Junkyard Find: Chevrolet Corvair Trucks

Would you believe that we haven't seen a genuine Detroit machine in this series since 2024? Sure, we got a low-production accessible taxi and a Chevrolet-badged Daewoo built in India back in January, but their connections to the Motor City were tenuous at best. Today we fix that, with a foursome of distressed Chevrolet FC95 Corvairs in an old-timey boneyard about 30 miles north of Denver, Colorado.

This is Speedway Auto Wrecking in Dacono, a family-owned yard that is only open on Saturday mornings.

Speedway is a couple of miles east of Interstate 25 and sprawls over a large expanse of High Plains land, with a nice view of Longs Peak to the southwest. There are thousands of American cars and trucks from the late 1930s through middle 1970s here, with a sprinkling of imports and newer stuff mixed in here and there.

The Corvair section is way out in a back corner. You'll need good boots to hike over here.

The Corvairs overlap somewhat with the Chrysler section. I come here for parts for my 1941 Plymouth Special Deluxe project and to shoot junkyard photos with old film cameras.

Some of these cars have been here for 40 or more years. Here's a Dart wagon with a 1978 Rocky Flats Action Group sticker on the tailgate.

Lots of Chrysler flathead engines to be found here. This cylinder head was cast during the night shift, according to the DN indicator.

But today's Junkyard Finds weren't powered by flathead engines, and here's the proof: a Corvair cylinder head photographed with a Kodak No. 3 Brownie box camera loaded with 1971 NOS Kodak RAR 2490 scientific film.

Most of these Corvairs have registration tags showing they were last on the road in the 1970s through 1990s. During the summer, some of them are difficult to access due to heavy vegetation.

Scattered among the Corvair cars and various Mopars are a Corvan Panel and three Greenbrier Sports Wagons.

I prefer junkyards with pumpjacks nearby.

My original plan was to write about just the Corvan, because it had such an interesting career, but I decided to add the Greenbriers because when was the last time you saw three in one car graveyard?

These three are lined up against the fence at the edge of the property.

I've written about so many junkyard Corvairs over the years that I just don't feel like rehashing the history and related controversies surrounding GM's innovative rear-engined compact. Go read Aaron Severson's exhaustively researched article on the subject if you need a refresher.

All Corvairs, including the trucks, were powered by air-cooled flat-sixes in the rear. The Corvair 95 truck family included the Corvan cargo van, the Greenbrier passenger van (which was marketed as a station wagon, though there was a non-van Corvair wagon as well), the Loadside pickup and the Rampside pickup. These were available starting in the 1961 model year, but competition from the Falcon-based Ford Econoline hammered sales. The Corvan and pickups were gone after 1964 and the final Greenbriers were sold as 1965 models.

This Corvan began its life as a work truck for the Run-Nel Electric Company in Denver.

Interestingly, the former location of Run-Nel is now headquarters for the Secular Hub. There's a lot of history in the junkyard, if you know where to look.

It appears that this Corvan was used for semi-secure outdoor storage after its driving days were done.

There's sheet metal over the windshield and front door windows.

The interior is nearly nonexistent.

Hasps on the doors, of course.

It's nowhere near worth restoring, though there are still some usable components.

"For things like these which trucks must carry, Chevrolet introduces three new economy delivery trucks."

Corvair trucks in Colorado wrecking yard.

Corvair trucks in Colorado wrecking yard.

Corvair trucks in Colorado wrecking yard.

Corvair trucks in Colorado wrecking yard.

Corvair trucks in Colorado wrecking yard.

Corvair trucks in Colorado wrecking yard.

Corvair trucks in Colorado wrecking yard.

Corvair trucks in Colorado wrecking yard.

Corvair trucks in Colorado wrecking yard.

Corvair trucks in Colorado wrecking yard.

Corvair trucks in Colorado wrecking yard.

[Images: The Author]

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