The Camaro would be ready by late , and the Corvair would become largely irrelevant in the Chevy lineup. While the Mustang was changing the automotive landscape in , Chevy sold over , new Corvairs. Then the bottom dropped out. As Unsafe at Any Speed became the unlikely best-seller of , Chevy tried to bury the Corvair in its lineup. In , President Lyndon Johnson created the Department of Transportation to enforce safety standards on American roads, mandating that features like collapsable steering columns, seat belts, and side-marker lights be standardized on all cars sold in the U.
The industry was changing fast, and the Corvair was sales poison. In , the Corvair was unceremoniously axed in May, after finding just 6, buyers. In , the newly-created National Highway Safety and Traffic Administration tested a model against contemporary rivals like the Ford Falcon and Plymouth Valiant and found it to be no less safe than its rivals, largely vindicating the car.
But the damage had already been done, and GM had long abandoned its cutting edge compact fighter. Today, the Corvair is a cult car with a growing following. Imagine a world where the Corvair outsold the Falcon, and the Monza spurred Ford to build an air-cooled competitor. Would plus miles per gallon have become the norm by the oil crisis?
Almost immediately, he experienced oversteer that only got worse as the speeds rose:. But I could see how the lightly trained driver might get into trouble. For the record, Musser claims that Chevy kept the Corvair around longer than it would have under natural circumstances, specifically to avoid the appearance of being cowed by Nader's actions.
You really should read Webster's full piece over at Hagerty , but for a quicker, more visceral illustration of how an early swing-axle Corvair drives, check out Webster's video:. Join Now. New Cars. Car Culture. Type keyword s to search. I cannot say enough good things about this car and was the year my dad started working for GM in Kalamazoo and he retired in !!!
I would take the or the 65 and up, any day!!! Too big of jump in looks!!! These cars are so universal!!!!! Mine is Ember Red and a 2 door club coupe hp with the 2 speed auto powerglide trans.
These cars are so damn cute!!!!!! My dad had the Ramp Side back when I was in my mid teens. I always wanted one. Thanks Ralphie boy!!!!!!!!!!!!! A similar thing happened in Australia in when a journalist wrote a column in his paper decrying the sale of high powered race cars as road cars to young drivers for the purposes of homologation for an annual production car motor race.
MPs asked questions in Parliament and made noises about legislation and the three manufacturers who were in varying stages of development of their latest vehicles to vie for the glory of winning that race abandoned the projects in the face of the threat of legislation.
Yes, its a shame. The Corvair represented innovation for the American car industry, feeling otherwise unjustifiably secure in its dominant market position.
The last generation of Corvairs had fully independent rear suspension and disc brakes and was arguably superior in many ways to other American cars. The industry here went back to producing bloated cars with monster v8s between the front axles, with flexible chassis, drum brakes and live rear axles.
Supposed performance cars such as the Mustang did not get standard fully independent suspensions for another 50 years. The price paid by the industry for its conservatism and crappy cars was huge market share loss to Japanese, Korean and European car makers. I had a Corvair in New Mexico. After my initial trip, I began carrying my 75 lb toolbox in the front trunk.
That turned it into an entirely different car. At that time, traffic was generally non-existent out of the major cities. On the road, my usual speed was 85 mph on the straights, and as high as was safe through the mountains. At no time, after the toolbox was added, did that car exhibit any handling issues. In fact, driving through the mountains was a blast— almost as much fun as driving them in a Corvette.
Never had any mechanical breakdowns either. Nader was nuts! One of the things I recall was moving the spare tire from its position in the engine compartment to the front trunk. Not 75 lbs but it helped balance the car a bit and opened up the engine compartment. I think my Corvair could take a corner appreciably faster than the typical front engined car of the day. That is a really uninformed and inaccurate article. Just plain dumb actually. It about made my head explode. I started driving a corvair when I was That was 36 years ago.
Still have the same corvair. Guess Nader missed that one. With manual transmissions, VW, Porsche, Renault etc can handle oversteering with the driver counter steering AND keeping some throttle after curve apex, exactly as if it was drifting.
But this will work only if one gear reduction has been made before the curve, to give some torque to rear wheels and, unfortunately, Powerglide has no way to do this. Skip to Main Content. Search for: Search Now. Login My Cart Toggle Dropdown.
Back to Blog. Leave a Reply Cancel reply. Steve Jan 25, at am. Lisa Mar 12, at am. Does it matter what year you bought? SpEd Dec 26, at pm. Whitey Vulgar Apr 2, at pm. Donn D. Feb 23, at pm. Lee Shafer Dec 2, at pm. Harold Mar 21, at pm. Dave Dec 29, at am. Maybe driving lessons would of helped you pilot the car better? Ban Mar 31, at pm. Carl Briggs Jun 7, at am. Radojka Dec 31, at pm.
Increasing the speed only exacerbates the effect, to the point where the back end clearly wants to make the turn faster than the front. To avoid spinning the car, I have to counter-steer almost immediately after initiating the turn. But I could see how the lightly trained driver might get into trouble. When I go fast enough to overcome the traction of the tires, however, the back end does its thing.
On those skinny s-era tires, speed is a relative term. Arcing through a corner at a velocity any modern car would scoff at, the Corvair starts to slide. The Corvair is a drift machine. Bad oversteering cars snap out the rear end without warning. I gleefully slide the thing, hamming it up for the photographer, who stops me after I pass.
The inside rear wheel had lifted off the ground and the outside wheel was riding on the sidewall. We have a look at the rear tires and there are scuff marks right up to the whitewall, yet the tread of the tires looks pristine. We shrug it off and I do a few more passes. I discover I can do U-turns simply by lifting off the gas and cranking over the steering wheel.
The Corvair pivots around in not much more than the width of one lane. I could do this all day. Real life, however, is never as ideal as a trained driver on a closed course in a perfectly prepared car.
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