Louis Chevrolet was a Swiss race car driver who partnered with William Durant in 1911 to form the Chevrolet Motor Co., which became part of General Motors in 1918. During the 1960s and 1970s, Chevrolet was the best-selling U.S. vehicle brand, and 10% of all cars sold in the United States in 1963 were Chevrolets.
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Chevrolet seemed like it could make no mistakes. The full-sized Impala model line alone sold 1,074,925 units in 1965. We loved those big cars, but something else was gaining momentum during this time period — Volkswagens and compact cars.
Volkswagen was the leader among the smaller cars, but soon Rambler and Studebaker, followed by the Big Three automakers, also introduced compact cars. These cars were generally scaled-down models of their existing lines except for Chevrolet, which in 1960 introduced the Corvair, a model to compete directly with the VW Bug.
The individual who is largely credited with the Corvair is Edward Cole, who had been the Corvette’s chief engineer. He didn’t want just a scaled-down model; he wanted something competitors didn’t offer. He wanted “maneuverability; traction in mud, snow and ice; easy steering and braking without power assists; a cool passenger compartment; a flat floor and a lower profile for a smart styling appearance.”
The air-cooled engine in the rear was unique, but the military has successfully used air-cooled engines in tanks and aircraft, and, of course, the VW used a rear air-cooled engine. There were two generations of Corvair (1960 to 1964 and 1965 to 1969), which offered a four-door sedan or station wagon, a two-door coupe, a convertible, a pickup truck and a passenger or commercial van.
The first generation offered a six-cylinder, 80-horsepower engine that grew to 150 horsepower in 1964 and sold for as low as $2,000. The second generation, which this issue’s feature vehicle is one of, was more stylish and had a significantly better appearance. Improved configurations like the Corvair Corsa and Corvair Monza were introduced. Performance was improved with 180 horsepower and an attainable speed of 115 mph.
Sales were good, with more than 200,000 units sold in each of the first six years. In 1965, though, Ralph Nader’s book “Unsafe at Any Speed” was published, and sales plummeted to 15,399 in 1968 and 6,000 in 1969. The owner of this issue’s car says the book was about the first generation of Corvairs and that all of Nader’s main complaints had been fixed when the second generation was being produced. General Motors sued Nader and won, but the damage was done. If Nader’s book wasn’t enough to kill the Corvair, the Ford Mustang also first hit the market in 1965.
Speaking of that year, Danville’s Chris Meyers has owned his 1965 Chevrolet Corvair convertible for about seven years, after the car spent most of its life owned by other family members in Florida.
“I’ve had to replace the engine three times,” he said. “I bought a bad engine, and the seller went out of business when COVID came. Now she’s on her third engine … and my mechanic is working on it.”
The current engine is rated at 110 horsepower and has a two-speed Powerglide transmission. The car has no power equipment, so the convertible top is manually operated.
“It’s a work in progress, more work than progress,” said Meyers, who drives it to weekly car shows and has driven it in local parades.
“Basically, it is a driven show car. It’s a conversation starter. The Generation Two cars seem to be remembered more affectionately,” he said. “They seem to remember the good experiences and none of the bad. The other thing that is surprising is that so many don’t know it’s an American car.”
Meyers loves his Corvair and has no plans to sell. In overhearing a brief conversation between him and his wife, though, my observation was that he needs to keep selling his wife on keeping his work-in-progress Corvair.
Have an interesting vehicle? Email Dave at MOBopoly@yahoo.com. To read more of his columns or see more photos of this and other issues’ vehicles, visit mercurynews.com/author/david-krumboltz.