One of if not the simplest car to drive and work on...still to this day examples are driven daily and bring smiles to those who enjoy these little gems...
Why does everyone say it was a failure??? The model ran for 10 years, and sold on 1.8 million units... that fact alone makes the Corvair a success... o_0
@@nygelmiller5293 ^~^ thank you. The NHTSA study well after the Corvair's stop in production cleared it, saying it was as safe as any other car produced during its time. People also forget that Chevrolet changed the Swing-Arm rear suspension to the double Whish-Bone independent used on the Corvette in 1965. Ralph Nader based his assumption of the Corvair on a traffic accident were in a woman attempted to pull a U-turn on a two lane road at 35 MPH. There are not many vehicles then or now that wouldn't flip attempting such a maneuver. However Ralph did do much good in pushing industry to adopt safety measures such as "Seat-Beats', 5-MPH bumpers, and air-bags. Thing that were not available, required, or even on most cars during the years before the mid-70's
Thank you Ed Cole. The world wasn't ready for advanced automotive designs. Many ham handed mechanics cross threaded most all thr the threads, especially the sparkplugs. The flywheel end drives the camshaft so the valvetrain is smooth. Gear driven..
Loved my Corvair. It was a 1960 that I bought in 1966. I was stationed at Ft Riley Kansas and needed a car. I found it at a local Army Base Rip Off Car Lot for $100.00. It had Salt based holes in the floor under the drivers feet which was fixed with the side of an Army Wall Locker. It had 51K miles when I bought it and within two weeks it threw a rod? I went to the local Junction City Ks Chevy dealer who told me they had a specialist on Corvairs who would rebuild the Engine for less than a replacement. I agreed and when it was done I drove it to Sacramento (my home town) to get a set of Michlein Tires (your only young once), then back to Kansas. During the next year I drove it for another 100K before discharge. Next it was back to Sacramento where I drove it for another couple years. In 1969 It had a Valve failure and it was impossible to find a decent Machine Shop for repairs. I sold the car to a collector for $100 and have been unhappy ever since. I have since owned 20+ cars (including Porsche 356, Datsun 240, Saab 99L, Toyota Matrix, etc) and not one has given me the Handling, Comfort, Dependability, not counting (fan belt failure). End result is I drove this car for over 250,000 miles and would buy one in a minute. Army Wall Locker Floor Panels Included.
Sandy I had a 1960 Corvair as well.I got it for THIRTY dollars,the floor was rusted we were not married long (1969),it had a gasoline heater that didn't work spotted another 60 with gas heater in junkyard got all parts mine was missing.It was a COLD winter I had driven a month wo heat,when I saw the puff of smoke when messing with heater relay happy isn't the word. But after that the best car I ever owned!!.
The Corvair was easily as good if not better than competitive models from other manufacturers of that time period. I owned a Monza as well as a dune buggy rail with a Corvair engine on a VW transaxle. Both were reliable and powerful.
The swing axles were the problem until a rear “anti sway” bar was installed. VW beatle had the same problem. Another upside to the air cooled Corvair engine was that the heater really worked. If you owned a 60s era beetle in cold climate you carried an ice scraper for the ice on the inside of the windshield.
Yes I know how the heating in my 60's Karmann-Ghia provided comfortable background heating, but did not dentist the windows. But the makers realised this was because they had relied on the engine fan to blow enough hot air through. So they eventually fitted a separate fan like everybody else! I was "trapped" in the back of a friend's 1970's Beetle, and had to shout at him to turn the heater DOWN when he switched it on.It was SCORCHING HOT. My pal thought I was exaggerating till he himself felt the floor heating vents, and was amazed!
My grandfather, Frank J. Winchell, was GM’s expert witness in the defense of the Corvair. In total there were 294 cases brought against GM, totaling claims of over 100 million dollars. Of these, 10 were tried to jury convictions. Of these, 8 verdicts were in favor of GM. Of the 2 loses; "Chart v GM," where 2 of the 5 occupants testified in court that the driver had a quarrel with his girlfriend and that after a 2 1/2 hour stop at Bronco’s Beer Bar, where the driver was chug-a-luging his beer, and later they warned the him that he was driving recklessly and at an excessive speed, that he failed to make a right hand turn, locked up his brakes and struck a telephone pole. In what is know as a comparative negligence verdict, the jury found the driver 75% responsible, the girlfriend 3%, the state highway 5%, the county highway 5% and GM 12%. The other lose was "Canthos v GM," where the jury found in favor of the plaintiff, however, the judge set the jury’s verdict aside stating “There is not a scintilla of quotient evidence to support the claims against the handling characteristics of the 1960-63 Corvair.(paraphrasing)” He went on to describe the testimony of the plaintiff’s expert witness as “perhaps the most incomprehensible gibberish that this court has ever heard.” A Untied Sates Senate Committee spent 2 1/2 year investigating the safety of the Corvair, the DOT as well as many other institutions, even Nader’s own NHTSA came to the same conclusions as everyone else, that the Corvair was not defectively designed nor a defective product. In fact, it performed as good, or better than all cars on american roads at that time.
Thank you for sharing this information with us. I am glad GM chose to stand up and fight for itself. I can not say Nader's name without wanting to say something foul. He never went after Porsche or VW Beetles which used the same engine and suspension configuration in the rear. Instead of American's becoming endeared to fuel efficient compact cars we went on with our gas guzzlers and how many American lives have been lost keeping the pipeline open from the middle east fueling the big car craze in this country that is still going on with an obsession for SUV's. I remember seeing seeing my first Corvair at about age 5 and I have wanted one ever since. Now retired, it is on my bucket list and it's number is coming up soon.
I love 'vairs and have a dozen of them. However, they are definitely an ill handling vehicle. If you ever get one into a spin (which is easy) , you are out of luck at that point.
@@michaelangelo8001 My ex BIL bought a Corvair when he was stationed in the Air Force in Austin, TX. When he left the service, he drove that Corvair all the way from Texas to CA, pulling a small trailer. I eventually drove it and found I liked it. The most unusal Corvair I ever saw? Once at the Famosa Drag Strip near Bakersfield, CA, I saw Corvair someone had installed a Chevy V8 in the front with a drive shaft to the rear wheels. He wasn't racing it, just drove it to the event, but did fire it up for me.
@@blackholeentry3489 We used to build V6 Vairs back in the 70s. We had it down to a science. One of my neighbors used to convert one every couple of weeks.
I've owned a few myself. From the early models to the late. My first was a 1961, 500 Coupe, 80 hp three spd stick. I drove that car from 1981-1984 and the only thing I ever had to do besides brakes and tune up was a clutch cable, all very easy and cheap, seeing as the largest parts supply is right here in Mass. those little cars rode great and handled pretty well one you out radial tires, in the snow they were also great! My next one was a late model a 1965 Convertible, with a power glide trans and 110 ho! That car was really nice! All the kids loved it! Then I had S 1963 Coupe, that had the p g automatic and 95 hp, that car was really tight and rust free! Then I had my nicest one so far! A last year, 1969, Coupe automatic 110 hp, with tinted glass all around, am/fm radio with only 19,100 miles on it when I bought it in 1990! That car was like new! It was two tone, deep met. brown body with a gold painted roof and black interior with high back bucket seats!
