The Corvair In Action

[mondhasen]

Back in the sixties I looked at the Chevrolet Corvair with amusement. It was small at a time when cars were huge. It had a little rear mounted engine instead of a mammoth front mounted V8. It barely fit four occupants comfortably where standard automobiles could hold five or six. It was also criticized by Ralph Nader in Unsafe at Any Speed for "tuck under" problems (until I read the wiki article had always thought it was the driver front fender gas tank that was the issue).



I caught a movie short this morning on TCM entitled The Corvair In Action. Watching the little car run through its paces filled me with nostalgia, and I think I actually may have considered buying one of these were I older 'back then.' A friend of my brother had one (with a dragon painted on the hood I believe) and he liked his well enough. Funny how things change: for a time I wanted a 52 Caddy, but settled on my 49 Chrysler instead.

The short!

Comments

[xolo.livejournal.com]

Our neighbor had a white one of those! That was suck a cool-looking car :D

[mondhasen.livejournal.com]

As time goes on I appreciate the style more! It's actually fairly classy (and classic) :o)

'Back in the day' I was more interested in cars from the 30's, 40's, and early 50's and biased against anything small looking.

[whitetail.livejournal.com]

We were always a Ford family. Never had anything but Fords. I'm trying to think if I ever even rode in a Chevy. I don't think so, at least not a passenger car. A friend of mine did own a cherry 1960 Chevy pickup, which was a lot of fun. Always liked the lines of the 1939 coupe, though, and of course I worshiped the '57s. I almost had a heart attack when I thought I saw a '57 Chevy in one of those Corvair wreck scenes, then I realized it was probably an Olds. Neat film, thanks!

[mondhasen.livejournal.com]

We were primarily a Ford family after we moved to Rhode Island, for some reason. My mom had a '57 Chevy wagon (My brother decorated it with surfer stripes made from adhesive tape) before that.

Neat film, thanks!

You're welcome. I've seen it listed on TCM frequently but never stopped to watch it before this.