In its final years the once-flawed Corvair had become a much-evolved compact Chevrolet, and a fine driver’s car
Words: Rob Blackbourn with Carl Kelsen and Arlette Pat
Photos: Nathan Jacobs
Given my long-term interest in Chevrolet’s boldly engineered but ultimately ill-fated Corvair, I enjoyed the prospect of checking out the remarkable example belonging to Australian Chev guru Carl Kelsen, that’s located in the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne.
Carl’s Corvair Monza convertible is a second-generation model built in 1965. With the launch of the second-gen Corvairs, Chevrolet engineers had effectively addressed the issues that had dogged earlier models, the first surfacing some months after Corvair’s late-1959 initial launch.
The publication year for Ralph Nader’s book Unsafe at Any Speed was also 1965 – by which time the deficiencies Nader highlighted (in early Corvairs) were part of history.
Progressive improvements over the years, culminating in the all-new, Corvette-style, independent rear suspension in 1965 meant the Corvair had become a unique automobile, a sophisticated hybrid that successfully combined design influences from both the USA and Europe.
Before showing me the Monza, Carl took me to his three-car garage housing a trio of The General’s finest – a 1962 Chevrolet Impala, a 1983 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz and a 2017 Holden Caprice. They all present perfectly and they’re all black. Something of a pattern there …
And the pattern continues as you step into the separate space that houses his recently completed 1965 Chevrolet Corvair Monza convertible. It’s perfect. And black … I kicked off our conversation with a left-field question saying: “Carl, with this being GM-Central, what’s that photo of a VW Beetle doing on the garage wall?”
“My first car was a Volkswagen Beetle and I think that it was mainly because my parents didn’t think that I could afford the petrol for a bigger car or certainly a V8 at 18, so a VW was my first car.
“So, I became quite passionate about Volkswagens and I think that early interest in air-cooled cars was one of the things that ultimately steered me toward the Corvair.”
It turns out that Carl’s wife, Arlette, also figured in the decision to chase a Corvair on eBay in 2004.
Arlette is a serious fan of the styling of the second-gen Corvair that overlays the more utilitarian lines of the earlier model with subtle ‘coke-bottle’ curves.
Arlette has also gone beyond skin-deep involvement with cars – there was a time when Carl returned home after an hour’s break from the task of refurbishing the brakes of Arlette’s 1968 P1800S Volvo to find that she had stepped up and completed the installation of the rebuilt master cylinder. She had the system all buttoned-up and ready for bleeding.
Carl added to the degree of difficulty of the Corvair search by deciding it should be his first convertible.
He struck gold with a 1965 Monza convertible located in West Virginia with only 31,000 miles (50,000km) on the clock, an example that also ticked his other wish-list box – lots of factory options. The long list included Powerglide auto, factory air-conditioning, sports steering wheel, padded dash and power-operated convertible top (most Corvair convertibles came with manual tops). Factory air was extremely rare on convertibles – according to Carl, fewer than one per cent of soft-top Corvairs left the factory with AC.
With a prior engagement in Florida already set up, Carl arranged for his new acquisition to be shipped to Orlando to be stored awaiting his arrival.
Carl wasn’t disappointed with what greeted him in Orlando: “My first impression was that it had a few minor bruises, but that otherwise it certainly looked like a genuine 31,000-mile example, and with some restoration it would be stunning!”
His confidence in the Corvair’s condition was underlined when he and Arlette took to the road to explore a good chunk of the USA on a drive that concluded in Los Angeles where the car was handed over to his shipping agent.
There wasn’t much change out of 9000 kilometres after the two-week journey that explored many southern states before completing an extensive tour of California. The car proved to be up for it, only requiring attention to a minor petrol leak early on and later, an oil leak from a poorly installed oil filter. The petrol leak from a fuel-hose connection was challenging to spot because of the huge AC condenser mounted over the engine.
