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I've been doing a little reading- some condensed info: 60-64 Corvairs: Swingaxle. Rear suspension similar to Beetle, some additions over time included travel limiting straps. In '64, a camber compensating spring was introduced. 1965: Ralph Nader publishes Unsafe at any Speed 65-69 Corvairs: IRS, coil springs and upper and lower control arms (the half-shaft was actually the upper arm) Essentially, Nader branded the early Corvairs a menace, which is only partially true. This car could be a menace if tire pressures were not right AND they were driven to the limits of their handling by inexperienced (with the type) drivers. Under those conditions, any car can be deadly. I maintain my earlier assertion that Nader was instrumental in waking up the American public to the issue of auto safety... and like many activist types, he took something that was a potential problem and blew it completely out of proportion and gave only his side of the story. There are elements of truths in Unsafe at any Speed, and there are, well, elements of Nader's agenda which cloud the whole truth. The Dateline exposes on the rigged-to-explode GM trucks, the runaway Audi 5000s, and the flipping Suzuki Samurais are the descendants of Nader's sensationalism. [and now for a slightly off-topic lecture] By the way, I have to make a point about the Audi 5000 "sudden acceleration" mess: there was NOTHING wrong with those cars. In 1986, Car and Driver proved this by conducting this experiment: -Take 1 Audi 5000 Automatic (this only happened in Autos) -Dozens of test subject drivers ov varying levels of skill -Rig the idle speed control motor (which was known defective) to produce a higher than normal idle speed, and put it on a hidden switch next to the observer's seat. They had a couple of drivers pound on the gas when startled by the higher idle, and the drivers swore up and down that they had their foot on the brake. Video footage proved they had not been stomping on the brake pedal in response, as asserted (no brake lights came on). The baking system was functioning normally. No car can overcome the full application of brake, even at full throttle, from a standstill. But ABCs 20/20 nearly destroyed Audi sales un the US in response, and Audi did themselves no favors by not responding properly (as it seems that VWAG does with any possible defect that hits the press) to these allegations. On Sat, 18 Dec 2004 08:31:05 -0800, Scott Taylor <scottbtaylor@earthlink.net> wrote: > I think most if not all late swingaxle Porsches came standard with a > compensating leaf spring. Aftermarket camber compensators were also > available in the early '60s for the Corvair, Triumph Spitfire, and > other swingaxle cars in addition to VWs. Maybe even for the early > Tempest. Did Chevy ever make a camber limiter a standard feature on the > Corvair? If so, it would have solved the biggest problems, though by > that point it may have been too late to save the car's reputation. > > Scott Taylor > 62 Type 34 Ghia > > On Saturday, December 18, 2004, at 08:12 AM, Constantino Tobio wrote: > > > One qualifier I do have to add- were Porsches of the era swingaxle? > > I'm pretty sure all of the 356s were, but were the early 911s and the > > like IRS? > > > > I guess the numbers are significantly limited, but did Porsche drivers > > of the time know their cars limitations better? Were they just better > > educated drivers? > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > >