The Car Designed To CRUSH The SHELBY GT350? - The Chevrolet Corvair Yenko Stinger 

I've always wondered why, after removing the rear seat, they didn't do an engine relocate further into the cab and make it a mid engine

I began autocrossing back in the 70’s. In those days, Lotus 7s and genuine Cobras were fairly common. There was a guy with a well-prepared GT-350 dominating his class, until somebody showed up with a Corvair. These guys battled back and forth all year long. The Corvair ended up winning the class by 0.27 points out of something like 800 or 900 possible points. The guy with the GT-350 bought the Corvair, parked it, and won the class the following year in his GT-350.

Growing up, my father bought a new '64 Monza Spyder, black on red with the turbocharged engine. This was his fourth Corvair having owned and traded in a '60, '61, and '63. In the Michigan winter, he would tie a rope to the rear bumper and pull us on a bobsled on snow-covered back roads. The traction was amazing, but would occasionally get hung up on snowdrifts. He traded it in the second time it blew a head gasket and scorched the cylinders (as he described it). The replacement was a '68 sport coupe, red on black, with the 140HP engine as they no longer offered the turbo. This was the car I learned to drive a manual transmission in. I also learned that to round a corner on icy roads it was prudent to downshift and release the clutch in order to shift the weight to the front wheels to make it turn! He drove it for ten years and parted with it when the engine threw a connecting rod. He later owned a Honda CRX which drove like a go-kart, but he swore that he never drove another car that handled as well as his Corvairs.

We had a first gen. Corvair station wagon, our family was moving from northern Minnesota to Lakewood, OH. My dad and older brother were driving it across MI, U.P. In a spring snowstorm and when they arrived at the Mackinaw bridge, the car wouldn’t turn, until they chiseled out the frozen slush the built up around the front tires. (No engine heat) Latter we bought the two door with the 102 hp engine (90 hp was standard) one Friday night my friend and I gave ride home to a girl that wanted to get away from her date that had a Ford with police interceptor V8, leaving Rocky River drive-in. The straight road’s he’d out run me, I went toward the lake and took all the curvy streets I could and gained him at every corner. We were sitting with her mother on the porch when he came around the last corner, and smoke was coming out of everywhere on that car. She lived just west of Lakewood Park.

The later Corvair had rear suspension very similar to the Corvette. The best handling Corvairs are the ones converted to small block mid engine power.

I had a 66 monza and loved it. A stinger would be beyond cool to have now

Say it with me it is pronounced “Por-sha” not “Porsh”.

Thank you for a vid that tells the *truth* about Corvairs and Yenkos! I found no errors in your presentation, except for the class that Stingers raced in. As a guy who has not been without a Corvair or Corvair powered car since early 1970, I really appreciated this!

Corvair was a cool car to drive. I learned to drive a 4 speed in a 1967 Corvair 140hp engine. I was 16 in 1971. It was my friend's Corvair and it handled the turns great. On the highway the front steering felt sloppy on center until you hooked it into a turn. I had to double clutch to downshift the shifter was crap. I had to keep the windows cracked open with the heater on because of CO poisoning. Yet, I have fond memories of that car - lots of fun. edit: GM should have put rack-n-pinion steering on the Corvair and Corvette.

Pretty rare piece of GM Yenko machinery. Couldn't keep my base model from spitting the belt off regularly back in the 70s. Fun car though , and didn't feel any less safe than other cars on the road at the time.

I bought a new Corvair in 1968. It was a 500 body with a bench seat, but had the 140 engine, HD suspension, brakes and quick steering with the 355 rear. It would eat 912s for lunch. I put 14" station wagon wheels on the rear and the first Mickey Thompson wide ovals on the front. It was amazing. Sold it when I went into the outside sales business. Always regretted it.

Thank you for sharing this car with others not many people know about it

Nice. I've always known the Corvair got a bad rep. It wasn't nearly as bad as people think it was. If GM had continued with it's evolution we would have had something special. Thanks for this, there's a soft part in my heart for these cars. Had a 64 and I loved it.

love that styling. especially in race trim. imagine a new interpretation of it.

Not in competition with the GT 350. The Shelbys were winning the B production class of SCCA in 1966. As the video says, the Yenko Stinger raced in SCCA class D production. The Shelby's only competition in B production were the older pre-62 283 Corvettes so Shelby didn't face much of a challenge there. Class D had the Porsche 911, the Yenko Stinger faced much stiffer competition.

