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The Corvair Topic


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Scott,

According to the owner the car ran a 140 H.P. Corvair motor that fell into K/S class. It is reported to have won MIDDLE STOCK and TOP STOCK Eliminator or several occasions... as a side note, this car was from my area when I was a kid. It was part of a local car club that had several drag cars running at Ol Bridge Stadium and later at Englishtown or Madison Twp. if you will !!!

Edited by Pete L.
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  • 2 months later...

The car ralf nader loved to hate

Again, not true. And it's Ralph by the way. Not ralf. He was invited to speak at the national CORSA club meet several years ago. And he showed up! He doesn't hate Corvairs. He dislikes them no more or less than any other car. He does think they are more unsafe than other cars. But, he doesn't hate them.

Scott

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My dad had a '60 Monza, and a '65 Monza. They were his "field" (that's what pilots called airports back then) cars. The '65 was one of the first 4-speeds I ever drove. Talk about a vague shift pattern! My brother had a '65 Fitch Sprint - four carbs, beefier sway bars, Konis, quick steering ratio, etc.

PB.

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It is funny how History twists things . Corvair Stories just continue to deflect the truth . The Rear Suspension Design was ';

BANNED BY EVERY SANCTIONED COMPETITION ORGANIZATION WORLDWIDE DUE TO INSTABILITY WHEN DIVERTING FROM A STRAIGHT AHEAD DIRECTION .,. PERIOD . This came to pass in 1953 . The Corvair came equipped with this Death Trap Design to save the Corp .50 per car . So what's the cost of a few deaths . None unless it is one of your loved ones . Does anyone else remember Ernie Kovacs ? In the 1964 MY , the Safer design the Engineers wanted in the first place was made the only Production process for these units . The comments still continue today how safe these were to drive . I owned a 1960 in 1966 . I would not sit in a Parked and disabled one today . Especially one making any other attitude than straight ahead .

Ralph Nadir did not hate the Corvair . Nor hate GM as a matter of fact . He just had a walk on Easy Street pointing out how dangerous the Cars were at that time citing GM blunders . Pnrdl's anyone instead of PRNDL's ? Unbelievably Gm was the best at producing Cars that would fail and kill people . Just like Today this is inarguable . Also , Ralph did own a Late Model '55 Chevy . He drove it for less than a month and sold it . The dangers of this Vehicle scared him that he spent the rest of his life in the back seats while others drove . So , let us not honor a significant piece of Automotive History by giving it the proper recognition it does deserve . If just to honor the Victims that were killed due to this wholesale recklessness upon consumers .

I am proud to have Corvairs in my Collection . I don't want a 1"1 near me .. Thanx ..

Edited by dimaxion
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>The Rear Suspension Design was ';BANNED BY EVERY SANCTIONED COMPETITION ORGANIZATION WORLDWIDE DUE TO

>INSTABILITY WHEN DIVERTING FROM A STRAIGHT AHEAD DIRECTION .,. PERIOD . This came to pass in 1953

really? in 1953? and then when the Corvair came out it was banned already? and so there were no stock suspended corvairs racing, anywhere, in any "SANCTIONED" (by whom?) event?

b.s.

jb

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The car ralf nader loved to hate

Only one chapter in the book dealt specifically with the Corvair. The book wasn't about the Corvair specifically, it was about a lot of different issues, like the automakers being reluctant to add safety features due to cost. Things like that.

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It is funny how History twists things . Corvair Stories just continue to deflect the truth . The Rear Suspension Design was ';

BANNED BY EVERY SANCTIONED COMPETITION ORGANIZATION WORLDWIDE DUE TO INSTABILITY WHEN DIVERTING FROM A STRAIGHT AHEAD DIRECTION .,. PERIOD . This came to pass in 1953 . The Corvair came equipped with this Death Trap Design to save the Corp .50 per car . So what's the cost of a few deaths . None unless it is one of your loved ones . Does anyone else remember Ernie Kovacs ? In the 1964 MY , the Safer design the Engineers wanted in the first place was made the only Production process for these units . The comments still continue today how safe these were to drive . I owned a 1960 in 1966 . I would not sit in a Parked and disabled one today . Especially one making any other attitude than straight ahead .

Ralph Nadir did not hate the Corvair . Nor hate GM as a matter of fact . He just had a walk on Easy Street pointing out how dangerous the Cars were at that time citing GM blunders . Pnrdl's anyone instead of PRNDL's ? Unbelievably Gm was the best at producing Cars that would fail and kill people . Just like Today this is inarguable . Also , Ralph did own a Late Model '55 Chevy . He drove it for less than a month and sold it . The dangers of this Vehicle scared him that he spent the rest of his life in the back seats while others drove . So , let us not honor a significant piece of Automotive History by giving it the proper recognition it does deserve . If just to honor the Victims that were killed due to this wholesale recklessness upon consumers .

I am proud to have Corvairs in my Collection . I don't want a 1"1 near me .. Thanx ..

