CorvairJim Posted December 5, 2011 Posted December 5, 2011 This is a replica of my first 1:1 Corvair (of roughly a dozen to date). It started out as a very rough "Glue Bomb", but when the "Glue Bomb CBP" came up a few months back, I decided to go for it. This is the result. I had to convert it to a Monza from the Corsa version that it was originally and really get crazy on the body. The hid that built it the first time around butchered the back of the body to make a big V-8 fit. I admit I cheated a bit and used and/or modified a bunch of parts from a donor reissue kit. For more on it, see my write-up in the CBP Forum.
250 Testa Rossa Posted December 5, 2011 Posted December 5, 2011 This looks nice, although it isn't a Yenko Stinger.
Dr. Cranky Posted December 5, 2011 Posted December 5, 2011 Yes, in praise of vehicles with rear engines! Nice.
Wayne Buck Posted December 5, 2011 Posted December 5, 2011 That came out BEAUTIFUL, Jim! GREAT JOB!! I love the color combo!
CorvairJim Posted December 5, 2011 Author Posted December 5, 2011 This looks nice, although it isn't a Yenko Stinger. Technically, this car couldn't have been a Stinger, since the first ones were built in 1966. I've built a couple of Stingers in the past, including a "Phantom" '67 Stinger convertible that I did earlier this year. Like this one, it came to me as a Glue Bomb, in this case a 1967 Monza coupe Annual. I have some shots of it posted on here somewhere. Yenko built a few ragtops in the original 1966 run, but none of the 10 cars he produced in '67 were convertibles. I also havea '66 Corsa bomb restoration project in the works that will become a Stinger. Stay tuned - I'll be posting that one too once it's finished...
W-409 Posted December 5, 2011 Posted December 5, 2011 Wow, this is really beautiful! Really great looking Corvair, that paintjob looks very good to me and I like that color. Golden stripe is great. I like what I can see from that engine too. Is it possible to get a picture about that project basis? And I'm starting my '32 Ford for Rock 'n' Roll CBP today.
CorvairJim Posted December 5, 2011 Author Posted December 5, 2011 (edited) Wow, this is really beautiful! Really great looking Corvair, that paintjob looks very good to me and I like that color. Golden stripe is great. I like what I can see from that engine too. Is it possible to get a picture about that project basis? And I'm starting my '32 Ford for Rock 'n' Roll CBP today. Let's see if this works, Niko. Here's a link to another website that I'm on (Motortopia.com) where I've posted a complete photo album of this model's build: http://www.motortopi...to-finish-30031 I know I should have posted a thread on this very intense rebuilding project in the "Under Glass" forum, but I never really got around to it! Besides, I'm really bad at downloading my photos from my camera card into my computer. The captions with the photos in the Motortopia album were written with an eye toward talking a person who might not necesssarily appreciate what goes into building or restoring a car model through the process. (If anyone here on the MCM website is interested in the 1:1 car hobby too, www.motortopia.com is, by far, my favorite 1:1 car website. Check it out if you have the time. If nothing else, it's a great resource for photos of all sorts of cars and trucks that you might some day want to build in scale. I have pictures of many of my builds posted alongside many of the 1:1 cars I either own now or have owned in the past. My screen name on Motortopia is the same as on here, CorvairJim.) (EDIT: I just checked both of the links above and they work just fine. Happy viewing!) Edited December 5, 2011 by CorvairJim
MrObsessive Posted December 5, 2011 Posted December 5, 2011 Gorgeous build Jim!! I'm very familiar with Corvairs (all types) as they were part of my childhood growing up in the '60's-'70's. I had an Uncle that I swear owned every model Corvair that Chevrolet made at one time or another-----although he didn't have a Stinger! I love the color combination, and I have to admit I don't think I've ever seen one in that combo. Very striking!
geetee66 Posted December 5, 2011 Posted December 5, 2011 Awesome restoration! I don't know much about Corvairs....weren't they described as 'unsafe at any speed'? Nice job, mate.
MrObsessive Posted December 5, 2011 Posted December 5, 2011 weren't they described as 'unsafe at any speed'? Only according to Ralph Nader, and the guy never learned to drive! My Uncle (and others in my family) never thought they were so unsafe............I'd love to own one today in pristine condition!
Ron Hamilton Posted December 6, 2011 Posted December 6, 2011 I love tis one. I worked a little on my 1965 Corvair Corsa Build. I am at the point where I am about to shoot some primer, but I have not decided on a color combination. It will be a replica stock build.