When Ralph Nader wrote the book he did not have a drivers licence and not a car expert only a lawyer wanting to be famous. The sales of Mustangs and than the Camaro, which the body came form, is what killed the Corvair. Was my first car and still have one in the garage.
@@henrybourdon6712 No engineering degree, no driver's license, never owned or drove a car. Some auto expert. All he was good at was publicizing himself and sucking in uninformed people. I read his book and I owned a Corvair, Nader is a joke.
I own a 1967 Corvair Monza coupe, American Engineering at its BEST😊. INDEPENDENT SUSPENSION , HANDLES THE ROAD LIKE IT WANTS TO. MOST FUN, ENJOYABLE CAR I HAVE EVER DRIVEN! unsafe? BULLCRAP. 54 YEAR OLD CAR RUNS BETTER THAN MOST ON THE ROAD TODAY
I drove a64 in 1976 my parents sold it to me for $ 300 love it today I own a convertible 1964 corvair let me tell you it's a head turner love my corvair
Personally I liked the Corvair. Like any man made thing it was not perfect - and - like any automobile it represented a trade off between price - weight - looks - handling - safety.
There's no telling where GM could have taken these magnificent little machines. I'm sure well into the 70's. I owned two, a 63 4 door and a 65 Monza convertible. These cars were no more dangerous to drive than a VW Beetle or a rear-engined Porsche. Thanks Ralph Nader, you putz... 🙄
My first car was a '63 Monza Coupe 4 speed and it was fast! We owned every model they ever made with my favorite being my first Truck...a 62 Rampside. Other than the leaky O rings in the pushrod tubes it was reliable and fun.
The 1960,the sweetest looking small car on the market !! I had a 1961, great in the snow. It would just slide over the drifts. Never did get it stuck. But, I really tried !! Love that car !!!🥰🥰👴🏻
Corvair had a 6 cylinder engine like a Porsche instead of a 4 cylinder engine like a VW Beetle. A shame it had to die and the others kept on going. It was a great car.
The Corvair was a good car provided you drove it sensibly,within it's limits and kept to the specific tyre pressures which were different front and rear--it was very much a "drivers car"
@@walterweddle7644 according to what I have read in the cars heyday in the early 60s car mag reviewed the car and while praising the car also concluded that this was a "drivers" car and because of it's mechanical arrangement(rear eng,swing axle, different tire pressures) that this car needed more owner maintenance than most and made a cautionary comment about most owners not reg checking tire press.Those who did reg check tires correctly would sometimes be compromised by serv garages who not realizing would incorrectly inflate ALL tires to the same press without telling the owner which sometimes led to accidents
@@larryc8607 hello, according to contemporary information about the corvair the tire pressures were 15 psi front and 26psi back and when used along with sensible driving made a big difference to the cars behaviour on the road
By the time Nader went before Congress, the problem with the rear axle was already fixed. Besides, there were cars of the same era like the Porches that used the same rear axle/engine design and continued using that were many times more problematic and dangerous.
My friend in high school in the 70s had the monza spyder corvair w/ the bigger motor. He had also done some speed mods on the car. We thrashed that car. lf it were susceptible to tipping over we wouldve done it. My girlfriend at the time had a VW karman ghia that felt way more sketchy. Ralph Nader just wanted to sell a book.
An early model Corvair is the ONLY chevy I'd ever consider owning, they're good lookin little rigs and didn't deserve what that prick Ralph Nader did to em....
My dad bought a 1961 Corvair..4dr..Base model..80HP..3 speed manual..I learned to drive with it and at first it was a big improvement over his 1958 VW. Smoother..Quieter..Peppier..More stylish..etc. Never had any of the handling issues that Mr. Nader harped on and I pushed it hard..but then.. As time and miles past, issues cropped up that today as a retired mechanical engineer, I consider serious flaws. 1. Pushrod tube leakage caused by o-ring seals getting hard and brittle leaving the garage floor a mess. Viton fixed that on later models. 2. Gasoline fumes entering the cabin. Cooling air drawn across the carbs fed the heater. Design flaw. 3. Carbon monoxide entering the cabin from the heater due to leaking head gaskets. Folks actually lost brain function due to this issue if they drove the car with this issue over time. Design flaw. My dad sold the car mainly due to the gasoline fumes exacerbated by spilled oil from changes getting into the cooling air intake and on the exhaust manifolds. The dealer tried several times to address this to no avail. Don't get me wrong..The Corvair was economical, fun to drive and in later years much improved but air for heating the cabin after passing over the carbs and cylinder heads was still a problem but to a lessor extent. I loved the later models, the Yenko Stingers and watching them race at Elkhart Lake. Overall, much nostalgia for folks my age. Still absolutely love the Corvair!!
I had a 1964 Corvair Monza with the 110 HP engine. It was a great car with about 30 mpg highway and 25 mpg city. I drove it for ten years and took it cross country several times. It had 120,000 miles on it when I got rid of it. The only real issue was that the oil seals leaked due to the fact that the engines actually ran hotter than expected. You had to use forty weight oil and keep several quarts in the car.
My Dad worked in the paint department for the Corvair at Willow Run and bought one when I was about 2 years old, but I don't remember it. He also worked on the Chevy II......I still live in Willow Run, and the factory is still there but no longer a part of GM. It's used primarily as a warehouse.
My first car was a 1963 Corsair bought in 1969 loved that car one night driving in the winter had the windows closed to this day don’t know exactly what happened but it flipped over about 10 feet from a bridge I was trapped inside some men came by and pulled me out all I could think about was the car catching fire. Guardian Angel watched over me that night!!!!
Corvair wasn't the greatest car ever built, but it was no more unsafe than many other cars on the road! Even if you drove a tank everywhere you went you still run the risk of being injured in a vehicle...
Don Borgal the so called Smart car what I call the Dumb car is the most dangerous one of all time, if you get hit from behind in a Dumb(Smart)car and pushed into the next vehicle in from of you, your chances of death are extremely great and chances of survival are extremely ultra super slim.
In that era it's fair to say everything on the road was dangerous because they were and statistics bear that out. Corvair was rather a shitbox because it was built so cheaply. Fun engine and with a four speed they went pretty well. My friend had a few of them and we actually tried to roll an early one over in a factory parking lot but couldn't manage it!
I purchased a Corvair Station Wagon, and overall I liked it, I had only two complaints, one was the gasoline smell that got into the passenger compartment, second, was that on icy roads it would spin-out due to the engine in the back, it would completely turn end for end and travel tail first.
Ha, only two complaints? Sounds like very serious faults, both which could kill you or at least destroy brain cells. Breathing gasoline vapor not good.
I had two of them as a high school and college student and loved them. They both leaked oil but I would not have changed a thing. They were very good in the snow.
I bought a 65 Corsa turbo 180hp 4spd in 71 and my brother had a 65 Vette 327 4spd. We traded one night and he came back saying he thought he was going to roll over in a curve but went right through it
I wanted a corvair, but they were too expensive for me. I bought a new 67 vw bug at the end of the 67 year for 1400 dollars, a new chevy II costs 2300 at that time, and a corvair was about the same.
