CHEVROLET CORVAIR 700
I had been very conscious that the Corvair’s tail was sitting too low, possibly because the previous owner had towed with it (I have removed the towbar) or simply due to age and because all the weight is sitting on the rear of the car.
My first call was to Clark’s Corvair Parts in Massachusetts: new springs and dampers were not expensive, but factoring in postage and import duty from the States, the costs got a bit out of hand. I’ve also been chatting on and off to Rich Hawcroft at Mini Spares, who is restoring a Corvair and he very kindly donated a set of rear springs that were sitting at the back of his garage. They had come off a coupe that he had scrapped after a failed attempt (not by him) to shoehorn in a V8. He also directed me to Rockauto.com of Wisconsin for the new dampers, which was handy because they didn’t seem to come with any import duty.
Hawcroft has been counting up the number of Corvairs in the UK: the current tally is 44 early cars (pre 1964 restyle) and 22 of the later type.
The Corvair Society of America kindly helped me to get a proper age-related plate for my car and was sufficiently taken with its rarity (as a South African-assembled example) to run a two-page article on it in its CORSA Communique magazine, which was nice to see.
Jon Wills at Cotswold Classic
Car Restorations cleaned up and painted the new springs. Almost inevitably it seems these days, the battery the Corvair came with died due to a dead cell, but unlike my old turbo convertible the sedan takes a standard battery without having to resort to getting one specially made at huge expense. At the same time I added a cut-off switch because there is an electrical drain somewhere; I just have to remember to use it.
Meanwhile I persuaded Ken Britton in Stroud that he might like to have a go at fitting the springs and dampers, along with a radio (just to fill the space under the dash because it looks a bit naked without one) and an aerial, again mainly to fill the hole in the front wing. I also asked him to have a look at the automatic choke: he couldn’t find anything wrong and I’m wondering if this Corvair even has any form of cold-start enrichment. Currently it starts pretty much first go but won’t tolerate any load until it’s warmed up for a few minutes, which, to be honest, is not too much of a chore.
I bought some generic door seals via ebay for Ken to fit but he deemed these totally unsuitable, so I will have to get hold of the correct ones from Clark’s when I can put in an order big enough to make the postage worthwhile.
The spring-and-damper swap was a success, although it has not so much raised the rear of the car as lowered the front fractionally… I think. But the overall effect is a Corvair that sits much better and feels far less bouncy driving along.
I motored back from Ken’s in a flurry of March snow, musing that the Corvair was a pretty miserable thing in cold weather (no heater) but that overall I preferred it to my previous turbo convertible. That didn’t feel stunningly quicker than this 80bhp Powerglide saloon, which has a cheerful and willing character. It’s far from slow and the brakes are getting better with use.
Another thing I must remember to buy is a sender unit for the fuel gauge because I’m guessing how much juice is left. I also then have to remember not to brim it or it leaks!
THANKS TO
Δ Ken Britton
Δ Rich Hawcroft
Δ Rockauto.com
Δ Cotswold Classic Car Restorations: cotswoldclassiccarrestorations.co.uk