In the early 1960s, buyers could choose one of several FC (forward-control) vans from US manufacturers for their business delivery needs. Sitting basically over the front wheels, it’s a pretty interesting configuration and probably not quite as safe as it could have been. This 1963 Chevrolet Corvair 95, or Corvan, is listed here on eBay in York, Pennsylvania with no reserve and a current bid price of just over $2,500. This is a lot of cool for $2,500.
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right? Well, maybe not in this case, but times were different back then as we all know. I’m not a big advocate of classic or vintage vehicle safety, just for the record. I mean, I like a safe vehicle as much as the next person does, but there’s always some risk with any vehicle that we drive and for the overwhelming majority of vintage vehicle owners, they drive their rides safely to and from car shows and other gatherings. It’s all about deciding what our safety tolerance level is and when I’m in a vintage vehicle, I’m just more careful than when I’m in a newer vehicle. Enough of that, back to this cool Corvan.
The Corvan was available for 1961 through 1964 and it was one of several Corvair models, along with the loadside pickup, the rampside pickup, and several car models in two-door, four-door, station wagon, and convertible body styles. The 95 was named that because of its 95″ wheelbase. There was a window/passenger van known as the Greenbrier, too. You can see that this van has rust and it has had previous bodywork. The seller is great to show the bad areas so potential bidders know what they’re in for when it arrives on the trailer.
However, the underside looks great, so there’s that. The Corvan was officially known as the R-1205 model and the seller says that “it is very solid in a lot of the important areas. Floor is solid, frame and suspension is in great shape. Roof and front end are very nice.” This is a six-door Corvan with two front doors, of course, and two rear doors, but also two doors on the passenger/curb-side. There was also an eight-door van with two extra doors on the driver’s side. This one has the optional two-speed Powerglide automatic transmission.
One thing that makes the Corvair vans unique over the Dodge A100 or Ford Econoline vans is the rear engine and you can see the two-level floor inside in the photo above. Having the driver and passenger sitting over the front wheels gave lots of room for hauling behind the front seats. It also made it necessary to have the steering linkage be unique given that the front wheels were behind the driver and the steering wheel, something that I don’t often think about when I see a Corvair van or pickup.
The 145 cubic-inch 80-hp flat-six engine is the reason why this van was parked in a barn years ago, according to the seller. They say that it had a bad starter and was parked which seems like a pretty minor issue. It’ll most likely need more than that to get it running now. If the rust can be taken care of this would be a very cool van to haul a couple of vintage motorcycles or just to drive or use for a business advertising vehicle. Have any of you owned a Corvair van?
Doesn’t look too cancered out from the pictures. That asking price for this FC is pretty fair for its condition. Might not last long if a Corvair enthusiast sees the ad. Corvair Ranch is in Gettysburg which is a hour away. Probably the largest Salvage Corvair place on the east coast. Between them and Clark’s you will have everything needed to restore this.
my family had one of these when I was 12 and 13. It had been his business van since new. I thought this was going to be my car and I couldn’t wait to drive it. Since I was too young to drive they sold it to a neighbor kid. I’m still very sentimental about it. You just have to be OK with the smell of gas fumes in the passenger compartment!
Scotty, good thoughts on safety of collector cars. Here are mine:
We all know modern cars are much safer than older cars. And that certain collector cars are safer than others (e.g. I’ll take that recently featured big Lincoln over this Corvan). And that, as a generalization, 90’s cars are safer than 60’s cars. That said, I agree with your comment; I feel I drive safer in an older vehicle. I’m more aware of my surroundings, I leave lots of stopping distance, I try not to get too close to lifted Ram pickups. But what still makes it tough is that the people around you have no clue that your car may not brake as quickly or accelerate as sharply or change lanes as effortlessly as their new SUV. So they crowd you and get angry with your efforts to create space. Add the fact that there is twice the traffic as when muscle cars ruled, it can be scary out there.
Which is why I try to be selective where and when I drive my collector cars.
Hearing you. I’m more careful in my ’69 Skylark, given it doesn’t steer, stop or handle like a modern car. And I’m also less likely to throw a finger out of the window, given it’s somewhat conspicuous looks.
Not to get political, rather, where drivers’ heads are, a group recently floated suspending pretty much all of Pennsylvania’s moving violation laws in an effort to reduce traffic stops. Things like speeding, stopping for red lights, passing stopped school buses. I started to hate driving with the onset of cell phones but now it’s turning into a Mad Max rat circus with hit and runs and road rage shootings.
In California ‘STOP’ means ‘DON’T’.