I took a 65-6 Corvair for test purchase ride, in believe 70s, came up to stop sign and nothing happened when applying brakes flew through intersection. dodging cars in light traffic. When we got back to the seller he pointed out, new brakes were in trunk in boxes. My college buddy brought me along cause he had no knowledge of cars, but he bought it anyway and was happy with it.

I'm in the process of building a Corvair engine for my '65 and hope to get close to that 240-250HP mark - naturally aspirated, of course. Turbos are fun, but add unnecessary complications and fuel system requirements I don't want to deal with. I pushed my Corvair hard, when it was driving and never felt out of control. This engine upgrade will really pep my baby up and give me the power I want - enough to use and abuse. gg

This video popped up in my feed and I have not seen this channel before. This is a great video about a car I didn't even know existed despite being very fond of the Corvair. Excellent work. You've got yourself a new subscriber.

Corvair also had a couple of optional power packages you could order stock from the factory. One was the four down draft carbs, another was a twin turbo with two carbs and also a four barrel with a x shaped intake manifold. They were pretty creative back in those days. 😊😊😊

Wish I still had one of the three I owned back in the 70s, a 65 base, a 65 Monza Conv. and a 66 Corsa 180hp.

It doesnt worry me if it was competitive or not. These later Corvairs are my absolute dream car, you never see them here in Australia. First one i ever saw was on the screen in the movie "Fear"

When I was in college I bought a 1965 Corsa Turbo. It was great fun, with a manual 4 speed. After a few months the headers blew out and with the turbo and all it would have cost a fortune, so my dad suggested we get stock headers and bypass the turbo. It worked. It developed an oil leak so the clutch was bathed in oil. It still worked but not well, but I just drove it, buying oil by the gallon. Then one winter on an icy road it spun out and plowed into a phone pole nose first. The front was pretty mangled, but nothing mechanical was damaged so I kept on driving it. I think my dad eventually drove it to the junkyard. Not proud of what I did to that car. One more thing, I lost my virginity in the back seat.

I never owned a Yenko Stinger, but I owned a '64 Spyder and then a '66 Corsa, both turbocharged. One day, while watching a slalom in a shopping center parking lot, I decided to enter the Corsa. Took the tool box out of the trunk, and ran it with no other changes. One my class, beating a 289 HP Mustang fastback, then became good friends with the owner. The Corsa was a great handling car, wish I still owned it.

I loved my Corvair monza spyder...

I owned 3 Corvair Monza coupes (1963, 1965, 1967). All of them were fun and reliable.

Late 80s...as a young teen one of my 1st jobs was mech. apprentice in a shop...mop boy most the time! lol Got to drive a customers Turbo corvair my boss just rebuilt the carbs, adjusted valves etc. I was super impressed .Had NO idea that little car could move out as well as it did . Actually loved the car, front felt light, drove real nice and the engine sounded killer from inside I wouldnt mind having one today. ALways wondered how long those fan belts lasted though kinda goofy all twisted up Air cooled....little fear of ever overheating. More and MOre I want one...or another early 12v bug.

Always loved these. Too cool

Awesome read boys. I owned a 1st gen with the almost-killed-me swing arms. My intent was mid-engine 327, but gave up on it due to lack of resources. I remember the dash board was cool looking.

Back in 2012-13 I daily drove a 64 Corvair Monza. Everything worked on it and never had an issue. It was sure fun to drive. Except getting even an oil filter to do regular tune-ups took planning because no local stores had any oil filters or basic parts in stock 😂

I owned a 65 and a 66 corvair over the years. Vairy much enjoyed your video and am working my way through your others. One suggestion: try to capture some engine sounds in your videos. All motorheads want to hear what these things sound like.

Thanks for the opportunity to learn more about my Favorite Yenko. The only glitch I seen was you show a picture of a 427 L-88 as what went in the Yenko Camaro. I'm sure he'd put one in the Camaro but that's an Expensive Engine and was not Standard.

Very cool. I didn’t know any of that, thanks!!

I have a 66 in the driveway love this sat so much character. And the biggest problem was people always did the air pressure too high on the front tires and that works give poor handling

These videos are just great! So much great history

Always looked like a Baby '66 Chevelle to me. - When I finished installing the full stiffening roll-cage and 620HP turbocharged V8 in the back seat area, flaring the fenders and adding a designer Whale-Tail, I custom made new nomenclature for the front fenders and trunk sporting the name: *_Turbo-Corvaira_* ...then I awoke, made coffee and thought to myself; "What a dream"

Thanks from England.

