Vintage camper

pjay9 wrote:
Reddog...so what I hear you saying...Is that you were unsafe at any speed! :>)

Ralph Nader said I was. The guy was an expert, educated as a Lawyer and never had a car.

Wayne

ezcamping wrote:
They used a corvair motor and transaxle. Built by an aircraft engineer more like an airplane than car. Aluminum ribbing and riveted sheet aluminum and some fiberglass. Weighed around 4,000 pounds dry. Called the ultra van and recognized by the corvair society of america. There is a guy on the class a forum that has several which is the only reason I know about them. Never seen one in person.

The basic Covair was around 2800 pounds as I recall. A 4000 pound vehicle is sure a lot of weight for the engime size. I do not know which year he used, but the Covair was available with 90, 110 , 150 Turbo), 140, or 180 (Turbo) HP engine. Stick shift transmissions were 3 or 4 speed. The auto trans was a 2-speed powerglide.

A buddy of mine had a corvair with the 150 turbo motor in high school. Lots of fun. Not sure about it powering a loaded up rv though. Why the corvair was deemed unsafe and my 68 porsche 912 with rear engine wasn't is beyond me. Both were a lot of fun to drive and we both survived our teenage years unscathed.

I have pictures of an Ultra Van that was at Yosemite. There were about 325 made and many are still on the road. When Chevrolet shut down the Corvair, Ultra Van had to switch to the front wheel drive V8 Eldorado. These made them more expensive and the cheaper Winnebago came out at the same time for half the price. This is what killed Ultra Van. It was built like an aircraft and got great mileage. The quality rigs seem to suffer the same fate.

The Rampside is neat. I have never seen one in person. I have a corvair powered dune buggy that came home whole, and is now in pieces. I never paid too much attention to corvairs before I got the buggy, but I like them now.

Corvairs are awesome!
The engines are great in dune buggy's and Baja Bugs etc
and the Van's are very cool as well... Pretty fine machines!

I once say a rampside that had been turned into an amphicar. It was a 62 or 63. Built as a demonstrater by a company around Detroit. I saw it in a collection in Ohio about 2004. It only had about 300 miles on it. In the bed was a stack of wooden folding chairs for people to sit on while in the water. Needless to say it never made it into production.

Mark