Swing Away, Eddie! The Corvairs that Never Were

[Otto Puzzell]

It was the late 1950’s, and the US automotive industry was being besieged by efficient, well-built cars from across the ocean, in the first of many waves that continue to this day. Of course, in those days, the ocean was the Atlantic, and the car that was giving them fits was Volkswagen’s Beetle, and to a lesser extent Fiats and Renaults. Small cars (by US standards) were seemingly on everyone’s drawing boards. Independents Studebaker (Lark) and American Motors (American) had established their beachheads first, and to good effect: each of those cars sold well, and were the basis for later sporty variants that would be the potential saviors of each of those brands. Cross-town rivals Ford and Chrysler were hard at work on...

Read it here

[MG]

To a 16 year old, the Corvair was SO much more desirable than the Falcon (sorry, there, buddy.)  While the Sprint had some pizzazz, the basic car was just so.......BLAH!  I thought the Corvair van was the ginchiest and when the 2nd generation body style came out......WOW!   ;D  That was a car for a young lad to lust after. Some of them even had turbochargers, whatever the hell THEY were!   :o And 4 speeds!   :o :o  On the FLOOR!!!   :o ??? :o

Swing axle, schming axle. JC Whitney had a thingie you could bolt on to cure any evil handling. They also had quick shift kits, quick steering kits and lots of other cool go-fast stuff like recalibrated distributor springs and weights and other trick stuff. Yeah, I REALLY wanted a Corvair.   ;D

To this day, I carry a grudge against Ralph Nader, that sexless, pencil neck geek. They even hate him in his home town of Torrington, CT.  Its not good when they hate you in your home town.    >:(

[Rich]

One of my all-time favorite memories is riding around, five or six years old, in the Corvair Monza convertible of my much older and wealthier cousin in Greeley, Colorado.  Thought I was the epitome of cool........or something like that....

[MG]

I'm sure you were the envy of all the other 6 year olds in Greeley!    ;D

[Otto Puzzell]

Dang articles full of typos and misspellings. And where the heck is the promised follow-up article?

[Ultra]

 :hah:

Dang articles full of typos and misspellings. And where the heck is the promised follow-up article?

[Otto Puzzell]

Back on the Front Page!

http://www.autopuzzles.com

Coming soon - the long-promised second installment

[MG]

"Coming soon" is rather a relative term, is it not Senor Puzzell?    :lmao:

[Otto Puzzell]

Patience, you must have.

[MG]

Awwww......I just like to poke fun at those in authority!   ;D

Btw, you haven't answered my question. Do you know the history of the "papa oom mow mow" song?

[Otto Puzzell]

As I understand it, it was just vocal goofing around in the studio by bass singer Rocky Turner.

[metalshapes]

To this day, I carry a grudge against Ralph Nader, that sexless, pencil neck geek. They even hate him in his home town of Torrington, CT.  Its not good when they hate you in your home town.    >:(

I thought to be able to form a accurate opinion of the man, I should read his book, Unsave at any speed.

So I did...

And for me, its hard to believe it had the effect it appearently had.

I just didnt think it was that good, or well written even.


There must have been other factors that made the book seem more important that it would have been.


Also, I've read that Nader did not have a drivers licence...


Which, to me,  makes it even more absurd.


Kinda lika a vegitarian giving advise on which stakehouse sells the tastyest stake...

[MG]

All true, MS.  Nader led the life of an ascetic. He did not own a car or have a license to drive. And as for well written? The guy's a LAWYER, fer chrissakes!   :o Have you EVER read anything written by a lawyer that was in any way readable?  Well, except for my stuff, that is.   :D

The back story is that the book did NOT have that big an impact when it first came out. But General Motors, in its infinite wisdom, decided to "take him down" for writing it. They hired a private investigator firm to follow him and get any "dirt" on him they could. There was none. He didn't drink. Never ate in restaurants. Had no girl friend and no social life. The man was a total zero, a nebbish.

But he found out about the "tail" the PI firm put on him, found out who hired them, found out it was GM that did it and THAT became big news, which led to publicity for a book that had largely gone unnoticed until that time.  Way to go, GM!   :faint:  Can you say "shoot ourselves in the foot?", boys and girls?


And Senor Utz, Papa Oom Mow Mow was written on a cocktail napkin in 5 minutes flat by Steve Allen. He was out with friends who were critiquing the sad state of American music. Allen bet his dinner guests that he could write a rock n roll song that would hit #1 in less than 5 minutes. He did and it did. The rest, as they say, is history!    :P

[Otto Puzzell]

Here's Part II:

http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/index.php?topic=10902.msg88061#msg88061

[Bezor]

I always hated Nader.  Then I met him at a conference and the guy stayed well past 12 midnight, long after everyone else left for the bars and "real" entertainment.  I have a hard time with know it alls, those who present as the authority on a particular topic.  That attitude throws cold ice water on any sort of interaction.  Hanging with him in those 4 hours were amazing, each response to each question was respectful, articulate and considered. 

He was arrogant in his "unsafe at any speed" and I'm guessing that he knew it and also, given how calculating he is, he knew the mileage he'd get from his thesis.


I'd LOVE to have a turbo Monza.  Red on red with wire hubcaps, thank you.  I'd probably have a cigarette and possibly a beer before I drove it.

[MG]

Interesting story, Beeze. I have never met the man, but in his home town of Torrington CT he is reviled. Perhaps they know something we don't?   :-\

Anyhoo, I love the idea of the red turbo Spyder, the cigarette and the beer. Mind if I join you?   :drive:

[Paul Jaray]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IP8g7-VPn4
(hypnotizing and disturbing)

[Otto Puzzell]

Great song - awful video.  ;D

[Ultra]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTP7mK6nShM

[Otto Puzzell]

Cool - thanks for sharing that.

Maybe an all-Corvair AutoPuzzles Theater entry is worth doing?

[Aaron65]

My Corvair's sometimes close to being the car that never was!   Here are some pics of rocker rust repair I started on on Monday...making progress...








Obviously, the rocker area on a convertible is important because it holds the car up...this is a real problem area on Corvairs...honestly, mine's not too bad for a Michigan car.  Now I'm ready to start fitting the outer patch I got from Clark's Corvairs...I made the rest out of 1/8" steel...

[Otto Puzzell]

What would Ralph say if he saw this?

[Otto Puzzell]

Happy birthday, Corvair!  :D

[James Smith]

I owned Corvairs from 1960 '64, a 64 Greenbriar van, a '66, and a '67 which I autocrossed very successfully for 7 years.

You can see more pictures and a short history of it at www.photobucket.com/slrman

[Solracer]

FYI your photo of a "1961" Corvair Sedan is actually of a 1960. First-year Corvairs had a concave nose with the winged logo while '61 cars had a convex nose with a chrome spear logo.