On Tue, 2005-04-12 at 13:36, Ignacio Valdes wrote: > Yet is the operative word. I'm going to a Corvair gathering in > Kerrville, Texas this weekend so wish me luck! No worries about being > Unsafe at Any Speed b/c I have a 1964 model. Prior to 1964, Corvair's > had a tendency for *some* instability with *hard* cornering and under > inflated rear tires. The addition of a $10 strut fixed the problem if > there was one. Even so, the US government investigated Corvair twice > and found it to be as safe as any car of the era. It is actually a > very interesting vehicle, among other things: rear-mounted air-cooled > engine which has great gas mileage and was 20 years ahead of its time. > The engine is still used by hobbyists for experimental aircraft.
Boy, is this off-topic or what? I owned 2 successive Corvair Corsa coupes 1967-1971; 6-cyl air-cooled engine, FOUR one-barrel carburetors, terrific acceleration, wonderful cornering once I discovered Michelin radials in 1968, pretty good mileage (26/21 mpg). But... the engine seals needed to be replaced about every 20,000 miles at $150 a crack (lots of money on $7500/year income); their failure was heralded by the onset of nagging headaches on long trips, and then puffs or clouds of exhaust blowing up through the defroster vents. The first was lavender, the second purple. The first was killed by a truck failing to beat a red light; I was about replace it with a Camaro; had all but signed the purchase agreement, when another customer dropped off his Corsa in trade. I paid the man $950 and drove away happy. Didn't have as much fun with another car until the 1978 Mazda RX-7 came out. Now I'm an old man, so I drive a safe and sensible Audi A4 turbo quattro. A wimp's car, but sometimes fun. And much, much easier to drive at speed through a blizzard, as I did last month to Chicago, than either of it's beloved predecessors. Oh, what was this thread? Open what? Dan Johnson
