<VV> Need some rebuttle info
HallGrenn at aol.com
HallGrenn at aol.com
Wed Mar 25 13:16:02 EDT 2009
In a message dated 3/25/2009 12:49:34 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
mr_tim34 at yahoo.com writes:
Hi, I'm the guy with the electric Rampside in California. I belong to an
Electric Vehicle mailing list as well as this one. This showed up today and I
figured I could turn to this list to get some reasonable information to rebut
this guys contentions. I'm not looking for attacks on the guy I'd just like to
set the record straight. I don't think my 4000 pound Rampside is in any
danger of rolling any time soon :-)
Thanks.
TiM
Tim, The guy sounds sincere (he had a personal loss) and his arguments
sound just as plausible as Nader's attack but the facts don't support him.
Corvairs had a heavier duty tire with a stronger sidewall for instance. The
rampside, 95 and Greenbrier had weight more evenly spread front to rear than the
cars. And, most importantly, NHTSA did the tests in the early '70's that
disproved every one of Nader's contentions about the cars (he didn't write about
the FC's). Corvairs (like all cars) could roll over under worst case
scenarios, but NHTSA's testers were unable to make the test Corvairs roll though
they did make the VW's and others do so. Swing axle cars aren't as good as the
modified '64 and '65 through '69 new suspension designs, but they handled
better than other American cars of the time. The problem with swing axles is
that the rear track gets a little bit narrower under heavy cornering conditions
which increases the rear roll center. Coupled with over inflated front
tires and amateur or reckless driving and a Corvair will spin out, but only after
holding the road at a higher G level than other cars of the period (Corvette
and exotics excepted). The federal government proved it.
I had an acquaintance who lost a friend in a LM Corvair fire after an
accident that he blamed on the front gas tank for years. But he fell in love with
my LMs and bought a '66 four door from me. He came to realize that the gas
tank was better protected in the Corvairs (about three feet back and behind
the front cross member) than in other cars at the time and better protected
than a lot of cars even today. Some accidents will overcome even the best
engineering.
Bob Hall
Group Corvair
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