1965 Monza Rear Engine Conversion

The story on this Corvair is one of an older rear engine conversion that for the last twelve years was left to the ravages of time and neglect, and then brought back to life as a first car for Jessica, who is our only female and probably the youngest member on these pages.

As can be seen in the photos, this car was definitely a "project". The trunk lid shows bad paint and the front panel  shows the result of meeting with something with a higher bumper. The engine also has a few parts missing. The car originally had a vinyl top which promoted a lot of rust.

The body was stripped down to bare metal. All the rust was repaired and POR-15 was applied where needed, then primed. It is completely stock on the outside with no front under bumper cooling ducts, maintaining the clean lines of the Corvair. All the individual panels were painted off the car  then fitted up for the final paint. The final color is a nice shade of color sanded and buffed red and looks worlds apart from the original paint.

The interior is stock Corvair with black trim.

The engine is the venerable 215 CI Buick aluminum V8 finished off nicely with a set of Offenhouser finned aluminum  valve covers and a set of coated headers from a Land Rover. The AC compressor and the alternator have been treated to the chrome bath also. A 14" chrome air cleaner and a set of red plug wires finish off the eye catching shiny engine look.

The transaxle  is a stock four speed, cleaned and painted a nice wrinkle finish black.

The stock suspension was cleaned, repaired and the front end got a set of disc brakes with steel braided lines.

It is hard to beat the clean look of a nice set of ever popular slotted GM Rally wheels with trim rings, center caps and black wall tires and this iteration is no exception.

For specific comments or questions contact Jessica at sixtysixturbo@aol.com .