CorvairJim

Really, really, REAL!

So far, that Chevy Van's all right by me!

Either it's REAL or it's a REALLY good model! If it is a model, I'd like to shake the hand of the builder.

I found the Bi-Polar's thread in the Workbench forum shortly after posting my response above. Man, you have some fan-flippin-tastic skills, and an imagination to match. It's funny, I started a model similar in concept to Bi-Polar back in September in response to one a friend of mine built, based on a '60 Corvette that he narrowed to a single-seater and mounted on a sprint car chassis. The discussion I had with him was about how I'd do something along those lines with a Corvair. My model uses the AMT 1969 Corvair reissue, shorn of it's roof and narrowed to single seater width about 18 scale inches ahead of the rear wheel openings. From there on back, the body stays stock width, although I may have to widen it depending on the track of the Penske Indycar chassis that's going under it. Yes, the rear slicks will be inside the quarter panels while the fronts will be out in the open. The leading edges of the quarter panels become inlets for cooling air for the engine, brakes, and intercoolers, along with a fresh air supply for the engine intake. I'm planning a mid-mounted twin-turbo Corvair engine for it. Like yours, I'll be using the Indycar's wings front and back... At least those are the plans at the moment. So far, I have the front of the body narrowed and it's basic bodywork is done (including closing off the wheel openings), and the rear section has had the scoops roughed in and the factory wheel openings smoothed to remove the slight lip around them.

AHA! I just saw this mopdel "Under Glass" and had to find it's build thread. I never looked at this one while you were building it, and I'm sorry I missed out. Man, you've got SKILLS!

I've enjoyed watching the Corvair build from the beginning, and I'm blown away by the results. Then you spring that narrowed Sting Ray on us - Where'd that come from??? Man, these are two absolutely AWESOME models. Imagine the ones that could have been on your shelves by now without the multi-decade layoff!

Weismann GT MF5? Well, they got it partway right: It is one UGLY M.F. !

I never thought of kitbashing the Camaro chassis under the Corvair body! Shame on me! You better believe that I'm going to use that technique when mine comes back out of it's box. I forgot that I also have a Pro Street version started based on the Revell Beretta Pro Street kit froim the mid 1990's. Let me see what I can come up with as far as those pics go and get them onto Photobucket, and I'll get them posted to this thread as soon as I can. I also have some shots of a fantastic 1:1 Corvair built on a 1995(?) Camaro chassis, using every imaginable part from the donor car... Including the complete interior! Ken: You'd be welcome back to the Corvair family. They got the leakage problem all fixed in the early 1980's with the introduction of "Viton" O-ring seals for the pushrod tubes. One reseal and it's drip-free for life! By now, it's likely that any Corvair left on the road has been treated to a set of vitons already.

The 1932 Chevy "Confederate" series was the best looking entry-level car of the era, bar none! MUCH classier looking than the same year's Fords, at least in my opinion. It was essentially a "Baby Cadillac" stylistically, thanks to the oversight of Harley Earl. Those hood doors were used across the board on G.M.'s 1932 offerings. I like the way this sedan came together, with only the taillights hinting that maybe it's not quite as stock as it appears at first glance. I agree with Cranky - I love the colors you used on it!

Well, you had to know I'd weigh in on this one! After all, this is about my favorite kit. I'd love to see both of these in more detail, particularly the engine bay and undercarriage of the blown V-8 car. I have a front-engine hot rod Corvair model in the works as well as a mid-engine V-8 like Cato mentioned above and one with a 4-71 blown standard Corvair engine inthe stock location. The Crown Manufacturing kit was one of two popular conversions. The other was put out by Kelmark, who was better known for their Volkswagen hop-up pproducts. I can never keep straight which one used the standard Corvair transaxle in it's stock front-to-back layout, since it is basically just a Borg-Warner T-10 in a different case (with the input shaft running THROUGH the hollow output shaft to the front of the unit where the bellhousing would be mounted if the same internals were in a tranny in, say, a Corvette... ) - I think that one os the Crown kit - and which one turned the transaxle around 180 degrees. The second one allowed the engine to be mounted nearly a foot back of where it would be in the former, but the shift linkage was a bunch trickier, and it also necessitated a hydraulic clutch. The one with the conventional transaxle layout also offered a fiberglass cover for the engine that had the seats molded in. Not everyone used this, since it made for a VERY cramped driving position if you were anything over about 5'6"! Anyone wanting to attempt one of these builds in scale, I can try to locate some good pix of 1:1 cars with these conversions.

BE CAREFUL if you decide to do this with your 1:1 car. This model doesn't need an air exhaust grille for cooling air to have a place to go once it's done it's job. Your car does. That license plate pocket takes up a lot of space under the bumper area, even supposing you were to flank it with an exit of some sort for the cooling air. You really should consider a good way to vent that air before blocking the area that was designed to do it. I agree that this treatment looks great, but 30 years of Corvair ownership tells me that it wouldn't work out so well on a Corvair that you'd want to actually drive. Maybe if you were to drop the lower shrouds and forego a working heater/defroster (assuming you don't have a gas heater in your car... ) it would work out OK. I don't want to be a buzzkill here, but I do want to point out the practicalities to help keep your car alive.

All I can say is... SPEC-FLIPPIN'-TACULAR!

I'm going with REAL on this one, but the guy really should get that door aligned. (That's embarassing on a Roller!)

I just checked out the Wikipedia link, and remember seeing one of the earlier Pumas in a magazine many years ago. The earlier cars were MUCH better looking up front. Except for that awful nose, the rest of the car really isn't half bad.

Hey Chuck - I'm already there! Check out my reply from the 10/12: I'm in with a '76 Pacer that I originally built in late 1975 for my Mom. I'm doing a complete restoration on it, for her AND this CBP. Originally built as a metallic blue Pacer X, it will now be a bare-bones bright red base model with dog dish hubcaps, 3-on-the-tree and a tan bench seat interior, replicating the car she actually owned for a decade before giving it to me. It'll be about ad different from Jeff's model as possible and still be a Pacer! (I'm looking forward to seeing a Pro Street Pacer! )

I don't have any pics of these two at the moment, but put me down for my phantom late-model Corvair 2-door wagon and "El Camino"

Hey Mark, jump right on in, the water's fine!

I have a dozen if not more projects that I could use for this. Most of them are "Phantom" Corvairs that Chevy never built (Surprised?) like second-generation 2- and 4-door wagons and a 'Vair-based El Camino. Let me think about which one I want to finish up for this CBP, and I'll let you know. If anyone wants to see one of them finished up specifically, let me know!

I don't have a clue what this one is... But then it won't be the first time I've been accused of being clueless...

I have the '61 Corvair Lakewood body and frankly, I'm less than impressed with it. It's going to take a ton of work to make a reasonably realistic looking model out of it: The proportions really are that bad! I have both a Pro Street (Front-engined, V-8 powered) and a Pro Touring (Mid-engined, V-8 powered) "Late Model" Corvair coupes in the works at the moment, as well as a Corvair-powered, rear-engined Corvair Gasser. I've been working on converting a couple of AMT coupe bodies to what I imagine Chevy would have built if they had built second-generation Corvair wagons - a 2-door and a 4-door. Then there's the little El Camino-style Corvair pickup. Nothing I've concieved in my tiny little brain has been even close to as over-the-top as this beast of yours! keep up the great work, my friend!

Rob: The combo looks great! I really liked the "Flatbed Ford" when you built it for the "Rock 'n' Roll" CBP, but the trailer and it's load of used parts puts it right over the top! Buddy, you just flat hit this one out of the park. (They have a minor league team in Winslow, AZ, right?)

I've been away from my computer for a week now on a long-deserved vacation, so I haven't had the chance to follow this build. You've made a ton of progress! You commented a day or two back about this being the first model you've completed in 35 years, but you've clearly kept your skills current! I wish I had your scratchbuilding skills (and the patience to impliment them... ) The mix of "Old School" (twin, canted engines and color scheme) and modern touches (drilled brake rotors) really works well, and the Corvair body is just icing on the cake for me. You've got me thinking about maybe trying my hand at something similar. Not a direct copy, of course, since I'm not into blatantly copy-catting other guy's ideas, but maybe using Corvair motivation and a late-model Corvair body, suitably modified...

Nick: Great build! It looks exactly like something Sammy Hagar would have. Dave: Thanks for posting that link. Things like that add spice to CBPs like this. I'd never heard of that contest either, being on the wrong coast and all, but seeing the connection that Sammy Hagar felt (and clearly still feels) to the car hobby is cool indeed. The local Classic Rock station here in the Philly area, 102.9 WMGK, had a giveaway promotion about a decade back, with the grand prize being a fully restored 1977-ish Trans Am.

Count me in with an MPC '76 Pacer annual that I'm restoring for my mom as a replica of a car that she bought new. I originally built it back before she got the 1:1 car. She had an old Chevy II that she wanted out of, and for some reason she really wanted a Pacer. I built the model so she would have one on the shelf at work to look at and dream of getting the real deal. The model was a sapphire blue Pacer X... The real car turned out to be a red base model with 3-on-the-tree! I have the model's bucket seats joined into a reasonable facsimile of her car's split bench, and the dog-dish hubcaps from the AMT '62 Pontiac Super Duty should be close enough for the job. I was thinking of entering this one in the "Glue Bomb" CBP. bit I already have a couple of entries in that one. Over the past several years, I've found that I have more fun rebuilding them than building new out of the box.

With the end date less than 2 weeks away (My birthday too, Eelco!), I really don't think I'll be able to get anything started, let alone finshed. I mght just toss together one from memory of one of my boyhood favorites when we get home from vacation on Saturday - 9-day builds are possible, right? I just won't have the actual Hot Whels car available to compare it to, since I never got around to digging them up. They got lost in the shuffle several moves ago. I still have them... I think... I hope! I'm thinking along the lines of the 1973 issue Olds 442 in purple or the even earlier issue of the "Custom Nomad" in gold. (Hey, Eelco: Any possibility of a deadline extension? )