1965 Monza Crown Conversion

Harlan's is the very unique car originally built by Arch Evans.  Not only is it a very attractive rendition of a V8 Vair, it has a removable hard top. It started life as a coupe before Arch cut the top off and welded a header from a convertible top to it. Then the windshield frame from a convertible was grafted on to the coupe making it a removable hard top that can be handled by two people. Simple !

The entire front panel has been cut away and replaced with a mesh grille and four standard size headlights. This car was the inspiration for the cutaway drawing by Ralph Gonzales found on our home page.

The interior sports a six point roll cage and a set of black Toyota GT bucket seats trimmed in gray tweed with full safety harnesses. A custom Grant Formula steering wheel points it in the right direction. A full compliment of Autometer gauges keeps tabs on the condition of the engine. The heat coated custom headers are a one off design. There is also a removable hand made all aluminum engine cover to keep the crowd guessing. The B & M automatic shift lever is reminiscent of an early Mopar grip stick.

The power plant is the usual Chevy small block but this one is a 383 C.I. stroked version, balanced and blue printed. It has a stroker crank, polished and ported Edelbrock angle plug heads with roller rockers. The intake is an Edelbrock with a custom 920 CMF Jones carburetor. This engine dynoed at  450 H.P. and put out 425 foot pounds of torque at 2200 RPM on pump gas. That's a stroker for you !

Cooling this beast is done with a ducted vertical front mounted GM four core cross flow radiator assisted by two Spal electric fans. Incoming air is ducted to the radiator and helped by a Chevy S-10 air dam. It then exits out the custom NACA style ducts in the front lid. There is also an oil cooler mounted in a duct below the front bumper.

The old Corvair engine compartment now houses a Mustang gas tank with the filler neck behind the license plate.

Suspension for this Vair is HD coils with KYB shocks and a set of Crown sway bars with poly bushings. The lower struts have Heim ends connected to a Crown lower bracket. All of these parts and pieces have been powder coated satin black. The transmission is an Art Carr tweaked Power glide with a 2400 RPM stall converter. It's hooked to the Corvair differential with an adapter Arch designed and now sells through Corvair vendors. The rear gears are 3:55 four spider with posi and the case is shoulder bolted for strength.

Wheels are a set of early Z28 Rally rims with 225-50-15 on the front and 245-50-15 on the rear.

For specific comments or questions contact Harlan at grumpyoldfart@msn.com .