With the 1962ChevroletCorvair Truck – and with the other truck versions of its rear - locomotive , atmosphere - cooled Corvair summary automobile – it ’s no doubt what Chevrolet was take at : the Volkswagen ’s Beetle - based bus .
To VW ’s rider - carrier Microbus , Corvair replied with the Greenbrier ; against VW ’s freight vans , Chevrolet set the Corvan ; touch VW ’s heart-to-heart - bed bus pickups was the novel Rampside , with its tasteful , fold - down ramp for easy loading and unloading .
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Compared to the Volkswagen rivals , these Corvair workhorse were larger , faster , far more fun to drive – and ardent in winter . The VWs , after all , were air - cooled machines that relied on a refreshful - aura heater without lover cost increase , barely adequate in the Beetle and totally lost in a van .
Also , as metre went on , Corvair developed horsepower options and performance gearboxes . A 1964 Corvan with 110horsepowerand the four - speeding was a fantastic toy , and the skinny any 1960s truck came to sporty manipulation .
Until , that is , you experienced the early Corvair ’s total and irrevocable oversteer : the tendency to spin around out in turning because of its rear - engine system of weights diagonal and particular butt - suspensiondesign . Driven too tight with an unloaded bed , the hand truck rendering could suffer the same defect , particularly if the owner did n’t followtire - rising prices instructions to the letter .
The Series 95 Corvair motortruck and Greenbrier miniskirt - bus began product in 1961 and changed piffling . The 1962 Greenbrier gain a Deluxe rendering with chrome bumpers , grille and hubcaps , and color - key out inside . Greenbriers be less than $ 2,700 and offer 175 cubic feet of cargo blank .
The most desirable Corvair truck is the Rampside getaway with its fold - down sides and sleek , squared - off cabin . A Loadside pickup with a conventional tailboard also was build for 1961 and 1962 .
Although they avail set out the drift toward vans , were ultra - broken and fun on curves , Corvair trucks were no more successful againstFord’srival Econoline than the Corvair had been against the Falcon . One problem was the bi - horizontal surface trading floor , required to domiciliate an engine in the rear .
One by one they vanish : the Loadside pickup in early 1962 , Corvan and Rampside in 1964 , Greenbrier in 1965 .
Collectible Pluses of the 1962 Chevrolet Corvair Truck
Collectible Minuses of the 1962 Chevrolet Corvair Truck
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