<VV> What in the World.....?

[Dale Dewald]

At 12:00 11/02/2009 -0500, Bob Helt wrote:
>What in the World could Chevrolet have been thinking when they went from an
>  automatic choke to manual choke control on the Corvair in 1961?

Considering all of the changes that were made for the 1961 models, 
including the addition of the FC line, there was probably not enough 
resources (time and manpower) to come up with a satisfactory automatic 
choke.  The easy solution was to go manual for a model year.  Other 
problems likely had no such easy solutions.

>  Manual chokes hadn't been used for two decades. Automatic chokes were
>standard items in the 1960s.

Maybe for US cars.  My folks bought a Datsun 1200 2-door hatchback (aka the 
Sunny in Japan) in 1971.  The 1200cc 4-banger had a manual choke and was 
able to get 35-41 mpg on the highway, depending on headwind.  I think they 
paid $1900 or so for the Datsun new and traded in their '65 Corvair 500 
2-door for $100 credit on the sale.

In 1972 my mom was driving the Datsun toward the exit of a mall parking lot 
when a fellow in a '71 Chevrolet sedan drove across the traffic lane, 
causing her to T-boned him at about 7 MPH.  The Chevy got away with a 
dented front fender and passenger side door.  The Datsun folded up--the 
repair requiring new front fenders, radiator and support, hood, bumper, 
grill, nylon fan, front sub-frame straightening, etc.  The parts had to be 
ordered from Japan and it was 3 months before we got the car back from the 
body shop.

The Datsun was then traded in at the Ford dealer for a '74 Pinto (my 
learners permit car) because we could not find a single Vega in a 100 mile 
radius with a manual transmission.  BTW, my folks got $1300 credit on the 
trade-in of the 3-year old Datsun. Go figure....

Dale Dewald
Hancock, MI