<VV> Corvair Production Termination - (X bodies)

Tue May 13 18:33:11 EDT 2008

<snip>

Three of the X-bodies were produced at Willow Run.  The Chevy, Old & Buick
versions were done there, the Pontiac someplace else.  And No!, I neither
know or care where "someplace else" was.  Those at the '79 CORSA Convention
in Detroit had the chance to visit Willow Run and see the X-bodies go down
the line. 

<end snip>

Hey, maybe you saw mine being built!  IIRC, I ordered my Citation in the
spring of 79, and took delivery in June or thereabout.  2 door hatch, 4sp,
Iron Duke 4, and the sport suspension.  The dealer had to repaint the hood
and hatch because of the white swirls in the light grey paint.  The paint
never was quite right. The windshield leaked but that was fixed with clear
silicone, and the front bench/buckets (what WERE they?) seat bottom vinyl
had to be replaced twice under warranty because it kept tearing at the
seatback hinge insertion areas.  (The original interior on my 69 Corvair is
better today).  BUT, I drove that car for 7 years through college and grad
school.  It could haul alot with the back seat folded - perfect for
bringing home all my stuff during break, like my large Advents (though
admittedly it wasn't as spacious as an FC). One time it wouldn't start and
I found that the fan/alternator belt had broken - battery drained.  No
problem, I parked it on hills and drove it every day, jump starting it each
time for a week until I could get it in for service - it never overheated. 
Traded it in on an 86 1/2 VW Cabriolet Wolfsburg - special edition, but
that's another story...  

P.S. - Nowadays I'm prepared to change the belt - in the Vair.     

- Steve

'62 Rampside
'69 Monza ct.

Original Message:
-----------------
From: james rice ricebugg at mtco.com
Date: Tue, 13 May 2008 13:04:45 -0500
To: virtualvairs at corvair.org
Subject: <VV> Corvair Production Termination

All:  This version of history down at the bottom is so bogus it is
appalling.  GM/Fisher Body never did anything about '70 Corvairs.

Chevrolet/GM decided to tremininate Corvair production at the end of the '66
model year.  They made this decision before "Unsafe At Any Speed" was
printed.  The reason was two fold: they needed the added production capacity
for the Chevy II, and they didn't want the in house competition for the
Camaro due out in '67 (fall '66).

After "Unsafe" was published, with all the controversy over the hamhanded
investigation of Nadar and the Congressional hearings, the 7th Floor decided
to continue production of the Corvair for awhile, with little effort to
actually sell Corvairs while only doing Federally mandated updates.  Thus
they went out of production in '69 due to low demand.  Image that.

So the ugly truth is we can basically thank Nadar for the '67-'69 cars,
while saying unkind things about him, only some of them deserved, out of the
other side of our mouths.

The styling drawings we've seen over the years are just evidence of what
Bill Mitchell's Design Staff were thinking before the edict was handed down
to stop production after the '66 model year.  While Mitchell loved the
Corvair for it's styling, he didn't have his staff continue working on a
dead horse.  He wasn't stupid.  Some of the "3rd generation" Corvair styling
themes may have filtered into other cars, but I'm not aware of any.  But
I've never tried to do a cross reference.

Of course, there probably would not have been a "3rd Generation" Corvair
without the above reasons and events.  It should be noted that a great many
cars have a 10 year or so production cycle.  Both the Falcon and the Valiant
went out of production by about the '72 model year, if I remember correctly.
The Corvair was expensive to build.  Lower profit margin than either the
Chevy II or Camaro.  What would it have cost to make a high cost car conform
to the pending and proposed Federal regulations.  Why try, when traditional
configurations, being a know quanity, can be made to work and build cheaper?
Which is mostly the reason there's no mid-engined Corvette.  And probably
never will be.  We all know, assuming we all have been paying attention to
the big picture(s), Corvette staff have tried often enough!

Three of the X-bodies were produced at Willow Run.  The Chevy, Old & Buick
versions were done there, the Pontiac someplace else.  And No!, I neither
know or care where "someplace else" was.  Those at the '79 CORSA Convention
in Detroit had the chance to visit Willow Run and see the X-bodies go down
the line.  Ken has totally missed the cars between the Corvair/Chevy II in
his time line.  Oh Wait!!  Vega's and Monza's!!  They were forgettable
(except for the Cosworth Vega, another chance GM missed), so he is forgiven.

Historically Yours,
			James Rice

***********************************************

Message: 10
Date: Mon, 12 May 2008 11:06:52 GMT
From: "kenpepke at juno.com" <kenpepke at juno.com>
Subject: Re: <VV> Re Why 6000?
To: virtualvairs at corvair.org

But Fisher Body was well into producing a 1970 Corvair ... The 'carry over'
parts (Those that would be used unchanged from 1969) were determined
and new body parts for the changed rear end were being planned.  These
parts included the deck lid, rear end panels and crossmember pieces that
resembled a sort of squared off Buick Rivera 'boat tail' with the inside
tail
lights and the center portion of the rear bumper moving rearward several
inches.  I had jumped to the conclusion that an 8 cylinder engine was to be
offered for 1970 but Chevy engineer and long time Detroit Area Corvair Club
member Bob Kirkman straightened me out with photos of the 1970 10
cylinder engine.  GM had built test engines but to the best of my knowledge
Fisher Body never stamped out any of the new body parts.

As I recall GM was having troubles with a new plant opening and ended up
taking over the Corvair production lines with the new X car and relegated
the
assembly of the final Corvairs to a former plant cafeteria.

As for what happened to #6000; for legal reasons the disposition of each and
every vehicle built it well tracked and recorded under the watchful eye of
'Big
Brother.'  As much as some would have it believed that the car was scrapped
the fact is there are no records of it's disposition ... It just sort of
'evaporated'
leaving no paper trail ... a mystery which may or may not ever be solved.
Ken Pepke
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
>Legal Reason:  A bunch of new safety regs kicked in in 1970
>(steering/ignition interlock, new door regs, new glass regs, etc) There
>was no cost / benefit for going into the 1970 model year.  (not to
>mention no sales)

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