Unsafe At Any Speed? 1966 Chevrolet Corvair Corsa - Jay Leno's Garage

You know, it all depends on how it makes you feel, and to me, this makes it feel like a more expensive car than it is. If you're on any kind of budget, it's just a great classic car to restore, between buggies and airplanes, that you can get. inject fuel whatever you want to do and you can do it however you want and that's what I love about the pandemic edition episode the car we're featuring today my

1966

chevrolet

corvair

corsa

this was a revolutionary car for

chevrolet

a revolutionary car for america, four

speed

manual transmission , air cooled, rear engine, rear wheel drive, the

corvair

was developed to retaliate against the valiant falcon and amc had a rambler instead of some entry level cars initially, there was about 80 horsepower at the time you came to the In the mid-'60s with the Corsa, I think it's fair to say it was a sports car, like I said, four

speed

.

This is a 180 horsepower turbocharged model, which is 100 more horsepower than it had when it came out with 80. Don't forget this is this. It is the first turbocharged production car. Many people say the Oldsmobile Jetfire was the first. I thought it was too, but they came out around the same time, but actually the Corvair was the first and the Ultimate was the second and the Oldsmobile only lasted two years or more. something so this one gets the credit, this is the first turbocharged air cooled six cylinder car and it did quite well, in fact it beat porsche in, what's that about scca racing in the 60's?

They had the yanko don yanko, we did it once before. on this website we did it, we featured my yanko stinger, which was the racing version of this car, don yanker was kind of the carol shelby of chevrolet, he bought a hundred blank corvairs and made what they call stage two, four carburetors, uh , did some body work added some scoops some other things suspension changes positive traction rear different steering wheel and went for a run and it did pretty well uh I have one of those and uh one of the 100 and it's a wonderful car to drive and this one is too I know the other one has 190 horsepower, this one 180, but it actually feels faster when the turbo kicks in, it's impressive, it goes well.

I remember back in the day there used to be ads with guys in, you know, the driving cap and gloves, and that seemed a little much, but it wasn't too far from the truth, I mean, it really was a great handling car. The first car, I think the first American car was completely independent suspension. The Corvette didn't have that until later. Ed Cole, uh, from GM. He, excellent, excellent engineer, you know, in the early days, GM had engineers running things and they brought in marketing people, now they're back to being engineers, which I think is really good, everyone at the top is engineers and Ed Cole wanted. something different, I didn't want to make another, you know, Falcon or Valiant or even Chevy Nova, which they did produce.

He also wanted something totally different and told his guys to come up with something like this and this is what they came up with. It was revolutionary for America at the time, the only other rear engine car really was the Tucker and that never took off and this was pretty successful, until the Mustang came along, the Mustang is what really killed this car. You know they like it. Pretend Ralph Nader did it, but he really didn't do it. Ralph Nader actually extended the car because Ralph Nader was going to kill the car in '66 after the Mustang debuted, but they were so outraged that Nader had gone after it and they were afraid.

It would seem that they were collapsing, so they continued producing it until '69 because they didn't make any turbos. I think after '66 or '67 they just built standard Corvairs until '69 until they disappeared from the scene, um and a sae report. In the early 70's they concluded that the Corvair was no more or less dangerous than any other car at that time and when this model came out in '65 and '66 they had redesigned the suspension and all the problems that Nader complained about were almost there. I finished anyway, but that's a whole other story we've gone over a million times.

Uh, let's talk about this one. I think it's a great looking car. It's the most European looking American car I've ever seen, even now that I drive it. If you know that people under 30 go, a common gear is that Italian one, no, it's a chevy, what a chevy corvair, well, the article doesn't have a radiator, no, it's a rear engine, I mean, I've always known what. Carvers they are, but I guess if you're under 40 you don't see them, so they surprise you and it's a wonderful, wonderful car to drive. Just look at the lines, I mean, I think you could almost produce this. current body style and it would always look like the present, you know, this is not an old-fashioned looking car, many cars just look like the bug, the countach looks like it's from the 80s, although the volkswagen bug looks like it's from the 60s and 70s. this is pretty timeless this is pretty timeless uh I think it's a very attractive design I love the front that kind of shark nose I love the fact that it has these subtle curves throughout it's really a great car Come on, let's take a look at that turbocharged engine.

