<VV> Corvairs Gone Bad

[Charles Lee]

Here is a link to perhaps a "too honest" advert ?

www.ForeSightSoftware.com\1967MonzaForSaleHemet.htm

After a similar horror story, I didn't want to the same thing to someone 
else, so ...

I made a similar trip, over 600 miles, for a 64 Spyder that I said I wanted 
to drive home, and drive to work for a week before I could do anything at 
all to fix it, and he said no problem, and no rust.

Car was layered with 1/4 " of concrete dust, rusted into the ground around 
her, and it took a large truck to get her loose.

Rust on ALL seams from headlights to windows, NO floors, and would not even 
turn over.

It did have the promised KH wire wheels, but the lower (submerged" halves 
were rusted through the chrome and the tires would not hold air.

So, maybe my 67 isn't so bad ?  Maybe the ad (see link below) was TOO honest 
?

Check the pix and tell me how you would react to it ?

I rescued her from the crusher several years ago, from a guy who "wuz gonna" 
restore her, but his wife had other plans for his free time, apparently.

Some pix make her look cherry, and some make her look worse than she really 
is, what would you say ?

Just for comparison - want [pix of some other part to make you sure you 
don't want to buy ?



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ken Maxwell" <kobramax at insightbb.com>
To: <virtualvairs at corvair.org>
Sent: Friday, May 13, 2005 5:55 AM
Subject: <VV> Corvairs Gone Bad


Hi Gang!

I have enjoyed reading the horror stories of Corvair deals that sounded good 
but ended up bad. I have had several experiences since I decided to get a 
Corvair after a 20 year hiatus back in the summer of 2001.

1. 66 Turbo coupe - first car I looked at, advertised as needing a little 
work. Drove 200 miles to see it. It had no carpet, remote mirror was 
missing, tele-wood wheel wouldn't work, hood had been replaced and wouldn't 
close properly, trunk floor rusted out and muffler missing. It did run 
pretty well but I didn't drive it, the brakes were very mushy. It was priced 
right at $2,500 but it was more "little work" than I wanted.

2. 66 Corsa coupe- advertised by a dealer 300 miles away for $4,000. Said it 
was a cherry and that I could drive it home if I wanted. I towed a dolly 
with me just in case. The car had a MAACO quality repaint over rust, the 
interior looked like Jack the Ripper had got hold of it and I couldn't get 
it to drive around the block, much less back home. The dealer was mystified 
that I would turn down such a jewel, proclaimed that I would be back (no 
way)!

3. 66 Turbo coupe - a "Corvair Guy" advertised as a solid, good running car, 
just needing paint and reassembly, wanted $3,500. I drove 350 miles with 
dolly for this one. The body was horrible, much rust, the interior in his 
basement wasn't worth carrying up the stairs and when we finally got the 
heap started the smoke filled up his attached garage and spilled into his 
house setting off the smoke detector! I made him a pity offer of $1,500 
which I thought was generous but he was highly offended.

4. 66 Turbo coupe - I bought this car off e-bay and drove almost 400 miles 
with a trailer to pick it up. While it was a loaded example, it was 
extremely rusty (funny how the pictures never seem to show this) and the car 
ran so poorly (off a gas can) that we had a real hard time getting it up the 
ramps and on to the trailer. I paid $3,500 an later sold it for $1,000 less.

5. 69 Monza convertible - I bought this car sight unseen from New England 
for $4,500. Was a low mileage car with nice options. Due to my previous 
experiences, I was very careful the get lots of photos and I made three 30 
minute phone calls to ask all of the relevant questions. My main concern was 
rust, especially in the rockers. I was assured that the jambs were nice and 
the doors closed easily. I had the car shipped to Louisville and found that 
the rockers were so badly rotted that the doors would barely close! I was 
afraid to lower the top for fear the car would fold in half!

I have purchased several other Corvairs since 2001 that were as described 
and were good deals. I got a very nice 66 Corsa coupe with air for $4,500, a 
decent 66 Corsa convertible for $3,000, a very nice 66 Turbo Corsa for 
$3,500 and a 69 convertible for $500!
The main thing is "buyer beware". Always assume that the car is not as nice 
as is described and that it will need much more work than you planned. 
Generally, I have found that it is much less expensive in the long run to 
pay a higher price for a better example than to get one cheap and try to fix 
it up. For me, the body and paint are the most important things, followed by 
mechanical and then interior.

Ken Maxwell
Louisville, KY
(2) 69 Convertibles (one rusty, one dead)
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