Corvair Camper

Chillin’ in our 1964 Chevrolet Corvair Corvan camper at the drive-in movies.

While the Chevrolet Corvair might be most famous as the vehicle Ralph Nader killed, which is not true, they also have a history in the world of camping. Many know of the speedy, fun cars with the Corvair name but the vans and pickups, also in the Corvair line from 1960-65, don’t have as much notoriety but do have a place in the world of RVs.

For those who don’t know the Corvair was essentially brought out by Chevrolet to compete directly with Volkswagen, who was actually making real inroads into the American passenger car market in the 1950s. Of course that was unacceptable to the Detroit “Big Three” (GM, Ford and Chrysler) so they all laid plans to come out with their own small cars in 1960 and did so with the Corvair, the Falcon and the Valiant, respectively.

A year after its introduction, Chevrolet’s Corvair line grew appreciably from just having a two- and four-door sedan to also including a wagon, a van and a pickup. The Wagon was called the Lakewood in it’s inaugural year and the van was available as the Corvan, a cargo van, and the Greenbrier, a passenger van. The Pickups also had two variants, the Rampside with a big ramp on the side and the Loadside which did not.

Almost immediately companies jumped on the bandwagon to offer camper kits for the Corvan and Greenbrier and drop-in campers for the Rampside pickups.

Chevrolet, too, offered camper kits that the dealer could install in the Greenbrier van which included a bed that covered the rear-mounted engine and various forms of kitchen depending on the year.

For ’61 they offered a dealer-installed camper kit for $485 in their “Complete Guide to Custom Features for the Chevy Corvair Greenbrier Sports Wagon.”

Hanging out with friends at a car show enjoying the dining table in the Corvair Corvan camper.

The camper kit consisted of a sofa that stretched from behind the driver’s seat back to the engine compartment along the long driver’s side wall in the passenger area. This sofa could be converted into two single beds or a double bed with the help of a bolster cushion. Under-sofa drawers supplied storage space as did two cabinets over the rear wheels, one with provisions for hanging clothes and the other with shelves for food storage.

The area over the engine was reserved for loose Coleman accessories such as a #5402-731 Picnic Stove, a 7 gallon Coleman Cooler, a 1 gallon Coleman drink jug and a kitchen counter with silverware tray. Curtains were included for complete privacy when camping as well as many other custom features. There were also a shelter kit (like an awning), window screens, luggage rack, table and under-seat drawer.

From 1961-65 the car top sleeper accessory was 6 1/2 feet x 4 feet and 33” high when extended. It featured a 1/4” plywood base that had enough from for either a 3/4 size double mattress or two 24” x 72” air mattresses which could actually remain in place when the unit was folded down for driving. The unit was fastened to the roof via the drip rails and also suction cups and came with a folding ladder.

From 1963-64 there was a revised dealer-installed kit from Chevrolet which was $595 but included a full-width kitchen counter behind the front bench seat. This large cabinet included a place for a seven-gallon Coleman Station Wagon icebox, a working sink, silverware drawer and additional storage.

There was also a skinny cabinet which ran along the side of the van which provided hanging clothes storage along with sliding doors at the back for additional storage. This is essentially what I owned but installed in a 1964 Corvan instead of the Greenbrier.

My van had jalousie (louvered) windows installed in the driver’s side wall and in the doors on the passenger side. The rear bench seat folded down and became a bed and there was a padded section on the driver’s side where you could also sit.

I loved taking this van to the car shows as it had a table in the back so you could sit there and hang out while everyone else baked in the sun or had to bring an umbrella or other shade. While the van was definitely temperamental on most days it still ran well when it decided it wanted to run.

Peggy and I also decided to actually camp in it at one point and that’s when we realized that none of the interior rear door handles worked. At all. The only way out was to climb over the front seat and open the doors from the outside. Fail. Remember this was originally a cargo van so I guess Chevrolet didn’t see the wisdom of installing interior door handles in the cargo area, or they were covered by the wood paneling that the original owner put in.

My understanding of the history of my van is that it was owned by a family in Reno who took it traveling all over the place. They definitely made use of the camper, supposedly, and it did work well as a camper. Well, when you could get out.

It had since been sold to a teenager who sold it to a collector who then sold it to me. I got it in rough but not bad shape and restored the original colors with a new paint job and did some other work and took it to car shows all over the place.

In addition to Chevrolet other manufacturers made camper kits for both the Corvan and Greenbrier along with drop-in campers for the Rampside.

Interestingly the drop-in campers for the Rampside pickup generally had you take the big ramp off and used that space for a door into the camper. I’ve seen a few of these at Corvair shows and they’re definitely interesting. You don’t see many of them nowadays, though.

As a collectible car the Corvair is unique in that there’s a huge and passionate group who loves these vehicles. There’s also a company, Clark’s Corvair, that provides almost every part you could need to keep them running at fair prices with great quality. The brand still hasn’t really achieved a huge collectible status so prices for used Corvair are pretty affordable and, with parts from Clark’s, can be made very reliable. They also aren’t bad on gasoline so they’re a nice a great collector car.

And an unusual RV if you can find one.

We called our Corvan Jessica - named after Jessica Rabbit in the Roger Rabbit Cartoon. Jessica Rabbit’s line was “I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way.” Our Jessica’s “line” was “I’m not bad, I just drive that way.” She was a temperamental vehicle that drove when she felt like it and didn’t when she didn’t. Ultimately we sold her in 2015 when we sold our resort as we didn’t think we’d have a place to store a vintage car. Now I really, really wish I hadn’t sold her.

But she was definitely not StressLess Camping so there’s that.

If you want more information on these there’s a page on the Bens Bus website with specific details.

I also did a podcast about the Corvair for the CarShow-Tees.com podcast.