Bev A. Kupf said:
Caveat emptor - I haven't owned or driven a Corvair, so all my
statements come from reading about it. The Corvair was far ahead
of its time for an American car - unibody construction, four wheel
independent suspension. Very early model Corvairs supposedly had
a problem where the rear suspension was weak and could collapse
or cause spinouts. This was fixed in 1964, and the suspension
was redesigned in 1965 - the year that Nader's book was released.
However, by then the damage was done. I think Nader's desire to
be in the public eye is best indicated by his interview with
British comic Ali G - who made him look like a total git.
The problem with the early Corvair was in the design of the independent
rear suspension. There was no universal joint at the outer end of the
driveshaft, so suspension movement changed the camber that the rear tire
contacted the road greatly. Factor in the bias ply tires with sharp
corners, rear carrying much more weight than the front (requiring a
large tire pressure differential from front to rear for neutral
handling), and a suspension that tended to "jack up" the rear of the car
under cornering forces, and you had a recipe for sudden, uncontrollable
oversteer. Or the rear could jack so high that the sidewall was no the
road, causing the rim to dig in.
--
Mike F.
Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.
NOTE: new address!!
Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
(But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)
