Trevor Harris - Sunland, California
Trevor Harris is the guy who took Ted Trevor's #1 Shop Car and turned it into 'kit form'. He did all the design work for the subframe, engine mounting, rear and front suspension components and assembled the parts into kits known as Crown Kits. He is the creator of the Crown Kit. Ted Trevor knew exactly what he was doing when he hired Trevor Harris. Although Trevor Harris never owned a Corvair, we can conclude that the Crown Kit may have been delayed for some time without him and probably not built to the same demanding specifications. Trevor Harris has a memory like a computer!
Trevor Harris and his partner Bruce Burness opened their Kintech shop in 1966. They operated a race car business in Westminster, CA making automotive race chassis. This shop was about 10 miles from Ted Trevor’s Crown Manufacturing business in Costa Mesa, CA. At the time Peter Brock of BRE (Brock Racing Enterprises) had a contract with Toyota. Brock worked up a deal with Trevor Harris and his partner to design a chassis for a
special coupe body that Brock had designed for Toyota’s Group 6 Prototype. This was one of many endeavors undertaken by Trevor Harris during his career. You are invited to follow his career on these links before we move on to his time at Crown Manufacturing.
Trevor Harris and Ted Trevor met in late 1966. Trevor saw the Toyota body in Harris’s shop one day when he stopped by to see what Harris could possibly do for his own Crown V-8 Project. Ted Trevor offered his Yellow Corvair coupe to Harris for his opinion on the car. Harris took Ted Trevor up on his offer and checked out the Corvair He was rather impressed with the performance of this lightweight coupe sporting a mid- engine V-8. This was also about the same time that Harris and Burness were experiencing some financial issues regarding the Toyota project and decided to close operations. Ted Trevor became aware of this closure and made a move to offer Harris a position at Crown. Harris accepted Ted’s offer and went to work designing all the components necessary to produce kits so hobbyist could install Crown Conversions in their own Corvairs. Harris was responsible for designing the subframe, engine mounting, headers, cooling layout, engine cover and seat design, along with changes to the rear and front suspension. With his expertise in suspension design he developed the rear and front sway bars. Special springs were included to enhance the car’s handling. A spyder gear package was also developed to reduce gear failure caused by high torque. Harris completed the project near the end of 1968, just before he decided to part ways amicably with Ted and open another fabrication shop close by in Costa Mesa.
Before leaving Crown, Harris decided to hold the employees over one weekend to verify Ted’s claim that a Corvair could be converted to V-8 power in a weekend. One of Ted Trevor's customers wanted a Crown kit installed in his green coupe, so this was the perfect opportunity to confirm Ted’s claim. Harris along with Bud Whitfield and Chuck Noble completed the conversion on schedule late that Sunday evening. Bud Whitield who was an excellent engine specialist, had the engine running before Monday morning. Design work for the kits took about 4-5 months according to Harris. A young kid was hired to handle the technical drawings while Harris completed the final design work in another building close to Crown that was more suited to the task. Although unusual, this
arrangement brought the kits to market faster. Crown kits were available for purchase by late 1968.
Road & Track Magazine published an article entitled ‘The Mind-Bender’ in its September 1968 issue. The article caught the eye of many Corvair hot rodders of the day. After that publication the orders for Crown kits started rolling in. Shortly after that, the first batch of kits (5-6) were cut on a jig at Crown and transferred to Harris’s shop for welding and packaging. As Crown kit sales exploded, Harris was called on to supplement kit production in his shop. Harris continued to assist Crown Manufacturing when kit production backed up. He remembers making between 50-100 kits during the year after leaving Crown.
It’s safe to say that Trevor Harris’s involvement at Crown Manufacturing was pivotal. Had he not agreed to join Ted with the development of the Crown V-8 kits and assisted with their production when sales increased, one could conclude that introduction of the kits and assembly may have received considerable delay. Ted’s decision to hook up with Trevor Harris was very timely. Ted had one fast Corvair, but no quick way to make others. Harris with his fabrication skills was at a crossroads in his life; so it appears that the planets came into alignment, so to speak.
