[silodrome.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/2022 12:00PM by Corvaircorsa@Germany.

[silodrome.com]

I've always wanted a Devin C but they have always been just out of reach.

Ken Hand
Handy Car Care
248 613 8586

Vairmech@aol.com

Yes...

Article might be a little bit off. It says at one point that it was originally fitted with a 180 engine, and later that the current engine is a 180 replacement.

While the replacement engine is not hard to see, Devin would have had to be such an innovative man as to make serious modifications to a 1959-60 Corvair engine that made it top out at 180. I don't know that the GM Monza GT or even the Italian Torino were that powerful. His modifications would have to be stellar and would probably be adopted by the other show car manufacturers.

Does anyone know how accurate the article is?

Anyo

Eric C. Player
Fargo, North Dakota
MEMBER: CORSA National, Central Coast CORSA, South Coast CORSA, Vintage CORSA, Sfba CORSA, and Great Plains Corvair Club.
THEN: 1965 Monza 110, Canary Yellow - 1965 Corsa 180 Turbo, Red - 1966 Monza 110, Purple - 1967 Monza 140, Red - 1966 500 110, Black; nicknamed "Shadow" - 1965 Monza 110, Camaro Yellow; nicknamed "Silver"
NOW: 1966 Corsa 180 Turbo, Blue; nicknamed "Bluvair"
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"He cautioned me not to take notes. It would not have helped if I had, as he would start a paragraph with, 'It is therefore obvious. . .'
and go on from there to matters which may have been obvious to him and God but to no one else."
-- Robert A. Heinlein, character of Daniel B. Davis, 'The Door Into Summer.'

read it again,
there is only mentioned that is equipped with 180 hp racing engine,.
the triplet Webers and the right Cam/lifter/ported/Heads Machining steps/comp ratio,and better Machining Quality easily makes a 180bhp engine,(Motor)

but what this car has on the wheels is probably 10-20% less,
note every Dynotests with original 140's were between 100-120Hp on the wheel, fresh rebuild engines too..
thats because of poor assembling and manufacturing tolerances..
if you go threw this you make the 140 real, with stock equipped engines except camshafts.

It looks like I misread the picture caption as referring to original specs, but it is worded hink-ish.

Cheers.

Your'e Welcome

Okay, I am confused.
.

Quote
The Article
The Devin C you see here was built by Devin in 1959, it’s one of the first of 21 examples built, and shortly after it left the factory it was used by the Granatelli brothers for supercharger testing at the Bonneville Salt Flats.

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I was told that the "C", in Devin C, specifically denotes a Devin that was built (Body & Chassis) from the factory to house a Corvair engine.
If the Corvair wasn't available from Chevrolet, until October 2nd. 1959, then how did Bill Devin get a Chassis and Body built before the end of the year?

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WA. state, 1 mile south of the Canadian border, I am not at the end of the world, but you can see it from here.

Here is a great article about Bill Devin and his many accomplishments, written by his friend and associast Art Evans.

Bill Devin Enterprises El Monte, California was a business located in the area that brought many thriving automotive dreams to life.

In reading the story, it seems that Bill was well connected and in the late 1950s he bought Chevrolet Corvette engines to build complete cars at Devin Enterprises.
Chevrolet would gladly sell parts of their line of cars too. Ed Cole even had Vince Piggins circulating among the guys involved in racing and Specialty Equipment development in SoCal. Bill Thomas comes to mind....
My speculation: I'd imagine that Bill had obtained the Corvair powerpack and suspension components thru the same connections at Chevrolet some time well before the official Oct. 2nd introduction.
He already had his own frame which was design modified to use the Corvair rear components instead of VW or Porsche.

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Dan Davis ~ Pierce County, WA ~ CCF admin ~
CORSA +Corvairs NW + North Cascades Corvairs + Corvanatics
1966 Corsa Turbo coupe ~ ~ 1966 Corsa 140 Coupe ~ ~ 1965 Monza 140/4 Convertible Sierra Tan/Fawn ~ 1964 Monza Spyder Convertible ~ 1960 Monza Ermine White/Red PG ++ ~ 1965 Monza 140/4 CoupeEvening Orchid w/ ivory/black interior ~ 1962 Monza Wagon 102/4 ~ 1963 Rampside/Scamper ~ 1963 Red/Greenbrier ~ 1969 Ultra Van #468

Dan is correct in pointing out the error in the statement that Bud Borrasa's Devin was built in 1959. The attached photo is from the January, 1962 issue of Sports Car Graphic and was taken during the period of time that the Granatelli's had "borrowed" the car to test their supercharger kit.
The original Devin D was tested by Jerry Titus in 1961 and featured in the May, 1961 issue of SCG. With the VW engine, the car was only slightly quicker than a Bug which meant that they could have measured the acceleration times with an hourglass.
In that same article, Titus said that Bill Devin was working on plans to fit the car with a Corvair powerplant.
Later that year in October, Titus did another article in which he tested the first Devin C. It had a junkyard Corvair 95, 80 hp engine, with a granny 1st gear ratio. It was somewhat faster, (0 to 60 in 9.5 sec.), but still far short of its potential.
The dates of these publications are probably 2 to 3 months after the actual event, but the Devin C was 'born' in 1961, not 1959.
BTW: Jerry Titus successfully raced the Corvair Genie and was a real Corvair fan.
Tom Keosabaian

Racing a Shelby GT500 at the Riverside Raceway 1/2 mile drags in 1966--and WINNING with my turbo 140!!!

Did you possibly mean, Mel is correct?

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WA. state, 1 mile south of the Canadian border, I am not at the end of the world, but you can see it from here.

Mel, I'm sorry that I responded to the wrong email. You are correct. When Bud Bourassa bought the car from Tom Schrum, he somehow thought it was built in 1959. I'm just trying to get the record straight.
I re-scanned and attached the magazine photos of the Granatelli's working on the Devin at Riverside because the original file was too big for our forum.
In 1960, Andy Granatelli took a 1960 Corvair sedan with the 140 CID, stock 80 hp motor to Bonneville. It had a Paxton supercharger kit that he had developed for the Corvair and he set a new record of 128 mph. I looked closely at the lower photo of his motor in the Devin and I can see that it has a 1960 cooling shroud on it. It may be the same motor that he used at Bonneville in 1960 which makes the performance figures by the supercharged Devin C even more incredible.

Guys you are so great,Thanks for that lesson in Corvair History!