The Newest Corvair

Well, it isn’t actually the newest still in existence - that one resides in the Corvair museum in Michigan - but it’s the newest one I’ve ever seen. The last four digits of this 1969 VIN are 5927. That’s out of only 6000 built the last year of Corvair production. This car was finished on May 12, 1969 only two days before the last Corvair rolled out the door. Long before this day, all assembly had been moved off the line and into a special room at the Willow Run assembly plant, so this car could almost be considered hand-built like a Rolls-Royce or Bentley. There’s some great history on the building of ’69 Corvairs at this link.

As I posted a couple weeks back, I came upon this Frost Green (paint code 59) Model 500 at the Corvair Ranch’s Open House. The enthusiastic owner was quite willing to share information, and I was quite willing to listen. He told me how he’d found the car in a town just north of Pittsburg sitting in a garage where it had spent a considerable amount of time out of action. He went on to say it had all its original bits and pieces when he hauled it home including the dog-dish wheelcovers. Sadly, one fell off soon after he’d gotten it back on the road, so the Pep Boy’s wheelcovers are only temporary. The engine that was in the car had some issues, so Corvair philanthropist Pete Koehler helped him out with a surrogate until the woes are addressed on the original. He had been fortunate enough to find the elusive build sheet tucked in the bottom springs of one of the seats. Out of all the Corvairs I’ve torn apart, I’ve never found a build sheet. Maybe someday.