Page One: The Artifact

 

THE RAMPER

I’m not new to Corvairs, we go way back.  I was 15 in 1978, and my father was dumb enough to let me buy a derelict 1963 Monza 900 coupe, no floorboards, someone had poured white house paint in the engine, more dents than aluminum foil, and it barely rolled.  All for $125, my net worth at the time.  Two years later it ran with a garage paint job, and I loved it.  Corvairs are just a thing.

My '63 coupe at a Corvair Show in Atlanta (around 1994)

Since then, I have restored a ‘62 Corvair Spyder convertible and got ‘63 Spyder coupe back up and running, and I have worked on who knows how many Corvairs that weren’t mine.  I helped start and wrote a newsletter for a local Corvair club, I drank the Corvair Kool-Aid deeply.  But in 2006, I sold them and thought I was over Corvairs...

My '62 Spyder around 1997

I didn't restore my '63 Spyder coupe but I should have!
(Around 2006)

Twenty years later, the itch came back.  I needed a new project and with an attic full of Corvair parts, getting back in the Corvair game felt right, comfy, like home.  I thought about finding a late model, but Rampsides have been a fascination, and it seems more usable somehow.  Hell, I just wanted one!

The Ramper's "before" pictures

I forgot to take pictures of the engine before I yanked it out!
I'll have some of the engine build though

I clandestinely trolled the internet for Rampsides for about a month and found plenty, some asking north $30,000.  Those trucks were in great shape or heavily modified, but I wanted a solid, mostly original one that may have lived a rough life but managed to remain complete for 60+ years.  I found several like that too in Washington (state), California, Colorado, Maine - I could have made a road trip out of it, but I was hoping for one closer. 

The posh interior

Then The Ramper popped up, beat up but solid. The ad claimed it was a 1961 with an engine, the owner wasn’t a Corvair guy and didn’t know anything about it, with an automatic transmission, not my first choice but not a deal breaker, in Greenville Tennessee, just north of Knoxville.  I was beginning to think it had been sold, but I eventually touched base with Ronnie Crum, made the appointment, hitched up the trailer and headed to Greenville.

You can see the ramp in this pic

The Stats

Ronnie bought a shipping container from an estate sale out of Arizona, and the Ramper was in it.  Arizona was good to him.  Although he was (is) plenty dusty, he isn't too rusty.  Clearly you can see some rust throughs in the pics, but the rust underneath is most surface rust, no rust welded parts like I often see here in the south.

Ronnie gave me a 1961 VIN, and I even made the bill of sale with that VIN, but after a quick glance at the VIN plate, I saw it was actually a 63 and we had the wrong VIN.  (I had to mail back a new bill of sale with the correct VIN for his signature so that registering The Ramper wouldn’t be an issue, all good now.)

The Ramper wore this plate on his chin

VIN

The VIN reveals that The Ramper scooted off the Saint Louis assembly line in May of 1963, fairly late in the model year run.  There were 2,602 Rampside assembled in St. Louis in 1963, Chevy was ramping down the Rampside.

Trim and Paint Code

The trim code “STD” means The Ramper isn’t flashy, painted bumpers and hub caps, no stainless trim on the glass, a bench seat, just a working truck.  The 545 paint code meant he sported “pure white” paint with a “Cardinal Red” stripe around is middle.

Drivetrain

The drivetrain is a bit mixed and matched, someone tossed the original stuff.  The “RM” suffix on the engine block number means it’s a 1969 140 hp block for a manual transmission.  The head numbers indicated 1965-68 95-horsepower, a late model six banger.  I had a set of 110 hp heads cleaned, machined and ready to go in the attic, so The Ramper will have a 110-horse engine.

The number, stamped on the transmission pan, means it’s a 1964 or 65 Powerglide 2-speed transmission.  The differential, complete with the tag that identifies his 3:89 gearing still attached to the differential cover (those tags are almost always missing), shows that The Ramper’s diff is original equipment.

Bare Bones Ramper

The Ramper only has what would get you to the job site or the delivery made, pretty much no creature comforts, not even a radio, barely a heater.  Sixties trucks were considered equipment and were outfitted like farm tractors, and that’s how Chevrolet marketed them.  They were cheap, functional and could get the job done.

Cropped from and Rampside ad