For most of my life I used classics and antiques for daily use when I needed a car. Get something that needed work, fix it, use it until the need was gone, sell it usually at a profit, and start again. Most of mine were models with bench seats from the late 50s.
The drum brakes were no problem if you serviced them correctly but I did always replace the lap belt or lack of a belt with a four-point-style harness for me and the front seat passenger. Sitting at the wheel of a 59 Villager wagon I realized that while I would crush anything else on the road, that steering wheel was going to do a serious number on my chest. Preference was I take the steps to prevent that.
May I remind you that you were the person who brough up tire pressure in this thread.
The OP asked about a “restored” car (however he defines that). Adding an anti-sway bar (presumably the $6 option you refer to) would be quite simple and inexpensive for anyone who wished to do so. And after 65 at least, this simply was not an issue on Vairs.
BTW - how’s it going on locating that data as to Corvairs being more dangerous than their contemporaries? And the NHTSA was simply wrong in your opinion?
But you seem to have a hard-on for criticizing this car, so I have no reason to believe any of this will chance your chosen point of view.
Ralph - Corvairs are very fun and dependable older cars. But as this thread demonstrates, if you drive one every once in a while you’ll run into some know-it-all who clearly doesn’t.
You’re right – the 09 beat the 59 head on. But I had a Chevette rear-end my Pacer some years back and I hate to say it but he lost; badly. Be interesting to see that study/test continued from various angles.
Oh, yeah, it would be interesting. But we’ve seen the same with a modern Volvo(?) versus a ten year old one on Top Gear(?). Same general result. Front to rear tends to do more damage to the front of the car. More stuff there. Rear ends can just suck damage down. I had a guy smash his front in on the rear of my '07 Camry. He just forgot to brake in traffic. It didn’t even scratch my bumper cover (I have NYC bumperguards on it. The screws on the plate fit right between them as designed.), but his front bumper buckled and one of his headlights popped out.
The Corvairs are great fun to drive, and the oversteer is part of the fun. It’s a light car, and the little flat six gave a nice power-to-weight ratio.
My '62 was totaled in a rear-end accident, and an unintentional safety feature saved me from whiplash. The bolts holding the front of the seat snapped, absorbing energy.
The fatal flaw, aside from the evil Ralph Nader, was oil leakage. The crankcase is split lengthwise, and replacing the big gasket was a very expensive repair, requiring lifting the car off the engine and splitting the engine in two.
I was told that problem could be avoided by periodically re-torquing the structural bolts, like in an aircraft engine. I knew one guy who parked his Corvair every night over a shallow pan, and every morning, he’d pour the oil back in. He was buying his oil in gallon cans. He didn’t need to buy the premium brands, he said, because it didn’t stay long.
I briefly owned a '64 coupe that had been hot-rodded by a GM engineer. My friend was in jail, and he had me sell it for him. I still regret not buying it myself, and his dad was pissed that he didn’t get the chance to buy it himself.
I’m 6’3", and installed seat extenders in mine to gain a couple of extra inches. You know you are dealing with the product of a different era when you find that the seats are held down by exactly 4 easily accessible bolts!
My understanding is that the major location of leaks is the pushrod tubes, wich is readily addressable with modern (Viton) seals. Mine does not mark its territory.
And tho no one wants to have to pull their engine for a simple repair, you’d be hard-pressed to find a car in which pulling the engine was easier than in a Vair.
