My Corvair History

January 1961

My Dad's first new car was a 1960 Corvair sedan. He purchased it new in 1959, one of the very first Corvair owners. It was baby blue and had no options. I came home from the hospital in that car and spent many hours riding behind the rear seat.

January 1978

My first car was a 1963 Corvair Monza 900 coupe. I bought it from a Chevy dealer that didn't even know it was on the lot. I spotted it in the back, buried behind a bunch of cars. It had a couple of flat tires and needed a battery but it ran. It was white with a black interior. It had a 2 carb engine (102 hp?) and Powerglide automatic transmission. The entire length of the passenger side was bondo, probably an encounter with a guardrail in the past. I fell in love with that car because of the way it handled. I had to get rid of it when the engine blowby got so bad it started pumping oil out of the dipstick.

April 2000

Finally got to a point in my life where I could afford the time and money to have a fun car. I wanted something different, older, classic, and I wanted to autocross it. I remembered my first car, a Corvair and found a 1966 Corsa coupe. It had a 140 HP engine and 4 speed. It is one of my favorite colors, Marina Blue. I had great fun doing a total restoration on this car, although there was more bodywork than I wanted. The car turned out OK but wasn't a show winner, but it wasn't suspose to be. It did win a SCCA autocross event, which is what I really wanted to do. This car did, however, have it's low points, as you'll see on its web site.

Shortly after buying my 1966 Corsa, I joined the local Corvair club and the Corvair Society of America (CORSA). The local club use to be a CORSA chapter, but was not any longer. I asked the members if they would object to becoming recharted and they all thought it would be a good idea. I fill out the paperwork and sent it in to CORSA and we were recharted in the Spring of 2002. CORSA provided us with a list of CORSA members in the area and our membership has grown considerably. I was elected President and continue to serve in that capacity. Through this group I have made many good friends and have a great deal of fun.

July 2004

A replacement car was needed after the demize of the blue coupe and I found a near perfect car right in my own club. A silver 1966 Corsa coupe that I fell in love with the first time I saw it. It became available and I did not hesitate to purchase this car. It was originally a Monza that had been rebadged to a Corsa. It had a 110 HP engine and a Powerglide transmission. I'm replacing these with the engine and transmission from the blue coupe. A few club members are helping in this task. Terry Kalp has loaned me some space in his shop and continues to be a great help in keeping my Corvairs going and improving. The car is a factory air car but does not have the AC components in the engine compartment. I will be purchasing these parts from Rusty Rose Online because his parts use R-134a and are more efficient than the original. This car will also have the factory quick steering, which I purchased from a fellow club member, Lloyd Folger, at an unbelievable price. I feel that this car is and will be a great improvement over the blue coupe. I just hope that my luck with the blue coupe won't be transfered to the silver coupe...

July 2005

They say "you can't own just one Corvair." Well, far be it for me to prove "them" wrong. In July we bought a 1965 Corvair 500 Sedan. This car is a very plain Corvair with very few options. It has a 95 horsepower engine, automatic transmission, front and rear bench seats, radio and heater. The car also has 30,000 miles. This car is intended to be my daily driver and will be the Corvair my wife, Kathy, can drive.