Reuben Ezekiel is a Miami business owner who has a passion for Chevy Corvairs. Over the past three years, Ezekiel has collected over one hundred Corvairs from every year of the 1960 to 1969 production run. He has collected every model of Corvair built, and is now sending many of them to the Mecum Auctions Kissimmee, Florida sale kicking off this week. I had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Ezekiel about his collection.
1965 Corvair Sedan (lot G35)
Brett Hatfield: Hi, Reuben. This is Brett Hatfield with GM Authority.
Reuben Ezekiel: Yes, how are you?
B: Fine, thank you. So, you own all those Corvairs?
R: Yes.
B: What possessed you to begin collecting them?
1964 Corvair Deluxe Rampside (lot G142)
R: My dad had one when I was younger. I collect other cars, too. I like rear-engine cars. I have other rear-engine cars like a GT40 and a DeTomaso Pantera. I bought one Corvair, and I liked the way it drove, so I kept buying other models, kept going through all the other models. I’ve gone through 100 Corvairs. I own three Yenko Stingers, number 50, number 37, and number 43. Of the last three Stingers that have come up at auction, I bought all three.
B: How many Corvairs do you own?
R: Right now, I have sixty-eight.
B: And how many of them are you selling at Kissimmee?
R: Twenty-eight.
B: Why these twenty-eight?
1966 Corvair Corsa Convertible (lot G88)
R: Those are cars that I purchased, but now I want other people to enjoy them. I clean some up, some of them I bought restored. I’ll take a car, I’ll take it apart, strip it down, paint it, do a complete interior, I’ll put a new convertible top on it. If it needs new glass, I’ll put new glass in it. New bumpers. I’ll do a whole restoration on it, which is a big project on every car.
B: It looks like you collect all the different models of Corvairs. Do you have different reasons for liking each of them, or is it just because they are all Corvairs?
R: I like all of them. My favorites are actually the Rampsides, the Stingers, the Corsas. I like the Corsa convertibles and the Corsa coupes, I like the wagons. I have four wagons and one is going in the auction. I like the ’69s because it’s the last year they made them. Every one of them is attractive to me; I like every one of them.
1964 Corvair Greenbrier (lot G126)
B: Do you have a favorite?
R: The Yenko Stinger.
B: I would tend to agree. You’ll still have forty of these after the auction in Kissimmee. Do you intend to hang on to those? Are you paring down? Are you going to do something different?
R: I’ll hang on to them, yes. I’m not going to sell them. I did have a camper that I just sold. I just bought an ultra van, too.
B: What are your hopes for the sale? Are these all going without reserve?
R: Oh, no, they’re all selling with a reserve. I hope that they’ll bring in good money because I spent good money on them. I did do a lot of restorations and a lot of paint jobs, so hopefully they will bring good money. As I see it, the market has been moving up since I started collecting. For me to buy right now, it’s very hard for me to buy anything. I haven’t bought a Corvair in over a month. In three years, I purchased over one hundred Corvairs. I purchased them from all over the place. It’s getting harder and harder.
1962 Corvair Monza Club Coupe (lot G50)
B: I don’t think you’re going to have much trouble getting these sold.
R: The reserves are very low. I did put very low reserves. I can’t replace them for the reserves I put on them, with all the work I did on them. From just one parts supplier, I spent over $60,000 on parts this year.
B: Reuben, thank you for taking the time to speak with me. Best of luck with the sale.
1969 Corvair Sport Coupe (lot G118)
The Chevy Corvairs that comprise the Miami Collection are as follows:
- 1961 Corvair Greenbrier (lot W144)
- 1961 Corvair Lakewood Station Wagon (lot G152)
- 1961 Corvair Rampside 95 (lot G80)
- 1962 Corvair Sedan (lot W35.1)
- 1962 Corvair Greenbrier (lot G72)
- 1962 Corvair Monza Club Coupe (lot G50)
- 1962 Corvair Rampside 95 (lot W112)
- 1963 Corvair Monza 900 Convertible (lot W25)
- 1964 Corvair Greenbrier (lot G126)
- 1964 Corvair Rampside (lot W82)
- 1964 Corvair Deluxe Rampside (lot G142)
- 1965 Corvair 500 Sedan (lot G35)
- 1965 Corvair 500 Sedan (lot G40)
- 1965 Corvair Corsa Convertible (lot W69)
- 1965 Corvair Corsa Convertible (lot W78)
- 1965 Corvair Corsa Sport Coupe (lot W59)
- 1966 Corvair Convertible (lot G101)
- 1966 Corvair Corsa (lot W30)
- 1966 Corvair Corsa Convertible (lot G88)
- 1966 Corvair Corsa Convertible (lot G95)
- 1966 Corvair Corsa Convertible (lot W46)
- 1966 Corvair Monza (lot G30)
- 1968 Corvair Monza Convertible (lot W51)
- 1969 Corvair Monza (lot G58)
- 1969 Corvair Monza Sport Coupe (lot G112)
- 1969 Corvair Monza Sport Coupe (lot W40)
- 1969 Corvair Monza Convertible (lot W75)
- 1969 Corvair Sport Coupe (lot G118)
This stunning collection of Corvairs will cross the auction block at the Mecum Auctions Kissimmee sale January 6th through the 16th.
