1969 Corvair AMT

[tcoat]

How about instead of spamming the forum with old builds I actually post a current project!


This is another one of my 'Cars I Used to Own' series.



Mine was actually a '66 but since the '69 kit was readily available and cheap I evoked the "Meh close enough" rule.

I bought this car in 1982. It was the 140HP with the four carbs. It also had the optional 4 speed stick so was pretty peppy. I only paid $150 for it in 1980 as the engine leaked oil so bad it would actually leave a trail as you went down the road and the valve seal and guides were so worn that she smoked like an old locomotive. New seals, guides and gaskets all around fixed it right up. Surprisingly it had a fully intact and not horribly rotted out floor which is rare for these things around here. Did some minor body work to rear quarters and rockers and sold it 4 months later for $1800. It was a fun little car while I had it though since the suspension upgrades in 1965 made a massive difference over the first gen cars.




It is the latest release from Round 2 (They own AMT) and I was not really impressed. There was so much flash and massive mold lines it was just a vagally Corvair shaped chunk of styrene. I was so shocked that I didn't even think to take pictures but the mold seems on the rear of the body were so big it looked like a '59 caddy! It was disappointing but of course not insurmountable.



As always I started on the engine. It required a great deal of cleanup as well but went together nicely. This will be another rather worn and well used build as mine was 14 years old and all original when I got it.





And the fun of getting accurate coloured pictures!
Without camera flash



And with









And yes the kit designers must have been drunk when they came up with that drive axle. 



This was going to be a simple out of the box build but that engine bay needs a LOT of work since the only other kit part is a battery.





Needs at least some of this



Not 100% accurate but busied it up. Will get dirtied up a bit more when body on.



Proper fire wall made.



Heater duct is a piece of a header with wire wrapped around it for "pleats"



Shrouds all around so can't see through.



Rubber shroud gaskets are screen spline split into smaller strips.



Long skinny stock 1966 battery swapped for normal one.



Spare tire from spares box parts crammed in.



Wires are... well wires









It fits!




I think the steering column needs some tweaking. I do not recall ever having to drive the car with my legs shoved through the spokes!

[tcoat]

Well that was a short WIP!

Done. Still needs a mirror but I don't have a suitable one right now so that will come later but still calling it done.


The dull faded paint is done by painting Testers dark gloss red then misting a very light coat coat of Tamiya flat red over it. The slight grunge is from digging out a really worn and dirty sanding stick and rubbing it down to take some of the flatness off and leave some spots behind. It was an experiment that I think worked out well because the resulting finish is exactly what I was after.



The rather rough looking BMF doesn't look like that on the actual model of course. It is the magnifying effect of the camera. You can really see the existing yet subtle dirty sanding stick results on the quarter panel.










The silver rear looks just like the brushed aluminum panel on the actual model.







If you look really close you will see that the drivers side reverse light is missing the white lens. I never did find a replacement for the real thing back then but no doubt now they are all over Ebay.








Well there it is. The real thing wasn't pretty but it was cheap and fun.

[Steve Zuleski]

Now that's an oldy for sure, excellengt.

[mustang1989]

First off, you really did a great job with what you had to work with Tony. Some of these Round 2 kits look like they went to 3 Rounds in the boxing ring as badly cast as some tend to be. The engine and bay is depicted VERY well and you have a point about the engine leaking oil badly on your 1:1 scale ride. These were known leakers and I'm still trying to get over the spare tire being right over the engine in the real world. WOW!!! 

 This is a very well represented build of a rare car and the photography is just all that. Very well done on the finish and a good job on making your money back and THEN some on the real one. 

[garydavis-Rest In Peace]

An OUTSTANDING replica build. Love the sun fadded paint on the body. That Technique worked out great! I'm with Joe on the spare being on top of the engine. What the heck were they think'in....One way to look at it...it was pretty easy to get too. LOL

[tcoat]

Mar 12, 2023 14:10:14 GMT -5 garydavis-Rest In Peace said:

An OUTSTANDING replica build. Love the sun fadded paint on the body. That Technique worked out great! I'm with Joe on the spare being on top of the engine. What the heck were they think'in....One way to look at it...it was pretty easy to get too. LOL

The funny part is that since there is no room in the back of the air conditioned cars (the compressor is as large as the engine I think) they put the spare up front.





Probably a weight distribution thing since with the turbo ones they kept it in the rear but had to factory dent the housing to fit!

[noname]

This looks great. Engine bay fits the 1:1 and like the others the spare tire is rich. I think doing replicas of your old real life cars is a great idea and I hope to see more.

[mustang1989]

I didn't know they made these with a turbo. Typical afterthoughts on the turbo housing cover to accommodate the spare tire.

[tcoat]

Mar 30, 2023 1:49:44 GMT -5 mustang1989 said:

I didn't know they made these with a turbo. Typical afterthoughts on the turbo housing cover to accommodate the spare tire.

The Corvair was the first production car to have a turbo. They only made around 20,000 over a 4 year period so many never knew that.

[mustang1989]

Mar 30, 2023 4:58:43 GMT -5 tcoat said:

Mar 30, 2023 1:49:44 GMT -5 mustang1989 said:

I didn't know they made these with a turbo. Typical afterthoughts on the turbo housing cover to accommodate the spare tire.

The Corvair was the first production car to have a turbo. They only made around 20,000 over a 4 year period so many never knew that.

That'll explain that. I never paid much attention to these cars as a kid because they had such a bad reputation. I still wouldn't own one but they are definitely a car all to their own in terms of being unique. Interesting to say the least.

[tcoat]

Mar 30, 2023 5:00:48 GMT -5 mustang1989 said:

Mar 30, 2023 4:58:43 GMT -5 tcoat said:

The Corvair was the first production car to have a turbo. They only made around 20,000 over a 4 year period so many never knew that.

That'll explain that. I never paid much attention to these cars as a kid because they had such a bad reputation. I still wouldn't own one but they are definitely a car all to their own in terms of being unique. Interesting to say the least.

The reputation was not fair either. The whole "unsafe" thing was debunked decades ago. They were never any more unsafe or unreliable than anything else in the era but they were so different that people would readily believe that they were.

[dannimal]

So cool!!, but that toothpick is waaay out of scale, lol

[halfasskustoms]

Thats real nice.

[tcoat]

May 15, 2023 15:34:34 GMT -5 dannimal said:

So cool!!, but that toothpick is waaay out of scale, lol

Ya I should make a scale snowbrush like held up the real hood.

[midnightprowler]

Well done. How did you correct the steering wheel?

[ogrejohn]

Very nice indeed!

[tcoat]

May 15, 2023 16:39:03 GMT -5 midnightprowler said:

Well done. How did you correct the steering wheel?

Some very precisely applied brute force where it entered the firewall. It now has a very unstock 45 degree bend in the column. 

[kyledehart5]

Another incredible real life reproduction!! I am speechless. Your paint finish is one I’ve seen in real life here in Indiana on thousands of 15-20 year old vehicles. I, too, could not believe the spare tire location. That’s wild!! Great work building this out of the mush of plastic provided by our friends at Round 2

[handiabled]

I second the aged look comment. I really like the addition of the grey primer on the rocker panel and wheel wells