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Last night I went to the Christmas party of South Coast Corsa, the South Bay Corvair club down in Torrance.
I asked a couple of the people there, "Why the Corvair?" that is, why, out of the various collector cars they might own, had they chosen the Corvair? There were a number of answers to this question, but one of the guys -- who shall remain nameless, for his own protection -- had a particularly interesting story.
He had, and still has, a '61 Corvette, with all the trimmings (dual quads, solid-lifter Duntov cam, four speed, Positraction, et al); "A fun car," he said, "but it breaks a lot. And it's really not a very practical car." Indeed, after driving it to his high school reunion recently, the intake manifold water passage rusted out, and it's been sidelined for months.
Over the years, therefore, he said that he has spent a lot of time leafing through the Chevy shop manual. Just after the Corvette section of the manual was the Corvair section, so he found himself browsing through that, as well. He said, "I thought, 'How quaint -- an 80-horsepower car.'" A while after that he spotted a pretty, light-blue 1960 Corvair 700 sedan and became enamored of it. So enamored of it, in fact, that he, er, took it. "I can tell you this because the statute of limitations has expired," he said. "I stole my first Corvair. I still have some parts for that car."
He went on to acquire a bunch of other Corvairs, presumably through more legitimate means, but none expensive and all needing considerable help. I asked him if it was the same kind of impulse that leads other people to adopt stray animals, and he shrugged. "They're nice little cars," he said.
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