RE: [T3] T34 vs. Corvair

[Steven Ayres <comwest@well.com>]

PhillipB=> Type 3 Ghia and the Corvair. They seem fairly similar in 
        => style/design. Who copied who? 

Chevy had been working for a while on ideas to get them into the economy 
market, where VW was killing everybody else. The cars were developed at 
just about the same time, but the Corvair came out first, in '60. The 
'62 Corvair Spyder concept car is much more similar to a T34 than the 
first-generation production Corvair, and the second-generation Corvair 
looks more like a T34 as well. Design-wise, the only common threads are 
the squarish butt, rear deck louvers and the beltline fold. I'd love to 
know for sure how long Ghia was working on the body styling, and whether 
Chevy designers ever saw the sketches. That seems at least as likely as 
the form-follows-function argument. I can't imagine that Ghia would 
want to steal from the Americans. 

=> why didn't Ralph Nader criticize the Type 3 Ghia?

I wouldn't be surprised if he never saw one, but the question works for 
other VW models and Porsches as well. He was clearly only interested in 
American cars. 

=> Didn't it have the same swing-axle design? What was different?

The Corvair is a great deal heavier than the T34, and with the 
six-cylinder engine much more powerful and tail-heavy. They can be tough 
to handle under adverse conditions. 

Steven Ayres, Prescott AZ
'66 343

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Too much? Digest! mailto:type3-d-request@vwtype3.org Subj=subscribe