The Chevrolet Corvair was one of the most unusual (if not the most unusual) U.S. produced automobiles of the 1960s. With its air-cooled, rear-mounted engine, it was unlike anything else on the market – sans the Volkswagen Beetle. It received one redesign during its 10-year run (in 1965), and the seller’s Monza Sport Coupe is one of them. Located in Eaton, Colorado, this nicely preserved Chevy is available here on craigslist for $8,500. Heads up to Rocco B. for the cool tip!
Chevrolet came under flak with the first-generation Corvair because its handling characteristics could be considered unsafe under extreme cornering. Or at least consumer advocate Ralph Nader thought so and included the car in his book, Unsafe at Any Speed. Though the book came out in 1965, Chevy had corrected many of those issues with the 1964 editions. The redesigned Corvair arrived in 1965 and carried those changes forward. But the damage had been done, and Corvair sales declined every year after a brief bump up in ’65.
This ’65 Monza is either a well-heeled survivor or an older restoration. Either way, it looks and runs well at 83,000 miles. The cars were offered with four versions of the 164 cubic inch flat-six engine, and this one has the 140-horsepower edition. This is accomplished through the use of four single-barrel carburetors. The transmission is a 2-speed Powerglide automatic adapted for the Corvair motor.
The seller rates the condition of the car as “excellent,” and the photos support that. Solid body, nice paint, great interior. Other than the aftermarket wheels, everything comes across as stock and in fine shape. This is a driver-quality Chevy (at a minimum) and should be fun to drive, as long as you don’t run across one of Nader’s later minions.
Always thought these were good looking little cars. Never driven one, never ridden in one, but I remember when it wasn’t unusual to see one on the street. This one looks pretty clean.
Dad had 63 monza convertible good times
That and a 63 Pontiac tempest a freind had were the roomiest small cars ever 5 people in the corvair 6 in the tempest of course we had more in both
I don’t know anything about Corvairs except what I’ve read of course, but if there’s a way to put fuel injection on it ( tubes preferred), I’d do that before 4 carburators.
They made a turbo engine factory in 1963 Corvallis spider
Very rare, and in a convertible, even more rare, we sold one at Carlle, pa. 20 years ago
My father restored 6 corvairs 65-67 180 turbo 4spd models and a few 140 autos these cars were fun to drive ,convertibles were all my dad wanted the big problem was heat in the new england weather they were great in the snow with the motors over the drive wheels
Yup.. always had to keep that scrapper next to you to remove the ice that formed on the inside of the windshield from one’s breath… the more people breathing in the car, the worse it was… Same with Beetles and Karman Ghias… unless one had installed one of those auxiliary gas heaters… “fond” memories of my youth in New England…
You must have had some missing heat hoses or something, the late model heater/defrosters worked great.
My brother had the turbo version, it was a fun ride.
Family Friends had Corvair Monza Spyder with a 4 speed and I think a supercharger or a turbocharger. I was only 11 Years old but it left a lasting impression.
I had a 66 Corvair Monza with a 110 hp engine and a 4 on the floor in 67. Fun to drive but traded for a new 67 Mustang fastback with the 271 hp 289. Wish I would have kept that one !
I had a 1965 Corvair convertible when I was in High School. Paid $250.00. the overall body was not that good as with bodo and flat black rattle can paint. It was a fun little car to drive. In the winter you would have to bundle up as these cars never had good interior heating. Due to an over my budget consent repairs I traded it in for a 1970 Nova.
My Aunt Rosie had a 66 Monza 4 speed convertible when I was 16 years old that she would have me drive frequently through routes 18 and 30 here in western Pennsylvania. I’m still a hard core enthusiast till this day and that car ranks highly on my all time favorites.
I had a blue 65 single carb . Great on gas
Not sure what year but my father had a monza with a manual transmission (I remember seeing the stick coming up from the center floorboard with a round white knob. Cool car.
That’s pretty sweet. And yes, probably a lot of fun to drive around. Great price too.
I drove a 62 Pontiac Tempest for a while. Loved that car. Transmission over the rear wheels and 4 cylinder in front.
Shame it’s an automatic! I think these are the prettiest American cars this side of World War II, and I go along with the theory that GM had lost patience with the Corvair before Unsafe At Any Speed came out, but had to keep making them in order to not let Nader seem right. The ’64s had a modified version of the’60-63 rear suspension, which was an improvement, but the ’65-69 cars had an adaptation of the Stingray IRS and were excellent handlers. I’m really running out of time to own a Corvair.
agreehite, looks great ! with everything… needs a stick… love air cooled cars this ones Stinger white, looks great….
Also Chevrolet was working to bring out the Camaro by this time
I had a 65 Corvair monza spyder 4 speed beautiful car loved it but fan belts blew off and needed to be replaced. Good car that GM didn’t refine, if they had it could have been Greater than it was. Same for the Pontiac Fiero, GM dropped the ball on that one too.
