A rare until now Jam Handy filmstrip from 1960 titled "Complete Quality Makes Corvair Right" . Several never seen before photos and some interesting facts.
I won 3rd place overall with my 66 Corsa in the Orphaned Car Show in Issaquah, Washington back in 2006. Wish I still had it. I've owned 16 Corvairs and currently have 5 including a 62 Turbo Spyder. Takes a long time to restore on social security!
PeterDaniel - how many Corvairs have you driven? Their handling was certainly no worse than a Porsche 356 or a VW Beetle of the time. I drove one as a daily driver for years after they became "collectible", and one day while commuting I had to do a violent manuever to avoid a large piece of corrugated steel that blew off a truck in front of me on an expressway. It handled beautifully, and if I had been in a larger, sloppier handling car, I wouldn't be here. Like any machine, you have to know it.
You make a great point...You have to know your car. Each time I buy a new vehicle, to me, I like to take it to a big parking lot and put it through some paces. Do this in winter and summer both. You can have fun learning your vehicle without crashing it, hopefully! That and not getting any tickets for reckless driving. Hehehe! 🤩
Ive had 3 Sir.. and countless VW's. Ive also owned a Greenbriar as well. The Corvair Monza was pushed as a sports car which it was NOT in anyway. I owned a covertible turbo.. I knew how to drive them and to respect them. Many did not. And your comparison is poor. A VW or Porsche does not weigh nearly the same as a Corvair.
Thanks for posting this video and making it available in High Definition. I wish more would do the same, so many videos on You Tube are such poor quality they should not be posted !!!! Nice job !!!
This was obviously produced by the Marketing department. A strobe like used for setting timing to balance the blower fan? Setting thermostats with precise gauges on an air cooled engine? As a former GM engineer quality supervisor I love the history.
My next door neighbor had one when I was young. It was a very cool looking car. I would like to add, all cars back then were unsafe compared to what the manufacturer's said what they could do. Back then, we did not have the technology.
I restored a '62 700 coupe for my wife who always wanted on ! It's a fun car. It had 14000 miles on it when I bought it in 2000. She's got 16000 on her now. It is virtually a new car ! We are talking about taking it to Clarks show next year,,,,
The funny thing is that all this quality testing did nothing to override the bean counters decision not to put a 15 dollar sway bar on the back. The "lightweight" aluminum engine came in at 80 pounds overweight which threw off the handling as it was initially designed. It was well known at the time of production the dangerous handling tendencies. Several of them even flipped during testing. Shame really.
Your 150lb comment makes little sense. The Corvair engine weighs about 300lbs with all its accessories. There's no way the design goal could possibly have been 150lbs. The engine was lightweight compared to its contemporaries. In comparison, the Chevy II's 153 4 cylinder weighed 350lbs. The Ford 170 weighed 385. The 170 Slant 6 weighed 475lbs! A VW beetle's engine weighed 200-225lbs.
@@kw9849 I stand corrected, it was 80 pounds... still very sensitive for such a miscalculation. The camber compensator would have saved it but as usual GM was too cheap..
Robert Bowen 🇺🇸I’ve never driven one of these...my dad had 3 of these. I owned a Fiero back in the day...learned that when driving downhill in the winter it had a tendency to sway when braking. I would kick it into neutral and it drove just fine. It was a great car to drive. I have seen some nice looking Corvairs...would like to own one someday.
those corvairs were better than alot of imports like renualt denalis and stuff: and the first thing you did is throw a sand bag in the trunk. Sir your corvair sounds dang good like a kawasaki . If you try to top it out put 4 sand bags and fill up the gas tank.
