In autumn of 1959 when the Corvair appeared, it seemed like fresh air from an unexpected source blowing into a stale design scene. It's easy to forget that car design was in one of its uninspiring and uninspired periods at just this moment. A certain kind of conformity had set in, with bluff-fronted rectangular solids floating on inset, sometimes hidden wheels, slathered with chrome on slab sides, and set off with mostly non-functional tail fins. In Europe & America, wheels were reduced in size and visual importance, partly to save space (Mercedes had begun the move to smaller diameters with 13" just past the mid-50s, and the BMC Mini featured 10" wheels in 1959). Radial tires were just beginning to make inroads in the American market, and it's worth noting that the Corvair appeared with new, low-profile tires. It's also often overlooked that when the Corvair appeared, people (engineers are people, right?) were divided about whether the future of mass-market cars would be rear engine / rear drive (the Corvair joined VW, Renault & Fiat) or favor front engine / front drive on either the Citroen model (longitudinal engine behind transmission) or the then-new BMC Mini format (transverse engine over transmission). The rear-engined VW 1500, Renault 8, Fiat 850, Simca 1000, Skoda 1200, NSU 1000, Hillman Imp (along with the even later Porsche 911 and VW 411) were still to come, and a surprising number of people were betting on a rear-engined future. Most cars still had front engines driving the rear wheels, but there was also an astonishing variety of ideas (some bad) on the market. For example, in 1959 you could buy a front-driver with an four-stroke air-cooled twin (Panhard, Citroen 2CV) or even with a smoky two-stroke 3 cylinder (Saab & DKW / Auto Union, now Audi) as well as the German FWD Goliath water-cooled flat four. This last example influenced later Subarus, but the Japanese makes were not a factor in the car market of 1959. Early Datsuns and Toyotas had flopped, and while the American Honda Motor Co. was founded in 1959, it was just here to import motorcycles (a trickle, at first). As mentioned, the Mini had only just surfaced; nobody but its chief engineer, Alec Issigonis, seemed to believe that transverse engine / front-drive was the future of cars. Into this stagnant scene General Motors injected its Corvair, a rear-engined, air-cooled flat six, stunningly low and sleek. The name was a contraction of "Corvette" and "Bel Air", but it may have alluded to the air-cooled, aluminum flat 6 behind the passenger cabin. Ralph Nader hadn't yet noticed it, and we didn't know about him anyway.
With this one move, GM went from being the target of comedian's jokes and designer's ridicule...
…to offering industrial designers everywhere a seemingly foolproof template for designing
the Universal Car.
European car designers took a very long time to get over this Corvair. They loved the glassy greenhouse and especially the horizontal plane just below the window sills dividing the upper from the lower body volumes. It helped them abolish fins, which they'd never much liked even though they'd really invented them, and gave them an easily adaptable theme for all sizes of cars. They liked the way the cantilevered rear roof with its wraparound window echoed that horizontal plane, and the way both were outlined with bright metal trim.
In short order they began cranking out designs which were obviously inspired by the Corvair. Note that in the photo of the prototype Monza coupe shown above, the B-pillar is eliminated for an open, glassy effect. On the production cars introduced in mid-1960, the B-pillar was there. Chevy would introduce a station wagon and van the next year, a convertible the year after and true pillarless hardtops with 2 or 4 doors with the 2nd generation Corvair in 1965. The Monzas were popular enough to stampede Ford into cooking up the Mustang; see "The First Mustang: Ford's Forgotten Mustang I" in these pages, from August 26, 2015. Not long after the Monzas became available in 4 doors, coupes, and convertibles, they comprised around 80% of the roughly 200,000 Corvairs sold annually.
Germany's NSU adopted the Corvair wholesale for its line of 1000 and 1200 rear engined cars; if the orange 1200 TT above was a sort of MiniVair, the white two cylinder Prinz 4 below it was a MicroVair…
Also in the early 60s, Fiat duplicated the Corvair's chrome-edged horizontal planes for its 1300 and 1500 sedans, and even copied the dropped center hood, but added a grille because its water-cooled engine was in front.
