new guy

[Akinon93]

hello all. I am 19 and new to the forums, and to Corvairs...well cars in general. 19, my first car is a Corvair! well once I fix it up anyways. I can't quite describe it, I've found a love of classic cars thanks to the Corvair, although the one I have just has a special feeling when I sit in it.

and, I have pictures!

nice to meet yall.

[jennirw]

NICE CAR, BUT THEN I LIKE RED
Welcome to the forum and to the world of Corvairing.

[Vaircooled]

Bah I am so jealous that your first car is a vair, that is so cool. Nice car too, you gotta be the coolest teen around.

[cad-kid]

Welcome to the forum

It's great that you wanted a Corvair What are your plans for this car? Do you have any modifications in mind?

I looked at several Corvairs before I settled on mine. I was waiting for just the right car, and when I checked out this one it "spoke" to me. My car certainly needs some tlc but it is a good foundation for something special (at least to me). Check out the build thread at the bottom of my signature if you want to see more.

[Akinon93]

thanks you two. and you know it! the like 3 guys at work who know what a Corvair is (although I do work in retail) tell me many cool things about the car.

sadly my first "driveable car" may not be the corvair, as it's winter and would be hard to restore it when it's about 0 degrees, despite having enough money to spend on it. although technically I could throw a muffler and clutch cable on it and it would drive (it does start up and runs clean suprisingly), I feel I should take the time to replace some of the parts first as I have no idea if anything would go out after a few days of driving since it's been sitting for about 40 years.

as for modifications, I'm not entirely sure. I got the car off my grandpa because he had 2 (both 1967, except one is in mint condition all original and the one I now have was going to be a future project car until he found out how much I loved it!). I remember walking out of my dads garage after not having seen the car in over a year and thinking it had been sold, looking out towards the front garage (it was about noon and I had just woken up and walked out to the back garage) and seeing it there and decided right then and there I would get it. I did and right about now I just hope to get it restored by May so I can enjoy driving it all summer.

[bbodie52]

...although technically I could throw a muffler and clutch cable on it and it would drive (it does start up and runs clean suprisingly), I feel I should take the time to replace some of the parts first as I have no idea if anything would go out after a few days of driving since it's been sitting for about 40 years.

Don't forget to go over the brake system! A clutch cable and muffler may get it rolling, but you also want to be able to stop it from rolling!


Forty year old brake fluid should definitely be flushed. Brake fluid absorbs moisture and very old brake fluid can have a low boiling point. Also, if there is a significant water content in the brake fluid, steel brake lines can begin to rust from the inside and can burst with no warning. Old rubber components in the master cylinder and wheel cylinders can also degrade over time, and the flexible brake lines can also decay. If the tires are very old, they also have a limited shelf life and may warrant replacement. Keep safety in mind when you are prepping your Corvair to return to the road.

If you feel that any portion of the hydraulic brake system is degraded due to age or is questionable, the cost to replace and update the hydraulic system is not that great. The hydraulic brake system is one part of the car that you don't want to wait for a failure before you repair it. A brake failure at the wrong time can occur without warning and can cause a serious accident that can be very costly! Clark's Corvair Parts even offers pre-bent complete brake line kits starting on page 149. You might want to look their catalog over. http://www.corvair.com/user-cgi/catalog ... N&page=149

Although going to the expense in money, time and effort to replace and overhaul your brake system may not sound very exciting, upgrading the wheels and tires may be a little more exciting. If the tires are old, the internal structure and materials wihin the tire may be in poor condition. Rather than staying with the stock 13" wheels and tires, you might want to consider upgrading to a larger diameter, perhaps a custom set of wheels and modern high performance radial tires. All-weather, all-season performance radial tires in 14", 15" or larger diameters will easily fit on the Late Model Corvair and produce significant improvments in braking and handling. Current manufacturers offer few choices in the obsolete 13" diameter, but offer many options in larger diameter, low profile sizes. The following article offers excellent, well-researched technical information on sizing wheels and tires for early and late-model Corvairs. It also provides good information on going with a used wheel transplant from other model cars to the Corvair, or with upgrading wheels to custom after market wheels. The online Tire Rack web site also provides extensive wheel and tire information, although they don't offer much in the way of Corvair-specific data. The two web sites work well together to help you research the right tires for your Corvair.