Gotta love the haters. Realy? Insafe at any speed like Nader said because you were hit by a car while stopped and thtown into traffic? Thats all you got? Crash into a 59 Imapala or a 64 Galaxy with a 74 Cadillac sedan de ville at a dead stop from brhind at a stant stil and see if if it would not get thrown into traffic. Seems to me the Corvair saved your life otherwise you wouldnt be be here to post your comments. I know people that have driven Corvairs all their lives that have experienced far better reliability than many of the Corvairs contemporaries. I too used to be a skeptic and a nay sayer untill i owned my first really opened my eyes. Very well engineered, very well handling car. Anyone having reliablity issues these days either is either to "frugal" to fix their Corvairs cotrectly, dont know what they are doing or their mechnic is a hack and/or ripping them off. Corvairs are still winning autocross races beating out the newest cars in their classes. Most of the negative comments im sure are coming from people that have never owned or driven one or are brand loyalist. Their loss. Leaves more for us that appreciate and can properly mantain them correctly to enjoy.
I used to own a '62 Corvair Monza. I got in a car accident one night and I damn near got killed in the damn thing. Like Ralph Nadar said 'unsafe at any speed'. So how fast we're you going? I was sitting perfectly still. I was in the process of making a left hand turn and I was hit from behind and was thrown across the center line into the path of an oncoming car -- which was a '71 Buick Electra 225. That happened in Oct. 1973. Even though that was over 40 years ago, I remember like it was yesterday.
+Steve Kolvek You got rear ended hard enough to throw the car into the path of a 71 225 and you survived. Testament to the strength and safety of the Corvair. Thanks for sharing.
The Corvair right at the end had a lot more attitude than my Corvair that I owned when I was 17! Actually my car though not very fast was a really dependable car! The biggest negative the heater didn't heat of defrost worth a darn when it was really cold! Other than that I would of gave it a thumbs up!
Too bad Chevy didn't have the $8. needed for a front sway bar and a few extra bucks for a camber spring at the rear. They finally got it right with the 64s. And then all the problems were cured with the 65. Typical and of GM, when they finally perfected the Corvair they started to phase it out...but those of us lucky enough to own one are glad they did perfect it...
Man, did marketing shovel the poop then- all these vehicles tested so thoroughly by GM but as soon as they hit the road it like a grade school designed it- 'Constant research'-hahhahaBody by Fisher that rusted out in 3 years, torture test etccc
You don't know what your talking about, our family had two corvairs for over 10 years in snowy kansas and they never had rust problems. their bodies were no more prone to rust than other GM cars of that ERA.
+Frank Dunbar Let me guess you base this based on a debased book that a Lawyer who represented a rich kid who killed himself driving at top speed with the car loaded over the payload. He is a dushbag member of the Communist Party and G.M. took him and his book to court and debased everyone of his BS claims. The Corsair was far superior to most cars back then you know nothing.
My friend had a Corvair. It was the most troublesome, unreliable car I ever witnessed, had to rescue him several times, making the Corvair the car I most hated !
I won 3rd place overall with my 66 Corsa in the Orphaned Car Show in Issaquah, Washington back in 2006. Wish I still had it. I've owned 16 Corvairs and currently have 5 including a 62 Turbo Spyder. Takes a long time to restore on social security!
PeterDaniel - how many Corvairs have you driven? Their handling was certainly no worse than a Porsche 356 or a VW Beetle of the time. I drove one as a daily driver for years after they became "collectible", and one day while commuting I had to do a violent manuever to avoid a large piece of corrugated steel that blew off a truck in front of me on an expressway. It handled beautifully, and if I had been in a larger, sloppier handling car, I wouldn't be here. Like any machine, you have to know it.
You make a great point...You have to know your car. Each time I buy a new vehicle, to me, I like to take it to a big parking lot and put it through some paces. Do this in winter and summer both. You can have fun learning your vehicle without crashing it, hopefully! That and not getting any tickets for reckless driving. Hehehe! 🤩
Ive had 3 Sir.. and countless VW's. Ive also owned a Greenbriar as well. The Corvair Monza was pushed as a sports car which it was NOT in anyway. I owned a covertible turbo.. I knew how to drive them and to respect them. Many did not. And your comparison is poor. A VW or Porsche does not weigh nearly the same as a Corvair.