When the Corvair finally arrived in sunny downtown Melbourne, Carl began dismantling it, a process that was ultimately so complete that Carl and two mates could pick up the bare body to move it around.
The resto was extensive, thorough and very lengthy. What had been a white car with ivory trim emerged afresh sporting a high-gloss black body with red trim. While Carl went right through the transaxle and replaced engine accessories, he judged the engine’s internals to be fine based on its low miles and an internal inspection with the top cover and sump off.
A big part of the task was converting the Corvair to RH-drive. Carl acknowledged that it was a controversial move, saying: “Some purists would argue that Corvairs were never factory-built as RH-drive and therefore a RH-drive conversion detracts from the vehicle’s originality. However, I have restored our Corvair to represent a car that GM might hypothetically have exported to Australia in 1965 as a new car for the Australian market.”
Producing the converted dash and glovebox to its factory-original looking standard proved a huge challenge for Carl, but he pulled it off. I found it interesting that the dash-mounted Powerglide selector reads only ‘R N D L’.. It must have been built just before the 1965 USA requirement came in to play requiring all automatic cars to have a ‘Park’ (P) position that locks the transmission when parked.
The conversion enabled Carl to improve on the one Corvair feature he had criticised – the 5.5-plus turns lock-to-lock, old-school steering box. With no RH-drive factory-equivalent available, Carl chose a late-1970s Toyota Corolla unit. He is very happy with the result: “The low-ratio box just wasn’t necessary for a car with no engine weight over the front wheels. This modern set-up gives about 3.5 turns. So, it’s more direct and quicker and it’s not heavy to steer.”
Although Carl called in help from time to time, he more or less rebuilt the Corvair himself in its current garage – even to the point of assembling and fitting all the upholstery and interior trim items using materials that had been cut and sewn by specialists. Building the support frame for the soft-top ranks as another task he found surprisingly difficult.
The search for correct parts around the globe was quite a job. “Hard-to-find items included remote-adjustable external mirrors, genuine factory AM/FM radio (1965 was the first year for the FM option) and then there was the metric speedo – the Canadian Corvair enthusiast I got it from believed it came from a Corvair in Sweden.”
Our final conversation beside the stunning Corvair was basically about my admiration for Carl’s achievements and his satisfaction with a big job well done – an outcome he acknowledged depended on vital support he received along the way. “My very good friend Peter McKenzie gave me unbelievably valuable support with the build. I believe I have reasonable car skills – but Peter’s leave mine for dead. If I got caught up with something he would help me. His help has been invaluable.
“Then there’s Perry Bekkers who painted it. He is an artist. He did all the metal finishing on the body, and the paintwork. It’s just magnificent.
“Also, I could not speak more highly of a Massachusetts business, Clark’s Corvair. Their customer service was excellent. And when they supply a part, it will be the best example of the part you can get.”
Finally, I asked Carl to suspend disbelief long enough to perhaps show at least a little love for offerings from Ford or Mopar. The immediacy and enthusiasm of his response surprised me: “If I had buckets of money, I would love to add an XM Futura coupe to my garage. In a heartbeat I’d have one of those. And I could happily go for an R or S series Valiant.”
VITAL STATS
1965 CORVAIR MONZA CONVERTIBLE
PRODUCTION: 26,466
BODY: Steel monocoque w/ front and rear subframes – rear-engine/transaxle
ENGINE: 2683cc air-cooled, six-cylinder boxer – two Rochester carburettors
POWER: 82Kw at 4400rpm
TORQUE: 217Nm at 2800rpm
PERFORMANCE: 0-100km/h: 16 seconds (est), 0-400m: 19.5 seconds (est)
GEARBOX: Powerglide 2-speed automatic
SUSPENSION: Independent, double-wishbone, coils, anti-roll bar, tube shocks (f) Corvette-based, double-jointed axles,
coils, lower links, trailing arms, tube shocks (r)
BRAKES: 229mm duo-servo drum brakes (f) and (r)
TYRES: 6.50 x 13 white-wall, cross-ply