<VV> Corvair didn't make money?

[Bill Elliott]

>Interesting point. Was the Corvair successful from a philosophical 
>standpoint?



Darn interesting question and I agree strongly with one of Bruce's points... the birth of the pony car. 
But that was close to accidental!

However, I would have to think that overall the Corvair was a bold technological experiment which did 
not pay off for GM.

It proved that Amercia could build a quality small car and do so outside of the American "formula" for 
small cars. 

But the experiment also showed that the bottom end of the car market is very price-driven.  (Quick, 
think of the most successful American-built small cars. Even now. For the most part they were 
horrible and successful only becasue they were cheap.)  The fact that the Corvair cost more to build 
than its competitors did not bode well for the idea when buyers refused to pay a premuim for 
something different. 

Ditto for the bold experimentations in turbocharging... proving to the world that turbocharged cars 
could be mass produced... but also proving that cubic inches are a cheaper, more reliable  way to do 
it. 

Let's face it... with fuel costs not really part of the car-buying fomula, WHY NOT buy a 289 Mustang 
that likely cost Ford less to build than the Corvair? Especially for US road conditions where handling 
is not at the top of the list either. (Frankly, though, I'm surprised the Corvair wasn't a bigger hit in 
Europe where it was decidedly superior to most other sedans or large coupes in its price range.)

By the way, I think the experiments with FWD ('66 Toro) also failed though the car stayed in 
production. GM learned the lessons of FWD too late... and was trying to play catch up with the 
Citation.

By the time the fuel crunch hit in the 70's... when we NEEDED a car like the Corvair, it was too late 
and US car makers had reverted to building miniature models of big cars. The Corvair is the type of 
car we should have had in the 70's, but instead we had Vegas and Pintos...forcing the public to  
imports.

So while I don't consider the Corvair itself to be a failure, I think GM's experiment to try to build 
something other than a full frame, front engine, rear drive in the "economy" category failed 
miserably...just as the experiment with the Fiero failed some 25 years later...for the same reason.

Just as the 914 could have been the greatest VW ever built... but instead was the worst Porsche... 
had the Corvair been built by BMW or some other European company, I'm confident it would be seen 
as one of the greatest classics of the era.

Bill Elliott
Urbana, MD