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The Chevrolet Corvair remains one of General Motors' most unusual creations. Design began in 1956 under the auspices of Ed Cole, and the first vehicles rolled off the assembly line in late 1959 as part of the 1960 model year (in which it was named Motor Trend magazine's Car of the Year).
The Corvair -- like the Ford Falcon, Studebaker Lark, Nash Rambler, and Chrysler Valiant -- was created in response to the small, sporty and fuel-efficient automobiles being imported from Europe by Volkswagen, Renault and others.
The Corvair was part of GM's innovative A-body line of cars, but this was by far the most unusual, due to the location and design of its engine. It was a rear-engined vehicle in the style of the Volkswagen Beetle and the Porsche 356 Speedster. The "trunk", on the other hand, was in the front of the vehicle.
The entire line (which eventually grew to incorporate sedans, coupes, convertibles, vans, pickups and station wagons) initially shared an aluminum, air-cooled 140 in³ (2.3 L) flat-6 engine. The first engines produced as little as 80 hp (60 kW), but later developed as much as 180 hp (134 kW).
History
The early 1960 models were rather boxy and had few amenities, but the line quickly grew from plain 4-door sedans with bench seats (the base 500 and slighly more upscale 700) to sportier 2-door coupes with bucket seats, the Monza 900.
1961
For 1961 Chevrolet added an optional 4-speed manual transmission to augment the standard 3-speed manual and optional 2-speed automatic. The Corvair engine received its first size increase to 145 in³ courtesy of a slight increase in bore size. The base engine was still rated at 80 hp (60 kW) when paired with the manual transmissions, but 84 hp (63 kW) when mated to the optional automatic transmission. The high performance engine was rated at 98 hp (73 kW).
A rear-engine station wagon, the Lakewood, was also added to the lineup in 1961, and it contained a total of 68 ft³ (1.9 m³) of cargo room -- 58 in the main passenger compartment, and another 10 in the "trunk" under the hood. Engine heat and gasoline odors migrating up through the floor of the station wagon proved to be a persistent problem with this particular model, however.
That same year, Chevrolet also added a panel van (the Corvan), a window van (the Greenbrier), and a pickup, which was notable not only for the fact that the air-cooled engine was mounted under the pickup bed, but that the side of the pickup bed folded down to form a ramp, hence its name, the Rampside.
The most notable addition in 1961 was the new "Super De Luxe" Monza trim package available. The Monza package included bucket seats up front and carpet all around in addition to a few extra chrome dress up items. Most commenly it was seen with a 4 speed on the floor shifter and the high performance engine. At the time this package was heralded by some as "the poor man's Porsche" since it was the closest thing to an affordable sports car on the american streets. Though introduced half way through the 61 model year, the Monza Coupe was the best selling model in the line up.
1962-1963
In 1962, Chevrolet began to phase out the austere 500 series. They introduced the 150 hp (112 kW) turbocharged Monza Spyder, making the Corvair only the second production automobile to come with a turbocharger as a factory option after the Oldsmobile F-85 Turbo Jetfire of the same year. The Super Deluxe Monza Spyder introduced improved brakes and suspension, and a multi-gauge instrument cluster which included a tachometer. A convertible option was added as well.
The 1963 model year saw the end of the Lakewood stationwagon and the availability or a long 3.08 gear for improved fuel economy, but the corvair remained largely the same as in 1962.
1964
The lineup remained relatively unchanged for the 1964 model year, with the exception of the engine growing from 145 to 164 in³ (2.3 to 2.7 L)due to an increase in stroke, the base power growing from 80 to 95 hp (60 to 70 kW), and the high performance engine growing from 95 to 110 hp (70 to 80 kW). The Spyder engine remained rated at 150 hp (112 kW)despite the displacement increase of the engine.