Ghia's talented Sergio Sartorelli wasn't immune to the Corvair's charm either. Directly above we see his early 1959 pass at a replacement VW Karmann Ghia coupe for 1960. After seeing the Corvair, Sartorelli simplified the production version (1962-67) of the Type 3 K-G below to something a bit more Corvairlike...
The Toyota design staff claimed that Panhard's more aerodynamic riff on the Corvair was still influencing their work more than twenty years after this red 1964 CT24 was produced. The Corvair influenced the wraparound windows and belt trim, but the aerodynamic front is distinctively French and influenced later Citroens. Despite the lack of an obvious grille, the air-cooled opposed twin is driving the front wheels here. Meanwhile, in 1962 BMW had launched the cars that would save the company, the New Class of fours and later sixes, all with sober, draftsmanlike styling, taller and squarer than the Corvair, but with the signature bright metal belt molding...
The shark nose of the BMW seemed to anticipate the 2nd generation Corvair frontal treatment, elegant but too good at generating front-end lift. This glassy, pillarless 2000 CS coupe was introduced the same year as that 2nd series Corvair. That was 1965, the year of Ralph Nader's Unsafe at Any Speed...
Photo credits:
Top: 1959 Cadillac; hemmings.com
2nd from top: 1959 Chevrolet; Chevrolet Division of General Motors
3rd & 4th from top: 1960 Corvair 700 sedan & coupe prototype; Chevrolet Division of GM,
reprinted on carandtruckpicture.com
Photos 5 & 6: NSU TT & Prinz; Wikipedia
Photos 7: Fiat 1500; Wikipedia
Photo 8: VW Karmann-Ghia prototype; leehedges.com
Photos 9: VW Karmann-Ghia Type 3; Wikipedia
Photo 10: Panhard CT-24; Cars Database (cars-pics-db.com)
Photos 11 & 12: 1963 BMW 1500 & 1965 2000CS; Wikipedia
And the Hillman Imp too.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Jeff. And it has a rear engine, too. We'll be looking at the Imp and various Imp offshoots in an upcoming post...
ReplyDelete1965 I was in high school working the service desk at a Buick/Pontiac dealer. My license was at risk due to inappropriate speed in a V8 Dodge. A 1962 Tempest LeMans convertible trade-in seemed like the equivalent of camouflage and a moderating influence. My co-owner Mother thought the white on white with red vinyl interior was cute. The deal was done. Mom was delighted. Thumbing the chrome knob to “D” created a subtle surge and hissing noise from the Corvair bits in back. It did not take long to realize I had been emasculated. A vinyl tape sport stripe on the hood and trunk did not help. My biggest complaint was the transmission. Fully warm, seeking terminal velocity, the GD transmission could take just so much pedal and then high disengaged in an attempt to find low. 85 to 90 MPH was about all I could feather out of it. The 2 barrel four was moderately fuel efficient but it seemed more appropriate for agriculture. It did not have enough energy to warm the interior in (WI) January weather.
ReplyDeleteMy pinnacle of excitement/achievement came at the Agriculture Gymkhana. My boss was president of the WI Corvair Club and organized a “Hay Day” course in a farm field. They had to move the pylons out to accommodate the width of the Tempest. I took first in class and managed to not tuck a swing axle and crash. I entered the Air Force and left the Tempest with Mom. In about a year I had a 1961 Ventura Bubble top and resumed my quest to terminate my license.
It may be a sign of what early exposure to Mopar V8s will do to your standards that both you and your Mom thought a white Pontiac convertible (even one with only half a V8) would act like camouflage by comparison…our neighbors had a '58 Chrysler with the 392, and we used to admire the smooth forward rush on the way to a shared summer cabin rental in Wisconsin as the road disappeared between those tail fins. Nobody complained about Torqueflite the way they did about Powerglide, and I think
ReplyDeleteyour Tempestorque tranny was a close relative to the 2 speed Powerglide in the Corvair. My high school gym coach had a '63 Tempest ragtop with 326; think it had the 4 speed too. By then over 50% were V8s. I thought it was pretty cool, but guess the extra power just tucked those swing axles that much quicker...