The Chevrolet plant in Town of Tonawanda, NY just outside of Buffalo that built the Chevrolet Corvair later built the Chevrolet Vega & it's Pontiac Astra cousin, then that plane built the Chevrolet Chevette & it's Pontiac T-1000. My late second cousin worked at that plant when he worked for General Motors, today that plant is a Toyota plant that builds the Toyota Corrollas there. The late car my late father owned was a Toyota Corolla that was built in that plant. My late uncle on my mother's side of my family bout a 2 door 1962 Chevrolet Corvair that was built in the Town of Tonawanda,NY plant.
Sounds like that plant made 100% lemons, not sure what was worse the Vega or Corvair? I used to work at a gas station around 1972 and a girl used to say give me 2.00 dollars in gas= roughly 5 gallons and give me 2 quarts of oil to put in for her [Vega] VW wasn't much in terms of performance but it sure was dependable and durable as long as you changed the oil every 2000 miles
A great vid,,, I luv this car on Forza game,,,,,I have driven some American Muscle on the streets and yes on game they're true to life,,,,however living in England and way back working in an American speed shop never saw a single Corvair,,,,,shame I liked them,,,it's not the car's fault,but how people drive them,,,however the Pinto gas tank prob was another matter,,,though the engine great as my 70 Cortina GXL had the Pinto engine and that was great,,,,,
GM was ready to discontinue the Corvair after the 1965 model run, but the powers that be decided that it would give credence to Nader's arguments about the early models' handling...but the Mustang, which was indirectly inspired by the Corvair Monza, captured the market Corvair had sparked, and was a much more conventional design.
i think (as things were really "trippy" back then) i had a 65 corvair monza spider with a manual four speed.....i got it in 71 drove it for two years and traded it in on a 73 chevy van so i could be a hippie...now have a 95 chevy van s10.....gm has allowed me many groovy memories and yes to this day i am as think as i stoned i am
Owned a few around the house. Patents would tell me Not to park out front. When the draft came I went. So did my cars. thanks ralph. Jackxxx. Other than tires and plugs. Mine did just fine. No issues. Follow the drivers manual. All ok.
What most people don’t know is general motors was competing in the 1950s with the sale of a Volkswagen beetle .an air cooled four-cylinder about 30 hp so GM no they could do better so they made a six cylinder but 70 hp still got pretty close to the same gas mileage .it was actually designed very much like a VW bug even the suspension well Porsche Did not like this so they spent a whole Lotta money paying a guy named Ralph Nader to do a hit piece just like later when ABC did the same thing with the Chevy pick up truck .and the gas tank in the back of the cab they didn’t tell people they put a charge an explosive in there .they were busted but it’s all about picking the winners and losers in the market .Corvair was supposed to be unsafe at any speed .but if you compared it to the Volkswagen beetle it was actually more stable then the Beatles .but once you had bad press and of course Ford wasn’t happy with GM’s move so they piled on and shut the production down .Volkswagen was very happy Ralph Nader got some sort of an award .but he’s a lying piece of garbage typical media fake news .hopefully we won’t be suckered as much but if people don’t know the history the real history . Thay will keep making this mistake an American companies will suffer The Corvair was not only faster but bigger on the inside of a little bit of gas mileage difference was minuscule compared to the bigger car or passengers and actually safer in a collision if you saw the crash test back then of the Volkswagen beetle head on and the Corvair head on you’d be better off in a Corvair but Porsche to lotta money and a lot of power in those days so consider these things and don’t take every bad story as gospel.
I often wonder how much they paid Nader to mount that campaign against the car and , more importantly. who THEY are. I've driven several models over the years and it is by far a better car than many built in it's day
Nader was purely an opportunist who jumped on the auto safety bandwagon popularized by Abe Ribicoff. GM was a popular punching bag at the time because they were so successful. Lots of people took shots at GM. Now that they are a shadow of their former self and are struggling to compete with Japan and China is America better off?
I had The original 1960 Corvair 4 door sedan. Bought In May of 1965 for $210, It was an ok car (The powerglide gave out & i sold The car for $100). Two weeks working At a Good job (That’s What my Dad made then) paid for it. The first year or So they leaked oil from The oil pan, that was fixed by 1963. A Good Friend had a 63’ Monza Spyder Convertible, 4sp. stick. It was fun and enjoyable. My brother had a 65’ Corvair Corsa Convertible 4sp. with a turbocharged engine, it was also fun and enjoyable. Ralph Nader never drove that car, he basically black listed it. GM should have stood up to him, but......the Vega, Citation and other failures were born. I will never buy a GM car. Of the ones I listed, Corvair was the best.....Jim
My first car was a 1960 Covair and I loved it. My second one was 2nd hand 1964 and except for some rust and a bad vacuum it also was a dream with great gas millage. The first thing you had to learn was it was rear engined and the balance was different. First I discovered that the weight distribution was shitty and I added 200 lbs to the front and the platform was stable as heck. When I was supposed to return from overseas from England in 1972 I had contacted my local Chevy dealer and ordered a 72 Corvair Convertible only to get a reply that it was no longer available for sale. All becaused some idiot wannabe politico had written a book condemning with BS data that at best was debatable. Ralph (Upchuck) Nader did not have an engineering degree and loosely used questionable date i his book to delude the public. Personally I think the fact that they would not contribute to his political campaign has a lot to do with it.
Hasta el día de hoy 3 de mayo del 2020 un corvair de 1967 que se pasee por las calles de PUERTO RICO isla del Caribe se ve tan actual que los nuevos carros del presente.
OK, they couldn't get the weight out of the engine and rear suspension; I understand that it took until maybe 1974 or 1975 (on the Vega) for GM to get the sleeveless aluminum engine perfected. And, it would have taken at least another year to give the car the 1965 suspension. Given that, why didn't they 1. Put all the 1964 suspension mods (anti-sway bar in front, see-saw bar, or whatever the called it, in back) on every 1960 model sold. 2. Pull the front wheels further into the body to increase their share of the weight. 3. Make the nose slope downward, like that of a Beetle, to increase downward pressure on the front. 4. Find some way to make the car as roomy as the Falcon, Valiant and Chevy II, or just sell it as an enthusiast's car. It seems that they ruined any chances the car had by keeping the price down and trying to make it look and feel like a normal American car. I understand that rear-engine cars have a driving dynamic that normal boring domestic sedans with front engines and rigid rear axles (or even a front wheel drive car) can't match, but they seemed to come up short in so many other ways. You would expect them to have more room inside for their exterior size, but just about any rear engine car I can name (other than the huge Tucker or Scarab, or maybe the VW 411) was short of legroom. And even many 1960s Porsches had mediocre acceleration. Working AC into a rear engine compartment was always tricky (although they were cooler without it than most other cars). It seems that there were a number of steep prices to be paid for the special qualities that these cars had. GM could have done better, but I have to wonder if there was any long term hope for the concept of a rear-engine family car, with or without Ralph Nader.
