CorvairJim

Oh man, the little details are over the top on this thing! (But isn't it just a tad dangerous to watch videos on your sun visor while tooling along the Interstate?)

VERY cool! I've been thinking about something similar for a while now, using a '55 Chevy Nomad as the basis. Chevy actually built something like what I have in mind as a "What If" Motorama show car, but I'll go my own way with it.

I finally came up with my project for this CBP this afternoon while working on my "Little Old Lady From Pasadena" '64 Dodge 330 for the "Cars of Rock 'n' Roll and Country Music" CBP. It seems that I have a kitbashed Jo-Han 1960 Fury station wagon entered in the "Cannonball Run" CBP that will have the chassis and running gear from an AMT '57 Chrysler 300-C. Lightbulb moment: I know what I can do with the leftovers from those two! Since they would be headed straight for the patrs box anyhow, why not combine the two - creatively, of course. Out came the razor saw and off came most of the 300's roof, deck lid, and tulip panel. Yep, she's gonna be a '57 Chrysler Ute! I plan to use the rear part of the roof in a somewhat more upright position as the rear of the cab and scratchbuild the bed. I'll get different rolling stock from the parts box, and possibly a better engine than the lump from the Jo-Han Plymouth too.

Hey, Montoya said in a pre-race interview that he planned to go out there and "Burn up the track". Nobody believed him when he first said it, so he had to go out there and make believers out of them!

I'm moving forward with the 330 body, but I haven't quite given up the thought of the Polara. The MCG photoetch grille wouldn't fit the Jo-Han grille surround, even if I wanted to go through the trouble of cutting the molded-in grille out of it. As of this evening, I've made some decent progress on the car, and hope to have it done over the weekend. The engine is together and wired, in the chassis, and it's on it's wheels. (I realize blue ignition wires aren't right for a 60's vintage build, but it's what I had on hand and I want to get this one finished!) I couldn't wait to see how my computer-generated 1964 California plates looked on it, so I went ahead and mounted them up. I forgot to mention that, figuring that the "Little Old Lady" is the practical sort, she ordered her car with the bench seat - I used the seat from the Jo-Han Polara, since the upholstery pattern matched! In true 1960's style, she's got rough-cast mags on the front with steelies in back. Next up: BMF. I can hardly wait...

That video was a RIOT! Reliant Robins are among the world's least stable cars... And they say Corvairs are "Unsafe at any speed"? The solution to the stability problem, of course, is to put TWO wheels in front and ONE in back, as the British Morgan 3-whelers did so well back in the 19-teens through the 30's. They're going back into production today - Jay Leno has one of the first of the new onew, as seen below: I might try my hand at the American solution to the 3-wheeler question myself some time... With a front-drive, boattail Model T speedster!

Lane, you just keep doing what you're doing. If you can't figure out how to do something, feel free to ask any of us who actaully care about the future of this great hobby of ours. There sometimes seem to be too many guys on here ready to jump down a kid's throat for making a small mistake. Your skills are light-years ahead of where mine were when I was your age. 1960's automotive technology doesn't necessarily line up with 21st century cars. Most cars today drive the front wheels from engines mounted crosswise, while your Camaro drives the rears from an engine mounted fore and aft. So you didn't get the starter on it right the first time? Easily fixed. The air cleaner? You got that right - I don't see what anyone sees wrong with it. The 2 4-barrel carburetors are mounted on a crossram manifold diagonally to each other, so the air cleaner is mounted diagonally too! The car in the screen shot is a 1967 model, but as you pointed out, any first-generation Camaro would work out pretty well for a build like this. In fact, the '68 model has identical sheetmetal with the addition of side marker lights on the fenders and quarter panels. Technically, the '67 also has vent windows in the doors which the car pictured doesn't have, but those are often removed from racing cars. The only thing I'd suggest is to consider going over to a 6-point rollbar setup. Your front downtube doesn't have any hard point to mount to except the floorboard. It should go to a frame member for proper protection. That Camaro is a unit-body car with front and rear subframes, but the subframe mounting points are beefy enough to handle the stresses of the rollbar.

I just have to wonder what'll happen to the antenna and rear spoiler on the Fiorebird when those missiles on the back of the car are lit off! My guess: Sudden and complete radio silence so you won't be able to call for help when you suddenly lose rear downforce! Seriously, even though this isn't really my cup of tea (I'm not a tea drinker anyway!), it shows that you put a lot of time, effort, and skill into these two road warriors. Well done!