However, 1964 also saw a critical improvement in the Corvair's suspension in response to growing pressure from consumer safety advocates. In particular, a young lawyer named Ralph Nader wrote a book called Unsafe at Any Speed in which the Corvair (and its tendency to roll over) was used as a dramatic case study. It should be noted that a 1972 safety commission ultimately exonerated the Corvair and declared it no more unsafe than any similar vehicle of its era. However, Nader's book, which was published in 1965, was a severe blow to the Corvair line, and the sporty, inexpensive Ford Mustang, which was introduced in late 1964 in response to the Corvair, ultimately finished off Chevrolet's bold experiment.
1965
A dramatic redesign of the Corvair body and suspension and introduced several powerful new engines came in 1965. The new body style lay somewhere between that of a baby Chevrolet Corvette Stingray and a mid-1960s Italian sports car and foreshadowed the 1967 Chevrolet Camaro that eventually replaced the Corvair. A new fully independent suspension similar to that used on the Corvette replaced the original swing-axle rear suspension.
The previous 150 hp (112 kW) Monza Spyder was replaced by the normally-aspirated 140 hp (104 kW) Corsa and the 180 hp (134 kW) Corsa Turbo. The base Corsa was notable for the fact that the engine used 4 linked carburetors. Other models were available with the 140 hp engine as an option. The base 95 hp (71 kW) and 110 hp (82 kW) high performance engines were carried forward as well.
By this point, the more utilitarian station wagon, Panel Van, and pickup body styles had all been dropped in favor of the sportier coupe, sedan and convertible styles, and 1965 would be the last year for the Greenbriar window van.
1966-1969
The 1966 lineup remained essentially unchanged from 1965, and sales began to decline as a result of Nader's book, the popular new Mustang, and rumors of the upcoming Camaro. One change of note was a more robust 4 speed synchromesh transmission for 1966. The new transmission was capable of handling more stress, though generally wasn't as smooth shifting as the earlier transmisison.
In 1967 the Camaro was introduced and the Corvair line was trimmed to the base 500 sedan and coupe, and the Monza sedan, coupe and convertible.
In 1968 the line was trimmed even further to just the coupe and convertible, and only a few thousand were sold.
Corvair production finally ceased in 1969 with sales of only a few hundred cars, a victim of Nader's book, Ford's Mustang, and Chevrolet's own Camaro.
Engineering
The engineering weaknesses not generally highlighted (and uniquely dangerous) related to fumes and gases entering the passenger area via the heater system, a problem endemic to an air-cooled engine. Carbon monoxide and other noxious or deadly gases would enter the sedan passenger areas when exhaust system gaskets aged or failed, since the gaskets were inside the heater box air intakes. Air for engine cooling and passenger heating was mixed together as one common airflow. That air would also become noxious if a 6 inch wide rubber seal, almost 16 feet in diameter, located between the engine assembly and the body, was not maintained in like new condition.
The interior air would also be contaminated if the owner did not keep the carefully engineered battery container, located in the engine compartment, intact and in like new condition. The Volkswagen Beetle, another automobile with an air cooled engine, located the battery in the passenger compartment under the rear seat. This may have been a source of noxious interior fumes in that vehicle as well, though perhaps on a lesser scale. VW better isolated fresh air, and used no-joint one-piece exhaust pipes inside their heater intakes to prevent exhaust leaks and ensure clean interior air.
Other criticism in Nader's book concerned the steering column design. Like most cars of its era, the Corvair's steering column was rigid and could be forced into the driver by a frontend collision. However, in the Corvair, the steering column actually terminated ahead of the front axle. This forward positioning, plus the lack of an engine in front to minimize crumpling, made dangerous rearward displacement of the steering column in a collision unusually likely.
In defense of Nader's criticism of the Corvair's swing-axle rear suspension, some writers have pointed to a critical factor in the combination of very soft "American-style" springs together with an unusually large and heavy engine for a rear-engine, air-cooled car. Both of these factors would have greatly increased the potential for over-cambering of the suspension, as compared with contemporary Volkswagens, Renaults, and other rear-engined cars. Although Nader probably overstated the severity of the handling problems, Chevrolet themselves made changes to the suspension: in 1964 they added a sway bar and in 1965 the Corvair got a fully independent rear suspension. These changes show some recognition of possible problems with the original design.
See also
External links
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