Thread: my 63 Corvair that my dad is holding for me...

So here is my dads toy. He loves to drive it and work on it. Its not a show car but a driver. He has had many show cars but wanted the car he drove when he was a kid to be a driver so he built this one.
He says after the upgrades on the engine its doing about 180hp. And for those who dont know, Corvair is an air cooled chevy.

He doesnt drive it much any more and it just sits. Maybe twice a year. So its not going to change much now. The engine trans and transaxle are all new. So it should be a runner for many more years. This is as old as I am.

That's a real beauty Jerry!!
Love the fuzzy dice!

Pete <:-}

Way Cool Jerry!

Ahhh... the 1963 Corvair. It was the car ('60-'64 model years) on which Ralph Nader "made his bones" (see Chapter One of "Unsafe At Any Speed" for details).

Good health to your Dad, Jerry.

...

Looks really nice Jerry. Hope you enjoy it.

I need it - my precious.

According to dad he had it bored, larger pistons, better cam, bigger valves and with the 4 carbs it has lots of take-off power. And it does. It has a few squeeks in the suspension and some rust in places but over-all its a nice little around town car. I dont think I would drive it home. Trailer or dolley some day. Every time I take it out someone always gives me a thumbs up or comments on it. Kids wave. Its kinda fun to have that reaction.

The fact that it can roll over is true. But actually i dont see it happening. And I think they tried to dis prove this. If a tire was low and bias ply and you were speeding around a corner... I just dont see it but who am I to argue with the science. I wont argue but I just dont see it happening.

Just wanted to show the Corvair to my internet family. Thanks.

I never felt unsafe in one, personally. They seem to handle pretty darn well just cruising around.
Does it have those convertible shaker weights behind the headlights in the trunk?

The Corvair enthusiasts add other weights here and there and also front sway bar. Sand bags in front, etc.

I worked with a guy who had the hot Spyder model completely gutted. Motor about like yours. He autocrossed it in a club.
He even made a Corvair motorhome!

We always say you can tell a real Corvair fiend as they seem to have several in the driveway!
I think it's really cool

Dad says with the spare tire and a bag of sand in the trunk makes it handle better, but right now no bags of sand or extra weights.
With the four carbs they took up the space for the AC Compressor and Spare tire so he put the spare in the trunk. Right now no sand bags. Lol. He said they make a unit now days to run AC with electiric. Sounds like a plan i may look into some day.
The automatic seats are from a 300ZX. The AC venting and such are still mounted under the dash. Its dash is from a Spyder so he put the emblems on it. Spyder had more and better guage options.

It feels stable to me.