Corvair Rampside

[rodnokn6]

hi harry I am a new member here and I love corvairs! I currently own a 1965 corsa and 2 rampsides The rampsides are not running and I need 2 to make one. (one has a good body and the other has an ok drive train...Good luck with your truck

[HarrySmith]

Bad news!! My last post told how I got the drivetrain together after picking up another engine for the truck. I was waiting on the sheetmetal shrouds that cover the engine. Since it is air cooled it needs the shrouds to control air flow for the engine. Mine were all very nasty, greasy & rusted. I was going to sandblast and paint them. I even bought a sandblaster to do it. Then I got the job at Toyota where I am now and one of the mechanics here liked the truck, he told me he had a friend who worked on airplanes and did a lot of powdercoating, he made a call and told me he would powdercoat my shrouds for free!! I said "Why not"!! Naturally a "friend" doing the work took forever! About a week ago I finally got them back! Looks great! The following week I had a 3 day weekend, I figured it was a good time to get the engine in the truck. I had the drivetrain stored the dealers shop where I used to work. I have friends there and I went back to check on it a few times, no problem. On Friday morning I woke up early, all excited to finally be making progress and drove to the shop to pick up my drive train. when I got there IT WAS GONE!! STOLEN! Of course nobody knows anything and the manager tells me "it should not have been here anyway, you left a year ago". I wanted to kill him but he was right. Now I need to replace it. ......to be continued

[HarrySmith]

I have had several very generous offers from members of the Corvair clubs but bottom line is I spent all my money on that drivetrain and cannot afford to rebuild another one. I do have an offer for a running engine I will not have to rebuild. I am going to try for that one. I am going to require funds for that so I will be selling some of my phones to finance the truck. Keep you eyes on the classifieds for some nice phones in the near future! I have decided to offer them here before eBay even though when I have done that in the past there has been little to no response.

[AE_Collector]

That really sucks Harry...I am sorry to hear of your bad luck with the Corvair. Hopefully you get a good deal on the engine that is ready to go and things start going better for you with that project. Looking forward to updated pictures soon.

Terry

[Phonesrfun]

Yikes, that hurt just reading about it.  Hope you can find another one at a reasonable price.

[HarrySmith]

It has been a few years and I just realized the links to the pictures is no longer valid. There are pictures if anyone is interested here:
https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipMS_8u3r9zFOXyvCM5lQEFGrb3BC7t6Ny5xTYia
https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipOdcNBpS6HPKBIsxUeO1v3ZDfVXiNXO2E_XoGRM
I did not want to take all the space posting them all but I just put one here for reference.

[FABphones]

https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipMS_8u3r9zFOXyvCM5lQEFGrb3BC7t6Ny5xTYia
https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipOdcNBpS6HPKBIsxUeO1v3ZDfVXiNXO2E_XoGRM

The links ask for a password.
Maybe add just a few more photos here instead?

[HarrySmith]

I can do that but if you are are Google member you should be able to see them all if you are logged in.

[HarrySmith]

A couple more

[Pourme]

~

Harry,
This is all new to me, first time I have read this thread. I assume the truck is still in the same condition as last stated? I know the first order of business is to get the drive train in order. Sorry to hear about your bad experience!
I watch too many of those hot rod based restoration tv shows and have noticed several times they preserved the "patina" of the vehicle rather than a like new shinny restoration. They have very clever ways of saving the original paint while repainting what is necessary to match.  In the end it is a sound finish that looks aged. They would even restore that logo, readable but with the correct aged look.

I only mention this because when you bought this they didn't do this sort of thing as much. Techniques have advanced.

Yeah, way too much car TV.....

Benny

[Babybearjs]

WOW! I have never seen this model car before... I'm familiar with the carvair brand, but never knew they made trucks as well, weren't these made by VW back then?

[Key2871]

Yes Harry I had never seen this post before today.
So how's it coming?
When I was young I used to hang around the local garage, and the independent phone company would bring their truck in for oil changes etc. I looked inside one day and saw the label that said no job so important etc and another that said if this equipment can't work, neither can you. Take care of this equipment.. I wonder if it was a retired bell van.

[HarrySmith]

Thanks for the comments guys. I was not able to source another drivetrain I could afford so I ended up selling the truck. It was an old Bell truck for sure. I think I still have the last registration from 1968 which is to Bell. I wanted one of these trucks ever since I saw one was I was a teen. Maybe one day I will get another. VW had their own models of truck which was quite different. Corvair also had vans & station wagons. I have tried contacting the guy who bought it from me but have not been able to get ahold of him. Another broken dream!

[19and41]

I remembered a few months back Jay Leno did a program on his rampside.  If you want to see one in it's pristine glory,  Here 'tis...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY6X_603MMc

[HarrySmith]

I remember that. I saw that show where they rebuilt it. He spared no expense! IIRC when it was done he said:
I have a $1,000 dollar truck I spent $600 to buy and put $60,000 into!