<VV> Loyus 23 -Corvarir

[ricebugg at comcast.net]

All:  Thanks for the review of sorts Rick.  
Don't know when SA used the Corvair FC, but Pete Brock put together a Falcon wagon/panel van, done in white with blue strips per the GT350.  Maybe FC was used before SA got fully in bed with Ford and did the Shelby Mustang GT350. 
 
See the January 2004 for info on 2 liter Corvairs and a whole list of Corvair powered sports and formula powered race cars from back in the '60's  Can't believe it's been 20 years since I wrote that article.  We were all so young then. 
 
The very first mention I've found from a early 60's So. Calif, race program listed George Follmer as driving a Corvair sedan.  He had ties with Bill Thomas, who build the 2 liter.  Thomas, like 2 or 3 others, could not get a 2 liter Corvair to work.  George got the Porsche 904 engine when, or maybe as, he got sponsership from a Porsche dealer.  Went on the win the 1965 USRRC Championship, betting out Jim Hall in one of his Chaparrals.  The next year the SCCA made two classes for the USRRC, over and under 2 liters.  Of course Geo Follmer went on to race and win in Can-Am, Trans-Am, USAC, F1 ans IMSA.  Quite a career.  Today I understand he drives a school bus in Idaho.
 
By the way, the Genie Corvair has been restored and was at the Monterey Historics - or whatever it is called today - back in August.  Seth was there, and has promised a Communique article.  
 
There is also a new book out on George.  Don't know if it is a autobio or just a bio.
 
Historically Yours,
                      James Rice
 

Message: 2Date: Fri, 27 Dec 2013 07:50:11 -0500From: "Rick Norris" <ricknorris at suddenlink.net>Subject: <VV> Inside Shelby American book by John Morton, CorvairReferences.To: <fastvair at yahoogroups.com>Cc: virtualvairs at corvair.org
Just finished this book By John Morton. I found several Corvair references. 

The first one is on page 55 where we discover the Shelby American shop truck is a Corvair Greenbrier! No pics though.

Second reference on page 136 is about a Lotus 23 with a Corvair engine. The passage goes: "I liked Lotus 23's and had my eye on a white one with a Corvair engine entered for a driver named George Follmer, who I assumedwasn't really serious or he wouldn't have screwed up his car with a Corvair engine."The next passage is on page 185 is when John is talking to his friend Bruce Burness who was also an ex Shelby employee. He was approached by George Follmer to build a larger fuel tank for his car. He said: "I won't waste my time working on a car with a Corvair engine. If you remove the Corvair and install a Porsche, we can talk." George did exactly that.
The last reference is found on page 187. "Bruce Burness had finished the job of replacing the ill-conceived 2 liter Corvair engine in George Folmer's Lotus 23 with a Porsche 904 engine."
This is a good book that shows the inner workings of Shelby American from a grunt wannabe race car drivers perspective during the freewheeling days before Ford management and big money took over. 
Rick Norris
1st CORSA President, 1971www.corvairalley.com <http://www.corvairalley.com/> Hurricane WV