vairnut

Some information in the Obscure kits thread. Picked up this kit Saturday at an IPMS show in Bay City, MI for $35

The 6.2l LT1 in the 2014 vette is 450hp and runs at least 28mpg all day long. No problem with meeting fuel economy or emission standards. No EGR, no air injection, no fancy converters. Direct Injection has had little improvement in the fuel efficiency or emissions output. Not sure who or where the articles source came from, but EPA and CAFE are no legit reasons for dropping V8's in the near future.

Great Work ! Really startng to look like the real thing.

I think the kit is detailed enough and tooling is in good shape that a new tool isn't needed. Kit is accurate and detailed and builds a decent replica. Easy enough to cut of the roof and do a convertible with the included boot. The interior is already the convertible version. Modelhaus offers all 6 turbo parts and the '66 Corsa convertible body/interior. A 1966 Monza can be built by using the kit body w/o the side marker lights, a modelhaus '66 interior with the kit dash. They also offer dash and transaxle parts to make a powerglide car. What would be great is either a pe set or Keith Mark's decal set to cover the emblems and scripts for all 1960 - 69 Monza, Spyder, and Corsa versions with Yenko and Sprint covered as well. The only missing resin conversions would be a 1966 Corsa HT, and all 1965 Monza and Corsa variants.

From the pics in the auction it looks to ba a straight reissue of the classic series kit. The decals are copies of the 1969 sheet. Same poor tires as the prestige and classic series issues so off to Modelhaus for factory stock builds. The one thing different on the chrome sprue is the heat shield for the turbocharger is now back. The chrome turbo intake crossover and chrome turbo aircleaner are still missing, as is the unplated turbo carb. Although no turbo option was available after the 1966 model year these parts would be nice to have back. All of the Yenko and Fitch Sprint parts are there except for open steel wheels for the Yenko and Hands mags for the Sprint..

My 4 kits arrived today - purchased off ebay on Sunday ! Looks to be vairy much the same as the original kit ( which I have never owned ). There is an added red tinted window part and printed goodyear slicks. Everything else including instructions, decals, and box match the original release. The front tires are 2 pc plastic and the plastic rear slicks are still present. Parts all look straight and flash free. Although not an accurate Corvair funny car it should be a fun build. Nice to finally have one - the only AMT corvair kit I didn't have.

Agree that the Ebbro kits are very nice. I have all the Lotus kits and have the 003.

Be nice to see a comparison of the tires in the previous Classics/Prestige series releases to see if something better is in the new kit. As well as the decals included. I expect and hope the plastic parts are the same as the Classic series release as that had everything possible in it, including the top boot. I think the missing chrome turbo parts and other wheel options like the Fitch Sprint Hands wheels are long gone as other parts replaced these on the chrome sprue. I haven't ordered one yet as I have at least a dozen of the classic and prestige kits around. I'll eventually pick up a couple. Do have 4 of the funny cars coming.

Saw somewhere now listed as January release.

My Greenbrier is in storage but will have access to it over the holiday weekend. Let me know what you need.

The Fujimi 512 is another boxing/reissue of that Heller/Testors/Union kit. So it does have the engine in it.

And Ralph is now looking for a Corvair. http://www.recorder.com/home/14260113-95/nader-stops-in-at-clarks-corvair

The window van is the Greenbrier and it was made from 1961 - 1965. The panel van is the Corvan. Pickups were Ramsides and Loadsides ( no ramp).. The Corvan and Rampside were built from 1961 - 1964, The Loadside was 1961 and 1962 only. All of the trucks were known as Corvair 95's for the 95" wheelbase, or as "FC's" for forward control. I have 2 resin kits of the Greenbrier. ! is the same as the one pictured and I think was sold on Ebay and from Arizona. The other one I have is from TKM. Both are rough, the side windows are not square or in line with each other and the roofs are wavey. One of the casters also offered the Corvan and the pickup, and also a couple versions of the Monza/Lakewood station wagon have been produced. The Premier Rampside is actually not too bad. Doesn't have clear windows in it and a bit smaller than 1/25th scale but proportions aren't that far off. A few years back resin copies of it were made by Corvairmodels. Too bad Dean Milano's Ramside wasn't reproduced in resin at it was very nice.

