(first posted 4/6/2015) Most Corvair owners tend to own multiple Corvairs; in fact, as often as not, said owners are “Corvair exclusive,” meaning that they collect as many different variants as their bank accounts and garages will allow. Therefore, the Rampside pickup is a popular aspiration. As much as I love the idea of owning a Rampside, the realities of ownership include accepting the fact that the occupants’ front legs will be among the first objects to reach the scene of the crash. It bears reflection.
Besides, I already own one Corvair and that one is enough for me, which assuredly ensures my outlier status in the Corvair community. Regardless, I can appreciate the Rampside from other vantage points than its driver’s seat. Volkswagen camper vans aren’t too uncommon, nor are pickup campers, but a Corvair Rampside camper van is. It seems like the perfect size for a camping couple, and it’s sure better than a tent.
Aside from a relative lack of power, Corvairs are relaxing highway vehicles as well, because the engine noise is low (sometimes too low when attempting to take off with a manual transmission and no tachometer) and there is no engine heat pouring into the cabin. Only the constant concern of hitting something can spoil the ride.
I’ve got a bit of a paranoid streak, so this Rampside is not on my list; however, if you are one for whom ignorance is bliss, it might be tough to beat this relaxed and easy going camper.
Nice vehicle !! I saw one like it at a car show in The Dalles , Or.
Very nice indeed ! .
If you’re worried about safety , any old vehicles are permanently off your ownership list .
I owned a 1961 Corvair 700 Coup , a nice little car IMO .
-Nate
Given my lineup of vehicles, overall safety sure isn’t a concern…
I just “feel” safer with a hood of some sort in front of me…it tricks me into thinking I have a chance in an accident.
Manufacturers got the message: American models over the years moved their engines forward, increasing hood length, the Ford E-series doing so twice. The ugly Nissan NV goes even further.
Every since the seminal Alco RS-1, American roadswitchers have had a short hood between the cab & frame end. I don’t know why this hasn’t been std. practice in Europe.
Because maybe the Europeans know to stop at a train crossing when the signal lights go on and the crossing guard comes down?
Seriously, when reading about trains crashing into cars on the tracks, it’s pretty sad how most folks who get hit didn’t seem to get it about train crossings. Maybe they should call them”Darwin crossings”.
That’s what makes me nervous about talk of high-speed trains, but even if they eliminate level crossings, there’s the danger of sabotage.
Japan’s Shinkansen have had an amazing safety record since the Sixties; no accident deaths at all!
Alco RS-1’s through RS-3’s usually ran long hood in front, but later Alco’s and the EMD GP’s most often ran short hood in front. The beauty of the road switcher was that it really didn’t need a turn table at the end of every line.
A few VW van owners have added extra crash protection with crash bars added to the front or a roll cage inside the driver’s compartment.
Parking damage protection isnt a help at high speed but of course high speed is impossible in VW vans
The spare tire mounted on front of the Bus is a proto-airbag! Yes, I’m kidding!
That’s the one thing I find disturbing about an otherwise wonderful article: The insane obsession our society has with safety, and the complete unwillingness to take any kind of risk anymore. We, as a society, have completely lost the willingness to take a chance anymore, to put our chin on the line in any way, shape or form. You can’t even get on a bicycle anymore without putting a helmet on.
All on the chance that someday, somewhere, you MIGHT be in a collision. Maybe. Read the odds, think back to when you were in your last collision. Can you remember back that far? Yet you won’t get in a car unless: a. Its huge and a tank, or b. Its equipped with a bazillion airbags, automatic braking circuits, frames that will fold in a certain way to insure one doesn’t get as much as a bruise.
And this from the society that went to the moon 45 years ago. The only way we’re ever going back is if somebody first terraforms an atmosphere onto it, ensures that the spacecraft can never malfunction on the journey, and pads the landing zone to the point that nobody gets a bump upon landing. And that’s only assuming that we file enough environmental impact statements first.
Yeah, I’m ranting. I’m also watching the death of the attitude that made Americans what they become. Now they’re too scared to get out of bed.
We’re getting old, aren’t we?
FWIW, isn’t there some chart or table or theory someone came up with that sums up risk vs. reward vs. cost? Something rattling around in my mind explains the “why” this nation or societies in general are risk-averse. If this makes no sense, blame it on Monday.
FWIW, I like Corvairs – the newer models.
The IIHS is a primary driver of safety improvements these days. And their goal is to reduce claims costs.
Respectfully, I certainly hope you’re not implying I’m a pansy because Rampsides give me the creeps. My five old cars have lap belts, non-collapsible steering columns, and single-channel master cylinders. One has a three-speed on the column with non-synchro first. Only one has power steering, none have power brakes. I sometimes weld while wearing sandals.
