It’s weird how classified ads line up sometimes. In just a few minutes of searching, I found two cars today by the same manufacturer, for the same price, with the same body style, the same number of cylinders, and almost the same mileage. They’re just thirteen years apart, and have their engines at opposite ends. The coincidence was too good to pass up, so I’m going for it.
Yesterday’s choices had a lot in common too, but the details made all the difference: Carb versus EFI, manual versus automatic. In the end, putting up with a carburetor appealed to many more of you than dealing with an automatic in an underpowered car, and the Chevy Sprint won easily. Many of you, though, said you’d have preferred the Ford Festiva if it had been a stickshift.
I’d take the Sprint as well, but the automatic isn’t what kills the Festiva for me. It’s the motorized seat belts. I just don’t want to deal with them, or go through the hassle of changing them out. Honestly, though, I’d rather have a Metro (or better yet, a Suzuki Swift) than either of them.
I can’t even begin to imagine how many four-door sedans Chevrolet has built over the years. It doesn’t build any anymore, of course, but for a very long time, a Chevy sedan was a staple in American driveways. Usually they weren’t anything fancy, and they rarely got any glory, but they did their job with dignity. Plain or not, these two were probably someone’s pride and joy once upon a time. Now, though, they’re just old, and looking for new owners to give them a nice quiet life in retirement. Let’s take a look at them.
1961 Chevrolet Corvair 500 – $3,500
Engine/drivetrain: 140 cubic inch OHV air-cooled flat-6, two-speed automatic, RWD
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
Odometer reading: 40,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives, needs new tires
Fun fact: My mom’s first car was a Corvair, the same spec as this one, a 500 sedan with an automatic. Hers was light blue, though. Combine that with my dad’s Packards, MGs, Triumphs, and slant-six Plymouths, not to mention the Opel Manta they brought me home from the hospital in, and I guess my love of oddball cars was baked in from the very start. The Corvair was an odd choice for my grandfather to buy for his eldest daughter – he was traditionally a Buick man – but the bare-bones 500 model was right up his alley.
The Corvair is, of course, powered by an air-cooled flat-six mounted in the back, just like a Porsche 911. This will have the basic 80-horsepower version, with a special version of Chevy’s two-speed Powerglide automatic. The odometer shows only 40,000 miles, which may be accurate, considering its condition. It runs well and is drivable, but the seller says it needs new tires. I get the feeling they’re too old to still be safe. And if there’s one car you want good tires under, it’s a Corvair.
The Corvair 500 came with plain vinyl bench seats and rubber floors. This one still has the vinyl, but it looks like someone added carpet to it at some point. I imagine the seats have been reupholstered, too. It looks really nice inside, actually. No one ever added seat belts to it, though; personally, I’d remedy that. I can’t imagine driving a car with no seat belts.
The 500 model also eschews most of the exterior trim that fancier Corvairs wear, and I really like it that way. It’s clean and simple. Someone added door edge trim to it, but that should come off easily. I really like the color of this car, too, and the dog-dish hubcaps suit it.
1974 Chevrolet Nova – $3,500
Engine/drivetrain: 250 cubic inch OHV inline-6, three-speed automatic, RWD
Location: Standish, MI
Odometer reading: 40,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
The Corvair was a big swing for GM, and it sold well at first, but not as well as Ford’s more conventional Falcon. Chevy responded in 1962 by supplementing the Corvair with the Chevy II, a traditional front-engine design like the Falcon. The fancy version of the Chevy II was called the Nova, and as happened later with the Silverado pickup, the name of the fancy version eventually became the name of the whole line in 1969. And everybody has pretty much called them all Novas ever since.
The Nova models everyone remembers are the high-performance SS, and even more exotic versions like the Yenko. But Chevy sold a hell of a lot more of them in this spec, with four doors and the good old “Thriftpower” inline six. I guess it was pretty thrifty for the time, but it was never anyone’s idea of powerful. The good news is that it’s essentially indestructible, as is the Turbo-Hydramatic transmission behind it. This one was daily-driven all summer long this year, according to the seller, and it did great. It also shows 40,000 miles on its odometer, but there’s a good chance this one has rolled over.
The interior isn’t all that different from the old Corvair, actually: a long vinyl bench seat, crank windows, and a simple dashboard. It’s in pretty good shape, but it looks like it could use a good cleaning. It also looks like the rearview mirror needs to be glued back up. It’s just sitting on the dashboard.
I get the feeling this car was fixed up, repainted, and then damaged in an accident. Most of the paint is shiny, but the hood and left front fender look like junkyard replacements, and the grille and rear bumper are missing. The seller says the floors, rocker panels, and rear quarter panels have been repaired in the past, and it looks like it’s more or less rust-free now. Repaint the hood and fender, get a reproduction grille and find a bumper, and it would probably look pretty sharp.
You probably wouldn’t want to daily-drive either of these, and neither one is a valuable collectible. And they’re certainly not performance cars. But that’s no reason you can’t enjoy taking them out for a drive on a Saturday afternoon. Not everything has to be about how fast something is, or how much money it’s worth. Which one would you rather give your attention to?
