Air cooled motorcycles are going the way of air-cooled cars. Even the latest Triumph retro-twins are now liquid cooled. But these two can share tales of what it’s like to have one’s head(s) be genuinely air cooled. And why did I pick this line of thinking running into this shot by Curtis Perry?
Probably because I’ve pretty much exhausted myself on the subject of Corvairs. It was a major theme here in the early days of CC; in fact it was one our first theme weeks here, back in August of 2011. It was chock-full of great stuff. And it can all be found via our GM Portal or using our Search CC by Google. Or maybe our Chevrolet listing in the Portals needs to be split up into the main car/model groups. It’s becoming a challenge to manage all of our archives and material. In fact, we’re in the middle of a major archive update at this time. It’s quite a job; makes me feel muddle-headed at times. But I’ll let you know when they’re all updated.
I really enjoyed my 1961 Corvair base model Coupe, it didn’t even have a radio when new .
Air cooled engines are very hard to make meet current smog standards, more’s the pity as they’re not really gross polluters unless allowed to be seriously worn out or out of tune ~ fuel injection makes them run very clean .
-Nate
My very first car was a 1964 Corvair 500 coupe. My Dad bought it from a fellow employee at the GM Tech Center for the princely sum of $25.00. He said that this was the only one he would ever buy for me; any future cars would be on me. This was in 1971, and as a sophomore I was thrilled to have something with four wheels that would get me off the bus. It was an unattractive little thing; the color was “Lagoon Aqua”, with a Turquoise interior. Of course the Michigan winters had been most unkind to it; the floorboards were gone. I cut plywood pieces to fit. The “heater” manifold shrouds and ductwork were nonexistent. In the depths of Winter, I drove to and from school cacooned in an old sleeping bag with the bottom cut out, and slits for arms to poke through. I routinely scraped the inside of the windscreen to see. It ran pretty well, though, always started. It met it’s end a year later, when I slid into a ’72 Cutlass – it took out the Corvair’s front end, but barely scratched the big back bumper of the Olds. As it turned out, in the car I hit were fellow students; the driver made sure everyone was okay, shrugged, and they proceeded on in a smoky haze. The local police were not summoned. I’ve looked off and on over the years to find one like it, with no success. I loved that car –
My first experience with a Corvair was an early Sixties Greenbrier van. Green and white, very nice looking. My Father bought it for a family trip to Guadalajara Mexico, it was probably only a few years old at the time. It had a little trouble with some of the steeper hills but it only suffered some thrown fan belts. Upon our return my Dad sold it and bought a new ’64 Pontiac Tempest wagon, now, that was a nice wagon. My second experience was in the late Seventies. My Dad bought a mid Sixties Monza coupe, with four speed!This was nice clean, brown outside with a black bucket seat interior. I think that it had glasspacks. This thing ran really good and was a lot of fun to drive. It only suffered a few thrown fan belts. I had to walk three of four miles home once, no Triple A for my Dad.
Before Harley Davidson started recommending their own brand of 20-50 weight multigrade oils they offered three grades of oil; 40wt. for light use or in Winter. 50 wt. for normal temperate use, and 60 wt. for hard service in the Summer. Boy was it hard to kick over that old Sportster in the morning.
PhilipM: I’ve got a car pretty close to yours. It is a ’63 Corvair 700 coupe in “azure aqua” (code 918) with a matching color interior. Very basic car – aqua vinyl floor covering, no carpet, bench seat. And mine is slow – two speed “Powerglide”. It is a very dry, solid, original western car; I am the 4th owner and have had it ten years now.
Constellation – Yes, that sounds very similar. Looking at ggl results for Azure Aqua, that’s a much more pleasant color. Mine had the rubber floor covering (what was left of it) in black; split bench, and AM radio. Also the two speed auto. I remember the gear selector being a polite little toggle switch on the dash; iirc it read ” R N D L”. The parking brake was mounted horizontally under the steering column. Oddly, I’ve never had much interest in the hi-line examples one sees at car shows (Monza/4 carb/convertible/etc). Nor do I have interest in the 4 doors; they look awkward to me. The few basic coupes I’ve come across through the years all had moderate to severe rust issues, as nobody thought to preserve the low-line models.
PhilipM: I think the Azure Aqua was a common Chevy color on all models in those years and yes it is quite attractive.
That my car is a 700 makes it odd – not a stripper but almost. I think the only difference between a 700 and a 500 is some chrome trim outside. Interior is very basic. Options on mine are AM radio, spare tire lock, chrome trim around gas filler and full sized wheel covers. Very much a spinster teacher’s car, I think. Car was sold new by Day Chevrolet in Aurora, Colorado and I have the original bill of sale.
I think of that shifter as a tea spoon.
Sweet memories! My first wheels was a 63 black/red Corvair Monza coupe that my mother had given to me to get a s—-brown 73 Camaro with a 350V8.(C’mon we’ve all had the experience of a brown car at one point!) It was nice enough (only 30k miles) until a sharp literal little old lady 68monza coupe became available after much prodding on my part until she gave in. 6500 miles and the tires were more worn on the sides than tread from erroneous and dubious parking skills! I was in heaven and that car took me through thick and thin through University and then grad school until it got too expensive in repairs. I did sell it though to another Corvfanatic so at least it went to a good home. Would love to have another one preferably a 66Corsa convertible. We’ll see. Meantime it’s me and my 75 Oldsmobile convertible that was originally my Dad’s bought new and driven home from the dealer by me.