1961 Corvair wagon: awesome at any speed

1961 Corvair Wagon
You see the occasional Corvair. You don’t often see the wagon version, because Chevrolet didn’t make a lot of them. Here’s one for sale on Craigslist with an asking price of $9,000 or best offer. From the ad:

Up for sale is a 1961 Chevrolet Corvair Lakewood station wagon 700 series. These are the lowest production Corvair ever produced, only being in production for a year and a half. This wagon is a blast to drive! It has been updated with 1964 corvair front and rear suspension (rear traverse leaf and front sway bar). It also has front disk brakes to make stopping a breeze. A list of other modifications and upgrades follow:
-recently rebuilt power glide transmission
-new rebuilt carburetors
-pertronix ignition and matching coil
-new spark plugs and plug wires
– custom under dash Stewart Warner gauges: tach, vacuum, volt gauge, oil pressure, and oil temperature
– Retrosound stereo with Bluetooth and iPad hookups
-stereo speakers in stock location in dash and two Custom Autosound speakers underneath the front seat
-Custom aftermarket 14″ wheels
-the entire floor pan has had sound dampening material laid on it
– original green tinted glass all around (see details below)
There are a few trouble areas on the passenger rear door and behind the driver side rear door, but overall this is an excellent solid car. It does need door panels to be installed, but I am including a new set of Clark’s Corvair door panels. Also the rear hatched was replaced with a 1962 hatch with out the green glass. I have the other hatch and will include it with the sale.
This car is extremely reliable, I drove it as my daily driver for over a year with no troubles. I have always ran synthetic oil in it and changed it regulary.
May be interested in trades for classic cars, trucks or motorcycles. Either trade plus cash in either direction.
Feel free to ask any questions or for more pictures. Thanks for looking

Someone needs to jump on this longroof.
[Source: Craigslist]

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  1. dukeisduke Avatar
    dukeisduke

    The wagons may have been in production for two years (the 500, and the 700 Lakewood for ’61, and the 700, and 900 Monza for ’62), but the title of the rarest Corvair belongs to the Corvair 95 Loadside pickup (the no side ramp version of the Rampside), with 2,475 built for ’61, and 369 built for ’62.
    The wagons weren’t offered with air conditioning (a/c first became available on ‘vairs in ’61), but I have seen them with a/c added, using the stock underdash unit along with a condenser and electric fan installed inside one of the rear quarters.

  2. CruisinTime Avatar
    CruisinTime

    Sweet example of a woefully underpowered little wagon,with a two speed automatic.

  3. Papa Van Twee Avatar
    Papa Van Twee

    I didn’t know these were made until I saw one at Lane Museum in Nashville. Cool car.

    1. dukeisduke Avatar
      dukeisduke

      We’ve had a few in our club. There was a white ’61 Lakewood with red interior that passed between a couple of club members, and a metallic blue one.

  4. mad_science Avatar

    Seller’s about $4-5k high for the spec and condition. These aren’t all that rare in SoCal and it needs a decent pile of work. Even when it’s “done”, it’d still be miserably slow on anything other than neighborhood streets.

    1. Jeff Glucker Avatar
      Jeff Glucker

      I feel like a Subaru STI engine would be a great swap into one of these, if you could make that work.

      1. kogashiwa Avatar
        kogashiwa

        Or turn it into a mid-engined Crown Corv-8. You weren’t actually planning to use the load space I hope?

      2. dukeisduke Avatar
        dukeisduke

        I guess that could be possible, depending on what direction the Subie engine rotates.

    2. dukeisduke Avatar
      dukeisduke

      I’ve driven one – they’re not terribly slow, even with a Powerglide. They will do 80 on the freeway without too much fuss. Just a lot of noise.

  5. salguod Avatar

    I remember seeing a red Corvair wagon at Good Guys several years ago in nicer shape for less than half the price. I think that was a ’62 Monza, maybe even a stick.

    1. salguod Avatar

      10 years ago and it was a ’62 Monza 4 speed. $6K in 2006.
      http://www.salguod.net/gallery/good-guys-2006/gallery/1962_chevy_corvair_monza.php

  6. nanoop Avatar

    Wagon Wagon Wednesday Wednesday on on Hooniverse Hooniverse !!
    http://hooniverse.info/2016/10/12/for-sale-1961-corvair-lakewood-longroof/