AncientWorldArtifacts: The Corvair

Thursday, September 4, 2014

The Corvair

1969 Chevrolet Corvair Monza convertible

The Corvair was a compact automobile produced by the Chevrolet division of General Motors for the 1960–1969 model years. It was the only American designed, mass-produced passenger car to feature a rear-mounted air-cooled engine.

The Corvair line-up included a two-door coupe, convertible, four-door sedan, and four-door station wagon body styles, as well as in passenger van, commercial van, and pickup truck derivatives.

Chevrolet had planned on ending Corvair production after the 1966 model year. Development and engineering changes were halted in 1966 on the year-old, redesigned second-generation cars with mainly federally mandated emissions and safety changes made thereafter.

Ralph Nader, attorney and consumer advocate, highlighted the Corvair's handling in his 1965 book Unsafe At Any Speed. 1966 Corvair sales subsequently fell to half from the sales of 1965. Controversy followed Nader's book. GM had over 100 lawsuits pending in connection with crashes involving the Corvair, which subsequently became the initial material for Nader's investigations.

The book highlighted crashes related to the Corvair's suspension and identified the Chevrolet suspension engineer who had fought management's decision to remove — for cost reasons — the front anti-sway bar installed on later models. Nader said during subsequent Congressional hearings, the Corvair is "the leading candidate for the un-safest-car title". Subsequently, Corvair sales fell from 220,000 in 1965 to 109,880 in 1966. By 1968 production fell to 14,800.

A 1972 safety commission report concluded that the 1960–1963 Corvair possessed no greater potential for loss of control than its contemporary competitors. A review panel concluded that "the 1960–63 Corvair compares favorably with contemporary vehicles."