Bob: The Corsa was only 1965 and 1966, dropped in 1967. The 140 hp 4 carb engine was standard in Corsas, optional in Monzas and 500 models. The turbo was optional only in Corsa'a Some Yenko reference photo material : http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/585517/1966-yenko-stinger-ys072-stage#Post585517 and general Yenko Stinger information : http://www.yenkostinger.com/index.html

The turbo option was in the 1965 Corsa kit as well as the 1966 Corsa kit. All of the turbo parts may still have been in the 1967 kit - I would need to dig out a kit to check. The turbo parts that were not chromed have remained in all Corvair kits since the 1966 annual - only the chromed parts - turbo air cleaner, the induction pipe between cylinder banks, and the spare tire heat shield - have been missing. The Corvair engine offered in the engine parts packs comes from the 1962 annual kit. It was included and fully chromed but there was no means to install it in the model. This 1962 kit engine is all different tooling than the 1965 and later kit engine. It includes the 1961 - 1963 non turbo air cleaner set up as well as the turbo parts. Real 1965 and 1966 Corsaa all have the rear taillight panel above the rear bumper painted Chevy argent silver. The non Corsas all had body color rear panels. Corsas and Monzas have stainless trim surrounding the rear panel - 500's models have it body color. Also some slight differences in the lower grill below the rr bumper between the different models.

Bill, As far as the real car go the early 1960 - 1964 are completely different than the 1965 - 1969. No underside sheet metal is the same and floor pans do not interchange. For the models the 1965 - 1969 with engines just basically have a hole in the chassis to fit the powertrain in and the rear suspension parts added. The engine compartment on the 1965 - 1969 models is close but not accurate. To add an engine to the 1960 - 1964 models it would be just as easy to modify the original chassis than fitting the later one. The hard part is the early engine compartments were very different than the later ones. The early cars had inner fenders more like wheel wells where the late cars were flat side panels close to the kit. These ads have good shots of the early car engine compartment : http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chevrolet-Corvair-Monza-1962-chevy-corvair-monza-coupe-recent-restoration-rust-free-show-stopper-wow-/301341517801?forcerrptr=true&hash=item46295aa7e9&item=301341517801&pt=US_Cars_Trucks http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chevrolet-Corvair-Spyder-1963-corvair-monza-spyder-convertible-power-top-/181567514931?forcerrptr=true&hash=item2a46446933&item=181567514931&pt=US_Cars_Trucks And a couple of the late engine compartment like the 65 - 69 kit: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chevrolet-Corvair-Corvair-1965-chevy-corvair-convertible-great-driving-car-just-4995-/141448264365?forcerrptr=true&hash=item20eef93aad&item=141448264365&pt=US_Cars_Trucks http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chevrolet-Corvair-Monza-1965-classic-chevy-corvair-monza-2-d-coupe-w-huge-genuine-chevrolet-parts-/121467734733?forcerrptr=true&hash=item1c480a8acd&item=121467734733&pt=US_Cars_Trucks

