Faults:

In spite of being very old, it has never let me down.

Have done the things you should do to an old car. New bushing and shocks, some oil seals. Rebuilt the brakes.

General Comments:

This car has awesome styling.

This car handles like a real sports car. Compared to my modern car, an '04 Matrix, it out handles, out stops and rides smoother and better the Matrix!

Steering feel is fantastic.

Faults:

Since full restoration was complete, nothing has gone wrong.

General Comments:

I bought the car at a automobile swap meet as a non-running abandoned project for $2,900.00.

I replaced all the interior, the convertible top, the boot that covers the top when down.

Stripped all paint off and repainted entire outside of car.

Stripped all paint off interior and repainted.

All new chrome door, and window handles.

All new chrome bumpers.

All new windshield and window glass.

The engine, tranny, and differential were good, just needed minor attention.

The car was white outside with white top and dull red interior.

Now it is Tuxedo Black with Porsche bright red and black interior.

The first car show we went to, it won first place in class.

Everyone stops to tell me a story about someone they knew that had a Corvair.

Time frame from pulling the car home, to driving it completed was 1 year. Restoration cost $12,000.00.

Faults:

It leaks oil like most do. Easy to find gaskets on-line to fix.

Starter sounds like it is going out (found one for $40.00).

I have replaced all damaged or missing chrome. Door sills were a huge challenge to find. Ended up fabricated them from old door sills off a 65 Corvair.

Turn signal unit needs to be replaced.

Fuel gauge reads completely full all the time.

Emergency brake cable needs to be replaced.

Extensive rust along the rocker panels and required a fair amount of body work to repair.

General Comments:

Bought the car as a father and son project. Has since turned into a weekend cruiser for the wife and me.

Handles wonderfully on the open road. Decent power considering that the car is built like a small tank. Changed it to a 4 speed from the original 3 speed transmission.

Car is the talk of the neighborhood. I can't drive anywhere without someone coming up and wanting to ask me about the Corvair.

A true American classic, wish they still made them. Restoration has been very inexpensive so far, plenty of parts available.

Faults:

The valves were burned when I bought it. They were replaced with new ones made from solid billets of inconel-very expensive. Other than routine maintenance which this car demands a lot of, no other repairs have been necessary.

General Comments:

This car is an extremely rare turbocharged Fitch Sprint convertible that has all the high performance goodies. After forty one years this little car can still show a lot of very expensive new machinery the fast way home. Older Porsches of the 911 variety are its favorite meal. This car is, in my opinion, as close as GM ever came to building a Maserati. The one time GM got it right and they dropped the ball! Mine is red with black top and interior. The body style oozes raw sex appeal like no new car can.

Faults:

Bent push-rods on the first one I owned.

I broke the tranny on the third one I owned.

General Comments:

I've owned three '65 Corvairs, two 90 horse automatic Monza models, and a quad-carb 140 hp Corsa. I've driven all of them, a lot.

The two 90 horse automatics were like electric cars, amazingly smooth, effortless, and reliable even in constant city driving. Their fully-independent rear suspensions gave excellent ride and control over even the worst of rough roads. The first one I bought had bent push-rods on one bank, I have no idea why. I replaced them myself, and never had this problem again, on any of these cars.

The 140-horse Corsa had a 4-speed manual transmission. I replaced the tires with FR -series sizes on the front and GR-series sizes on the rear, mounted on 5" and 6" wide 14" Chevy wheels, which bolted right on, then installed HD shocks all around. The handling became amazing. Porsche switched to the late Corvair rear suspension in 1991, in case you still have any doubts. I didn't.

Greedy fool that I am, I pulled off the four carbs and installed an aftermarket cross-ram maifold and an WCFB Carter 4-bbl; it kicked the torque peak up to around 4000 RPM, and the torque went WAY up. In second gear, it could out-accellerate our 1969 GTO 4-speed in second gear. My four sons, teen-agers then, and I subjected this lovely little hot rod to what probably constituted new dimensions of abuse for several years; one of them told me, years later, that he'd had it up above 130 mph indicated, and I don't doubt it at all. The tranny finally broke under the strain. For those who'd like to repeat this experiment, the '66 and up 4-speeds used the internals of the Corvette 4-speed, and they bolt right in. For that matter, the '66 140-horse 4-speed Corsas wouldn't have that problem.

I rebuilt this engine myself, and was amazed at its quality. Every Corvair boasts forged-steel connecting rods and crank, and a gear-driven cam; They're extremely reliable, and keep sharp tune as a consequence.

Best handling cars I've owned, very reliable, and excellent both in small and large design matters. Superb panel fit and paint. After 50 years (!) the doors still fit perfectly and body rust is minimal. The full instrumentation on the 140-horse Corsa was among the best I've ever seen, nearly as good as our '62 Studebaker Hawk, which is the best I've seen in 30 years working as a mechanic and automotive journalist.

The high performance versions were genuinely fast.

Faults:

Like most Corvair cars, this leaked oil, but after being repaired this has not been a problem.

The gas tank sending unit went bad, and that was not an easy or cheap fix.

General Comments:

This car was way ahead of it's time, too bad they stopped making this car in 1969, it would be very interesting to see how this car would have evolved.

I love the way this car handles, the power is not the best, but will get the car up to 80 mph and beyond with little trouble.

I am impressed that a car this cheap when new, would be built so well.

Overall, this is a very neat and uncommon car, that is very affordable to get into. Parts are very easy to find, and the people in the Corvair clubs are very nice, and very helpful.