Watch This Kick-Ass Corvair Wagon Recovery Truck Go Dune Jumping

If you were compiling a list of cars that to turn into a recovery vehicle for navigating the wilds of Utah, a Chevrolet Corvair wagon probably wouldn’t figure in your top 5000 vehicles. But that’s exactly what Matt from YouTube channel Matt’s Off Road Recovery picked for this incredible build.

If you’re not familiar with the channel, then you need to get acquainted. As the name suggests, Matt runs a recovery company in Hurricane, Utah. But Winder Towing isn’t the kind of recovery company you call when your Fiesta has broken down at the side of the freeway, or if it is, that kind of boring stuff never ends up on YouTube.

No, Matt’s speciality is rescuing cars, trucks, RVs and Polaris buggies from the incredible wilds of Utah. One video might take you high up the desert dunes to rescue a buggy that’s snapped a suspension arm after an overly ambitious jump, and the next, deep into the woods to recover an SUV that has fallen into a ravine.

Until recently, Matt’s number one choice for serious off-road recovery work was a lifted XJ Cherokee, but that’s changed with the arrival of the MORRvair. That’s the name fans have given to an unusual car with a very long back story.

Related: Make No Mistake, The Ford Bronco Sport Is A Serious Off-Roader

The car was originally a 1961 Chevrolet Corvair Lakewood 700 wagon that 45 year-old Matt spotted way back when he was 12, but didn’t have the funds to buy. Fast forward 28 years to 2016 and Matt finally got the keys after buying it from a friend who’d rescued it from a classic breakers yard in pretty poor condition. But it’s taken another five years to get it to where it is now.

And where it is now is substantially higher than where it was before thanks to its lifted, long-travel suspension and giant Milestar Patagonia tires. But that’s just the tip of the modding iceberg. In place of the stock rear-mounted 80 hp flat six, the Morrvair runs a front-mounted 5.3-liter V8 from a Chevy Silverado connected to all four wheels through Dana axles and a Turbo 400 transmission.

Regular viewers of the channel will have seen it in action before, where it’s proved itself capable of some serious off-road moves. But now fully painted and trimmed, it really looks the business.