<VV> Corvair & Mustang...

[James P. Rice]

All:  Or to ask the question another way, if Chevy/Ed Cole had built the
Chevy II in 1959, would there have been a Mustang in 1964?  

Answer is Yes!  If you read the history of what Lee Iacocca was thinking and
doing at the time, he had figured out the baby-boomer generation was coming
along...with spendable income beyond food, clothing and housing.  He had
formed a group in the late 50's, IIRC, to discuss and plan for what the soon
to arrive baby-boomers would like to drive.   It was called the Fairview
Group, IIRC.   He has said the Corvair Monza was not the inspiration for the
Mustang, rather it simply confirmed what he thought and was planning on
doing.  

The Camaro would still have happened as a response to the Mustang.  GM/Chevy
was behind on the marketing curve.  The core of the Camaro was the chassis
intended for the '68 Nova which was pulled forward and reworked for the '67
Camaro.  

The decision to end Corvair production at the end of the 66 model year and
the decision to do the Camaro were both  made in the spring of 1965.  Before
Nader's book came out.  

There were two factors which lead to the Corvair being made into 1969.
First was the Nader book, as has been suggested repeatedly.  GM was not
about to allow him to take credit for changing the corporation's mind about
one of their products.  To much like a confession that he was correct, even
though the LM was a much improved handling car.  The other factor was Pete
Estes' fear of customer back lash from those who had bought the '65 & '66
cars.  The resale value of their Corvairs would have taken a big hit.  He
felt GM would have to give several tens of thousands of customers a discount
coupon toward the purchase of their next GM car.   As they actually did when
the '69's went out of production.  Not ending Corvair production as original
planned save the corporation a lot of money.  

GM/Chevy had an improved engine for the Corvair.  It was more expensive, but
still not powerful enough to keep up at "Stop Light Grand Prix's".   Beside
the cancellation decision had been made as the SOHC engine was in prototype
stage. 

Let me suggest some of you get or go read your copy of the Jan/Feb 2013
issue of the CORSA Communique.  The information and sequence is all there
from the best available sources. 
 
Historically Yours,
                           James Rice

***********************************************

Message: 4
Date: Sun, 4 Jan 2015 11:13:17 -0800
From: "Charlie" <chaz at properproper.com>

Don't forget that while the Mustang (and Camaro) MAY have killed the
Corvair, without the Corvair, the Mustang, Camaro and all their ilk may
never have come to be had it NOT been for the Corvair?

And, yes, according to legend (true?), Nader breathed life back into the
Corvair that was going to discontinued in 1967 (?) but kept going for
another 2 or 3 years, out of GM's spite, but also "by popular demand"?

Charlie

-----Original Message-----
From: VirtualVairs [mailto:virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org] On Behalf Of
John Roberts via VirtualVairs
Sent: Sunday, January 04, 2015 6:42 AM

The Mustnag did kill the Corvair!! 
Nader, if anything, kept in production for another 3 years just out of
spite! 

If only GM came up with an overall improved engine...

John Roberts