What is this car called?

Matthew K

Matthew K

Line Up and Wait
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Broke Engineer
Please excuse my ignorance about older unique cars, but I took this picture this weekend of this rear engine car and cannot for the life of me remember what it is called. Hard to tell just from the engine:D but any possible suggestions would be welcomed.IMG_20170506_150035.jpg
 
Reminds me... I got some awesome coolant for this

01-dehydrated-water-just-add-water.jpg
 
In the old days, many Corvair engines were converted for homebuilts.
 
To be more precise, a 110hp Corvair. The 140hp had four carbs and the 180hp had a turbo. Judging from the generator (as opposed to an alternator) I say it's a 60-64 vintage.
 
upstateny said:
To be more precise, a 110hp Corvair. The 140hp had four carbs and the 180hp had a turbo. Judging from the generator (as opposed to an alternator) I say it's a 60-64 vintage.
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Yep. Generators were replaced by alternators for the '65 models.

A neighbor down the road has a Corvair Spyder turbo. He restored it just as it came out of the factory and has won several trophies at car shows.
 
I bought a new 1963 Corvair Spyder convertible, from Ellis Brooks Chevrolet in downtown San Francisco. It was 144 Cubic inch/150 HP turbo charged. (There are no domestic car dealers in SF anymore.....zero) In 1964 they upped the engine to 164 Cubic inches.

When the fuel pump would start to wear out it would leak first. It dripped directly into the cold air intake for the heater. If you were really pushing the throttle, like driving uphill to Mt. Hood to ski, the fumes from the dripping gas would suddenly ignite and giant flames would emerge from all the heater and defrost outlets......... "WOOF" and it was over. Time for a new fuel pump!!

Also................ALWAYS carry a spare fan belt and tools to install. But, Ralph Nader was then/still an ass. The Corvair Spyder handled just fine.

1963_Chevrolet_Corvair_Monza_Spyder_Turbo_Coupe_For_Sale_Engine_1.jpg
 
I had a friend in High School who drove a '63 convertible. He & his dad restored them as a hobby. They were working on a '64 Spyder and he almost talked me into buying a '65 Corsa (the 4 carbed version). His convertible was a hoot to ride around in and it was sure pretty.
 
I spot them from the crazy accessory belt path. Now, THAT's a serpentine belt. There was a time when the hot ticket was upgrading a VW Microbus with a Corvair motor.
 
I recall reading somewhere that the Corvair's engine was originally planned to be used in a piston engine helicopter competition that The Army was holding.
 
I owned two. The 4-carb 140 and the turbo 180, both 1965 (version two). In 65 they changed the suspension from the swing arm to parallel links. Did great in autocrosses. The turbo had a manifold pressure gauge on the dash. You could hear the turbo spin up and the MP go positive followed by a kick in the pants. (OK, not neck-jerking acceleration, but noticeable.)

One of the best kits was to turn your Corvair into a Corv8. A mid-engine V-8! You gained a trunk in the rear, but had to give up the one in front for the radiator.
 
Art VanDelay said:
I recall reading somewhere that the Corvair's engine was originally planned to be used in a piston engine helicopter competition that The Army was holding.
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[OB airplane] The Tucker automobile used a variant of the Franlkin O-335 helicopter engine.
 
upstateny said:
I owned two. The 4-carb 140 and the turbo 180, both 1965 (version two). In 65 they changed the suspension from the swing arm to parallel links. Did great in autocrosses. The turbo had a manifold pressure gauge on the dash. You could hear the turbo spin up and the MP go positive followed by a kick in the pants. (OK, not neck-jerking acceleration, but noticeable.)

One of the best kits was to turn your Corvair into a Corv8. A mid-engine V-8! You gained a trunk in the rear, but had to give up the one in front for the radiator.
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I have seen one Corv8 at a car show. I always thought that would be the ultimate sleeper.!!
 
I always liked Corvairs, and still saw some of them as commuter cars on the road well into the 90's. I always thought it was GM's answer to the bug, but maybe that is not really true.
 
Matthew said:
My grandfather used to have one.

"Unsafe at Any Speed", Ralph Nader
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As noted elsewhere above, Nader was a tool - the car was well-engineered, and the "unsafe" condition occurred only of the vehicle was operated in a very unsafe manner in the first place.

Anthony said:
I always liked Corvairs, and still saw some of them as commuter cars on the road well into the 90's. I always thought it was GM's answer to the bug, but maybe that is not really true.
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Not true at all - the Corvair was a vastly superior car to the VW Bug.
 
My 1st car was a '65 Monza. Nothing fancy, basic 2 speed automatic transmission. but got about 19mpg and was a lot of fun to drive.
could pretty easily put 6 people in it.
only mechanical issues I had...
2 fuel pump failures - just started leaking, I replaced them before they "flamed out" see above posts.
Harmonic Balancer rubber failed and spit apart, replaced with the older one piece Harmonic Balancer.
Some sort of engine mount/bolt failure, I don't recall what exactly other than the engine was hanging down and I jacked the engine back up and reattached it.
Driver side floor board eventually rusted through and I could see the road while driving, that was about the time a moved my 2nd vehical.

