Saw this on the way home from the gym yesterday... which is pretty remarkable. Not the car, the fact that I went to the gym for the first time in 3 months and didn't pass out on the treadmill.

Thanks, ß®@ƒƒ! Now let's listen to a catchy little tune from our favorite HB band:

But there are some cars that are perhaps worse, though less known. You wouldn't want to get rear-ended in a certain generation of Ford Police Interceptor, and you wouldn't want to be the passenger in a beaten-up Hertz Mustang in the hands of the inexperienced. What car do you consider to be the quickest path to cashing in your life insurance?

Imagine my excitement, driving to Lee Johnson Chevrolet's 75th Anniversary Car Show, coming around the bend and laying eyes upon a confusing yet rousing and mystical sight. They lined the cars up on the front row by the street?? That's more then I expected! 30's to late 60's Chevys braving the elements (rain in Seattle? NEVER!) and showing off their wax jobs. Not by the usual standard of bling and shine, but here it's a measure of your water beads! There were about 32 cars in all, members of the three North Western chapters of the VCCA (Vintage Chevrolet Club of America).

Most were unhappy about the rain but as a conversation went:
Me: "I'm amazed and excited that the cars are still out! In SoCal, it clouds up and everyone scatters like cockroaches!!"
VCCA member: "Well if we did that, there wouldn't be any cars shows!"

Thanks for the bravery!

Car notes:
Nova 400 Conv. sadly no 400 in it... BOO!! flat 6 with 180HP I believe
75 Caprice had a real 400 with a Malaise 150HP.... HOW was that all the power it had? Sad, but the car looked so cruisable!
53 Vette is number 125 of only 300 made

914 owners often talk about the 914-6 when that starts-with-a-V car manufacturer is brought up. Yes, if it has a Porsche emblem on the hood and a six-cylinder engine in back, it's got to be a real Porsche, right? Not so fast, though- what if you were to put a Volkswagen six-cylinder in your 914? What would you have then? We're not sure, but you'll be sure to come up with an answer to that question soon after buying this 1974 Porsche 914 with Volkswagen VR6 engine (go here if the ad disappears). Yes, someone has gone ahead and swapped the VR6 engine out of a '93 Corrado into a Porsche 914, then slapped on a fiberglass body kit for good measure. Don't worry about the quality of the swap, because the seller assures us that a "30 year professional" (professional beekeeper? bathysphere repairman? ocarina player?) did the work; however, you should be aware that this project "needs alot, but its a great start." There's no cooling system, but you'll sort that out right after you figure out where to put the fuel tank. Hey, how about adding the supercharger off a G60 Corrado while you're at it?

When you hear the name "Porsche," what comes to mind? Aside from Ferdinand's ripoff of Tatra's patents, that is? That's right, you think of the 911 (and its identical-looking sibling, the 912)! So why beat yourself senseless trying to get a crazy engine-swapped 914 working when you could just as easily push a crazy engine-swapped 912 project up that infinitely high mountain? And we're going to make it even easier on you by giving you a shot at a 912 with an engine using the same boxer-six configuration as the Porsche powerplant that fit just fine in the 911. That's right, we've got a 1966 Porsche 912 with a turbocharged Chevy Corvair engine (go here if the ad disappears) for you, and the price is only four grand! You'll have to spend some time fixing the rust "underneath," then get to work on making the engine run again. And no worries about getting a Powerglide, because this car comes with what must be the Porsche 5-speed and perhaps an adapter plate from JC Whitney.

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Anyone who doesn't like the idea of a 50-year-old front-wheel-drive German car that looks like a Thunderbird and gets its motive power from a three-cylinder two-stroker... well, you've come to the wrong website! And since the rest of you presumably want to walk the walk in addition to talking the talk, we've got just the project to fill that empty space in your garage and create an even emptier space in your wallet: this 1958 Auto Union 1000 SP, which is currently sitting at a nice friendly sub-$2500 price, with no reserve. This is one of the most complete 1000 SPs you're going to find in North America, but as the seller says: "There are likely many missing parts." But haven't you always wanted to take a parts-shopping trip to Germany? Travel tip: airport security personnel frown on brake drum and carburetors in your carry-on baggage. The engine doesn't run (of course), and there's rust, and the upholstery has "exploded" from sun damage, so you'll never run out of things to work on! Thanks to MadHungarian for the tip!

