I’ve noted previously that October is really “high convertible season” in the San Francisco Bay Area. As Friday slides into Saturday Brunches and Farmers Markets, the first weekend of October won’t disappoint with forecast highs cracking 90 degrees all the way to the beach. It shouldn’t be surprising that I encountered this soft drink of a soft top beckoning at me from the curbside; begging for one more frolic before the days grow too short to provide much heat.
Even in locales where the sun is setting earlier and there’s the need to pull a light sweater out of the closet for top down motoring, the joys of packing a convertible and taking in a bit of Fall color has plenty of appeal. Maybe it’s time to go picking apples “upstate” and getting fresh cider? Perhaps an excursion to a pumpkin patch? Wherever the destination, let’s put the top down, grab a few bottles of Coke and a map. There’s somewhere that will be changing from lush green to the rich earthen tones of yellow, orange and red against crisp blue skies.
Truth be told, a Corvair Convertible might not be the most ideal machine for hauling a bunch of people AND pumpkins. If your ambition is apples, they’ll have an interesting tumbling sound as they fall out of bags with every saw of the steering wheel in the front trunk of this Monza. However it would be a more pleasurable, thrilling drive than some more plodding options should you decide to take the country two lane instead of the interstate to and ‘fro on your pleasure drives this autumn.
Some would say that it isn’t the most American of choices to do these most American of Fall activities. I’d retort that there’s a far more diverse reality in regards to what constitutes Americana. Sure, it would be pretty typical to do such journeys in a Mustang, Thunderbird or Cadillac convertible of a similar vintage. Chances are those choices would be far less thrifty, sprightly and well “fizzy” as the well-sorted 2nd Generation Corvair. I’d probably tell you to leave The Beatles off the iPod plugged into the adapter hidden in the glovebox as well. It’s the 50 year anniversary of The Supremes starting their historic run of #1 hits. For a bit of campy schmaltz, I’d probably point you to one of their endearing Coca-Cola jingles to go alongside your bottle Coke with cane sugar.
Just like the joy bursting to fill you up inside a Coca-Cola bottle, this Corvair can barely contain itself in the parking space it finds itself in. Like an authentic sugar cane bottled coke, Corvairs are still relatively reasonable and accessible 1960’s Classic cars. They’ll (for better and/or worse) will never command the high dollar value or gain as much respect as their peers from the same years.
Are you ready to give in yet? Even I forgot about the joys that can accompany a Coca-Cola and someone cozying up to you at a Fall Football game. Nothing removes the taste of stadium hot dogs and stale popcorn like a Coca-Cola either. As you exit the stadium towards sunset, drop the top on a Turbo Air 110 Corvair and hear the rumble of 6 horizontally opposed cylinders. You’ll hum along as they thrust you along underneath a soon to be full moon and twinkling stars. It will make you care far less about whether your team won or loss.
I‘ve done my best Peggy Olson to sell you on this California Dream on our collective internet morning paper. I may not have sold you, but I’ve surely sold myself. I do believe that I’ll be grabbing a coke, a cheeseburger and a Corvair to head off somewhere far to contemplate the past 10 months of life. Fall is about reflections of the way life used to be, after all.
I always loved those cars. I learned to drive in a 1961 (? I think) Corvair, but the second generation was a stunner. I’m always happy to see one!
San Francisco? Wrong coke.
Definitely the right car, though. Want. Badly.
If you were a sleazy nightclub owner or an ambitious young Wall Street executive in the 70’s or 80’s, “things go better with Coke” had an entirely different meaning 🙂 .
Coca-Cola actually ran a bunch of ads with the tagline “You’re On Coke” earlier this year:
I don’t think that kind of coke had become popular (again) in the U.S. yet when this Corvair first rolled off the dealer’s lot, but you could still pop a Benzedrine swab along with your bottle of Coca-Cola!
I like this a lot,for some reason Corvairs are not seen very often at UK shows or in magazines.Their UK parking space size and relatively thrifty engines should have made them a lot more popular with UK American car enthusiasts than the huge gas guzzling behemoths more usually seen. I understand the handling problems were sorted on the later cars but the damage was done by then and the Corvair was swept under the carpet as a Deadly Sin.A seriously great looking car,the convertible looks as good as the coupe something the early Camaro didn’t quite manage.
The “handling problems” of the early model Corvairs were greatly exaggerated by too many people. With the specified by the manufacture tire pressures properly maintained; EM (Early Model) Corvairs handled just as well (if not better) than other cars of it’s time period.
