<VV> Aluminum Transmission Cases

[James P. Rice]

All:  Hummm...

I do not know off the top of my head when 4 speeds became available on
Corvairs.

But the following is what I remember from material I've collected for a
Communique article on "Early Corvair Racing: 1959-1968".  Without digging it
out of the file folder, this is what I remember.

The first ever US Grand Prix (aka Formula 1) race was held at Sebring,
Florida, in mid-December 1959.  There was 2 Hour Compact Car race before it,
in which I think three Corvairs participated, but it could have been two.
Zora Duntov, of Corvette fame, was there with the cars, which had 4 speeds
and some other mild modifications.

While confirmation is probably impossible today, it is entirely conceivable
the aluminum-cased 4 speeds originated for use in this event.  This is
certainly as close as Chevrolet ever got to racing a Corvair.

Historically Yours,
			James Rice

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Message: 1
Date: Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:27:23 -0500
From: "peter koehler" <pkoehler01 at atlanticbb.net>
Subject: <VV> Aluminum 4-speed transmission
To: <virtualvairs at corvair.org>

I never heard anything about Chevrolet wanting to road race the four speed
aluminum case transmission. My information is that only two were produced.
Ken Hand donated the one that the CPF has and that is the one that was
displayed at the Buffalo event. The reason why the production shifted to
cast iron was one of raw material availability. At the time Chevy was
pumping out a lot of aluminum parts for other products - like the Powerglide
transmission and could not spare the raw aluminum needed for Corvair manual
transmission production. That is probably why the 3-speed transmission case
was changed over to cast iron with the 1961 model year.

As for where is the "other" aluminum case 4-speed; anybody  want to guess? -
Caveman Pete