<VV> Corvair & Porsche....continued
James P. Rice
ricebugg at comcast.net
Sat Jan 9 12:37:24 EST 2016
All: Two things:
The article in PORSCHE which told you about is one of those curious things
I've found in motorsport journalism over the years. It is, with mild
revision, the same article which appeared in 911 & Porsche about 6 years
ago. The 911 & Porsche is a published in England, while the PORSCHE
magazine in published in this country. I got out my file and found the
original article, which was reprinted in the Communique in 2010.
I've seen this happen before. It is apparently OK to publish the same
magazine article in two different countries in two different magazines. On
and off in my life I've been blessed by living in areas with good bookstores
and magazine shops. I've seen this before! First time I remember this was
a story on the 1966 Chaparral 2D, printed twice, there and here.
Secondly, the story about Chevrolet sending Porsche a new Corvair every year
has been around since...well...a really long time. Like maybe, like
certainly before the Corvair died. Karl Ludvigsen addresses the question
in the article I referred to. He has had complete access to all Porsche
files. There is no documentation for this story of Porsche getting a
Corvair every year as payment for the work they did on the Corvair. This
story lacks any documentation from any source worth believing. Porsche
never did any work on either of the Corvair generations. It is untrue. A
fable. A myth. It is always from somebody who thinks he remembers what he
thought he heard or read, usually from his ex-wives second cousin twice
removed.
But there were some Corvairs in and around Stuttgart. Karl address them in
the article. He mentions Dan Gurney's Corvair when he drove for the
Porsche F1 team in 1961-62. It was a Monza turbo convertible, and was
written up in a issue of Car & Driver back then. Unfortunately, I don't
think I have this article. There is also the picture of Porsche racing
director Huschke von Hanstein's autobiography of his LM Fitch Sprint
high-centered in his driveway in Croix-Valmer. (Where ever that is...!) See
page 208 of his book. Fitch and von Hanstein were friends. In fact, it
was Von Hanstein who arranged for John to drive a factory entered Porsche
356 in a support race before the German GP in 1952. The drive enabled John
to know the traitorous Nurburgring racecourse very well when he test drove
a MB 300SL Monday after the race for MB race director Neubauer. John got
the job as a MB factory driver. In another article about Dr. Porsche,
probably also by Karl, it is mentioned Dr. Porsche had a EM 4-door for his
personal use for a while. Remember Germany was still in pretty tough
straights in the late fifties and early sixties. How many affordable 4
doors were available to them, especially one with a flat air-cooled engine
which was near and dear to the Porsche family?. Karl also mentions
Porsche's R&D had a couple Corvair boxes they put the 911 engine in for
testing purposes during it's development. What better place to hid
something new than in a nondescript big box?
I never have heard Lynn's specific story before, but if true, it is Porsche
people pulling a American's leg. If true, it was probably von Hanstein's
car and the American drive was probably Joe Buzzetta, who was, IIRC, the
only American under contract with Porsche at the time. This was during the
FIA's 3 liter formula which began in 1968, as Porsche transition themselves
from giant killers to the giant's in motorsport.
Historically Yours,
James Rice
Message: 2
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 2016 18:22:45 +1100
From: "clynn66 at bigpond.net.au" <clynn66 at bigpond.net.au>
To: virtualvairs at corvair.org
Subject: <VV> Corvair and Porsche
I recall many years ago an article in a motorsport magazine quoting a US
driver in the Porsche factory team in the late 1960s telling the story of
Ferry Porsche turning up to a track meeting in Germany in a 180hp 1965/66
Corsa. The driver had a foreign sounding name I seem to recall but was from
US. He thought the Porsche guys were having a joke with him, but they
informed him that Porsche was doing work on the development of the late
series and part of the deal was that Chevy gave him a new Corsa each year.
It was his daily driver and was a bit of a novelty because it was years
before Porsche brought out their own turbo. It seemed to be authentic as it
was quoting the US well known driver at the time.
Colin LYNN
Perth, Western Australia (107 degrees farenheit here)
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