Have you been to this website? You know my obsession with round taillights. You just think they look better and they look beautiful in this car. I like both tones. I like that it's gray instead. Solid colored and great looking car here, let's open this up pretty exotic for

1966

, especially for an American car. You know, when I bought this, it had the turbo out of the 150 horsepower car, so that was wrong and there were a lot of things wrong with it. So it took us a while to get it back where it should be. This is a stock 100 with the exception of the carburetor it comes with, I believe it has a Carter single barrel carburetor, which is somewhat primitive.

Its much better works much better. in this app there is no wastegate, nothing like that here, you just really feel the power in third gear, a lot of people complained that they weren't as fast as carbureted cars, but if you tune them right, they are and Once you get around 3500 and the turbo really starts to spin it really kicks in, it's a lot of fun, you can feel it and it feels very European. The spare tire obviously here all the weight is in the rear, you have a 164. cubic inch aluminum engine that you have, I guess there are aluminum-cased iron cylinders and everything else, overhead valve, obviously, these engines turbos were a completely different breed than the standard Corvair, they had different valves at higher temperatures, valves that could handle the heat. combustion chambers, a lot of things were subtle and different, they really wanted to make this a fast sports car and 180 horsepower again doesn't seem like much today but you're only pushing 2500 pounds so they're pretty quick and it's a lot of fun to drive against. the Porsche 66.

I think this would probably handle it. I don't know if it would work in handling, but maybe with some tweaking it could be a good clean setup. The distributor right here, the alternator, that belt is a little weird. The way it goes, a lot of people lose their belts. I've never had that problem. It always seemed fine to me and I run at high revs all the time. That being said, I do carry an extra belt just in case, but like you. I can see that it's a very good setup, come on, let's take a look.

I'll show you the front of the car, it's actually a pretty big trunk, the famous single master cylinder. I should put a double one in there and I always carry that extra fan belt, uh. But look at that, you have all kinds of space in a big trunk and this is a four-seater car. Don't forget that I don't know which is prettier, the front or the back. I think this is a great looking car. I mean it's so advanced for '66 that things are still pretty big and flashy in '66 so this is a nice European car and the turbo with all that was $2500 it's a great deal pretty good and the color red is especially good, come on.

I'll show you the interior, the cabin, a comfortable place to be, a full complement of gauges, here you have a 140 mile per hour speedometer, very, very optimistic, you have your clock, you have the cylinder head temperature, you have the manifold, that's a Boost Gauge, basically gas and of course tachometer and radio, cigarette lighter, all that kind of stuff. You have the optional fake wood steering wheel, which always makes me laugh, but it's actually very nice, nice thin rim, very sporty here with the three offerings, uh. Do you know what's so funny? These were not considered a success because they only sold 1.8 million.

I said this many times on the show whenever I talk about companies, but it shows you how times change, now you sell a million point of anything, oh. Oh my god, you're president of the company, but back then Mustang was just kicking its own ass. Mustang was selling four to one. I mean, they must have sold three or four million Mustangs in the same amount of time, so the Corvair just suffered in comparison, too. the mustang had a v8 and in america we don't have any great love for a six cylinder, a six cylinder in people's minds is the second car, the similar six you get for your daughter's graduation, you know that kind of deal , so no one ever thought. like six cylinder like performance really in America compared to Europe, that's why they made this turbo deal, but Jesus, I think it's one of the best American cars, certainly one of the most innovative cars of the 1960s.

I'm the complete opposite of Ralph and I like Ralph Nader. No, I'm not one of those people. I mean, I think he's trying to do the right thing and fighting for people's rights and that kind of stuff. I just think he was wrong and didn't do it. I really studied the issue because, like I said, the Society of Automotive Engineers studied the Corvair and they determined that it was no less safe than anything else, but that's neither here nor there at the time, um, let's give it a spin, no. I believe it. I'm not going to put this on the left because there's really nothing to see, it's a unibody underneath and you've got the engine back there, so come on, I think you want to hear this, it's really going well, I mean.

I enjoy driving this. I think you get the right suspension. You know there are a lot of Corvair clubs and there is a great group of people in those Corvair clubs willing to help anyone who has one of these. You can still purchase them reasonably. Clark's Corvair uh that's just one of the many places I've gotten parts from and these guys are great, they keep this brand going, they all come with new ideas, new things and new ways to get more horsepower. This has the positive. rear drive is some kind of transaxle gearbox in the rear that he developed for this car, I mean it's a unique car, there's nothing like it and come on, I'll start it.

