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I saw a well-done swap of an Olds Toronado stuffed into a Porsche coupe

Mucho chassis and suspension mods of course

Too much time, grief, and money for my tastes as a project

My question was simply : “Why?”

I recall finally going up to Luigi’s NART showroom/shop in Greenwich on the Old Post Road and digging through the Ferrari front springs to find a replacement pair (LF was broken) of front springs for a De Tomasaso Pantera - It also improved balance when fitted with 4 KONIS - “terminal oversteer” is lousy on street cars and deadly on country lanes

The owner had fitted Good Year 60s - E front and H rear I believe - the stock radials put many Panteras into the trees on narrow bumpy winding Fairfield County roads - often with wet leaves of black ice

On my ‘65 Corsa I first moved the spare TIRES (2 spare tires/wheels - I ran 14” up front & 15” rear) from (a dinky original 13” spare) over the TRW Turbo at RR to up front in the truck/boot/whatever - also moved an oversized battery from LR to up front too - ran heavy cable through heavy tubing under the bodypan - a toolbox up front helped balance the Corsa better

GM had attempted slapping a Chevy smallblock V8 in the back of a Corvair as an experiment - even with wider rear wheels/tires - It was terrible handling and a crummy idea

I’d seen lots of Crown-Kit Chevy V8 to ‘65-’69 Corvairs - mid-engine and small block (327-350-400) worked pretty well on balance

There are a number with various V6 engines mounted mid-engine too

My ‘65 Corsa-Turbo was basically a sleeper-commuter car to NYC - served as a testbed for lots of wheel/tire swaps and suspension, brake, tire testing and experimentation

I recall that Moroso thought Corvairs were rusty unstable cars - until I bet him had had nothing that could stay with my Corsa-Turbo on upper Greenwich country roads

Car buyers/owners are not all engineers or people who properly maintain and service their cars

My early sportscar mods made this a natural - also I had primo vehicles with unique problems that the owners never could get solved elsewhere - price was hardly any question

These people loved their cars and wanted to drive them too - from supercharged boat-tailed Auburn to Pantera to E-Jags with V8 engine swaps

The Corvair engine and design required an owner with a brain - more like a Porsche owner -

GM made the same errors with the Vega engines - which became the Monza and Monza V8

Don’t forget that Ford turned a Pinto chassis into a “Cobra” too - my cousin is a big hot rodder and car buff - now messing with a “Cobra” of that flavor

But he will get the frame/body and suspension right and he knows his engines - Chevy or Ford

My uncle used a Crown Kit years ago to swap a stock Corvair into his Karmann-Ghia - it too lifted the front wheels - he had owned an XK-120, Porsche Sppedster, Mercedes 190SL, BMW tii - but he did not have the sense to balance the weight and suspension of his VW Karmann-Ghia Corvair -

I figure brakes and handling first
Power with brains is death