The Corvair was General Motors entry in the compact sedan race which started in 1960, and in the beginning it looked as if it would stack up well against Chrysler's Valiant and Ford's Falcon. Where they were both ultra-conventional, ultra cautious designs, the Chevy had borrowed a number of ideas from Volkswagen in Europe and came with a rear-mounted, air-cooled flat-six engine. Unfortunately, that engine proved to be its undoing when it turned out heavier than anticipated, and affected the handling. Ralph Nader's Unsafe at any Speed terminally damaged sales, and the line was allowed to die at the end of the 1960s. But none of that prevented the Corvair from spawning some interesting variants in the meantime. The first was the Monza, which made its bow in the middle of the 1960 season as a sporty bucket seat coupe. It had no more power than was available elsewhere in the Corvair line, but Chevy recognised its appeal and through 1962 and 1963 the Corvair Monza Spyder models could be had with high performance editions of the air-cooled flat-six. For 1964, a long-stroke motor gave better performance in the intermediates, and for 1965 power peaked at 180bhp in a new sporty model called the Corsa. Unfortunately, sales had peaked by this stage, too. GM instructed Chevy not to develop the Corvair any further, and power started dropping after 1967 until the best available was a 110bhp motor. It didn't sell strongly and the Corvair died before the decade was out. Yet the Corvair continued to have an appeal for enthusiasts, and the articles reproduced in this book are a reminder of why it has endured, and of why it has outlived the terrible reputation it acquired in the mid 1960s. 140 pages, 300 illus. SB.

 

Publisher: Brooklands Books

Status: Out of Print (No Stock)

Number of pages: 140

Black & white images: 250

Binding: SBD

Language: English

Origin: HKG