Corvair Wheel and Tire Sizing
http://autoxer.skiblack.com/tires.html

The Tire Rack - Custom Wheel and Tire Data and Pricing
http://www.tirerack.com

Looking forward to seeing some pictures of you and your Corvair on the road again, once the spring thaw arrives!

[Akinon93]

yes thanks for the info on the braking system. I know it does stop (I believe when he got it a couple years ago my grandpa did drive it around the yard a bit and such to see how it ran) but he said the brakes had to be replaces for sure. I did find a cable in the hood but sadly it was an ebrake cable, which when looking at the one already installed it looks brand new and the shipping info with the one I found said there were 2 cables, so I believe the one that's on there is new (although I'll still replace it since I have a cable for it already).

[Crazy George]

to the corvair forum like wise...... My first car was a corvair and then my Dad and I ended up with nine in all when I was a teenage time... bought a 67 goat and went into the service....you will end up like potato chips, you cant just have one..... welcome and enjoy the forum great people and lots of help and dont forget to vote for the car of the month.....CG

[Greinert]

Hey! and welcome from another new 19 year old!

[Bobby65]

welcome! From a 16 year old! haha

[bbodie52]

Some of you will remember this picture from last December...

hello all. I am 19 and new to the forums, and to Corvairs...19, my first car is a Corvair!

Welcome to the forum and to the world of Corvairing.

...I got the car off my grandpa because he had 2 (both 1967, except one is in mint condition all original and the one I now have was going to be a future project car until he found out how much I loved it!). I remember walking out of my dads garage after not having seen the car in over a year and thinking it had been sold, looking out towards the front garage (it was about noon and I had just woken up and walked out to the back garage) and seeing it there and decided right then and there I would get it. I did and right about now I just hope to get it restored by May so I can enjoy driving it all summer.

to the corvair forum like wise...... My first car was a corvair and then my Dad and I ended up with nine in all when I was a teenage time... bought a 67 goat and went into the service....you will end up like potato chips, you cant just have one..... welcome and enjoy the forum great people and lots of help and dont forget to vote for the car of the month.....CG

Hey! and welcome from another new 19 year old!

welcome! From a 16 year old! haha

It struck me how much "common ground" is generated between age groups and various generations on this Corvair Forum... and between multiple generations in family and at home. Many people I meet on the street, from all age groups, approach me because of my Corvair. Some people speak of their memories of their first family Corvair, or how their parents or grandparents got them started with Corvairs. This is true in my own family, where my parents introduced me to our first Corvair when the bought a new '61 Monza coupe, and a few years later replaced it with a '65 Corsa convertible -- which I learned to drive in, took my first driver's test in, and my wife drove and I drove from 1973 until 1996 while I served all over the USA and in Germany in the Air Force.

My father and me in 1965 with our then new Corsa convertible.

I have many personal memories of family outings, camping trips, etc. while I was growing up with Corvairs, and my now adult sons have their own memories in which one or more Corvairs play a part. Now my 36 year-old son (who I brought home from the hospital as a newborn in the above pictured Corvair) is jealous of my newly acquired 1966 Corsa convertible and he is very interested in buying a Corvair of his own.

Spanning multiple generations in families and here on the Corvair Forum, our common interest in this old American car seems to help us to form a common bond. As you browse around the Corvair Forum you can find numerous instances of an interest in Corvairs crossing international boundaries too! Men and women also find a common interest here. One mother is building an custom corvair-powered private airplane, and joined the Corvair Forum last year looking for advice in buying her first ground-based Corvair. And so it goes...

So welcome again to the Corvair Forum!

[flat6_musik]

Welcome! And way to go!.....a 'vair for your first car! I think you'll love it!