<VV> Corvair-Porsche

[Tony Underwood]

At 03:57 PM 11/8/2010, James P. Rice wrote:

>In fact, Ludvigsen suggest the idea in the article reprinted in the
>Communique.  (You have that issue, don't you?)  Porsche had several
>developmental engines projects going on when the Corvair was introduced.  It
>was no big secret then that Chevy R&D had stuffed a prototype Corvair engine
>into the back of a 356 coupe for testing purposes.

Maybe not a secret... but not a lot of people knew about it.


I once won a nifty hat at a 'Vair show in a contest for knowing about 
the 356 test mule...  ;)



>Whatever the cause(s) or inspiration(s), the resulting 6 cyl engine in the
>911 has to be placed right up there with the SB Chevy as one of the all time
>great engine designs.


That "all time great" list is somewhat (read: almost impossible) 
subjective.  It tends to be a rather lengthy list, depending on the 
subject, timeline, intent, etc.


In my humble opinion, the top-ten would include (along with the 
smallblock Chevy) the 4 cyl Kent-Ford, the Chrysler /6,  the original 
Ford flathead V8, The Packard ironingboard-8, Porsche's boxer-6, and 
maybe also Chrysler's B/RB series bigblocks which includes the 426 
Hemi engine.    Of course there's gonna be others.   (who might 
suggest the Hudson Hornet flathead 6-banger that astonished everybody 
on the tracks in the early '50s?)

What I do NOT think belongs among the all-time greats is a few of the 
ricer engines and Bimmer engines that have been around for only a few 
years and certainly have not stood the tests of time although a lot 
of neophytes seem to believe they absolutely must, mostly because 
it's all they know.  Maybe after they put some years and miles behind 
them... but for now, no.    This includes domestic wunderkinder as well.

...kinda like the "very best movie" ever produced was "Fight Club", 
when it was released... argued contradictorily by other "experts" who 
believed the greatest film ever was Quinton Tarrentino's next 
movie.   Ask the same crowd today the same question and you get a 
completely different answer.


One "great engine" that was suggested by some was Chrysler's 
ignominious A series V8 which began in the mid-50s and was 
manufactured up through the turn of the century, with a variety of 
head mods along the way but the basic block and innards remained the 
same except for bore and stroke kinda like the SBC.   It included the 
mundane 273/318, as well as the 340/360 Magnum variants.   It's at 
least as respectable as the SBC but never gets much respect at 
all.   Likewise Ford's smallblock that started out with only 221 
cubic engines but eventually would swell  to 400.    And who ever 
thinks about the Ford 425 c.i. "side oiler" that was about the only 
thing that ever really challenged Chrysler's 426 on the tracks in the 
'60s?    Likely doesn't qualify simply because it was a 
specific-built competition style engine and never ended up in 
anything like a 4-door Galaxy sedan (yes, Chrysler did indeed put the 
426 Hemi in some 4-door cars) and certainly was never mass-produced 
in SBC numbers, or even Hemi numbers for that matter.   And what 
about the Olds W30/31 series engines?  Unsung champs that would 
certainly embarrass a lot of other-marque muscle on the streets in 
their day and were nothing but simple developments of the Olds 350 
and 455 "slug" engines.  That W series tireburner WAS your "Daddy's 
Oldsmobile".

I suppose such a "greatest" list is somewhat subjective.    (notice 
that my list is composed of domestic product, well mostly, the Kent 
kinda being the red-headed stepchild far as being "American")


...which brings us to the Corvair engine.   Is it anything that could 
be included in any "greatest" list?   Probably not, at least in the 
eyes of most so-called "car people" simply because of Corvair stigma, 
although when treated fairly it has to be one of the most durable and 
dependable engines ever.   There are still a lot of them out there 
running around that have never been apart.  They were innovative and 
unique among US car engines (preaching to the choir here) and still 
cause people to scratch their heads when they look at one.

Whatever...   ;)



tony..