AMT ‘69 Corvair interior

[NOBLNG]

Do any re-issues of this kit have the proper interior for a coupe? Anyone here corrected the kit part…not an easy task.?

 

Edited October 9, 2024 by NOBLNG

[Mark]

The kit has its origins in the 1965 promotional model which was offered as a hardtop and a convertible.  (There never was a convertible kit.)  Like nearly all promos, when both body styles were offered, the convertible interior was used in both.

Do a quick "assembly" of the body, interior bucket, and chassis plate, then look at the underside of the interior via the hole at the rear of the chassis where the transaxle attaches.  There's a huge space between the interior and chassis. 

The interior is extremely shallow.  I'd consider cutting out the interior floor and adding to the height of the interior side panels so as to lower the floor.  I did something similar on a build I did a few years ago, only I used the top of the chassis as the interior floor.  Mine was a gutted racing interior. 

I also stood the interior side panels straight up to eliminate the draft (taper) that the old one-piece interior buckets have.  It's a lot of work, but it will stand out when it's done well.

[StevenGuthmiller]

Very doubtful.

The huge majority of these old annuals had, and still have, the convertible top mechanism wells so that the manufacturer didn’t have to tool two different interior tubs for coupe and convertible.

But of course, all is not lost, as it is entirely possible to convert the door panels and rear seat to a coupe configuration, but not without a considerable amount of work.

It’s up to you to decide if it’s worth it to you, or not.

Personally, after doing a couple of these conversations, those top wells have become something that I can no longer “un-see”, so it’s always part of the modification list for me when building a hard top.

 

 

 

Steve

 

[NOBLNG]

12 hours ago, Mark said:

The kit has its origins in the 1965 promotional model which was offered as a hardtop and a convertible.  (There never was a convertible kit.)  Like nearly all promos, when both body styles were offered, the convertible interior was used in both.

Do a quick "assembly" of the body, interior bucket, and chassis plate, then look at the underside of the interior via the hole at the rear of the chassis where the transaxle attaches.  There's a huge space between the interior and chassis. 

The interior is extremely shallow.  I'd consider cutting out the interior floor and adding to the height of the interior side panels so as to lower the floor.  I did something similar on a build I did a few years ago, only I used the top of the chassis as the interior floor.  Mine was a gutted racing interior. 

I also stood the interior side panels straight up to eliminate the draft (taper) that the old one-piece interior buckets have.  It's a lot of work, but it will stand out when it's done well.

Thanks for the info Mark. I see what you mean about the gap. However lowering the floor would mean the step-up on the chassis would now interfere with the rear seat footwell.? It’s more work than I care to get into.

[NOBLNG]

13 hours ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

Very doubtful.

The huge majority of these old annuals had, and still have, the convertible top mechanism wells so that the manufacturer didn’t have to tool two different interior tubs for coupe and convertible.

But of course, all is not lost, as it is entirely possible to convert the door panels and rear seat to a coupe configuration, but not without a considerable amount of work.

It’s up to you to decide if it’s worth it to you, or not.

Personally, after doing a couple of these conversations, those top wells have become something that I can no longer “un-see”, so it’s always part of the modification list for me when building a hard top.

 

 

 

Steve

 

Thanks for info and pics Steven.? I know what you mean about not being able to un-see stuff.? I was wondering if you widened the seat, so I went back to your build thread and I see why it wasn’t feasible on that one. I may try it on the Corvair? It was $2 kit so I have little to lose. I think if I add a sliver in the center and a sliver on both sides, it should look Ok.

[StevenGuthmiller]

1 hour ago, NOBLNG said:

Thanks for info and pics Steven.? I know what you mean about not being able to un-see stuff.? I was wondering if you widened the seat, so I went back to your build thread and I see why it wasn’t feasible on that one. I may try it on the Corvair? It was $2 kit so I have little to lose. I think if I add a sliver in the center and a sliver on both sides, it should look Ok.

I didn't widen the rear seat on the '65 Plymouth interior as the seat shape allowed me to just add a little material to either side and still keep it believable.

The shape of the rear seat as it correlated with the shape of the rear package shelf prohibited widening the seat without involving reshaping the rear package shelf as well, so it seemed to be the most logical fix.

 

 

 

 

I did however, have to widen the rear seat on my '68 Coronet project. (This was before the new Round-2 '68 hard top was issued)

My solution was to split the seat and add material down the center, as well as adding some material to the ends of the seat as required.

Some added piping was then needed as well

Not an entirely accurate solution, but it appeared to be the easiest approach.

This interior was of course much more involved to correct as the door panels were much "busier", but I somehow managed to persevere.

It pretty much required that I make the door panels basically from scratch.

In this circumstance, by the time I had finished the modifications to the interior, the only original parts to the kit remaining were the seats themselves. (modified of course) and a very small portion of the upper door cards.

