Santa Clara Street Sighting - 1963 Chevrolet Corvair 95 Rampside

It's the first day of a new year, when we look forward to the potential for great new things. In the spirit of going forward, today's feature is a forward control Chevy Corvair 95 Rampside pickup.

Oakland Street Sighting - 1962 Chevrolet Corvair 95 Corvan

One of the first 100 street sightings featured here was a 1963-65 Chevy Corvair Greenbrier, posted in 2010 but actually spotted in spring 2009. From that point on, the only Forward Control Corvairs I saw were at car shows, museums or otherwise on private property. Then I stumbled upon this early Corvair 95 Corvan in Oakland. It would be nice to complete the set someday with a Loadside or Rampside pickup, but until then I'll be happy with what I've seen.

Alameda Street Sighting - 1966 Chevrolet Corvair Corsa Turbo Convertible

There are already a lot of Corvairs on here, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. The Chevrolet Corvair is a fairly unique car, and a customized Corvair is even more so. This one is perhaps the most unique factory specification as well, a turbocharged 1966 Corvair Corsa convertible.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1969 Chevrolet Corvair Monza

Some of my readers by now might be getting sick of Corvairs. Honestly, I've seen a lot of them in San Francisco, and the vast majority to date have been the higher-spec Monza edition. Most have been convertibles, primarily second-generation models made after 1965. So it makes me very happy to see something different. In this case it's a Monza coupe, but not just any coupe. It's a 1969 model. Only 6,000 Corvairs were built in the final year of production, of which 2,717 were Monza coupes.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1965 Chevrolet Corvair Monza convertible

I have a certain fondness for cars with terrible reputations. Maybe it's something about the way that dependable and safe cars tend to be boring. That's probably why, to date, I've only featured one Honda. And so, we take another look at a favorite automotive whipping boy, the Chevy Corvair.

Best of the Rest 1: San Francisco Corvairs

1961 Chevrolet Corvair sedan

1962 Chevrolet Corvair Monza coupe

1964 Chevrolet Corvair Monza coupe

1964 Chevrolet Corvair Monza convertible

1966-67 Chevrolet Corvair 500 coupe

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1965 Chevrolet Corvair Monza convertible

Second in this week's trio of red convertibles is a 1965 Chevrolet Corvair Monza drop-top. Most of the Corvairs I've spotted in the city have been first-generation models, so a second-generation example is a nice change. As far as I know, it belongs to the same collector who owns the green 1963 Corvair Monza coupe. It's one of only a few Corvair convertibles I've seen outside of car shows or museums.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1963 Chevrolet Corvair Monza 900

When searching for interesting old cars on the streets, I love finding obscure makes and models. But if I can't find an obscure brand, I'll settle for an oddball model from a well-known make. So I hit the jackpot when I ran across a collection of Chevy Corvairs, the only mass-produced rear-engined, air-cooled American car. For now I'll be focusing on the oldest, a 1963 Monza 900 coupe. It's the third Corvair I've featured, and the second Monza.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1964 Chevrolet Corvair Greenbrier Sportsvan

While browsing the archives, I noticed that I had a few old vans to post. So, this week is going to be Big Three Vintage Vans week.

Rounding out this week's Big Three Vintage Vans series is a 1964 Chevy Corvair Greenbrier Sportswagon. Perhaps the most homely, and also the most unconventional, the Greenbrier was a Corvan 95 cargo van with side windows and passenger seats. Introduced in 1961, it beat the Dodge A100 to market and came out at the same time as the Ford Econoline. It was direct competition to the existing Volkswagen Microbus as well. And, like the VW, the Greenbrier was no powerhouse. Equipped with a flat-six, the Corvair produced 80 horsepower to motivate that heavy-looking body along. Considering that the Microbus used a flat-four making only 51 hp at the time, the Corvair was something of an improvement. Still, a decent straight-six '64 Econoline would probably blow its doors off.

San Francisco Street Sighting - 1961 Chevrolet Corvair Monza 900

Name me a car available today with a rear-mounted engine, rear-wheel-drive, manual transmission and sporty performance.

You said Porsche, didn't you? Understandable. Now, let's add "available with four doors" to the criteria. Narrows things down a bit, doesn't it?