The LM (late Model) Corvairs of 1965 thru 1969 were some of the best handling American cars ever produced.
One has to wonder how well the Corvair might have sold if not for all the bad publicity surrounding the handling. They were really nifty, attractive cars (particularly the second generation), far ahead of their time, and one of the few times GM really went out on a limb for a radical new car unlike any other domestic product, then stuck with it.
It’s a great example of how committed Ed Cole was to an idea, even if it didn’t start off so well. He stuck with the Corvette over the bad first years, and he was determined to see the Corvair through, as well. For once, GM’s market research was right on target with the expanding, small compact market the VW Beetle was beginning to dominate, and they wanted a piece of it, even using the Beetle’s rear engine layout.
The only problem was that the Corvair wasn’t seen by car buyers as a small, economical people mover like the Beetle, and was, instead, being bought for its Euro sportiness, more like a poor-man’s Porsche. With the stunning success of the traditional Falcon, GM quickly shifted gears, eliminating all the practical Corvair variants (van, small pickup, and station wagon) and handed the practical compact segment over to the Nova, leaving the Corvair to the sporty buyers.
But maybe it wouldn’t have mattered with the arrival of the Mustang. The sporty Corvair Monza might have got the genre rolling, but the Mustang blew it wide open with its traditional RWD and available V8 (even if it wasn’t all that powerful). Considering the success of the Mustang (and Delorean’s brutish GTO musclecar), maybe the Corvair was doomed, regardless. Even Ford’s own sporty Falcon Futura got taken out by the Mustang.
Even Chrysler, the erstwhile GM copier, tried their hand at latent Corvair styling with the ’67 Barracuda coupe. Unfortunately, it didn’t come off nearly as good looking as the Corvair and sold poorly.
As a LM (Late Model) Corvair owner and enjoyer; I heartily approve of this article.
Me too! The owner of this one needs to check the left rear camber though…
Cor airs look interesting but I have never seen on in the flesh. Guess I shall have to visit San Fran in the fall!
Here in Australia Spring is on full swing and our long summer will soon be here. Summer days are too hot to have the top down – but it’s wonderful in the evenings. I don’t have a convertable at the moment (still looking for the right Pagoda!) but a couple of Benz’s with sunroofs will have to do.n
“soft drink of a soft top”- that deft alliteration made my morning, and could not have been more apt in describing this lovely Corvair. Very well done!
Won’t you gentlemen have a Pepsi?
A Pepsi Throwback maybe.
Forget the Coke, I’ll take the Corvair.
Yeh-u-Rite!
I drove a Corvair once, in 1969 or 70, a 65 or 66 Monza coupe with Powerglide. A nice little car that handled well on a smooth and curvy road. I’ve admired Corvairs for decades. I love the late cars styling, be it coupe, convertible or sedan, and would love to own one. But which body style? A convertible for the near year around convertible weather in Florida or the 4 door sedan that says “I’m practical”…but only up to a point.
I would want a 4 speed but would “settle” for a nice Powerglide-equipped model.
The problem with early model Corvairs was evident as they went into the used car market. GM didn’t account for the information gap when the next owner automatically put 28 lbs. in all 4 tires (or the kid at the garage did). Nowadays, a corporation would never take the chance that a product could be unsafe due to customer ignorance.
They didn’t take a chance, they deliberately chose to cut costs and then attempted to fix the problem with low air pressure in the front tires.
They didn’t attempt to fix the problem with low air pressure in the front tires; a F/R pressure differential was called for anyway, as it is with any rear-engined car with a larger rear weight bias. The tire pressure issue was just one of several that could exacerbate the original Corvair’s snap-oversteer tendencies, but even with the later suspension improvements, not adhering to the recommended tire pressure differential would still have had a negative impact on handling.
A very nice Saturday morning invitation. Raining here, so I guess I’ll pass. Gonna try tomorrow though. As always, nice photos, Laurence.
Crazy about this car…just crazy about it. Loving the old EBONY magazine Coca-Cola ads too.
Make mine a ’65 Corsa with all the Yenko Stage 4 engine and handling mods. Great little Q-ship. Agree with our colleague above, think you need the 4 door H/T in the garage, too. Same mods, of course, and I think the Corsa burnished rear panel as well. Plus 2nd-gen Fitch Sprint 2 door H/T just to show I’m broad-minded…
PS – Great building behind the car. Hate to think what they want for it!
