Some barn finds seem quite unlike other barn finds we feature on the regular. Take, for example, this 1965 Chevy Corvair Monza: the seller says it’s barn fresh, but there’s nothing about this car that indicates it’s been sitting in a poorly-ventilated hen house gathering dust. The Corvair is listed here on craigslist with 63,000 original miles and an asking price of $4,200.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: why are these still so cheap? This is a beautiful car, and aside from its economy car underpinnings, the Corvair was a deft handler and innovative for its time. The swept-back glass and long rear overhang is downright graceful, and while the conservative tan paint does nothing for its lines, it does appear to be in mint condition.
That’s before we get to the interior, which had to have been recently re-done. The listing makes no mention of an upholstery job, but it seems unlikely to be original. Still, the interior is darn near perfect, and the carpets look even better than the seats. The Corvair shift lever is hard to mistake for anything else, and it’s good to see an OEM knob and radio in place.
Chrome finishes appear excellent, as does the paint. The seller says the interior and exterior are both immaculate, and it’s hard to refute that statement based on the photos. While Corvairs are tons of fun with some suspension modifications and sticky tires, this one is best left alone as a highly-preserved example that just needs continued preservation.
I don’t expect the prices of this Generation of Corvairs to remain low for much longer. Some cars even without underside photos you just know are as clean underneath as everywhere else on the car. This is a lot of car for the money and if it is not in the well-priced category I don’t know what is.
Isn’t this the third tan Corvair in a week?
Dad had an early sedan in the mid 60s … it was this tan. Knowing him it have been inexpensive used even just a few years old.
At one time in my car loving life I had a Hudson period. Like the Corvair, Hudsons were an uncommon preference. They had plenty of appeal if your mind/desires allowed you do delve into them, but the more “conventional” hobbyists didn’t relate. Given that “collectors” tend to gravitate toward cars that are relevant to their life’s experience, those that were accustomed to these appearing in everyday parking lots during there life are nearing extinction (I know because I’m one of them and have lost quite a few friends and acquaintances the past decade). I doubt the market will be any “better”, but that doesn’t mean that those who are genuinely interested in these shouldn’t seek the object of their desire. If condition checks out on this one it seems a reasonably priced subject. If it turns your crank, go get it!!
Bob, people also gravitate to cars they ar told are good cars. Cars like the 1969 Charger and the Challengers.
They were not particularly nice driving cars, especially the Challenger, but they are still up on the list of highly desirable cars mostly because the media is always doing stories on the nice examples.
I like the tan. The interior padding/bolsters are correct…the new seat fabric looks good.
If it were mine I would have ox blood leather seats and door cards with some mini-lites and slightly bigger tires.
Great find at a great price. Clarks Corvair parts is a good resource.
Sierra Tan over oxblood? That sounds GORGEOUS. The fabric’s not original anyway—I highly endorse the new owner doing this.
At that price this won’t last long.
Thought these were a vast improvement over the early body style….always liked them.
I agree. This is one of the biggest restyles until the Camaro and this one was for the good.
The late Corvair IS the restyle for the Camaro. GM knew the Corvair wasn’t it’s next great moneymaker. Therefore, the Corvair was used to test the public’s reaction to the Camaro’s styling.
My dad had a corvair very much like this one. Same color and manual 3 speed. The car was a blast to drive and gave 30 miles to the gallon on his daily commute. Sadly my mom accidentally totalled that car so I never had a chance to inherit it when my dad passed. I still miss that car and wish my financial situation would allow me to buy this one.
I own two of these 1963 and a 1966 and I think these cars are rising in price now. They are great cars! Rumors about these cars may have kept the prices down over the years. I can confirm those rumors seem to be UNTRUE these are amazing little cars! We drove this 55 year old car 2,000 miles 2 weeks after we bought it! It was a blast!!
I remember these going for less than a grand in the eighties and nineties, no matter how nice, so barring something weird happening, I can’t imagine them getting valuable. Chevy fans don’t want anything from this era that doesn’t sport at least a small block, and it’s too much like a foreign car for the American car fans, and too American for foreign car fans. Those who like them are really passionate about them, though. It’s a shame, as it really shows GM in its most innovative and market dominant way. They literally made something for everyone, and often better than the opposition. This, apart from nostalgic reasons is a much better car than a beetle from the same year.
Mine has the bill of sale in the glovebox from when the owner before me bought it from the estate of the first owner. Sale price in 1987? $200—for a car with about 8,000 miles on it, that was then driven home from Montana to California.
In addition to the comments above regarding why the Corvair is not appreciated more, i suppose this is the only place that has forgotten about Ralph Nader’s “Unsafe At Any Speed”? I have never read it, but understand that it was misdirected (in the least). I believe that the book caused a negative stigma to be attached to the Corvair that it will never recover from.
