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June 22, 2009

1963 Chevrolet Corvair: the Legend Continues…

RideLust.com

The 1963 Chevrolet Covair: a rare beast that was bred to strike fear into the hearts of motorists around the world. Its mid-engine design and aerodynamics package was supposedly designed by a group of Swedish physicists in a meat locker in South Jersey to ensure secrecy. With such features as 13″ wheels, drum brakes and a non-collapsible steering column, the Corvair was at first thought to be dangerous. But documents have surfaced recently which suggest that those features where purposely put in place to bring out the macho in every man, women and child.

Continue reading after the jump!

The car is a masterpiece of uncertainty, with a bevy inconsistency thrown in for good measure. A forward-mounted gas tank was designed by insurance companies to ensure a proper fiery explosion upon impact. The flat-six 82hp engine was matted to a two-speed power slide transmission which provides just enough propulsion to activate the Corvair’s, “Stiff Breeze” climate control system.

The Motor… impressive isn’t it.

This is why we, at Team Trailing Throttle Oversteer, chose to race the Corvair in the upcoming 24 Hours of LeMons at Stafford Motor Speedway in Stafford, CT on July 11th/12th. Now go ahead and take a nice long look at these pics and tell me that we’re wrong for going with this masterpiece of automotive engineering. Go ahead, I dare ya.

To see the Corvair in action simply click the link below to activate the Top Secret government test files…

The 1963 Covair of Team TRAILING THROTTLE OVERSTEER… it’s all business.

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Posted at 8:09 am in 1963, 24 Hours of Lemons, Chevrolet, Corvair, Jim Brennan, Mike Musto, Mr. Angry, Ralf Nader, StreetFirehp

Comments

Bigfoot1313
Jul 13, 2009 at 6:48 pm

its a car that looks cool/different. wish it performed better though

Philscbx
Jun 26, 2009 at 10:24 am

Well, I not only had one, but drove it everyday.
I used it as a shop parts chaser in the early 70′s with 4 speed and it was fun pushed to the limits.
All it needed was some decent roll bars and shocks with today’s specs and the controversy would of never happened.

The 6 cylinders sounded great compared to Volkswagen’s yard tractor sound, and I had 3 of them as well.

Someone in Nevada ended up with my Vair when I discharged from the Airforce. At least it would never rust.

sarahsmile90
Jun 23, 2009 at 10:07 am

LOL..this whole thread is hysterical…well I guess you got everyone’s attention.

fireball22
Jun 23, 2009 at 9:42 am

Mike, I’m still trying to come to terms with how incongruous the near-new racing seats look in the otherwise unmodded ‘Vair. You know, like a Ricer on Xanax?

ACCORD2HARMONY
Jun 22, 2009 at 8:23 pm

i really would love to take some xanax right now… thats prob the only way id get into that! lol jk but seriously restore it plz it could be gr8

Mike Musto
Jun 22, 2009 at 1:53 pm

IH-international – WHOA!!! BIG FELLA!!! You need to calm down and take a Xanex or something. First off I didn’t give the Corvair a bad name, the rest of the free world did. I can see by you’re profile that you own a Corvair Van type thingy, which is why my post got your panties in a twist, but what you need to do is ease up on the retard throttle a little bit and understand that my post was made in jest. Ever hear of that? It implies humor, or even laughter if done correctly.

And don’t kid yourself, the only reason you responded like you did was because you like Corvairs… and not because I was telling everyone a bunch of total horse shit – which I was by the way.

Jim Brennan
Jun 22, 2009 at 11:26 am

Oh for goodness sake…. Mike was simply doing a spoof on the whole “unsafe at any speed” controversy. I will tell you that this car, even though she has a lot of surface rust, is a lot more solid that the Hondas, Acuras, and Toyotas we will be racing with. Bring it on!

IH-international
Jun 22, 2009 at 11:19 am

ALL RIGHT ITS ASSHOLES LIKE YOU WHO GIVE THE CORVAIR A BAD NAME!!!!
corvairs were just as safe or safer than any other car made in its day!!! and to this day the corvair is the only car ever to be government approved!!!! i have NEVER herd of corvairs staring on fire in a accident!!! plus you wouldn’t get hurt cuz its UNDER THE CAR!!! unlike beetles where theres are in the trunk!!!! and if you want a car that catches on fire get one of those crappy 1st gen mustangs or 1st gen pintos!!!! yes the corvair oversteered a bit but it no different than the fact that all regular cars understeer!!! cuz in that vid he kept on the track!!! if he were to understeer he would have flew right off the track!!!
i’m not mad because i like corvairs its because your telling a bunch of TOTAL HORSE SHIT!!! and i hate when people lie about stuff they don’t even know about!!!

dgaf88
Jun 22, 2009 at 9:10 am

Everyone likes weird cars, so what it rolls over and blows up if you crash it. Simple solution: Don’t. Pull that block out, clean it up, throw some turbos on it and you’re making good power. Toss in a standard and you’re in serious business!