My father owned 4 Corvairs. He said they were the best that Chevy ever built.😊

Love my 66 corvair dragged it out of 30year nap.runs great now

I've owned air cooled 911s and Corvairs, love them both. Just a great configuration

Loved my 65 140 hp Corvair. Handling really was phenomenal.

I have always loved this car ever since I first saw one

I'm decent with classic car knowledge and love all things Yenko - but I had no idea he ever worked on the Corvair model - thanks for posting this very educational and interesting vid !!

The standard engine displacement was 2.7 not 2.6. Shocks were changed to Koni and springs were not “Yenko” they were part of the copo package from GM. GM sold an HD suspension package with the Corvair with stiffer springs. Yenko just cut 1.5 coils in front and 1 coil in rear. In 66 Yenko Stingers won 10 divisional championships and in 67 won the National SCCA title.

My nephew is actually rebuilding 2 corvairs rn an 1 works! Im so proud of him an he hasn't even graduated yet:)

As a kid, a friend had a corvair spider. 290+hp, once you got used to rear engine(dif kind of driving from front engine car) was a beast.

Great video of a rather unique automobile!!

As a VW fan they look like America's version of a karmen Ghia type 3 love to see one in person but I'm in Australia so probably won't.. very cool

The Yenko Stinger has grown to be my favorite car and I’ve never driven one! 😂

Once owned YS054… was a GREAT car. I definitely miss owning but it went to a great home with Jay Leno.

My father bought a 63 vert in 65 when I was just a tot. Lots of good memories riding in that car growing up. In the mid 70's he bought a 65 Monza coup to commute to work. A few years later I bought a 65 Monza coup as a teenager and put a set of wide Camaro Rally rims on it with wide Goodyear radials. That car could corner like no other in that era. Fun car to drive and you know that engine is in the back. Drove a Corv-8 some years ago but the car was not very well built. I think the hot ticket would to put a 2.5 liter Subaru STI engine in the back with a 6 speed.

Took my first driving test in one. Back then there was a complete kit available to use your own small block Chevy V8 for a mid-engine conversion. Think it was featured in Hot Rod magazine.

I saw a corvair a few years ago not stock/ sound like it had a smb Chevy tucked in. Very nice rumble while going down the road.

I'd love to have a Corvair. Yenko Stinger or not. They're just cool cars

Yenko chief mechanic Bill Hartley built his Corvair to road race on back road's of western Pa.He made extra money match racing.Don thought he could do customer car's using Bill's car as a test bed. The Stinger is born.

I am 63 years old and I have been an ASE Certified Automobile Technician for most of my life. I think the Chevrolet Corvar was and still is, an excellent automobile. The closest car to a Porsche 911 is actually a Corvair. Both vehicles are the same mechanical configuration. My parents owned one as my grandparents also owned one and I have drove and worked on many. Unsafe at any speed? NOT A CHANCE! Please reply. Dave...

They are such pretty cars.

buddie had one of these, everytime we took a right turn at over 30mph we would get a batman smoke cloud out the back.. Every time i rebuilt one of these flat 6's years later for aircraft, I would think of those moments.

I had a 67 GT-350 which I time trialed. Riding in it gave my wife headaches so I traded it for an Abarth OTS 1000, she totaled it a month latter :( I got a Corvair with 4 carbs, handling package, quick steering and Posi rear. At Northhampton race track on LI I found the Corvair was quicker thru the corners than the Shelby. But coming out of the corners I could open the Shelby up, the Corvair was already at it's red line :( I really wish Chevy had gone forward with the OHC ASTRO concept engine with 2 3 barrel carbs and a the squirrel cage fans.

Awesome vid, thanks for posting!

Nice summary of the Yenko. As a 66 Monza owner I’ve always had a soft spot for the Corvair. Unless you owned and driven one you should keep your poor opinions to yourself. I’ve chased down Gen2 Corvettes before. The Corvette owner was not very happy I rained on his parade. The car would carve a.corner like nobody’s business. I’d die to have one with 220-250 hp.

That is such a beautiful car.

if you look at the silhouette top of the finders all the way to the rear cropping off the roof line of the corvair it is the basic shape of the camaro

Saw a stage 3 one parked the other day and it lead me to this video.I grew up going to car shows with my pops so I knew what it was but didn't know the history, pretty cool car.

I had a 64 spyder👍 fun little car for a 16 yr old

A friend of mine had one for racing back around 1970. Cool car. I wanted a Corsica in 69, but funds were tight and I never got it.

Such a cool looking car❤️

My dad had an army buddy with a corvair, who gave him the opportunity to drive it once. After that drive, he was never invited to drive it again, but Dad always spoke highly of the corvair's handling. 🤣

Chevrolet did make one experimental late model v8 Corvair but the performance characteristics were such there was no way GM was going to unleash that for public consumption. Ted Trevor of Crown Mfg. started offering ‘CorV8’ conversion kits in 1967. Trevor unfortunately did not get a dealers affiliate with Chevrolet as had Don Yenko which why Trevor’s not more well known even though he ordered 15,000 transmission out-put shafts from the factory to build his mid-engine trans-axles. Yes fifteen thousand, that’s not a typo... Mid-engine V8 Corvairs were raced heavily in the late ‘60’s and early ‘70’s from CanAm to the 24hrs. at Riverside. Team Macintosh-Levine won their 1st SCCA race in a Big Block Corv8 at Road Atlanta starting from 17th. The car on the pole was a McLaren. Frank Gardner raced a John Player sponsored mid-V8 Corvair in Australia and won 41 out of 49 races in a single season... Why are CorV8’s not more well known? Carol Shelby hated Corvairs. A Myers-Manx-Crown beat his 427SC Cobra at Pikes Peak in 1966 and any time a Cobra went head-to-head with a CorV8 the Cobra lost. In 1967 Road and Track called the Crown CorV8 ‘A street legal group 7 race car...’ Shelby went on a vendetta and informed all the car magazines if they did not stop talking about the mid-engine V8 Corvair not only would he pull his advertising and support but he would get Ford to pull their’s. Shelby’s threats muzzled the entire automotive magazine community from further discussions about CorV8’s...

During a low time in my life I was forced to buy a very cheap inexpensive car, the lowest price decent running car I could find in 1981 was off a cousin for $250! That was a low mileage (42,000), 20 year old 1961 Corvair 500 Coupe, the most basic with non Syncro three speed trans, 80 hp 148 ci flat six with two carbs. In silver with white roof and silver and blue interior with bench seats. The only repair I had to do over 4 trouble free years was a clutch cable in the first month. After searching everywhere I was given the ph number of a place in my home state of MA, called Clark’s Corvair Parts, where to this day you can find just about anything you need. I also ordered a dual exhaust stinger system that really sounded great. Plus new NOS Delco HD shocks and some cool looking 14” chrome slotted steel wheels I added H50-14 B. F. Goodrich T/A radial tires. That all together added a sporty look and feel. From there I found a 1965 Monza Convertible 4 speed with only 48,000 miles in 84, off the original owner. That was fun while it lasted till I got married and sold in 1989 to build a house. Then my wife and I found a beautiful 1964 Red Monza Convertible 4 speed 110hp, we kept till 2003! But in 1992 I found the best one ever I kept for 6 years and sold to buy a house on The Vineyard. It was a last year 1969 Monza Coupe in dark bronze with gold painted roof and beautiful black interior that looked an felt like a Camaro with a flat floor. That had a PowerGlide 2 speed, but had a 3:42 posi rear. That had only 19,000 miles! I brought that car to the National Corvair Convention in VA Beach, there I took 3rd place with 88 points, plus 2nd place in the economy run. Needless to say I loved those cars! The only car I considered the only one to own with no AC, as all the heat is behind you, plus having floor vents on each side and wing vent windows! Plus the best rwd car in snow! I remember making it to work plowing snow in the 61 coupe I had 4 H70-13 FireStone Town&Country Snow tires on if for the winter, the only serious shortcoming was little heat and no defrosters! Nothing a little Rain-X and plug in aftermarket defroster could not handle, with a couple extra batteries in a box in the trunk that was in the front! Even though it was only 6” off the ground it was fantastic in snow, 6” wet heavy snow and 12” powdery snow. The only other two wheel drive car as good was a 1971 Olds Tornado I owned!

I didn't have trouble driving the older cars but the 65 and up was a nice little car. With a crappy fly-apart engine. To a guy who learned to drive in flathead fords which didn't have problems with abusive driving, the covairs conked out a lot. My days pick-up broke a crank on the way to the coast. My cousin's corvair powered baja bug broke twice. The engine in the van had problems with the block. They just weren't tough enough for farm-boys, without some high class mechanicing.