Brian
 
SCCutler said:
As noted elsewhere above, Nader was a tool - the car was well-engineered, and the "unsafe" condition occurred only of the vehicle was operated in a very unsafe manner in the first place.
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Agreed!

Not true at all - the Corvair was a vastly superior car to the VW Bug.
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I never had either car, but from the outside the Corvair seemed to be a better performer overall. Wasn't the impetus for GM to produce a rear engine, air cooled car the VW Beetle? I always assumed that, but could be wrong. If not, I wonder why they went down that road (pun intended)?
 
Okay... I'll date myself... I saw the first models displayed at the New York Worlds Fair (( 1962-63 IIRC)) May have been the 1st or 2nd model-year... But I was 7 years old...
 
Friend's building a Pietenpol with a Corvair engine. He's been to several Corvair Colleges with William Wynn.

One of my friends had two Corvairs back in the day. She said both died under "mysterious circumstances":)

Cheers

PS Ralph Nader is still a tool (at best).
 
I have a hard copy of "Unsafe At Any Speed".

One part of it talks about how in 1970 Ford Engineers claimed that car advancement has gone as far as it can. Cars will never be more technically advanced than they are now. (1970 models) :lol::lol::lol:
 
I read (or heard) somewhere that sales of the Corvair increased after Nader's book. (If he didn't like it, it must be good.) The reason it was discontinued was that it shared few, if any parts with any other GM model. Wasn't profitable.
 
If I remember correctly, the Corvair name was a mix of Corvette and Belair.
 
Anthony said:
Agreed!



I never had either car, but from the outside the Corvair seemed to be a better performer overall. Wasn't the impetus for GM to produce a rear engine, air cooled car the VW Beetle? I always assumed that, but could be wrong. If not, I wonder why they went down that road (pun intended)?
Click to expand...

The concept of the Corvair was to produce something that could compete with the Porche boxer sports cars, but at a cheaper price and plus with a little more leg room. It was competing with the Porche, not the Volkswagen. The VW bug, on the other hand, was a cheap, bullet proof little econobox that could take a pounding and was never sold as a performer. It was the successor of the original "Volkswagen" (People's Car) that was originally developed in WWII Germany to be the ultimate affordable transit and employed the same engine and drive train. The Corvair tried to fill a niche market that had little following.
 
Sac Arrow said:
The VW bug, on the other hand, was a cheap, bullet proof little econobox that could take a pounding and was never sold as a performer.
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That's putting it mildly. One of VW's ads in the 60's (when muscle cars were king) made the claim -

0 - 60


Yes.
 
Sac Arrow said:
The concept of the Corvair was to produce something that could compete with the Porche boxer sports cars, but at a cheaper price and plus with a little more leg room. It was competing with the Porche, not the Volkswagen. The VW bug, on the other hand, was a cheap, bullet proof little econobox that could take a pounding and was never sold as a performer. It was the successor of the original "Volkswagen" (People's Car) that was originally developed in WWII Germany to be the ultimate affordable transit and employed the same engine and drive train. The Corvair tried to fill a niche market that had little following.
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Thanks Sac. That makes sense. So the Corvair was s competitor of the 356/911 series? That's interesting. I know a little about the history of the Bug, as I mentioned in another thread my parents lived in post war Germany 1945 - 1948, and were going to bring an early Bug home with them, (cost was a few hundred dollars), but were concerned about parts availability. Not long after they returned to the U.S. VW started exporting Bugs to America, so they could have had all the parts they needed.
 
My brother had a '66 Monza. Used to clean up at the auto crosses with it, primarily because there were very few other cars in the classes. This was like 1970-72
 
Anthony said:
Thanks Sac. That makes sense. So the Corvair was s competitor of the 356/911 series? That's interesting. I know a little about the history of the Bug, as I mentioned in another thread my parents lived in post war Germany 1945 - 1948, and were going to bring an early Bug home with them, (cost was a few hundred dollars), but were concerned about parts availability. Not long after they returned to the U.S. VW started exporting Bugs to America, so they could have had all the parts they needed.
Click to expand...

And even in to the 1980's, the original Bug models were manufactured in Mexico and Brazil under VW license. I think new parts are still available to this day from those sources.
 
upstateny said:
That's putting it mildly. One of VW's ads in the 60's (when muscle cars were king) made the claim -

0 - 60


Yes.
Click to expand...

Bear in mind the VW was developed during a time when there was little practicality in achieving speeds above 60 mph for the average person.
 
Pshhh. Who hasn't seen a flying shark?

I *THINK* movie #1 had a scene where they were driving to a local airstrip and a character made the comment:

"They build old-folks homes right next to airports."
"Why do they do that?"
"Because the residents are hard of hearing and don't complain about the noise."
 
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