1966 Crown Conversion V8 Beautiful Drivable Hot Rod on 2040-cars
Milton, Massachusetts, United States
Engine:350 V8
Body Type:Coupe
Vehicle Title:Clear
For Sale By:Private Seller
Exterior Color: Silver
Make: Chevrolet
Interior Color: Black
Model: Corvair
Number of Cylinders: 8
Trim: Monza rear trim
Drive Type: 4 speed w/rear wheel drive
Mileage: 99,999
Sub Model: Corsa
This is a survivor that I purchased from Tucson Arizona 3 years ago where it had spent it's entire life. The Crown Conversion was done well back in the day. The car when I purchased it had a lot of horsepower and with it plenty of heat and noise. I improved the car and made it as drivable as any V8 Corvair could be I believe.
The paint was immediately stripped and redone, the windshield was replaced at that time. The glass is tinted and very good. The wiring was replaced with an American harness. New carpet, but the headliner and dash cover were left as they are good. The front bumper is very good, the rear one is o.k. The chrome center rings of some of of the rear taillights are rusty. The front Rally wheels should be repainted. The brakes were already improved to discs all around. The suspension has been lowered. The rear has extra spyder gears and 3.22 ring and pinion. I installed a hydraulic hand brake to serve as a parking brake with a cup holding enclosure for it's plumbing. The headers were removed and replaced with new cast manifolds and 2 1/2" exhaust to turbo mufflers. The Edelbrock carburator and Holley electric fuel pump and electric radiator fan also are all new. The car has always run cool even with big horsepower. The engine is a 350 ZZ4 small block with a hydraulic cam and aluminum heads and is very fresh with perfect compression.
The engine was enclosed as tightly as possible with 18 ga. steel. Each side comes off with 10/24 button head screws. There are rear sides that can be removed and the center cover thereafter if necessary. Inside the steel enclosure is heavy rubber-like sound deadening, outside the enclosure is more heavy sound deadening, thick foam and a vinyl cover. It takes 20 minutes to check the oil. The engine has hi-temp wires and socks, plus stainless shields over the manifolds. I plumbed in a timed out fire bottle from my racer.
The rear can handle the horsepower. If I wanted more power I'd add nitrous, but I like the car the way it is.
The interior needs some paint on the doors and on the lower dash, the interior door panels should be replaced and the gauge cover should be repainted too. The speedometer and the fuel gauge work, the others do not. All lights interior and exterior work, the car has a current inspection sticker. The thin Kirkey seats were installed because there is very little room in a Crown Conversion. I'm almost 6'. If you are a big guy you might have a problem, if you're heavy you'll need to change the steering wheel.
Extras include the Crown headers and a copy of the Crown manual, as well as receipts for all the work done over the years. As I understand it the car was not owned by mechanics, just deaf people who liked getting warm and going fast in the desert.
The car is sensational, has plenty of power and drives like a slot car. The ride is firm but acceptable, the noise and heat aren't too bad. I have driven it 250 miles on it's longest trip, the mileage isn't bad and it isn't tiring. I have no idea how other people with V8 Corvairs can drive the uninsulated things longer than 10 minutes. Ebay won't allow the link but there's a recent video of a V8 Corvair on Jalopnik.
The car was redone to be a keeper, but I have too much going on and haven't even finished the interior. The pictures aren't the best but this a really nice car and you won't be disappointed. I'll help arrange shipping or get you at the airport if you want to drive this car home. Thank you, Bobby
On Oct-05-13 at 10:15:42 PDT, seller added the following information:
I've had a bunch of emails and questions, and have uploaded a photo of inside the rear trunk now that I figured out the flash on my new camera. The car has never rusted anywhere. There is a blemish in the paint in the driver's rear quarter done by the painter, I photographed it but again it didn't show in the photo. The tires are 205 and 245 60 R 15's respectively and inflated to about 18#. I don't know what the brakes are but they are GM and I'll guess you won't need to attend to them any time soon. Someone would like to buy the headers. Also when I got the car it had black powder coated front and rear bumpers plus headlight doors and you get those as well. The seats are o.k. but if you want more comfort I'd add dense foam between the aluminum and the seat pad rather than change the seats. Crown conversions used the stock Saginaw 4 speed in it's original location mounted in front of the stock rear end. The original Corvair engine drove the main shaft of the Saginaw from the rear of the car via a shaft going forward through both tranny and rear, and is why the Corvair engine ran in reverse rotation. You can research it but the Crown conversion uses almost all factory everything, excepting the hydraulic clutch and Morse cable throttle. The Crown headers solved the exhaust challenge, to a degree anyway. I hope this helps. This is a very nice 48 year old car and while I attended to a lot of things some things like the alternator, it's belt, the clutch and throttle linkages I did not tear into. Thanks for all then fan mail, you're right, these cars are great. Bobby
Chevrolet Corvair for Sale
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