I agree that Americans have become perhaps too safety conscious, but I grew up without bicycle helmets too.
My car has chef’s knives duct taped to the wheel just to spice things up.
Nah, not really. It’s OK to think about your safety. It’s not only you who will suffer if you get a steering column through the heart.
3 point belts, headrests and collapsible column and side bars in doors along with safer gas tank/location is good enough for me, at least in around town driving. Bicycle helmets, the kid in me says no thanks, but the local law says yes, please.
I understand what you’re saying but when there are relatively easy ways to reduce significant risk it makes good sense to utilize them.
Accidents are the 5th leading cause of death in the US. That’s not insignificant.
When I was single, I didn’t care so much so long as I had a safety belt.
Now, I think about what I want my wife and kids to be driving in. Then I think about all of the inattentive, texting drivers out there.
And then decide that I want them in the safest vehicle possible! People drive 50 in a 40 just a block away from my house – if you get T-boned at that speed, it isn’t pretty and often is fatal.
“…all of the inattentive, texting drivers out there.”
Is this perhaps an unintended consequence of all the safety technology: keeping stupid people in the gene pool that would have otherwise culled themselves out of it?
“obsession our society has with safety”
Ummm.. they call that common sense, Syke. Apparently you were absent the day they covered that topic in kindergarten. Fyi, your “rant” was incoherent apples and oranges nonsensical blather. However.. Newsflash!! Walking to get your mail is a risk. Getting out of bed is a risk. Life is a risk. So why take unnecessary ones just to have a thrill?? You see Syke, obviously foreign to you, the object of life is to prolong it as much as possible. Who knew? Your family and loved ones would kinda like to see you around a little while longer I’m sure.
You are 100% correct, Syke. Americans have become soft, and those disagreeing with you are the proof.
As we speak there is a global pandemic that has killed over a half million Americans to date and we are discussing the dangers of going for ice cream in a Corvair pick up. Really?
I learned to drive on many 40s and 50s cars. Of course there were no seatbelts, which was a “shame” as the one accident I was in (my mother was driving) my little brother hit his head on the windshield.
I don’t know when (or if) Corvairs got collapsible steering columns, but as a driver I’d be more concerned about being impaled than about having my legs “shortened”.
They got collapsible steering columns in ’67, like every other GM car. The only Federal equipment they never got was the column-mounted ignition lock. As almost everybody knows, GM had this in 1969, a year ahead of the madate.
Since they knew the ’69 run would only be a partial one, they didn’t bother.
Yo dawg! I heard you like boxes, so I placed a box on your box (Van), which has a box(er)!
Ba-dump-pshhhhh!
For whatever reason I love these Corvair based pickups and vans.
Nader did the American consumer a great disservice when he demagogued this chassis, it had real potential.
By the time Nader’s book came out in 1965, the Corvair vans and pickups were already history. They simply didn’t succeed in the marketplace against the more conventional Econoline. The lack of a flat rear floor was probably the biggest negative.
But there’s no question that they are a much nicer driving vehicle than the crude, front-heavy Econoline, Chevy Van and Dodge A100.
The Mini did more to kill the Corvair than Nader.
The rear engine configuration was dead even before the Corvair went into production. Front engine/front drive was way more space efficient, as even the Citroen 2CV demonstrated, but the Mini and Renault 4 really maximized space efficiency and rendered the Beetle obsolete.
Every manufacturer making rear-engine cars dropped them over the years until they were almost all gone by the late 1970’s. VW persisted in Mexico and Brazil, but Wolfsburg was fully committed to the Golf and its derivatives. Of course, there was the Porsche 911, but even it was in limbo by 1980.
There was no point keeping the Corvair with its unique drivetrain in production any longer than GM did.
The Mini, which sold in the US in mini numbers, had essentially zero impact on the Corvair.
What killed the Corvair was the Mustang. The Corvair Monza was the first domestic compact sporty car, and it sold very well. That cause Ford to create the Mustang, which then blew the Corvair out of the water, for pretty obvious reasons (long hood styling, V8 power, etc.)
It was the front-engine rear-wheel-drive Mustang and other pony cars that killed the Corvair, even if they didn’t handle nearly as well.
FWD was essentially irrelevant in US domestic cars until the late ’70s. And in Europe, conventional RWD cars were still very popular until the the mid-late 70s too.
Space efficiency was not a thing in the US until about 1980 or so.
Why didn’t Nader attack motorcycles as well? Medical personnel call them “donorcycles.”
