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.
And a Corvette, a later model Corvair, and a 63 or 64 Chrysler (the later one had the fins after customer complaints, supposedly, that they couldn’t see the rear when backing up). Interesting collection.
It’s a ’64, the ’63s had round taillights.
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.
Its a 60. Parts only. IDK why he put tires on it. Restoration, IF the unibody was salvageable, would be abot 15K more than the car would ever be worth.
Correct. This is a 1960. These early, early versions had a few oddities of their own. Perhaps only a Corvair lover would appreciate.
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
Thanks. 50+ years in the hobby, I fully understood that.
I was making light of the fact that they have no title, and did not include the vin# in the listing either.
So they either don’t know where to look for it, it was removed, or they don’t know what they are selling.
David, private sellers rarely include the VIN number. It’s more likely they don’t know where to look or they don’t know what they are selling. Sellers are getting lazy, they should at least do basic research. I get why he didn’t bother, at some price point, they may not feel it’s worth the effort, that potential buyers will either want it, or they won’t.
Steve R
I am in California and whilebyou might eventually be able to have Title to a car by going through the California DMV process, it is an extremely long and troubling process. I spent in excess of $600, each on 2 out of state cars with clean Titles, but could not get them registered in California. I the AAA, DMV, CALIFORNIA HIGH WAY PATROL, CALIFORNIA VIN VERIFER, ARBITRATION, and eventually had to sell both cars out side the state of California. California has ZERO interest in assisting with your Registration issues.
That’s because California is trying to ban gas powered privately owned vehicles. The car friendly culture left the Golden State at least 30 years ago.
That green 65-69 Corvair behind it should be interesting. That one should have either the 140 hp engine, or the Turbocharged one.
Perhaps that green Corvair Corsa in the background is a 140 horsepower 4 carburetor version. Only my guess based on the rear engine compartment badge.
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)
It’s a 1960 model, not a’61. Concave front was 1960-only design feature.
The 1960 also did not have a central ridge running down the hood. Across the bottom of the rear deck lid, it says “Chevrolet” instead of “Corvair.” The very early ones had 3 slots on the driver’s side front valance in front of where the horn was mounted, but those are very rare.
I have 4 of these. With Titles. The vin plate is in the driver’s doorway.
Correction, now you can have 5! Glad to see some interest here. I’d have to think being a ’60, kind of a 1 year design would be wanted.
Quick Corvair story you’ll like. Once not long ago, driving down an interstate, a car up ahead, everybody was passing, and the smell of oil. I get up to them, some old guy in a Corvair, going 54 mph, with a big smile, I gave a thumbs up.
parts car to somebody else outside of California with no papers
My dad had one just like this, 1960 two-door, white with a blue interior. Bought it for 10 bucks with an engine in dire need of work, fixed the engine in the backyard on a tarp, and ran it for a couple of years until he found a four-door for 25 bucks with the same issues. Mom called it the dune buggy. Lol
I don’t know how hard they are to find now but the bottom of that glovebox door almost might be worth the cost of the whole car by itself. It looks laser straight from the pics. Very hard to find a 1st gen without the bottom of that being crooked from the force of the spring behind it. I did everything under the sun to try & straighten the one on my ’62 but never could get it quite right.
This car has a ‘Glide so nothing else really special here. Parts car at best.