I drove a corvair from Pontiac , Michigan to San Francisco in 1970 when I moved here . All that went wrong was a flat tire . Good car .
Thanks for posting this video and making it available in High Definition. I wish more would do the same, so many videos on You Tube are such poor quality they should not be posted !!!! Nice job !!!
the quality of this video on quality is amazing.
This was obviously produced by the Marketing department. A strobe like used for setting timing to balance the blower fan? Setting thermostats with precise gauges on an air cooled engine? As a former GM engineer quality supervisor I love the history.
Love the guy sitting at the computer at 3:40 !
My next door neighbor had one when I was young. It was a very cool looking car. I would like to add, all cars back then were unsafe compared to what the manufacturer's said what they could do. Back then, we did not have the technology.
We had one when I was a kid, a white 60 700 4 door. It was a good quality car for its era and it gave us good service until the late 70s.
Wonderful car!
I love to see cars and trucks being made at the plant. 🥰 Good stuff. Liked the ending, but you weren’t driving into the sunset. Maybe next time.
when you watch a video of this era, you realize that technology could not possibly get any better
I restored a '62 700 coupe for my wife who always wanted on ! It's a fun car. It had 14000 miles on it when I bought it in 2000. She's got 16000 on her now. It is virtually a new car ! We are talking about taking it to Clarks show next year,,,,
All 4 door models I believe
The funny thing is that all this quality testing did nothing to override the bean counters decision not to put a 15 dollar sway bar on the back. The "lightweight" aluminum engine came in at 80 pounds overweight which threw off the handling as it was initially designed. It was well known at the time of production the dangerous handling tendencies. Several of them even flipped during testing. Shame really.
Your 150lb comment makes little sense. The Corvair engine weighs about 300lbs with all its accessories. There's no way the design goal could possibly have been 150lbs. The engine was lightweight compared to its contemporaries.
In comparison, the Chevy II's 153 4 cylinder weighed 350lbs. The Ford 170 weighed 385. The 170 Slant 6 weighed 475lbs! A VW beetle's engine weighed 200-225lbs.
@@kw9849 I stand corrected, it was 80 pounds... still very sensitive for such a miscalculation. The camber compensator would have saved it but as usual GM was too cheap..
sounds like Mike Wallace from 60 Minutes did the voice work on this.
my 62 drives great no sway bars but up to date tires make it safe bias ply was the most problem
animalcorvair my 64 convertible drives like a dream but I keep in mind that it is a rear engine and it won't handle like a front engine car
Robert Bowen 🇺🇸I’ve never driven one of these...my dad had 3 of these. I owned a Fiero back in the day...learned that when driving downhill in the winter it had a tendency to sway when braking. I would kick it into neutral and it drove just fine. It was a great car to drive. I have seen some nice looking Corvairs...would like to own one someday.
In 1946 car buyers simply wanted cars. No new care were built from 1942-1945.
this was the first gm car with crush zones very safe you can die in any car even today with 15 airbags
those corvairs were better than alot of imports like renualt denalis and stuff: and the first thing you did is throw a sand bag in the trunk. Sir your corvair sounds dang good like a kawasaki . If you try to top it out put 4 sand bags and fill up the gas tank.
10:13 now that's a throwback
Gotta love the haters. Realy? Insafe at any speed like Nader said because you were hit by a car while stopped and thtown into traffic? Thats all you got? Crash into a 59 Imapala or a 64 Galaxy with a 74 Cadillac sedan de ville at a dead stop from brhind at a stant stil and see if if it would not get thrown into traffic. Seems to me the Corvair saved your life otherwise you wouldnt be be here to post your comments.
I know people that have driven Corvairs all their lives that have experienced far better reliability than many of the Corvairs contemporaries.
I too used to be a skeptic and a nay sayer untill i owned my first really opened my eyes. Very well engineered, very well handling car.
