Any Corvair knowlege around here?

[SCW]

My neighbor has a '62 convertable Corvair in pretty fair shape, a little rust here and there and a few other oddities, but it's pretty straight and the rag top is perfect. I'd say 95% original, just not the seat covers and carpet. It hasn't been started since he bought it- in 1994 and has been in his garage the entire time. I'm typically a Studebaker fan, but I can be talked into a Corvair just because I dislike Nader (& the entire $$GREEN$$ Party) and because you just don't see many of them.

So, any idea what it's worth? I've seen a few online from $500 - $2500, there must be something besides the Monza package that is making the price difference. The Monza Spider's are going for as much as 10K!!! The owner really has no idea what to expect for it.

Are they good cars, POS, fun to drive? Any thoughts at all? He wants to sell it, and I've been thinking about getting an older Studebaker or something for myself as a present for graduating from grad school.

[Darky]

They're fun and reasonably reliable as far as I know. My uncle is into them and my grandpa absolutely loved em until he died. The Monza it seems was one of the higher end models and worth a little bit, and from what I've heard from my uncle the Corsica was about the top of the line. It was distinguished by its quad carb setup. I love Corvairs myself, just haven't done much research. But they were a rear-engined American made car with independent suspension back when rear-engine meant exotic and independent suspension was unheard of in an American car.

[SCW]

They're fun and reasonably reliable as far as I know. My uncle is into them and my grandpa absolutely loved em until he died. The Monza it seems was one of the higher end models and worth a little bit, and from what I've heard from my uncle the Corsica was about the top of the line. It was distinguished by its quad carb setup. I love Corvairs myself, just haven't done much research. But they were a rear-engined American made car with independent suspension back when rear-engine meant exotic and independent suspension was unheard of in an American car.

Thanks-
They are a neat little car, rear engine air cooled but only about 80hp as near as I can tell. This was a 4-speed as near as I remember, but he said the one time he started it up (years ago) it blew a bunch of oil out of the passenger side tailpipe. Any ideas what that was? Any other common problems I should look out for? I did a little googleing but didn't find much, there may be an issue with some rubber gaskets between the engine and body, not really sure about that one or how to check it yet.

We'll see, I'll try to talk with him about it again today, nice little black convertable with red/white pin striping and red interior. would be a SWEET DD!

[johnnyc]

My first car in high school was a puke green 65 Corvair Monza. Paid $250 for it. Being my first car, of course I loved it. First thing I did was to get a $19.99 Earl Scheib paint job in Midnight Blue.

It was the most unique car at school. Had the dash mounted shifter and the dual carb air-cooled flat 6. That thing smoked like crazy. But it got me to and from school...much better than riding the school bus.

Never gave me any trouble for 2 years, except for the oil consumption. Sold it to a doctor for $125. Loved that car.

[RichP]

They were a good set of wheels, kicked ass on the pikes peak hill climb for three or four years. The supercharged spyder was a porsche killer and would eat most muscle cars up till the big blocks started getting fast. About the only thing that would touch it was the morris mini with the MGB GT engine on the slolom courses and airport courses where scca used to run alot of stuff using cones and hay bales. They were pretty easy to work on, about on par with a VW bug. Have no idea what parts are like now. I suggest you hit barnes and nobel or one of those book stores with a big magazine rack and pick up the two magazines I'm aware of that cater to corvairs...
Friend of mine back in HS was into them, his parents had 3, a 62 ragtop, 65 hard top and a 67 spyder convertable...

[bajacalal]

I have heard from serveral owners I talk to that the persistent oil leak/burning problems are caused by the seal and gasket materials technology of the day, it was not able cope with the high operating temperatures of the air cooled engine. Recently introduced materials (eg. viton, composite gaskets) are better.

Also, secondhand knowledge, but I hear parts avaliability is good from specialty companies and local stores for the basic parts.