SteSE wrote:Didn't they catch fire or blow up or something? The corvair that is.
No, that was the Pinto, a sorry Ford product
When hit hard from behind , the petrol tank was often pierced by getting pushed against the diff and several hundred Ford types got more of a tan than they bargained for
Ford knew of this issue but figured it would be cheaper to payout for a few barbecues than spend $11 extra per car shielding the tank. Unfortunately for Ford , the 'memo' relating to this info somehow became public and the law suits started.
The earlier Corvairs had a VW / Porsche like swing axle and no front anti roll bar (it was 1959!) While no worse than the German cars, they had more power and your average septic was not to bothered about maintaining the critical tyre pressure differential 15 front 26 rear ,which if not strictly adhered to, led to sudden chronic oversteer at speed which often ended in a big fatal crash.
A young lefty lawyer by the name of Ralph Nader decided to write a book criticising the motor industry , 'Unsafe at any speed' in this book he done a real hatchet job on the Corvair stating that GM knew the Corvair was a handful on the limit but would rather make more profit than spend a few extra dollars to tame it. GM hired some meaty types to stalk and hassle Nader which did not do their rep any good.
The Corvair was completely redesigned for '65 with a fully independant four link rear suspension that eliminated al of the dodgy camber change of the original .
A little known fact is that the Corvair was the first production car offered with a turbocharged engine way back in 1962 !