No way this is a model. Unless a non-running, factory display prototype qualifies as a model, that is. That's the only way I see this being anything but the real deal. (Now if it IS, a model, my hat's off to you, Harry... BIGTIME!)

What a beauty - I'm likin' it!

This looks pretty cool! Now are you going for a modern stretch limo sort of thing or more of a vintage Armbruster-Stageway "Airport Limo": http://blog.hemmings...port-limousine/

Diet pills, "No-Doz" - the 60's take on Starbuck's or Red Bull! Like Jim Croce called them in "Speedball Tucker": "West Coast Turn-Arounds"... (You gotta love a song that mentions "All them other truckers" (say it fast... )!

I finally got around to taking a picture of where I am on my "Little Old Lady" Dodge. I'm a little further along now, since I managed to get a couple of hours in on it this evening after taking this photo. I got this kit as a part of a load of unbuilt models, partial built-ups, supplies, and several parts boxes that I got from a guy who was leaving the hobby about a decade ago. I found that this kit had the MCG photoetch set with it so I decided to try it out. The dashboard bits were a a pain in the tuchus, but the grille went into the kit grille surround/bumper easily. I just had to polish it out and curve it to the right shape. Anyhow, here's the body and interior so far: I'm still toying with the idea of substituting the old Jo-Han '64 Ploara body for the Lindberg 330. I have a couple of photos I took at a car show last summer of one of the five Super Stock Polaras Dodge bolted together back in 1964, so I thought I could do a replica of that car. Too bad the Lindberg 330 interior is so much better than the old Jo-Han Polara stuff.

The BMW was OK, but that Jaguar is a real looker! Jaguar sure knew how to design a car 50 years ago. Imagine this gorgeous sedan (well, "Saloon") coming from the same company as the downright luscious E-Type!

Oooh! I'm likin' this one too! (I must have missed it the first time through. I have no idea how I could have done that - this '61 Monza Club Coupe is a beauty!)

I'd love to see a pic of that car, Jairus... and maybe a sketch or two of what you would do with a Corvair model! I missed out on the CBP based on your artwork last year, but I'd love to take a crack at a gen-u-wine Jairus Watson Corvair!

SCHWEET!!!!

Here's my "Garage", such as it is... We don't even have a driveway, much less a garage! From the front, there's my daily driver, a Victory Red 5-speed 2006 Cobalt SS, followed by the Lemonwood Yellow 1966 Corvair Monza Sport Coupe that I had to sell a couple of years ago due to the Obama economy. I miss that car. Better than 220 horses at the wheels in a 2,600 lb car is enough to put most 5.0 Mustangs on the trailer. I was 13-0 with it against them myself and a good friend beat out another one when I let him try it out. That's TWO 250 lb guys in the car at the time! And it's suspension was modded to handle the engine's performance, to the extent that I once ran away and hid from a BMW Z-4 on a twisty back road in the Pocono Mountains. Finally, there's my wife's 2005 Chevy Malibu Maxx.

OK, now that I've gone through all 9 pages of this post (VERY interesting!) and commented on a few, I guess it's only fair to show y'all what I look like too. Here I am with the much-modified,220+ h.p. '66 Corvair Monza taht I had to sell a couple of years back due to the lousy economy: And since so many guys on hers are introducing their lovely ladies, it's only right that my beautiful Rose gets in on the act too. Here she is next to my 2006 Cobalt SS:: (Any guesses as to what the license plate means?)

Lane, the taxi is a modified early 1970-80's Checker.

You two don't look NEARLY old enough to be grandparents... But then I was a grandfather at 36 myself...

I've seen you in your Kia ads! I'm not much into the music, but your footwork (PAW-work?) ROCKS! But who's the guy on the right?

AMEN BROTHER!

On my limited budget, finding the Deal's Z-28 might be a problem. I'm tempted to just go ahead and rough it out with sheet stock and Bondo. I have plenty of AMT '69 Corvair bodies to play with, including more than a few damaged glue bombs ripe for the cutting. I've seen the blown '64 Monza Spyder in the photo above online and have downloaded about half a dozen pics of the car for future reference. This car was my inspiration forone I'm building for the "Vintage Racing" (or whatever it's called) CBP. Nobody actually raced a car like that that I know of, but it definitely could have been done. Mine will be based on the '69 model, backdated to a '66, with a straight axle up front.

That IS cool!... But I didn't know we had any "alliterate" members on this site: P-uddingwrestler's P-ulchritudinous P-aper P-erfidy... Really!