With apologies to The Beatles, the Chevrolet Corvair’s history is one of triumph, trials and tribulations –undeniably one of the most fascinating and exciting American automobiles to ever go into production.
The Corvair was a short-lived, but storied American automobile experiment that was ahead of its time and even won Motor Trend’s coveted “Car of the Year” award in 1960.· As a 4-door sedan, 2-door coupe, convertible, 4-door station wagon, passenger van, commercial van, and pickup truck body styles in its first generation Corvair was a direct response to Volkswagen’s Beetle, born to compete with swelling foreign car sales of it and other manufacturing trends in the marketplace.
Consumer advocate Ralph Nader’s book “Unsafe at Any Speed” highlighted a myriad of safety issues surrounding the Corvair – particularly with steering, handling and rollover concerns.