I feel it necessary to address this post as bullet points. First: "-- OK, they couldn't get the weight out of the engine and rear suspension--" The Corvair engine weighed over 100 lbs less than any other 6 cylinder engine GM ever made. "I understand that it took until maybe 1974 or 1975 (on the Vega) for GM to get the sleeveless aluminum engine perfected." Corvairs did NOT have aluminum cylinders. They were individually light-weight cast iron components. "And, it would have taken at least another year to give the car the 1965 suspension." I don't understand this comment... "Given that, why didn't they: " "--1. Put all the 1964 suspension mods (anti-sway bar in front, see-saw bar, or whatever the called it, in back) on every 1960 model sold.--" GM fully intended to put a sway bar on the Corvair from day-1 but the beancounters nix'ed the idea, saying it wouldn't be necessary since they envisioned the Corvair as a "town car" and grocery-getter etc. The sway bar was implemented in the '64 model year-onward. Look underneath a 1960 Corvair and you will see provisions for mounting a sway bar. My 1960 Corvair has a sway bar, bolted directly in place, no hassles. "--2. Pull the front wheels further into the body to increase their share of the weight.--" ...? The front tires already carry close to half-ton. Moving them back would negatively impact handling and intrude into the passenger compartment. The wheel wells are already butted against the front floors beside the forward firewall. "--3. Make the nose slope downward, like that of a Beetle, to increase downward pressure on the front.--" Totally unnecessary. It also would have ruined the car's lines. "--4. Find some way to make the car as roomy as the Falcon, Valiant and Chevy II, or just sell it as an enthusiast's car.--" It had MORE room than a Falcon etc. The flat floor and forward facing firewall was the Corvair's forte. Loads of foot room. "--It seems that they ruined any chances the car had by keeping the price down and trying to make it look and feel like a normal American car.--" The Corvair WAS a success, with over 1.8 MILLION made in the 10 years of production, and the last three years production were abbreviated as GM threw all its eggs in the Camaro basket, and pretty much "threw the Corvair under the bus"... with no more development work or improvements or updates after the 1966 model year, which is why Corvairs kept vent windows up through the '69 model year when everything else from GM lost them in '67. Likewise the column mount ignition switch that came along with everything else but was still in the dash in the '69 Corvair. Thus the '67-'69 models are scarce because so few were made compared to earlier years.
I had a red 64 Monza. That car was fun , I had a rare Monza with an automatic, not stick,most were stick. I man at a dealership,he was older,and remembered how to work on it. The 6 cylinder engine was very peppy,. Had that car,as a classic car ,went to shows , weekend drives for 10 years. The job transfer me to another state, so we didn't have room to take it with us. Had to sell that ,and a 62 Oldsmobile. Sure miss them both.
Both the Covair and the Fiero were much improved the last couple of years they were built.. I always wanted a corvair and almost bought one as my first car.. Maybe I was safer in a Chevy Impala ? Just don't put over 20 PSI in the front tires so it does not over steer.. Any car with the engine in front is better in an accident than having the engine behind you pushing you into an object.. One thing for sure I'd bet they were better in snow and mud and front engine cars..
They were bad for that. His didn't blow oil. I heard somewhere the oil problem came from the belts breaking and them overheating and blowing the seals. My dad was an auto mechanic too so he kept his cars in pretty good shape.
I'd rather have a Corvair than a Pinto, Or a Vega.Or a prissy Prius, Or a Smart-ass Car. What about the old car i'm driving now? Now that's unsafe at any speed. Nobody asks to borrow it either.
Christopher Wyller Corvair, Pinto? I would rather walk! The only thing Pinto had going for it was the engine, such as it was, was more durable engine. GM never learned how to make an aluminum engine that would carry you out of the driveway before having to check the oil and fill.
This was the anniversary tribute Corvair that GM remanufactured in 1983 IIRC. It was a 1964 Corvair Monza that was searched out through the private sector to find the best example for the project which was then dismantled, restored, and was mostly reassembled by hand, but for this particular photo it shows how the car went through the regular paint shop line along with other 1983 model-year GM vehicles. The car is currently (as far as I know) in the GM museum. The event was covered in an article in the Corsa Communique, the national Corvair club magazine.
My family had two....the early version and the monza. Excellent cars ahead of their time.
Telstar music goes good 😊 with old corvairs, almost same era.
i have 6
I had a 1961 Corvair and drove it for years. Cheap to operate and maintain. I remember buying tires for $6 each and getting a new clutch for $18.
One of if not the simplest car to drive and work on...still to this day examples are driven daily and bring smiles to those who enjoy these little gems...
Why does everyone say it was a failure??? The model ran for 10 years, and sold on 1.8 million units... that fact alone makes the Corvair a success... o_0
@Denys B. Sir... NO it was NOT. A Senate investigation proved it was not.
@Christ est mon Sauveur ... As a kid our family had a friend that was killed in one. He was hit in the front and the steering wheel killed him.
@Joe Hoe True, and the car was only spoke of in one chapter of the book.
At last! Someone smart enough to realise when cars ARE a success, and not just get swept along by propaganda against particular vehicles!
@@nygelmiller5293 ^~^ thank you. The NHTSA study well after the Corvair's stop in production cleared it, saying it was as safe as any other car produced during its time.
People also forget that Chevrolet changed the Swing-Arm rear suspension to the double Whish-Bone independent used on the Corvette in 1965.
Ralph Nader based his assumption of the Corvair on a traffic accident were in a woman attempted to pull a U-turn on a two lane road at 35 MPH. There are not many vehicles then or now that wouldn't flip attempting such a maneuver.
However Ralph did do much good in pushing industry to adopt safety measures such as "Seat-Beats', 5-MPH bumpers, and air-bags. Thing that were not available, required, or even on most cars during the years before the mid-70's
Thank you Ed Cole. The world wasn't ready for advanced automotive designs. Many ham handed mechanics cross threaded most all thr the threads, especially the sparkplugs. The flywheel end drives the camshaft so the valvetrain is smooth. Gear driven..
Loved my Corvair. It was a 1960 that I bought in 1966. I was stationed at Ft Riley Kansas and needed a car. I found it at a local Army Base Rip Off Car Lot for $100.00. It had Salt based holes in the floor under the drivers feet which was fixed with the side of an Army Wall Locker. It had 51K miles when I bought it and within two weeks it threw a rod? I went to the local Junction City Ks Chevy dealer who told me they had a specialist on Corvairs who would rebuild the Engine for less than a replacement. I agreed and when it was done I drove it to Sacramento (my home town) to get a set of Michlein Tires (your only young once), then back to Kansas. During the next year I drove it for another 100K before discharge. Next it was back to Sacramento where I drove it for another couple years. In 1969 It had a Valve failure and it was impossible to find a decent Machine Shop for repairs. I sold the car to a collector for $100 and have been unhappy ever since.
I have since owned 20+ cars (including Porsche 356, Datsun 240, Saab 99L, Toyota Matrix, etc) and not one has given me the Handling, Comfort, Dependability, not counting (fan belt failure).
End result is I drove this car for over 250,000 miles and would buy one in a minute. Army Wall Locker Floor Panels Included.
Sandy I had a 1960 Corvair as well.I got it for THIRTY dollars,the floor was rusted we were not married long (1969),it had a gasoline heater that didn't work spotted another 60 with gas heater in junkyard got all parts mine was missing.It was a COLD winter I had driven a month wo heat,when I saw the puff of smoke when messing with heater relay happy isn't the word. But after that the best car I ever owned!!.
Yes, always carry a spare fan belt!
The Corvair was easily as good if not better than competitive models from other manufacturers of that time period. I owned a Monza as well as a dune buggy rail with a Corvair engine on a VW transaxle. Both were reliable and powerful.
The swing axles were the problem until a rear “anti sway” bar was installed. VW beatle had the same problem. Another upside to the air cooled Corvair engine was that the heater really worked. If you owned a 60s era beetle in cold climate you carried an ice scraper for the ice on the inside of the windshield.
