1969 Chevrolet Corvair

[Dominik]

Hi everybody,

a short new topic. Last year, my brother and i built on different places of germany (distance about 275 miles) the same model. Same color. How could this happend?

I dont know...perhaps...we are twins and some days the same thoughts?

On christmas, we had the chance, to take pictures of bouth. Many pictures following...

Take a look - the darkblue is mine. Can you find the difference?

...

Edited October 31, 2011 by Dominik

[Dominik]

last pics...

Thanks for your patient, comments welcome

[Dr. Cranky]

Nice pair of blue models.

[Kodiak Island Modeler]

I always said the "blues" and cars go together. Those are both very pleasing builds. I do think that yours would be more fun to chase Ralph Nader with.

[Cato]

You built the front-engined, blown small block...

A popular modification back then was a small block mounted behind the front seat. A company called Crown Mfg. made the framework, headers and engine mounts for that conversion. It actually made it a very good and fast sports car for it's day.

Why not try that with your next one?

[surfjunke]

Both are cool & well built. Nice clean work.

[CorvairJim]

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.

[Dominik]

Thanks for comments!

A Corvair with a middle engine? Interesting...

@Jim: sure you can post some pics with the transaxle. Here i have one pictrue from my brothers "stock"-engine-build Corvair:

Some words from the frontengine Corvair. I used a 69 Camaro from my junk. Look at this:

Isn't it crazy, that these kits have the same wheelbase?

So this kitbashing was really easy!

[Dominik]

After some easy work, it was fitting perfekt. There was not so much work - you can believe! Just cut a little bit her and there....its all plastik

Here the result:

Enginebay...

...trunk...

...and underbody to comparison:

[Foxer]

It looks like you're more forward thinking than you bro.

[David G.]

Two very nice builds, and a clever swap on the Camaro chassis. Excellent work.

David G.

[High octane]

Nice job on both of the Corvairs. I had bought one new in '65 and enjoyed it.

[62rebel]

Dominick, i'm reminded of the many times my youngest uncle (one year older than me) and i would build together... whenever we went to visit i dragged along my current project and a bag of spare parts to trade. that was.... thirty-five, forty years ago?

[kenlwest]

When I was a kid in the early 70's, I owned a blue 1966 Corvair; 2 speed automatic - leaked like a sieve. But for its time, it was a nice car. I also had a white 1965 Corvair; with red interior! It had a 3 speed manual. I wish I still had 'em.

Thanks for the memories! You don't see these very often.

[CorvairJim]

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.

[Tonioseven]

Terrific builds!! I see that I need to add a Corvair to my projects list.

[gasser59]

Both of these builds are nicely done. I had a faded red 4 door '62 and a white 2 dr '65 with factory air when I was in high school. Growing up in the midwest, I had hs buddies who would call me for a ride when we got a bunch of snow overnight. I always referred to the '65 as an Enclosed Snowmobile because it would go almost anywhere in the snow.

[charlie8575]

A very creative build. I would never have thought to use a Camaro chassis on a Corvair....and probably never thought of a front engine. Then again...I tend to build more like your brother (also a very nice build.)

I like Corvairs. I'd like a Lakewood myself.

Charlie Larkin

[Cato]

Corvair Jim,

I think the Crown kit used a Porsche transaxle.....foggy remembrances.

[gray07]

Great looking corvairs.

[Jairus]

Crown engineering flipped the stock 4 speed upside down and provided the necessary engine mounts and adaptor. This would only work with the 4-speed manual as you cannot flip an automatic upside down and expect it to work long.