Anyone having reliablity issues these days either is either to "frugal" to fix their Corvairs cotrectly, dont know what they are doing or their mechnic is a hack and/or ripping them off.
Corvairs are still winning autocross races beating out the newest cars in their classes.
Most of the negative comments im sure are coming from people that have never owned or driven one or are brand loyalist.
Their loss. Leaves more for us that appreciate and can properly mantain them correctly to enjoy.
I had a 1960 Corvair and I LOVED IT!!!.
They should have just kept the prototype body style... much nicer
The original Corvair essentially was a Chevrolet version of the VW Beetle, without the "Complete Quality" that had made VW an international success.
I wonder how did they keep the back seats 💺 from getting hot. Hmm.
A gasoline-fired heater lol That would NEVER be allowed now. WTH were they thinking ? And no trunk and way too much weight in the rear.
I used to own a '62 Corvair Monza. I got in a car accident one night and I damn near got killed in the damn thing. Like Ralph Nadar said 'unsafe at any speed'. So how fast we're you going? I was sitting perfectly still. I was in the process of making a left hand turn and I was hit from behind and was thrown across the center line into the path of an oncoming car -- which was a '71 Buick Electra 225. That happened in Oct. 1973. Even though that was over 40 years ago, I remember like it was yesterday.
+Steve Kolvek : You can can get injured or killed in most any vehicle...
+Steve Kolvek You got rear ended hard enough to throw the car into the path of a 71 225 and you survived. Testament to the strength and safety of the Corvair. Thanks for sharing.
You could have been in a Pinto.
TIMEtoRIDE900
Pinto wasn't that much smaller and lighter than a Corvair.
The Corvair right at the end had a lot more attitude than my Corvair that I owned when I was 17! Actually my car though not very fast was a really dependable car! The biggest negative the heater didn't heat of defrost worth a darn when it was really cold! Other than that I would of gave it a thumbs up!
Too bad Chevy didn't have the $8. needed for a front sway bar and a few extra bucks for a camber spring at the rear. They finally got it right with the 64s. And then all the problems were cured with the 65.
Typical and of GM, when they finally perfected the Corvair they started to phase it out...but those of us lucky enough to own one are glad they did perfect it...
in both the Corvair and the Cathedral you might find yourself praying to God not to die
Not many would miss your stupid rear!. Snowflake licking Naders boots,I bet you never been in a Corvair!. Communist Traitor!.
Maybe GM got some of the captured German engineers after the war. The power train is reminiscent of a German design!
Czech design Ferdinand Porsche ripped from Tatra.
none of this article is true.
art Chevrolet had the Corvair built because he liked the Tucker torpedo
I know they meant, " 4s, 6s and, 8s."; more, unnecessary(wrong)punctuation.
ALWAYS a good idea to build a plant THEN do a 'market study' That was UGLY anyway
Man, did marketing shovel the poop then- all these vehicles tested so thoroughly by GM but as soon as they hit the road it like a grade school designed it- 'Constant research'-hahhahaBody by Fisher that rusted out in 3 years, torture test etccc
You don't know what your talking about, our family had two corvairs for over 10 years in snowy kansas and they never had rust problems. their bodies were no more prone to rust than other GM cars of that ERA.
what a load of crap
The Corvair was the cheesiest, chintziest piece of rubbish ever made by Detroit, and dangerous to boot.
+Frank Dunbar are you on drugs
+Frank Dunbar Let me guess you base this based on a debased book that a Lawyer who represented a rich kid who killed himself driving at top speed with the car loaded over the payload. He is a dushbag member of the Communist Party and G.M. took him and his book to court and debased everyone of his BS claims. The Corsair was far superior to most cars back then you know nothing.
My friend had a Corvair. It was the most troublesome, unreliable car I ever witnessed, had to rescue him several times, making the Corvair the car I most hated !
I was a kid I knew they were a POS , now know they are worse than imagined.
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