---
title: "This Rowdy LS V8-Swapped Lifted Corvair Wagon Is Bound for Off-Road Rescue Duty"
description: "The engine's in the wrong place now, but the heart is in the right one."
date: "2020-12-14"
modified: "2020-12-14"
authors:
  - name: "Stef Schrader"
    job_title: "Contributor"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/stef-schrader"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/38165/this-rowdy-ls-v8-swapped-lifted-corvair-wagon-is-bound-for-off-road-rescue-duty"
categories:
  - "Culture"
  - "News"
tags:
  - "Wagon"
---

# This Rowdy LS V8-Swapped Lifted Corvair Wagon Is Bound for Off-Road Rescue Duty

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2020/12/big-v8_970x546.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

Matt's Off-Road Recovery gets drivers out of tough trail [situations](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/30700/watch-the-off-road-rescue-of-a-rental-hyundai-tucson-stuck-on-a-utah-jeep-trail>) in the Utah [wilderness](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/3265/where-winter-never-ends>), but their recovery vehicle build project may just steal the show. Matt wanted something a little bit bigger than his XJ-generation [Jeep Cherokee](<https://www.thedrive.com/watch-this/8960/watch-this-jeep-cherokee-climb-up-a-nearly-vertical-rock-face-easy-as-pie>) to handle bigger, gnarlier obstacles. Naturally, the answer was a 1961 Chevrolet Corvair wagon. Wait, what?

Don't fret, fans of General Motors' aircooled flat-six wonder. Matt's shell was in rough shape to start with and wasn't a preservation candidate anyway, so why not have fun with it? His [goal](<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJcqigRBHj8>) is to have Utah's coolest build done by 2021, so now is the time to tune in.

![message-editor%2F1608003874050-recov-jeep\_970x546.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content-b/message-editor/1608003874050-recov-jeep_970x546.jpg>)
**YouTube | Matt's Off-Road Recovery**

https://youtube.com/embed/DJcqigRBHj8

The Corvair wagon sadly isn't rear-engined anymore, but its new front-mounted LS V8 should be plenty powerful for whatever trails can throw at it. The wagon was dropped onto a custom-built [frame](<https://youtu.be/g5VnN5ewu98>) meaty enough to handle some delightfully gargantuan wheels. There's Dana 60 axles up front and Dana 70s in the rear, and it should go without saying that it's going to be four-wheel drive.

Right now, there's "just" a 5.3-liter LS under the hood, but Matt says he'd like to end up with a 6.0-liter supercharged version. That LS is mated to a TH400 transmission and an NP205 transfer case.

https://youtube.com/embed/YEbhsmju2iM

Recently, Matt teamed up with the [Fab Rats](<https://youtu.be/YEbhsmju2iM>) channel to go into an even deeper technical dive into their recent transmission rebuild thrash to get the Corvair ready to rescue by the end of the year. Thirty-six hours of wrenching on a big, bad frankencar—yee haw.

There's a certain Grave Digger-like quality to a classic longroof sitting on big wheels, so it's hard not to love this project. Either way, I know I'd feel a little less terrible about screwing up in the wilderness if I got a tow out from such a cool rig.

https://youtube.com/embed/TOuw4a9Y02I

You can follow along with Matt's Corvair build (and other good, clean but dirty [fun](<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C31vtiLlvaw>)) on his [YouTube channel here](<https://www.youtube.com/c/MattsOffRoadRecovery/videos>).

*\[H/T [r/cars](<https://www.reddit.com/r/cars/comments/kcc2il/this_tow_shop_in_utah_is_building_a_4wd_v8_corvair/>)!\]*

*Got a tip? Send us a note: tips@thedrive.com*

## Author
Stef Schrader is a former senior staff writer for The Drive. She started writing about cars in 2013 after meeting Jalopnik's editor-in-chief at a race track, where Stef can be found at every available opportunity.

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefschrader/>)  
[Instagram](<https://instagram.com/stefthepef>)  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/stefthepef>)