CROWN CONVERSION         

The first V-8 powered Corvair was most probably the 60 model four speed coupe of Bob Sottas from New Jersey with a 283 Chris Craft small block with reverse rotation in the original Corvair engine location.

But by far, the most popular and best known is the CROWN Conversion kit using the late model Corvair coupe with its four wheel independent suspension and stuffing a small block Chevy into the back seat just behind the driver.

CROWN was the brainchild of owner, builder, driver, and engineer Ted Trevor who began building high quality castings in his California shop around 1957. They were into the off road scene way before it became what it is today, building bullet proof accessories for the popular Volkswagen dune buggies.

They pioneered the first Corvair to Volkswagen adapters and many more high performance parts and pieces for both. The four spider differential gear  modification was first done on a VW transaxle known as the "Beef-a-diff" and later performed on the Corvair differential for the V-8 conversions.

In the mid -sixties Ted hooked up with Don Wilcox, who now lives in WV, with a Corvair powered Volkswagen dune buggy that dominated the Southern California hot bed of auto-crossing to the tune of 25 out of 26 fastest times of the day. Don still owns that buggy.

Ted also ran a Vair buggy in the 1966 Pikes Peak Hill Climb and won the under 3 liter class.

Somewhere around 1967, Ted and company saw the potential of mating the power of the lightweight small block Chevy engine to the late model Corvair and the Corv-8 kit was born. The whole idea behind the Corv-8 was for the average Joe backyard mechanic to be able to build a street legal "sleeper" with Group 7 handling and performance for an affordable price. Ted says they sold over 1500 of the kits. The ads used to say "For $1000 and 40 hours work you can have one!" Your mileage may vary. Mine certainly did!

KELMARK CONVERSION

Kelmark is a conjunction of Keller and Markham, the two engineers who invented this setup. Their approach to the conversion mounted the engine 11 inches further back in the car than the Crown Conversion . This allowed for the retention of the stock front seats, turning the trans-axle 180 degrees flat to the rear end and connecting it to the engine with a bellhousing adapter.

MID-ENGINEERING

Mid-engineering was formed by a select group of automotive engineers and builders. They designed a number of kits to convert various vehicles to a mid engine configuration. The most important one to us was the kit to install an Oldsmobile Toronado ( or Cadillac ) front wheel drive train and engine into a late model Corvair which became known as a Toro conversion. Picture a 455, W30 Olds in the back of your Corvair!