First a little history. Corvairs have been long misunderstood. People think they are unsafe, that Ralph Nader killed the Corvair, and all sorts of things. Truth be told Ralph probably kept the Corvair in production a couple extra years! Chevrolet did not want the people to think that he was right so they kept production going. The Mustang was killing the sales of Chevrolet Corvairs and they were slated to stop production. After Nader's book came out they thought it would be better to keep them going. Corvairs are one of my favorite classic cars. They are very innovative for the time and the 65-69 body style is one of my all time favorites. Camaros take a lot of styling from the Corvair. They were the first production turbocharged car, they were also air cooled rear engine rear wheel drive cars. Can you imagine how they "freaked out the squares" when they came out? Opening the trunk at the front to put groceries in. That still gets people!
Corvair performance Most people look to Corvette Camaro etc. for a Chevrolet performance car...those cars are very limited. I will take a Corvair any day! The power to weight ratio in a Corvair rivals the best of the muscle cars. When you have that along with the best fully independent suspension, available quick steering and shifting. A corvair could keep up with most high dollar muscle and leave them in the rear view once it was time to turn! Don Yenko one of the biggest names in the Camaro and Nova etc. world started first with the Corvair. He saw the potential in these cars as racers and set out to prove that in the SCCA. He became aware of the changes for the 65 models and wanted to do with the Corvairs what Shelby was doing with the Mustang.
To be continued......
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