Nova. I have wanted a 4 door Nova for a while now. They were very common in their time but I never see them anymore. Just seems like a fun car to run errands in on a nice weekend day.
The Corvair, because Corvair’s are cool.
Air cool.
Corvair, my first car was a ’64 Corvair I had to swap engines, my buddy had one. lol Plus it goes along with my “World is Flat” T-shirt. (2 Subaru’s)
Oh, yeah! Corvair! My family and I had rear engine VWs and rear engine Renaults. Feels natural. I worked in high school with a guy committed to Corvairs. It’s a car that deserved a lot more respect! They always intrigue me.
That Corvair may be plain, but it’s a good buy at that price. Needs a lot less work than the Nova, too.
The first car I remember being in was my dad’s Corvair. I used to stand on the transmission hump in the back while holding on to the side of each of the front seats so that I could see out of the windshield. This guaranteed that had there been a crash, I’d have been sent shooting through the windshield to an early end. My dad describes that car as “the worst piece of shit I ever owned”. This particular one just looks to good to ignore, though, and it’s an easy pick over the somewhat skeezy Nova.
Short enough to stand up on the hump but arms long enough to grab on to the sides of the bench seat? I’m thinking some chimpanzee bloodline swinging from that family tree. Lol
Those seat backs were pretty close together.Either that or I just held onto one – it was a rather long time ago, so maybe my memory is off. FWIW, we’re known for short arms in my family, which really screws up your chances for a baseball career.
Is that third Corvair image taken in an experimental Vega-style shipping crate?
Either way, I’d blast off (putter away?) in the Corvair. That Nova needs work before I’ll want it.
Nova!
I’ve always wanted a rear engine car. The corvair looks better than the nova, too. Both death traps, both the same price. Easy choice today.
Getting mad at Nader for pointing out that GM was selling a shit car is the definition of shooting the messenger. You’re even griping about the lack of seatbelts, Mark. The very thing Ralph was advocating for in his book!
I’m picking the Corvair because it is a cool car and dear God is that Nova pug fugly.
I’ve always really liked Novas but the Corvair is the far better and more interesting choice out of these two.
I’d prefer the Nova, but that Corvair is too good a deal to pass up. Slip ‘n’ slide with Powerglide!
I was ready to go with the Chevy II in spite of liking the Corvair more because race car, but it’s got too many doors. Is that Corvair not as clean as it looks or are clean Corvairs really going for that cheap?
After graduating college, my dad worked for Texaco, driving around Texas to audit various oil drilling and other operations in a ’74 Nova company car. He always has spoken fondly of the car as being reliable and comfortable on those long drives to remote corners of the state. Even with that positive experience, he’d agree with me that the Corvair is the obvious pick here.
begrudgingly take the nova. It would have to be a 65 and up Corvair for me to look twice. 74 is the last of the Nova’s with no Cat, and the 69 ish front end treatment. so I guess I would take it. Still seems like too much money. and the mileage could be 140, or 240. the odometers only had 5 digits thanks to planned obsolescence of those times.
Much rather have the Corvaire in general also the condition looks better.
I actually think it looks fine. It’s a really subtle touch, and at least in that tiny photo looks like it matches the door handles and hubcaps well enough. I’ll take it! I’d rather spend the money adding seatbelts to it than to fixing up a Nova.
The Corvair looks like it’s in better condition, so that’s how I voted
I would love to have a Corvair, but it would have to be a stick and Honestly I’d want a later 4-speed Corsa sitting on some BMW Style-5 wheels.
This Corvair is in better condition, but the Nova is a known quantity. Working on the six should be no problem, could probably just get a fiberglass rear bumper and rattle can it silver.
I’m being pragmatic today and going for the car that’s gonna keep going in the apocalypse: Nova.
I love the corvair, it’s got it’s reputation (thanks, Ralph!) but they’re great looking little cars. This one is about as nice as they come as a 4 door, you can get new tires, hop in and enjoy that thing with almost no effort.
Personally I don’t have much love for Novas. I’ve seen so many of them at this point, many of which have been restomodded for the 1/4 mile strips. Chances are that’s where this one will end up too. Not really my thing.
Corvair easy. If that Nova was a 2 door and maybe had a better motor and was in better condition. Oh screw it! It’s not even that close. Someone has kept that Corvair in original and very nice condition.
Corvair, its in great shape. To be honest I want to steal the engine and put it in my VW van. That whole car is cheaper than a new corvair engine.
I know the Corvair is the objectively correct choice, but despite my dad’s love of his, it is one of the 60s cars I enjoy seeing on the road but no desire to own. The Nova is one I have always loved, even if the proportions on the 4-door are a bit off, so it gets my vote (and if I were actually buying it, eventually a big block, T56, and 12-bolt).
Corvair vs a 4 door Nova, in this crowd???
Let’s see if this approaches the level of lopsidedness as the Audis from a few weeks ago. We need to give that one a name for easier future reference.
At first this was a hard decision, until I saw the condition of the Nova. Corvair please