Meant to bring a sportier version of the Corvair to the forefront, the Corvair Monza was given upgrades including the first ever factory-offered turbocharger. Image: CarParts.com

When it comes to the most popular Chevy power plants, the obvious choices are a small-block 350 and a big-block 454, but the choices go much further than these two engines. Among the number of power plants that Chevy produced was the first ever turbocharged implement. Known mostly for their appearance in Ralph Nadar’s “Unsafe at Any Speed,” the Chevy Corvair was the holder of this fairly new technology. But as the first article of the “Turbocharging Pioneers” series by Car Buzz points out, this information has been unfortunately lost among many enthusiasts along with the very appeal for the classic Corvair. No matter its reputation today, however, the Corvair still remains the inspiration for many factory turbocharged vehicles that followed.

Image: Time Magazine

Built between 1960 and 1969, the Chevy Corvair was a car of odds from the beginning. Built to answer import companies’ successes in the compact car market, the Corvair joined the Ford Falcon and Plymouth Valiant to put domestic automakers on the compact map in 1960. But unlike the Falcon and the Valiant, the Corvair brought many interesting features to its compact body style, from an all aluminum 2.3-liter flat-six engine to the car’s mid-engine design.

In 1962, Chevy introduced a turbocharged “Spyder” engine option to the popular Corvair lineup. Available on the Corvair Monza model, a sportier model of sorts, this engine gave the classic Chevy just 150 horsepower but a substantial step up from the basic 80hp engine. While this may not sound like much, it was over three times the horsepower of the base Porsche 356 model at the time with just under 40hp.

Image: Wikipedia

Down the line, Chevy also introduced another turbocharged option that this time produced a substantial 180hp, 50hp more than the top-of-the-line 2.0L Porsche 356.

This engine was available on the Corvair Corsa, the even sportier Corvair model available starting in 1965.

While the Corvair had a great run in its first generation, with or without the turbocharged engine upgrade, the second-generation brought the dismal end for the model.

Following the introduction of the much cheaper and more powerful Ford pony car, the Mustang, and hits for its starring role in Nadar’s book, the Corvair model took its last breath for the 1969 model year.

While certainly not the last turbocharged Chevy ever made, the iconic Chevy Corvair will forever hold the title for being the very first factory car offered with a turbocharged engine (beating the Oldsmobile F-85 Turbo Jetfire’s factory release by only a couple weeks). Like it or not, there was meaning behind the Corvair’s existence that continues to enrich the automotive sector to this day, even if Nadar would have argued otherwise.

For those Corvair enthusiasts looking for an even sportier car, the 1965 Corvair Corsa offered an optional 180hp turbocharged engine that could blow its Porsche competition out of the water. Image: CarParts.com