<VV> <Aarrgghh!!> Autoweek ~ "ill-handling Corvair" - Really ?

[Ken Pepke]

While I know of no book specifically entitled 'Ill Handling Corvair' there was a book written near the end of 1965 that was titled 'Unsafe At Any Speed.'  Part of one of its chapters included negative claims concerning the Corvair's drivability.  Hungry for newsworthy product  and unencumbered by any need for truth and accuracy, the news medial jumped at the bait.  Hundreds of articles were written and published … selling the idea to John Q Public.  

The Corvair's reputation remains tarnished even today.  How many of the members of this venue still believe Corvairs oversteer even though they have been driving them for many years?  In fact, the claims agains the Corvair were settled in court with the exoneration of its engineering.  Where was the news media on that day? 

While it is impossible to set the record straight, a book making an attempt to do so was was written 'way back in 1969!  Called 'Assassination of the Corvair' written by Andrew J White and published by Readers Press, Inc., Library of Congress Catalog No. 77-95002.

Ken P
Wyandotte, MI
65 Monza 110hp 4 speed 2 door
Worry looks around; Sorry looks back, Faith looks up.

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On Jan 21, 2013, at 3:25 PM, Shelrockbored at aol.com wrote:

> 
> People just assume that since there was a book written about the  
> "ill-handling Corvair" that there was in fact something wrong with it.  The  person 
> who wrote the article probably never saw or at least drove a Corvair in  his 
> life and he probably knows nothing about it.  He just assumed that  since an 
> ambulance chaser wrote a book about it how bad it is then it must be  true.
> 
> Like it or not the Corvair has a deserved or undeserved bad name.  The  
> debate will not end here and will probably never end.  I've found that  Corvair 
> aficionados  defend the Corvair (because they are knowledgeable about it) 
> while people who  are ignorant of it assume that it is a bad car.  
> 
> It just goes to show that everybody know everything but in fact nobody  
> knows anything.
> 
> Stephen Sassi
> Long Island Corvair
> 
> 
> In a message dated 1/1/2013 10:31:34 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
> chaz at properproper.com writes:
> 
> Did they  have to add "Fitch, who died Oct. 31, turned the ill-handling
> Corvair into  the agile Fitch Sprint" ?
> 
> You'd think they'd know  better?