Back in the heyday of American muscle cars, American automakers were not shy about offering odd versions of popular cars. That’s why we have Chevelle station wagons, Ford Ranchero pickups, and the oddest of the odd, the Chevrolet Corvair Van. Did you ever know there was a Corvair van? Well, there was, though few of these vehicles are left today.
[1]John Jackson of NotStock Photography [2] is the owner of one of these rare Corvairs, though it isn’t a show car or trailer queen, but a daily driver. In fact, as you’ll see in this next video, Jackson has racked up over 170,000 miles on his Corvair van in just four and a half years. This remarkable story makes us want to run out and buy a cheap old Chevy and drive it across the country…just ‘cause.
The always-entertaining “Depth of Speed” series by Josh Clason follows Jackson, who is a photographer by trade, as he criss-crosses the United States in a 1964 Corvair van. Built from 1961 to 1965, the “Corvan” as they were nicknamed was a somewhat popular utility vehicle based on the infamous Corvair. Jackson received the van from his wife for his birthday, and has been racking up about 60,000 miles a year as he drives it from one gig to another.
With a top speed of 60 mph and no air conditioning, Jackson is living his dream and earning a living at the same time. As an automotive photographer, it is doubly cool that Jackson drives such a rare, cool car on a daily basis, and his Corvair has been customized with signatures and pictures from his travel. This is another inspiring story about the lives of car enthusiasts nationwide, and Depth of Speed is quickly becoming our favorite web series because of videos like this.