, but heard some stories that it was pretty fast. I can imagine what a 350 HP 350/ 4 speed would do in a Corvair.
I always wanted one but I’m about to retire and spend time and money on the things I should have done to my fleet over the past 10 years. Somebody else is going to have to step up and do this.
i was behind a tubbed v8 corvair two years ago at a stop light in the next county….pretty sure it was a big block due to the sound & shake at idle. it was thoroughly badass
Hi Camaro Joe,
Great points – and I could not agree w/ you more. I’m on my 8th Corvair – my 2nd Crown conversion (V8) Vair. They’re the best of both worlds. Mine is here on YouTube (the gent featured is the builder, not me): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqMyrShimJc . Mine and my brothers (and a whole bunch of other V8 Vairs) can be found here on the V8 Registry: https://www.v8registry.com/members-vehicles.html .
Egbert, Thanks for the links, great video of your car!
Could you amagine how many more Fords there would be if Chevrolet didn’t exist???
Who writes this stuff???
Hi TimM, what I said was “Can you imagine how many more that could have been [referring to 1965 Corvair sales] if the Ford Mustang never existed?” I was referring to if the Mustang had not come out when it did, there would probably be more 1965 Corvairs built than there were. Thanks.
The only car to cross the Darien Gap, check out YouTube documentary!
if I remember the film right it was 3 Corvair cars and a 95 FC, I can’t remember if the FC was a van or rampside PU. Truly impressive. ps. I have owned a lot of Corvairs thru the years!
We take them for granted or get hung up on the ‘Unsafe At Any Speed’ thing but if you just step back and look at this, ya gotta admit it’s an absolutely gorgeous car. I agree with jcnspots.
The ’65 and later Corvairs used the Corvette based rear suspension – the hubs and bearings were the same part number. The fully independent Corvair could be made to handle VERY well- look up Yenko Stinger . The stage 4 Stingers were faster around Lime Rock than the factory Porsche 911s by over a second a lap. I had a Kelmark dune buggy with a 180hp Corvair drivetrain. It was actually quicker if you started in 2nd gear – no wheelstand, and boost from the turbo built faster. Starting in 1st, I’d have to shift before iI cleared an intersection, and the front wheels would come off the ground about a foot and a half.
I had a 68 Corvair. Bought cheap, sold & made money then bought 67 Chevelle SS396. If that Corvair supposedly flipped easily as in “unsafe at any speed” then I would have flipped it. I guess the later ones had independent rear suspension vs earlier swing axles.
The 2-speed powerglide is an excellent transmission for durability and reliability. But it’s not as fun as the manual shifter.
Steering was about 51/4 turns, lock to lock unless it had a quick ratio box and arms. This option resulted about 3 turns lock to lock.
Restoring one now. It was my grandfathers. Been sitting outdoors for several years so all rubber will need replaced. Just resealed the engine and am working on getting it up and running. Next comes body and paint. I hope to have it back on the road by fall of this year. Very much looking forward to it. Haven’t ridden in it since my teens ( about early 70’s ).
Bought a 4 spd 65 Monza 140 maroon and black for $125. It came with snow tires which made sense in Buffalo. Mileage was low as the lady owner drove it for shopping and that was about it. Spring came and I started tracing down oil leaks and doing basic maintenance. Linkage to carbs was stuck part way so I don’t think the carb secondaries were ever opened up. Nice driver, but very light in the front on snow, two tool boxes in trunk fixed the floating on snow. I’ve always thought a Malibu Blue 4 spd Corsa 140 convertible with white interior was a lovely car.
And, the 2nd version of the Corvair is one of the few cars where the 4 door is, to me, more attractive than the 2 door.
I had a ’64 Corvair and when friends were with me we’d roll up the windows and let the car fill with smoke. Upon reaching a red light, we’d roll down the windows with the smoke billowing out. Got quite a few comments and looks. 16 year old stupid, YEP! Mom asked me to go get our Christmas tree. I loaded it in the trunk, you know where the “trunk” is and tied it down. Drove home with my head out of the window so that I could see.The Jesus nut holding the rear of the engine in place dropped off at one point while driving. I pulled over, got the jack out, lifted the motor and wired it up to get me home. It stayed there till Dad had it towed off while I was away at school. Loved that car!
I can’t believe how many responses this one has had;ought a new 4 speed turbo in 65 and it wasthe worst POS car I have ever owned out of the 60+. Tiny brake drums, turbo kicking in at the wrong time, and horrible handling. It turned out that the rear suspension was not installed properly at the factory, missing some fasteners. The dealers I complained to were apparently deaf.