Re: Fifty years ago today on the C&TS, June 26, 1971 -- Part 1

Since I taught Auto Shop for a quarter century and was an Exxon dealer before that I have first hand experience with both models.

History lesson; the first years of the Chevy Corvair had a handling problem that was identified, and all of the 60 to 62 Corvairs were recalled and modified. By the 63 model year the front end had been redesigned and the problem was now history.
Then,,,, Ralph Nader's book "Unsafe at any Speed" came out well after the problem was identified and corrected. It made old Ralph some sort of consumer hero which I feel was unjustified based on when the book finally came out AFTER THE FACT. The most obvious result was that it killed Corvair sales which were now half of what they were before the book. Chevy built the Corvair until 1968, and sold a few leftovers as 69 models before pulling the plug.

Early Ford Pintos were rear wheel drive cars that had a parking brake cable bracket welded to the rear end that would open up a gas tank like a can opener if you rear ended them hard enough. Ford knew of the problem, yet did nothing until they lost a $190 MILLION dollar lawsuit awarded to a guy who had burns over 90% of his body from his gas tank being ripped open and catching his car on fire. The Ford recall ended up being simply putting on a thick plastic shield over the bracket that would just flatten out that bracket if rear ended.

Now, if you want to talk about the Corvair's true engine flaw of push rod tube seals leaking oil after 60,000 miles,, might talk awhile....:-)