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Comments
Nice cars all of them. from times passed, great in the snow also out in the field for hunting. To have back my mid 60, s Corvairs.
I’ve got a ’66 Corsa coupe with turbocharger, quick steering, telescoping steering wheel, 4 on the floor. Timeless styling which still looks great today.
Corvair would have had a longer life if Ford had not put a sporty body on the Falcon and called it a Mustang.
Actually, Corvairs would have been a much longer produced car if Ralph Nader hadn’t written: “Unsafe At Any Speed” which really was a model year short as any rear suspension problems were re-engineered and eliminated by the time his book got into print.
Even before the book was released, the F-body was already approved for development…..
The Corvair was going to die one way or another, Unsafe actually prompted GM to keep the Corvair in production beyond 1967, which is when it was originally schedule to be discontinued.
Only one chapter in the book Unsafe at Any Speed is about the Corvair…..
I had a 66 Ragtop in the early 80s and Dad had a 62 4 door in19 64 that he let me drive when I was 7. He drove that little car as a 7 member family car and never had any issues with it
Actually quite true, Nader’s book didn’t kill off the Corvair model after 69 run, GM’s own Nova model did. Buyers preferred the idea of a little larger interior and option of front engine rear drive V-8 available. Cool collection though!
Wow.. really cool article..I have 2- 1964 coupes from Wisconsin..the bodies are pretty rough..wonder what a perfect one would be like..like the owner says.. they’re a lot of fun to drive..if he’s ever interested in selling one.. I’d love to hear from him..
My 62 Monza 900 coupe lived all it’s life in Northwest Missouri until I shipped to Fla. She a little rough with under side surface corrosion but solid. 1 repaint likely in the late 80’s in correct 923 code Roman Red and has visible signs of age but body dead on straight and shows well. Who cares, it’ a blast to drive!!
Loved my 62 & 63 greenbrier sports wagon with the middle window roll down great cruise the coast camping in baja drove as daily drivers 1984-1997
My first car was a 62, standard 2 door coupe. I had a spare engine, and did rebuild it. So I got to know that setup real well.
My dad’s boss from GM had quite a collection of them on Canisius Lake south of Rochester NY. I wonder if any of his cars ended up in this collection, both passed away about 15 years ago.
Great car, way ahead of their time, a lot more costly to build than the mustang. Love the European styling of the late model coupes. The car’s handling capabilities was superb with radial tyres.
My first car was a 65 Red Corsa convert. It had 54k miles and was $950 in 1968. Thank you Ralph Nadar for killing it’s resale making for such a good deal. I took it to John Fitch’s shop in Connecticut and they put a sleeve around the inner shift rod which made for shifting perfection. $40 well spent. The Michelins I put on would stick like glue until they broke loose violently into oversteer which made for an awful lot of steering correction with that 5 turn lock to lock steering box. The big well in the front trunk held several cases of beer with ice. It was a fun and very good looking car that lived through my abuse.
My gosh, for us older guys, Isn’t it incredible to remember that GM once made cars…
Capitalism killed that, while GM was Killing Americans.
I owned a 1962 Corvair Coupe. I was too young to fully appreciate it, but I did like the way it handled. It felt so good on the highway. I have a friend who has a Monza convertible in pretty good shape. I think he wants to sell it, butI’m no longer interested. I’m in my 70’s, and drive a GMC Terrain which I like very much. But I still love reading pretty much anything relating to the automobile. My dream car has always been the Corvette. The C8 convertible is my dream. Excuse me while I wipe away the drool.
After my ’65 Impala SS 409 was stolen in the Bronx – iafter 7 days ownership, we got a ’62 red Monza Coupe. Wow was that a fun car. Drove it from NY to Key West. It lasted just 3 months before they got that one. Bye bye Bronx. Would love to have a ’69 now.
I bought one of your collection at Mecum yesterday. Thanks for turning a few loose 🙂
My first car I got to drive back in he 70s was my moms 64 Corvair convertible. A “poor man’s Porsche” Nary a drop of oil, ran like a top!
If my girlfriend at the time would have listened to her girlfriends when they said “…but he drives a Corvair!…” we would have be married 43.5 years!! ♥️
Our first new car purchase as a newly-married couple was a black 1961 standard shift 500 Lakewood wagon with a silver-grey vinyl interior — as basic as we could get! Later painted the top a light cream color to “dress it up” a bit. Great car, good mileage, great traction during our New England winters. Put nearly 100,000 miles on it in five years. “Loved” that “great” “fresh air” heater!” Quick but stinky!
Traded for a 1966 standard shift Pontiac Tempest SOHC six wagon after our third child came along!