CC reader Jonathan F. sent me a link to this video, which I quite enjoyed. But then having taken my Corvair off-road a number of times, it was of particular interest to me.
At 4:45 the intrinsic oversteer of the Corvair is on full display. But the really good stuff happens near the end of the film, and the very last river crossing is wild, to put it mildly.
The ’60s Fred McMurry TV show ‘My Three Sons’ has been on early morning MeTv for a couple years. The 1961-62 episodes are a blatant Chevy commercial, with new Bel-Airs and Corvairs merrily rolling along behind the end credits.
Of course, on the shows, Fred McMurry drives a brand new ’61 or ’62 Bel-Air Station wagon.
Starting season three, Fred switched to Pontiacs, and the end-credit car-ads disappeared.
I watched this video a few days ago, and it made me wonder if Chevy tried this stunt twice. I had heard about a Corvair left behind in the Darien Gap, but I had thought it was a ’61. This article seems to show a ’61:
https://thecitypaperbogota.com/travel/pacific-travel-guide/the-lost-corvair/1429
The Corvairs in the posted video here are obviously ’60 models.
This link to a different video shows ’61 models:
I guess they must have done it twice! That’s nuts.
Reminds me of a Top Gear/Grand Tour special. The river crossing was nuts, and I cannot imagine it didn’t get water inside the crankcase or cylinders during that stunt, and can’t help but wonder if that car survived the whole trip afterwards or if the other two cars actually took part in that crossing. I noticed a lot of footage only showed two of the three, so maybe there was some editing shenanigans to make that seem more successful than it was.
Well now I really want one!
Smooth highways coming out of Chicago? That really must’ve been a long time ago.
I like Madison Avenue terms like road-ability. Having a short wheelbase apparently is only advantageous when your selling a smaller car.
I was surprised how well the Corvair performed over wet and rough terrain, it’s ground clearance looks so minimal especially with those 13” tires, which the narrator briefly mentioned needed lower pressure up front.
This trip was featured in the first issue of Automobile Quarterly.
And one of the Corvairs didn’t make it. It still lies (or did) in chokingly-think jungle between Columbia and Panama, in the Darien Gap.
I’ll bet my last bottle of hand sanitizer that that Corvair was the one we saw dragged through the river
At age 16 in 1964 my auto shop teacher and his wife had two 1962 Corvair Monza coupe’s (plus several collector cars) his, red w/black interior, hers the opposite,I started helping at his home shop, with his son’s that bracketed my age, to learn as much as I could about cars, and was welcome as part of the family. In late 1964 the black Monza got rear ended, hard, and totaled, then the other Monza had the same happen. Neither was hurt. They were favorite cars, fun to drive and nice size. In a short amount of time though, they purchased an ultimate rear engine car, a 1948 Tucker, He’s taken care of it since, it’s always driven to meets, with over 100,000 miles on the original engine I kept it detailed, anyone who questioned Preston Tucker’s intent to build a phenomenal automobile hasn’t been around one that’s maintained properly, true some items became a compromise because of time and finance, but he built a great car. The performance is truly amazing, better than any other late 1940’s car, but I’ve stated I won’t do performance figures. Too bad the pair of Corvairs aren’t still around, stablemates for The Tucker.
No, perhaps don’t do performance figures, ahem, but moving right along, I’m sure heaps of readers here and the site owner too would really encourage you to write a COAL series for us all. Your experiences seem to have been remarkable, and they don’t have to have been cars you owned, necessarily: the exciting ones in the workshop, etc.
Frankly put man, shit, who’s ever even SEEN a Tucker, let alone worked on one/driven one?! Let alone 540K’s, and so on.
Go on, LRF, go for it!
If the Corvair is half as rugged, parts available, and it is easily owner-serviced, I might like to own one as a hobby car for weekend drives. I wonder what year Corvair would be the most reliable as to engine and suspension components.
I now have the time to do the research. Will check if there is a Corvair Club in K.C.,MO.
Also, I wonder if the VINs on the (3)1960s n (3)1961s were consecutive.
I get kind of lost on numbers when there is not much to do. I assume the Corvairs were left in Panama, but what an auto-show draw if one were put on display, “as is” next to a newly minted Corvair, same body/color/trim level. It would draw me over.
Not a car comment, but I grew up in the 60’s and the narrator’s voice seemed to be all over the place in movies and on TV. Does anyone know who he is?
Fascinating film, brims of optimism. If I didn’t already want a Corvair, this would certainly make me cross that line. And what a difference to that road today. Mexico has modern highways till the southern border, if perhaps not to the standards north of the Rio Grande. In Guatemala, the road is more difficult but it’s certainly there and paved.
The film continues after Panama City, crossing the Darién Gap and reaching Colombia. That part’s on YouTube, too:
1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrhH1U_NAcM
2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EnZKOu4fV4
No mention of the Corvair that didn’t make it.