From Lee H. – We went to the big car show in Payette and decided to drive back home to Nampa on the old Highway 30. We planned to hit the yard sales on the way. As we pulled into this yard I noticed what looked like a stretched Corvair van for sale there. When we got close I could see the Toronado wheels on the front. I was amazed at the amount of work that someone went into building this rig. It’s lengthened and widened, and the roof is raised. It has a late sixties Toronado drive train under it. All of the work seems to be done with sheet metal over a wood frame on the sides and roof. There is some body putty that is cracking here and there. The interior is pretty much unfinished. He’s asking $5,000 for it, which I’m thinking is a bit optimistic. But maybe there’s someone out there that would want a unique motor home that still needs quite a bit of work?
Wow ! I’m thinking three vans lost their life for this ” Master Piece ” ? ? ?
Ugly as sin, but someone put their heart and soul into building it.
From some angles, it looks hideous, but from other angles, it looks lovely.
Big Ford or F series front over riders
Fix that up nice and you’d be welcome at Corvair meets everywhere! o_0
Thanks, but no thanks. Cozy in the winter, but pretty brutal in the summer. I can’t imagine what it would be like sitting next to the motor while driving. What a beast. Send it to the crusher.
The only real use I see for this is to park it next to your in ground pool and use it for a changing room and or party house.
sorry, not my cup of tea.
man that is a lot of work, i wonder what it would look like if it were washed and waxed.
this is as unique as they come. the amount of work put into it is just amazing. it sure would get the attention at any car show.
I think I would much rather have this unique rig over the Ultra Van that was featured on this site a while back!
I wonder what he used for a frame. He sure went to a lot of work for something that I can’t see anyone wanting.
I’ll give him $5 for that box of toys behind it.
A Coronado?
I want to see if anybody else remembers this: In the early ’70s, Hot Rod Cartoons had a cartoon story where the hero, Pappy, buys a clapped-out Corvair van for a camper, installs a Toronado drivetrain in the rear, then installs another Toronado drivetrain in the front (for balance), and ends up sleeping outside in a tent because the van is filled with two drivetrains. It was a lot funnier (to a teenager) than I can do justice to it now, but it almost seems like this guy read the same cartoon and decided to do old Pappy one better.
He sure put a lot of work into this. Just splicing the two rear doors to make one wider door (without a visible seam) is a pretty neat trick. And where did he find two windshield portions to fit the extra-wide windshield frame? Can you cut triplex?
You CAN cut laminated [AS-1] windshields. Use a glass cutter just like you would for regular glass, scoring the surface on BOTH sides. then take some wood alcohol and some modelling clay. Build up a small dam around the cutting area, then put a small amount of alcohol in the dammed area. light it and as the alcohol burns, it will melt the plastic laminate.
An amazing bit of work, for sure…
But I’d have almost certainly opted for putting the Toro drivetrain in the back instead of the front. Hey Karl, there is a lot of stuff packed inside, might there be a second power and drive assembly hiding under all the junk?
Just goes to show, people with mechanical talents can do pretty much anything they desire to please their own aesthetic sense.
Of all the modified Forward Control Corvairs I have seen in the past 50 years, this tops the list for being the most different from the others. Still easily recognizable regarding what the origins were though.
I really do wonder when this was done. 70’s? No way later than the 80’s?
Edit: Just noticed the two different but sequentially numbered plates front/rear. LOL
I remember a Corvan in a parts yard in the mid 80s. It had a big block mounted in the middle. That thing must have been scary to drive and fast as hell.
Well beyond financial consideration, but I love the weirdness value.
I like it, but then I like Edsels too!
Some poor old grandpappy had too many Corvairs and a LOT of time on his hands!
Not exactly my cup of arsenic…
Oh God, I want it. I Have no use for it, but I want it nonetheless. since I already own a ’62 Corvair Corvan (panel van). Shoot me now, it won’t be murder, it’ll be a mercy killing. All I ask you to do is bury me in my ’64 Corvair Monza as you send me off to Corvair Heaven.
I know it’s still there… I don’t know if they are still asking the same price. Amazing how this thread is been there so long.
Where is it?
Where is it?
While I can imagine a water-cooled engine powering a Corvair, I’d keep it toward the aft end of the van. I’d also install a Subaru Boxer engine, rather than a V8 engine.