Last summer I teamed up with Dave Moran to create a gen1 Monza hardtop “What If?” It used the more flowing ‘bubble-top’ style roof, but Geoffrey Flynn just left a comment and this picture at that post, about this actual hardtop conversion.
He says: This type of conversion, removing the door pillars to make an early model Corvair hardtop, has already been done, and it turned out beautifully. Agreed, even if it kept the original roof. I assume it used convertible parts to make it happen. And the de-chroming on this Monza hardtop, as well as the custom dual exhausts are both nice touches too. Not it just needs some different wheels, like some vintage-style Minilites or such.
I usually prefer the second-generation Corvairs, but that’s lovely.
Beautiful!
It’s funny how much better the car looks with the B-pillars removed. I’d love to know the details of the conversion. I can imagine it as really easy or really hard, depending on how much difference there was between the convertible and the 2-door sedan. There would have to be more to it than merely cutting away the pillars and putting in the side glass from a convertible…. Dang! Pretty intriguing. The photography itself is interesting, too. It looks like either the lens was dirty, or the camera’s auto-focus function chose the couple holding hands as the focal point, or maybe a little of both.
I wonder if this even has side glass or whether the pillars and door frames were just cut out for show.
The convertible top has a more squared-off line, so I doubt that convertible windows would fit, at least not without some modification.
That looks unbelievably good. I’d never really thought about “what would make the first generation Corvair look better,” but this is exactly what would.
Looks like it rolled off the assembly line like this. Nice color, also.
I prefer the 2nd gen ‘vairs also but man is this sharp! Agree on needing some more aggressive wheels, that was what I thought right away.
This got me to thinking…the current Challenger, Camaro, and Mustang are just waiting for a clever aftermarket outfit to come along and convert them to hardtops….
They did improve the suspension, though, in several stages. The 1964 Corvair was a bit belt-and-braces, but it was a big step forward.
Very elegant.
One of the reasons why I prefer the 2nd gen Corvair over the 1st gen is that the 2nd has those great hardtops, both 2 and 4 door. You have to wonder why this was never offered but a convertible was.
I will be a minority but I think it needs the rocker panel molding. This particular shot makes me think of a car that started out as a 4 door and got “chopped down” in wheelbase. Putting the rocker panel molding back on would give it just a bit more length…in looks.
I’m not certain how much different in reinforcement there was between the coupe and convertible floor pan (for stiffness), but I figure there’s three different ways of going about this modification:
1. Take a convertible floor pan, add a roof off a wrecked coupe, and then do the necessary modifications to the side glass, etc. This would be the hard way, due to modifications to the rear deck to handle the glass, etc., but would result in the most structurally sound car.
2. Take a coupe, cut out the pillars, add whatever underbody reinforcement is necessary to match the convertible (again, if any), and then virtually have new side glass custom cut to fit.
3. #2, but without bothering to reinforcement the underpan. Which might limit your driving to low speed over very smooth roads.
As much as I’ve read about Corvairs over my lifetime (which is extensive, seeing I’ve been fixated on those cars for over fifty years – I’m amazed I still haven’t owned one), I don’t remember ever reading about specific modifications to the body structure to turn it into a convertible, but the normal rule of thumb is that they’d have to to make up for the lack of structural strength in the roof. And I’m not willing to assume that a convertible was in the planning for the beginning, because the Corvair was meant to originally be a Falcon-style car, not a pre-Mustang. That was fortuitous chance rearing its head.
I’ve never owned a first-gen, but the second-gen convertibles (one of which I do own) have much stronger rockers than the hardtops. First, they’re made of 12-gauge steel (I think hardtops are 14-gauge), and they have a very thick reinforcing rib down the center of the rocker panel that the hardtops don’t have.
From what I’ve read, the first-gen unibody was stronger than the second, but I’m not sure how they reinforced the ‘verts.
In the article a couple of days ago about the Car & Driver comparison of the Big Three cars, there was an advertisement for someone who turned a stock ‘Vair into a fastback – for $2500 – 2700 IIRC.
The corvair started out with an economy car mission, like the Falcon in that respect. Ford did not add a hardtop for a couple of model years. By then, GM had added a wagon and was seriously re-thinking the whole program due to high costs and lackluster sales. So, hardtops waited for the slightly upmarket 2nd gen, having given the true economy car slot to the Chevy II. Convertibles, back then, were popular enough to justify offering one on almost all model lines. Remember, hardtops were a comparatively recent development. In the 1950’s, they were special enough to justify separate model names, “Victoria”, “Southampton”, “Holiday”, etc.
Looks great! I’m wondering why GM didn’t make these as hardtops in 1962 along with the other GM compacts. My favorite Corvair is still the 1965-67 Monza hardtop sedan.
It should have retained the ‘Monza’ emblems..otherwise, nice car !!
First Gen Monza Coupe has twice the glass area of the Second Generation Shamaro by
Chevrolet. ROFL.
Early hardtop conversion. Yes it has window (power of course). Late model suspension which explains the late hubcaps.