The Chevy II/Nova was developed to compete with the Falcon and Valiant just as was the intent of the Corvair. The Corvair did not compete in the market it was targeted at. It somehow made a new market segment with buyers coming from who knows where. The sales numbers were far from poor. In the early 60's a 100,000 volume was considered a good sales target. In the early model years there were more Corvairs sold than all Olds models, and all Buick models. Some numbers for Corvair car production and the Chevy II: 1961 Corvair car production : 282,075 1962 Corvair : 292,531 1962 Chevy II/Nova : 326,607 1963 Corvair : 254,571 1963 Chevy II/Nova: 373,626 1964 Corvair ; 191,915 1964 Chevy II/Nova : 191,691 1965 Corvair : 235,528 1965 Chevy II/Nova : 122,800 1966 Corvair : 103,743 1966 Chevy II/Nova : 172,485 The Mustang introduction just blew everything away, with something like 500,000 in the first 6 months, and 1.5 million in the first 1 1/2 years. The Chevelle probably took more sales from Nova than it from the Corvair. As far as the rollover tests - these were common and conducted by the manufacturers on all models, There are rollover testing films of GM doing this on cars since the 1930's. Cars were crash tested, barrier tested, and rollover tested even though there were no safety requirements in place. Most of these Corvair videos are before any of the safety claims surfaced, and some films did end up in competitiors hands. Look for the one's on the early Ford Econoline panic stops for some entertainment. When the first rollover case came to court GM was unprepared to defend the car. GM had 1 corporate lawyer at the time to deal with patent issues. The older woman who sued and had rolled her Corvair had also rolled her previous vehicles. This first case was settled out of court, and all following lawsuits against the Corvair properly defended the car's safety and were dismissed. During the first case, I think in Fla, a certain sudo law student was an observer in the court room, and decided to become an advocate for consumer safety.

I've been driving them for 36 years and have yet to have anything scary happen with the early models. Dad bought one shortly before I turned 16 and after spending some time working on it I was addicted. Led me into engineering, focusing on suspension design during college. Just liked the fact they were different and very well thought out in design. The whole concept of a fresh engine and platform integrated vehicle was a big risk compared to the typical car at the time. I currently have 8 of them, 5 are driven regularly and for 50 yr old vehicles they still impress me with how dependable and low maintenance they are. Do play with them once in a while too.

Just got some decals for the 1967 Camaro a couple weeks ago from him. Still doing the emblems and scripts in chrome foil ink which is great !!

Be real nice to get some decent tires this time around. Every release since the Prestige kit has had funky tires in it. Way too small in diameter. Even though the full size cars used 13" they were tall and skinny. The original kit stock tires as in Ron's 1965 post were 1" diameter. The stock and optional tires in the last couple releases were about 1/8" too small. As for decals - there was only 1 1969 Yenko built, and it was all white. The Goodyear tire test car. The parts for a Yenko should be included as they've been in all releases since the annuals. For good decals there is a Cady sheet. Actual Stinger stickers were chrome foil so don't expect that in a kit. Be great to get a photo etch detail set with 1960 - 69 emblems/scripts or a Keith Mark's decal that would cover all years, including Fitch Sprint and Stinger items. Of course there are aftermarket correct tires availabe in something other than styrene from a company with a german like 2nd part of their name. That also now offers a 1964 Spyder coupe kit. Yes, it would be great to have it all new in plastic but I'm darn glad it's available at all ! Just bring it up to make it known there is stuff out there. I've just dug out a rebuildable 1965 HT kit as well - think it's going to have the top removed and be Evening Orchid. I do have a few restorable or builder Corvair models to stay busy for a while yet - most of the early year ones:

Most every day company car - except vacation days and holidays: Most vacation days and Holidays : 1962 Corvair Monza Sedan or: 1965 & 1966 Corvair Corsa Hardtops 140 HP or 1963 Corvair Monza cvt. or 1963 Corvair Greenbrier van And a 1994 Cougar for the nasty salty road off work days - beater with a real HEATER that Corvairs lack.

The prepainted kit parts sprues were on display at Toledo. Looks very nice - esp. the detailing on the underside.

The air bag issue was found on 1 pre-production vehicle, all other vehicle inspected, production and pre-production, have been good so far. It was the result of an unauthorized supplier change to the part. The majority of all the recalls are for similar instances - 1 or 2 vehicles found with an issue. GM is acting on any possible problems even when a single problem vehicle is involved.

AMT craftsman 1963 Corvair Monza cvt. in lime green - was 1 of 5-6 colors it was molded in.

Would definitely go for the Corvair as long as it''s not a copy of the premier/resin and is much more accurate than that was. Could easily be modified to the Corvan and Greenbrier versions as well. Would be in for a couple of each versions.