In the early eighties my Mom and Dad were preparing to retire to Searchlight, Nevada. My Dad wanted a cheap dune buggy for exploring the desert. At a time when everyone else was building VW based buggies and Baja bugs, he bought a cheap 4 door ‘63 Corvair. We stripped the doors off, jacked it up and put big off-road tires on 15” wheels that he had made. It held four people (or usually Mom and Dad and the dog). It did strip splines out of one axle yoke once, but other than that it served them well for years.
There was one like this running around our town a few years back. This might even be it, looks like it. Very nice workmanship. I used to see it at Ace Hardware occasionally. Not sure why it disappeared, I heard that he crashed it.
Here’s one for the experts in Corvair trivia. My Studebaker truck has a Corvair instrument cluster. While I was cleaning it today, I noticed that the surround is steel, painted silver. It definitely looks unmolested factory. The surround on my wife’s ‘62 Corvair is aluminum and so is the extra one I have upstairs. Is it an early version 1960 cluster or did the trucks and vans have a silver painted steel cluster surround? Just curious, this cluster will be replaced with one from a Spyder if I can find one. Edit: I dove into my Clark’s Corvairs catalog and it seems that in ‘60-‘61 the base models had a silver painted steel dash cluster surround. I assume that the trucks and vans had the same. The more expensive models had the bright anodized aluminum surround.
I came home from the Turlock swap meet with this little bit of inspiration. A smokin deal and I think it’ll work great. I’ve got a pretty clear idea of how to do it. More parts gathering fun….
bchctybob, that will be pretty simple to pull off. I wish I was closer to you, I'd love to help build that.
By any chance do you remember how they raised the suspension? Every time I talk about doing that, people tell me "swing-axle Corvairs are dangerous enough as it is!"
I think it was just station wagon springs all around and liberal lightening of the car (removing 4 doors will do it). We sawed out the wheel openings and put big tires on it too, so it gained "rubber height". It was ugly but lots of fun.
I’m interested in purchasing a corvair. Is there a desired year? I know in 1965 the front end was redesigned. Are the engines as easy to work on as I have been told? Lastly, is there anything I should look for before I purchase one? Thanks for the help.
There are two distinct Corvair families, 1960-64 and 1965-69 so you need to decide which body style you prefer. The later ones tend to cost more. In the early body style, the ‘64 was the peak of development in both performance and style. They had the infamous swing-axle type rear suspension similar to Volkswagens. The ‘60-‘61 versions had a very plain Jane economy car look but they soon were upgraded and became very sporty. The ‘60-‘64 cars also had the smaller 145 cu. in. engine that topped out at 150 hp with the turbo charger. The cars with the 4 spd are definitely peppier than those with the Powerglide automatic. The later version, 1965-69 got a little prettier and had true independent rear suspension much like a Corvette. They enlarged the engine to 164 cu. in. and topped out at 180 hp, turbocharged. They have a stronger 4 spd transmission and they also have 5 lug wheels that makes for a better selection of aftermarket wheels. They did make some plain economy models but most were nice sporty models with bucket seats and nice trim. Both styles are a blast to drive. They are better with a 4 spd, in my opinion, much peppier and sportier. They are unibody cars so avoid cars with rust in the floors and chassis. The engines and transmissions drop out the bottom with just a few bolts. They are very different from other cars but not at all hard to work on once you get used to the configuration. Buy the best one you can afford, for the most part they aren’t very expensive.
There is a lot to learn, but basically by late '64 they had the "unsafe" rear suspension elements fixed, or at least significantly improved upon, so up to you on what you prefer. https://corvaircenter.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=11 https://corvairforum.com/forum/ https://ssl.corvair.com/user-cgi/pages.cgi
Always liked Corvairs, they seemed to be a car that you either loved or hated with no in between. When I was stationed at Ft. Hood in the mid 80’s there were literally dozens of Corvairs in the salvage yards, I suspect that had to do with the Texas heat and the cars being mid-engined but I could be wrong. I recall seeing a silver turbo Corvair, missing nothing, just sitting there waiting for someone to resurrect it. Jusy last year I noticed a building in Hastings NE that had at least 10-20 Corvairs in the parking lot so its good to see interest in them is still there. A guy only has time for so many hot rods, but I always figured a Corvair with a hot mid-engined 406 sbc would be a fun ride.
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