Does it really matter? Why must every discussion about the Corvair revolve around this stupid book?
More like: you really had to ask?? Doh!
With its low step on the side, the Rampside seems ideal for this sort of small camper application.
It’s unfortunate that the Corvair 95 Greenbrier and Rampside weren’t successful. GM found out, very quickly, that the market for the Corvair wasn’t the practical, useful demographic, but the more upscale, sporty consumer. They quickly adjusted the Corvair lineup accordingly, eliminating the Greenbrier, Rampside, and Lakewood variants once the more traditional (and considerably more boring) Nova came online. Soon enough, all that was left for the Corvair were the 2 and 4-doors (hardtops, both, of course) and convertible.
It’s interesting how GM completely abandoned the small, ‘cab over’ pickup, yet Chrysler and Ford soldiered on with it throughout the rest of the sixties with the Dodge A100 and Ford Falcon Econoline E100. The Rampside, with its rear mounted, air-cooled pancake six, would seem to be an ideal configuration, particularly for eliminating the excessive heat that made it into the interior compartment of the other two.
Of course, there were other compromises, the worst being a two-tiered load floor, instead of being completely flat.
Ford, Dodge, and Chevy each kept compact pickups in their lineups for the duration of their initial model runs* – but Chevy had to abandon the Corvair-based compact trucks earlier, for the reasons noted here. They were never big sellers for any brand and no doubt remained in production only to amortize the tooling costs.
Not sure why Detroit ever thought they would be popular. Even in our densest cities, we don’t have the kind of clearances that encourage compact trucks. We’re also not big fans of working trucks with integral beds, as Ford proved with the ’61 F-150. And given the choice, most of us would rather have a hood in front of whatever we’re driving.
Ironically, the rampside was the one model that offered something different, and valuable. Even though we also ran a Chrysler-Plymouth dealership, we had a Rampside at the golf course we operated, to shift greens mowers around the course.
Love this camper, very curious to understand how the interior layout works.
**…a two-tiered load floor, instead of being completely flat.**
According to this photo I took at a car show last summer, it was actually a three-tiered floor.
Here’s the rest of it.
That is a cool little set up. I like it. I was always a little nervous about a hard hit in the front of my 65 & 66 VW vans. The Corvair seems it would hold up a little better, there is some extension in the front, similar to a Vanagon, which are actually much improved over earlier versions.
Did anyone else notice what seems to be an strange radio/ashtray configuration on the dash panel? The ashtray is in the upper middle of the dash, with the radio being hung underneath, the opposite of what is almost the universal placement. Is the underdash radio pod a separate piece that was only installed when a radio was used?
Seems extremely odd that GM would configure the dash in such a way. Of course, with the extreme cost-cutting that went on with the Corvair, I guess it makes sense. Back in the day, I guess an AM radio was considered a luxury in utilitarian, pickup/van type work vehicles so they scrimped on the few pennies it would take to have the dash stamped for it, then have to use a block-off plate when it wasn’t ordered. I mean, hell, it doesn’t even look like it has door armrests (the absence of which was a pretty standard practice on pickups for decades).
Radios in trucks were not that common in the late 50s when this was designed. For that matter, the Corvair sedans have the same arrangement. It probably made sense from a production standpoint. Just hang the whole thing below the dash. Actually, it makes access to the radio very easy.
While all true, there’s one important area where this sort of radio placement is a complete fail: aesthetics. Hanging the radio underneath the dash in a separate pod just doesn’t look nearly as good as when it’s incorporated into the dash from the onset. It give the dash an unfinished look and probably wouldn’t be so bad except when the ashtray is placed exactly where the radio should be.
Maybe if they’d have put some sort of nameplate or air vents in that location and put the ashtray elsewhere. But as it is, the ashtray sticks out like a sore thumb, being right where the radio (or something else) is usually placed. It’s as if they’re saying, “Sorry, no radio, but here’s this nifty ashtray, instead!”.
1963
Radio: Optional
Ashtray: Standard
2015
Radio: Standard
Ashtray: What do you want an ashtray for? You’re not one of those dreadful cigarette-smoking people, are you? Shame on you!
Ordering air conditioning on a Corvair yielded two modules, a radio below the dash in an extra pod, with A/C vents and controls in another module below and to the right of the radio. Except I don’t think it was a factory option in the vans, just the regular car Corvairs that weren’t wagons.
I had no idea.
Believe it or don’t, but my parents had an air conditioned VW Bug. I think the condenser was under the front with electric fans, and I don’t see where it would fit in the engine compartment anyway.
I’m sure the extra weight, power consumption, and heat were not helpful in the rear of the Corvair.
