My Greenbrier Page
If Chrysler invented the minivan in the 80's,
and cab-forward design in the 90's,
then GM engineers must have discovered time travel in 1960.

This page is dedicated to one of my most unusual rides, a 1964 Chevrolet Corvair Greenbrier Deluxe van. This is the original American minivan. It takes up less real estate than a full size car, yet seats 9 people comfortably, has plenty of additional cargo space, and has a 3/4 ton load rating.

Greenbriar Van
An efficient 2.7 liter horizontally opposed six cylinder engine gives over 20 mpg on the highway. Due to the rear engine location and low center of gravity, it also handles and stops quite well.

My van is pictured here in front of Clark's Corvair Parts.

My van has lead an interesting life. It was sold by Verschoor Chevrolet in Huron, South Dakota on April 4, 1964; one day before I was born!

The van originally had the full factory camper package. See my Greenbrier Camper Page for more information about Greenbrier campers.

Van Interior The original owner kept it until 1988 when it was sold to a woman who needed a roomy vehicle to move to New York. After the move, she sold it to none other than Bob Marlow.

Bob sold the camper equipment to Past CORSA President Alan Bristow and later sold the van itself to another New Jersey CORSA member.

I bought the van in the summer of 1996 and drove it back to Massachusetts. It is in amazingly good condition, partially due to a heavy undercoating of South Dakota mud. I used it as a summer driver while performing the mechanical restoration. (I often took it to Home Depot since it had a huge interior volume and could hold items up to 12' long.)

Fond memories with the van include:

Links:

Since my vehicle was originally a factory camper, I also present the Greenbrier Camper Page.

Corvanatics, the CORSA chapter devoted to Corvair Vans & Trucks.

Learn more than you wanted to know about Corvair trucks at Rad Davis's Forward Control Corvair Primer.

For those of you who missed it, or just want to savor it one more time, the Chevy Venture Minivan Commercial.

This is an extemely cool commercial where a hippie couple in their Corvair Greenbrier van "morph" into a yuppie couple, complete with kids, in their new Chevy Venture minivan. (Note: The .mpg file is 8mb, but so worth it.)

Back to my Corvair Page