Ralph Nader's first victim

ABOUT AS UNIQUE AS A '60S AMERICAN CAR CAN GET

Ralph Nader is best remembered these days for electing George W Bush president in 2000 (along with a sweet assist from Kathleen Harris). However long before he was standing on the political corpse of Al Gore he was already sharpening his knives. Meet his first victim:

This is a 1966 Chevrolet Corvair 500 in Mist Blue Poly. This car was a massive departure from traditional domestic auto design. It is powered by an air cooled engine mounted in the rear much like the VW Beetle. Pretty audacious stuff from the company that brought you such traditional icons as the '57 Bel Air.

Here's the business end of the Corvair. Beneath this hood lies a 2.7 liter flat-6 cylinder engine. Overall this is a great motor but there is one weak spot: a single long belt has to make a right angle from the top of the engine to the rear side and back during its operation which wears out belts pretty quickly.

 The notion of a domestic air cooled car wasn't new. The Syracuse based Franklin automobile company produced only air cooled cars for 30 years with great success. However by the late '50s when the Corvair was being developed it was a technology ignored in the U.S.

This swooping Coke bottle styling was new for '65 and took both the press and the public by storm. This initial excitement was tempered by the release of a book by Ralph Nader called Unsafe at any Speed. This book was instrumental in initiating important safety legislation with regards to seat belts and tire pressures. However the first chapter is titled: "The Sporty Corvair - The One Car Accident". It called out the Corvair for having a flimsy transaxle in the rear and lack of sway bars up front. The problem with these claims is that all the troubles highlighted had been fixed by the time the book was released. It was a very tough yet undeserved knock on sales figures.

Here we can see the tidy dimensions of this sweet ride. In the first generation Chevy attempted to make the Corvair every vehicle possible. There was the Corvan van, Greenbriar and Lakewood station wagons, the Loadside pickup truck with a unique extra side facing tailgate, 2 and 4 door hardtops and coupes, and a convertible. By 1966 there were 2 and 4 door hardtops, and a convertible.

I dig these crazy rims but can't figure out what they are. I searched vintage and '80s rims, wheels with square holes, and checkerboard pattern to no avail. If anyone remembers a ride that these came on originally let me know!

This has either been for sale for a while or this is a guy who reuses the same sign over and over.

Here's the nicely appointed interior of this example. A radio is fitted to the dash next to the unique dash mounted automatic transmission. The large round gauges are a good indicator of what the upcoming Camaro dash would look like.

The 500 was a trim level beneath the mighty Monza. The gas tank is in the front as suggested by the fuel filler door above the front wheel.

Behold the only visible distinction between the 1965 and 1966 Corvair: the Corvair script emblem was up on the hood in '65 but dropped to this position to the left of the drivers side headlight. The Corvair was a bonafied success from its inception and sales were still good in '66. Regardless by the time this era hit the dealerships the Ford Mustang had been released and Chevy was scrambling to get the Camaro off the ground. Combine that with Nadar's book and the end was near.

I've never even sat in a Corvair but I've always loved their styling. This 2 door hardtop has a great look as does the convertible. Being a Chevy there are myriad engine and transmission combinations out there including a turbocharged version. Tons of them were made and aftermarket parts are in good supply so acquiring one as a cool classic wouldn't break the bank.

*Thanks for nothing RALPH. At least your first name is a slang for vomiting since you mainly kill cool cars and shoehorn wack politicians into position.

Show Car Sunday/Monday returns with Chevys faster answer to the Beetle!

AWESOME AT ANY SPEED

Due to a massive internet outage yesterday I'm featuring Show Car Sunday/Monday/Tuesday.
Way down on the Southern end of Brooklyn between Sheepshead Bay and Manhattan Beach is a collection of neighborhood pockets bisected by the Belt Parkway. Unless you're actively rooting around these blocks you might never notice them while on your way to JFK. I poked around a bit wondering what was down in that area when I turned up this little gem:

Sweet! This is none other than a 1965 Chevrolet Corvair Monza coupe in the beautiful original color Glen Green. This is a landmark car, and really one of the most important and cutting edge Chevrolets ever produced. Even though the Corvair was produced from 1959 to 1969 with only one major redesign, the 1965 model year is one of the easiest to identify; before '65 the car looked totally different, with a flat front end and more square overall styling, and from '66 on that Corvair emblem moved from the hood to the front panel between the pod and the center of the car.

Check out this aggressive styling on such a small car! The prominent shark nose and main horizontal wrap-around body line are very much like the Corvette of the day. Both cars however could not be more different. The first clue is that the door to the gas cap is right there on the front fender. This, ladies and gentlemen, was General Motors only air-cooled, rear engine car.

The Coke-bottle styling on the '65 Corvair was reflected across the entire Chevy line through the beginning of the '70s. Those wheels are not correct for the car but are close enough to pass muster. They are 1968-'70 Chevy Rally Wheels most often seen on Chevelles of the day.

The body lines on these cars are clean as a whistle. When the Corvair was introduced in 1959 it came in a wide array of body styles; the Lakewood station wagon, a van called the Corvan, a pickup truck called the Greenbriar (with a unique side-loading tailgate between the cab and the rear wheels), a convertible, and 2 and 4 doors in both hardtop and pillared. After '65 it was reduced to the droptop and 2 or 4 door hardtops. This one is a Monza which was the sporty version that included bucket seats.

It's hard to see but the little badge in the center of the hood above the license plate says 110 between checkered flags. That means that this car was built with the optional 110 horsepower engine. All engine choices in '65 were 2.7 liter flat-6 cylinder units which have the cylinders laying horizontally. This layout results in a well balanced power plant that has a low center of gravity and is ideal for air-cooling. The 2 large ventilation banks under the rear window supply fresh air for the engine.

In the early 1962 Chevy introduced a turbocharged version of the Corvair called the Spyder. It was good for 150 horsepower, but more importantly it was the very first production car that offered a Turbo as an option. Oldsmobile launched their own turbocharged car called the Jetfire a month later, but the Jetfire was so plagued with problems that eventually the Oldsmobile dealerships offered a free conversion to a standard carburetor. The Spyder never had any issues and they can still be found at car shows to this day. Very few Jetfires remain with their original turbo (some say under 100!).

This is the proud little emblem announcing this as a Monza.

The Corvair was very popular and definitely groundbreaking during its entire run. However, it is one of 2 cars pilloried in Ralph Nadars book "Unsafe at any Speed"(the other car was of course the VW Beetle). Nadar claimed that the transaxle in the Corvair allowed for possible failure which would cause a rear wheel to collapse under the car when cornering. This was true for the first few years of production, but by the time the book came out in '65 the problem had been remedied with a fully independent suspension. Too bad though as people will always remember the Corvair for this accusation much like people will always think of Ford Pintos as about to explode. Still, I was very happy to find this one still in use in 2015 Brooklyn.