"Ed Huntress" wrote in message
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"Bill McKee" wrote in message
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"Ed Huntress" wrote in message
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"Bill McKee" wrote in message
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"Ed Huntress" wrote in message
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"Wes" wrote in message
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Lewis Hartswick wrote:

Did you ever read it, Lew? Or did you read *about* it?

I read some of it. Couldn't stand to do the rest.
...lew...


I read it, the latter Corvairs were safer, too late to save the
brand. Compared to today,
the 60's cars are death traps for the most part.

Wes

The pre-'65s were the ones with the swing axles, and a frame that had
serious weaknesses in the central bay. The swing axle was just fine
for moderate driving. But, pressed hard, the car was a wild thing that
took some experience to handle. On the racetrack it absolutely needed
heavy modifications. (I spun mine at Old Bridge Speedway in NJ, even
with a bunch of modifications, because, en extremis, the rearward
weight bias took over and that was all she wrote). In '64, there was a
factory-installed transverse spring that had the same effect as a
stabilizer bar -- it reduced the tendency for the suspension to jack.

Starting in '65, the car had a better unibody and they went to a
four-link rear suspension that was functionally the same as double
wishbones. At the time, it was the most advanced suspension on any
US-built car, along with the Corvette.

But GM screwed the pooch by putting up so much resistance to Nader's
assault, particularly by trying to entrap him with a prostitute and
some other underhanded things. I think the Corvair could have
weathered it all, but trust in the company was shot to hell.

--
Ed Huntress


Corvair was never going to survive "unsafe at any speed". Nader found
an easy target and hit a bull's-eye. Same suspension on the original
VW bug.

Well, they were about the same at the rear. The VW bug had trailing-arm
front suspension. So did the Porsche 356. The Corvair was
double-wishbone at the front.

And the Bug was top heavy. But the bug was loved, and Nader would have
shot himself writing the same book about the VW.

How do you know what he was thinking, Bill? I owned both cars (a '63
Corvair and a '64 Beetle), and you could have picked either one to
illustrate obsolete safety engineering. As a Corvair lover at the time,
I despised what Nader was saying, and I felt the same way as you about
why he chose the Corvair to attack, rather than the VW. But years later
I realized he was attacking the safety-be-damned mindset at the Big
Three (then four) and he would have had no point in attacking a
30-year-old import design that was known to be a ludicrous anachronism.

VW and Corvair finally added the same thing Empi had been furnishing
for years. The Camber Compensator. Don Yenco and the Corvair Stinger
did very well at speed.

Bill, the Yenko Stinger was based on a '65 and after Corvair. It did not
have swing-axle rear suspension, even as it came from the factory. It
was A-arm and single-link, effectively the same as a double-wishbone
suspension, in terms of geometry. And physically it was very similar to
the Stingray and later Corvettes.

The different suspension produced an entirely different car. The
post-'64 Corvair's suspension was advanced and very capable of good
handling.

But by then there was the 4 wheel indepent suspension similar to the
Corvette. Corvair was always going to oversteer. Nature of the rear
engine, just like a front engine car will always understeer.

Yes and no. We don't want to get into this one. g

At least without judicious power application. As to spinning on a race
track. Only way to prevent that is not to push a cars limits. My B
Production Vette did a few spins over the years. Mostly my trying to
go 5 mph faster than physics allowed. :)

If you drove a B production Corvette (I assume a pre-'63), then you know
what anachronisms are all about. d8-)

--
Ed Huntress




I drove a 1964 Coupe, Mouse Motor Corvette. Is the silver one getting a
little sideways in the original Herbie movie during the Laguna Seca
start.

Hmm...that would have been AP when I got involved, but maybe BP by the
time I actually got to driver's school (you had to be 21 then). As I
recall, you had near-perfect 50/50 weight balance and, of course, the
double-located rear suspension. That handling was a *lot* different from a
Corvair's, until the '65s, which were closer to neutral and a lot more
predictable.

I would still love a 1962 Corvette. May still buy one. Understand they
are only about $10k for a nice one.

Oh, man, that was the car that got me started with sports cars. I saw my
first one in July 1962, at Provincetown, MA, with the top down and parked
in a beach lot. It was gold with white coves. I was 14 at the time and my
parents literally had to pull me away. g

About five months later we were in Miami Beach and I saw my first E-Type
Jaguar. I thought I'd fall on my knees and worship it. That was it -- I
became an obsessed sports car fanatic for about the next 12 or 14 years.
I've never fully recovered. d8-)

--
Ed Huntress


AP vettes were the original Big Blocks. The 396 and 454's later. Mine was
a 327 Fuely originally and later carbed. I went through driver school in
1996 and last raced in 1973. Had a daughter that year and figured she
needed a dad more than I needed racing. Had a couple friends killed over
the years. Most in cars other than sports cars. Indy car, sprint cars,
etc.