<VV> Quality

[Tony Underwood]

At 08:44 PM 9/22/2007, Shaun McGarvey wrote:

>----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Corbin" <airvair at earthlink.net>
>>BTW, one of THE major weaknesses of the early model Corvair was the lack of
>>wheel well liners. Every car that has lacked them (early Corvair, Maverick,
>>early Vega, etc.) has had a horrible reputation for having the fenders rot
>>off, and understandably so. Which is one of the areas in which the late
>>model Corvair is far superior to the early design. Just like another post
>>mentioned the "eyebrows" on the EM. Proof positive.
>>
>>-Mark
>
>I call "B.S." on that one, Mark.


I tend to agree.   I've seen no more rust issues on earlies than 
what's been evident in the lates.   What's more, I *have* seen a 
tendency for wheel well lip rust to be a more ambitious issue in 
lates than in earlies.  The "open" wheel well area doesn't seem any 
more rust-prone in an early than the wheel wells of lates.    In 
fact, this open area tends to dry out quicker after having been wet.


>The inner fenders welded all along the wheel lip a la LM is the 
>cause of most of the worst rust appearing on Late Corvairs.

Yep.  What's more, it's not an easy area to repair.   Been there done 
that, a lot.   Likewise collision damage... it's easier to straighten 
or patch an early when it gets popped... and the early models still 
remain stiffer than lates, which becomes quite evident when you try 
to pull out some compression distortion in a damaged early Corvair.

I've seen lots of rotted earlies that succumbed to the elements, but 
not a lot of them ever had terminal rot in the wheel wells.   They 
tended to decay mostly in floors, trunk, front fender doglegs, and 
rocker/panel areas.   Lates seem to offer up wheel well spotwelded 
joints to the metal mites, along with of course floors, the front pan 
in the corners, front fender lower quarters fore and aft,and of 
course that windshield channel.


The wrong climate will take out either of them, albeit by different means.

However, a seriously rusted late will flex and creak while an equally 
rusted early seems to still be as rigid as before.

tony..