In the 1970s there was a company named Crown who offered a kit to install a Chevy V8 into a second generation Corvair. As a young guy I ordered the catalogue that had my juices flowing but the folks weren’t allowing any projects in their driveway.
Has anyone followed thru and installed one of these kits?
Here’s one that went even bigger. Front engined Jaguar V12 Corvair.
http://www.corvaircorsa.com/V-12-01.html
Oh, yeah. A couple of times. A good many of the parts for the conversion were still available from Clark’s in Mass.
Crown was sold to Otto Parts, and Otto parts was bought by Clark’s Corvair parts, they pretty much sold out their stock by 2020.
My Dad bought a 1966 Corvair with the Crown kit already installed but the original owner pulled the motor. My Dad put in a 350HP 350 SBC. That car could fly….if it held together. My Dad said it was the only car he ever had that could break parts on demand as the transaxle was not designed for that kind of power. I’ve had friends tell me the front wheels came 6 inches off the ground when he speed shifted 2nd gear…before shearing the input shaft of the tranny right in half. That would have been back in 1980. What a fun car!
I’ve been restoring and driving Corvairs since 1987. Seen several Crown conversions. One had the 500 cube Cadillac motor in it.
There other conversions. Buick 218 aluminum in the back, Kelmark kits to put in an olds 350 with the transaxle from a Toronado.
Also saw a guy at Lake Tahoe in 99 who put a triumph 12 cyl in the trunk.
Crown started in the late 60’s making kits to adapt Corvair engines to VW based dune buggies. In 1967 he built the first V8 conversion. I also ordered (and still have, after 58 years) the original installation instructions. I have a 65 Crown conversion that I built about 12 years ago or so with a 350 making around 400 HP through the basically stock Corvair transaxle. Drive it sanely, no clutch dumps for burnouts and no power shifting and they hold up well. I still don’t have an engine enclosure or passenger divider, so to put it mildly it is loud and warm. I plan to install a Lexan window attached to the roll bar to isolate it. Needless to say I don’t drive it much, but it is a hoot to drive, and see the reactions from others. The car sits low, is fairly loud with a nasty cam, so it’s hard to miss, probably the most outrageous car I have ever owned.
I went to high school, early-mid 1970s, with a kid who built one. There were several mechanically talented guys at that school. One kid put a v-8 in his Vega and another was the first one to shoe-horn a 289 Ford small block into a 1972 Ford Courier pickup. These guys were all 16-18 years old at the time and not wealthy.
I had a buddy like that, about three years after high school he had a Caprice wagon with a Z28 engine and a Ranger with a Turbo Coupe engine. This was a couple of years after he blew the rear end out of his Monza with a 400 small block.
The wonder in the Chevy Corvair is its air cooled six cylinder engine.
There are aftermarket camshaft and dizzy pinions to make it turn reverse, for having it in the front of a car.
It could even get rotating cylinder liner distribution, either Burt-McCollum (Bristol, see Car&Driver July 1974 interview with Mike Hewland), or Piccard-Pictet system, offering better breathing and longer engine life, from eliminating the poor lubrication points in TDC and BDC, where piston speed is zero.
Lubrication requires a relative speed between lubricated parts.
I still miss my ’68. My first new car.
Only had it a couple of weeks before it was stolen.
I had this same model with a 3 speed manual. It was fast and handled pretty well!
I’m not sure how this would be with the automatic.
My high school car was a 65 Corvair Corsa, when I bought mine it had modifications including a ram air manifold which gave it a bit more spunk. Such a sweet looking car it got a lot of attention. The problems were many as technology had not caught up with the engineering so oil seals were only there to slow the oil loss down. Pushrod tubes all leaked so an extra quart or two of oil was carried. An extra fan belt was a must. It’s the only car I’ve ever owned that I replaced the clutch on and to put that into perspective, I’ve never owned an automatic. The Corvair clutch just exploded. While changing the clutch out from a junk yard car I discovered that the 140 transmitter has a bigger diameter pilot shaft than the 110 model. My biggest problem was when one head dropped a stainless steel valve seat and mangled the head. Luckily I found a head and block company that rebuilt the head for $35. (1972) with all of that I still really miss my hotrod Corvair. I would love to buy a V8 converted one.
Nice ride! The automatic is a bummer for me, but someone, this is a great value for a unique and good looking car. Good luck!
I’ve always wanted one
I heard the latter had poor quality control
Can anyone elaborate?
Thanks!
I don’t know any stories about the quality control, but I have heard that by the last couple of years, GM was just going through the motions with the Corvair. Supposedly they didn’t even advertise them for their last year. Some people say they would have stopped making them after ’67, but it would have looked like they were admitting they were dangerous.
Doug,
I have had both generations of Corvair. The 65-69 are head & shoulders above the first generation primarily because of the independent suspension and 140-180 HP engines.
Not only is it one of the best GM designs, but the turbo models were quick and fun to drive. The quality of these cars was incredible, but rust is killer because the fenders, cowl, apron are all part of the unibody construction. Floor pans, trunk pan, windshield cowl, and left rear quarter panel bottom are the usual suspects for rust repair on these. Engine wise, the push rod tubes need patiently installed gaskets of the correct material to remain leak free.
JMC,
Although I never originally installed a Crown kit, I have worked on them as I currently have two original Crown cars. Both 65 Corsa’s, one with a 327 and one with a 283 with AC! Both fun and GREAT handling cars. They sold the kits out of Orange County, California.
The Corvair was an interesting car . It was only produced from 1960 – ’69 . The early models sold fairly well ( ’60- ’64 , ) as they were the most commonly seen . I think the Ford Mustang outsold the Corvair by a longshot ! Today , it’s quite rare , to even see any Corvair on the road .
Originally, the Corvair was supposed to compete with the Falcon, the Valiant, various Ramblers and the Studebaker Lark, not to mention the VW Beetle and Bus that it copied so much from. They offered 2 and 4 door sedans, 2 and 4 door wagons, a convertible, cargo and passenger vans, and two different pickup configurations. But it became clear pretty early on that buyers wanted more conventional compacts, and GM scrambled to bring out the Chevy II, or as I like to call it, the “Chevy Falcon.” After giving up the family car market, GM hoped to sell it as a sporty car, and that’s where the Mustang comes in. Then two years after the Corvair restyle and new rear suspension, GM panicked again and brought out the Camaro. They were never going to match V8 power with an air cooled engine.
I owned a ’65 Corvair 4 door and later a ’66 Corvair 2 door. Both with the 4-speed manual transmission. Economical, good handling and a very roomy interior. But in the summer heat of Arizona the engine would get too hot and the seat cushion was very uncomfortable for long drives. Still wish I had kept the ’66 Corvair. I have the front and rear suspension and instrument cluster from the ’65 if anyone needs parts. L.ndhurst@gmail
Check with Matt Wetzel at Matts Off Road Recovery.
Is Matt restoring a Corvair?
I see he has a towing recovery service.
Matt has a ton of Corvairs and even converted a Corvair Lakewood Station wagon into an awesome off-road beast. Check the build out on Youtube at:https://youtu.be/_1oWrmMwwBA and their website: https://mattsoffroadrecovery.com/
Careful, it’s addicting…
The Corvair is still the best kept secret in the old car hobby.
The original Fake News
You just cannot resist bringing up Nader in every Corvair review of these characterful and excellent cars. This car is from the second generation, so invoking the dark side of his profiteering masquerading as consumer advocacy is doubly irrelevant. Please deal with the considerable merits of the cars and stop mentioning that grifter.
I’m certainly not Corvair expert but isn’t a Corvair with the 4 carbs and the satin silver rear taillamp panel called a Corsa?
As for you Tempest responders… my 1963 Cordovan Brown Poly 260 hp 326 V-8, 3-speed Sports Coupe was awesome during my Senior year in highschool (1965) and Freshman year at college!
The car shown is a Monza. The 140 4 carb engine was optional from 1965-1969 in the 500, and Monza. The 140 could also be ordered with the automatic, as in this Monza, or the 500 model. The 65/66 Corsa had the 140 engine standard, with the 180 turbo optional in both years, but was discontinued starting in 1967 Sadly, the Corsa was also discontinued. The rear cove on the Corsa was painted argent silver. The Corsa only came with a manual transmission, with the 3 speed standard, but most were equipped with the 4 speed.
“- SANS the VW Beetle” actually means “- WITHOUT the VW Beetle”.
I’m pretty sure the author meant to say “- EXCEPT the VW Beetle”, which in French would be “- SAUVE the VW Beetle”.
Great write-up otherwise.
I always learn so much cool stuff here at BF.
This Corvair Monza car would easly accept a Chinese or German power matching electric engine; being lighter, it could help reduce the oversteering trend in All-in-the-rear cars.
Adding an small battery as buffer, and a generator as range extender, eg, the Wankel from Skypower International (AeroExpo), you’ll get a pretty good hybrid.
Electric engine and battery controlling devices from China are cheap, look at GlobalSources, Aliexpress,…
Still thinking about My Corvair memories.
Dan Blocker, demonstrating the side loading ramp on the pickup variant on a commercial during Bonanza in Living Color.
My Brother in Law having His VW BUS, Corvair powered.
A great guy from High School who needed Me once in awhile to reinstall the engine belt for cooling and electricity.
The rides I had in Corvairs.