Turbocharged, rear-engined, air-cooled six cylinder. What else?

[008]

A Chevrolet, of course! AMT's 1969 Corvair re-issue. Paint is 1995 Ford red urethane and clearcoat, ITR wheels and seats, resin brakes, my turbo (S2), custom air/water intercooler from a cutdown air/air intercooler, wires, hoses, BMF, glue..





It wasn't easy. The body, being such an old tooling, is full of mold lines. The chrome bumpers have horrible mold lines running through them as well. The interior detail is so thin it looks like someone sanded it smooth for you before packing it. Take your time and it's hard to believe it's an old AMT kit. I've got some small details to finish, like mirrors, door locks and the shifter I forgot to put in but I've had a fever all weekend so enjoy this for now.

Ron

[CamaroSSBoy346]

looks awesome.

[SupaMan89T]

thats awsome i always loved your turbo work!

[JTRACING]

Great looking car!!!!

[willimo]

Cool! Don't see a lot of Corvairs around. This one is great.

[tonioseven]

Awesome build!!

[StephenDeli]

Great build. Although im not too sure about itr rims.

[Layla's Keeper]

lol, I'm building the same kit except with the ITR 5-spokes and no turbo.

Yours looks fantastic. I'm hoping mine comes out just as well.

[ZoomZoomMX-5]

Love it!

I've been a fan of tuner Corvairs ever since riding in a friend's numerous examples ever since high school. His black '66 coupe w/IROC Z wheels and later American Racing wheels was probably the nicest of all, he's had many Corvairs though the years. The turbos are cool, though the sound of sirens from the turbo in back of the car can be unsettling until you get used to it!

Set up right they handle like they're on rails (he got into Corvairs after being very disappointed w/the handling of a '65 Mustang that he restored before he was 16 years old). I've seen a very similar car to yours at the Corsa National Convention when they were in Atlanta several years ago. I've always wanted to build one like this...guess I'll have to live vicariously through yours for the time being!

[Layla's Keeper]

Definitely agreed Bob. I've been in Miura SV's, Ferrari 308GTB's formerly owned by Roger Penske, and DeTomaso Panteras with engines rebuilt by Jack Roush, but all my life the scariest most thrilling ride I've ever had was going about 70mph down a twisty, hilly dirt road in a cornfield, riding inside of a 1963 Corvair Monza coupe.

You drift guys think you know oversteer? Try having all of the weight in the car hanging behind a swing axle rear suspension with no sway bars, put the whole thing on 4inch wide bias ply tires and give the driver a 2 foot diameter pinky thin two spoke steering wheel with overboosted assist going to a recirculating ball steering setup that was about 4 - 5 turns lock to lock!

God I wish I had 3k lying around to get the white '66 Monza coupe sitting at the charity lot. Yeah there's an oil slick beneath it, but that's no biggy.

[675datsun]

I want one!
Looks mean with the dark ITR rims, I like it.
I'd like to see more of the engine/turbos, maybe even the underside
Good job on the chrome detailing!

[008]

I've been a Mustang guy since my teens. I saw three late-model Corvairs parked together at a Goodguys show last year, and I was hooked. I've noticed that our local classifieds has them for sale quite often, and cheap! I guess everyone just wants another Mustang or Camaro.

I've got a project '86 Mustang GT almost done and I was thinking of selling it to get a 65+ Corvair. I built this model to see what I "could" make a Corvair look like, while at the same time doing lots of research for reference. I've learned a lot about these cars in the meantime. Now I can't wait to finish the '86; it's in the shop and my dad's just waiting for me to OK the paint color.

Even my '67 Mustang fastback is starting to look like Corvair money to me, if only it wasn't my high school car from 15 years ago.

Anyway, thanks for all the comments. I'll have to buy a few more of these kits. If someone makes a photoetch kit for this model (grilles, emblems) I'll be really happy. I shaved off the side emblems but the front one got buried under a light coat of paint. The grilles that are in front of the engine cover and below the taillight panels are also very shallow and are easily filled with paint. The cowl vents are a decent depth. I scribed the door, hood, and gas cap panels deeper and the results were worth it. The side marker lights were covered in full BMF then painted in the middle with Testors Turn Signal Amber. Finally, from the "Why didn't I think of that" department, I should've drilled out the door locks then inserted a styrene plug with BMF on it after the body is painted.

Ron