<VV> Corvair engine

[Smitty Smith]

Smitty Says;  HA Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha gggggggg   (smile)   The way I heard it was Harley Davidson was considering building a high performance lawn mower to put Brigs and Stratton out of business but the engine was too heavy for their use and they dropped the project.  So GM bought the design.
-------------------------------- 
>   Few people know it, but the GM Corvair engine was
> developed for GM  by a company called Eastern Aviation. GM was after a
> Light Helicopter contract from the government, and had Eastern
> Aviation develop this engine as a power plant for this Helicopter. 
  The Engine was actually developed as an Aviation
> Engine. That is a Direct drive and Air Cooled. GM never got that
> contract and in an attempt to compete with the European sport/touring
> car manufacturers, General Motors decided to use the
> engine and launched a small sport car to be powered by an 
> air cooled engine similar to the popular VW Beetle.
> The all new car was called the "Corvair"...