Solved - NEH 173: Corvair Futura Concept Car

Started by Carnut, December 15, 2009, 06:07:10 AM

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Carnut

December 15, 2009, 06:07:10 AM Last Edit: December 25, 2014, 02:59:18 PM by pnegyesi
1 point if you can say exactly what this is:
Interests in life:  Cars, cars, cars - oh and ..er..cars

Otto Puzzell

#1
December 15, 2009, 07:34:53 AM
Dang it! I had that one ready to post!  ;D
You wanna be the man, you gotta Name That Car!

Carnut

#2
December 15, 2009, 07:37:26 AM
Quote from: Otto Puzzell on December 15, 2009, 07:34:53 AM
Dang it! I had that one ready to post!  ;D

Sorry Otto!
Maybe you'll get the chance to name it instead.
It's happened to me too if it's any consolation!
Interests in life:  Cars, cars, cars - oh and ..er..cars

Ray B.

#3
December 15, 2009, 08:21:26 AM
Is it for sale?
He Touched Me With His Noodly Appendage

Carnut

#4
December 15, 2009, 09:05:38 AM
Quote from: Ray B. on December 15, 2009, 08:21:26 AM
Is it for sale?

If it was you probably couldn't afford it!
Interests in life:  Cars, cars, cars - oh and ..er..cars

Carnut

#5
December 22, 2009, 05:12:49 AM
OK, you tell us what it is then Experts..
Interests in life:  Cars, cars, cars - oh and ..er..cars

white12

#6
December 22, 2009, 07:02:48 AM
I Think it is The Kaiser Waimea a kaiser aluminum design.
Pro since 25-5-2010

Carnut

#7
December 22, 2009, 07:14:07 AM
Quote from: white12 on December 22, 2009, 07:02:48 AM
I Think it is The Kaiser Waimea a kaiser aluminum design.


I can see where you're coming from, but no, it's not that.  Was that ever actually built?
Interests in life:  Cars, cars, cars - oh and ..er..cars

metalshapes

#8
December 22, 2009, 12:28:26 PM
Looks like its based on a Corvair Wagon.

Tackitt

#9
December 22, 2009, 12:38:25 PM
The site I found it on listed it as a 1960 Corvair Futura Concept Car.  Those headlights are pure Pontiac though.

CyCarConsulting

#10
December 22, 2009, 01:51:07 PM
Quote from: Carnut on December 15, 2009, 06:07:10 AM
1 point if you can say exactly what this is:

1960 Corvair Futura

Tuckeroo

#11
December 22, 2009, 01:57:05 PM Last Edit: December 22, 2009, 04:02:21 PM by Tuckeroo
It seems to be up to me to put the pieces together: created by Blake Larson (AKA Henry Larson) based on the Kaiser Waimea (from the Kaiser Aluminum ads as designed by Rhys Miller) and using a Corvair wagon as a starting point...how's that?

Carnut

#12
December 22, 2009, 06:36:54 PM Last Edit: December 22, 2009, 07:12:05 PM by Carnut
Tackitt gets the point then for being first to give the car its full and correct name.
The stacked headlamps follow the Kaiser design (which dates from 1958) and both cars pre-date the Pontiac by some years (I believe the stacked headlights only appeared on the Pontiacs from MY 1963, i.e. in the middle of 1962).

That's interesting info from Tuckeroo and must say you've found out more about it than I could!
I haven't been able to make the connection so far on the Web, but certainly looking at the 2 designs I can well believe that the Corvair is an interpretation of the Kaiser idea, based on a Corvair wagon.

Well done anyway!
Interests in life:  Cars, cars, cars - oh and ..er..cars

Tuckeroo

#13
December 22, 2009, 11:11:27 PM
I recognized it from a letter that was published in Collectible Automobile August 2000 issue, but better to let Mr. Larson tell the story of the car in his own words:

Your article on Rhys Miller in the April 2000 issue was of great interest to me because I pulled some of the Kaiser Aluminum ads of cars in the future in the Sixties and threw them in a file. One of those ads is the Waimea, shown in your article on page 77. Five years ago, after restoring five cars, I decided to do something different. I dug out the old file, retrieved the sketch of the Waimea and decided to try to build it. Because the driver sits in the middle up front, there is no room for an engine up there, so I started with a Corvair Lakewood wagon. It attracts a lot of attention wherever I drive it.

Henry Larson
New Brighton, Minnesota

(Reprint of the letter in Collectible Automobile August 2000).  In trying to do more research on the car I stumbled upon a site (which I can no longer find) regarding the sale of the car sometime after this letter was published, and referring to the builder as Blake Larson.  At least one Corvair forum has also reprinted the letter so presumably there isn't a whole lot more information to be had, other than to say this is an impressive and ambitious car for anyone to have built based on renderings alone.  To sum up: the Kaiser Waimea (a rendering from 1958, actually) was never built by Kaiser, nor was it built in the 50s-60s, but was instead built in the mid-90s from a 1961(?) Corvair Lakewood and other automotive parts by an enthusiast!  A bit of a conundrum, therefore, to answer!

Carnut

#14
December 23, 2009, 04:37:37 AM Last Edit: December 23, 2009, 04:41:49 AM by Carnut
Seems logical enough.  If the car really had been built in 1960 then sure it would be much better known than it is now.
Apparently the car was advertised on eBay earlier this year, so someone somewhere has probably acquired it.  Sorry you missed it RayB!

Just to add a bit more about the 'stacked' headlights looking like a Pontiac: the Kaiser drawing had them in 1958 but even they were not original, as believe the '58 MY Lincolns had them from mid-57 onwards!
Interests in life:  Cars, cars, cars - oh and ..er..cars

Otto Puzzell

#15
December 23, 2009, 04:53:23 AM Last Edit: December 23, 2009, 05:01:31 AM by Otto Puzzell
Those headlight bezels are from a 1965 Pontiac.

And Nash added stacked quad headlights to their Nash Ambassador before Lincoln had 'em.

;)
You wanna be the man, you gotta Name That Car!

Otto Puzzell

#16
November 16, 2011, 03:39:01 AM
More pics

You wanna be the man, you gotta Name That Car!

Otto Puzzell

#17
March 10, 2012, 05:00:39 AM
Title fixed (i.e., not 1960)
You wanna be the man, you gotta Name That Car!
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