I built a duplicate stage 2 engine and put it in a 64 Monza coupe that i had. I also modified the suspension and built up a 3.89 posi transaxle. The interior was gutted and a 60 Corvair gas heater was installed. It was an extremely fast Vair. I still have the engine and the heater. The car had been in a flood before i got it. It eventually dissolved.

My buddies dad had a insane corvair when I was a teenager. We took it to Kenny bell (he was friends with Jim bell) and that thing put down over 600hp on the dyno. He hurt alot of feelings with that thing.

GM got the Year Suspension sorted out on the last Generation of Covair..

I had the opportunity to drive the 4 speed 180 hp Corsa. It was fun

Some dude had one in college. Never saw the driver but i would see the car all over ft.collins CO when i was delivering pizza

Hey there's a early model mid pack at 6:43 a well sorted early model can be a real sleeper.

Enlightening!

Thanks for this . Always liked them..

Chevy built a couple of dream cars in the late sixties called the Monza GT. They would be a good baseline to build from.

It was nice that you didn't give any acknowledgment to that guy who help set back the American car industry. After the problem with the early Corvairs was solved, we would have been on track to compete against the Japanese cars.

This car is a long ways from being a Shelby

My friends father had a convertible corvair with a supercharged 327 in the backseat area. It was an insanely quick ride but keeping the front-end on the ground was a major issue. There would have been so many challenges to make a road track worthy V8 model Corvair come to fruition especially in weight distribution. Think about this for a second the pancake 6 cylinder block like the Volkswagen bug engine was made out of magnesium which is far lighter of a material than a cast iron block with cast iron heads. The handling dynamics of the car with a V-8 are sketchy at best, unless in a straight line and Yenko wasn't looking for a quarter mile machine. On a side note the Corvair originally was to receive a rotary engine. It would have been interesting to see what craziness a tri rotor setup like what is done with many RX-7s would have been like but GM scrapped the idea based on Emissions and MPG issues. Oh well, maybe someone will build a barn find with a rear mounted Mazda swapped rotary just for giggles.

My brother had a 66 Corvair with a 4barrel quadrojet carburator on each side of the engine..I think it was called a spider but I don't remember what horsepower it had

That is an awesome car .😊😊😊. Corvair are great cars and that one is the cream of the crop!😊😊😊

Had a 64 turbocharged Corvair. Rear axle kept pulling out of the differential.

What a beautiful car.

I'm a Ford guy but even I will admit that the Yenko Stinger was a good looking car. Mean and purposeful

Gen II Corvairs had the same suspension design as the then current Corvette Stingrays. A transverse leaf spring center attached to the transaxle. Gen Ii was an amazing car, but by then Nader had done his damage. And then there was the fan belt issue.......

i seen a Corvair with a 396 in it back in late 70's.

I had a red 65 Corsa turbo 4 speed in 71. Was a fast and great handling car for it's time. Wish I had it now but probably wouldn't fit in i!!

I owned a Stinger sure wish I had not traded that one in for something less.😢😢😢😢😢😢

It's often asked why Yenko didn't modify the Stinger to be mid-engine. According to Car & Driver back in the day (when I read it regularly), there were a number of racing car folks who looked at mid-engine car designs, and decided against them because only super-gifted drivers could handle a truly neutral car - the over & under steer that most were used to in front or rear engine autos were physics that you could work well off of, and could intuitively understand. W/neutral cars at high speed, it was easier to over-correct and unbalance (spin) the car. Some actually tested this. It's a shame that GM threw up their hands and gave up w/the Corvair due to the Nader thing - and Nader chose the Corvair to pick on because it was designed unlike any other Detroit car. What could have been. I owned two, and wish I could have my last one (a Corsa) back again,

i love these cars bloody cool

I love the later corvair 2 door, supercharger/turbo 6 cyl

A friend of mine had a John Fitch Corvair, that I got to drive once. AWESOME handling. The guy my friend bought it from also had a Porsche and said the Corvair would out-handle the Porsche.

nice video

A modern corvair would certainly be interesting

Chevrolet did the same thing to the Fiero. Being super light a tuned 6 cylinder was faster that the Corvette. Oh can't have that, bye bye Fiero. Insurance was ghastly too.

I read somewhere that the Corvair was the first production turbocharged car. ?

From certain side profile angles it looks like an el camino