1963 Chevrolet Corvair Monza Spyder Convertible

1963 Chevrolet Corvair Monza Spyder Convertible Additional Info:

1963 Corvair Monza Spyder Convertible. In 1963, Chevrolet's term "Spyder" referred to the turbocharged motor, not the roof. This one is however, also a convertible with the glass, not plastic, rear window. Odometer reading may not be accurate.I bought this Corvair from a seller who claims the motor was completely rebuilt 5000 miles ago with the addition of electronic ignition for reliability. I can see no reason to doubt this. However when I took delivery it wasn't running as well as it should have, so I bought a brand new rebuilt Carter carburetor from The Carbmeister and installed it, now it runs absolutely great and has proper power. The motor also leaked quite a bit of oil at delivery, but that turned out to be mostly coming from the oil pan gasket. I removed the oil pan and found one bolt had sheared off. I drilled it out, put in a helicoil, and replaced the pan. I used Clark's Corvair silicone gaskets (oil pan and valve covers) and those leaks are no more.The car also had no functioning emergency brake. When I removed the rear wheels I found a completely frozen e-brake cable, and as a result, no e-brake equalizing bar on one wheel. I was able to source a correct 1963 bar and bought a complete new rear cable from Clark's, and while I was at it, put new shoes and all new springs on the rear wheels. This car stops very well and you can park on a hill again!The car also came with a straight pipe exhaust, very new looking head pipes, which did sound interesting, but was just too loud for me, so I put a new pipe from the turbo out and new muffler, all factory correct, and now the whole exhaust is new or newer and quieter, but the turbo muffler is very non-restrictive so performance doesn't suffer.Those of you who are saying "factory air was not available on the turbocharged motor" are correct. This is because the 1963 condenser was a huge box that bolted to the top of the motor, right where the turbo and carb are. The guy I bought this from had a fleet shop and had his mechanics add AC using all 1963 correct brackets and parts to move the oil filter and to add the compressor, and using modern condensers with their own dedicated electric fan installed in an ingenious way, added AC including all factory controls and vents in the interior. It blows very cold and may be the ONLY air conditioned '63 turbo Corvair in existence. They even found all the correct 1963 relays and vacuum solenoid that ups the idle speed when AC is in use to avoid stalling, so this is really factory air. He also used a modern compressor to use modern refrigerant, but the bracket is 1963, so if you wanted to you could put a 1963 compressor on, but I can't think of a reason to do this. The AC also explains the conversion to an alternator from the old generator.On the flip side, the heater blower was not working at first. I removed it and found it was a new high output motor from Clark's. It was a simple ground issue, whoever installed it didn't remove paint from the flange, and that is the ground. A wire brush fixed that, now the heater fan blows very hard on high and retains it's 3 speeds.The car has halogen headlights with relays so the wiring loom can handle them, and the backup lights were not functioning, they had been converted to run with the tail lights with a red lens. The wiring from the backup light switch was shot. I installed a new backup light switch from Clark's and removed the red lenses, backup lights work correctly now.This same fleet shop owner had his guys paint the whole car in a new base/clear paint job, not 1963 blue, but a really beautiful blue, I have the paint code if needed, and while working all over and under this car I cannot see any evidence of crash damage and a magnet placed all over the car sticks, there appear to be no bondo patches I can detect. Even the floor pan is solid original steel. The new paint is brilliant, especially in the sun.The top has the optional glass window, and everything works very smoothly. The trunk has the optional carpeting, and has all the correct brackets for a trunk mounted spare which was necessitated by AC in '63.The black interior is in great shape as is the carpeting. Remarkably there is NO old car smell in this car, which I cannot even say about my others. Seat belts have been added using '64 seat belts and mounts. The AM only radio is not connected, someone had a different stereo system in this car that was removed and the radio not reconnected, there is no speaker. One photo shows the instruments with the motor running. The manifold temp gauge works intermittently, I think the wiring at the gauge is corroded because the thermistor checks out. Even when idling for extended periods I have never seen it read higher than about 350, so the cooling fan works great.There is an electric fuel pump which corrects one of the issues often faced on these cars and most usefully, lets the car start very quickly even after sitting for some time. Even though I have had the car for some time, I only drove it rarely. But it always starts right up, idles smoothly, pulls strongly, the 4-speed trans shifts well, clutch is great with no chatter, just a very sweet running and driving car.I have more than one of these and I need room for another car. The blue is my wife's least favorite color. That's why this one is for sale.VERY IMPORTANT: The license plate is a real CA black plate, YOM'd to this car. If the car sells to someone outside of CA, the black plate IS NOT INCLUDED! It alone is worth a lot of $$. I will re-register the car with a standard CA white plate if the buyer wants me to. The car originally came from South Carolina, so I had to go through a lot of effort with DMV and CHP to get this plate on this car.I know this car would do better if we were heading into spring, not winter, it is a really fun top down car to run around in, but I need room. I have a lot invested in this car, so if it fails to sell via this auction, I will place an ad in Hemmings and let it run, we don't get snow here.This is NOT a concours correct car, there are very intelligent upgrades and modifications.NO RESERVE AUCTION. Starting bid may look high, but Corvair prices are on the rise, this is reportedly one of the few American cars millennials seem to think of as cool. Bloomberg recently ran an article stating everyone should buy a Corvair, they are the most undervalued collectible car out there.Not sure if the listing makes this clear, but deposit can be by PayPal, rest of money has to be wired, cash in person, or cashier's check.Buyer is responsible for all pick up and transportation costs. Car may be seen in person by appointment.Any questions, call Tom at 831-601-5772.