The Corvair Project

My Corvair's

Here are my project cars. I have two of them and love them very much. But there is

one problem. They are taking up a lot of my money to get them running and I have now

lost my Job . But here is the story Behind them..

Enjoy...

This is where it all began. When I was a little boy I saw a Corvair and thought it was the coolest looking car. I wanted to own one some day. The year of the car I saw was about a 63 or older. It was wonderful.

I bought a few older cars from there and as I grew up I had everything from a Nova to a Nash Rambler (loved the rambler). But it was just not a Corvair. So as time went on I saw an ad in the paper for a 65 Corvair and decided I would go have a look at it. Well I bought it right away. Loved that car and it was so fun to drive. I worked on it now and then to keep it running and still had the Rambler to drive while I was working on the Corvair.

Then the Rambler…. Well it took a turn for the worse. The engine decided after all this time to die. So I gave it up for 500 bucks. But it was OK because I had the 65 Monza.

The 65 Monza

Here is the First one I bought. She did run at one time and I put a lot of money and love into getting it rebuilt by a guy named Bud Steele. I paid him over $3500.00 to rebuild the engine for me and 3 months after the rebuild, the engine started to have some major issues. This was devastating. How could this happen to her. When I went to take her back to him he refused to give me any money back or do any of the work to Fix the car. He just wanted to give me another Corvair so I would leave. I thought about taking him to court but I just decided it was not worth the time and effort. It seems the valves needed to be redone. I figured if I was paying him to do a full rebuild He should have noticed that.

Well then from there the problem was I needed to drop the engine and rebuild it. I started to work on it and pulled the heads and took them in to be rebuilt. I didn't want to get rid of the car. She was my first Corvair. You can't get rid of the first Corvair.

But anyhow she was in really bad shape. I need to keep her alive. I have rust on the kicker panels and the interior is all tore up. I need to strip her and start from scratch. This will be a Huge project and I would like to be able to drive it again.

Well in my frustration I came across a 140 motor for her and I will just rebuild that motor and put it in the car. I feel this will be much better for us in the long run. I will have more power and plus If I have to rebuild the motor it might as well be a bigger one. But there is still more to come

But then something happened.

Well, the problem was I really wanted a 64 or older. But I had a 65. Don't get me wrong I love my 65 but when I saw the first Corvair it was a 64 or older. So that was my Goal. I had to find and get a 64.

So I set out on my search for the 64 and I put out a few feelers. I was on the Covair Mailing List and posted message to it that I really wanted a 64 convertible. Well I got a reply.

A member of the list sent me some pictures of a car he had in his garage. It was something he had for some time and drove it back and forth to work. It started having problems and so he parked it. He lived in L.A. and I lived in Sacramento. I guess I had to go for a drive...

So we got in the car and drove to L.A. to see the Corvair in person. As we got close I called to let him know we were arriving soon. We pulled up in the driveway and I went and knocked on the door. He opened the door and asked if I was here to see the Corvair. I replied, "Yes I am". He told me the car was in the garage and he would open the door to let me see it. He then closed the front door and I walked out by the Garage.

A few min passed and I could feel the excitement build as the door started upward. I could see the back of the car and could tell right away that the tires were flat. This was not looking good but as the garage door opened I was excited to see the car was in really great shape. This was the car I was looking for. I had found my dream car. The problem was convincing him to sell it to me. He had said in the emails he was not really sure if he wanted to give it up. At this point I was ready to buy. This was a beautiful car and I wanted to make her mine.

Well we talked a little about the price and I ended up paying what he was asking for the car. I really loved everything about her. She didn't run so now the problem was how to get her home. I got on the phone and gave my dad a call. He had a truck (Expedition) and I needed it. I rented a trailer to go back and get her. So we set out one late evening to head back down to L.A. to pick her up. We pulled into town around 3:30 am and had pick up the car no later then 8:30 am. This didn't give us much time to sleep and I really didn't care. I was on a mission! We stayed in a really bad broke down Hotel right next to where he lived. I had to pay $6.00 just for the T.V. remote.... Funny Hu.... I guess that would say something about the Hotel. I set the alarm for 7:00 am so we could get up in time to get the car. We then went to bed.

The Alarm went off and I was already excited to go get the car. I had cash in hand and was pulling a trailer. Nothing could stop me now. I woke my dad and he got up and ready for the days events.

We got in the Truck (Expedition) and headed to his house to get the car. I knocked on the door and he opened it. I told him we were here to get the car and so he opened the garage. We backed the trailer up and proceeded to load up the car to tow it to Sacramento.

On the way back my dad was really excited about the way the Expedition handled the towing. This was the first time he had towed anything with the Expedition. It was a long trip and we made it back early in the afternoon. We then unloaded the car at my house and I set out to find a better mechanic.

I sent a few emails out to find a good mechanic and got a response back to have Bob Brooks do the work from Vintage GM Service. I gave Bob a call and he was willing to take the car and do a full rebuild on it for a small fee. I would have done it myself but I think I would rather have a running car then one I have to rebuild over and over till I get it right. Plus she needed to be in good hands and all the info I could get on Bob was nothing but good. I arranged with Bob to drop the car off so he could go to work on it. I gave him some money and he told me she would be in great hands.

So I called a few friends and we got together to figure out how a towtruck could come to pick her up. I was ready to take her on her journey to her temporary home while the engine will be redone. I took the day off work and got all my ducks in a row. Made the call to have the towtruck come and we loaded her on.

We then headed out to take her to the shop. I followed her there to make sure she was ok and she was. When we got there we then started going over all the wonderful things we had planned for her. I told him I want her to be better then she ever was before. Bob told me that was not a problem. He then showed me around his shop and I saw a few other beauties there ready to be worked on. I felt I had made a good choice to have him do the work and left with a smile.

Bob has had her for some time now and I have not been able to get the money to pay for the rest of the work that would need to be done. So if you want to donate to the Corvair Project you can place a donation through Pay Pal using my email address thicks@speedfreak.org. I was Laid off my job and have been looking for some time now. Due to the wonderful things that are going on in the world it has not been fun.

Here are all the things that will be done to her..

You to can be a part of this project.

Shop Labor to R&R and Overhaul	$1330.00
Cylinder Head Overhaul	$480.00
Install Rods on Pistons	$51.00
Install Timing gear on Camshaft	$18.00
Recondition Connecting Rods	$65.00
Balance Engine Assy Complete	$200.00
True Crankshaft, Magniflux & Radius Oil Holes	$145.00
Engine Rebuild Kit	$985.00
Piston Upgrade (Forged Pistons)	$110.00
Piston Ring Upgrade (ChromeMoly)	$20.00
Freight To and From Vendor	$65.00

Total	$3541.00

But how can you not want to give when you know this car needs to be back on the road. She loves to drive and that is what she needs to be happy.

So feel free to give even 5 dollars.