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On 17 Dec 2004 at 11:27, Steven Ayres wrote: > BrianF=> the corvair died a premature death ... > > Well, the line did last for a fair number of years in the context of the > times, so I don't think it should be seen as a failure in itself, It lasted 10 years, compared to 11.5 for type 3s. 10 years wasn't bad for an American car design. Having grown up in that era, I respected Ralph, but I thought his criticism was off base, and I don't think it had that much impact outside of some small circle. OTOH, I never understood why the same criticism wasn't also leveled at VW, since both used the same swing axle, which Corvair fixed in '65 and VW fixed in '69. > What's left is the engineering concept of the air-cooled rear-engine design, > and that seems to have survived pretty well overall even though GM got out of > it. And if GM lost some public face on the Corvair, I say it serves 'em right > for trying to kill VW by copying. Fair enough. ;-) -- Jim Adney jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711-3054 USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~