CorvairJim Posted December 6, 2011 Author Posted December 6, 2011 Awesome restoration! I don't know much about Corvairs....weren't they described as 'unsafe at any speed'? Nice job, mate. Only according to Ralph Nader, and the guy never learned to drive! My Uncle (and others in my family) never thought they were so unsafe............I'd love to own one today in pristine condition! First off, thanks for the compliment! If anyone has any questions about my favorite 1:1 car, you know where to find me! And Bill, there are plenty of Corvairs for sale out there at any given time. They are among the most reasonably priced hobby/collectors cars available, due in no small part to people's misconceptions brought about by Ralph Nader's inaccuracies (my polite way of saying "Lies"). Ralph Nader titled his famous book "Unsafe At Any Speed", claiming it was aimed at the American auto industry in general. The Corvair was pilloried in the first chapter. The second chapter was devoted to telling how the horizontal tailfins of the 1959 and 1960 full-size Chevrolets caused the cars' rear ends to lift off the road at 70 mph, causing a very unsafe condition. He might have asked Junior Johnson before trying to pass that one off! Johnson won the 1960 Daytona 500 in a '59 Impala at an AVERAGE speed of nearly 140 mph. Think about it for a second: If the drive wheels leave the ground at 70 mph, how could Johnson maintained an average speed nearly TWICE that figure? He must have caught one heck of a draft for the whole race and pulled the perfect slingshot at the last moment to win! Meanwhile, the only mention of a Ford product in the entire book was to say that the knobs on the dashboard of the then new Mustang protruded too far, making them likely to cause injury in the event of a crash. It was brought to light in 1970 that Nader was on the payroll of the Ford Motor Company while he was writing his screed.
FASTBACK340 Posted December 6, 2011 Posted December 6, 2011 IIRC, the real reason Corvairs were deemed "unsafe" was due to the single pivot swing arm rear suspensions. If you over cooked it going into a corner the inside tire would tuck under and roll in and effectively push the center of gravity to the point of flipping the car. This was known as "weight Jacking". A similar condition plagued early VW's until they introduced a dual pivot rear suspension in `68 that kept the wheels parallel when moving over bumps or in turns. The aftermarket came out with a "Camber Compensator" for the VW's to help mask this condition. Not sure if anything was available for the Corvair. Too bad the media killed this neat little car....
MrObsessive Posted December 6, 2011 Posted December 6, 2011 John, by '65 Chevrolet had remedied that swing axle suspension by introducing quad u-joint drive axles, which was similar to what the Corvettes had at the time. My Uncle never complained about the first gen Corvair's twitchy handling-----although he was somewhat of a wild driver anyway! IIRC, the first gen '64 models had something extra done to the suspension as well to tame things down------I just can't remember exactly what at the moment. Most of the complaints and "accidents" were about the 1960-63 models....although it can be argued that the majority of those wrecks were due to driver error.
Danno Posted December 7, 2011 Posted December 7, 2011 Sweet! I, too, am a Corvair fan! What Nader did ~ in the name of the almighty $ and self-agrandizement ~ should have been deemed criminal. I don't think it's too late to string him up, do you?
exnyman Posted December 7, 2011 Posted December 7, 2011 Nice Corvair, I always thought the 65-69s were pretty cars. And personally, I think Ralph Nader's mouth is unsafe at any speed!
Harry P. Posted December 7, 2011 Posted December 7, 2011 Nader's "Unsafe At Any Speed" has been pretty much debunked as a hack job. There was nothing inherently "unsafe" about Corvairs.
CorvairJim Posted December 7, 2011 Author Posted December 7, 2011 (edited) IIRC, the real reason Corvairs were deemed "unsafe" was due to the single pivot swing arm rear suspensions. If you over cooked it going into a corner the inside tire would tuck under and roll in and effectively push the center of gravity to the point of flipping the car. This was known as "weight Jacking". A similar condition plagued early VW's until they introduced a dual pivot rear suspension in `68 that kept the wheels parallel when moving over bumps or in turns. The aftermarket came out with a "Camber Compensator" for the VW's to help mask this condition. Not sure if anything was available for the Corvair. Too bad the media killed this neat little car.... The "Camber Compensator" sold for Volkswagens was basically a transverse leaf spring which bolted tothe transaxle in the middle and outboard at the control arms. This is the same thing that Chevrolet itself did on all 1964 model Corvairs across the board. I've always been kind of skeptical about this supposed "Tuck Under" because 1) centripital force causes a car to lean OUT of a corner, compressing the outside spring and 2) even if the car did lean into the corner to allow this condition to exist. the suspension only has so much travel - there's no way the car could jack itself up and over the axle! (A quick P.S. to our newest member, "Vairnut": I like you already! Anyone with a screen name like that is OK in my book! Why not post some of your buildsfor us to check out?) Edited December 7, 2011 by CorvairJim
vairnut Posted December 8, 2011 Posted December 8, 2011 (edited) CorvairJim, been signed up since like 2009 just not around enough to recall I actually signed up. So the name was claimed a long time ago Tried to use a pic of 1 of my cars for avatar but haven't figured it out yet. Am starting a build of a '63 monza cvt like the real one I bought a few months back. Ivy Green with fawn interior. It's also a restoration of an unpainted built still in the prime/sand/prime stage. Also have a red/red Modelhaus '63 just about finished. Your description above is pretty much correct. About 20yrs ago I had an interview with Delphi Chassis for a position in the suspension area. As Corvairs were on my resume this came up and the engineering manager wondered how I could drive those unsafe cars due to the tuck under scenario. I ended up having to sketch out the real behaviour to him ! Having driven them for 35 years now and done a lot of crazy things with '62 - '63 corvairs -they have never scared me. Still use a '62 4dr as my "daily" car. Edited December 8, 2011 by vairnut
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