<VV> GM's 1968 Corvair 4 door Hardtop Sport Sedan

[airvair at earthlink.net]

I have an easy answer to that one, Pete. Somewhere in the '67 run, around
the 23,000-24,000 numbered cars (early spring?), they had a running change
to the Monza seat backs. The original (first design) '67 seatbacks were all
metal; with the 2doors getting an outboard-mounted latch and release thru
the back, while the 4doors got a single bolt up from the bottom cushion.
The second design backs are plastic. The interesting thing is, the 4door
never got that second design plastic back. So had they intended to make a
'68 4door, I'm sure that the 4doors would have gotten the running change
right along with the 2door cars. (Consider this also in light of the late
cancellation of the a/c option, and its effect on the '68-9 dash pad
surround.)

You also have to remember that in addition to modifying the rear quarter
dies with side light provisions, they would also have had to make up or
change the tooling for the inside door panels, door inner dies, and rear
arm rests, and add a provision for eventual rear sholder belts. My guess is
that all the extra tooling costs for the affected 4door-only parts simply
put it out of the question from the get-go. The only reason the convertible
made the lineup was because it shared almost all the affected parts with
the coupe, so the necessary changeover $ for it for the '68-9 model years
was minimal, probably limited to just the windshield frame parts ("A"
pillar covers, etc.)

And as far as the sticker goes, the only thing they were worried about was
whether the jack placement and use were correct, not whether the portrayal
of the car was accurate. After all, on any given car line (any GM line)
they always used a single sticker on all the line's cars regardless of
model or body style (as long as the jack placement and use were the same.)
With the Corvair basically being a carry-over design, no new sticker would
have even been considered.

-Mark


> [Original Message]
> From: peter koehler <pkoehler01 at atlanticbb.net>
> Subject: <VV> GM's 1968 Corvair 4 door Hardtop Sport Sedan
>
> Since we are beating the 'Vair wagon idea into the ground 
> how about this: Did GM plan to build a 4 door for the 1968 
> model year? If not, then why does the spare tire/jacking 
> instructions placard on my most recent purchase (a near 
> death 1968 500 coupe) feature a 4 door? Is it a hardtop? 
> Is it a sedan? Is it stock?
>
> This should keep you guys going for a few more days... - 
> Caveman Pete
>
>  _______________________________________________
> This message was sent by the VirtualVairs mailing list, all copyrights
are the property
> of the writer, please attribute properly. For help,
mailto:vv-help at corvair.org
> This list sponsored by the Corvair Society of America,
http://www.corvair.org/
> Post messages to: VirtualVairs at corvair.org
> Change your options:
http://www.vv.corvair.org/mailman/options/virtualvairs 
>  _______________________________________________