209 replies to this topic

[Mark Onofri]

I spent my first Christmas year-end bonus on a yellow '65 Monza. There was a really, really hot redhead that I was enamored by. Had I finished the car, who knows what would have happened. But, I didn't and she went with a friend who had a '72 Charger.
 
So, I eventually got a '65 Corvair Corsa 140 HP convertible in trade for... a '68 four-door slante-six Plymouth Valiant. $50 for the Valiant, $15 for a starter, $15 to have the torsion bar anchors re-welded and a slant-six from my '72 Demon .
 
Ahhh, the good old days.
 
Anywho, I purchased this Aurora '65 Corvair Corsa and had all intensions of duping the rag top. But, I neglected to notice that it was missing the front bumper. So, I did what any slotter would do. I bought another one with the bumper.
 
Now comes the dilemma.
 

[Mark Onofri]

Which one to restore? If I had Martin's talent, I'd do a convertible and a coupe. But, I don't.

 

Sooo, due to the condition of the car with the good bumper, I went to plan 9 (from outer space). See what redheads can do to you?

 

[Mark Onofri]

The determining factors were the giant chunks of wood used as some kind of body mounts and the split down the hood. Nevermind the gaping wheel cutouts.
 

 

[Lone Wolf]

Personally I never cared for that car.

 

The body itself looks like soap on a rope

 

Kind of mushed up and lacking the clean lines of the original car.

 

It's also molded in some kind of rubbery goo plastic.

 

I did a 1/25 scale clone of that car using a K&B chassis done the way it should have been.

 

I have pics if needed if any interest.

 

Joe

[Mark Onofri]

Mr. Wolf, if you can overlay a

1) 64 Rivera

2) Chaparral 2D coupe

Over the 65-69 vair, you might change your mind. I personally think that the first-generation vairs looked like a plumbing fixture. Ah, freedom of speech is great

[Lone Wolf]

I have nothing against the real cars especially the second generation.

 

I think they are quite handsome actually with the bubble top roofs.

 

I had a '65 hardtop with a 327 V8 mid engine Crown conversion.

 

Bought it as a project and sold it the same way.

 

Wish I had it today.

 

My true Corvair story.

 

My late brother in law had a fully customized Corsa clone.

 

The guy across from my shop did junk cars and had a storage yard there.

 

We used to call him the Pirate cause he talked like one and wore a Bandana.

 

Super cool guy, every Friday he would bring a couple bottles of Champagne and we would smoke some funny cigarettes.

 

I used to buy cars from him for motors etc.

 

One day I see him towing a super clean second generation Corvair on it's way to the junkyard.

 

Thing looked great except the doors were missing.

 

I figured I'd be a nice guy and get it for my brother in law for parts.

 

Got it for $40 cause that's what the yard was giving at the time.

 

He dropped it in front of my shop and the deal was done.

 

I looked inside for any goodies and found a shoe box that said "Tim's marbles"

 

I opened it and was chock full of at least 40 mint Aurora T-jets and Vibes.

 

All the good one too.

 

My little reward for being a nice guy.

[Mark Onofri]

Sure, I could have taken the easy way out but, nooo, I wanted to make sure that when I rolled it over, it wouldn't break off. So I decided to leave the complete perimeter of the roof intact.

More to come...
 

[Mark Onofri]

Mr, Wolf,
 
I do believe that one of the stupidest things I've ever done in my life was not buying a Crown conversation kit. What turned me off was the way the transaxle looked on what used to be the bellhousing end. Looked kinda naked and unfinished.
 
DYK, that an aluminum Buick V8 weighted less than a flattened Corvair six?

[don.siegel]

Great story Joe. 

 

Mark, looking forward to seeing what you do with this one! 

 

The slightly older guy who took us under-16s to the slot car races drove a Corvair and he was very cool! Always like the car because of that. 

 

Don 

[Lone Wolf]

At 215 CI, it wasn't much of a game-changer.

 

However they were way ahead of the curve with the Turbo engine.

 

The world just wasn't ready for it.

[Bill from NH]

Mark, now I know what keeps you up at night.   That red body was on a hard body race car, probably with a brass chassis. That's the reason for the wood body mounting strips & the cause of it breaking into so many pieces. You planning to Bondo that red roof to the yellow body? If you build it as a drag car, it'll stay together longer.

