Judson Supercharged: 1964 Chevrolet Corvair Monza Convertible
The first generation Chevrolet Corvair (1960-1964) was the car caught in the crossfire when a young lawyer trying to make a name for himself decided to take on the auto industry. Don’t get me wrong, the auto industry was no paradigm of virtue and the combined effects of tetra-ethyl lead and air pollution is something that society is still recovering from…but the Corvair was a victim in Nader’s relentless political maneuvering, a fact only exacerbated by GM’s strong arm response. But the bottom line is that Detroit wasn’t going to produce anything as innovative as an air cooled rear-engined compact after the beating it took over the Corvair. Find this 1964 Chevrolet Corvair Monza Convertible offered for $12,200 located in Cincinnati, OH via craigslist. Tip from FuelTruck.
When Corvair shopping, the one you want to get is the 2nd gen (1965-1969) which has more power and a better non-lift-off-oversteer prone rear end…but sometimes you stumble on a 1st gen that has a few things to offer — for instance you could only get the 8-door van, pickup and wagon in first gen…and in this case you get a sweet vintage supercharger.
Under the rear hood is a 110 horsepower 2.7 liter flat-6 that is boosted with a vintage Judson supercharger for 25-50% more power. Brothers W. Haddon and Charles Judson of Collegeville, PA first started making superchargers for flat-4 aircooled Volkswagens, but eventually started making the plastic sliding-vane charger for Corvairs, MGs, you name it.
See a cooler classic ragtop? tips@dailyturismo.com
I had a new "63 Coupe, but to my mind the "64 is the best looking of the Gen I – which i prefer over the later Corvairs. Significantly, the '64 also tamed the rear axle "problem"that gotNader raving. I went aftermarket with rebound straps on my Coupe.
I had a new "63 Coupe, but to my mind the "64 is the best looking of the Gen I – which i prefer over the later Corvairs. Significantly, the '64 also tamed the rear axle "problem"that gotNader raving. I went aftermarket with rebound straps on my Coupe.
Awesome find! The real star of this ad is the Judson blower. They are an elegant design and like hen's teeth to find. It is too bad nobody has revived the product.
I think the gizmo on the firewall that looks like a jar of creme soda is a "Marvel Mystery Oil" inverse oiler/dispenser (see link below) I like how the V-belt turns 90 degrees on these engines.
4.bp.blogspot.com/-9A5QyE1mjiI/T3KJG-_gnnI/AAAAAAAB2TU/JRHJpSnXxBs/s1600/DSC_0130.JPG
If your cream soda looks like that…you might want to back off on the rum!!! Black cherry soda?
Looks like a jar of maraschino cherries
DT – Mr Wells must be from the St Louis area. 'Round those parts cream soda IS red. I grew up there and haven't lived there in 30 years but clear cream soda still looks weird to me.
From Peacham, VT: These cars are starting to get more respect it seems.
$12K for such a really nice example seems as if they still have room to rise.
As I recall, Judson superchargers were regular as full-page ads in Car and broader interest magazines like Popular Mechanics and Popular Science.
I seem to recall many of the ads were for VW's, but Corvairs and UK cars like MG ring a bell. Cool to see one still going.
You had all kinds of creative aftermarket blowers back then. You had a couple different flavors of Roots, you had the Judson and…uh, there was another one common in Brit-car applications…vane blowers, and then you had the truly jet-age Latham.
Now, mind you, they all sucked through nasty little 'carburetor' things, and every last one o' those designs could make 50% more HP with EFI and modern sensors.
Shorrock.
Mr. Kwong, I wonder who ended up with patent rights for the Judson. I imagine that with the help of a CAD system and a CNC a guy could crank out a batch of these without too much of a problem. I would bet you could find some people interested in making it worth your while.
Did I not comment on this one yet?
Sure the Marvel oiler is there to try to keep the Judson vanes from wearing out. Someone, somewhere, has produced a DXF of the Judson vane design…if not, someone buy me this car and I'll reverse-engineer them.
My preference would be for one with a real roof, though.
thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=561365
I think I could do these for $40/set + shipping and be profitable.
Late to the party I know, but can anyone speak to the claim that the suspension in these, a bit dodgy though it was (especially when you ignore the tire pressure spec), was similar in design and handling to Porsches of the time? The '65-'69 body is my favorite design of that whole decade. To my eye it was so distinctive and yet restrained compared to much of the design language of the day. Really lovely lines.
The Corvair started off with a swing-axle, the following is the best dynamic illustration I've seen of swing-axle tuck-under:
youtube.com/watch?v=LR9BbcmbrVU
(just found this series earlier today, and it's seriously impeded my ability to get any work done)
'60-63 had a 'pure' swing-axle, '64 added a compensating-leaf underneath to keep the axle from tucking too far, '65 introduced an all-new semi-trailing-arm rear suspension similar in concept and in some details to the C3 Corvette.
There were many other swing-arm rear suspensions, Beetles had them through '68 ('67 for autosticks) at which point they went to something very similar to the '65 Corvair.
There were many creative 'fixes' for the jacking/tuck-under problem, the most aggressive being the Mercedes 'low-pivot' design that moved the entire diff to one side, put one telescoping 'homokinetic' (CV) joint in the middle, with a pivot dead-center under the joint.
Re Merc low-pivot swing axle:
mbzponton.org/valueadded/maintenance/swingaxle.htm