Looking Back On The Chevrolet Corvair
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The Chevrolet Corvair looked like the future when it debuted in 1959 for the 1960 model year. Over the next 10 years it would evolve and leave a lasting impression for better, or worse, on consumers and future automotive enthusiasts to come.
Autoweek took the time to look back at the life of the Chevrolet Corvair, detailing its ups and downs during production. The greatest piece to take down the rear-wheel drive, rear-engine was a book we’ve all heard of: Unsafe At Any Speed.
The book, penned by Ralph Nader, called out the rear-mounted 80 hp, air-cooled flat-six engine and swing-axle rear suspension and branded it with a “widow maker” title. It’s true, the Corvair produced some scary scenes for those not ready for the massive oversteer produced by the configuration.
Still, the Corvair earned its place in motoring history through massive popularity. Nearly 340,000 Corvairs were produced in 1961 and 1962, spanning across multiple body styles including a coupe, convertible, van and, soon, a station wagon.
And, at only $2,000, or roughly $16,000 in 2015, the Corvair offered quite a bit for its price tag. So, here’s to you, Corvair, and the many memories you’ve brought more than a few motoring faithful.
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Always been one fugly muther fudger!!
Ralph Nadar?
Really, is this the sh”*t that passes for journalism today, can’t even bother to get names spelled right…..
You misspelled shit.
The rear swing axle issue was way overstated and Nader got tons of press when GM hired private detectives to tail him. When the car underwent a major redesign in 1965 it had an awesome IRS. If GM had not let the car die on the vine it would have been just the ticket when the first gas crunch hit in the early 70’s.
Eh, yes and no, Corvairs get pretty good mileage, in the 20’s, which is great for a 60’s car, air cooled engines however don’t like emission controls, or anything else that ads more heat, also Corvairs are mostly a premium gas car, lower octanes and high engine temps don’t go well together, also.
The first gas crisis hit in 1973, by then the Corvair would have had to have been saddled with bigger bumpers front and rear, emission controls, tuned to run on low lead-no lead gas, had shoulder belts and other safety equipment added on, so it would have probably been no better or worse than something already available within the Chevrolet line up, like a Nova with a 250 6 and more than likely worse mileage than a 4 cylinder Vega.
Well the truth here is the Corvair was killed by the Mustang and Camaro.
The killing part was for one major simple reason. The Air Cooled 6 while loved by Ed Cole was hated by many in GM because it cost more to build than a small block Chevy engine. Before Emission became an issue the fact is the Camaro was a cheaper car to build and sold more volume.
Once the publicity hit and when Ed moved on to the Vega leaving it for Delorean to take the fall on once Ed left the Corvair days were long over.
The 65-69 car was one of the most stylish cars of the era.
Again this car was much like the Fiero in that not everyone at GM was on board with the car. Too much infighting and then not even dealing with the bad publicity. It would have died because of the emissions like the Bug did but they could have realized much more with this car if the culture in GM was not so damaged even back then.
Many forget about the two front engine versions of this platform. The Tempest and Skylark also used the same transaxle lay out with the engine up front and a the rope driveshaft. Neat set up if you had never played with one. The cable that connected the engine and transaxles was much smaller than most people realized.