<VV> Various Vair Stuff

[Tony Underwood]

At 06:14 hours 08/17/2006, Kent Sullivan wrote:
>Dale, I have to question DeLorean's statements... The total production for
>1967-69 was 58562, hardly more than 1/2 the production in 1966. Amortization
>of tooling would be based on number of units made, not time, right?
>Therefore it would have been cheaper for Chevy to make those 58562 cars as
>part of 1966 production or perhaps in 1967. But 1968 and 1969 seem pointless
>from a cost recovery point of view, especially since every model year
>brought mandated safety changes, all of which cost money.
>
>I am pretty sure the original intention was to get the Corvair out of the
>way after 1966 to make way for the Camaro.


I tend to agree here.   GM oft times complained that they made less 
money on each Corvair sold than anything else in the inventory; some 
say that GM in the end after all costs and warranty regards etc were 
considered actually lost a few cents per vehicle.   How would that 
sort of profit margin continue to amortize any tooling, other than on 
paper via juggling figures around...?

And when the ponycar revolution came along, with V8 powered Dart GTs, 
Barracudas, and Mustangs (and Falcon Sprint/Comet Caliente) hitting 
the streets in big numbers and GM having nothing to throw into that 
pot, the Corvair would have become secondary to something with a V8 
in front...  which is how the late Vair got a slight styling change 
and a tooling upgrade whereupon it became Camaro.    I still tend to 
think that Corvair production continued until '69 just so GM could 
maintain that "in your face" posture as regards 
Nader/UAAS.    There's not any other real financially profitable 
purpose in their having done so.

tony..