Not the Car of the Future

[tbutler]

The Chevrolet Corvair station wagon.

Introduced in 1960, the Corvair was a new fresh-sheet design and a new direction for American auto makers - with a rear-mounted air-cooled engine, it was like nothing any of the major US car companies had introduced before. (The VW Beetle, Porsche 911, and several Tatra cars I've mentioned before were all prior examples... but not the kind of thing you'd expect to see GM make.)

Later, it was the focus of considerable controversy when Ralph Nader used it as an indictment of the US automakers in Unsafe at Any Speed, and the introduction of the Ford Mustang in 1965 gave it a formidable competitor. After the various ups and downs, the Corvair was discontinued before the end of the 60s, and GM never made anything like it again.

Comments

[tbutler]

Well, it was designed in the late 50s and released in 1960... so you're talking Massive Tailfins era. (You can see the vestiges in the crease running along the entire side of the car, just below the windows.) By those standards, it's not too bad. ^^;;

But yeah, by current standards, it's pretty fugly looking. Another view: