This 1964 Chevrolet Corvair Monza Spyder Convertible is not just a multiple box-checker, it’s a Barn Finds Exclusive! This rear-engine, turbo-powered, manual-transmission-shifted, drop-top (see, that’s what I was talking about checking boxes!) Corvair is located in Buffalo, New York and Jeffrey M. is asking $11,900 for it. Let’s check it out.
How I could have lived as long as I have and haven’t owned a Corvair yet is ridiculous. Being a lifelong lover of unusual cars, it doesn’t get much more unusual than a Corvair for vehicles made in the US. This is such an elegant looking example, too, in that dark blue with a white top and those wire wheel covers. Another set of wheel covers also comes with the sale so you can switch them out for different moods, sort of like Marie was a little bit country and Donny was a little bit rock and roll. Ok, it’s nothing like the Osmonds but you know what I mean.
According to the Collector Car Market Review, a 1964 Corvair Spyder Convertible in #2 condition is valued at $11,775 and a #3 car is valued at $8,350. This car looks absolutely flawless from the overall photos but there will be a few things to tidy up. There is some checking in the paint and the seller mentions that this Corvair “has very little rust with the exception of the lower front valence” and the paint “is older and shows some checking and evidence of filler on quarter panel“.
The interior looks great and you can see the 4-speed manual transmission. The Monza was an upscale trim level for the Corvair and this interior looks great in the photos. The seller does say that it has “New seats, wood (?) steering wheel“. The 1964 Corvairs had some improvements in their handling with standard front anti-roll bar and a transverse leaf spring and softer coil springs in the rear. They mention that the “Heat works, radio does not. All interior and exterior lights function as they should.”
This beautiful pancake is Chevrolet’s 164 cubic-inch (2.7L) “Turbo-Air” flat-six which has 150 horsepower in the Spyder. This one looks clean and it was “rebuilt by previous owner“. This one “starts up and runs great. Turbo pulls strongly. Rebuilt carb is on the rich side, noticeable when cold.” With a 0-60 time of around 9-seconds this isn’t a super fast car but it isn’t super slow either, it’s probably just right for the suspension and being a convertible it’s most likely a better summer cruiser than a bruiser.
Thanks to Jeffrey for listing his 1964 Chevrolet Corvair Spyder Convertible as a Barn Finds Exclusive! If you have a sweet classic that needs a new home, please consider listing it here on Barn Finds.
Location: Buffalo, NY
Asking Price: $11,900
Mileage: 89,000
Title Status: Clean
What a gorgeous corvair! Checks all my boxes for sure. Too bad I’m a few years from being in a position to purchase a classic (NYC dweller).
Good luck with the sale!
Very nice ride. For me, all you need to say is convertible and I’m all in.
Unsafe at any speed !!!!
My dad said no and I am repeating his past
comments!
Other than that what do you
want on your tombstone after drop top
And crash baby🙃
😜👀
I have a soft spot for Corvair Spyders and Corsas, but sadly, no room in my garage.
Hope this one finds a loving home.
Does anyone have Ralph Nader’s contact information? He needs to know this car is available. He will be on this one in a big hurry! (huge Corvair fan)
What a nice little Corvair! This is a twin to my first car, less the bumper over riders. These handle better than the other American economy cars of the day, road better too. Looking back, Chevy made a better car than the public was ready to for. Mine would corner absolutely flat, with no real weight above the fenders. You need to drive one with good tires!
Now, that is one beautiful motor car!
Looks like a very nice Corvair, I would love to have it. I purchased a new ( non turbo ) one in 1964, red conv. with black interior. I put dual exhaust on it, sounded great. Back in that day “your girl” always sat next to you when you were driving. This girl, which is now my wife, sat partially on my seat and partially on hers. Her mother always thought that it was stupid to do that, but love won out. Later I had a 1966 also, I obviously loved Corvairs.
Thank you all for the kind comments. The car really does ride nice, it received new tires about 2 years ago and has been driven only about a thousand miles since.
Great summer cruiser, reliable runner and supprisingly fast (feeling) when the turbo kicks in. No problem keeping up with modern traffic. Please let me know if you have any questions, Jeff
Nice car. Someone buy it and take it down south so it will stay rust free.
Beautiful! Droptop with a manual and turbo, sounds like heaven to me.
