While Ford entered the compact market in 1960 with a conventionally engineered small car (the Falcon), Chevrolet elected to go the route less traveled. Enter the Corvair with its rear-mounted, air-cooled engine that was a nod to the imported Volkswagen Beetle. Buyers were receptive, and the Corvair would put up some solid sales figures for the first few years. The seller has a 1961 2-door sedan (500 Coupe?) which has been out to pasture for the last four decades. Perhaps best destined to be a parts car, this Bow-Tie special is on a farm in Ojai, California, and is available here on eBay for $800 OBO. A big “thanks” to Mitchell G. for the tip!
Things were rolling along for the Corvair until 1963, when Ralph Nader began to question the safety side of how the car handled. Though Chevy made same key adjustments in the suspension package on the ’64 Corvairs, the car was negatively featured in Nader’s book, Unsafe at Any Speed. So, sales of the second-generation Corvair in 1965 began a downward spiral, which was also contributed to by the hot new Ford Mustang. By 1969, the Corvair was dead, seeing just 6,000 units built in an abbreviated year.
If the seller’s ’61 Corvair is the base 500 coupe, it was one of 16,628 assembled that year. Options selected were likely few, so this car may have the 145 cubic inch flat-6 and either a 3-speed manual or 2-speed automatic. All we know about the car is that it came to rest in the 1980s for reasons not identified and has been sitting 40+ years, rusting away in the process (check out the hood).
Unless you decide to take on what the seller acknowledges will be an “ambitious” project, the Chevy is priced in parts car territory. It seems to be mostly complete, which would be a plus if you want to pick parts. There is no title (or one that could be found), so a bill of sale will have to suffice when the car changes hands. We’re told the Corvair has new tires, which will help it roll and steer.
For some reason I got a chuckle out of this. The seller went to the bother of buying new tires, having them mounted with the whitewalls facing outward, and re-installing the hubcaps. So they account for half of the asking price?
That front-on pic of the hood with the full-width rust is actually kind of cool. None of the artificial patina folks could come close to mimicking this.
Some possibly interesting Jeep and Ford pickups in the background.
Thanks Russ.
Its funny. When I first saw this Corvair. Just like Bob, My eyes were drawn right to those blue wall tires!!! Keep the blue on them, people will know they’re new!!! It would make an interesting restoration project, but I’m thinking this is a total DIY project, or else you’d be under water quickly.
I’m thinking this is a ’60 based on the concave front panel. Someone’s going to really have to have a soft spot for early Corvairs to do anything with this one – it’s a real pig’s breakfast.
I agree it is a `60 as mentioned above.
`61s also had a medallion on the deck lid and not the Chevrolet script as pictured.
No title must mean no vin number too….\o/
No title means state issued no paperwork such as a certificate of ownership, ie. pink slip. It has nothing to do with the presence of the VIN number.
Even in California there are ways to register a car without one, the problem is, someone claiming to be the owner has to file for a lost pink slip with the DMV. That’s a road I’ve never been interested in going down. I won’t buy a car from anyone that isn’t the registered owner, such as a flipper. I’ve had too many friends bit in the behind after buying cars with questionable paperwork to put my money at risk.
Steve R
That green 65-69 Corvair behind it should be interesting. That one should have either the 140 hp engine, or the Turbocharged one.
I suppose we just can’t get through a Corvair post without mentioning Ralphie. It’s a 1960, and bottom of the barrel, at best. I liked the Corvair for what it was, Nader just reinforced the naysayers ideas of the car. People that wouldn’t accept change, like my old man, hailed Nader as a hero, without ever so much as sitting in a Corvair. Corvairs were probably more well engineered than most of the cars of the time, still relying on 1950 technology that people like my old man wanted. It was a gamble that ran its course, and the people that bought Corvairs loved them, regardless of what was said falsely about them. Kind of like a Pacer.
This car? Oy, it’s not a ’69 Mustang, and I’d have to think, anyone that wants a Corvair, already has one, and several parts cars. The tires were already laying around, and parts only. It’s such an unconventional car, I doubt few today wake up thinking, “let’s buy ( or restore) a Corvair today, mum”,,still a nice find for someone into Corvairs. ( crickets)