Yes I know how the heating in my 60's Karmann-Ghia provided comfortable background heating, but did not dentist the windows. But the makers realised this was because they had relied on the engine fan to blow enough hot air through. So they eventually fitted a separate fan like everybody else! I was "trapped" in the back of a friend's 1970's Beetle, and had to shout at him to turn the heater DOWN when he switched it on.It was SCORCHING HOT. My pal thought I was exaggerating till he himself felt the floor heating vents, and was amazed!
Im digging those strings, Daddy-O.It's like "Way Out, Man'!
I loved my old '66 Turbo Coupe, what fun it was!
My grandfather, Frank J. Winchell, was GM’s expert witness in the defense of the Corvair. In total there were 294 cases brought against GM, totaling claims of over 100 million dollars. Of these, 10 were tried to jury convictions. Of these, 8 verdicts were in favor of GM. Of the 2 loses; "Chart v GM," where 2 of the 5 occupants testified in court that the driver had a quarrel with his girlfriend and that after a 2 1/2 hour stop at Bronco’s Beer Bar, where the driver was chug-a-luging his beer, and later they warned the him that he was driving recklessly and at an excessive speed, that he failed to make a right hand turn, locked up his brakes and struck a telephone pole. In what is know as a comparative negligence verdict, the jury found the driver 75% responsible, the girlfriend 3%, the state highway 5%, the county highway 5% and GM 12%. The other lose was "Canthos v GM," where the jury found in favor of the plaintiff, however, the judge set the jury’s verdict aside stating “There is not a scintilla of quotient evidence to support the claims against the handling characteristics of the 1960-63 Corvair.(paraphrasing)” He went on to describe the testimony of the plaintiff’s expert witness as “perhaps the most incomprehensible gibberish that this court has ever heard.” A Untied Sates Senate Committee spent 2 1/2 year investigating the safety of the Corvair, the DOT as well as many other institutions, even Nader’s own NHTSA came to the same conclusions as everyone else, that the Corvair was not defectively designed nor a defective product. In fact, it performed as good, or better than all cars on american roads at that time.
Thank you for sharing this information with us. I am glad GM chose to stand up and fight for itself. I can not say Nader's name without wanting to say something foul. He never went after Porsche or VW Beetles which used the same engine and suspension configuration in the rear. Instead of American's becoming endeared to fuel efficient compact cars we went on with our gas guzzlers and how many American lives have been lost keeping the pipeline open from the middle east fueling the big car craze in this country that is still going on with an obsession for SUV's. I remember seeing seeing my first Corvair at about age 5 and I have wanted one ever since. Now retired, it is on my bucket list and it's number is coming up soon.
I love 'vairs and have a dozen of them. However, they are definitely an ill handling vehicle. If you ever get one into a spin (which is easy) , you are out of luck at that point.
@@michaelangelo8001 My ex BIL bought a Corvair when he was stationed in the Air Force in Austin, TX. When he left the service, he drove that Corvair all the way from Texas to CA, pulling a small trailer. I eventually drove it and found I liked it.
The most unusal Corvair I ever saw? Once at the Famosa Drag Strip near Bakersfield, CA, I saw Corvair someone had installed a Chevy V8 in the front with a drive shaft to the rear wheels. He wasn't racing it, just drove it to the event, but did fire it up for me.
@@blackholeentry3489 We used to build V6 Vairs back in the 70s. We had it down to a science. One of my neighbors used to convert one every couple of weeks.
@@michaelangelo8001 I drive them in snow, just turn in direction of skid like any other car
I've owned a few myself. From the early models to the late. My first was a 1961, 500 Coupe, 80 hp three spd stick. I drove that car from 1981-1984 and the only thing I ever had to do besides brakes and tune up was a clutch cable, all very easy and cheap, seeing as the largest parts supply is right here in Mass. those little cars rode great and handled pretty well one you out radial tires, in the snow they were also great! My next one was a late model a 1965 Convertible, with a power glide trans and 110 ho! That car was really nice! All the kids loved it! Then I had S 1963 Coupe, that had the p g automatic and 95 hp, that car was really tight and rust free! Then I had my nicest one so far! A last year, 1969, Coupe automatic 110 hp, with tinted glass all around, am/fm radio with only 19,100 miles on it when I bought it in 1990! That car was like new! It was two tone, deep met. brown body with a gold painted roof and black interior with high back bucket seats!
i have 6 love them
I drove one for years and it got excellent gas mileage was very dependable, never blew up and killed me.
I love the music.
When Ralph Nader wrote the book he did not have a drivers licence and not a car expert only a lawyer wanting to be famous. The sales of Mustangs and than the Camaro, which the body came form, is what killed the Corvair. Was my first car and still have one in the garage.
i had 3 until 1999
I want one.
i did not know this guy had no licence. kind of makes him look foolish.
Smart man And your so right .He got the big pay off to put the car down.
@@henrybourdon6712 No engineering degree, no driver's license, never owned or drove a car. Some auto expert. All he was good at was publicizing himself and sucking in uninformed people. I read his book and I owned a Corvair, Nader is a joke.
Awesome piece of history.
I love corvairs. Especially 1960 to 1964.
I LOVE MY CORVAIR!!!!!
love my 64 spyder!
I TOO LOVE MY CORVAIRS!!!
Corvairs are great cars, good looking and so much fun to drive.
I own a 1967 Corvair Monza coupe, American Engineering at its BEST😊. INDEPENDENT SUSPENSION , HANDLES THE ROAD LIKE IT WANTS TO. MOST FUN, ENJOYABLE CAR I HAVE EVER DRIVEN! unsafe? BULLCRAP. 54 YEAR OLD CAR RUNS BETTER THAN MOST ON THE ROAD TODAY
Fine (and fun!) work as always.
I love Corvairs!!!
I drove a64 in 1976 my parents sold it to me for $ 300 love it today I own a convertible 1964 corvair let me tell you it's a head turner love my corvair
Personally I liked the Corvair. Like any man made thing it was not perfect - and - like any automobile it represented a trade off between price - weight - looks - handling - safety.
There's no telling where GM could have taken these magnificent little machines. I'm sure well into the 70's. I owned two, a 63 4 door and a 65 Monza convertible. These cars were no more dangerous to drive than a VW Beetle or a rear-engined Porsche. Thanks Ralph Nader, you putz... 🙄
I had a ‘65 Spyder convertible. I learned to take corners very slowly.
My first car was a '63 Monza Coupe 4 speed and it was fast! We owned every model they ever made with my favorite being my first Truck...a 62 Rampside. Other than the leaky O rings in the pushrod tubes it was reliable and fun.
The 1960,the sweetest looking small car on the market !! I had a 1961, great in the snow. It would just slide over the drifts. Never did get it stuck. But, I really tried !! Love that car !!!🥰🥰👴🏻
these units had a real good gasoline heater in them, you had heat without running the engine
I had a 64 Monza, great in snow
Corvair had a 6 cylinder engine like a Porsche instead of a 4 cylinder engine like a VW Beetle. A shame it had to die and the others kept on going. It was a great car.
Quite a collectors car now, I’d love one
A Corvair Lakewood wagon would be such a sweet ride in 2018 versus plastic space bubbles
Pretty wagons. It's sad that wagons are virtually gone. Ernie Kovacs owned a Corvair Lakewood wagon.