It's tough to out-cool an Auto Union, but a Corvair van with a 70s custom job might do the trick... especially if it's a chopped, shortened Corvair van like this one from 1963. And the price- why, it was only $366.01 at the time of this writing, and that's with no reserve! It's hard to tell from the photos, but this thing may be designed for the driver's head to protrude through the sunroof, Rat Fink style (which means it needs a 5' long gearshift lever for the full effect). Now, the same busybodies who bleat about games of Midnight Drunken Lawn Darts being unsafe will no doubt point their bony puritanical forefingers at this van and tell you that a vehicle with super-short wheelbase and a six-cylinder engine in the back is a deathtrap. Pay them no mind- what this van needs is more power, preferably courtesy of an engine that will make Corvair purists hate you even more than they hate R***h N***r! How about the hairest, most hyperboosted Subaru six possible? Before you can get to that point, however, you'll need to deal with the rust. Lots of rust. Then you'll need to get custom glass made, because it seems to lack a windshield and (probably) door glass. And, of course, you'll need to get the most bongtastic 70s black-light interior money can buy, for reasons too obvious to get into here.

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Had just installed my car into a dent'n scratch-while-u-wait multi-storey car park, in Colchester (Britains oldest recorded settlement, fact fans), where I came across this here poorly photographed Corvair soft-top.

I have an exceedingly wondrous top-o'-the-line cellphone with a 5 megapixel camera. Tragically, while I still own it, it's current location is somewhere in the vicinity of Tokyo station. So, rather caught in the heat of the moment with a rare car (for the UK) snapping opportunity, I was forced to use whatever tools I had at my disposal. Enter my bottom-of-the-photographic-heirarchy Motorola with 0.3 (count 'em) megapixels.

I am aware that the results would have been better if I had sketched the car rather than photographing it, and that in this case the photos are worth nowhere near a thousand words. This 'Vair appears to be a daily driver. Is very well preserved, doesn't appear to be a show-queen.

And I want it.

There are so many questions and not a lot of answers. (Thanks to he of the D Mr. UDMAN) [DACC]

We like turbocharging, of course, and everyone knows we like Corvairs. Since it goes without saying that the Funk Factor of the VW Type 2 is quite high, combining a turbocharged Corvair engine with a '71 VW Bus... well, how can you resist? And hey, the seller only wants 950 clams for it! OK, killjoys, skip to the part in the description that says it hasn't run since George Herbert Walker Bush was president, and don't forget to wring your hands over the spark plug that got blown out of the cylinder head. The rest of us will overlook those quibbles, as well as the rust-through around the windshield and go straight to the good stuff: '65 Corvair Corsa turbocharged engine, with limited-slip diff, and a whole bunch of spare parts.

Some of you may be hesitant to get a Type 2, what with the whole patchouli-scented hippie stigma and all. And that's fine, because you'd probably be happier screaming down the road in your high-revving Cosworth Vega anyway! For the earth-shatteringly low, low price of... well, the seller doesn't say, you could get a '72 Cosworth Vega plus a '76 Vega GT! The seller isn't so strong in the written-language department, so we're a little puzzled by the intended meaning of "have kit for 76 from summit." But no matter- not when you could have a two-for-one Vega deal for a no-doubt-cheap trade. Sure, the Vega made ZAZ build quality look rock-solid, and we can't even tell if these cars even have engines, but that's why we call it Project Car Hell, right? Just keep saying the magic word "Cosworth" to yourself and you'll be fine. Thanks to Brandon for the tip!

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If we look at Robert Kubica's recent 75 G crash, it becomes obvious that no one ever has to die in an automobile accident. Never forget what Colonel Stapp taught us: deceleration alone does not kill humans. Years ago I was involved in a horrible accident that was phoned into 911 as "two fatalities." A 6-ton delivery truck going about 45 mph rear ended my buddy's stopped Mazda 323 at a funny angle and pushed us into oncoming traffic where the little compact was struck again by a car coming the other direction. However, both my friend and I were belted in and able to walk away virtually unscathed. In fact, the cops who arrived on scene refused to talk to us because they didn't believe we could've been in the totally deformed Mazda. I contend that if not for Ralph Nader, you wouldn't be reading this sentence, as I'd be dead. Discuss.

For those who love the Bagheera's incomprehensible Frenchness but feel intimidated by the price tag, we've found this 1962 Renault Caravelle just for you. Itching for the Dien Bien Phu-style quagmire satisfying challenge of fixing up a French sports car, with a price of admission of a mere $450? Why, imagine how sharp you'll feel as the passersby do big "what the hell is that?" doubletakes when you drive by in your Caravelle. Of course, you'll have to make it run first; the seller says, cryptically, that the engine is "out of the car." Does that mean it's a nice running engine just awaiting reinstallation, or is is a rusty heap of bent rods and burned valves sitting in the chicken coop? Hell, we sure don't know! What we do know is that the body is complete and both removable hardtop and convertible top are included in the deal. Not only that, but the seller will throw in a "Poss Del," whatever that is.

