<VV> Car History Question -- No Corvair

[Charles Lee]

Wouldn't that be the Ford Cortina and Zephyr, Morris Minor and Mini-Cooper, 
cars like that ?

There were no small cars in the US, except the Rambler American and 
Metropolitan ?

The Rambler Metropolitan was so-named to market it as a car for the city, 
where a small car was more convenient for tight spaces ?

The VW "bug" was always somewhat "quirky" and alluded to the owner's minimal 
means of support and was so easily identifiable as such.  Today we may think 
of it as "cute" but not then ?

There were a lot of unmemorable smaller cars, but the "Big 3" ignored them 
as unprofitable when we wanted big ostentatious car ?  The Suburban Assault 
Vehicles of today (aka "SUVs") are the Buick Roadslobs of the modern 
decadent motoring public.  Sun of these violate the weight restrictions in 
the towns where the owners live !

But I digress, and GM and Ford marketed even the first of the "compacts" 
with few options, on the theory that if you wanted options to make a car 
nicer, you'd obviously want as BIGGER car !

Of Corvair was (one of ?) the first to show them that small cars can be 
comfortable, nice looking, attractive and sporty.

If it weren't for the Monza Spyder would we even HAVE a Mustang ?  Maybe, 
but it would have been a Galaxy-based car, not a Falcon-"compact"-based car, 
imho...

Interesting question though ...
Charlie



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robby" <vintagevwbeetles at gmail.com>
To: "Steven J. Serenska" <corvair at serenska.com>
Cc: "virtualvairs" <virtualvairs at corvair.org>
Sent: Friday, March 12, 2010 9:05 AM
Subject: Re: <VV> Car History Question -- No Corvair


> The VW Beetle was the economy car prior to the Corvair/Falcon/Valiant - 
> this
> was one reason the Big 3 made those cars - to try to capture part of the
> market that was going to the Beetle.
>
> Robby
>
> On Fri, Mar 12, 2010 at 11:00 AM, Steven J. Serenska
> <corvair at serenska.com>wrote:
>
>> VVers:
>>
>> The Corvair, Valiant/Lancer, and Falcon were introduced in 1960.
>>
>> Just prior to that, say, between 1955 and 1959, what would people have
>> used as an economy car?  By "economy car" I don't mean a car that got
>> good gas mileage, I mean one that would have been a lower priced vehicle
>> that could be purchased by most anyone.
>>
>> I also don't mean cars like an older Volvo or a Saab (or even a VW), as
>> I don't think that most Americans of lesser means would have sought out
>> a relatively exotic vehicle like that.  I'm trying to get a handle on
>> whatever was the low-cost family vehicle of choice in the mid- to
>> late-50's before the manufacture of smaller, cheaper vehicles (e.g.,
>> Corvair, Chevy II, Falcon, etc.) that were priced lower than the biggest
>> cars in the product line
>>
>> Would it have been a 10-year old whatever (e.g., a 1950 Nash Rambler)?
>>
>> Maybe another way to ask it is: If you were a single mother with 3 kids
>> in 1958 in the rural south who cleaned houses for a living, what was
>> your ride?  Were there any 4-cylinder vehicles that would have fallen
>> into this category?
>>
>> I tried Googling this, most references to vehicles from this era are for
>> models that would be of interest to collectors today.
>>
>> Thanks for your thoughts.
>>
>> Steven "my Mom drove a 1954 Chevrolet Belair, but that was in 1967"
>> Serenska
>>
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