It is always nice to hear what sort of discoveries our readers have made. Paul W. is a long time BF follower and he recently stumbled across this 1963 Corvair Monza. It is in great original condition and he just wanted to share it all with us. Read his own words and take a look:
I recently came across a Garage Find, a 50 year old Corvair Monza with the rare Spyder option that features one of the first production Turbo Chargers produced in this country. The car is largely rust free, mostly original, & missing nothing, with the exception of a heat shield on the Turbo
Yes the car has a little story, the owner was very smart, he contacted Corvair National and they got in contact with the local chapter presidents. I had joined a local Corvair club even though I didn’t own a car thinking I might get leads from some of the members.
It was a perfect match. The president of my club found out about the car and he passed the information on to me. I was looking for a car that had solid bones but needed work so this one fit the bill perfectly!
Looks like a great find to us Paul! We are all a little jealous, but thanks for sharing.
Update 1: Engine bay cleaned up
Beautiful car I am envious.
Congrats! What a terrific find!
Ummm…isn’t a Spyder supposed to be a convertible?
No the spyder was any turbo optioned car from mid 62 when they came out to 64 model year. The 65 and 66 could have the turbo option in the Corsa model. Have had both and still have a 64 spyder convert
Came as a coupe or convertible
Wow, My cousin Allen Russell From Palm Springs Ca. had one of these new and we cruise Palm Canyon Drive in it when I was a teenager. Same color and everything, takes me back thanks for sharing.
The Corvair Monza Spyder was available as a coupe and a convertible.
sweet.
Smart move joining the club
~ surprising to see the turbo sticker in decent condition.
Nice find .
The proverbial “Needle-in-the-haystack”, nice!
I had a neighbir in Bethlehem Pa whose dad had a Corsa convertible 4 speed, and later a Fitch and a Yenko Corvair,…..or….maybe the Yenko was a Camara, hell it was 1968…..In day, Gene’s dad let him take the Corsa,….so after school, we all piled in and followed the school bus all the way back to our neighbor hood, in order to make sure EVEWRYONE saw that WE were Stylin in a cool convertible……….at one point, the bus abruptly came to a hault……………..or………….we were probably going faster than we should have,……….and In a valiant (and successful) effort to avoid hitting the bus,……..Gene cranked the steering wheel HARD to the left,……………….The next few seconds were a little wierd,………..as SUDDENLY, the back of the car, where I was sitting was a foot or two higher than it had been a second or two ago……………..Yes, the swing axle had tucked under the transaxle on Gene’s hard maneuver,…………………he instinctivly jerked the steering wheel back the other way,……..and ………………BANG……………..the car slammed back down to the ground and we were on our way down the road………………..nobody died that day,………….But Ralph Nader was watching I think. I later bought a 66 or 67 Monza 4 speed coupe in that horrible light green metallic, when I was in college,……………I paid about $250 for it, running and driving nicely in Dallas Texas. One of the cylinder barrels came loose and it dropped a push rod (fell down into the push rod tube bottom) and I drove it all summer like that………..blowing a cloud of oil smoke out the tailpipe on LBJ Freeway every day. When I was getting ready to drive it back up to PA where I was attending Penn State for my junior year,….I decided to but a new cylinder barrel, piston and rings,….assuming I had a hole in a piston,…..took the top off the engine, pulled the oil pan off and only then did I notice that I had a loose push rod tube,….and cylinder barrel……………………………..I got the push rod back where it needed to be, torqued the head/cylinder barrel down,….and lo and behold,…it now ran on 6 cylinder and didnt smoke any more……………..wooo hoooo! BTW, I did while I had the top shroud and fan and oil pan off the engine,…..Crank the engine over usiing a remote starter switch,…………..with the background of the garage floor visible underneath,…..should have shot a video of it………it was quite something to observe.
I drove the car back to Pennsyvania and drove it with no problems for about a year,….then the two piece riveted Flywheel suddenly went out of balance,….guessing the rivets were loose. I sold the car, actually got more than I paid for it, and the new owner immediately put a new flywheel in it,…………..and painted it GLOW IN THE DARK GREEN……..ACK!!
Brian in Austin.
Notwithstanding your swing axle getting a bit swingy on you, the rear weight bias of the Corvair probably saved your hide there. I had a similar experience in about 1984 or so in a ’66 Corvair in Philly. A lady in a VW Bug pulled out from a side street right in front of me and all I could do was hit the brakes, crank the wheel hard left and pray. A ’66 with the double jointed suspension won’t jack up, but it did sort of shunt one lane width over to the left in an interesting way and I ended up on the medial strip, but upright and facing forward. In the pre-ABS era, you could brake hard in a Corvair and not lock up any of the wheels. In a front engined 60’s car in the same situation, usually either you braked too hard and the car spun out, or you tried not to brake too hard but the massive understeer left you plowing into whatever was in front of you.
Nice find by the way,……..I’m Jealous!
I’m not much of a Corvair fan except for the Rampside pickup. However, this is a great find. I hope the new owner enjoys it to the max.
I’ve had a few Muscle cars and European Sports cars but have never had a Corvair. I’ve found a 63 Monza automatic, but I want more. I live in Southern Wv. If anyone knows of a 4 carb or Turbo, and even a V8 let me know, Thanks
GREAT FIND BEST OF LUCK WITH IT.MY SISTER ASKED ME TO LOOK AT ONE FOR HER TO BUY AS HER FIRST CAR. I LOOKED AT DROVE IT AND ALL THAT GOOD STUFF AND SAID FOR $400 IT IS A GOOD DEAL.A WEEK LATER SHE PULLS UP IN FRONT OF THE HOUSE AND THE THING WAS ON FIRE. I ASKED HER IF SHE KNEW IT WAS ON FIRE AND SHE SAID YEA WHEN SHE STARTED IT UP TO COME HOME FROM WORK IT STARTED.. I ASKED WHY SHE DIDN’T CALL THE FIRE DEPT. ,SHE LOOKED AT ME AND SAID THEY ARE FIREMEN THEY WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO FIX IT AFTER THEY PUT IT OUT.YOUR GOING TO FIX IT WHEN IT STOPS.JUST THEN THE REAR TIRES POPPED AND IT WAS FULLY INGULFED IN FLAMES.I SAID I CAN’T FIX THAT LOOK AT IT.SHE SAID THEN YOU OWE ME $400.WE DIDN’T SPEAK FOR ABOUT SIX MONTHS AFTER THAT.
This is a Monza Sport, and not a Spyder, which would have to be a ragtop to be a Spyder! Still a great find and a great story.
Had a 63 Spyder and it wasn’t a convertible. The Spyder option on the Monza was the Turbo, you had to get the top of the line Monza to get the Spyder Turbo. That car is the reason I have water cooled front engined Porsche 944s :)
Forgot to say great find. I’m jealous.
Great car Paul and I look forward seeing it very soon. Very nice!
Paul just sent in an update on his progress: http://www.barnfinds.com/update-pauls-corvair/
Good start. You may think about obtaining a rear sway bar, quick steering, and quick shifting kit for your new car. You will enjoy the driving experience that much more. Going to a pointless distributor is also a nice addition.
Have fun, it is a better car then people think. The heat’s in the back, for a cooler ride.