Great Post very interesting .
They sure were sharp-looking cars, no doubt about it.
Just what I wanted to see!
Great Job.
I drive and love this wonderfull car in Germany and it fits into my narrow european Garage!😊
Love my 65
the car was built in Ypsilanti Michigan too and Nader took the Auto industry back to the stone age just like NBC tried to do with the Chevy truck
The Corvair was a good car provided you drove it sensibly,within it's limits and kept to the specific tyre pressures which were different front and rear--it was very much a "drivers car"
I only recently found out about the importance of Corvair tire pressure. I'm curious if all owners of the car knew about the tire pressure.
@@walterweddle7644 according to what I have read in the cars heyday in the early 60s car mag reviewed the car and while praising the car also concluded that this was a "drivers" car and because of it's mechanical arrangement(rear eng,swing axle, different tire pressures) that this car needed more owner maintenance than most and made a cautionary comment about most owners not reg checking tire press.Those who did reg check tires correctly would sometimes be compromised by serv garages who not realizing would incorrectly inflate ALL tires to the same press without telling the owner which sometimes led to accidents
Being sensible is the key!
If I remember correctly, 18 psi in front .
@@larryc8607 hello, according to contemporary information about the corvair the tire pressures were 15 psi front and 26psi back and when used along with sensible driving made a big difference to the cars behaviour on the road
it was actually an excellent car, after they fixed the problem with the drop axles
By the time Nader went before Congress, the problem with the rear axle was already fixed. Besides, there were cars of the same era like the Porches that used the same rear axle/engine design and continued using that were many times more problematic and dangerous.
it was actually an excellent car, before they fixed the problem with the drop axles.
my 62 drives great ..just got yo know the car
Yeah, it was actually the same suspension as the VW Bug and Porche and nobody ever said those cars were unsafe.
It was pretty good even before that. Though Nader had a point which when he wore a hat no one noticed.
boy!! I must have owned 10 of these death traps as a kid loved em!!
Ken boddie jr
A. You owned 10
B. You were a kid.
C. You're still alive.
D. ???
@@sharksport01 - Owned 10 to keep one running. ; )
@@scootergeorge9576
😄
My friend in high school in the 70s had the monza spyder corvair w/ the bigger motor. He had also done some speed mods on the car. We thrashed that car. lf it were susceptible to tipping over we wouldve done it. My girlfriend at the time had a VW karman ghia that felt way more sketchy. Ralph Nader just wanted to sell a book.
that's a good video thanks
the 67 Corsa... truly one of the most beautiful cars ever...
There was no '67 Corsa. '65-'66 only
An early model Corvair is the ONLY chevy I'd ever consider owning, they're good lookin little rigs and didn't deserve what that prick Ralph Nader did to em....
Ok
Corvairs are so cool. The only experience I have ever had was being hit by one on a race track lol but I have always wanted one.
GR8 VID !!! ✌ 😎🚬 🍻 🍔 🍟 💥
My dad bought a 1961 Corvair..4dr..Base model..80HP..3 speed manual..I learned to drive with it and at first it was a big improvement over his 1958 VW. Smoother..Quieter..Peppier..More stylish..etc. Never had any of the handling issues that Mr. Nader harped on and I pushed it hard..but then..
As time and miles past, issues cropped up that today as a retired mechanical engineer, I consider serious flaws.
1. Pushrod tube leakage caused by o-ring seals getting hard and brittle leaving the
garage floor a mess. Viton fixed that on later models.
2. Gasoline fumes entering the cabin. Cooling air drawn across the carbs fed the heater. Design flaw.
3. Carbon monoxide entering the cabin from the heater due to leaking head gaskets. Folks actually lost brain function due to this issue if they drove the car with this issue over time. Design flaw.
My dad sold the car mainly due to the gasoline fumes exacerbated by spilled oil from changes getting into the cooling air intake and on the exhaust manifolds. The dealer tried several times to address this to no avail. Don't get me wrong..The Corvair was economical, fun to drive and in later years much improved but air for heating the cabin after passing over the carbs and cylinder heads was still a problem but to a lessor extent. I loved the later models, the Yenko Stingers and watching them race at Elkhart Lake. Overall, much nostalgia for folks my age. Still absolutely love the Corvair!!
I had a 1964 Corvair Monza with the 110 HP engine. It was a great car with about 30 mpg highway and 25 mpg city. I drove it for ten years and took it cross country several times. It had 120,000 miles on it when I got rid of it.
The only real issue was that the oil seals leaked due to the fact that the engines actually ran hotter than expected. You had to use forty weight oil and keep several quarts in the car.
My Dad worked in the paint department for the Corvair at Willow Run and bought one when I was about 2 years old, but I don't remember it. He also worked on the Chevy II......I still live in Willow Run, and the factory is still there but no longer a part of GM. It's used primarily as a warehouse.
My first car was a 1963 Corsair bought in 1969 loved that car one night driving in the winter had the windows closed to this day don’t know exactly what happened but it flipped over about 10 feet from a bridge I was trapped inside some men came by and pulled me out all I could think about was the car catching fire. Guardian Angel watched over me that night!!!!
You forgot to keep five more pounds of air in the rear wheels more than the front! People failed to read the owners hand book.
Had a 62 Monza. Great car.
looks a nice car, even for today
Corvair wasn't the greatest car ever built, but it was no more unsafe than many other cars on the road! Even if you drove a tank everywhere you went you still run the risk of being injured in a vehicle...
Don Borgal the so called Smart car what I call the Dumb car is the most dangerous one of all time, if you get hit from behind in a Dumb(Smart)car and pushed into the next vehicle in from of you, your chances of death are extremely great and chances of survival are extremely ultra super slim.
In that era it's fair to say everything on the road was dangerous because they were and statistics bear that out. Corvair was rather a shitbox because it was built so cheaply. Fun engine and with a four speed they went pretty well. My friend had a few of them and we actually tried to roll an early one over in a factory parking lot but couldn't manage it!
@@christopherorourke6362 I have my second Saturn SL series. They are plastic body panels and if in a wreck I'd be a so long joe quickly.
@@christopherorourke6362 still better than a motorcycle, it all depends on your perspective.
And opposing vehicle speed, angle of impact,speed @close of contact,etc. Many many factors to consider and include..just my .02¢
7;^]>
RALPH NADER I LOVED MY CORVAIR
I purchased a Corvair Station Wagon, and overall I liked it, I had only two complaints, one was the gasoline smell that got into the passenger compartment, second, was that on icy roads it would spin-out due to the engine in the back, it would completely turn end for end and travel tail first.
Ha, only two complaints? Sounds like very serious faults, both which could kill you or at least destroy brain cells. Breathing gasoline vapor not good.
I had two of them as a high school and college student and loved them. They both leaked oil but I would not have changed a thing. They were very good in the snow.
I bought a 65 Corsa turbo 180hp 4spd in 71 and my brother had a 65 Vette 327 4spd. We traded one night and he came back saying he thought he was going to roll over in a curve but went right through it
Just picked up a very Rare Rampside with 2 ramps on each side. Prototypes .
My friends dad bought one new. He used it for his carpet business.
The Corvair was rigged to fail in the test. It's actually a good car.
I bought a new 63 Monza convert then a 62 Monza sedan as a messaround car, but all I have now is a 64 Spyder convert in storage.
