In 1959 General Motors launched the first – and still only – mass produced air-cooled, rear-engined American car (the Tucker could hardly be called mass-produced), and over the next few years it was made available in all the usual versions – 4-door saloon, 2-door coupé, convertible, estate (with the engine located under the flat rear floor), as well as a pick-up and a van.
The Chevrolet Corvair – the name is a portmanteau of Corvette and Bel Air, two other Chevy models – was initially intended to compete with a wide variety of compact rivals, ranging from the similarly configured VW Beetle and Karmann Ghia, through cars such as the Ford Falcon and Thunderbird, Studebaker Lark, and others. As usual with American cars, the sheer number of options and annual model year changes makes it very difficult to keep track of the Corvair’s development through the years – at least for me – so I’ll skim over much of it for the sake of succinctness.
Besides it’s rear-engine layout, the Corvair stood out among it’s American rivals in other ways too – the design was clean and subtle, eschewing space-age fins, extravagant tail-light designs and big chrome grills. The first generation boasted swing-axle rear suspension, giving a nice comfortable ride, and it was of unibody construction.
It was very different for an American car, and its reception was initially very favourable – Time called it “the forerunner of a new age of innovation in Detroit”, and Motor Trend magazine made it their 1960 Car of the Year. It sold reasonably well, initially very well – 26,000 were bought in its first two days on sale, with an average of more than 200,000 sales a year for its first six years in production; over its entire production run, 1,786,243 were manufactured in the US, and another 50,000 in Canada.
The engine was originally a 2.3-litre flat six that produced a modest 80bhp; this was later increased to a 2.4-litre producing 99bhp and then a 110bhp 2.7-litres, with power output reaching a maximum 180bhp with the turbocharged version in 1965-66, years before BMW, Porsche or SAAB introduced turbo models.
The first generation Corvair began to look a bit old by the mid-‘60’s, and combined with the runawaz success of the Ford Mustang, sales began to suffer, so in 1965 Chevrolet brought out a restyled, more contemporary second generation that took the original and updated it to make it even smoother and more stylish, helped by the pillarless look that – uniquely – was a feature of both the 2-door coupé (known as the Monza) and the 4-door saloon. It now had all round independent suspension, and more comprehensive instrumentation including a 140mph speedometer, a tacho and other gauges that gave the dash a more overtly sporting look. The brakes were bigger and better, and Car and Driver raved about the new Corvair, summing up their view of the car as follows – “the ’65 Corvair is an outstanding car. It doesn’t go fast enough, but we love it.”
The estate, panel van, and pick-up body styles had all been dropped for the second generation, with the focus being entirely on the coupé and saloon, and for a short while, the Corvair continued to sell well.
Reading the above, the Corvair sounds like a success, but for all its innovation, subtle styling and relatively low price (the base saloon came in at under $2,000) it’s now known primarily for one thing; the kicking Ralf Nader gave it in the first chapter of his incendiary 1965 book, Unsafe At Any Speed, which, I don’t think it would not be an exaggeration to say, not only changed the history of GM and the Corvair, but the entire US automobile industry.
Nader singled out and laid into the Corvair for its handling and stability, claiming that the car was unstable and lost the back end too easily – caused by its rear-engine/swing axle set up, claiming it to be a design fault.
GM was already in trouble in this regard, with numerous law-suits relating to this characteristic of the Corvair, and Nader’s claim during Congressional hearings that the Corvair was “the leading candidate for the un-safest-car title” didn’t exactly help, and sales began to fall away dramatically, despite attempts by GM to address the issues. Indeed, the cause of the problem raised by Nader had been eliminated by the switch from rear swing-axle to all-round independent suspension with the launch of the second generation. Nevertheless, sales continued to fall – the continued success of the Mustang made matters worse still, and the last Corvair left the factory in 1969.
Incidentally, Nader didn’t have a drivers’ licence at the time, which for some rendered his criticisms invalid, and interestingly, the Corvair was effectively “cleared” by a couple of safety report, one conducted by Texas A&M University and another by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Both concluded that the 1960-63 Corvair was no more likely to suffer from a loss of control than its contemporary competitors in extreme situations. In fact, the NHTSA’s report – which ran to over 140 pages – was subsequently reviewed by an independent panel of engineers that went so far as to say the Corvair’s tendency to either roll over or break loose at the back compared favourably with both its domestic and overseas contemporaries. Unfortunately, these revisions of what had been accepted as fact came too late for the Corvair, appearing only three years after the car ceased production.
I don’t know if the intervening years have restored the Corvair’s reputation in its home market, but I could be seriously tempted by this week’s Prime Find, regardless of what Mr. Nader said, and not least because this is a second-generation model with the upgraded suspension.
“Our” car is a 1965 Corvair convertible, and I have to say that I think it’s a stunner – understated and elegant, and the red with black soft-top colour scheme suits it very well. We’ve borrowed some photographs from the Historics’ website and based on those photographs, it looks to be in superb condition, both inside and out, showing very little obvious wear and tear.
This could be explained at least in part by the apparent very low mileage – just 32,674 – and while there does not appear to be any documentation to confirm this, there is a sticker at the top of the windscreen that says “32,645 ORIG (sic) MILES”. I’m not entirely sure why anyone would display their car’s mileage on the windscreen, but if correct, this Corvair is surely just getting started.
This Monza convertible has the air-cooled 2.7-litre flat six, producing 140bhp and mated to a three speed, floor mounted manual gearbox. Paperwork with the car includes invoices, a copy of the US title, an owner’s manual, hood manual, and UK registration has been applied for.
If a want a compact American classic but prefer something a little different to a Mustang, Camaro or Falcon, this super cool Chevrolet would make a great alternative, and you’re certainly less likely to see one at any show you go to.
It’s one of over 180 lots being offered by Historics of Brooklands at their Ascot Racecourse sale on March 7th, where it will be part of a wide variety of interesting classics on offer that day, and Yours Truly will be attending to report back for our readers. Corvairs don’t come up for sale very often in the UK – this is currently the only example I could find – so it’s difficult to know what value it represents at its estimate of £16,000 to £20,000. However it looks to be excellent condition, and combined with its rarity over here, could be a possible bargain. I just need a barn, and a heftier bank balance….
Further information and photographs of this elegant convertible can be found here
As always, we recommend seeing any car we feature in the metal before buying – or at least arranging an inspection by someone you trust.
With our Saturday instalment of Prime Find of the Week, we’re offering our services to the classic car community, by passing on our favourite classic car for sale from the week that passed. This top-tip might help a first-time-buyer to own his first classic, or it could even be the perfect motivation for a multiple-classic-car-owner to expand his garage with something different. We’ll let us inspire by anything from a cheap project to a stunning concours exotic, and hope that you will do the same.
Just remember – Any Classic is Better than No Classic! We obviously invite our readers to help prospective buyers with your views and maybe even experiences of any given model we feature. Further to that, if you stumble across a classic which you feel we ought to feature as Prime Find of the Week, then please send us a link to primefindoftheweek@viaretro