Do a little research before you start bashing anything. The Corvair was released to the public in 1959 so it could not have been banned in '53 like you state. Ralph Nader believed that the Corvair was unsafe due to design when in reality it was inexperienced drivers and poor maintenance that caused any accidents. The early Corvairs were prone to sudden oversteer in extreme conditions, however, the big problem came from people putting incorrect tire pressures. The Corvair required a 10 psi difference in tire pressure which many owners did not follow and instead put 30 psi all around like other cars. Yes, Nader did point out problems with the auto industry, however, if it was up to him we would all be driving 20 mph safety bubbles. Feel free to ask any questions regarding the Corvair, I'm more than knowledgeable enough to answer whatever you can throw at me.

BTW, the Corvair was exonerated from Nader's claims by the NHTSA in 1972: http://www.corvaircorsa.com/handling01.html

Unfortunately the media didn't spread this like they did with Nader's book.

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The Rear Suspension Design was ';

BANNED BY EVERY SANCTIONED COMPETITION ORGANIZATION WORLDWIDE DUE TO INSTABILITY WHEN DIVERTING FROM A STRAIGHT AHEAD DIRECTION .,. PERIOD . This came to pass in 1953 . The Corvair came equipped with this Death Trap Design to save the Corp .50 per car .

Wrong.

The 1960 through 1964 Corvairs had swing-axle rear suspension, virtually identical in geometry and layout to all pre-71 Beetles and all 356 Porsches...among many other cars, including Mercedes.

The flaw with swing-axle rear suspension is its tendency to let the outer, more heavily laden wheel in a turn "tuck under" during cornering, exacerbated on the early Corvair because of an unfortunate specified tire-pressure to give a softer ride. The odd tire pressure differential was not often maintained correctly by owners, and In the hands of an un-skilled driver, this could cause massive oversteer, or a rollover. BUT with properly inflated tires, and a "camber compensator" transverse leaf-spring added under the axles (added by the factory early in the Corvair's history) or other camber-limiting device, rear-swing-axle cars handle very well. I've personally owned and raced several...and VWs and Porsches with the same rear suspension design.

It's sometimes good to know what you're talking about before making sweeping pronouncements.

PS. For 1965, GM re-designed the Corvair's rear suspension entirely. The '65 through '69 cars used a design that was more sophisticated than Porsche 911s of the same period.

Edited by Ace-Garageguy
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Which did more to kill the Corvair--Nader, or the Ford Mustang, which dominated the same market (sporty compact) without further competition for a good two years? Discuss.

Nader actually kept the Corvair alive because GM was planning on cutting it sometime in '66 due to sales. When Nader made his claims, it forced GM to continue production so they would not be seen buckling under to Nader. The Mustang and Camaro ultimately stole the Corvair's sales, although it is interesting to note that the Corvair was the main reason that the Mustang was built in the first place. Also, the Camaro shares a lot of styling and mechanics with the Corvair.

Edited by 91blaze
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Which did more to kill the Corvair--Nader, or the Ford Mustang, which dominated the same market (sporty compact) without further competition for a good two years? Discuss.

Neither. GM didn't have the nads to stand up for the Corvair, which was a perfectly adequate and GOOD HANDLING car after the rear suspension was tweaked a little. Instead, GM tried to discredit Nader by alleging he was a homosexual (and what that could possibly have to do with car design beats me), and other shady tactics. Had they just stood up like big boys and defended the car on its merits, we could well have seen some interesting descendants of it today. But no...GM let it die a quiet death, preferring to try to sweep the whole episode under the rug.

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I had a '64 Monza about 15 years ago and loved it, I have considered several and would own another 'vair for sure... For anyone that has ever driven one, they feel like they are on rails they handle so well.... right up to a certain point when the body roll and axle angle do something odd that feels like having your legs kicked out from under you.... That is the real problem, they are deceptive. But there is and has been ways to correct that since they were introduced.

The common old school fix is to weld a chain from point A to point B that stops the swing axle from moving downward too far. Then when you hit the corner and one side dives it doesn't pick the other wheel up so much, and keeps the wheel with pressure on it planted so you don't get that rear end swing out that is the problem... not that much different than a swing axle bug really, but more weight and horsepower just make it a little more unforgiving.

I always wanted to build something like this, even more dangerous:).. they use to sell a V8 conversion, the transaxle would be flipped and the motor sat behind the passengers instead of behind the rear wheels.. rework the body with a Gran Sport Corvette treatment and presto!!! Gran Sport Corvair.

post-14612-0-57960200-1414197545_thumb.j

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Also, the Camaro shares a lot of styling and mechanics with the Corvair.

I don't see a whole lot of Corvair in the Camaro, other than the "hip" rear fender kickup that was seen on most GM cars of the mid-late '60s.

What Corvair mechanicals did the Camaro have? Was the front end geometry similar, or something, because I can't think of anything else.

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