Whaddyacallit #407 - Lynne Michell's Corvair Super Monza prototype

[Ray B.]

Ever seen this ?

If you did, please respond below and let us know the make and model of the car posted here.

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Thanks!

[vdp]

Could this be the proposed Buick version of the Corvair?

[Ray B.]

Nope, as far as I know.

[streamliner]

This looks a lot like it could be a 1960 700 Corvair Coupe that may have been modified by Bill Mitchell to turn it into a prototype Super Monza.  It may have made its debut at the 1960 New York Auto Show.  Could it be?

[Ray B.]

Damn'. I can't find my source anymore, but you're about right I guess. If you can tell me who that car was offered to, you'll get another point.
Locked for you one week.

[streamliner]

The original car is now at the Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum, the same town where Preston Tucker started his famous car.  The Super Monza Sport Coupe was recovered from the Reynolds Aluminum family, so my guess would be that it was given to one of the Reynolds family members, probably CEO Richard S. Reynolds, Jr., in appreciation for all the aluminum work being done at GM.

Either that or it was given to Larry Shinoda, since the odds are pretty well stacked in his favor for all the other designs he penned...

[Ray B.]

None of those characters.

[streamliner]

It was used by Mitchell's daughter as a daily driver for a number of years, so I assume he offered it to her.  From what I could gather, it then was used by the Reynolds family before it was discovered and restored.   

Mitchell may have been referring to it in his interview with Dave Crippen in The Automobile in American Life and Society, The Automotive Oral Histories of The Henry Ford Museum:

Q:      Why did he (Ed Cole) think the Corvair would go?

A:      If it was here today, it'd be better than ever. It was economical, but what killed it, those were the days of dragster cars where you'd take, not just Corvettes, but you'd put big engines in the A bodies—all those Pontiacs and Olds that would rip the stones out of the street. Corvair couldn't do that. I built one for my daughter, and she was afraid to drive it, because you go to shoot across the street, and it wouldn't go, and even the blowers they put on acted like a slip and clutch. I built a couple cuties—the Monza, took 'en to Florida, six carburetors on it, a lot of fun; but the car wasn't timed right. Today, they're good looking. I got one for George Russell [former G.M. vice chairman], he's got it down in Palm Beach. He just told me the other night he's got it all restored. Good styling—is classic, it lasts forever.

[Ray B.]

RIght!
He built it for his daughter, Lynne Mitchell.
I got the whole story from a magazine, but I am too lazy to go through the collection and find it back.

[Otto Puzzell]

Period magazine cover...

[attachimg=1]

[Ray B.]

Puzzle picture restored.