Potential overestimated

In which a weary traveler finds a home....

So we have owned corvairs for all of my life. Dad gave me a red convertible for surviving college. We still have it. We have done several auto and motorcycle projects lately, but dad heard about a 63 rampside sitting on a rusted trailer in the mountains. Here it is, as found-

It looked fixable, so we dragged it across the mountains to the shop, and started coming up with a plan.

Hidden Horrors

Upon keen observation, it was found that the quarter panels, floors, and everything else near the ground was bent, rusted, rotten and unfit for use.

As we stripped away the sheet metal to uncover the extent of the damage, it became apparent that the lower part of the rampside was pretty much unusable.

In which an impossibility is considered, and embraced

With the prospect of the lower parts of the rampside unusable, the search began for another vehicle to supply the needed bits. Dad located a corvair van.

For those not in the Know- This is a rampside-

This thing is a van, or "sports wagon" 

There are many similarities between the two, and some big differences.

So here is our van-

A large rectangle is disassembled

The process of stripping the van down to it's component parts began.

  

Much head scratching and triple measuring was undertaken before we decided where the cut/join lines would be. Some parts had to be modified quite a bit.

In which the shell is peeled away

A van no more, the upper frame is lifted off.

And discarded...

More carnage...

The rampside is similarly disassembled, after careful comparison with the usable parts of the van. the parts to be saved are carefully measured, studied, marked, and cut away...

And lifted off.

Bits and pieces are accumulated and modified

The Rampside sections are cleaned up and prepped

The corvair front end is salvaged

A recently deceased Tundra is purchased-

And the Tundra engine removed-

 And coupled with a Corvette rear end-

Dad had put considerable effort into ensuring that all the parts would fit, but there was some skepticism on my part. he was of course right.

An unusual assembly

After a great deal of measuring, marking, and head scratching, the top and bottom are fitted together-

Then taken back apart, fretted over, adjusted, and reassembled.

Having accomplished the impossible, we begin the hard part

We had to determine how the engine would actually fit

We had to reinforce the structure and add mounts for the beefed up and nonstandard hardware-

The engine would only fit with reasonable clearance if we reversed the spare tire compartment...

 And completely removed the drive shaft.

Miles of Wires

From the Tundra we extracted not just the engine, but the wiring harness and electrical system. here is what we faced-

The steering column was used as well-