I wanted a corvair, but they were too expensive for me. I bought a new 67 vw bug at the end of the 67 year for 1400 dollars, a new chevy II costs 2300 at that time, and a corvair was about the same.
My 2 Uncles were Engineers on them back in late '58 . - 66 and Pontiac from 61-64. I have a "Stinger " and a few vans and 61 -62 LeMans same trans
The Chevrolet plant in Town of Tonawanda, NY just outside of Buffalo that built the Chevrolet Corvair later built the Chevrolet Vega & it's Pontiac Astra cousin, then that plane built the Chevrolet Chevette & it's Pontiac T-1000. My late second cousin worked at that plant when he worked for General Motors, today that plant is a Toyota plant that builds the Toyota Corrollas there. The late car my late father owned was a Toyota Corolla that was built in that plant. My late uncle on my mother's side of my family bout a 2 door 1962 Chevrolet Corvair that was built in the Town of Tonawanda,NY plant.
Sounds like that plant made 100% lemons, not sure what was worse the Vega or Corvair? I used to work at a gas station around 1972 and a girl used to say give me 2.00 dollars in gas= roughly 5 gallons and give me 2 quarts of oil to put in for her [Vega] VW wasn't much in terms of performance but it sure was dependable and durable as long as you changed the oil every 2000 miles
The Pontiac sister car to the Vega was the Astre. GM's Opel makes the Astra which was shared by Saturn.
wrong its still a gm plant they don't make cars there just engines in facts they just put them together there
II think kit was built in Ypsilanti Michigan in the willow run area.
a 10 year run, not bad considering its replacement, the rust bucket "VEGA"!!!!
A great vid,,, I luv this car on Forza game,,,,,I have driven some American Muscle on the streets and yes on game they're true to life,,,,however living in England and way back working in an American speed shop never saw a single Corvair,,,,,shame I liked them,,,it's not the car's fault,but how people drive them,,,however the Pinto gas tank prob was another matter,,,though the engine great as my 70 Cortina GXL had the Pinto engine and that was great,,,,,
Was a grate car realy a head of its time
@@Rick-S-6063 good question
Man, what would it have been like to work on the assembly line?
be blind from welding and lung cancer from painting.
@2:03 I think the job description of fitting an engine for "ease of service" was eliminated after the corvair.
Interestingly Jay Leno said (in a video about his own Corvair vehicles) that Nader's book etc. actually prolonged the life of the Corvair until 1969.
GM was ready to discontinue the Corvair after the 1965 model run, but the powers that be decided that it would give credence to Nader's arguments about the early models' handling...but the Mustang, which was indirectly inspired by the Corvair Monza, captured the market Corvair had sparked, and was a much more conventional design.
love my 64 monza 900 Convertible, 110 HP 4 speed.
goes nicely with my 1988 Yugo!
Mike Allmon I have a 900 monza love it!!!
i think (as things were really "trippy" back then) i had a 65 corvair monza spider with a manual four speed.....i got it in 71 drove it for two years and traded it in on a 73 chevy van so i could be a hippie...now have a 95 chevy van s10.....gm has allowed me many groovy memories and yes to this day i am as think as i stoned i am
Ralph Nader was just trying to make a name for himself at the expense of a perfectly good car.
the first modern design from G.M.
My brother's friend used to deliver PizzaMan pizza in one I remember. Some kind of heated box to hold them was inside it.
Owned a few around the house. Patents would tell me Not to park out front. When the draft came I went. So did my cars. thanks ralph. Jackxxx. Other than tires and plugs. Mine did just fine. No issues. Follow the drivers manual. All ok.
What most people don’t know is general motors was competing in the 1950s with the sale of a Volkswagen beetle .an air cooled four-cylinder about 30 hp so GM no they could do better so they made a six cylinder but 70 hp still got pretty close to the same gas mileage .it was actually designed very much like a VW bug even the suspension well Porsche Did not like this so they spent a whole Lotta money paying a guy named Ralph Nader to do a hit piece just like later when ABC did the same thing with the Chevy pick up truck .and the gas tank in the back of the cab they didn’t tell people they put a charge an explosive in there .they were busted but it’s all about picking the winners and losers in the market .Corvair was supposed to be unsafe at any speed .but if you compared it to the Volkswagen beetle it was actually more stable then the Beatles .but once you had bad press and of course Ford wasn’t happy with GM’s move so they piled on and shut the production down .Volkswagen was very happy Ralph Nader got some sort of an award .but he’s a lying piece of garbage typical media fake news .hopefully we won’t be suckered as much but if people don’t know the history the real history . Thay will keep making this mistake an American companies will suffer The Corvair was not only faster but bigger on the inside of a little bit of gas mileage difference was minuscule compared to the bigger car or passengers and actually safer in a collision if you saw the crash test back then of the Volkswagen beetle head on and the Corvair head on you’d be better off in a Corvair but Porsche to lotta money and a lot of power in those days so consider these things and don’t take every bad story as gospel.
"dollop of dynamite" love that quote.
That's back when is the human assembly line not this junk like now. I own one it is a great car
I often wonder how much they paid Nader to mount that campaign against the car and , more importantly. who THEY are. I've driven several models over the years and it is by far a better car than many built in it's day
Nader was purely an opportunist who jumped on the auto safety bandwagon popularized by Abe Ribicoff. GM was a popular punching bag at the time because they were so successful. Lots of people took shots at GM. Now that they are a shadow of their former self and are struggling to compete with Japan and China is America better off?
Anyone else did a Power Glide full rebuilt in the kitchen sink? Best place to do it when you had no garage! ;)
Powerglide was the worst feature of the Corvair. A stick shift model was the only one to buy.
At 5:16- OPEN vats of molten aluminum transported on flatbeds! How very "Roman Empire"!!
@10:45 That's what I wish my yard looked like.
I had The original 1960 Corvair 4 door sedan. Bought In May of 1965 for $210, It was an ok car (The powerglide gave out & i sold The car for $100). Two weeks working At a Good job (That’s What my Dad made then) paid for it. The first year or So they leaked oil from The oil pan, that was fixed by 1963. A Good Friend had a 63’ Monza Spyder Convertible, 4sp. stick. It was fun and enjoyable. My brother had a 65’ Corvair Corsa Convertible 4sp. with a turbocharged engine, it was also fun and enjoyable. Ralph Nader never drove that car, he basically black listed it. GM should have stood up to him, but......the Vega, Citation and other failures were born. I will never buy a GM car. Of the ones I listed, Corvair was the best.....Jim
My first car was a 1960 Covair and I loved it. My second one was 2nd hand 1964 and
except for some rust and a bad vacuum it also was a dream with great gas millage.
The first thing you had to learn was it was rear engined and the balance was different.
First I discovered that the weight distribution was shitty and I added 200 lbs to the
front and the platform was stable as heck. When I was supposed to return from overseas
from England in 1972 I had contacted my local Chevy dealer and ordered a 72 Corvair
Convertible only to get a reply that it was no longer available for sale. All becaused some
idiot wannabe politico had written a book condemning with BS data that at best was
debatable. Ralph (Upchuck) Nader did not have an engineering degree and loosely used
questionable date i his book to delude the public. Personally I think the fact that they would not contribute to his political campaign has a lot to do with it.
