I feel that this section of ChevyClassics is an important part of the history of the automobiles of this period. The Corvair line was quite different for Chevrolet, but was not the first automobile built in America with an "air-cooled" engine. And the myth that Ralph Nader "ran it off the road" is also untrue. While doing some research on these cars I came across some interesting facts that I'll share with you here and maybe the next time you go to a car show and see one of these you'll look at it differently.
As this site only deals with automobiles up to 1964, I will only be referring to part of the Corvair story. The years 1960 - 1964 were considered the "first generation" in this auto's history. The Corvairs from 1965 - 1969 were considered the "second series" up to GM's decision to end the line. Yes partly because of the bad publicity generated by Ralph Nader, but I feel the more important factor was to concentrate on other models they were offering at that time. Well I hope this little introduction peaks your interest enough to read further in this section. From GM's Media archives I offer you this: "Ed Cole's dream was to build a simple, inexpensive car as a second car for a family. The 1960 Corvair offered many firsts to American Car design: aluminum rear engine, transaxle, and four-wheel independent suspension. It was also the first car with a unitized body ever built by Chevrolet."
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