For those who crave the special feeling that only an automobile sporting an ass-mounted engine can deliver but prefer a Detroit product over foreign steel, this 1962 Corvair Monza 900 could be yours for the amazingly low price of $500. The Monza 900 was the top end of the Corvair line for '62, including all sorts of nice standard features and an 80-horse pancake six engine. Nitpickers might point out that this car doesn't run (the seller states that the engine has been "messed with") and that there's no registration paperwork of any sort (imagine your surprise if it turns out to have been stolen in 1979), but these are the same nitpickers who told you that windshield washer tubing won't work for brake hoses! It includes some vintage-looking mags and the body looks straight; the interior is completely trashed, of course, but large sums of money can readily be turned into new upholstery!

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Someone's grabbed the steering wheel and glovebox lid, but the instrument cluster and plenty of other interior goodies remain.
1960 was the first year for the Corvair; this car managed to weather the Nader era (cursed be his name! saith the Corvair fanatics) and decades of driving beyond that before meeting its junkyard fate.
The air-cooled pancake six is still there... hmm, maybe someone will buy it and put it in a Beetle!
GM had big dreams of the Corvair being their Falcon-crushing economy car for many years to come, but those dreams got Fiero-ized (several Fieros await their date with The Crusher a few rows over from this car).

[Thanks again to Ro McGonegal for the images and tip]

Related:
Mid-Engine Twin Turbo Corvette Super Coupe [Internal]

50 Dollar Paint [rickwrench.com]

Related:
World's Largest Corvair [Internal]

It's a good thing I use a pseudonym, because it's always dangerous drawing the attention of Corvair lovers, even if it's just to share photographs of a surviving street-driven Corvair. Corvairistas possess not only the usual single-minded obsession with their (incredibly superior and innovative! I swear!) rear-engine GM vehicles but a sense of having been wronged by an evil, corrupt cartel. Kept down! Why, if it hadn't been for that commie rat bastid Nader, we'd all be driving brand-new Corvairs right now! In fact, they'd be required by law! Right. Now that we've got my... uh... disclaimer out of the way, let's get right to Down On The Street business: this here is a Corvair 95 van from the 1961-63 era...

In any case, this Corvair 95 has been a fixture in Alameda for decades now, parked on a busy street when it's not at work.

And work it does, because this isn't some coddled vintage vehicle that's just for show- this Corvair is a painter's truck! Not sure how much I like the three-tone paint job and air intake scoops, but the fact that this van's a driver makes that stuff acceptable.

The Corvair 95 van had a grille/headlight treatment similar to its car sibling, though of course it's quite a bit taller. We hope it didn't share the Corvair car's unfortunate spear-the-driver-in-minor-wreck steering column design. Just kidding, Corvair lovers- you can put the pitchforks and torches down!

These are some of the nicest-looking taillights you'll see on a van. In fact, it's a damn shame GM didn't keep this look when they went to the front-engine small van design in '64, opting instead for dreary industro-taillights.

This ain't no poser rack- this van hauls ladders and paint buckets to job sites, by God! In fact, call me crazy, but I'd take the Detroit air-cooled van over the '57 VW Type II that parks a couple blocks away, were I forced to make a choice. – Murilee Martin

Related:
World's Largest Corvair [internal]

[Thanks to Mike for the tip]

The Ultra Van Page [External]

Related:
Corvairs Make the Books in Burbank [Internal]

Well, maybe "bolt" isn't quite the right word, since that listing (from the 1975 JC Whitney catalog) mentions that "some modification to engine compartment" is necessary to fit the GM pancake six into the People's Car. Since getting a VW Type IV into a Beetle is quite the Sawzall job, one can only imagine the rending of metal necessary to shoehorn the much larger Corvair mill in there. But still, the idea of a time when the junkyards were full of Corvair engines and air-cooled V-Dubs clattered down every road seems appealing. – Murilee Martin

HIGH-PERFORMANCE VW ENGINE RE-BUILD KITS [source]

Related:
Unsafe at Any Altitude: Corvair-Powered Plane Crashes [internal]

Corsa West of Los Angeles [corvair.org] ; Autobooks-Aerobooks [autobooks-aerobooks.com]

Related:
Yes, Johnny! Alfa Romeos in Burbank [Internal]

Er, we mean a re-badged Corvair. Still though, as nifty as the Corvair was, it would have worked much better as a Pontiac. After all, what builds more excitement than flipping over? Oh we know, we know. Mean old Ralph Nader said nasty things about the poor little Corvair. And he wasn't alone. Here's what a Pontiac brand manager named John Z. Delorean had to say about the Polaris,

"Frank Winchell, now VP of Engineering, but then an engineer at Chevy, flipped one of the first prototypes on the GM test track in Milford, Michigan. Others followed. The questionable safety of the car caused a massive internal fight among GM's engineers over whether the car should be built with another form of suspension."