The rest is history!
http://trevorlharris.com/index.html
http://rrdc.org/member/trevor-harris/
https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/5lu3xc/driver_al_unser_jr_and_car_designer_trevor_harris/
https://bre2.net/the-designs/bre/
https://www.v8registry.com/trevor-harris.html
special coupe body that Brock had designed for Toyota’s Group 6 Prototype. This was one of many endeavors undertaken by Trevor Harris during his career. You are invited to follow his career on these links before we move on to his time at Crown Manufacturing.
Trevor Harris and Ted Trevor met in late 1966. Trevor saw the Toyota body in Harris’s shop one day when he stopped by to see what Harris could possibly do for his own Crown V-8 Project. Ted Trevor offered his Yellow Corvair coupe to Harris for his opinion on the car. Harris took Ted Trevor up on his offer and checked out the Corvair He was rather impressed with the performance of this lightweight coupe sporting a mid- engine V-8. This was also about the same time that Harris and Burness were experiencing some financial issues regarding the Toyota project and decided to close operations. Ted Trevor became aware of this closure and made a move to offer Harris a position at Crown. Harris accepted Ted’s offer and went to work designing all the components necessary to produce kits so hobbyist could install Crown Conversions in their own Corvairs. Harris was responsible for designing the subframe, engine mounting, headers, cooling layout, engine cover and seat design, along with changes to the rear and front suspension. With his expertise in suspension design he developed the rear and front sway bars. Special springs were included to enhance the car’s handling. A spyder gear package was also developed to reduce gear failure caused by high torque. Harris completed the project near the end of 1968, just before he decided to part ways amicably with Ted and open another fabrication shop close by in Costa Mesa.
Before leaving Crown, Harris decided to hold the employees over one weekend to verify Ted’s claim that a Corvair could be converted to V-8 power in a weekend. One of Ted Trevor's customers wanted a Crown kit installed in his green coupe, so this was the perfect opportunity to confirm Ted’s claim. Harris along with Bud Whitfield and Chuck Noble completed the conversion on schedule late that Sunday evening. Bud Whitield who was an excellent engine specialist, had the engine running before Monday morning. Design work for the kits took about 4-5 months according to Harris. A young kid was hired to handle the technical drawings while Harris completed the final design work in another building close to Crown that was more suited to the task. Although unusual, this
arrangement brought the kits to market faster. Crown kits were available for purchase by late 1968.
Road & Track Magazine published an article entitled ‘The Mind-Bender’ in its September 1968 issue. The article caught the eye of many Corvair hot rodders of the day. After that publication the orders for Crown kits started rolling in. Shortly after that, the first batch of kits (5-6) were cut on a jig at Crown and transferred to Harris’s shop for welding and packaging. As Crown kit sales exploded, Harris was called on to supplement kit production in his shop. Harris continued to assist Crown Manufacturing when kit production backed up. He remembers making between 50-100 kits during the year after leaving Crown.
It’s safe to say that Trevor Harris’s involvement at Crown Manufacturing was pivotal. Had he not agreed to join Ted with the development of the Crown V-8 kits and assisted with their production when sales increased, one could conclude that introduction of the kits and assembly may have received considerable delay. Ted’s decision to hook up with Trevor Harris was very timely. Ted had one fast Corvair, but no quick way to make others. Harris with his fabrication skills was at a crossroads in his life; so it appears that the planets came into alignment, so to speak.
The rest is history!
http://trevorlharris.com/index.html
http://rrdc.org/member/trevor-harris/
https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/5lu3xc/driver_al_unser_jr_and_car_designer_trevor_harris/
https://bre2.net/the-designs/bre/
https://www.v8registry.com/trevor-harris.html
