<VV> Need some rebuttal

[John Kepler]

I'm late into this....but I also completely agree!  I came back to Corvairs
10 years ago after many years of wanting one.  My "late-60's" experience
with a buddy's 67 Monza was nothing but positive and impressive.  By the
time I got my very own Corvair, I was an engineer with a competition license
that had spent 15+ years building road racing machines, and included testing
laps in a Porsche 962, various 911 derivatives, a 356C, and a number of
other British and Japanese racing products.  

I was overjoyed when my re-built 66 Monza handled almost exactly like my
youthful memories (better in fact...probably due to better shocks and
tires).  The cars handling was crisp, and surprisingly neutral.  You can get
some TTO if you're "driving dumb", but a LOT less than an old swing-axle 911
or 356!  Control-loss in an "over-cooked" corner is predictable with plenty
of "warning", and rather mild...the car swaps ends in a mild, sedate way
(versus some that swap-ends so violently that it'll pull the molars out of
your head!).  A hard sweeper in my 67 with a small amount of power-on to
keep the ass-end anchored is as controlled and positive as any car you'll
drive.  I've TRIED to get any part of my late's suspension to tuck...but it
just won't do it...no way, no how!  In fact, my 'Vairs are the best handling
American-made stock-cars I've driven!  Part of the Corvairs' "problem", is
that it IS a neutral-handling car in a world where virtually everything else
pushes like a bulldozer!  I have spent MONTHS of testing and fabrication as
well as spending large piles of money to get a car as neutral-handling as a
40+ year-old Corvair did off the showroom floor!

As for the "other poster".  Killing one's self in a car doesn't require any
major amount of skill or talent..."more balls than sense" is generally all
that's required.  The most lethal combination is where the capability of the
car exceeds the driving ability of the pilot...the car's capability has
him/her solidly in the "lethal-zone" before they realize that they're
fresh-out of talent!  Our Corvairs will do just that...not because they're
"bad", but because they're "too good"!  At the end of the day, all those
poor individuals prove is the rectitude of the old saw:  "A Little Knowledge
is Dangerous!"

John

Smitty Says: I don't feel so kindly toward this gent as some of you. I have 
been driving Vairs for 40 years and used to listen to this kind of misguided

drivel. I don't any more. Yes you can force a Corvair into wheel tuck if you

do stupid things, either in your driving or in car maintenance, just as you 
can with a front engine car with a low tire on the outside of a curve. Just 
the "other" end beats you off the road. I had a friend go off the road in a 
Corvair into a field of fresh cut tree stumps at over 100 mph. Damn Corvair 
killed him. In every case I know of where a Corvair wrecked from being 
driven, someone was doing something they shouldn't. Either driving an 
unsafely prepared car or driving beyond the envelope of control of the car. 
Corvair wrecks where the Corvair was struck by another car have shown that 
they are very durable and no more prone to kill their occupants than a 
conventional car.
Sorry about his friends. Obviously the two were driving beyond the limits of

the car and spun it out. Maybe exploring the limits. And the others were 
pushing the envelope some other way. It was their driving that killed them.
I put Spike into the wall at Summit Point. Why? Because I got in over my 
head. If I had been driving at 35 mph it would have never happened.
Please spare me the crap. I am tired of it.