<VV> stock air cleaners

[Joel McGregor]

I don't know for sure but it seems like it must be to deaden intake noise.  I came to that conclusion after observing that the vast majority of cars that I've seen in the 60s, 70s and 80s seem to have an air intake that is significantly smaller than their carb throat area.  I don't see how it could save any money and it certainly won't make it run better so noise is what I came up with.  Seems crazy to me.
Joel McGregor

________________________________________
From: virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org [virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org] On Behalf Of Paul [paulm at tdl.com]
Subject: <VV> stock air cleaners

Now, I'm looking at the intake system and I find two small "snorkel" intakes on the stock air cleaner. The cross-section of these intakes appears to be less than half of the total area of even the stock carburetors. It seems to me that this would be kind of like a marathon runner trying to breathe only through his nose. What was the General thinking when he came up with such an apparently restrictive air intake?. 
Paul Michalczyk
65 Corsa Convertible, just completing a 10 year restoration project (that's two years working on it, eight years thinking about it and saving up the money)