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| Car of the Day: February 4, 2016; Hot Wheels '65 Chevrolet Corvair | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Feb 4 2016, 04:27 AM (1,030 Views) | |
| Dean-o-mite | Feb 4 2016, 04:27 AM Post #1 |
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Muscle Car
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![]() Today's car of the day is from corvairjim's collection, and is Hot Wheels' 1965 Chevrolet Corvair "Vairy-8". ![]()
![]() For more information and pictures of the real car please visit: Chevrolet Corvair ![]()
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| zzziippyyy | Feb 4 2016, 07:45 AM Post #2 |
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Drive it like you stole it!
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Not really that familiar with this casting but I have to say, wow what a stance! |
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| pjedsel | Feb 4 2016, 10:13 AM Post #3 |
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Muscle Car
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This casting has not been a favorite of mine but at one time I did have a couple of them in my collection simply because it was a Corvair and there just aren't that many of them out there in small scale.
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| Dean-o-mite | Feb 4 2016, 09:13 PM Post #4 |
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Muscle Car
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I do enjoy that this casting is the second generation Corvair, as opposed to the first gen available from Racing Champions and Johnny Lightning. I'm more than ready for a quality casting of a second gen Corvair from the likes of Auto World. |
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| juantoo3 | Feb 5 2016, 11:25 AM Post #5 |
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Vairy-8 is a personal favorite of mine, because it is a model of the Crown (or possibly Kelmark) V-8 conversion of the later Corvair. Because of the bad publicity, and that Corvair died an inglorious death, most aren't aware how well these independently sprung at all 4 corners little cars did with a V-8 mounted amidship. Weight distribution was near perfect, and they would eat Mustangs, Camaros and Corvettes for any meal of the day on any road race course, and were the hottest thing from America to compete with the Europeans at the time. Mind you, you couldn't just walk in to the dealership and buy one, but there were kits available from both Crown and Kelmark that would use the tranny (same Saginaw tranny used in other V-8 cars) by flipping the transaxle over and setting a small block Chevy (327 was a popular choice originally) where the rear seat used to be, and plumbing it for water cooling (various mods were attempted, with the radiator forward, in back, or in front of the rear wheels). Cooling was the major bugaboo, but if a guy could work that out, these cars SCREAMED! Look up Crown Corvair on Youtube and take a look around. If I *ever* find one for sale at anything close to a reasonable price, I will be trying to buy it. That is the only "hot rod" I like as much or more than a T-bucket. |
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| ivantt | Feb 10 2016, 06:27 PM Post #6 |
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New casting? Quick! Take it apart!
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Well, thank you very much, Wes!!! I always thought the Vairy -8 was purely a HW design and there was nothing like this in full size. So that makes me look at the casting in a more respectful way. I tried very hard looking at the casting when it first appeared to visualize what I'd have to do to make a more stock version. All I thought was that there was a lot of work there, especially the glass area and most of the rear body areas. The conclusion was to let another diecast company come along and do a proper stock Corsa. Of course, that didn't happen. Yet. As popular the Corvair is amongst car enthusiasts, it's hard to believe we're still not seeing one. Auto World bait!!! |
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| corvairjim | Feb 13 2016, 01:17 AM Post #7 |
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As much as I like "Corv-8" (as they're known in the Corvair club) conversions, I'd dearly love for someone to come out with a reasonably stock "Late Model" Corvair. My Gamda Koor Sabra 1:43 model from Israel is the only stock diecast late model in my collection of over 100 Corvair toys and models. Having said that, this isn't such a bad little car; the rear window scoop is the most jarring divergence from reality. Oh, that and the fact that most Corv-8's have matching tires all around for handling instead of being set up with "big 'n' littles" for drag racing as this one is. This one is the first of several color schemes that Hot Wheels released this car in, and it's one of my favorites. I like the none-too-subtle dig at Ralph Nader, labeling it as "Ralph's Ride". (BTW: This car was new-in-the-package, opened specifically for the photo shoot. I do have a couple others already open, but this way you get to see one all clean and minty fresh. Please keep this added effort in mind when voting for "Car Of The Week"! Nah, just kidding, guys!) |
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| juantoo3 | Feb 13 2016, 10:17 AM Post #8 |
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I don't wish to seem to take away from enthusiast's attempts to place a Corvair body on an S-10 chassis or some such ilk, but the Crown and Kelmark conversions were *engineered* attempts at balanced performance. I've heard of Big Block Chevy motors being tried, but roundly the consensus was "too much" power, the little lightweight car didn't need the extra power, it actually got in the way of performance. 283 was the small block of choice around that time, and up to the "new" 350, with the 327 being the tried and true performance engine from that era...which is why it was the popular choice then, no doubt today it would be a 350, likely an LT-1. If one can think back to the efforts by the Germans going back to about 1935-38, in particular I'm thinking the Auto Union racers that dominated the tracks in that era, the configuration was to place the greatest weight in the center of the chassis, so the driver sat forward of the fuel tank, with an engine (later a Monster Engine) behind at right about the center of the chassis, with a transaxle (probably borrowed from Ferry Porsche at that time). Pantera and other supercars since use the same basic configuration. What the later 1965 and up Corvairs had (that Nader and the media ignored) was a fully independent suspension, as I recall the first ever available on a mass production American vehicle (which actually solved all of Nader's complaints), but it was too little, too late...and GM saw the writing on the wall and cancelled the Corvair after the 1969 model year. Mustangs didn't have fully independent suspension, MoPars didn't have it, Camaro/Firebird didn't have it, and Corvette (which I believe did have something pretty close) were not as balanced...being front engine, Corvettes were nose heavy and handling suffered because of it. The Crown Corvairs were balanced and had the independent suspension, which if properly executed in construction made them very competitive on road race courses, and the small block Chevy motors provided more than adequate power to weight ratio. I don't pretend to know a great deal about specific teams or specific race series, but from an engineering perspective, the Crown Corvair V8s were about as perfect as an engineer could hope for without designing a race chassis from scratch, at least in America. Using off the shelf parts, one could build a competitive racer on the cheap. Unlike a Corv-8 with a front engine, or some other morphodite (Cadillac front drive in back), the Crowns and Kelmarks have the balance and the suspension to make them seriously competitive. My two cents of course, your mileage may vary... |
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| corvairjim | Feb 15 2016, 08:15 PM Post #9 |
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Juantoo, "Corv-8" is the accepted term for the mid-engine conversion. As I recall, it was originally used as a trade name by Crown, but it evolved into the generic usage in the club. Front-engine conversions, like the S-10 based number you mentioned are out there and seemingly gaining popularity, and they're even welcomed with open arms by the CORSA V-8 Registry (the chapter of the Corvair Society of America chapter dedicated to liquid-cooled Corvairs regardless of the engine's cylinder count or layout), although they do not use the Corv-8 appelation. I saw one back in the 90's with, would you believe, a '56 Chevy chassis? My feeling about front engine V-8 conversions: If you want a small Chevy with a V-8, get a Camaro or a Nova. There's no advantage to the Corvair body over either of those two, and it's difficult to get a decent ride height when you sit the unitized Corvair body atop a full frame. Lots of cutting and welding is necessary to channel the body low enough on the frame. Meanwhile, a mid-engine conversion is a guaranteed E-ticket ride! (Please start with a body with wasted floors, so as not to cut up an easily restorable body. Thank you.) Funny story: A guy I know in the Philadelphia chapter once bought a 4X4 conversion that mounted a '65 500 coupe body on an International Scout chassis, complete with the I-H 4-banger under the hood. Slow, very slow. Within the year he replaced the chassis with one from an S-10 Blazer and tossed in a 350 small block. About a year later he became dissatisfied with the shoddy bodywork that a previous owner had performed on the car, and he went on to discover plenty of rust-out hiding beneath plenty of fiberglass. Once again the body came off, only to be replaced with a '67 Monza body! Yep, same car, but with a different chassis, engine, and body... That is to say he built himself a car with nothing remaining from the one he'd bought to go off-roading in in the first place! (Yeah, that's Grandpa's ax. We've had to replace the handle 4 times and the axe head once, but it's still Grandpa's ax!) |
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| jurcpa | Feb 20 2016, 01:49 PM Post #10 |
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hahaha,corvair cars are beauty and rare and I like it so much,many thanks,top idea !!!!!! |
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3:36 AM Jul 11
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This casting has not been a favorite of mine but at one time I did have a couple of them in my collection simply because it was a Corvair and there just aren't that many of them out there in small scale.


3:36 AM Jul 11