Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire 1966 Corvair Corsa Turbo

This car was before my time

growing up I always heard about them - the Ralph Nader nonsense of course, poor mans Porsche, etc

but this a great looking car, and 180HP out of a flat 6, independent suspension - they put some work into it.



was watching Leno talk about it. He said Nader didn't kill the car, matter of fact, he extended its life. The Mustang killed it because people could get it with a V8, GM was going to kill it but they were so mad at Nader, they didn't want the perception they caved to him, so they kept the car going until 1969, they just didn't make anything beyond the base model

I'm sure some people on here have owned one. Anyone have the turbo?

looking on the marketplace, you can still get a decent model for $5k - $8K - just not the Corsa 180

My attorney owns one, he bought it just for the irony!

neighbor's oldest boy had one back in the seventies. It was fast

I sold this 65 140hp Monza this past summer. They are fun and unusual cars! I always got questions and comments when in a parking lot or getting gas.

The 140 hp version has 4 carburetors and bigger valves etc. I have never driven a turbo.

Ralph Nader. The man who despised freedom. An early leader of the now rushing tide.
F01

My church bible school teacher had a Corvair, don’t know if it was a turbo or not , too young and thought of it as a cheap car
Anyway , she would pick me up and go through the cogs like an Indy driver .
We would be running 70-75 mph on a 55 mph road that had lots of curves and dips in it
She would white knuckle that thing the whole 15 miles
She would always smile when she would pull onto the church parking lot
80 couple years old . I guess she was pleased with herself and God .
Kenneth

Grandma had one she loved that car.

Had a plain Jane blue 4 door. There was an automotive machinist in town who collected those. He had Corsas, Spyders, plain 4 doors. He even had a Covair pickup. Every thing went to auction when he died.

I had a 66 Corsa. It was a fun car to drive and always turned a head or two. It was fairly quick with all the weight in the back. The front end was pretty light and just had to keep that in mind if driving hard.

was looking this morning and found this

My brother had one. It was white. That's all I can remember about it, I was pretty young at the time.

My dad took me for a spin in a Monza Turbo from the dealership when they first came out. More recently I found an undesireable '63 four door with push button automatic in an estate. Offered $300 for it and brought it home. Got it to run, but poorly, and cleaned it up; could never get the gasoline-fired heater to work. Sold it for $800.

While in college, I also had a '65 Monza, beige, but the small engine.
It was fun to drive, but I used to put some sacks of feed in the front when it snowed.
It could get "hairy" on packed snow - go anywhere
except where you wanted (when empty)

I had a 66 Monza 140 4 carbs, had a telescopic steering wheel, my Dad bought for me in 1973 I think he paid $225.00 or $250.00 for it. Wish I had it back.

Buddy of mine had a Corvair back around 1969. The guy didn't know a thing about cars, and when he changed the oil in it, he put about twice the oil it required, and that oil had to go somewhere....and it did. When it was running it smoked like crazy, and the joke was that he was driving a mosquito killer.

A friend I attended General Motors Institute with had one. Actually, A '63 model. Quite a turbo lag but it would scoot. A lot of the students there were sons of GM dealers and had great cars. '58 348 triple carb Chevies, among them. Poor old me just had a '55 stick six.
Oops, buddies car was a Corsair Kinda Spyder, turbo. Age increases, memory slips.

Back in the 70s I collected them. Had all the models at one time. I remember once in Erie Pennsylvania my dad had a 225 Electra Buick and pulled up next to a turbo Corvair. He was going to show me how he was going to dust that car off, and I told him not going to happen. It didn't. Nobody was more surprised than him!

Yup. Nader was the father of the nanny state. He called himself a 'consumer advocate' and thought the government should pass volumes of laws to protect us from ourselves. His early target was the auto industry. He wrote the book "Unsafe at Any Speed' which accused the Corvair of being a very dangerous car to drive. This book was instrumental in the passage of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act which gave the government the power to regulate the American car industry.

The Corvair wasn't anymore dangerous to drive than a VW beetle. Nader just picked on GM. He was/is a prick.

My parents had a red Monza coupe and loved it. The one thing Dad hated was it threw fan belts. He always had a spare and got so he could about replace it at a stoplight. Talked to a guy at a car show a few years ago and he said aftermarket tensioners and better belts had gotten rid of that issue.