Happy Friday everyone!
We hope you are getting ready for the weekend and also hope to see you at the Oakland Aviation Museum on Sunday for the Corvair Cockpit Day.
An interesting topic during last nights meeting came up, as it often does. Our Australian ambassador, Carl Kelsen, has undertaken his first Corvair engine rebuild. Go Carl! In taking apart his engine, he has found some things of interest, notably that his 110 engine has 95 heads on it! What now? Carl’s thinking was that it was due to AC being on the car. This thought was mulled over when Seth Emerson reminded us all (as we sometimes forget), the car is 60 years old!
Over the decades, back when these cars were a primary source of transportation and parts were plentiful and cheap, people used what they could get. The Corvair had a loyal following but the thought for most owners of keeping the numbers original or these cars being “classic collector cars” one day likely wasn’t on their mind. They had to get to work tomorrow!
Also of note for you newer owners and enthusiasts out there, Corvair owners were often tagged as “cheap”. Before the classic car gold rush of the last 15 years, a Corvair could be had for a few hundred dollars. Many longtime members tell stories of people giving Corvairs away for free.
Herb Wimmer mentioned knowing a guy with a large swath of land in the Vacaville area who had 40-50 Corvairs on his property. Herb reached out about some parts. The gent said, “Sure, come on out!”. When Herb got the parts he wanted and went to pay, the man refused.
About 7 years ago, Josh Deitcher went out to the valley to buy a rebuilt turbo assembly. Good thing he took his truck because he drove away with a free (mostly complete) turbo engine and a brand new clutch assembly. The engine has since sold, but the turbo and clutch remain on a shelf in his garage waiting to be used.
This leads us back to our topic. When an owner of a Corvair needs to replace a part for whatever reason, often they’ll grab something off of their shelf that will do the job. If they don’t have the part, they’ll put up the bat signal and get a part from a Corvair Buddy, a known parts packrat or get it from a vendor. Do the part numbers match the engine? Unless it absolutely has to be year specific, most don’t even think about it.
A more unusual case recently happened to a club member. He purchased a long time stored Corvair from the family of the guy who owned it since the 60’s. 1965 Monza. Clean Ca title. Great price. Owner was deceased and the family were not Corvair people. Trunk full of parts. Probably a two owner car! Enthusiasts rejoice!
Not so fast!
When he began to dig into the car, the questions began to pile up. The clean California title issued in the early 1970’s says 1965. The VIN on the tag and on the title match. Everything else on this car said 1966. The new owner was so puzzled, he even paint matched the trunk and the splatter paint matched what was used in 66 and looked nothing like 1965. Our first thought was that maybe he had a 66 parts car and swapped everything over. After further investigation, we concluded he swapped over a 1965 vin tag with a clean title over to this car. The rivet job was so well done on that tag, you wouldn’t know he made the switch. Why did he do it? That secret is buried with him.
So, the next time you see a Corvair being sold with the following key words:
- One owner
- All original
- Original miles
- Ran when parked
- Been sitting since (enter year here)
- Barn find!
Remember what our friend Seth says, “The car is 60 years old!”
And also remember that our Corvair forefathers who were the original caretakers for these cars used them as their primary transportation. They were spending their weekends back in the 70’s replacing parts in their garage with Johnny Cash playing on the transistor radio….
“I built it one piece at a time, and it wouldn’t cost me a dime
You’ll know it’s me when I come through your town
I’m gonna ride around in style, I’m gonna drive everybody wild
‘Cause I’ll have the only one there is a-round”
Have a Corvair story about a car that gave you a lot of surprises? One a Corvair that has at least one piece from every model year? Let us know in the comments or drop us an email sfbacorsa@gmail.com.
SFBA CORSA 
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