<VV> [fastvair] V-12 Jaguar powered

[airvair at earthlink.net]

Seth,

I never said I doubted his credentials or thought his engineering or fabricating skills were sloppy. Quite the contrary, my hat's off to him. All those are impecable, and the car's an excellent piece of custom workmanship.

But I still don't recognize it as a Corvair. What makes a Corvair a Corvair and differentiates it from almost everything else is an air cooled REAR engine, not a waterpumping front engine. Heck, virtually every other car on the road has that. But at least I'm open-minded enough to accept the substitution of a waterpumper engine, because the Corvair engine is small, and not all that powerful. I understand the need for power. Heck, I'll even go so far as to accept putting said waterpumper midship in the back seat. But even that's stretching it, so much so that most people call such cars a Corv-8. People recognize such a car as a hybred, and not a pure Corvair. But where I have to draw the line is when said waterpumper engine is placed AHEAD of the passengers. That totally discards the very last vestage of what makes it a Corvair. It then becomes a "something else" with a Corvair shell over top of it.

Also consider that back (particularly) in the first part of the 20th century it was quite common for people to buy (for example) a Cadillac V-16 and have somebody like Rollston do a custom body for it. The finished car wasn't called a Rollston, it was called a Cadillac. A Rollston-bodied Cadillac, but STILL a Cadillac nontheless. Thus the body shell doesn't determine what kind of car it is. Same with Jay's car. 

I personally don't see (other than a display of his magnificent engineering and workmanship skills) any difference between his car and  "the  "Canadian Conversions'  where the body is dropped onto a Chevelle chassis". So what if he has a more sophisticated chassis? I'd expect that a Jag would have that over a Chevelle. Like I said, no matter how well he has integrated Jag and Corvair parts, he STILL has a Jag with a Corvair body shell dropped over top of it.

You'll just have to forgive me for viewing the car in industry-standard terms. And as you point out, everyone's entitled to their opinion. That's my opinion and I'm sticking with it. And if you know him and happen to tell him of my opinon, don't leave out the why.

-Mark

----- Original Message ----- 
From: 
To: airvair at earthlink.net;virtualvairs at corvair.org
Sent: 3/6/2010 8:38:09 PM 
Subject: Re: [fastvair] V-12 Jaguar powered


In a message dated 3/6/2010 4:57:03 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, airvair at earthlink.net writes:
That's really a Jaguar with a Corvair shell set on top of it. It's NOT a
Corvair anymore. It's a Jag.

-Mark

Well, Mark everybody is entitled to an opinion. I know Jay, I have seen the car, close up, many times. Jay went to a lot of trouble to maintain the absolute stock appearance of the car. Yes, he replaced the engine with a Jag and yes, it is in the front. But follow these threads. He liked the stock appearance of the car, so, although changing to 14" wheels, he made small rings that snap into the 14 inch wheels to retain the use of the original 13" Corvair hubcaps. He liked the sound of the Corvair engine, so the Jag was fairly silenced and the radiator, now mounted in the back, was located so that the Corvair cooling fan, the late Mag fan is shrouded to pull the air through the radiator, and spins at about engine speed - driven off the transaxle - Yes, a transaxle in the rear, similar to the Tempest set-up. Hardly any foot-well intrusion. Jay is/was a GM man, having made his money as the West Coast distributor/converter for the Scissor-lift equipped Step Vans that PG&E and Pac Bell used from the 50's on. He had a lot of connections at GM. They helped him install a pair of GM fuel injection systems from Buick V6s onto the Jag motor. He is also a vintage car guy, having re-built and "raced" a Marmon in Vintage tours in Northern California. He headed up the regional SAE for several years. Quite a guy. And the car is nothing like the  "Canadian Conversions'  where the body is dropped onto a Chevelle chassis. The suspension is all Corvair. 

Seth Emerson

C's the Day! - Corvair, Camaro, Corvette