What research department are you getting these facts?
90s cars are all junk. Don’t get caught dead in one from a fender bender.
Hearing you. I’m more careful in my ’69 Skylark, given it doesn’t steer, stop or handle like a modern car. And I’m also less likely to throw a finger out of the window, given it’s somewhat conspicuous looks.
I would look into rebuilding the engine with a turbo. You need a better power to weight ratio than stock. Sweet project!
You haven’t owned or driven one of these. I have the same vehicle and with the automatic there’s plenty of power. Actually no room for the turbo with this configuration, has to be a Corvair car.
a 1960’s 1980 VW Vangon! The configuration is almost identical except the vanagon had rear trailing arm suspension vs the swing axle design of the Corvair. If they’d had a sliding door (which WAS an option on the pre-67 VW buses! ) the later Corvair rear suspension, the 4 speed and the 150 or 180 HP turbo charged Spyder engine? ….and you’d still have people wondering what the heck you were driving…
Dad had a Greenbriar with the powerglide…It has two gears and is always in the wrong one….
One thing the turbo Corvairs had was a cylinder head temp gauge,something VW never used but needed.
I am actually restoring a 63 Corvan, all it took to start was the coil, fuel pump, and battery.
Is it just me or do the Ford, Chevy, Corvair, Dodge Vans ALL LOOK IDENTICAL? Very confusing.
Its just you, LOL
I am actually restoring a 63 Corvan, all it took to start the engine was a battery, coil, and fuel pump.
I had a 64 GMC Handivan G1000 and never felt scared being forward of the front wheels. Of course I never took it on the freeway (no need), but I would take it on the main road where the speed limit was about 45 mph although people drive around 55+ mph on it.
A Corvan came up for sale locally like this one a couple of weeks ago; however, the condition was better. It had no visible rust on the body, nice original looking hub caps, both mirrors, and a straight body in faded silver color. It ran, standard, and only $5k. It didn’t last long for sale. The interesting thing that the seller noted was “I consider this a project; you should too.”
My buddy Harlan Brown, a US Vet., growing up in western Maine, had a penchant for outrageous vehicles. We both worked in the bodyshop owned by the regionally famous Used Car Dealer, ‘Charlie the Tuna’.
Harlan was an excellent body man and drove a 64 Impala hardtop, lime green and emblazoned with ‘Poison Ivy’ along the entire length of the rear fenders of the full size coupe. Quite a sight in 1973.
Another outrageous creation (he did quite a few) were from Corvair vans.
He would buy Corvans and remove 3 feet of length from the center of the vehicle. This made it really cute, with the added ability to pop wheelies !
Well one night we were hanging out in the parking lots downtown at the head of Congress street, and Harlan pulls a wheelie in his stock/shortened van. The upper tailgate was removed, and when it went up it lost a plethora of beer cans and bottles out the back. A policeman witnessed the wheelie and Harlan spent the night in jail for reckless driving, because “you don’t have control of a vehicle if the wheels are off the ground”.
I’ve always wanted to get one and shorten it up…not gonna happen!
Would love to have that if anyone would like to purchase it for me I will spend my time to get it home and restore it to protection
Just love the looks of this ride
Yea I got one. A ’63 with four speed. It can be safe in traffic if it had MIRRORS. At least this one has rear windows while mine don’t. In this thing people will catch up with you and then start to slow down getting mellow.
I saw a backup camera setup at my local Costco that might interest you. It’s wireless. Run a wire to the camera so that it has power when the motor’s on and you’re all set.
Scotty, you seem to be a sort of Ralph Nader with qualms, on this one. I’ve never heard of any safety problems with this design, and, apparently, neither had Nader. I used to hear about self-steering problems with Ford econolines with a similar designj, in windy conditions. I lived to be old because I never got into any death traps. I note that there were a number of FC highway tractors, back in the day, and, today, we have the FC Isuzu trucks, and others similar.
Safety problems no, but I think he means there’s no protection up front with the FC vans of the era. Not saying I dont like the style ; I really do , but the reason I never picked one up goes back to the late 70s- A buddy of mine had a 64 Econoline, and coming home one fall evening a motorcyclist, blinded by the low sun, veered into his lane and hit him dead center. It looked like the van hit a tree. No lie, the headlights were folded around and were facing each other, the windshield was flopped over the drivers compartment and the left door was hanging on by the bottom hinge. My buddy was pretty beat up and cut everywhere , but made out better than the biker. After seeing that van I decided to buy one with the motor in front of me !
Its just you, LOL
Auction update: this van sold for $3,050.