SIA flashback: Turbocharged compact 1963 Corvair Spyder

[Stéphane Dumas]

Here an old article of SIA then Hemmings blog posted
http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2...orvair-spyder/

[70AARCUDA]

"Unsafe at any Speed"...per Ralph Nader.

[DAyers]

That is a very nice article about a car that is not seen very often any more. I owned a 63 Monza Spyder coupe from July 1968 to June 1971 while I was in my last two years of high school and first yesr of college. It had 85,000 miles when I bought it, and the turbocharger was in a box in the back seat at that time. I towed it to the local Chevy dealer, and $160 later ( a lot of money then) I had a working car. I still had much work to do, as the distributor had been replaced sometime in its life with the wrong distributor, negating the pressure retard system that was part of the anti-knock control on the turbo engine. The heavy duty metallic brakes had also been replaced with normal asbestos linings which were much more prone to fade when driven in mountainous areas such as where I lived. I also installed a camber compensator to keep the rear suspension under control and radial tires.

As you might expect, I drove the wheels off that car for that three year period. I spent many hours in HS. auto shop classes during my senior year and rebuilt two engines, one I purchased used so I could quickly put it in the car and not be without wheels during its overhaul. I later rebuilt the other engine and put it in another Corvair. I was always working on that car, replacing clutches, overhauling transmissions, chasing oil leaks and so forth. Cars back then required much more attention than they do now. I learned a lot about cars by working on that one.

It was in great shape when I sold it, but I replaced it with a new 71 Camaro SS 350 that I had been lusting after for a while. The new car had air conditioning which was a welcome relief in the summertime when temperatures regularly exceed 100F.