A two-door coupé with a rear-mounted, air-cooled six-cylinder boxer engine? That must be a Porsche 911! Not so, because this Chevrolet Corvair also meets that description. It was there even before the 911!
The Corvair in question is from 1962, making it older than the oldest series production 911. The Corvair even appeared in 1959, although the coupé version dates from 1960. Although the Netherlands has quite a few fans of old Americans, the Corvair is also a rarity here. Thanks to Arjen Wijnbergen, who can now call himself the purveyor of In het Wild records, today we get to see an apparently tight copy.
The coupé is perhaps the most famous Corvair body shape, but the car was also available as a sedan, convertible and even as a station wagon, van and pick-up. It is easy to see that it is a car with the rear engine. The closed, grille-less nose is something we nowadays mainly know from EVs and houses a serious luggage compartment. That’s a good thing, because the enormous aft deck benefits the engine compartment entirely. Yet it is said that practical ease of use was an important reason for General Motors to opt for this setup, although that argument applies especially to the practical body styles.
Bucket seats
In any case, the Corvair stood out among the American alternatives of the 1960s and of course it still does. It is not surprising that this champagne-colored two-door has not been spotted before. The car only got its Dutch license plate at the end of 2020 and is therefore probably only now driving its first spring laps. It is a car in the sporty Monza outfit, which distinguishes itself, among other things, with the loose seats that Americans optimistically call ‘bucket seats’. According to the RDW, it is equipped with a 2.4-liter large ‘flat six’ with 82 hp, although there are sources that promise a slightly higher power for this slightly drilled variant.
Judging by the reputation of the Corvair, much more power than that is certainly not desirable. The stubborn Chevrolet became world famous for its starring role in Ralph Nader’s book ‘Unsafe at any Speed’. Among other things, that cracked down on the questionable rear axle construction and the related cornering behavior of the early Corvair, although he certainly did not limit himself to this model in the book.