[Mark Onofri]

Ahhh, no Billnh, I'm hoping to file fit it . More pictures to come

[Dave Crevie]

My best Corvair story is a bit embarrassing. I was at an SCCA event at Blackhawk Farms Raceway, and was just wandering around in the paddock area. I noticed a white Corvair Monza with a blue racing stripe and numbers. Since this was not that long after that whole Ralph Nader business, I wondered who in his right mind would race a Corvair? Anyway, because it was a smallish turn-out, the SCCA guys made up practice groups consisting of more than the usual number of classes, and this Corvair ended up in my group. (I was running a G/prod Spitfire at the time.) 

 

During practice, I was on the front straight topped out in third and getting ready to upshift into fourth, when this Corvair came up behind me like a rocket sled. I moved to the right to let him by, and said to myself, "OK. I'll catch him in the turns in the back half, and we'll have some fun." Nope. He continued to stretch out his lead.

 

At the end of the day, some of my racer buddies and I sauntered over to have a look at this Corvair. No way this thing was legal. A guy greeted us with this big Cheshire cat grin, and introduced himself. "Hi. I'm Don Yenko. Hope I didn't scare you guys too badly out there." 

 

Yenko Stinger Corvair:

 

 

[Martin]

Cool story, Dave, and very cool car.

 

Mark, that's quite the repair job you have there.  And thanks for the complement.

 

I wish I could find a replacement body of my 1/24 1969 saloon class slot car. There are some repairs you just have to walk away from. My original car is one of those. 

 

Never have found a new body like it. So it lives on as raced, memories intact 

 

 

Great project, Mark, I am impressed with your range of build subjects.   Build on.

[Mark Onofri]

Mr. Wolf, I get it. It's the Aurora '65 Corsa you don't like.
 
I think I've got all the vacuformed Vairs but in a different scale. So, I don't think it's appropriate to post them here. lf I'm not mistaken, I've posted them in "the body shop."
 
As soon as the coffee IV drip kicks in, I'll get back to it.

[Mark Onofri]

Martin, this may be a stupid question but.... WTF is that?

[Mark Onofri]

If you do try something like this, find a few references so you can have some form of alignment. It's very easy to get carried away. Another point, although I did use a motor tool for the bull work, I left enough material to change direction. Using a file, although tedious,has several benefits. First, you have a little more control. Secondly, it just might take your mind off something else. Sometimes, you just gotta make it up as you go.

[Mark Onofri]

Dave, I've had a few of these beasts. One in particular was a 67 Monza 110hp. It had, quick ratio steering arms,a spacer for the shifter that made it a quick throw,a steering damper,14" rims (60's?) With some low profile Goodyear tyers and, I put on some open headers. And, the best part,3:83-or 3:86 I'll have to check but, they were bolted to a posie. Man, did that thing go! If I had connected the speedometer, I would have had a better idea of the 0 to 60 times but, I didn't need no stinking speedometer. When I ran out of gears and throttle, that's how fast it was going.
Anyways, my girlfriend at the time, I don't know how she did it but, every damn time she drove it she would break the aluminum nose off the starter. One time I dropped her off at the NYS fair and, let's just say New York's finest were not very impressed with the open headers. Between that and the fact that I had run out of starters, it was parked until it succumbed to the elements. Still have the frame and drivetrain.

[Mark Onofri]

For some reason this didn't post.
Here is a aforementioned reference line

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[Dave Crevie]

The great thing about cars is that you can take them as far as you want with modifications.

 

You can build a Gasser;

 

 

 

Or a FunnyCar;

 

 

And the guy that stuck a Porsche motor in his;

 

 

 

You can build a street sleeper by keeping the outside stock looking, but sticking a V-8 into it.

 

https://youtu.be/M02...cH45pdCgwMIKkjZ

 

And for you, Mark, a Corvair only race at Virginia International:

 

https://youtu.be/xJX...ZAaIPxloUHq_dMR

[Mark Onofri]

I knew it was here somewhere. For those of you who have never seen a crown v8 conversion, this is the unfinished look I was referring to

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[Mark Onofri]

The, the, the that's all folks, for today anyway. Unfortunately,life can't be all slot cars and redheads.

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[Martin]

"Martin, this may be a stupid question but.... WTF is that?" 

 

Mark, that's my Corvair stock car that I raced in 69-70.  Here is a front view. man it got beat.

 

 

and the rear 3/4 view.

 

 

Nice job fitting the new roof    BTW 

 

See if you have a fresh 1/24 Corvair body for me ?  

[Dave Crevie]

Those AMT kits are bringing $35 and up. For a short time the Corvair body was all the rage at our weekly local hardbody race night. At our local plastic model swap session you can find bodies or partial kits for a couple of bucks. But no Corvairs at the one I went to when that was on my list. 

[Mark Onofri]

I could swear I've got another still on the card. I'll have to dig a little deeper. If not, I'm sure we can pull a mold or something.

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