<VV> Car History Question -- No Corvair

[Vairtec Corporation]

Bill Elliott wrote:
> "Economy Car" in 1960 meant "inexpensive car" so many of the marques offered 
> stripper models for the low cost market.  I think Rambler pretty much had 
> the US "compact car" market until the Valiant, Corvair, and Falcon arrived. 
>   

Pretty much correct, although Studebaker's Lark arrived for 1959.

> Not sure how late into the 50's Crosley was a factor...
>   
Not very.  I'm one of the old guys who was alive in the 50s, and in 
suburban New Jersey I saw perhaps two Crosleys on the road in those 
years.  I saw more junked than on the road, and I saw dozens of Crosley 
engines in race cars before the Fall of 1959.

> There were a slew of European options for smaller sedans, but with the 
> exception of VW and the UK/US hybrid Metropolitan, these had only a sliver 
> of the US market.  SAAB, Renault, Morris Minor, Austin Mini, FIAT, DKW, and 
> Auto Union are examples.
>   

Yup.  In the early 50s my father operated "Monogram Motors," a British 
car dealership.  One day a guy pitched to my father the idea of selling 
the new oddball German cars, called "Volkswagen."  My father turned it 
down...

> But don't underestimate the VW or even Met as a viable option for the 
> "poor", though I suspect a used domestic would be more likely the 
> solution... after all it was this market that the 60's compacts were aiming 
> at.
>   

Yes, used cars were (are) what the "poor" bought (and buy), while new 
economy cars went to (go to) the frugal but not broke.

--Bob Marlow