<VV> Corvair Intro and Gas Mileage

[Jeffrey B. Aronson]

Sadly for your purposes, the Corvair did not have the best gas mileage 
of the Big 3's offerings.  That honor at least in the Mobilgas Economy 
Run, went to the Falcon.  The Valiant and the Lark had more horsepower 
and American Motors built the first US compact of that era with its Rambler.

But the Corvair won Motor Trend's Car of the Year for 1960 and one of 
the cars that made 27 mpg in the Mobilgas Run then drove off to Pike's 
Peak from Minneapolis for the first winter climb of the Pike's Peak Road.

Ed Cole and his Corvair were on the cover of /Time/ as well all the auto 
enthusiast magazines. The Corvair had the first IRS in a sedan and the 
first successful air cooled engines in a US built car, and was GM's 
first unibody car. The dies from the Corvair formed the innards of the 
Buick-Oldsmobilie-Pontiac intermediate cars that followed [Buick 
Special, Olds F-85, Pontiac Tempest] in 1961. The Monza's success 
spawned the entire species of "sporty cars" in the US; it's success put 
Ford to work on the Mustang and its competition.

The real problem you will confront with the dealer is that the Corvair 
looks so much better than anything else on a Chevy dealer's lot these days.

Jeff Aronson
Vinallhaven, ME 04863
www.landroverwriter.com <http://www.landroverwriter.com>

'66 Land Rover Series II-A [2]
'80 Triumph TR-7 Spider
'66 Corvair Monza Coupe 110/4