Ha….guess where I found an article on Corvair AC?
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cold-comfort/cold-comfort-1962-chevrolet-corvair-factory-air-conditioning/
Wow, I’ve never seen this, and I’ve actually spent some time inside one of the Corvair-based Ultravans. This looks like it might be a little quicker on it’s toes than the clearly overworked Ultravan.
I need this
Great looking period piece, and the colours are just perfect for it.
Thanks Aaron!
The Corvair “trucks” are another example of how the engineers and stylists overruled the accountants back then. This thing had to cost way more to build than the Dodge equivalent. Just look at the huge curved windshield and quad headlights.
After GM accountants did an intervention, the replacement Chevy Van (and GMC Handi-Van) went completely the other way with a flat one piece windshield and a 90hp (down five from the Corvair) four cylinder engine.
That’s a great ad! GMC’s ads were among the most colorful throughout the early ’60s, but by ’65, they went right down the tubes; for the second half of the ’60s, almost nobody’s ads were more boring.
I drove a Volkswagen Westphalia van, then a Honda N600 for many years. All I can say is that once I started working Pediatrics at a Level I trauma center I became a much better driver and a fan of airbags.
This might well be my ideal camper. Usually I am not a fan of those big van-like campers. This however would fit the bill. Volkswagen T2 size but so much more likeable. Perfect for two persons.
I’m surprised the camper body isn’t extended further forward over the cab to provide a bed in the usual place. Was the Corvair too narrow for a adequate adult sleeping accommodations? The short extension over the cab is deep enough for cabinets, but the window would seem to rule that out.
I still miss mine. It took me to Ensenada, Monument valley, and even brought our newborn son home from the hospital. It was my DD for about 4 years. designed and built the camper myself. Circa January 1981.
Here’s another shot.
Fellow, Wrencher,
I did the same with my ’59 VW pickup. Built it in ’68 and drove it nonstop from Oregon to New York.
By then the engine was a little weak. But the replacement used engine I bought was worse. So . . . off to the scrapyard.
Sorry, no photo
Hi Norm,
It’s nice to know you could build a shell for your VW. Ours served us very well, and we had a full size mattress that fit perfectly between the rear wheel housings. I installed a flat floor deck all the way to the rear of the cab which gave us a bit of storage for our camping gear.
We eventually sold it about 1984 to a guy in San Jose, sadly never saw it again. We have always wondered if it is still out there somewhere. It was the last of a long line of Corvairs, and was replaced with a 1973 LeMans wagon with a 400, Turbo400 tranny and dual exhausts. But that’s a story for another time!
” the occupants’ front legs will be among the first objects to reach the scene of the crash”
But their rear legs will be fine. How many do they need?
All of them, of course.
If you ever seriously ridden motorcycles as daily transportation, then you have a much higher acceptance of hazard than the general population. That doesn’t mean that you are reckless or careless, just that you are comfortable accepting that “something bad” could happen to you. Ride skillfully and with heightened awareness and the chances of that “something” occurring can be reduced substantially. This acceptance of hazard also occurs with people that engage in “risky” sports, like skiing, snow boarding, and skydiving. Driving around in an old production car or hot rod might not be so frightening.
Everyone has to find their own comfort level, though there is now no way to eliminate every risk in life. I’m not encouraging anyone to engage in foolhardy activities, reasonable safety precautions just make good sense.
When I was an instructor in the Calif. Motorcycle Safety Program we were instructed to never encourage anyone to ride a motorcycle! Our position was that if the party chose to ride a motorcycle, then we would give them the instruction to make them as safe a rider as possible. I rode everyday for over thirty five years, but it’s been over ten years since I straddled a machine. I find that my level of hazard acceptance has been decreasing over time. Or maybe I’m just getting older.
Thank you Mr. Delgadillo ! .
When I wanted my son to begin riding Motocycles @ 12 Y.O. I didn’t want him to learn any bad habits from me to I took him to Iron Horse training and he became a far better rider than I ever could be .
After 50 + years and two “fatal” Moto accidents & two years in a wheel chair I still ride , I don’t seem to be able to stop…
-Nate
Grew up riding an old barrel racing horse, rode Honda 3 wheel ATC’s, dritbike and later a 1000cc streetbike. I’m not worried about my legs being crushed if I get into an accident. They make prosthetic legs anyways. Ever had a horse bite, kick, step on your foot, or get bucked off one? I wouldn’t worry about a corvair despite what that goon Nader says…
Found an article showing the camper restoration and interior.
https://www.truckcampermagazine.com/camper-lifestyle/10-vintage-camper-restorations/