Not Found on eBay: 1969 Chevrolet Corvair 500 Sport Coupe ONLY 30 Original Miles

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Not Found on eBay: 1969 Chevrolet Corvair 500 Sport Coupe ONLY 30 Original Miles

Written by Rich Truesdell

Wednesday, 07 October 2009

I don't want you to think that we're turning into Automotive Corvair Traveler but this Corvair for sale has just 30 miles on its odometer.

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It might seem that since I bought my 1965 Corvair Corsa back in August that there's been a lot Corvair content on Automotive Traveler and you would be right. But this listing for our "Not Found on eBay" segment was brought to my attention by a reader in the Phoenix area who saw this car listed on Craigslist. It is one of just 6000 cars produced in the Corvair's final year of production. The two-door 500 Sport Coupe was the most popular model outselling by 55 units the up-market Monza model (2,717) in addition to the 521 Monza convertibles. (In researching the background on 1969 Corvairs I saw that while 6,000 cars were built, calendar year sales totaled 3,103 cars. It seems that a number of owners probably purchased cars in 1970 in anticipation that they might appreciate as collector cars. They probably would have been better off putting the money in an interest-bearing saving account.)

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There's an interesting back story to this Corvair. It seems that this 1969 Chevrolet Corvair 500 Series Coupe was purchased new from General Motors by Pellini Chevrolet of Sebastopol, California. It was never registered and it remained part of the dealership's private collection until it was sold in December 2008. At the same time that it was sold the Pellini family closed their dealership at the end of 2008 after having been in business since 1932. At the time it was the oldest new car dealership in Sonoma County, California. Owner Pete Pellini cited that he made his decision after concluding that the deepening recession and federal bailout of the U.S. automakers did not bode well for car dealers. "I didn't want to wind up six months down the road caught up with an insolvent company that can't honor its commitments and they want to throw me out with the bathwater." In the aftermath of GM's bankruptcy where it shut down thousands of dealerships, it seems that Pete Pellini was quite prophetic and probably made the right decision to close as low volume, small town dealerships were especially hard hit by the closures.

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And now back to this Corvair; it's a base model 500 Sports Coupe with the same two-door hardtop body style as my Corsa. It's equipped with the following options and accessories.

3A67AE--Fold-Down Rear Seat
3L62AA--110-HP Turbo-Air 164
3M35CA--Powerglide Auto Transmission
3P01AA--Wheel Covers
3P19AA--Spare Tire Lock
3P54AA--7.00 X 13 Whitewall Tires
3U638A--AM Pushbutton Radio

It's finished in Frost Green and is trimmed with a complementary Medium Green vinyl interior. It is also equipped with front shoulder belts, front seat back latches, and front seat head restraints. Back in 1969 it showed a bottom line window sticker price of $2,716.25 which translates to about $17,000 in today's dollars. The original window sticker is provided as part of the sale along with the original owner's manual and a letter of authenticity provided by Pellini Chevrolet. This Corvair is still equipped with its original 7.00 x 13 whitewall tires and the owner claims that it still has faint traces of "new car smell."

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This 110-horsepower Corvair starts, runs, and stops just like you would expect a brand new car to do. It's equipped with a two-speed Powerglide automatic transmission so don't expect to win any stoplight grand prix.

It has been stored the past 40 years in a climate-controlled garage thus is very well preserved. It is listed for $27,000 and is currently located in the Phoenix, Arizona area. If you're interested in adding this time capsule to your collection, and we'll put you in direct contact with the owner.

Check out the high-resolution versions of the images above in the Automotive Traveler Image Gallery.

If you find yourself scanning Craigslist or your local classified and see an interesting car, . Provide us the details along seller contact information and we'll review it for a future edition of "Not Found on eBay."