23 Facts About Chevrolet Corvair

Name "Chevrolet Corvair" originated as a portmanteau of Corvette and Bel Air, a name first applied in 1954 to a Corvette-based concept with a hardtop fastback-styled roof, part of the Motorama traveling exhibition.

At Chevrolet Corvair, Cole pushed for many of the major engineering and design advancements introduced in the Chevrolet Corvair car and truck lines between 1955 and 1962.

Chevrolet Corvair was completely involved in the development and production of the air-cooled rear-engine Corvair.

Chevrolet Corvair is known as the "father" of the small-block Chevy V8, one of the most celebrated engines in American automotive history.

Chevrolet Corvair designed a car that deviated from traditional American norms of design, powered by an air-cooled, horizontally opposed six-cylinder engine with many major components in aluminum.

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Chevrolet Corvair claimed that the rear-engine design offered packaging and economy advantages, providing the car with a lower silhouette, flat passenger compartment floor, no need for power-assisted steering or brakes as well as improvements in ride quality, traction, and braking balance.

The Chevrolet Corvair stood out, with engineering different from other American offerings.

Chevrolet Corvair began a design program that resulted in the 1962 Chevy II, a conventional layout compact.

Chevrolet Corvair was Motor Trend magazine's Car of the Year for 1960.

In 1961, Chevrolet Corvair introduced the Monza upscale trim to the four-door sedans and the club coupe body styles.

In 1962, Chevrolet introduced the Corvairs with few changes at the beginning of the year.

Individual components were available to customers and several Chevrolet Corvair dealers became authorized to install the "Sprint" conversions.

In 1967, the Chevrolet Corvair line was trimmed to the 500 and Monza Hardtop Coupes and Hardtop Sedans, and the Monza Convertible.

The Chevrolet Corvair was the only GM car in 1969 that did not get a locking steering column.

The Chevrolet Corvair was not cheap to produce; developing and marketing a Mustang-style model based on the Nova platform had cost advantages.

The Corvair was referred to as "the phantom" by Car Life magazine in their 1968 Monza road test, and by 1969 Chevrolet's Corvair four-page brochure was "by request only".

Unlike the Turbo Hydramatic 400, the Turbo Hydramatic 350 transmission, introduced in the 1968 Camaro and later adopted by most Chevrolet models had been configured for use in the third generation Corvair.

Nader said during subsequent Congressional hearings, the Chevrolet Corvair is "the leading candidate for the un-safest-car title".

Dana Chevrolet distributed Stingers on the U S West coast and ordered an additional three similar cars to be built to Stinger specifications, but with the AIR injection system to meet California emissions laws, with Yenko's permission.

Fitch went on to design and build a prototype of the Fitch Phoenix, a Chevrolet Corvair-based two-seat sports car, superficially resembling a smaller version of the Mako Shark based Corvette.

Chevrolet Corvair still retained the prototype, and occasionally exhibited it at car shows until his death.

Chevrolet Corvair engines have been used to power light and experimental aircraft designs by Pietenpol, Zenith, and Sonex.

Chevrolet Corvair was driven by Spurgeon May and Donna Mae Mims in the Trans Am Series in 1966.