The real shame there is that these second-gen Corvairs had full IRS that eliminated the swing-axle handling issues (which weren’t even peculiar to the Corvair alone) that Nader wrote about, so by the time the book came out in Nov. ’65, its criticisms didn’t even apply to the Corvairs then being sold as new at dealers.
That said, the Mustang, and the push to develop the Camaro as a direct rival, probably did at least as much as Nader’s book, if not more, to kill off the Corvair.
That is an absolute steal. I wish it were closer– it’d be mine.
Seats have been redone. I don’t believe there were ever any Corvairs made with cloth upholstery like this one has.
True, Pete. My parent’s beige 65 Monza 2 door had light tan vinyl buckets and a contrasting light “fawn” as the carpet.
Aztec Bronze like the car above could have had fawn, black and white or bronze vinyl according to the brochure.
The carpet color looks off, but new carpet and upholstery are always nice things to find.
If John Fitch is looking down from racing heaven he must have a big smile looking at this one.
I’m with Jeff. I’m too far away and have no room. Somebody jump on this.
It’s ironic that if f someone puts a car on here, still covered in barn dust, they are chastened for not cleaning it up, but if a car is well cleaned up, they are questioned about its authenticity.
Yep
The same $4200 will buy you a high mileage marginal late model used car. At this money it’s a great way to get into the hobby. Colorado cars are not known to be rust buckets. I don’t see how anyone could get hurt at this price. Congrats to the next owner.
Grandma bought one for mom to help grams get to doctor appointments. Dad hated the car. I don’t know if it was that carbs always had issues or that you couldn’t access top of motor for that huge fan. But he just never cared for that car.
By 64 the handling issues Nader complained about were resolved with the addition of the rear cross leaf suspension. By 65 the rear axle issues were also resolved by the addition of drive shafts with universals eliminating the solid rear axles that sometimes pulled right out. This made the 65 up a much better handling and safer car. If I had the extra room I’d grab it myself.
Looks like a great little car inside and out. I had a ’65 corsa with the 180 turbo package. Previous owner went whole hog from the Crown Engineering catalog; metallic brakes & clutch, Koni shocks & lowered springs, upgraded turbo & carb jetting ! Don’t know why and didn’t care, but it always pegged the 30 psi boost gauge! Was great fun for an 18 year old!! It’s improved handling probably saved my but more times than I care to admit! Was quicker and better handling than anything else U.S. made with a 6 cylinder in the 1970s. I hope the new owner enjoys driving it as much as I did mine back in the day. Good luck to the new owner and seller.
Only corvair I’ve ever dealt with was the dune buggy my dad had in he early seventies that had a corvair engine, ha, man that thing was LOUD!
Ahh The memories..A 65 Monza in 1976 was my first car..My first rebuild of anything larger than a Briggs & Stratton 3 hp horizontal..Angering My Mother for rebuilding the 4 rochesters on the kitchen table..Only thing I wasn’t fond of was the powerglide..Loved the handling and THAT roofline! Not since the 62 BelAir hardtop did a Chevrolet have a sexier look! Wish I had the funds….
Barn Find maybe, by the seller, but it was significantly redone sometime in the not-too-distant past. Looks great, but you have to know where to look for rot that could be hidden with a Bondo job. Remember, these cars are unibody construction, so certain weak sheet metal areas can weaken the structure.
I bought a new turbo Corvair Corsa in ’65. Worst POS I ever owned. The only thing worse was the dealer service which was consistently bad across the US where I was trying to drive it. It soured my on GM products forever.
Man, what a bummer. The turbo cars were tricky though. In addition to the belt being flaky, the turbo cars sometimes had a bad idle or were hard to start. It was just such an early turbo system. You were on the bleeding edge of technology.
I’m not big on GM and their ilk but some of the cars they built over the years I do like, the corvair is one and the 58 impala is another. I had a friend in the late 60’s that owned a turbo corvair I always thought was a nice ride and ran quite well….shame that Nalf Raider had to stick his nose into this and rather that fixing the trouble they had to just stop building altogether
Hi, gepop58. As a Corvair enthusiast, I gotta make a friendly comment.
GM was aware of the problems from omitting the front sway bar early on. It was basically optional equipment all along. In 64 GM made it standard and added a transverse leaf (and other stability improvements) in the rear. So the problem was solved well in 64. Nader’s book was published in 1965.
Plus, the Corvair was drastically redesigned in 1965 and utilized a version of the C2 Corvette rear suspension. So, at that point, not only was the Vair a stable sporty commuter, but it had a top-notch sports car suspension!
GM had a rough start with the Corvair’s reputation. And even though they built the car into an excellent perrformer, the reputation stuck with it.
I’ll add to this line also,By the time the Corvair’s last year of production,Chevrolet already knew what was coming for emission regulations An aircooled engine is mighty hard to run clean. VW was also aware of this.Chevy already had the Vega in the pipeline as a result.