<VV> RE: sick of corvairs

[DSJKLING at sbcglobal.net]

Hi Mike,

If its any consolation to you, I just bought a 1967 
Corvair Ultra Van back in March and am having tons of 
problems too.  It was advertised as "excellent 
working condition" but I'm finding out otherwise.  I 
partly blame myself for being excited but in the end 
I think I got taken for a ride.  It is true, "Let the 
buyer beware", boy did I learn that lesson.  The guy 
touted it as being in excellent working condition, no 
problems except for a crack in the passenger side 
window.  I purchased it on E-Bay which meant I bought 
it basically sight unseen too.  Won't do that again 
without a written guarantee.  When I arrived to pick 
it up I looked it over before handing him the 
cashier's check.  I noticed what looked like a small 
transmission leak.  He said, "Oh, I've been meaning 
to fix that".  That should have been my first clue.  
We drove it and it did run good but I noticed that 
the tires rubbed when turning.  He said, "Oh, that 
because the tires are slightly oversized".  That 
should have been my second clue.  I also noticed that 
some of the guages didn't work also.  That should 
have been my third clue.  But no, I was too excited 
and handed him the check.  Upon driving it home, 300 
miles from Oregon to California, I drove over the 
Cascade range up near Lake Shasta where I encountered 
rain.  The roof and windshield leaked like a sieve.  
When I got home, I discovered the rotted floor in the 
rear under the bed due to the massive roof leaks.  I 
made the mistake of giving the guy the benefit of the 
doubt and repaired the roof leaks and rear floor 
without saying a word to the guy.  While the finish 
on the new rear floor was drying, I decided to look 
into tire rubbing up front, I said tire singular 
because I discovered that only the passenger side was 
rubbing and only when I turned to the right.  I 
jacked the front end up and got in to turn the wheels 
lock to lock.  I turned them a couple of times and 
heard a "Pop".  I got out and to my horror discovered 
that the upper a-arm on the passenger side and 
cracked in half under the upper ball joint.  It had 
completely separated.  The fracture was rusted 
heavily over half of its length indicating that it 
had been this way for a while.  After falling to my 
knees to thank God for sparing my life on the way 
home from Oregon, I decided to figure out what else 
was wrong with the Ultra Van.  I discovered that the 
brake system was full of rust and that copper "ice 
maker" line had been used to replace all the brake 
line front to rear.  The small transmission leak 
turned out to be a massive transmission leak.  
Probably just a crack in the shift cable housing and 
a pan gasket but all the same it wasn't disclosed.  

At this point I decide to contact the seller and hope 
that in the goodness of their heart that they would 
cut me a break.  Seemed like a nice enough corvair 
guy, maybe he'd help me out.  Nope, after 5 attempts 
to contact them, 3 times without even requesting a 
dollar amount, I got a call from his "Legal Advisor" 
and basically told to pound sand. What was decribed 
as excellent became "What do you expect from a 67 
year old vehicle.  Nice guy.  Big life lesson 
learned.  Trust but verify no matter who it is or 
what promises they make. 

I've found with older cars that most people don't 
maintain them properly.  I've also found out that one 
person's "Excellent working condition" is not 
necessarily mine.  I also learned that what is legal 
to do is not necessarily ethical.  You can advertise 
a used car as excellent but if there is no warrantee, 
then it is "buyer beware" regardless of what you say. 

Older cars can nickle and dime you to death until you 
decide to completely go through them.  That's what 
I'm doing on the Ultra Van right now.  Costing me 
over $2000 just to do the suspension and brakes 
right.  I did what some on the list suggested, I 
walked away from it for a while and then came back to 
it.  Now I'm determined to get it back on the road.  
At least I'll know for sure what I have when I'm done 
and with proper maintenance it should give reasonably 
trouble free performance when I'm through.

Good luck,

Dan Kling
1961 Greenbrier Deluxe, 110hp, 4spd
1963 Spyder Coupe, restored
1967 Ultra Van #299    

>No, the guy I bought it from didn't offer a warantee 
>but neither did he present it as a "project" car. It 
>was described as being not a show car but good for 
>local parades and such (which it is) and he said the 
>only thing wrong with it was little rust in the back 
>of one of the rockers. I did start up and drive the 
>car and I've driven around 1000 miles since I bought 
>it and the engine runs amazingly well. I'm not 
>saying I was ripped off at all, the brakes worked 
>and the engine worked and the car was fine the first 
>day I had it but then the problems started up and 
>now this valve problem. I was perhaps over confident 
>in the condition of the admitedly old car due to the 
>sellers reputation but I understand it is an old 
>car.