Here’s hoping someone that loves will get it and drive it. If you’re in Mn with it in August, I can tell you of a charity car show I’m co-chairing that it would fit right in ;-)
I love Corvairs. That beautiful engine shot takes me way back to my 63 Spyder. This one has it all, 4 speed, Turbo and a drop top too. This is a beauty that should have no problem finding a new home. Sadly it won’t be mine.
Not to be a detractor but Im a lifelong Corvair guy. Its neat that its a Spyder convertible but! Needs paint, engine detailed (probably leaks), trunk detailed…….its a driver at best! Wayyyyy over priced. IMHO
Thumbs down!
Unsafe at any speed.
How could the car be unsafe just sitting there?
My “first” official car was a 1963 Corvair Monza coupe with a 110 hp engine. Pretty little black car. Remember three distinct lessons during the 3 months I owned it:
1. Never touch the coil with the engine running (took several years before I stopped looking like Albert Einstein…who evidently I wasn’t)
2. While traveling through a small Ohio town at about 25 MPH, I hit a dog about the size of a cocker spaniel. By the time I got out to check … the dog had ambled to the curb, turned grinned at me and said…”Is that the best you’ve got?
3. And, finally…as Kenny Rogers said: “You’ve got to know when to hold ’em and know when fold’em…know when to walk away…and know when to run. After 3 months (and several repairs), I gave it up and bought a new 1967 Volkswagen Beetle.”
I wrote my Senior paper on Auto Safety. I was a lot younger but I remembered there were a lot of rolled over vw bugs in the junkyards,not so many corvairs.The corvair used similar swing arm rear suspension and by the 65 model year GM had redesigned the rear suspension to make rollover less likely. VW took a lot longer to redesign and never got the black eye that GM did. Always wondered why.
That is what I was just thinkin. Nader went after GM hard for this car while ignoring the VW which had many, many more cars on the road.
Maybe he saw GM as an easy target and thought he would get nowhere with a German company just 15 years after the war.
I don’t know what the real answer was.
One of the few bargains left in the collector car market. I agree that in today’s market this may be somewhat overpriced, but values are climbing. It would make a nice book end with my 65 coupe. Last of gen1 first of gen2.
Assuming Ralph was right about the first ones, 1960 plus, by 1964 the additional suspension parts solved that problem, and the ’65’s were even better. BUT if you inflated the tires right (something like 15 lb. front and 30 rear) it was just fine. But who read the owners’ manual then, or now, and in those days before self service gas stations, the attendant, a well meaning high school student, would offer to check the air in the tires, and inflate them all equally. I drove my mother’s l960 for several years, as did she, until the rust won out in 1970 or so. This is a great car assuming the A pillars are not rusted at the bottom.
Radial tires! The best thing that ever happened to pre-’65 Corvairs!
What a difference on my ’64 Spyder Convert.!!!
The picture beg the question, does it has the wire hubcaps or the other style.
I bought a set of these wire hubcaps without knowing what they were for. They have no markings that they were for a Chevrolet or a Corvair.
It wasn’t until I saw a picture of a Corvair that I realized what I had bought.
Hi, the car comes with both sets of hubcaps plus some other extras.
Thanks,
Jeff
As I have mentioned before, I have had Corvairs all my life, and still have my first Vair from High School. Easy to work on, fun to drive, and with a little practice and patience will give you miles of smiles. If you have never driven a Corvair there is a learning curve, and you need to know how far it can be pushed into a corner before it breaks loose and you end up backwards (or worse.. upside down… in a Convertible without a roll bar) I see a lot of ‘rust popping through’ from an older restoration, so buyer please be sure you check the spots these cars rust / are fixed that are not easy to see. Also keep in mind that the engine is basically 80hp until the turbo kicks in, and then the redline is right there asking you to shift and start over. Turbo lag is a drag, and worse try to confirm when the engine was rebuilt it was detuned to run on unleaded gas and the valve seats / stems were installed properly, or the engine won’t be long to this world. I have seen so many gear heads get into a Turbo vair, mash the peddle to the sweet spot / Turbo engage and not let up.. shift… repeat… then return from the test drive, shut the car down (HOT) and then a valve seat come loose while cooling down. Then blame the car. I love my Vair, and you can too.. just don’t beat the crap out it until you know what it will and won’t do.