Nader was pencel neck geek
Hasta el día de hoy 3 de mayo del 2020 un corvair de 1967 que se pasee por las calles de PUERTO RICO isla del Caribe se ve tan actual que los nuevos carros del presente.
My grandpa has own 7-8 corvairs and not a single one has he rolled over.
Service station got it back on the road,a week later.
It was a fun car!
OK, they couldn't get the weight out of the engine and rear suspension; I understand that it took until maybe 1974 or 1975 (on the Vega) for GM to get the sleeveless aluminum engine perfected. And, it would have taken at least another year to give the car the 1965 suspension. Given that, why didn't they
1. Put all the 1964 suspension mods (anti-sway bar in front, see-saw bar, or whatever the called it, in back) on every 1960 model sold.
2. Pull the front wheels further into the body to increase their share of the weight.
3. Make the nose slope downward, like that of a Beetle, to increase downward pressure on the front.
4. Find some way to make the car as roomy as the Falcon, Valiant and Chevy II, or just sell it as an enthusiast's car.
It seems that they ruined any chances the car had by keeping the price down and trying to make it look and feel like a normal American car.
I understand that rear-engine cars have a driving dynamic that normal boring domestic sedans with front engines and rigid rear axles (or even a front wheel drive car) can't match, but they seemed to come up short in so many other ways. You would expect them to have more room inside for their exterior size, but just about any rear engine car I can name (other than the huge Tucker or Scarab, or maybe the VW 411) was short of legroom. And even many 1960s Porsches had mediocre acceleration. Working AC into a rear engine compartment was always tricky (although they were cooler without it than most other cars). It seems that there were a number of steep prices to be paid for the special qualities that these cars had. GM could have done better, but I have to wonder if there was any long term hope for the concept of a rear-engine family car, with or without Ralph Nader.
I feel it necessary to address this post as bullet points. First:
"-- OK, they couldn't get the weight out of the engine and rear suspension--" The Corvair engine weighed over 100 lbs less than any other 6 cylinder engine GM ever made. "I understand that it took until maybe 1974 or 1975 (on the Vega) for GM to get the sleeveless aluminum engine perfected." Corvairs did NOT have aluminum cylinders. They were individually light-weight cast iron components. "And, it would have taken at least another year to give the car the 1965 suspension." I don't understand this comment... "Given that, why didn't they: "
"--1. Put all the 1964 suspension mods (anti-sway bar in front, see-saw bar, or whatever the called it, in back) on every 1960 model sold.--" GM fully intended to put a sway bar on the Corvair from day-1 but the beancounters nix'ed the idea, saying it wouldn't be necessary since they envisioned the Corvair as a "town car" and grocery-getter etc. The sway bar was implemented in the '64 model year-onward. Look underneath a 1960 Corvair and you will see provisions for mounting a sway bar. My 1960 Corvair has a sway bar, bolted directly in place, no hassles.
"--2. Pull the front wheels further into the body to increase their share of the weight.--" ...? The front tires already carry close to half-ton. Moving them back would negatively impact handling and intrude into the passenger compartment. The wheel wells are already butted against the front floors beside the forward firewall.
"--3. Make the nose slope downward, like that of a Beetle, to increase downward pressure on the front.--" Totally unnecessary. It also would have ruined the car's lines.
"--4. Find some way to make the car as roomy as the Falcon, Valiant and Chevy II, or just sell it as an enthusiast's car.--" It had MORE room than a Falcon etc. The flat floor and forward facing firewall was the Corvair's forte. Loads of foot room.
"--It seems that they ruined any chances the car had by keeping the price down and trying to make it look and feel like a normal American car.--" The Corvair WAS a success, with over 1.8 MILLION made in the 10 years of production, and the last three years production were abbreviated as GM threw all its eggs in the Camaro basket, and pretty much "threw the Corvair under the bus"... with no more development work or improvements or updates after the 1966 model year, which is why Corvairs kept vent windows up through the '69 model year when everything else from GM lost them in '67. Likewise the column mount ignition switch that came along with everything else but was still in the dash in the '69 Corvair. Thus the '67-'69 models are scarce because so few were made compared to earlier years.
Tony Underwood ,
At 12:25- "BOO! HISS"!!
1 Corvair is better than 10,000 Prius'!!
...or one million Fiat .
Bullshit and I've worked on both! (I'm old) Corvair could have been America's Porsche, but the build quality wasn't even close.
camess ner40 i think plural will be preii
@@obfuscated3090 yah they could have been America's Porsche at a much lower price...
Why couldn't you match the audio levels of the various segments? It's not rocket surgery.
Who is the guitar player on the video?
+Glenn Lego Music is by the Ventures .
I had a red 64 Monza. That car was fun , I had a rare Monza with an automatic, not stick,most were stick. I man at a dealership,he was older,and remembered how to work on it. The 6 cylinder engine was very peppy,. Had that car,as a classic car ,went to shows , weekend drives for 10 years. The job transfer me to another state, so we didn't have room to take it with us. Had to sell that ,and a 62 Oldsmobile. Sure miss them both.
Both the Covair and the Fiero were much improved the last couple of years they were built.. I always wanted a corvair and almost bought one as my first car.. Maybe I was safer in a Chevy Impala ? Just don't put over 20 PSI in the front tires so it does not over steer..
Any car with the engine in front is better in an accident than having the engine behind you pushing you into an object.. One thing for sure I'd bet they were better in snow and mud and front engine cars..
I think you meant understeer,steer less than intended.
My dad had one. They were bad about blowing oil out the back
I remember that too, oil-covered rear decks.
They were bad for that. His didn't blow oil. I heard somewhere the oil problem came from the belts breaking and them overheating and blowing the seals. My dad was an auto mechanic too so he kept his cars in pretty good shape.
Until Viton seals they would cook the orings and leak around the push rod seals this car ran high temps
I have a 64 spyder conv.
Oh by the way 400,000 miles later
What is that music? The Ventures?
Yes - I use the Ventures in many of my videos . Thanks for watching
@@1unsafe1 cool I love The Ventures!!!
I'd rather have a Corvair than a Pinto, Or a Vega.Or a prissy Prius, Or a Smart-ass Car. What about the old car i'm driving now? Now that's unsafe at any speed. Nobody asks to borrow it either.
Christopher Wyller Corvair, Pinto? I would rather walk! The only thing Pinto had going for it was the engine, such as it was, was more durable engine. GM never learned how to make an aluminum engine that would carry you out of the driveway before having to check the oil and fill.
I had one no heat and exhaust come into cabin through supposed heater a true death trap.
The push rod tube o rings leaked oil on the cylinder cooling fins, the heater blew air across fins to heat car & smoke came out of heater vents.
@@rogerdodrill4733 so that's what happens you must have worked on those or had knowledge about them
At 8:40 in the video, look at the two cars in front of the Corvair. What are they?
That one photo slipped by me when editing . It was a recreation scene from the 80s or 90s . Thanks for watching !
This was the anniversary tribute Corvair that GM remanufactured in 1983 IIRC. It was a 1964 Corvair Monza that was searched out through the private sector to find the best example for the project which was then dismantled, restored, and was mostly reassembled by hand, but for this particular photo it shows how the car went through the regular paint shop line along with other 1983 model-year GM vehicles. The car is currently (as far as I know) in the GM museum. The event was covered in an article in the Corsa Communique, the national Corvair club magazine.