Hot time, summer in the city. Time to hit the beaches in the hot looking turbo-charged Corsa convertible!

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The dark green convertible is owned by Eric Elliott, who took this photograph in 1990. Eric still owns the Corsa, and in 1998, installed a freshly built 180 hp turbo engine. The car is currently undergoing restoration and is being returned to its original color, Madeira Maroon.

One of my favorite memories is the sound of a 140 at the red-line. That's what sporty cars are all about!

When ordered with the standard 3.55:1 rear axle ratio, the Corsa delivered 20 MPH per thousand RPM in its top gear. This meant a top speed of 110 MPH at the red-line of 5500 RPM, a little slow by today's standards. Some owners of the 180 turbo Corsa would select 3.27:1 gears to make the turbo "pull" harder and to enhance top speed. Today, a 5-speed manual gearbox with overdrive is available for the Corvair. It provides greater top speed (provided horsepower is not limited) as well as greater economy at cruise. More information is available in the Links section, under Corvair Parts and Restorers.

Some people go to great lengths to find the right Corsa restoration project car. Guus de Haan of the Netherlands flew to America, found and bought this Crocus Yellow,  turbocharged, Corsa convertible and shipped it home.

After this picture was taken, Guus completely disassembled the car and sent the shell to a body shop for painstaking restoration. During its stay in the body shop, many new parts were ordered, and the engine was shipped back to the United States for a complete rebuild by a qualified Corvair mechanic and then returned to the Netherlands.

According to Guus, his young son, barely visible in the background of the picture, is not yet interested in the car, but it's a safe bet that will change the first time he takes a cruise in the fully restored car with the top down and the engine purring in his ears!

Guus de Haan is an active participant in the Internet Corvair discussion group, Virtual 'Vairs, an excellent source of the type of information needed to complete an accurate restoration. A link to the Virtual 'Vairs site can be found in the Links section.