<VV> Testing Ralphie's theory "Back when My Hair Was Short"

[Charlie]

My brothers and I did the same thing, taking my mother's 1964 500 coupe out
and deliberately tried to flip it since it was reputed to be so easy to do.
(We were too young to anticipate how we'd explain to explain it to Mom at
the time!)

Point is that we were never able to flip it but we did probably take a few
thousand miles of the rear tires by spinning it out at least a dozen times,
which was a LOT of fun, and very exciting!

Good times ... 

Charlie


-----Original Message-----
From: virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org
[mailto:virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org] On Behalf Of Bob Gilbert
Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2013 9:09 AM
To: jvhroberts at aol.com; lechevrier at q.com; virtualvairs at corvair.org
Subject: Re: <VV> PS: <Aarrgghh!!> Autoweek ...

By way of an FYI,

Many years ago, when I was much younger and before malls were open on
Sundays I bought a 1960 (all original and I wish I had kept it!) for $50
solely with the idea of seeing how far I could push it in the corners, to
test out all of the bad things I had heard.
I kept on going faster and faster on a curve I had mentally plotted on the
parking lot until, yes - it did finally go tail backwards.
What I clearly remember was how quickly it did this; once it started to go
there was no recovery.

Yes they do oversteer and this early at least did snap very quickly but all
that being said, it was at speeds WAY beyond normal driving.

And the bad news was that I sold the same car for the same $50 a month
later!

Regards,
Bob


-----Original Message-----
From: virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org
[mailto:virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org] On Behalf Of jvhroberts at aol.com
Sent: January-22-13 1:41 PM
To: lechevrier at q.com; virtualvairs at corvair.org
Subject: Re: <VV> PS: <Aarrgghh!!> Autoweek ...


 Having had a few mid engine cars, presently a 1988 Fiero GT, it's clear
anyone can be stupid. To find fault with the 1988's handling would require
feats of idiocy beyond the pale. The earlier ones, I found, were simply numb
and not well dialed in. Blame the hydraulic steering damper, thankfully
removed from the '88s. 
Now, my X1/9, which also had exceptional handling, would spin in a blink on
ice, simply due to its insanely low polar moment of inertia. 
I had two other Italians, which I won't brag about and NEVER saw bad
weather, also mid engine, also handled exceptionally well. And, after three
months of ownership, were sold for a handsome profit. 
Of the several different rear engine cars I've owned or driven extensively,
their much higher polar moment kept things much happier in bad weather. Add
the rather long wheelbase of a Corvair, well, like I said, extreme stupidity
is what it took to get into trouble. 

 

John Roberts
 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Bill & Chris Strickland <lechevrier at q.com>
To: virtualvairs <virtualvairs at corvair.org>
Sent: Tue, Jan 22, 2013 4:28 pm
Subject: <VV> PS:  <Aarrgghh!!> Autoweek ...


> Probably haven't been in 30 years.

A couple comments on here remind me of my Fieros (1982-1987) -- which I had
for about ten years ("my" Fiero Decade) -- not an ill handling car in the
least, but if one wanted to be stupid, the car didn't stop you beforehand,
and once they start to spin, no telling where they would go
-- they would spin easily on ice and snow, less so on water, and even a bit
less on dry pavement, but the result was the same -- wait for it to stop and
see where you were -- no humans were harmed in this decade (miraculously).

Bill Strickland