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1963 Chevrolet Corvair Greenbrier Is No Hippie Ride, But a Flashy Custom

The 1960s are known for many things, from the Vietnam War to assassinations. All of them had a saying in the creation of the hippie movement, a counterculture phenomenon that took over most of the decade.
1963 Chevrolet Corvair Greenbrier 12 photos
Photo: Mecum
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Hippies, as the people embracing the movement came to be known, are in turn famous for a lot of things, from calls to make love, not war, to the decadence of Woodstock. They’re also known for their rides or, to be more precise, a certain one called Volkswagen Type 2, or Transporter.

The German-made people mover became the favorite means of transportation for people in need to travel between protests and concerts. It’s unclear how many of them got converted to wear psychedelic colors and flamboyant decorations, but it must have been enough, because even today, whenever the phrase hippie van is used, the mind immediately flies to these VWs.

Seeing the success of the model, American carmakers tried to copy the recipe, hoping to join the fun. Chevrolet was among those to do so, with something called Corvair Greenbrier.

Designed as people-movers with six to nine windows (or as a van, because such a variant was on the table), the Greenbrier enjoyed a fleeting success, running for just four years, from 1961 to 1965.

That means not many of them were made, and obviously, even fewer have made it to our time. Finding one is thus not only difficult, but also a reason for celebration, especially when dealing with a custom one.

That’s exactly what we found on the lot of cars being sold by auction house Mecum in Glendale, Arizona, in mid-March. A 1963 Corvair Greenbrier that stands proud as a result of a frame-off restoration, packing a 3.8-liter Monte Carlo engine, rated at 200 hp and tied to an automatic transmission.

The transporter’s California Orange body rides on a rebuilt suspension system, independent at the rear, and 18-inch chrome wheels. The interior comes in tan, holds Auto Meter gauges, and a rear entertainment system.

Mecum is selling the Greenbrier with no reserve, and no estimate is made as to how much it is expected to fetch.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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