I enjoyed this immensely, Laurence. What a well-crafted piece of writing it is, triggering all of the senses and hitting such nice nostalgia points. You really got to me with this little gem of a post!
Beautiful car. I thought you would tie the Coca Cola theme with the 2nd gen’s coke bottle side styling, which was all the rage in the mid 60’s. For good reason, in my opinion, since most all the cars that have it wear it well. Great era for styling.
Thank, Ralph Nader for making the Corvair look bad.
He and Consumer Reports, made a lot of cars look bad… while their findings were untrue…
The Plymouth Horizon/Dodge Omni twins, the Ford Bronco II and Suzuki Samurai come to mind. All untrue… I think Suzuki and Ford won lawsuits against Consumers Union(the product testing organization of Consumer Reports) and also retractions… but don’t quote me on those.
Ralph Nader had little actual impact on the Corvair. “Unsafe At Any Speed” wasn’t published until 1965, by which time the original Corvair’s snap-oversteer tendencies had become fairly well known and publicized, which is what caused Chevy to make constant improvements to the Corvair’s suspension. The 1965 Corvair with its much better rear suspension was designed two years before Nader’s book came out. And by 1964, when the Mustang was a runaway success, the Corvair’s demise was obvious and inevitable. GM would have killed the Corvair after 1966, because the Camaro effectively replaced it, but only kept it in production through 1969 to spite Nader, so they wouldn’t be seen to be killing it because of his book.
Some would say that it isn’t the most American of choices to do these most American of Fall activities. I’d retort that there’s a far more diverse reality in regards to what constitutes Americana.
I love everything about this article – the car, the setting, the ads and especially this blurb of text which ties it all together so nicely. If the iconic images seen here aren’t generally viewed as “Americana”, well… let’s just say it’d be much cooler if they were.
The parents ’65 Monza had those Goldfinger/Ben Hur hubcaps. Last time I saw a Corvair, it was sideways in a turn coming down Mt. Hamilton. I was on my R90S and was able to get out of the way. Barely.
“I see reflections of you and me, reflections of, the way life used to be…” Another Supremes fan here. 🙂
Great post Laurence.
Laurence, your excellent piece have me wanting a Coke and a cruise in a Corvair, even though I am normally a Pepsi and Mopar guy. With you 100 % on the Supremes, though.
As I think of it, the Supremes always make me think of a 65 Bonneville convertible in that metallic lavende color. No idea why.
Laurence, great to see your byline again. Great article on so many levels.
I’d sure love to have that car…
Very nice writeup on a very nice car ! .
I owned and prefer , the earlier models , mine was a ’61 700 series base Coupe with Powerglide , not even a radio , it ran great and went very well , was comfy for my long distance back road touring .
I bought a ‘ junk ‘ Delco AM radio from John’s Corvair Shop in Gardena (?) , took it apart and cleaned it up , like usual it worked *perfectly , new knobs and speaker made that job complete .
Only paid .10 Cents / pound for the car from the original owner .
It wasn’t very Thrifty as it never exceeded 25 MPG’s no matter what I did , it also required premium fuel .
THANX for not only great photos but links to The Supremes .
RE : ” If the iconic images seen here aren’t generally viewed as “Americana”, well… let’s just say it’d be much cooler if they were.”
They _ARE_ ! =8-) .
-Nate
No one has mentioned the interior design (!) -but it bears mentioning.
A Monza interior was actually quite sporty (whether Gen 1 or 2) -and far beyond a Beetle interior.
Monzas got a unique steering wheel (something Ford hardly ever bothered with -1 wheel for every car, just different trim).
Both generation Corvair dashes mimicked the dual-cowl-Chevy-dash theme that dated back to the original ‘Vette, with 1st Gen Monzas getting engine-turned aluminum dash panels.
The 2nd Gen Monzas had contrasting dash surrounds of either brushed aluminum or textured semi-gloss black, with handsome gauges, bright-work gauge rings, and the inverse slant -which, by the way, reappeared in the ’67 Pontiac Firebird (go compare the two dashboard -lots of similarities. Their steering wheels were deep-dish. It was a very nice place to sit.
The 60s witnessed many American families adding a 2nd car to the household. True to form, my father’s first 2nd car was a one-year-old ’66 Monza. Dad was 6’6″, 260# and he drove that Monza frequently (I think his only complaint was the lack of headroom to wear his hat (think Mad Men).