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Just noticed there was a reply to this thread. I checked back with the truck and there definitely was a plaque from the conversion company but I didn't have my camera. But it wasn't a company from California but from Illinois. So it isn't "home brewed" like someone stated above. Hopefully I will remember to bring my camera next time.
My uncle had a copy of a off road magazine from '78 and they reviewd the wolverines and it was done by "concept conversions INC" in cali. i read the 2 page article myself
see thats the thing. there have been 3 woverines in my family. and 2 of my friends have had 1. all but one was built from a '78 model truck and all of em was over sprung front axles. did ours come from a different conversion company? or what? my dads truck had all the conversion paper work and it came from a company by the name of "concept conversions INC" and i figure all the others we've had and known about came from the same place because of the over sprung front axle.
I have a customer who bought one brand new. She states that a company in so cal was buying new off the boat 77 and 78's converting them and selling as new. I'll call her tom. and see who it was and post.
i have a 78 that was converted in the 6th month of 78 by ugly trucking with all the jeep stuff but would that make it a wolverine? and are they worth any money?
I know this is a very old thread but the Wolverine topic was just brought to mind by the one for sale on the yotatech landing page.
my Dad worked briefly for a company called Tolsdorf in Putnam CT that did these/this type of conversions. I have a photo i will post later of one that he drove home one day at lunch and gave me a ride. lol! I would have been about 10 or 11 years old and still remember thinking how cool it was. Slow, but cool!
Edit: I found the photo and it turns out to be a FORD Courier, NOT a Toyota. So much for 40 year old memories. I cannot say for certain if Toyotas were converted there also. Mr. Tolsdorf was the president or CEO of Superwinch, Inc. in the same town.
Last edited by Melrose 4r; 07-14-2017 at 12:21 PM.
[font][font][QUOTE = soarerjzz30; 51490955] Acabo de notar que había una respuesta a este hilo. [/font][font]Regresé con el camión y definitivamente había una placa de la compañía de conversión, pero no tenía mi cámara. [/font][font]Pero no era una compañía de California sino de Illinois. [/font][font]Por lo tanto, no es "casero" como alguien dijo anteriormente. [/font][font]Con suerte, recordaré traer mi cámara la próxima vez. [/ QUOTE][/font][/font]
Just noticed there was a reply to this thread. I checked back with the truck and there definitely was a plaque from the conversion company but I didn't have my camera. But it wasn't a company from California but from Illinois. So it isn't "home brewed" like someone stated above. Hopefully I will remember to bring my camera next time.
I know I'm coming late to this thread, but it hits a soft spot for me. I worked for the company that designed and built these back in the late 70s. I'd be more than willing to try and remember all I can about these. Believe it or not I may still have the building folder packed in a box somewhere. We also did the Ford Courier as the Brahma conversion. 4 Wheeler Magazine did an article back then about the shop and what we did in the market place. We also designed and built the 1st 203 transfer case full time eliminator kit. If anybody remembers back this far, we had Jimmy Nylund at the shop and hung out and went wheeling with us for the summer.
I know I'm coming late to this thread, but it hits a soft spot for me. I worked for the company that designed and built these back in the late 70s. I'd be more than willing to try and remember all I can about these. Believe it or not I may still have the building folder packed in a box somewhere. We also did the Ford Courier as the Brahma conversion. 4 Wheeler Magazine did an article back then about the shop and what we did in the market place. We also designed and built the 1st 203 transfer case full time eliminator kit. If anybody remembers back this far, we had Jimmy Nylund at the shop and hung out and went wheeling with us for the summer.
wow that’s awesome
ya any info on it would be greatly appreciated I really didn’t know what the hell I was buying until I tried to look up parts for it.
i would appreciate any help or insight on it you have and thanks ahead of time
The majority of the parts were all custom made for the conversion. Dana 30 front axle, custom aluminum hubs with the 2wd factory rotor machined out and a custom caliper mount. T-case was a modified dana 20 to fit the back of either the 4 speed or 5 speed with our aluminum adapter. Skid plate was custom folded 1/4'' plate steel with the trans mount built into it. Aluminum oil pan with a custom extended pick-up tube to move it to the back of the pan to clear the diff. Lots of smaller pieces involved. The prints are somewhere buried in my shed. I still have some of the hardware, like the frame studs to hold the skid plate and some of the bolts that held the rotor to the hub. Specialized Automotive Engineering Inc. --we originally worked out of Van Nuys and later moved to Pacoima. We were a quasi take off of a company called Schrillo Automotive from one of the engineers. We would have car transports show up to our shop (mostly from Downey Toyota) full of brand new pick-ups and come back 2 weeks later with another and pick the converted ones up. They were selling faster than we could build them. We also sold kits that went out on pallets to other shops around the country. There were also knock offs of out kit that were not the same quality. Our conversion was (to my knowledge) the only one certified by DOT
07-05-2010, 05:41 PM
