Junkyard Find: 1962 Chevrolet Corvair 700 Station Wagon

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Junkyard Find: 1962 Chevrolet Corvair 700 Station Wagon

07 - 1962 Corvair 700 Station Wagon Down On the Junkyard - Picture courtesy of Murilee Martin Other than the many Corvairs in the Brain Melting Colorado Junkyard, we haven't seen any examples of GM's rear-engined compact so far in this series. As recently as ten years ago, Corvairs were not uncommon sights in self-serve wrecking yards, and trashed ones are worth little more than scrap value today, but it took until a couple of weeks ago and a trip to California for me to find one.
14 - 1962 Corvair 700 Station Wagon Down On the Junkyard - Picture courtesy of Murilee Martin This '62 was parked in the import section of a huge Los Angeles yard, and my first glance at the engine-cooling vents gave me the impression that I was looking at a Volkswagen Type 3 Squareback. Nope!
04 - 1962 Corvair 700 Station Wagon Down On the Junkyard - Picture courtesy of Murilee Martin This one has been picked over pretty well, so we can assume that some Corvairs that remain among the living have benefited from its organ donation.
05 - 1962 Corvair 700 Station Wagon Down On the Junkyard - Picture courtesy of Murilee Martin It doesn't have rust in the usual places that Maine or Michigan residents might expect— the rear quarters are solid, for example— but the floors have suffered from decades of leaky weatherstripping. You'll get weeks of constant rain during Southern California winters, the carpets stay wet, and this happens.
03 - 1962 Corvair 700 Station Wagon Down On the Junkyard - Picture courtesy of Murilee Martin Nice minimalist instrument cluster, which reminds me a lot of the ones in French cars of the same era.
10 - 1962 Corvair 700 Station Wagon Down On the Junkyard - Picture courtesy of Murilee Martin This car still has a few bits to offer up, including the wagon-only glass. Let's hope that stuff gets rescued before The Crusher goes squish.