I always like to wait until the cylinder head indicator moves a little. before I actually turn it up, it sounds sporty, come on, let's see what it is, let's see, there's that turbo going. Hey, there you know. You know there were so many things wrong with this car when I bought it, it had the wrong turbo charger. The wrong springs in the distributor put heavier springs in it. The problem was that we had a grounding problem. We weren't getting full ground, so toggling was taking 18 and a half volts and not working. We were never able to get it right, but I finally got it all together I finally dialed it in and now, oh my gosh, it just pulls so good that it feels like a lot more than 180 horsepower, but that's what the lightweight will do, you know, that it was always the colin chapman thing, you know, for every couple. of pounds you take away, you add a couple of horsepower and certainly it's a great greenhouse on this car, good visibility, rear view, side visibility, it's so much fun that all the manufacturers work hard to try to get something that three thousand pounds are inside cl because you know. you gotta have the steel door beams and all that, where's this 2500 pound thing, not even a bit of carbon fiber?

Of course, you take off the steel bumpers and some of the other things, you lower it even less, but like I said, the real thing. The savior of these cars is the Corvair clubs, you know, because they keep them all running and you know it's the kind of car that you can have something really unusual for under 10 grand in a lot of cases, you know, I think 10 a thousand dollars is the new thousand. dollars in the sense that when I was a kid you could buy a nice second-hand car for a thousand dollars now it's about 10 times what it was in the '60s, but I remember seeing Corvallis for $200 $300 when I was in college, some much less than that and good ones too, now costing around 10 grand 12 grand.

I think a lot of people were scared off by them, which is a good value for you if you're a car enthusiast because I love that turbo. Head Cole was a genius and a great engineer who really took a lot of risks. The small block Chevy was his. He developed that whole business that is essentially still used in some formEven today, of course, the Corvair, which they said was not a success, I think it was. I think it's a very memorable car and you know there were no disc brakes when it came out, no power boost, but these drum brakes are pretty good, they're actually not bad at all, I mean if you're not following the car.

I think they are fine for street use, they are more than adequate, it's like the turbo kicks in. It's fascinating to think how far they could have gone with this flat six if they had left it in the lineup, you know it's funny, the latest version of almost any GM car is always the best, you know the Fiero was supposed to be a commuter car and, when they were done, it actually wasn't a bad sports car, that final beast was nice. well the same thingWith the Firebird you know I have the latest fire, not the latest fire, but the latest 2002 generation.

I drove one at Daytona, the pace car and it's cool, it was cool, it was basically just a four-seater corvette. How are you? How's it going? Thank you. See, there's a lady there with white hair like me and she loves my Corvette anyway. I drove into Talladega and was impressed with how fast it was. I got one in my

garage

. It probably aired. It's been a couple of weeks, but you can see that one in 5500 is the same amount of revolutions you'll get from this. The turbo makes all the difference in the world. The fun thing is that you can turn them into whatever you want and you can get the most out of them. disc brake kits on the wheels, I think someone is even making a five speed transmission, is that possible?

I heard somewhere that I don't think that multiple carburetion thing is true, there are guys that make cams and pistons and everything else for themselves, I mean. the club is very very active, there are still a lot of corvairs out there, there must be over half a million at least out there and they have used this engine in light airplanes and dune buggies and everything else, it was kind of like the american volkswagen , in that sense, the silver one had temperatures of about 300 degrees, it's about 75 degrees here today in Los Angeles, you know, it's all what it makes you feel and, to me, this makes me feel like a more expensive car than what It's if you're on any kind of budget it's just a great classic car to restore because like I said everything is available and the aftermarket is full of parts because between buggy and airplanes you can inject fuel for this and you can do it however you want.

That's how it is and that's what I love. I would say they are pretty low maintenance. Obviously, there is no cooling system. There is nothing you have to do in the winter. The heat isn't anything to write home about, but it's as good as a Porsche or Volkswagen feels like the turbo pulls 10 pounds of boost right there, my speedometer reads about 10 or 12 miles per hour on the low side because I have these wheels more big. This is the third Corvair we have done on this website. the corvair ram on the side of the truck and i got the yanko stinger and this completes the trio anyway i hope you enjoyed this piece of Americana uh this is a real piece of American history that you can buy quite reasonably you know if only they made A few thousand of these or a couple hundred, this would be a fifty or sixty thousand dollar car, but because they made so many of them, those of us who love them and like to drive them, know, it's a big deal, so check them out.

If you see one, give it a spin, I think you'll be impressed. Thank you and thank you to all the members of the Corvair clubs for all the help you have given me over the years, Clark's Corvair and everyone else. sellers, sorry, I don't have them on the tip of my tongue at the moment, but that's Kovit's fault, okay guys, see you later, thanks.