adorshki
Reverential Member
Of course that was the biggest issue Nader focused on when he practically single-handedly founded the consumer safety movement with "Unsafe At Any Speed".With the rear engine placement, it did have some tricky "handling" issues when going around sharp curves at a high rate of speed. I had the rear end get loose on several occasions, but I never had an accident. Note: this was a long time before " The Fast and The Furious" and "drifting" became popular!
No matter GM had already addressed the issue by the time the book was published, he had an axe to grind and many vote-seekers on Capitol Hill were only too happy to hop on board his train.
Let's temper that snark with the observation that there were at least a million Corvairs on the road by '65 (Wiki says: "The Corvair's sales exceeded 200,000 for each of its first six model years") with the original "inadequate" suspension.
That's a lotta cars.
The wheels were on swing arms and the inside rear tended to tuck on hard cornering with frequently catastrophic results, in addition to the engine placement behind eh rear wheels inducing a tendency to fishtail as you mention.
There was also a quirky inflation spec: the rears were supposed to be at a different pressure than the fronts, but in that era it was virtually unheard of in the US and ignored if not outright forgotten by many (probably most) owners.
According to one reference it was 15psi front (YIKES!! by todays standards) and 26 rear, this was intended to help induce understeer (the tendency to plow wide in a corner), the preferred GM handling bias: (it's very easy to come out of understeer by backing off the throttle which was the typical instinctive reaction of a "civilian" driver of the day, and still is)
The only other car I've ever heard of that specs unequal pressures front/rear for regular street use is an '03 BMW 3-series also coincidentally using an independant rear suspension, recommending 3-5 lbs lower pressure on the fronts depending on tire size.
"First gen" rear suspension "issue" (and '64 "fix"):
Second gen suspension:
We have here testimonial from a professional driver as to the capabilities of the revised suspension (who coincidentally mentions rolling over 2 Volkswagens, LOL!!):
https://www.corvaircorsa.com/handling03.html
And from Wiki:
"The Corvair's reputation and legacy were impacted by a controversy surrounding its handling: the car was scrutinized in Ralph Nader's 1965 book Unsafe at Any Speed, GM's top management resorted to unethical measures in response to its accuser, and a 1972 Texas A&M University safety commission report for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that the 1960–1963 Corvair possessed no greater potential for loss of control in extreme situations than its contemporaries.[2]"
Even with the dowdy original suspension.
Besides, would Yenko have gone racing with an inadequate suspension?:
I always loved that spoiler w/ dual snorkels rear end:
And as Dread said that '61 Karmann Ghia sure does suspiciously resemble a '59-'63 (or '60-'64 depending on whether you go by production or model year) Corvair:
For a few years there the Corvair was positioned to play second only to the 'Vette where performance and image were concerned:
'62 Corvair Monza GT concept, design courtesy of the legendary Larry Shinoda ('59 Corvette SS; Mako Shark I and II; '63 Stingray "split window", Boss Mustang):
The taillight cove was eventually tamed down for domesticated use on the '65 production 'Vairs:
THAT whole theme found its way to Pontiac's Banshee concept in '64 before being reserved for the 'Vette with the Mako Shark II concept paving the way for the 2nd gen Stingray
Me too but all my limbs are still intact.I was always grateful to have learned to drive with a clutch and a standard transmission. It has severed me well over the years.
Sorry, couldn't resist cutting up a little.
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