2010 Featured Marque - Corvair

Imagine for a moment you're engaged in a conversation with some of your car buddies about a new concept for a car. It features uni-body construction, independent suspension, and an all aluminum engine that sits above the drive wheels and delivers 25 MPG. This vehicle will be available in 2 door, 4 door, station wagon, convertible, pick-up truck, and van. For the sporting enthusiast, a version of the car will be available with a sport-tuned suspension, including heavy-duty brakes, and a turbo-charged, aspirated version adding almost 50% more power and still delivering close to 25 MPG.

This sure sounds like a conversation that could take place today. If this interests you, please read on, because this same conversation came to reality over 50 years ago!

It's called the decade of the Corvair!

Chief engineer Ed Cole is credited for being the father of the Corvair. The Corvair was introduced in the Chevrolet line up for 1960. To this day, no other car was developed as secretly as the Corvair project. No other car has created such excitement and enthusiasm as did the introduction of the Corvair.

On that third week of September, 1959, record numbers of people flocked to the Chevrolet dealerships to get a glimpse of what proved to be the most unique and forward thinking car of its time! So much so, that it received the most prestigious award of the day — Motor Trend's Car of the Year — an award that is still given out today.

This little grocery getter was built as a uni-body car; the first of its kind. An air-cooled aluminum engine was mounted at the rear of the car over the drive wheels. The car sat on a fully independent suspension, much like its European counterparts. It wasn't long before more sport enthusiast drivers saw the potential for this to become a sports touring car. It didn't take long for the performance aftermarket companies to jump on the bandwagon as well.

Racecar great John Fitch created the Fitch Sprint sold through dealerships as modified sport touring Corvairs. In 1966, Don Yenko created the Yenko Stinger racecar, which was also available through dealerships. Yenko offered three versions of this car — from mild to wild. These cars proved to be competitive on road courses throughout the United States and Europe. Many of these vehicles are still used for vintage racing today!

If this wasn't up your alley, Chevrolet offered direct-from-the-factory, the Spyder option, which featured many performance choices, including: heavy-duty suspension, metallic brakes, special instrumentation and a turbo-charger that boosted horsepower to 150. The Corsa model was introduced in 1965, boasting a 180 horsepower turbo-charged engine. Also available was the 4-1 barrel carburetor version offering 140 horsepower. This car was truly a world-class sports touring car.

The Corvair lasted 10 model years, from 1960 to 1969. During that time, just under two million cars were produced. The Corvair proved to be a successful car for Chevrolet, despite its higher price tag. Many innovations occurred in that decade. The engine grew from a 140 cubic inch 80 HP air-cooled flat-6 cylinder engine, to its most powerful 180 HP in 1966. This was achieved by the use of a turbo-charger that increased the HP by more than 50% over the normally aspirated engine. Corvair was also one of the first production cars ever to offer turbo-charging as an option in 1962.

The suspension was fully independent, utilizing a rear swing axle design with a coil over shock. In 1965 a 4-link rear end design, similar to that used on the Corvette, was incorporated up until 1969.

In 1965, the Corvair ushered in a whole new design inspired by Bill Mitchell, then vice president and chief of design for GM. Styling cues for the new Corvair were taken from two prototype cars produced in 1963: the Monza GT and the Monza SS.

Many magazines and prominent people in the auto industry have stated that this is one of the most timeless designs to ever come out of Detroit! Much has been written about the Corvair over the years. Car Life magazine devoted a whole issue to the Corvair in 1963. Sadly, Ralph Nader wrote the book, Unsafe at Any Speed. However, a government study completed in 1971 cleared any claims made by Nader previously.

When you look back at the decade of the Corvair, the amount of different styles available on the same platform, the many new and innovative ideas implemented into the car, (reminiscent of Saturn) makes you wonder: What caused the demise of the little economy car with class and personality?

It is this author's opinion that although Nader's book, Unsafe at Any Speed, didn't do the Corvair any favors, there is certainly much more to it than that. There is no question that the introduction of the Pony Car was paramount! Leading the way was the Ford Mustang in 1964, followed by the Chevrolet Camaro, AMC Javelin, and Dodge Challenger. Also the fact that the horsepower wars were heating up, premium gasoline could be purchased for around 35 cents a gallon, and the public had no regard to the amount of emissions being placed into the environment. Apparently there just wasn't room for a sporty little car that could achieve 25 MPG and was fun to drive!

The last Corvair rolled off the assembly line at the Willow Run plant on May 14th 1969, at 1:30 PM, thus ending the Corvair decade.

As I conclude, a question still lingers in my mind. What might have happened if Chevrolet would have continued to produce and develop the Corvair for just a few more years? As the '60s afforded us unlimited fuel at low prices, the decade of decadence came to a screeching halt in the early 1970s. Gas became expensive and in short supply, horsepower dropped, and we were given cars like the Vega, Pinto and Gremlin as transportation...HMMMM!

As I think back to my youth when I started driving in the early 1970s, my first car was a Corvair! It was a fabulous car that I drove to survive the gloom and doom of high gas prices and the shortages the early '70s had ushered in. Let me also add, it was a blast to drive AND I STILL OWN ONE TODAY!