 

 

 

 

Steve

 

 

 

 

 

[Exotics_Builder]

Well, i went to the stash and checked my unbuilt 66, 67, and 69 Corvair kits and all have the flying buttresses for the convertible (as already stated).  The 65 GTO from AMT also suffers from this and if I looked into some of the other kits, there are likely more.  The interesting thing about the 67 is that it also has the automatic transmission lever on the console as well as the manual gear shift (and this is the Yenko Stinger option kit).

 

[StevenGuthmiller]

3 minutes ago, Exotics_Builder said:

Well, i went to the stash and checked my unbuilt 66, 67, and 69 Corvair kits and all have the flying buttresses for the convertible (as already stated).  The 65 GTO from AMT also suffers from this and if I looked into some of the other kits, there are likely more.  The interesting thing about the 67 is that it also has the automatic transmission lever on the console as well as the manual gear shift (and this is the Yenko Stinger option kit).

 

Almost every AMT kit that has it’s origins as a promo or annual kit has those top mechanism wells, unless the vehicle was not offered simultaneously in hard top and convertible configurations.

There were a few kits that had that detail added to the top boot instead of the interior tub, or as I said, models that were not offered as convertibles, such as the ‘64 Pontiac Grand Prix for example, didn’t have them.

The vast majority of kits were molded with convertible interiors regardless of the body.

 

 

 

Steve

[Mark]

Like I said, nearly all promo-based annual kits used the convertible version of the interior.  Obvious exceptions would be cars that were not offered as convertibles.  The only other exceptions I can think of are '69 and '70 Chevelles (convertible rear seat "doglegs" are molded as part of the convertible boot) and the '67 Impala which has the boot "cheated" a bit to work with the hardtop interior bucket.

The "automatic shifter and console, with the stick transmission" happened a lot with the annual kits too. 

[NOBLNG]

I decided to give modifying it a shot. The worst I can do is destroy two bucks worth of plastic.?

[StevenGuthmiller]

Love it!

I'll be following along.

 

 

 

Steve

[NOBLNG]

6 hours ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

Love it!

I'll be following along.

 

 

 

Steve

Thanks, scribing the side panels to look decent will likely be the toughest part. I added .156” of Evergreen to the middle so that the upholstery centerlines roughly match the front seat spacing. I added some extensions to the side panels from .080” Evergreen. I used Tamiya extra thin to weld the pieces back together. When thats well dried I’ll dress the outer edges of the seat and add the required amount of Evergreen to both ends. Then try to clean things up.

[StevenGuthmiller]

2 hours ago, NOBLNG said:

Thanks, scribing the side panels to look decent will likely be the toughest part. I added .156” of Evergreen to the middle so that the upholstery centerlines roughly match the front seat spacing. I added some extensions to the side panels from .080” Evergreen. I used Tamiya extra thin to weld the pieces back together. When thats well dried I’ll dress the outer edges of the seat and add the required amount of Evergreen to both ends. Then try to clean things up.

Looks like you’re on the right track!

 

 

 

Steve

[Exotics_Builder]

6 hours ago, NOBLNG said:

Thanks, scribing the side panels to look decent will likely be the toughest part. I added .156” of Evergreen to the middle so that the upholstery centerlines roughly match the front seat spacing. I added some extensions to the side panels from .080” Evergreen. I used Tamiya extra thin to weld the pieces back together. When thats well dried I’ll dress the outer edges of the seat and add the required amount of Evergreen to both ends. Then try to clean things up.

Looks like you're in the zone.  Sometimes rear seats don't go all the way to the side panels (there is a little filler gap) but usually do.  Looks a good fit to the 1:1

[NOBLNG]

Seat is pretty much done except for a bit of puttywork. The package shelf is the next task. It is recessed slightly on the real car. I need to stay clear of the window glass and the rear deck hinges.

[NOBLNG]

The front seats are pretty horrible in this kit too as well as the window cranks and armrests that are almost nonexistent. So I decided to scratch build some and modify the seats. I got the sculpting done on the interior 1/4 panels. It’s a tad deeper than the faint door panels, but good enough for me.?

[bytownshaker]

Looks great

[StevenGuthmiller]

Looks way better!

In this circumstance, I think I'd re-scribe all of the panels and seats.

Seems as if all of the detail is extremely faint.

 

 

 

Steve

[NOBLNG]

Yes, the detail is very faint…however, I think I’ll quit while I’m ahead.? I have some file marks to clean up and the lip up on the rear package shelf to complete.

[StevenGuthmiller]

Looks considerably better just by adding some primer.

Nice work Greg!

 

 

 

 

Steve

[NOBLNG]

Rear glass shaved down and package shelf finished. I’ll have to remake the rear deck hinges, but I was likely going to have to do that anyway.

Edited October 18, 2024 by NOBLNG