Chevy Corvair paved its own way for a decade

One of the best things about going to a car is coming upon a vehicle that peaks your interest. Whether its the look, the engine, the design, you just want to find out more about it.

That happened for at the Tulsa Auto Show April 7-9 when I stumbled upon a truck that not only had a back door, but also a side ramp. As I inspected it more, I noticed the engine was in the tail bed instead of under the hood. I was instantly intrigued.

I found out truck a 1964 Chevy Rampside and was part of something called the Corvair line, which had never heard of before. Luckily, Tulsa has it’s own Green County Corvair Group (GCCG), who were on hand to help explain to me the history of the unique and limited line of Chevrolet’s.

“The Corvair was Chevrolet’s idea of an economy car,” said Jeff Peterson of GCCG. “They are rear engine, 6 cylinder. were made to compete with the Ford Falcon, the Dodge Dart. It was Chevrolet’s idea to build an air cooled engine and put it an in an economy car.”

The Chevy Corvair’s name comes from the combination of Corvette and Bel-Air, two Chevy models. It was produced from 1959-1969. In that span, just under 2 million of them were sold through the country.

Every Corvair ever produced had its engine built into the back of the vehicle. That included trucks, vans, and both the two door and four door sedans.

Despite a strong start, by 1966, the Corvair was already on its last leg. Chevy focused its attention on the Camaro and let the Corvair phase out in 1969.

However, for a decade, Chevy had automobile that was completely different than almost any other vehicle during that time frame.

That has made the Corvair a prized possession for car enthusiast like Peterson.

“I just love it because they are fun to rive, economical, fairly inexpensive as a collector vehicle,” Peterson said. “They are not hard to work on. So it really is an enjoyable vehicle to own and drive.”