<VV> GM Design/ Manufacturing

[Marc Marcoulides]

Gee Seth, whats your beef with the Pontiac Aztec? Pablo Picasso said it was a cool looking vehicle.

-----Original Message-----
>From: Sethracer at aol.com
>Sent: Jan 1, 2009 12:05 PM
>To: ricebugg at mtco.com, virtualvairs at corvair.org
>Subject: <VV> GM Design/ Manufacturing
>
> 
> 
>In a message dated 1/1/2009 9:02:41 AM Pacific Standard Time,  
>ricebugg at mtco.com writes:
>
>The  question I wish I had an answer for was why the Corvair was kept  in
>production so long, given the sales compared to Falcon's and Chevy  II's.
>There are few left to ask, and no known documentation of the  discussion and
>decision making process.  I suspect it they decided to  recoup the
>development cost and mixed in was some amount of pride and love  of the car.
>It appears all the car guys at Chevrolet & GM loved the  Corvair, while the
>marketing, sales type and the dealers did not.   Then there was the general
>public, most of whom yawned at the  Corvair.  They voted with their pocket
>books and the rest is  history.
>
>That Chevrolet/GM did the LM is just mind-boggling to  me.
>
>Historically Yours,
>James Rice
>
>
>
>Thank You James!  I just finished reading a new (to me) book. "All  Corvettes 
>Are Red" by James Schefter. As is obvious from below, I also own a  Corvette. 
>The book is actually an "Insider history" of the process of bringing  to 
>production the all-new 1997 C5 Corvette. Originally planned as a 1993  model, GM 
>financial problems, political in-fighting and strange personality  conflicts 
>caused the delays (Mostly the $$). 
>The reason I am bringing it up as a reference for James' notes above, is  
>that it details the GM methods of design, approval (after approval after  
>approval) and the methods of moving to production. It encounters almost  everyone who 
>was anyone in GM from the 80's through the late 90's. For us, it  shows the 
>hoops that the Corvair must have gone through to make it into  production, 
>although the re-organization of GM several times during the C5  gestation will 
>make you cringe, something that didn't happen during the Corvair  design. The 
>other big lesson from the book for me was the huge scope of GM  - at the time - 
>and how thorough the process is for designing and evaluating the  cars in the 
>run up to production. The first question I had was: Where the heck  were these 
>guys when the Pontiac Aztec was being designed? But anyway, if you  are a real 
>GM guy (see my signature line below), you should get this book out of  the 
>library - mine came from a used book store - and read it. If nothing else,  you 
>will laugh your ass off at the current Senators and Congressmen who think  
>they can tell the auto manufacturers how to build cars people want -and do it  
>right now. Last week would be  better.      
>
> 
> 
> 
>Seth  Emerson
>
>C's the Day! - Corvair, Camaro, Corvette
>
>
>
>**************New year...new news.  Be the first to know what is making 
>headlines. (http://www.aol.com/?ncid=emlcntaolcom00000026)
> _______________________________________________
>This message was sent by the VirtualVairs mailing list, all copyrights are the property
>of the writer, please attribute properly. For help, mailto:vv-help at corvair.org
>This list sponsored by the Corvair Society of America, http://www.corvair.org/
>Post messages to: VirtualVairs at corvair.org
>Change your options: http://www.vv.corvair.org/mailman/options/virtualvairs 
> _______________________________________________