Random Guy Poll

[Hellbilly]

Random Guy walks up to you...

[jonj]

For me, the comment is "I had one back in the '60's, or '70's".

[SfcColts]

My response to "Don't they roll over easy?" is "Stand back because I don't want you to get crushed when it spontaneously rolls over". Then I walk away.

[Spyder4speed]

The most common comment I hear is "that's a Corvair, you sure don't see many of these any more", and my response is "I do, just gotta know where to look".

Patrick
Detroit, MI
1964 Spyder Coupe

[davemotohead]

You Forgot: "Ain't that the Car Nader got Banned?"

[Freejax]

I have heard this several times "Those are the cars that always leak oil everywhere" my reply "not since the 70's when new seal technologies came out" their reply, deer in headlights look and crickets chirping.

[BobWitt]

Happened (for the first time) to me last Monday going to the Detroit Area Corvair Club Meeting...

Q: "Hay! What kind of car sat?" (sat = slur of is that)
A: "Corvair"
Q: "What Make is it?"
A: "Chevrolet."
Q: "No Way, when does it come out?" [Living in the Detroit Metro area you commonly see vehicles not yet in production]
A: "About 50 years ago" [results in blank stare...]

[91blaze]

I've heard 'em all, though nothing about bursting into flames yet. Best ones are all the "don't those things have bad handling?" I just say, "only if you don't know how to drive"

Maybe I'm a little too blunt sometimes, but normally I try to teach people as much as I can about these. I recently had someone ask if I had one of those "Cobra engines". I just gave him a confused look and told him they never had those. Always fun to talk about all the engines and options these things had, had some people yesterday who didn't know these had A/C in them. Most people are pretty open to new information but some just won't accept that they are misinformed about things. Oh well, can't win them all.

[Lunar_Camel]

My conversations usually go:
"Hey that's a Corvair. My Father/Mother/Aunt/Uncle use to have one. Nice."

Didn't realize how many people use to own one.

[Francesco]

I usually get the "My friend/neighbor/dad used to have one I loved it!". Once got a, "Those cars explode when rear ended! I know someone who had one that exploded when he was driving."

[HoodsUp]

Last choice is closest, but I'm the one saying "no, its not a corvette ..close.. Corvair.
Mustang and Falcon are a couple of bad names I've been called.
What surprises me , driving around, half old paint half primer is the number of comments and questions I get from younger people.. say 20 years old so.
Maybe its because its older than anything there parents would have bought new.

[NMVair]

Usually, "Cool Car." or "no kidding, Chevy?" or like you pointed out someone they knew had one.
Its the ones that know what it is that's fun to me. A lot of times people had them or like you pointed out someone they knew had one. But never had the roll over and bursting into flames thing. Surprisingly I've had more than any other response than "cool" or "nice" car is that it was their first car, ladies and men...
Then there's the girls ........

[bbodie52]

I wrote this back on October 17, 2013

I think you will find that driving a classic Corvair tends to attract more attention than driving a Subaru. Corvairs seem to draw interest at every gas station, movie theater, grocery store, rest stop and restaurant parking lot! I even receive comments and thumbs up at stop lights while waiting for the red light to change. I know it's not me — it has to be the Corvair!

There is a whole new generation of Corvair enthusiasts and owners developing out there. Even teen-agers are discovering Corvairs, and fathers are buying them as father/son and father/daughter restoration projects that turn into the teen's first car — and many of them love it! They often get more attention driving a classic Corvair than they would in a brand-new Corvette!

The kids at church are fascinated with the Corvair. If one asks to see the engine a whole crowd will develop around the car when I open the engine compartment! I even get attention and offers of assistance if I open the trunk. They think I have an engine problem! When I stopped at a base gas station in Germany with my 1965 Corsa convertible a young teen approached and wanted to know what kind of car it was (in 1982). He thought it was some kind of Italian sports car that he had never seen before.

Recently at a gas station in Georgia I was approached by a middle-aged woman, who asked me "...is that a Corvair???" She was very excited and pleased when I confirmed her suspicions. "I thought so!" she said. "My GRANDMOTHER used to drive one!" ...I just felt old.

I have been driving Corvairs since I took my first driver's test at age 16 in our 1965 Corsa convertible in December 1968. I dated my future wife in Corvairs, drove a Corvair on our wedding day and on our honeymoon, drove Corvairs while with the Air Force for 24 years all over the USA and in Germany, brought two kids home from the hospital after they were born in a 1965 Corsa, and we are still driving a 1966 Corsa convertible. But when I bought our current 1966 Corsa in June 2012 I had been away from Corvairs since 1995, and when I drove that Corvair back from Lakeland (near Orlando) Florida to our home in North Carolina (561 miles), I had never experienced such Corvair recognition and admiration before. I had one woman in a pickup truck admire the car at a stop light. She rolled her passenger window down and couldn't say enough about the car. The car seemed to gather a crowd at every rest stop, gas station, and restaurant that I paused at from Lakeland to Hayesville, North Carolina! Children were telling their parents that they should get one of those cars. Adults of all ages would strike up a conversation based on that Corvair. My other Corvairs in past decades had received similar comments and admiration... but not to the extent that it happens now! Just parking the Corvair in a movie theater or grocery store parking lot will often lead to the discovery of a note attached to the car with an offer to buy my Corvair when I return to the car.

[funvairs]

I think the best one I have heard was a mother telling her daughter "it has a go cart engine". She then asked me if I really drive it.(61 Lakewood)

[Bughappy]

Went on a "test drive" today and had a failure (broken shaft in distributor I think). Anyway, when I called AAA to bring her home, first person I talked to said, "never heard of them, what kind of car is it again?" . After I told him it was a 50year old Chevrolet he transferred me to another person who dispatched tow trucks in our area. She also asked "What kinda car is that?"

***** I count that a "two-fer" for this thread.. *****

To continue she asked if needed a regular tow truck or a flatbed.. I opted for the flatbed and told her it was a rear engine car like a Porsche or aircooled VW... she said "And it was made by Chevrolet? Never heard of them, how do you spell that anyway?" At least the tow truck driver knew what it was... from him I got.... "my grandpa" had one of those"

that was my Random Guy day

[Freejax]

Hey Brad I like your post, I have several friends and coworkers that have never heard of such a car as the Corvair. I enjoy educating them on Corvair history and the fact that if Chevrolet continued the line it would far surpass what is available or offered in the Porsche and VW line up today. We own gems and that is all there is to it. Nader made my car more valuable as far as I can see.