That's from a book of his called, On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors. Obviously, the Corvair's propensity for falling on its roof is the greatest thing that has ever happened, because instead of building the Polaris, Pontiac released the Tempest — which sucked — but into which John Z. eventually shoved a 389-ci engine, creating a little thing called the muscle car. Still, would Delorean have felt the need to run off and party like Stevie Nicks start his own company if the Polaris had been allowed to live? We're sure GM brass would have let him add gullwing doors to the mid-cycle refresh. Oh, and below is a picture of Oldsmobile's badge-engineered Corvair clone. Rumor has it that Buick was set to make one, too. – Jonny Lieberman

Swing Away, Eddie! The Corvairs that Never Were [autopuzzles.com]

Related:
Unsafe at Any Altitude: Corvair-Powered Plane Crashes [Internal]

We don't know. We would love to know. But we just don't know. Our hottie investment banker friend in London claims it is based on a Corvair and is named "Stiletto." Which sort of makes sense. And the driver would literally be sitting against the flat-6 boxer, which would be as comfortable as a pair of stilettos. Still, we do love the double-bubble A-pillar less canopy and the pointy death-spikes. We are less than in love with the steering. Still, would we kick it out of bed? Hells no. – Jonny Lieberman

Related:
Jalopnik Late-Night: Your Bitchin' Camaro Moment of Zen [Internal]

Normally, when commenters post awesome links on the site, we let them have the glory. And we are giving commenter rgseidl all the credit for this one, but we had to bring it to the wider attention of our readership. Imagine all of the glory of the Joie Chitwood Thrill Show, crossed with with rank amateurishness, oddball European cars, strange homebuilt specials, a Corvair-engined dune buggy losing a backwards drag race to a Subaru-liveried DAF and a Messerschmitt up on two wheels. Then add the fabulous backdrop of late-'70s fashion and a Dutch announcer who lapses into creepy voices. Top it off with DAFs in reverse crashing spectacularly at Zandvoort and well, this, dear followers of tha Jalop, is a nugget of pure, unadulterated amazingness. This, friends, is the glory of the August 1st, 1978 episode of Te Land, Ter Zee en In De Lucht. Avoid it at your peril. You will be a better person for having watched. We guarantee it's likely to be the best 50-or-so minutes of your day. [/end superlatives] – Davey G. Johnson

Related:
Sir Jack Stole the Clutch! Brabham-Daf Formula 3 Car! [Internal]

We were once talking to a stripper named "Holden," and seeing as we'd been freezing our tootsies off waiting to see a couple of Evos run down the Strip in Vegas, we had cars on the brain. So we were like, "Holden. That's an Australian car." Then she tells us that she really likes old cars and used to own a Corvair. Now what's better than a stripper with an automotive name that isn't "Lexus" in a Corvair, you might ask? How about a Corvairamino with a bed full of strippers? That totally beats a Milan with a trunk full of dead hookers, Austin. [Thanks to Eric for the tip.]

Corminos, Corvinos, Corvminos [The Corvair Project]

Related:
More El Caminos [Internal]

Avalanche looms overhead/Airplane flies overhead/Important man sits by the window/Sucked out of the first class window

We were talking about the greatness of Candy Apple Grey with Jonny this afternoon. We didn't talk about Corvairs, which mostly remind us of a stripper named Holden in Las Vegas we had a wonderful time with last fall. She owned a Corvair. We wish she would've owned a Holden Ute SS. We would've bankrolled her college education. We mostly talked about the Clash and our personal memories of Joe Strummer; we never did bring up H sker D , but when we read about Norman Michaud of the Commonweath of Mass., a man who built an experimental aircraft with a Corvair engine over a period of ten years, we thought of three things — Holden, Ralph Nader, and "Crystal" by H sker D . We'd totally burn him a CD with her picture on it, except that we don't have a picture of her. [Thanks to the T-blt for the tip.]

Pilot Survives Experimental Plane Crash [Yahoo! News]

Related:
Flying Car Spotted in Australia [Internal]